Redo of Chapter One

Chapter One, Redo: Living with Art.

I am redoing my Chapter One blog and choosing an extra set of artists to compare and contrast.
I want to include a new set:

Constatin Brancusi and his art work Bird to Space,

and Maya Lin' Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

I compare these two because in this chapter, I think that the two artists and these art works have something in common more than the others, with the exception of my other set I have chosen.
The thing I thing all of them have in common is the intent to make us think. In Maya Lin’s words, “I create places in which to think, without trying to dictate what to think.”
This is the first attribute about any artwork that I most admire, or believe to be a fundamental ideal of art in general. Maya’s Vietnam Memorial does make one think about the war heroes, the act and consequences of war, etc., and the way she does it is create an environment that envelopes one into the experience.
Brancusi’s Bird in Space also creates something that with the title causes one to think about the nature of flight and freedom, enjoying the thinking of the thought process of the artist. He could have made a more naturalistic bird in flight, but chose instead to create a representation that forces us to use more of our ability to imagine.
Of course the differences are great as far as materials and design etc., but it still was the artist’s creativity that caused our brain to enjoy thinking a little harder without realizing that is what we are doing.

My original sets were, first:

Tim Hankinson’s Emoter

And Van Gogh’s Self Portrait

Both have similarities in that they both show the artist’s face, but the differences are vast. The former is more expressive and the latter more somber, The former hard to look at for very long, the latter easier to stare at. Both added elements to make me think about the artist’s vision and intent, but the former gave me more fuel to take the thoughts further.


I also chose Juan de Valdes Leal' Vanitas

and Audrey Flacks' Wheel of Fortune

because they cause me to think about what their artworks are saying or asking.
The differences are size, older style vs. modern, the items that Flack uses i.e. lipstick, more color and less future, more past with photo rather than the Book of Revelation painting etc…but they both use the vanitas style and are saying very similar messages in regards to life, time passing , meaningless parts of life and of course, death.
I really like how all these made me feel something, think many things and desire to come up with my own way of saying what I believe or wonder about through a work of art. The mystery of discovery of each work of art is a common thread that makes me love this subject.