Creative Notebook #9

I just love the primary and tertiary colors as the red shoe serves as the focal point against the yellow-orange canvas.  Created by Scherezade Garcia, Sassy Sarah Shoe, is able to capture the essence of warm colors as the overall design has an appearance of fire! I love the jeweled details on the top of the shoe and how the ankle straps that are used to secure the shoe in place are whimsically floating in mid-air. Yeah I can definitely envision the remainder of the wardrobe to accompany this design!

 

Activity #13


In attempts to expand my vocabulary and knowledge of the biographical background of two distinct works by Paul Gauguin, I will further examine the style, movement, period, and culture to which the works belong. The appearance of Fantata te Miti (By the Sea), 1892, oil on canvas is abstract - as it focuses on the main figures while using simple lines to create their limbs and subtle curves to form and highlight the feminine qualities of the women. Paul Gauguin is regarded very highly for his trademark style of using vivid colors (brilliant shades of pinks, oranges, and purples) commonly classified as tropical colors in addition to designs centered on the more “primitive” cultures (National Gallery of Art). As a French native during the Industrial Revolution, Gauguin reviled the deterioration of society as it moved further away from core values and towards a more narcissistic society (Getlein 500). Fantata te Miti captures a simple scene of three main figures engaging in aquatic activities (one women is enjoying the Sea and another is removing her attire to join as a nearby fisherman also takes advantage of the warm climate). This landscape composition, which is a direct reflection of the post impressionism movement and its desire to make society more aware of its lack of substance, is a wonderful depiction of the tranquility and intimacy towards nature that Gauguin may so have desired .

The second design by Paul Gauguin was created in 1897 using the same medium and support, oil on canvas. The Bathers has an abstract appearance, as does the former design, although the four female figures are more distorted in appearance. Gauguin’s trademarked style in respect to his vibrant use of color is softer with a more glazed appearance and use of open palette, his use of thick bold lines are replaced with less intense contour lines to define the figures, and his typical thick and heavy brush strokes are substituted with smaller brush strokes. The theme of daily life in this design has an undertone of the sacred realm - the figures appear more serene and ritualistic as created by the use of light (National Gallery of Art). In this work Gauguin had recently returned to Haiti from an unsuccessful trip to his native France to sell his designs in order to sustain his second family(Getlein 501). The shift from the typically more vivid tertiary colors of (yellow-green, red-orange, and blue-violet) as well as the use of broader brush strokes may have been directly related to experiences encountered while in Paris. In comparison to his impressionist predecessors whom he may have regarded as depicters of unauthentic realities, Paul Gauguin and other artist of the post impressionism movement during the period of the Industrial Revolution, relished in creating designs that promote a return to the simpler times while discouraging the overindulgence of humanity (Getlein 499).

Bibliography
Getlein, Mark. Living with Art. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
National Gallery of Art. "The Collection: Paul Gauguin". (2006): n. pag. Online. Internet. 9 Feb. 2006. Available: nga.org.

Creative Notebook #8

The soft pastels (yellows, pinks, and lavenders) of this print make for an appealing experience. The two main figures are shown trying on numerous pairs of shoes in what appears to be a shoe store.  This work by Elya Dechino titled Obsession I reminds me of a summer day shopping with friends.  This oil on canvas work has a lovely effect of crating an opaque image of the majority of the composition while allowing the shoes to appear a little more transparent.

Creative Notebook #7

This work titled High Heels Rio by Jen Malta, oil on canvas, caught my eye due to its restricted palette - the bright red open-sided heels with floral accents and the deep violet of the carpet or flooring.  White contour lines are used to define the legs of the main figure as she steps out of the darkness of the background. 

Creative Notebook #6

In sticking to the theme of my Creative Notebook I decided to enter this second work from artist Penny Feder named Kickin' Back II.  This work completed prior to the former entry Kickin' Back IV included many of the same elements of design.  The background has the same sea grren color and the textured foot of the shoes is identical to the sand in the former.  However, instead of a book the owner of these shoes opted fro a drink!  Awhhhh.  But what stickes me as odd is that there are three shoes instead of a pair.

Creative Notebook #5

Heeellloooo Spring Break!  I will be spending it in Puerto Rico and when I saw this design by Penny Feder named Kickin' Back IV, I new that it was bound for my Creative Notebook.  How can you not feel at the beach?  This composition balances the scene wonderfully- you have the horizontal line of which the sand meets the water which meets the sun in the sky.  The texture created in the sand is inviting and the leaves from the nearby trees provide ample shade while I rest on a sun embosomed beach towel with a novel and when I'm ready to go - I have the cutest pair of red toe sandals with a border the same color as the water and sky!

Activity # 11

The Movement of Fantata te Miti (by the Sea), Paul Gauguin, oil on canvas, 1892 is Postimpressionism and the Modern Art Movement. The Postimpressionism movement is conveniently used to encompass multiple generations of artists whose compositions reject some of the more restrictive “realities” depicted by impressionism (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Thriving in France between 1880 to about 1910 artists’ such as Paul Gauguin used forms of expression in designs to expose audiences to broader representation of existence. Fantata te Miti (By the Sea) was painted during Paul Gauguin’s first of many subsequent trips to Tahiti (National Gallery of Art). His style incorporates brilliant pink sands and vibrantly colored accents showed an uninhibited paradise and a simpler lifestyle that Gauguin desired to further explore. In this design he depicts a woman removing her clothing to join a friend for a swim in the sea as a man fishes nearby. Day to day life is portrayed as a universal truth and was viewed as inherent in the more the “primitive arts” of the Southern Pacific islands (Getlein 500). Postimpressionists do not however reject Impressionism in totality; instead they built upon its foundation - they recognized the radical impact of Impressionism yet they go on to explore new artistic ideas, many of which grow out of concepts embedded in Impressionism.

As discussed in the former paragraph, The Bathers, Paul Gauguin, oil on canvas, 1897 is also of the Postimpressionism and the Modern Art Movement. Moving away from the formal and rigid styles that were typical of traditional society, artists of Impressionism tended to paint outdoors instead of indoors to convey the effects of light on objects while focusing on scenes of daily life and landscapes (Getlein 495). Artists of Postimpressionism go even one step further by exposing the “truth” of daily life with all of its politics, religion, poverty, and hypocrisy. Paul Gauguin’s answer to the one-sided representational art that dominated society was to unveil life in its simplest forms – thus displaying its “truth”. Appalled with westernization, Paul Gauguin with infatuated “primitive” and exotic art - the soft colors (pinks, greens, and oranges) in this work are more blended and the hues are not as intense as of the formerly discussed design. In addition, this work conveys a more tranquil effect than that of the former and it has a more spiritual quality (National Gallery of Arts). The gentle tones of this design – soft pinks of the ground, lavenders of the flowing water, and greens of the vegetation are more reflective of his more spiritual and ritual desires since his recent exposures (unsuccessful art exhibt and overall disgust with the dwindling values of society in his travels back to Paris (Geltein 501).

Bibliography
"Gauguin, Paul." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2003.
Getlein, Mark. Living with Art. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
National Gallery of Art. "The Collection: Paul Gauguin". (2006): n. pag. Online. Internet. 9 Feb. 2006. Available: nga.org.