Exhibition Visit - Vee Gee Bee

I went to Vee Gee Bee in Valletta and saw a small exhibition. Most of the work was done by Dr. Joseph Paul Cassar.  There was also some beautiful work done by Ivona Matejkova, Ray Spiteri and Wayne Attwood.

Joseph Paul Cassar is an artist, art historian, art critic, curator and educator.

He is the author of numerous books that emphasis on the creators of modernism in Malta. He is represented in Malta and Gozo by VGB Art Gallery. Joseph Paul Cassar is a successful artist whose work is being exposed also around the USA.

Artwork 1 

The drawing is named ‘Crucifixion after GDC’ and is made with Pen and Ink. I wouldn’t say that the proportions are exactly right but still they are very close. The color scheme is rather plain but in my opinion the drawing will have much more emotion and passion. The lines are sketchy and thin, with that practice, the drawing looks more mysterious.

Artwork 2 

This drawing is named ‘Man’ and it’s made using Charcoal. The best element in this drawing is the charcoal effect. It looks as if it’s rough but it’s quite smooth. The drawing for me has an organic feel and also has balance between negative and positive space. Having the drawing black and white, it gives a sense of sentiment and depressed feel.

Artwork 3 

This drawing is named ‘Boys on tree’ and is created by cross-hatching technique with pencil. When comparing this drawing with Joseph’s other artworks, it has a rather different perspective and mood. The boys are happy and energetic unlike the others who seemed sad. The cross-hatching technique really gave the drawing contrast within the softness and harshness side.

 Artwork 4 

This drawing is named ‘Mother and Son’ and is made using pen. Artwork no.4 is quite different from others. In this drawing there is love and also sadness. A drawing like this would probably be very nostalgic for certain people depending on their experiences. I think that Cassar used water to combine a flowing array throughout the whole drawing. Although this drawing is in black and white, it is as though I can see and comprehend light coming from behind the ‘mother and son’.

Artwork 5 

This drawing is named ‘Drawing’ and the media used is ink. Looking clearly are this drawing, one can see the cross-hatching used and the water flowing effect. I really find the dull colors using interesting, they are very suitable for this drawing. The people drawn seem to be dark skinned. The lines are fine and thin, the positioning is correct and it has the saturation effect.

Exhibition Visit - St. James Cavalier - Center of Creativity

I went to St. James Cavalier in Valletta with Rebecca Spiteri and Nicolette Galea. We heard that there was a brilliant exhibition by contemporary artist Marie Louise Kold so we decided to visit.

 Marie Louise Kold has worked with metal since the mid-1990, with copper, bronze and brass. She now established a technique of her own. Her work is exceptional both in esthetic substance and in skill. The metals are engraved and carved. Kold experiments with compounds to generate special effects and chemical reactions. For Marie Louise Kold, metal is a piece of canvas on which she can create her own art. She paints female figures on some of her artworks. 

Artwork 1 

This beautiful artwork was worked with bronze, having created contrast with dark and light shades. The strongest element to me is the pattern arrangement. With small squares she ripens out a warm feeling to the viewer. This artwork must have had a lot of planning and provisions.

Artwork 2 

  

A very strong formal element in this artwork is its texture. It is very rough and lumpy. Feeling it, felt like small sand throughout the whole artwork, and sometimes a superior swelling came along. This artwork reminds me of lava, when it starts to cool down.

Artwork 3  

As soon as I saw this magnificent piece, I immediately compared her work with some of mine. I love to invent these organic forms, and having them created by chemicals makes them more interesting. This artwork has a 3D relief, its 3D relief seems as though it wants to take over the artwork. The abstract forms created shadows and sets the artwork to another level.

Artwork 4

 My preferred part about this set of artwork is the individuality each piece has and also their familiarity. They all have same materials, copper and also Kold added small pieces of glass. They have engraved words which give a lot of emotion in my opinion. This set of artwork is as though there is something shattered behind it. It has a smooth feel and little contrast between the colors. The colors seem to blend together quite properly.

Artwork 5 

This outstanding artwork reminds me of the characteristics of the cliffs. It has a strong sense of balance within texture matter. The female figure really gave this artwork feeling and sensitivity. The posture of the woman is delicate and profound. In my opinion, this artwork is one of Kold’s best work.

Vincent Van Gogh - Essay

Through his paintings Van Gogh showed his life, his experiences. He was never understood by the general public and he was always an outsider. Van Gogh was ill and he was living in a mental hospital in Saint-Remy. He cut off a piece of his ear the year before. He was a mad genius and everybody knew it. The pleasure of love was very important to Van Gogh, he said he couldn’t live without love or without a woman.

Ursula Loyer was his very first love but got married to someone else. His cousin Knee, rejected him probably because he couldn’t care for her or her children. He had to end a relationship with a prostitute who he was trying to build a family with because her brother threatened him. As a child Van Gogh was known as a “kind-hearted, friendly, good, pitiful” boy but a servant girl of his family stated that “Vincent had funny, meaning unpleasantly unusual manners.” He was born on the 30^TH March 1853 and died on the 29^th July 1890 when he shot himself in a Wheatfield in Auvers, France. He died 2 days later at the age of 37.

Vincent Van Gogh influenced the Art of today even though he lived more than 115 years ago. Only one painting was sold during his lifetime and he became famous after his death. He was and still is a big prominence in the Art Movement. He not only inspires us by his artwork but also by the way he lived his life. Somehow through his good and bad, one can see what a livid mastermind he was.

He emphasized on paintings of landscapes, figure, cityscapes, and scenery. His style was ordinary but still had been prejudiced by the impressionism and post-impressionism. His work had a beauty persona, intense rough brush strokes with petite lines and curves around the figure or landscape that he was painting during that time. His paintings gives me a feel of firmness and determination as though he knew exactly what he wanted and how it’s going to look like. It is said that he might also have used the impasto technique, as we know it today to create such stunning paintings. Clearly looking at his paintings, Van Gogh had a big sense of movement while painting, the continues rhythm is very obvious and clear.

I would imagine as Van Gogh had an immense erg to finish a painting. Probably in my opinion he would do the arrangement and placing of things very fast and then start to go into detail. Detail of the movement, flow of the era and color scheme.

 Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Arles, January 1889, 

Oil on canvas, London, Courtauld Institute. 

The Potato Eaters, Nuenen, April 1885,

 Oil on Canvas, Foundation Van Gogh, Amsterdam. 

One contemporary artist that is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s work is Stefan Duncan. He is a brilliant artist with beautiful paintings. Stefan wants to be known as America’s Van Gogh. He calls his style as Squigglism which is vivid colors blended together in an imaginative elegance. 

Westeria on a Red Day 
by Stefan Duncan 

 "What Dreams May Come" 

by Stefan Duncan 

The Path to Take 

by Stefan Duncan 

As soon as I saw Stefan's paintings I completely loved them. His work is yes very similar to Van Gogh's. I do feel though that their is still some style that is just his. In the painting 'Westeria on a Red Day', he uses the same technique but they are more defined then Van Gogh's. They seem more extended and detailed. The second painting, "What Dreams May Come" gives me a more sense of smudge technique even though there is Van Gogh's intellectual feel. 'The Path to Take' is surprisingly my favourite from his work.

Surprisingly because I usually don't like dark paintings. The contrast better the grays and the red/coral is very interesting. Overall I found Stefan Duncan's painting very beautiful and seems to interpret Van Gogh's technique very good. 

Harvard Referencing System: 

Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA, 2004. Vincent Van Gogh.

Van Gogh Gallery.2002-2013. Vincent Van Gogh Impact on Art. [Online] Available at: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/impact.html [Accessed 20 May 2014]

Artable.2014.Vincent Van Gogh Style and Technique. [Online] Available at: http://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/more_information/style_and_technique [Accessed 20 May 2014] 

Dada - Marcel Duchamp

Dada means “hobby horse” in French and some say it’s just baby talk. These group of people had only one thing in common: their principles. Dadaists argued about what they should call themselves, the bare minimum that made sagacity was “Dada”. The Dada movement had begun in Europe, during the time when civilians were discussing World War I. Although we know Dada as being an art movement, it wasn’t. Dadaist didn’t want people to see them as artists or as a movement. They were fed up of the meaningless war that was being deliberated by citizens’ in their everyday life. They wanted to make a point, they were angry and they wanted to protest.

Dadaist rod on patriotism, rationalism and materialism because they subsidized in World War I. They said that they wanted no part in any traditions especially in artistic ones. Society was leading in the direction that Dadaist didn’t want to go. Art was becoming worthless so they didn’t consider themselves as artists nor did they want to create art. They had only one rule: Never follow any known rule.

Abstraction and Expressionism were a big impact on Dadaist Art. They collected readymade objects and created collage and photomontages. Although Dadaist didn’t consider themselves as artists, they did create art and they also became an art movement. As soon as they were becoming accepted, they stopped everything.

These people were original and different. They had real emotions, which helped them create beautiful art, even though they didn’t realize it.

For me Dada is a very interesting Art movement. The idea behind it is brilliant and also very inspiring. These people had a lot of courage and creativity. Picabia’s stuffed-monkey Portrait of Cezanne, Renoir and Rembrandt (1920) and Duchamp’s picture of Leanardo’s portrait of the Mona Lisa complete with beard and mustache (1919) were initial eminent Dadaist works. They used other artists artwork and showed their rebellion attitude by adding extras onto their work.

Mona Lisa with beard and mustache by Marcel Duchamp in 1919

Portrait of Cezanne, Renoir and Rembrandt by Picabia in 1920 

Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp had lived mostly in New York from 1915 to 1923 but was born in Blainville, Normandy. He also did some time in Paris from 1923 to 1942, and back to New York in 1942. Marcel Duchamp was a wise man and throughout his career, he trained and portrayed different styles. He made conventional objects of daily use with a touch of change and titled works of art by the artist.

Mass-produced objects freed him from the ‘trap’ of emergent a specific style. He died in Neuilly on the borders of Paris. Duchamp had dedicated his time also for playing chess. In the art world Duchamp was an enormous importance. He had beautiful art pieces that were and still are very famous these days. 

 Fountain by Marcel Duchamp in 1917

 Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp in 1913

Bottle Rack by Marcel Duchamp in 1914

Harvard Referencing System:

 Dada Art - History of Dada. 2014. What is Dada? [Online] Available at:http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm [Accessed 19 May 2014] 

Dada Movement, 2014. Dada Art Movement:History, Characteristics, Artists. [Online] Available at: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/dada.htm [Accessed 19 May 2014] 

Tate, 2014. Marcel Duchamp: Artist biography. [Online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/marcel-duchamp-1036 [Accessed 19 May 2014] 

Impressionism

The Impressionism movement was introduced through an exhibition in Paris by a number of artists known as the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc. in 1874. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, along with other artists were impressionist’s establishment associates.

A panel of artists from the Academie des Beaux-Arts nominated artworks and awarded medals, where the group was integrated only by its liberation from the official annual Salon. Traditional opponents criticized the Impressionism work as to be uncompleted and sketchy but liberal critics acclaimed it for its portrayal of modern life.

In 1876, Edmond Duranty had wrote ‘La Nouvelle Peinture’ which meant ‘The New Painting’. As a rebellion painting, he wrote of their representation of modern subject matter in an appropriately advanced style. Impressionism artwork today is being recognized for its modernism, personified in its denial of conventional styles, its integration of new technology and ideas, and its interpretation of modern life.

The Impressionist movement got its name from the opponent Louis Leroy after criticizing Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise as being a sketch or “impression” in 1874. 

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet in 1874.

This painting is the straightforward example of how Impressionists artists work. They use short broken brushstrokes that hardly express forms, pure unblended colors, and prominence on the effects of light. Impressionism doesn’t pay attention to detail, they extract shadows and highlights in color instead of impartial white, grays, and blacks. The loose brushstrokes that impressionists use gives a sense of freedom and naturalness that covers their often prudently created compositions. 

 'Allee of Chestnut Trees' is an oil painting by Alfred Sisley in 1878

The Impressionist movement is difficult to define because of its many features and diverse members. Indeed, its life seems as momentary as the light effects it required to apprehension. Even so, Impressionism was a movement of continuing value, as its embrace of modernism made it the foundation for later avant-garde art in Europe. 

Harvard Referencing System: Impressionism: Art and Modernity | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. Impressionism: Art and Modernity | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm [Accessed 27 March 2013]

Fashion Designer - Christian Dior

Christian Dior is a legend for the fashion industry all over the world. When he was ten he moved to Paris with his parents, but born and raised in Normandy, France. He assisted in the military after studying political science. His approach towards fashion after going to war was giving a ‘New Look’, a ‘New Outlook’. He announced the ‘new Look’, the most important couturiers of the twentieth century in 1947 which was his very first collection. The ‘New Look’ distinguished ultra-femininity and magnificence in women’s fashion introducing rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and very full skirt. Dior’s career began by selling his sketches right after he returned to Paris in 1935. In 1938, he worked with designer Robert Piguet and then, at a much larger design house, Dior worked with Lucien Lelong in 1941. He opened his own house in 1946 by textile industrialist Marcel Boussac. Dior facilitated to renovate a struggling postwar Paris as the capital of fashion.

He had particular themes for all his collections

Dinner dress from Spring 1947 collection "Carolle" or "figure 8".

A label that advocated the silhouette of the new look with its bulging shoulders, emphasized hips, and small waist. 

From Spring 1955's Collection "A-line". 

With its undecided waist and smooth silhouette that widened over the hips and legs, similar to a capital "A." 

Ball Gown from "Venus" Collection in 1949.

Gray silk net embroidered with feather–shaped opalescent sequins, rhinestones, simulated pearls, and paillettes. 

Jacques Rouet, Dior’s partner founded license arrangements in the fashion business. Deals for fur, stockings, and perfumes, had been decided with well-paid licensing in 1948. This income made Dior a household name. Christian Dior died in 1957, leaving his legendary style behind. Although Dior is no longer with us, the House of Dior is still a successful business today and surely Dior’s fashion will keep on inspiring today’s designers.

Harvard System Referencing: Charleston, Beth Duncuff. "Christian Dior (1905–1957)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dior/hd_dior.htm [Accessed in 27 March 2014]

Realism

Without analysis and elaboration, existing only in a third person’s neutral reality, Realism in literature and visual arts states to the effort of classifying subjects according to practical and materialistic rules.

The early 1850s was the time where Realism movement had begun in France. The Realists where controlling on their French artwork and literature by the early 19^th century. They were people who were against romanticism, their emotions and there point of view. Realists knew well what was realistic and fought hard to convince the people. They were true and honest in their work, they showed what was really there even though some wasn’t pleasing to feel or to remember.  The Realism Movement consisted of paintings showing people who were at work, since that time was also the Industrial Revolution period. Photography was just introduced therefore this new visual source of capturing a realistic moment was very popular.

Realism Art is impersonation of nature by using a paintbrush in an artistic attempt. Realists look deep through nature and life and take whatever it may give them. The new idea for modern art style was being encouraged and everyday events were revolving also with ordinary people who are worthy matters of the Realists artists.

The prime objectives that Realists artists wanted to tackle were regular people, living their lives, delivering their background story in a painting. They wanted to bring out the reality of the environment, its complications, people as a community and society itself. They also wanted to depict political issues. Realists used material surroundings, physical sceneries, and mental approaches for them to communicate.

One can really understand any art movement by the masterpieces created by the artists. Realism is the expression of ideas and values held by the individuals who remained true to their belief. 

Burial in Ornans is an oil painting by Gustave Courbet (1849) 

  A Morning Dance of the Nymphs is an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (c. 1850) 

Realism artists had to have a lot of patients because of the very detailed paintings that they had done. They use a lot of light and shadows to make the painting more exceptional. Depth perspective and perspective is a very important element when it comes to Realism. I would imagine that a realist artist would have to plot carefully how everything is supposed to be positioned and have everything planned. They depict what they are seeing right in front of them, no changes in colour, light, or any detail that might take the painting to another state. Realists used to use warm palette colors, soft browns, and warm reds, black and ivory tones. Realist artists now a days add a little cooler colours to create surprising effects. 

I personally wouldn't contribute in making a Realism style painting. I usually go into detail when painting but I don't like to limit myself for only what I see in front of me.

Harvard System Referencing: The Realism Art Movement. 2014. The Realism Art Movement. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.artsmypassion.com/articles.asp?ID=306. [Accessed 06 March 2014].

Harvard System Referencing: Early 19th Century Realism. 2014. Early 19th Century Realism. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/11_Western-Art/21_Early-19th-Century-Realism/21_Early-19th-Century-Realism.htm. [Accessed 06 March 2014].