1. “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” – Artist Jackson Pollock. What do you think Jackson Pollock meant by this statement? Read the section about Jackson Pollock on p. 504 of your textbook (Understanding Art 10th edition). (You may also use the internet to research Pollock’s life and painting methods.) Then explain how you think Pollock specifically used painting as self-discovery.
2. Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, photo silkscreen on canvas, 1962 Andy Warhol is one of the best known artists to have used the photo silkscreen medium on a wide scale. When you look at Marilyn Diptych, reproduced above, you will notice there are many “imperfections” in the piece, such as misregistered colors, areas that have received too much or too little ink, etc. Yet Andy Warhol was a consummate draftsman; before becoming a fine artist, he had won multiple awards for his ad designs and was the highest paid commercial artist in New York City. It is safe to assume that these “imperfections” are intentional and designed to add to the piece’s content.
Warhol created Marilyn Diptych in the weeks after her death. In many ways, it is a response to her death. However, Marilyn Diptych suggests a much different reaction to her death than Audrey Flack’s Marilyn. Carefully observe the Warhol’s stylistic choices in this piece. Why do you think he wanted Marilyn Diptych to look this way? What is Warhol trying to say about Marilyn Monroe, society, or himself via the use of formal elements and design principles? Be sure to back up your response. (Hint: Use the index in the back of your textbook (Understanding Art 10th edition) to locate and read the passages on Andy Warhol’s work. They may help stimulate your ideas.
3. “It gradually began to dawn on me that something must be wrong with the art of painting as practiced at that time. With the camera I could produce the same results as those attained by painters. . . I could express the same moods. Artists who saw my earlier photographs began to tell me that they envied me, that they felt that my photographs were superior to their paintings, but that, unfortunately, photography was not an art. . . There and then I started my fight—or rather my conscious struggle for the recognition of photography as a new medium of expression, to be respected in its own right, on the same basis as any other art form.” – Photographer Alfred Stieglitz
In its infancy, most people regarded photography as a mechanical recording tool, rather than an expressive medium capable of producing fine art. This was largely because photographic images were produced via a machine (the camera) and chemical reactions to light. Today, there is an understanding that photography can be art, and that the best photographers do not simply push a button; rather, they make a host of artistic and creative choices that impact the final images. What types of creative choices do photographers make? Do you think that making an art photograph is “easier” or “less artistic” than making a painting, drawing, sculpture, lithograph, etc.? Or is it harder? Explain your answer.
4. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917….. Sherrie Levine, Fountain after Duchamp, 199 Carefully reread the sections in Chapter 9 on Marcel Duchamp and ready-mades and on Sherrie Levine and appropriation art. Duchamp’s ready-mades were revolutionary because they shifted the definition of art from a skillfully hand-made object to art as idea or concept. Duchamp’s concept of the readymade has had a profound impact on contemporary art—a 2004 survey of over 500 artists, museum curators, art dealers, and critics voted Fountain the most influential work of modern art ever created. Those that voted most overwhelmingly for Fountain were the artists themselves. In 1991, artist Sherrie Levine made Fountains after Duchamp. In a sense, Levine has appropriated an appropriation, since Duchamp himself had appropriated the Mott Plumbing Company, who mass-manufactured the urinal in Fountain to begin with. Your textbook says that Levine’s work is meant to question artistic ideas like authorship and originality. How does Fountains after
Duchamp do this? What other notions does Levine’s piece bring up or challenge? (You may use the internet to research Levine’s ideas, but be sure to cite your sources.)
5. We are focusing on site-specific art, art that is made for one particular location and would be diminished or destroyed if removed from its intended setting. Select one site-specific work from your textbook, either from Chapter 10 or elsewhere, and explain how its environment is necessary for the piece to “work” Why would the piece fail to work if sited elsewhere? Consider both the form (style) of the piece and its intended message/content. Either post an image of the piece in your discussion board response, or else include the artist’s name, the title of the piece, and the page number for easy reference.