$ 17 MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Art dealer Larry Gagosian paid $17.4 million dollars for a recently rediscovered Andy Warhol painting at Christie's in London this past Wednesday, February 16th . The piece which dates from 1967 is a red square six-foot acrylic and silkscreen piece showing Warhol staring thoughtfully at the viewer, two fingers covering his mouth. The portrait was one of a series of 11 large self-portraits, five of which are in museums. This piece had been in a private collection since 1974 and has never been published. It is unbelievable that someone would pay so much money for a painting. Although, I think if I had the money to splurge on artwork I would have a Monet hanging in my living room. Personally, I am not a fan of Andy Warhol's work but I know that he is the artist best known for his pop art. Especially his Campbell's soup can paintings. If you could purchase any painting what would it be and by who!? ADD A COMMENT BELOW :)

Sylvia Ji

My best friend introduced me to this artists work. Her name is Sylvia Ji and she is a 2005 graduate from the Academy of Art School in San Fransisco. What I love about her art is that she incorporates the theme of dia de los muertos in her art. Some of her paintings are symbolic reflections of herself, portraits of people she knows or just nameless faces. Since graduating from college she has numerous showings across the country and is becoming a high in demand. She currently lives in Southern California, and I hope to attend one of her gallery showings soon!
to learn more about this great artist :
http://www.sylviaji.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sylviaji

Midterm 2/9/11

   The potluck midterm was great because we got know some of our classmates a little better since we were in a small group. Reviewing each others blog was interesting because we got to hear about each persons artist research project and trips to Venice Beach and the Norton Simon Museum. It was nice to see the difference in each persons artist and what kind of art style the did. Also we discussed the art styles that people liked better at the museum. Some liked the early European paintings because they looked like photographs due to their color and attention to detail. While others, including myself were drawn to the 19th-20th century paintings. It was nice to get feedback not only from Mr. Zucman but also from fellow classmates. I get very nervous when I have to do public speaking to the class, I hope next time since it will be with the same group I won't be as nervous :)

Venice Beach Graffiti Wall

   Although I have lived in L.A. my entire life I had never visited Venice Beach. So when I heard about this assignment I decided to make it an adventure and go exploring. I had also never owned a can of spray paint but luckily my best friend had 2 cans she let me have, so I could do my assignment and write on some walls. I decided to visit the graffiti walls this past Saturday, February 5th. I headed to Venice with my friend Alexis and my brother. After getting lost and looking for free parking (because I was not about to pay $$ to park) We finally parked and headed towards the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and surprisingly there wasn't many people at the beach or at the graffiti walls. 

   As we walked towards the beach we saw some graffiti artists at work, painting on one of the walls.On one side there was a table set up and we asked the guy at the table where we could get a permit to graffiti. He was very helpful and told us all we needed was to do was fill out a form and give him an id to hold while we did the graffiti painting. After handing us our lanyards and directing us to a designated area to paint I took out my spray paint from my purse and stared at the wall. Then I stared some more...... a couple minutes later I saw my friend Alexis was already working on her art. For some reason I couldn't decide what to paint or write. Then my brother told me to just do something Coldplay related. Hahaha yes! when all else fails, use Coldplay as inspiration! I had never used a spray can to paint and it was harder than I thought. Looking around I wondered how these people around me did it so nicely and easily.

   I know my art wasn't very creative but at least I can say I tried graffiti writing. The other surrounding walls were completely covered in giant letters and behind one of the walls I could see some people had started painting on the small palm trees in the area. Some people were working on a whole wall mural dedicated to the Raiders!!?? this was kinda weird since the Super Bowl was the next day and the Raiders were obviously not gonna be a part of it. I decided to be nice and not give them the bad news! After walking around a bit I saw what a nice place Venice was, very calm and laid back. A couple of people were in the water and others were riding their beach cruisers around the area.

   Personally, I'm not a graffiti art fan. Even tho my artist research project was on Neck Face a somewhat famous graffiti artist I still don't approve of people writing on public property even if they call it art. Some of the people that graffiti are quite talented and I think if they did their art on canvas or other material it would be better.

Norton Simon Museum Visit

The sculpture garden @ the Norton Simon Museum

   On Friday, February 4th I visited the Norton Simon Museum with my little brother. I had visited this museum before and was very excited to bring my brother for his first art museum experience. Since it was a Friday I figured there would not be many people at the museum, but I was wrong! the museum was busy with visitors. One of the first things I wanted to do was ask where the Claude Monet paintings were. Since he is a personal favorite of mine. I was excited to learn that they had 3 of his paintings on display at the museum. So after showing my school id at the entrance I made my way to the 19th - 20th century paintings area of the museum.

   The first Monet I saw was this beautiful oil on canvas painting called The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil (1881). I have always loved Monet paintings because they are for the most part beautifully dream like. I love the mix of colors and how even tho they are not pastel, they give the impression that they are. The broad strokes and mixture of blues, creams, and violets create a beautiful sky and garden. The small hints of red and yellow accentuate the fact that this garden is in full bloom. Monet painted this after recovering from some personal trauma. First, one of his patrons was having difficult economic problems and had to sell 16 of Monet's paintings at exceptionally low prices. This significantly brought down the value of his work. Secondly, Monet's wife Camille passed way after giving birth to her second son. Due to the brightness and happy style of painting it is easy to tell that Monet had already recovered from these sad times in his life.

   Adjacent to the room where I found the Monet, I came across this brilliant Edgar Degas painting. My sister had asked me to keep an eye open for a painting by this artist because it is one of her favorites. This oil on canvas painting tittled Dancers in the Rotunda at the Paris Opera (1875-78, and 1894) depicts Degas' most common painting subjects, dance and movement. This painting of a classroom at the Palais Garnier is actually still in use today, and is distinguishable by it's oval windows. If you look closely you can see that Degas changed the original position of the ballerinas arms and legs pictured on the left. But instead of painting over them to correct it , he outlined the limbs with black and brown paint. This painting is very beautiful and delicate in my opinion the brush strokes look soft and I love how the ballerinas in the back have no sharp edges or out lines. This draws more attention to the ballerinas in the foreground of the painting. One of which actually has the mark of Degas' fingerprints. Another thing I liked about this was the light coming through the window. Even though the back round colors of the painting are dark. The sunshine coming in the window was a nice touch to add some color to the painting.

  I decided to compare and contrast the 2 paintings above because even though that are both painted by impressionist artists they are different in theme. Both Monet and Degas are known for sticking to a theme and creating many pieces from that inspiration. Monet is famous for his beautiful series of water lily paintings that are bright with bloomed flowers and blue waters. While Degas is known for painting dancers, most all his paintings are influenced by ballerinas. And he makes sure to make them the center of attention in the paintings. The ballerinas are usually in a dark colored back round, but are mostly pictured wearing pink, violet, or white outfits. Looking at the paintings up close it seems to me both artists used soft strokes on the canvas to make the paintings look dream like or blurry. I'ts amazing to me how up close both these paintings look kind of messy but once you step back and admire the work as a whole, it creates a beautiful painting.

   After admiring some of the Van Gogh and Picasso paintings that were on display I found another Monet. I can honestly say that the beauty of the sky in this painting is so realistic, you would think it was a photograph. I saw this from across the room not knowing it was a Monet but was pleasantly surprised when I learned it was one of his works. This oil on canvas titled Mouth of the Seine, Honfleur (1865) was Monets debut at the Salon Paris and was the beginning of his impressionism work. The painting depicts the French port along the English channel. Aside from the beautiful sky in this painting I like the contrast of the blue sky with the murky and muddy looking water. The use of brown tones for the water make the blue sky pop out even more. 

   I was so happy to share this experience with my brother and get his input on what paintings he liked . He quickly became a Picasso fan and was glad to see they had quite a few of his works at the museum. We both took lots of pictures and were glad the staff was friendly and didn't mind us getting close to the art. There was quite a lot of security at the museum, more than I would of though. but like I said they were very nice, even when I loudly told my brother from across the room "OMG there's another Monet"!! hahaha I will definitely make a return trip to this museum.

Here are some more pictures from our trip:

Lady with a Book by Pablo Picasso

My brother copying the statue in front lawn of the Museum

The Flower Vendor (Girl with Lilies) by Diego Rivera

Art History 2/2/11 Lecture

The lecture on Wednesday felt a little rushed and condensed but I think the major point that Mr. Zucman was trying to get across was the evolution of art throughout the years. We got to see a glimpse of art from history to present. I would have liked to get more into detail with Monet, since he is my favorite painter. But I think we got a pretty good overview of the growth of art styles.  More than once he mentioned how past artist could have looked at the art being made during their time and said wow!! this is awesome lets continue this and make it better! While others thought to themselves, this is crap! I'm going in a total opposite direction. This comment made me think in general about conforming. And how some people are more than ok with conforming and not thinking outside the box. The example between Picasso and Pollock was interesting to me because I could feel the pressure Pollock felt, since he and Picasso were actively painting around the same time. Picasso had success with his cubism and this made it harder for Pollock to feel accepted and evolve as a painter. Especially because his type of artwork was so different,basically paint splatters. The short movie clip we watched from the autobiographical movie "Pollock" really helped me understand his process and method for painting. I think his art is not very interesting, it looks like giant splatters of paint that I could have produced in my garage. But if there is one thing I have learned is that for every type of art there is an acquired taste. And now his paintings sell for millions.

Picasso ~ Weeping Woman

Pollock ~ #8