My Kind of Town (or My Kind of Place

          I’ve imagined that I have been hired as an assistant curator and invited by the Metropolitan of Art in New York City to create a digital art exhibit. My ideal places are ones where I can picture getting away from reality and being able to relax and think. The art works that I have chosen show a reflection on what I dream of and most of the time want.

        One of the first art works I chose was “Sunrise on the Matterhorn” by Albert Bierstadt. I chose this because it looks very peaceful. I can picture myself hiking up the mountains and being away from civilization, being somewhere where people don’t normally pass by and the scenery is adventurous. The second artwork is “Sea Cove” by Albert Bierstadt. I have chosen this because I don’t normally like beaches. Since they are always crowded, I don’t like lying down in the sun, and the heat irritates me. However, looking at this painting changes my perspective and brings out the fun in my imagination. I can picture being there on the soft warm sand between my toes, feeling the heat waves riding in with the breeze, and also swimming in the water. The third work of art is “View of Toledo” by El Greco. I feel this reflects my life. Growing up where I had to deal with a strict mother who didn’t give me a lot of freedom when I wanted it. However, when I started obtaining freedom and started traveling I used to go to the city and Forty-Second street with my friends. In El Greco’s “Toledo”, the pathway shown represents my journey and the growing up I’ve done to be able to be mature enough to travel. The fact that the painting’s view shows a part of an urban place expresses how I have only gotten a glimpse of the world and that there is still much more I have explored yet. The fourth work of art in my exhibit is “A Forest at Dawn with a Deer Hunt” by Peter Paul Rubens. I enjoy the forest and nature. Many movies I’ve watched take place in some type of forest or woods. The woods are very mysterious and it lures my attention.

          Additionally, I have chosen a fifth work of art to show called “The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda)” by Luis Egidio Meléndez. I have chosen this because I love food. If it were a person I would date it. The image of this food just makes my ideal place even better. I can imagine sitting down in that painting eating all the fruit, then just laying there alone looking up at the sky thinking about how stuffed I would be. Another work of art I have chosen is “Desert” by Peter Booth. I chose this piece of art because it is suppose to reflect a dessert however; it has so much color and shapes and odd lines. This reflects me by expressing my idea of a getaway and a dessert is a good place where I would be able to get away and explore. All of the colors in creativity shown represent all of the fun and excitement there would be if I were to be in such a place. The seventh work of art I have chosen is “The Angel of Death and the Sculptor from the Milmore Memorial” by Daniel Chester French. I have chosen this because apart of my ideal place is that there are no problems and one problem that worries me at least four times a week is death. It isn’t really something I enjoy to think about but it’s something that pops into my head a lot and I find it scary but yet interesting and mysterious. The eighth work of art I have chosen is “Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792)” by Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)  (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux). I have chosen this work of art because this painting represents youth and innocence in which I still at times feel I’ll always have within myself.

          The ninth work of art I have chosen was “Passenger” by Doug Aitken. I chose this work of art because a part of my ideal place is getting away and traveling to a place where I can explore. The perspective from which the photograph was taken is where I can imagine being, on my way to somewhere where I have not been before such as, Greece, or Italy or even Spain. Next, I chosen an artwork called “Bed (Lit à La Duchesse En Impériale)” by Georges Jacob. I chose this for my exhibit because my ideal place is a place where I can get away and relax and think. Therefore, I chose this work of art because I can picture myself lying in that luxurious and comfortable bed sleeping and dreaming.  My eleventh work of art I chosen was a French coin made by Jules-Clément Chaplain. This coin is suppose to represent an agreement and that reflects on me because my ideal place involves agreements because that would be a part of getting rid of reality’s problems I’ve gone through. My twelfth and final work of art I have chosen was a bowl made in the tenth-eleventh century. This bowl has an Arabic inscription saying "Blessing, prosperity, goodwill, peace and happiness". I saved this work of art for last because this is originally what I want my ideal place to be about. Hopefully it is what my reality becomes as well.

 

Sunrise on the Matterhorn

Albert Bierstadt  (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York City)

Date:

after 1875

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

58 1/2 x 42 5/8 in. (148.6 x 108.3 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. Karl W. Koeniger, 1966

Accession Number:

66.114

 

Sea Cove

Albert Bierstadt  (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York City)

Date:

ca. 1880–90

Medium:

Oil on wood

Dimensions:

14 x 19 in. (35.6 x 48.3 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. J. Augustus Barnard, 1979

Accession Number:

1979.490.4

 

 

View of Toledo

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)  (Greek, Candia (Iráklion) 1540/41–1614 Toledo)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

47 3/4 x 42 3/4 in. (121.3 x 108.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929

Accession Number:

29.100.6

A Forest at Dawn with a Deer Hunt

Peter Paul Rubens  (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)

Date:

ca. 1635

Medium:

Oil on wood

Dimensions:

24 1/4 x 35 1/2 in. (61.5 x 90.2 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, Michel David-Weill, The Dillon Fund, Henry J. and Drue Heinz Foundation, Lola Kramarsky, Annette de la Renta, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, The Vincent Astor Foundation, and Peter J. Sharp Gifts; special funds, gifts, and other gifts and bequests, by exchange, 1990

Accession Number:

1990.196

The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda)

Luis Egidio Meléndez (or Menéndez)  (Spanish, 1716–1780)

Date:

ca. 1772

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

41 1/2 x 60 1/2 in. (105.4 x 153.7 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982

Accession Number:

1982.60.39

Desert

Peter Booth  (Australian, born 1940)

Date:

1985

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

H. 48, W. 96 inches (121.9 x 243.8 cm.)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Roy B. Simpson Gift, 1986

Accession Number:

1986.219

Rights and Reproduction:

© 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

 

The Angel of Death and the Sculptor from the Milmore Memorial

Daniel Chester French  (American, Exeter, New Hampshire 1850–1931 Stockbridge, Massachusetts)

Date:

carving date 1921–26, modeling date 1889–93

Medium:

Marble

Dimensions:

93 1/2 x 100 1/2 x 32 1/2 in. (237.5 x 255.3 x 82.6 cm)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

Gift of a group of Museum trustees, 1926

Accession Number:

26.120

Goya y Lucientes)  (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Jules Bache Collection, 1949

Accession Number:

49.7.41

 

 

 

Doug Aitken  (American, born Redondo Beach, California 1968)

Date:

1997, printed 2004

Medium:

Chromogenic print

Dimensions:

Image: 100.5 x 122 cm (39 9/16 x 48 1/16 in.) Frame: 103.2 x 125.7 cm (40 5/8 x 49 1/2 in.)

Classification:

Photographs

Credit Line:

Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2004

Accession Number:

2004.223

 

 

 

Bed (Lit à La Duchesse En Impériale)

Georges Jacob  (1739–1814, master 1765)

Factory:

Tapestry made at Beauvais

Artist:

After a design by Jean Baptiste Huet I (French, Paris 1745–1811 Paris)

Date:

ca. 1782–83

Culture:

French (Paris)

Medium:

Carved and gilded walnut, lindenwood, pine; iron; silk and wool Beauvais tapestry and modern silk damask

Dimensions:

Overall (bed components installed): 156 3/4 x 73 1/2 x 86 3/4 in. (398.1 x 186.7 x 220.3 cm) Other (of headboard): 79 1/2 x 73 1/2 in. (201.9 x 186.7 cm) Other (of tester at rectangular frame): 78 x 90 1/2 in. (198.1 x 229.9 cm) Other (Greatest dims. of tester including protruding crestings): 96 x 99 1/2 x 17 in. (243.8 x 252.7 x 43.2 cm) H. of canopy from floor: 156-3/4 in. (398.1cm)

Classification:

Woodwork

Credit Line:

Gift of Kingdon Gould, in memory of his mother, Edith Kingdon Gould, 1923

Accession Number:

23.235a

 

To commemorate the Congress held at Paris (1872-3) to regulate the adoption of the Metric System.

Medalist: Jules-Clément Chaplain  (1839–1909)

Date:

1874

Culture:

French

Medium:

Bronze, silvered (cliché), struck

Dimensions:

Diam. 3-15/16 in. (100 mm.)

Classification:

Medals

Credit Line:

Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1893

Accession Number:

93.10.63

 

 

Bowl with Arabic Inscription, "Blessing, prosperity, goodwill, peace and happiness"

Object Name:

Bowl

Date:

late 10th–11th century

Geography:

present-day Uzbekistan, probably Samarqand; Iran, Nishapur

Medium:

Earthenware; white slip with polychrome slip decoration under transparent glaze

Dimensions:

Max Diam. 14 in. (35.6 cm) H. 4 1/4 (10.8 cm)

Classification:

Ceramics

Credit Line:

Rogers Fund, 1940

Accession Number:

40.170.15

 

 

Design in Our Lives

  

    During my field trip to the Moma Museum I have chose four groups of art that I have decided had high functionality and low functionality in terms of ergonomics. Two high functionality pieces of art I chose was “Truck: Utility ¼ Ton 4x4 (M38A1) Jeep” by Willys-Overland Motors, Inc., another high functionality piece I chose was “Minikitchen” by Joe Colombo. Two low functionality pieces of art I chose was “Sonia Delaunay” by A.G. Fronzoni, another low functionality piece of art was “Designs for an Overpopulated Planet Foragers” by Anthony Dunne; Fiona Raby and Dunne & Raby.
    Both “Sonia Delaunay” by A.G Fronzoni and “Designs for an Overpopulated Planet Foragers” by Anthony Dunne; Fiona Raby and Dunne & Raby were low functionality pieces of art I chose. I decided that they were low functionality because the “Sonia Delaunay” is not a necessity to survival it’s a wanted desire. People don’t need a bed and couch put together to live. There are many other things that are not dangerous and comfortable people can rest on. The “Designs for an Overpopulated Planet Foragers” is a low functionality design. Although few many don’t take proper care of the planet and out ozone layer is not at its greatest doesn’t mean that we are about to need to turn to designs to survive. In my opinion mother nature can take care of earth and provide us with enough oxygen and air to breathe. I think that’s proven just by the unknowing weather we receive throughout the year.
    The designs “ Truck: Utility ¼ Ton 4x4 (M38A1) Jeep” by Willys-Overland Motors, Inc. and “Minikitchen” by Joe Colombo contain high functionality. The “Truck”  has high functionality because it is very useful to people. Without transportation it would slow down many things in our society. In my opinion its useful because for example, god for bid a person is badly injured and they need to be rushed to the Emergency Room to receive help. Without a “Truck” they could be hurt worse than what they were because they wouldn’t make it in time. Plus its transportation like that in which transports our food to stores and clothes. Transportation is a necessity to survival for humanity. “Minikitchen” has high functionality because it is what keeps things clean and helps us cook our food to consume. Without a kitchen we wouldn’t be able to clean our food before it is cooked or cut it up and cook it. If certain foods were to be consumed without cooked properly then people who catch unwanted diseases that can get us sick. A “Minikitchen” is also important because it helps us keep clean and kill germs. Without cleaning can too, result to harmful diseases.
    The two pieces of art n which have low functionality have a common thing between them. The common thing in which they share is they are not a necessity to live in this present time. There maybe a possibility in which humanity will need the assistance of these two pieces of art but right now they are not important to the world right now. They are a desire and short-cut not a key to live. The two pieces of art in which possess high functionality have a thing in common. One thing they share in common is they can help humanity survive and function. They are a high ergonomic. The thing they mainly share is the fact they both help human society and that is the most important goal. They keep function in society and help keep man-kind alive.
    Visiting the “Moma Museum” has opened my eyes to many issues and needs the world faces through. From the environment we live in and what we consume. It all breaks down to one key term in which is important to us, survival. These functionality all help and benefit human society. However, some benefits are more needed than others. 

Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
"TRuck: Utility 1/4 Ton 4x4 (M38A1
) Jeep
Steel Body
(USA, est. 1909)

Joe Colombo
"Minikitchen"
Plywood with coniferous wood  veneer, aluminum, steel, plastic, laminate, electrical components, 35 x 45 x 25 1/2" (88.9 x 114.3 x 64.8 cm). Manufactured by Boffi S.p.A., Cesano Maderno, Italy. Gift of the manufacturer
(Italian, 1930-1971)

A. g. Fronzoni
"Sonia Delainay"
Serigraph
(Italian, 1923-2002)

xxx

Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, Dunne & Raby

"Designs for an Overpopulated Planet Foragers"

Augmented Digestive System, Tree Processor/Digestor, Grass Process, Algae Digester

2009

Field Trip #1

    On my first field trip to the Moma Museum I saw a whole bunch of diverse art in which spoke to me in different ways. Three ways in which I related the three groups of art were personal Individual identity, cultural identity and historical time. I can relate to three specific paintings and sculptures because I feel that they spoke to me and caught my artistic interest.
    The first painting I chose was the painting by Takashi Murakami, “727”. I consider this as an individual identity painting towards myself. I feel that I can relate to this painting as a remembrance of my childhood. The way the colors mix and change create different moods for me. And the figure in the painting reminds me of a cartoon game I use to love as a kid. Even though there is only one figure in the painting I feel like it says a thousand words in my head.  As if I’m looking in the past of my childhood in a reflection. I think this compared to the other paintings is different because its made with different style and sends out a different message.
    The second piece of art I chose was by Ai weiwei, “Berne and Hong Kong from the series Study of Perspective”. I consider to be a historical photograph in my view. That’s because the first I noticed was its in black and white. Next, I was aware of the perspective of the photograph, it was taken in “first person”. In my point of view it shows how someone view the world in the old days in their eyes. They are sticking there middle finger towards a city. I think the person who took the photo has a sorrowful or harsh experience with the world and either they don’t worry or care about the life they could have lived or maybe they are angry at it for some reason.
    Finally, the third piece of art I chose was by Lisa Yuskavage, “Outliers”. I consider this to be a cultural painting. That’s because of the way the people look and the setting they are in. Clearly in my eyes they aren’t fashion specialist, one of the women is wearing a simple dress and the other is wearing a half of a shirt on with her bosom out in the open. I can consider this to be an old cultural painting because of the color of their socks which could represent some kind of culture of theirs. After, I can infer that this was based on people who lived years ago. What leads me to that is their lack of lady-like manners such as sitting with your legs wide open and sitting with your breast out. Lastly, I can infer this was based on people from a long time ago was their scenery, they are sitting on a pile of rocks as if they were cavemen. People these days don’t normally go outside half naked and sit on rocks.
    My first trip to the Moma Museum helped me view art in a different way. I now understand that there is much more to art than its first perspective looks. I now know that “works of art” have a profound meaning behind every stroke, color, and or interaction. In which I can relate to people, myself and the rest of society.  

Takashi Murakami
Japanese, born 1962
"727"
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas board, three panels
1996

Ai Weiwei
Chinese, born 1957
"Berne and Hong Kong from the series Study of Perspective"
Gelatin silver prints
1995-2003

Lisa Yuskavage
American, born 1962
"Outliers"
2011