For the first project, I was impressed with how artful the photographs were in Matthew Hedges's and Jesse Smith's blogs. The elements and principles were pretty straightforward as well, except for perhaps Jesse's example of "proportion," which, as I say in my comment, didn't seem terribly obvious. Perhaps more subtlety with the photographs is a good thing, however--it's not like the elements and principles should scream out at you when you're looking at a piece of art. Instead, they should be present to help the artwork convey its meaning, but they shouldn't typically be the main attraction.
Some of Matthew's photos, like his "line" and "value" examples, definitely incorporated more than one element/principle (as many of the other photos did as well). The guitar is asymmetrically balanced, the pepsi can employs negative space, and both have a strong sense of movement (with the strings in the former, and the contours of the objects in the latter).
Neither Matthew or Jesse chose the same artworks that I did at the Albright-Knox, though Jesse chose a couple of Miro paintings, and I chose an artwork by Miro myself. I chose Miro's Carnival of Harlequin as an artwork that made an impression on me, whereas the two Miros that Jesse chose were put in the "felt a connection with" and "want to learn more about" categories. Jesse responded to the unique shapes and colors that Miro uses, whereas I responded to the strange moods he creates.
My interest was piqued the most with Matthew's photo of Sheila Isham's Magic Mountain XV. I can't really figure out how the materials were manipulated to make such an image. It almost looks like stencils were used, but that seems unlikely as it was created through acrylics and pastel. It's such a dreamy, surreal landscape, that I think would look even more fascinating in person. Somehow, I totally missed this artwork, which makes me wonder if there is a part of the museum that I am not aware of. I am also more interested in Gianfranco Foschino's The Window now that Jesse has discussed it. I have not yet really taken the time to watch it--I'm generally rather impatient with video installations. From his description, however, it seems like a nice, quiet, innocently voyeuristic representation of the "inside" lives of a group of people.
I certainly find reading other people's impressions to be a helpful method of reaching a fuller understanding of the assignment. I generally try to read a few others' blogs anyway, after I have submitted mine. I just want to see other people's takes on the same assignments, and how they may have interpreted things differently. It was nice to see how thought out many of the photographs were for project one, and that people did not simply go for the most famous artworks at the Albright-Knox. The fact that neither other blogger chose the same art as I did means that what we chose was what honestly made an impression on us, made us curious, or created a connection with us, rather than what was simply the most famous.
The comments on my blog on the Albright-Knox trip were especially helpful. They showed how people can have very similar impressions, but also that people bring their own personal experiences to the artwork when they evaluate it. Kat, for instance, also felt that Tanguy's painting was eerie. Ryan, on the other hand, had a different personal experience to connect with Monet's Tow Path of Argenteuil. Rather than Sweden, Ryan was reminded of Buffalo, when the weather is changing but city still remains beautiful. Both of us were reminded of a place where we had lived, even though the setting of the painting was neither of these places. I'm glad that there was an assignment where we had to take a look at each others' blogs--it requires us to think about other points of views, and consider how we could have made our own blogs/projects stronger. I hope there are more to come!
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