Blog 5: Art Gallery Visit #1

Albright Knox Art Gallery

I really enjoyed the visit to the art gallery! It is funny how you drive right past something every day and never take the initiative to check it out until you are told to. I thought it was awesome that they have the "Life of Pop, London to Warhol" exhibit there for the summer so I got to see a lot of the Andy Warhol work that is in our text and from some of the videos we've seen. I really appreciated seeing the Campell's 100 Soup Cans in real life after knowing more about Warhol and his work.

A.) Which artworks make an impact or impression on me? Why?

The Tree by Agnes Martin made an impact on me because it was in the first room of paintings I was looking at and the majority of them were lines, stripes, or circles with only one or two different colors. As you can tell by this picture, there is not a lot of color in this work. I was kind of thinking, "What is going on with this piece?" as I walked closer to it. It is hard to tell but this piece was pretty much just a giant grid of squares. When I looked at the information I couldn't figure out what this had to do with a tree. I actually spent a good amount of time staring at the grid and thinking about trees. When I got home I found this quote from the artist, “When I first made a grid,” Martin said, “I happened to be thinking of the innocence of trees and then this grid came into my mind and I thought it represented innocence . . . and so I painted it and then I was satisfied. I thought, this is my vision.” Martin made fine vertical lines and lightly shaded horizontal bands in oil and pencil, softening the geometric structure, which seems to expand beyond the confines of the canvas. For Martin the grid evoked not a human measure but an ethereal one—the boundless order or transcendent reality associated with Eastern philosophies.
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/agnes-martin/the-tree-1964

Untitled #1373 by Petah Coyne not only made an lasting impression on me but was my favorite work from the whole gallery along with, "Interior: Monet's Blue Foyer." These silk flowers were covered in wax. It was not only pretty but just so interesting. I wanted to be able touch the flowers so badly! The strings of wax reminded me of strands of hot glue from a glue gun. This work was so intriguing because I was just thinking about how long it must have taken to make and what kind of wax they used and how they melted the wax. As beautiful as I thought this piece was, I also found it to be kind of creepy because the flowers were not bright or blooming, they were wilting and the colors were so neutral. This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!


B.) Which artworks do I feel a connection with? Why?


My favorite work from the gallery that I made a connection with was Mickalene Thomas' "Interior: Monet's Blue Foyer, 2012." This picture that I took and other pictures I found online of this work just don't cut it for this piece! You have to see it in real life to appreciate it. This painting was huge and was almost completely alone in the room it was in. It may sound silly to most but the rhinestones spoke to me! As a young girl in my early twenties, I definitely loved and related to this painting. The sparkly rhinestones, the colors, prints, and whole feel just reminded me of myself and my own apartment. It was so pretty!
 
The second work that I connected with was Round Trip by Helen Frankenthaler. I liked this painting because I saw it from the side at first and slowly approached it. At first when I was looking at this painting it reminded me of a road trip for some reason. The two red areas toward the top of the painting resembled aviator sunglasses to me and below looked like rivers, bridges, roads, and people. I immediately felt a sense of traveling and excitement before I looked over and read the information. I found it funny that the painting was called "Round Trip" and it reminded me of a road trip. I love to take long road trips in the car and have been across the country many times so I was connected to this painting through the idea of being on the road.


C.) Which artworks would I like to know more about? Why?

The first work I would like to know more about is shown in the pictures above. "Untitled" by Lee Bontecou. The first picture I took directly facing the work did not do justice to the dimension that the work has so I took the second photo from the side to try and show how it is coming away from the wall. The information says it was made from welded steel, canvas, and wire. I wanted to touch this piece so badly. (I didn't of course!) When I googled the artist to find out more information about this piece, I was surprised to learn that Lee Bontecou is actually a woman. I felt silly for assuming that it was a man who would make this, so this fact alone opened my eyes to not jumping to conclusions when it comes to art. She has many more pieces that are similar to this one that were created with the same materials of welded steel and wire.
 
The second work I would like to know about is this collage. At the gallery there was no information next to the piece but I snapped a picture and was able to search the image in google and found out that it was part of the pop art movement so it might have been a piece that is only in the gallery temporarily with the rest of the pop art and Andy Warhol exhibit. I was excited that I was able to find it by searching with the picture though. I was able to find out that this piece was by artist, John McHale. He was a member of the Independent Group of artists from London and I believe this piece is titled "First Contact" from 1958.