Analysis: The Flight Into Egypt

Art from Ackland Museum
Sounds by: Spleencast and marvman (from freesound.com)

The Light of a Child

Child of the World
By: Katie McCabe




Photographs provided by the Ackland Museum

Sunsets and Ponies

Music Lessons and America

Painting the Light

Thomas Kinkade, the self described “painter of light” is well known for his pastoral and serene settings. However, his work is sometimes viewed by art critics as superficial or lacking depth. Criticism today says that his works lack true artistic quality and are merely products produced for mass print. American Art’s feature article “Thomas Kinkade’s Romantic Landscape” discusses the argument. The author argues that while Kinkade’s paintings are fairly similar and are produced in very large quantities, they do have and artistic quality to them that is unique to Kinkade. “I argue that his work is neither naive nor simply kitsch, but rather a heartfelt, sentimentalized variant of Romantic landscape painting that he has managed to make relevant to a large audience.

Kinkade’s art brings in several different audiences because of its relatability. Kinkade manages to take his viewers to a different reality as he meshes together nature and civilization and unites them in perfect unity. The mass production and printing of Kinkade’s work shows the high demand for his painting and also allows for a range of prices and availability to several different groups, from wealthy to middle-class. The author of the this article says that Kinkade is “neither responding to market research nor engaging in cheeky parody but is striving in earnest to bring together iconographic and stylistic elements that signify the possibility of an uplifting lifestyle with a spiritual base.”

The fact that Kinkade’s work lends itself to reproduction, with its light, clean colors and clear contrasts, does not indicate a lack of artistic quality. The strategies Kinkade uses to market his work have been successful ones due to the paintings themselves. If I painted a horrific scene that lacked any artistic quality or display of talent -- believe me, I have none -- then you could put it in a fancy gallery, tell people it was art and try to sell it, but your reception would be limited and your business would fail. Fail is quite the opposite of what Kinkade’s business has done and while some credit can be given to marketing techniques, such as a homey warmth yet gallery lit feel in shopping malls, most of it must be accredited to Kinkade’s artistic eye and his ability to connect to his audience through his work.

The most important and prominent aspect of his work and his trademark is the light that so warmly livens his scenes. This aspect mimics the style of the Renaissance period where light was used to represent spirituality. Many also say that the aspect of light brings a connection to the supernatural into the painting and sends a spiritual message. Kinkade was a professing Christian. The author of this article writes, “he sees the contemporary world as degraded and impoverished, and he wants to help restore a sense of well‐being based on spirituality and an appreciation of beauty in art and nature. In adopting this paradigmatic romantic aspiration, Kinkade allies himself with a powerful artistic tradition.”

Kinkade’s “images offer daydream relief from real, serious social and cultural stresses.” This is the point of the paintings. The release offered to the viewer by the aesthetic light is Kinkade’s method of communicating. Other artist use other things, such as sharp contrasts or surprising visuals. His art is for the viewer and his viewers do not have to be knowledgeable about art to enjoy his. This is true because “viewers bring different values and apply different standards with respect to sentimentalism, artistic quality, and the nature and social purpose of art."


Works Cited:

Clapper, Michael. "Thomas Kinkade's Romantic Landscape." American Art , Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer 2006) The University of Chicago Press. pp. 76-99. Web. April 2012.

Thomas Kinkade, The End of a Perfect Day III (detail) © 1995. April 2012.

Rembrandt in the World

Rembrandt's The Night Watch
By: Katie McCabe

Pollock's No. 5, 1948

The Philosopher

The Philosopher
By: Katie McCabe

The realistic and moody qualities of Rembrandt’s pieces reflected a time period dominated by cultural reform and change. The article entitled, “Rembrandt's ‘Aristotle’: Exemplary Beholder” examines a debate dominating the interpretation of Rembrandt’s painting, Aristotle. Critics and scholars alike argue whether the painting of Aristotle is concentrating on the statue before him or the chain draped across his chest. The argument focuses on whether the painting represents the semblance of classical culture or the affluence of a man.

Rembrandt's Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer

Rembrandt’s Aristotle illustrates not only his interpretation of a man with worldly ideals but also a spirit dominated by the prosperous nature of a new culture. Recognized as one of the most iconic Dutch painters, Rembrandt lived and worked in what became known as the Dutch Golden Age. A period marked by trade, science, art and military success, the Dutch Republic flourished during this time. Rembrandt paints an aging man representative of Aristotle garnished with fine clothes amongst a dark room. A hand is placed on a statue that outlines the shoulders and head of Homer, a literal and philosophical reminder that the mind is a frame to peer through. An idea which is strengthened by the contrast of the background: a dark and windowless room.

However, the object that truly captures the attention of the painted Aristotle is unknown. The eyes and face are casted downwards peering at the statue, but the mind may wander elsewhere. The light is entering from the left side of the painting placing focus both on the statue and the gold chain which is draped across the chest. With his left hand, Aristotle is painted handling the chain in a melancholy manner which is reflected in his face as well.

Both the statue and the chain act as what the author described as “a point of departure for his contemplative activity” (Carroll 39). Aristotle appears not only as a man, but also recognized as a great philosopher by the public. Several of Rembrandt’s other paintings, including St. Paul in Prison and A Scholar in a Room with a Winding Stair, display philosophers engrossed in one’s own contemplative thoughts. Very few paintings during the time period placed the focus on a work of art such as the statue presented in Aristotle. Rather than being the focus of Aristotle in painting, the bust of Homer acts as a bridge between and the chain and strong sense of contemplation.

The gold chain seems to stem from a strong literature theme first conjured by none other than Homer himself. A reference first witnessed in the The Iliad, “using a golden rope, [Zeus] could pull all the other gods up to heaven, though they could not pull him down to earth” (Carroll 48). The gold chain of Homer soon became a semblance of the divine order of the universe. The author also points out the irony associated between “the confrontation between Aristotle, the philosopher of the visible, and the blind, poet Homer” (Carroll 54).

By the end of the article, the themes of wealth and culture represented by each object seemed minute compared to Rembrandt’s humanistic purpose. The contemplative scene in which Aristotle resides is surrounded by an intelligently connected theme that loops the viewer through a labyrinth. Ultimately, the painting examines the limits of human philosophy and imagination.

Work Cited
Carroll, Margaret Deutsch. "Rembrandt's "Aristotle": Exemplary Beholder." Artibus et Historiae.
5.10 (1984): 35-56. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483193.

Nature vs Rebellion

 The 1940’s, a period of massive economic growth and streamlined productivity gave birth to Abstract Expressionism, an art movement that challenged the decade’s uniformity. Following World War II, the United States saw a massive boom in corporate capitalism that many came to call “logical modernity.”  Abstract Expressionism sought to counter the widespread conservatism and uniformity that came to define the decade.  Michael Schreyach’s article in Apollo Journal, argues that Pollock, though an abstract expressionist, was more influenced by nature than countering the homogeneity of the 1940’s

Schreyach’s piece begins by examining Pollock’s famous drip technique that has iconized his paintings.  He explains that Pollock, unlike most artists during this time period did not paint with a standard canvas orientation.  Instead of standing the painting on one side and keeping in place from start to finish, Pollock would lay the painting on the ground and continually turn it  he poured his paint onto the canvas. Schreyach argues that in this technique, Pollock was following not the structure of technique, but the most natural progression for himself. He compares Pollock to a child that follows what comes easy and natural to him instead of what he has been taught. Like the movement of the earth and seasons, Pollock followed a natural progression instead of a rigid and taught articulation.

After explaining how Pollock’s developmental stages of painting mimic nature, Schreyach goes on to examine the movement and style of his works. As Schreyach explains, Pollock’s paintings cause their viewers’ eyes to move continuously around the canvas. The lines in all of Pollock’s works sprawl in almost every direction. They appear to dance and twist without any set pattern. Schreyach compares this undefined movement to the movements of nature. He explains that much like Pollock’s paintings, the natural world is not rigid or specifically defined. Its lines are organic and in constant motion. He explains that both Pollock’s works and nature, though organic, have a cohesive motion. It isn’t difficult to detect the pattern and feel of Pollock’s painting. Like nature, his works seamlessly blend together color and form to create an organic body.

Schreyach also brings up the display orientation of Pollock’s paintings and how their patterned horizontality draws the concept of a landscape to the painting. As Schreyach explains, a large number of Pollock’s pieces are elongated horizontal canvases.  The length and detail of his paintings call to mind the vastness of a massive landscape vista. A viewer of one of Pollock’s large pieces like No. 5 or No. 30, cannot take the entirety of the piece in from just one location; they must move and walk from one end to another. This vastness and required movement mimic how one would view a valley from an elevated outcropping.  Viewers must scan the entirety of the horizon, or canvas, and move around in order to take it all in.

Schreyach argues that this correlation between vast horizontality and nature are no coincidence. Pollock was trying to call to his readers mind the innate complexity and originality of nature.  He explains that though many argue Pollock was focused on countering 1940’s homogeneity, he work was more influenced by nature. 

I thought Schreyach’s article was extremely interesting. I had seen several of Pollock’s paintings before, but I definitely did not understand them or realize their ties to nature. Overall, Schreyach makes a solid case defending the influence of nature on Pollock’s paintings, but I felt like his explanation of the 1940’s culture at the beginning detracted from his message. After describing that time period in such detail, it left a lingering impact on his counter arguments and weakened his article. 

Schreyach, Michael. “'I am Nature’: Science and Jackson Pollock.” Apollo, Vol. 16. Pp. 35-53. Web. August 2007. 

Feeling Over Theory

All sounds from Garageband.

The Evolution of Marilyn

All sounds from Garageband

Man or Machine?

Man or Machine?

By: Sarah Miller

Man or machine? Paul Bergin analyzed the art of Andy Warhol in his article “Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine” in the Art Journal. Bergin entered into a debate on the overall point of Andy Warhol’s art. Bergin believed that Warhol centered his art on “the machine”. He believed that Warhol applied this machine theme to every aspect of his art, even to himself. Other art historians believe that Warhol was just obsessed with current events and celebrities. However, Bergin thinks that it is deeper than that and Warhol focused purposely on the machine. Bergin claimed that “the machine is, to the artist, a way of life, representative of a unique field of twentieth-century experience, and all of Warhol's art is a striving to express the machine in the machine's own terms.”

The article consists of multiple references to Warhol’s work and style that represents the machine. He focused on two styles, according to Bergin. The first being: reproduction. He claims, “this lack of consciousness, this emphasis upon mere reproduction of the image without any understanding of its original identity, is the act of a machine”. Also, Warhol came closer to making his art become a machine but using a mechanical aid for his art. He used silk screen, which helped him produce his art in bulk. Bergin believed that Warhol wanted his studio to be more of an “art factory” than an artist’s studio since anyone could use the silk screen to replicate his work. 

Warhol became fixated on the consumer, especially the topic of food. Food was now able to be prepared and be untouched by humans. A machine made this food. This is when Warhol created his “Campbell’s Soup” art. It had no real meaning, except that it was a can of soup that was reproduced numerous times. Also, Warhol created flower paintings. However, these paintings of flowers were unlike what people were used to seeing. These flowers were flat and unrealistic. They were similar to the artificial flowers that are made by “machines”. Once again, Bergin believed that Warhol was fixated on “the machine” when creating this art. 

Warhol eventually moved onto his “death-image” phase. These were the most interesting images to Bergin. “In these pictures, news photographs of suicides and auto accidents are silk-screened onto the canvas, sometimes blown up in size but more often arranged in rows and repeated a number of times”. Bergin then concludes that many people may think that this is proof that Warhol’s point is that the machine will be the death of us, hence dying in an automobile accident. However, Bergin believes that people are not looking far into it. He claims that the pictures were taken with a camera, which is also a machine. These machines do not have feelings and do not have a conscious mind. Bergin believes that Warhol wanted us to see this as just another product of the twentieth-century machine, and not as a good or bad thing. “The death image is neither good nor bad; it is”. 

The final stage of art that Bergin analyzed was Warhol’s famous portraits of celebrities. These included pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Bergin concluded that Warhol was trying to show examples of people that had become “machine-products, commercial property”. Both portraits were silk-screened and were portrayed with multiple colors. Some of the portraits were similar to the actresses but gradually became more obscure. Bergin believed that this showed the evolution of these actresses from the people that they were to the public property that they became. While Warhol showed how these women were used, Bergin believed that Warhol wanted to become a commodity. Through his art, theories, and strategies, Warhol wanted to become the ultimate machine.

While many of Bergin’s interpretations are very thoughtful and intelligent, I am not sure how accurate some are. Since Warhol did not exclusively state some of Bergin’s statements, then it is hard to be sure that everything that Warhol did was solely off the “machine”. However, I do think that this review of Warhol’s art is very thought invoking. I thought that Bergin’s analysis of Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup” art collection was the best example of the Warhol “machine” theory. I also thought that showing the numerous acts of reproduction within Warhol’s art was helpful in proving this theory. Bergin successfully went into the depths of Andy Warhol’s work and discovered Warhol as not a man, but a machine.

Works Cited:

Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine.Paul Bergin. Art Journal , Vol. 26, No. 4 (Summer, 1967), pp. 359-363

Part 2: Down by the Ocean

Part 2: Down by the Ocean
Katie McCabe

Part 1: Down by the Ocean

Part 1: Down by the Ocean
Katie McCabe

Fox News Experiment Results

Television and Politics

Money, Money, Money, MONEY! - Results

All sounds from GarageBand Program.

Money, Money, Money, MONEY! - Experiment

All sounds from GarageBand Program.

I've Got Sunshine: Results

I've Got Sunshine: Experiment