Blanton Museum: ArtRemix

"El Guitarrista" by Manes

gsims@austin.utexas.edu (Blanton Museum) — Tue, 3 Apr 2007 16:55:00 -0600

Blanton ArtRemix: Anne Frugé, member of the Blanton student guild shares thoughts about Pablo Curatella Manes' "El Guitarrista" El Guitarrista by Pablo Curatella Manes: a podcast by Anne Frugé At first glance, El Guitarrista by Pablo Curatella Manes is missing a lot of things. He has a body but no face, he plays a guitar but there is no sound, he sits on a stool but has no audience. At least, that’s what it looks like at first. And then, when you look closer, you realize that the black patina is purposeful. It represents the absence of a skin color and the universality of music. The flat surface where the face is supposed to be is really supposed to be blank. Music has no face because it belongs to everyone. The guitar he plays does have a sound, you only need look at the movement of his body- the way he leans towards you, the energy pulsing in his chunky limbs, the slight chip in on the side of his “face” that could be an open mouth belting a song. You have to admit his enthusiasm is contagious and too natural to be affected. But he does not get carried away and he definitely does not forget his audience. In fact, he’s giving a personalized show- for you. My favorite part about the piece is the natural way in which the guitarist moves. Although the sculpture is inanimate, Manes has created a living musician. The curvature of his limbs and the edges of his body are organic lines. Even the foot resting askew carries energy and contributes to the vitality of the piece. Everything moves in harmony, creating a tune specific to this work, the guitarist’s tune. His arms, torso, and legs undulate in time to the music, following the melody already determined by the harmony of his movements. Every part of him moves in fluid independence but it all blends together smoothly like the notes of a song. His back bends as he leans forward and plays just for me. He is moving to the rhythm of his own song but I wonder if he’s really playing because his right hand is not even on the strings.

"David with the Head of Goliath" by Vignon

gsims@austin.utexas.edu (Blanton Museum) — Sun, 6 May 2007 15:15:00 -0600

Blanton ArtRemix: Patrick Lawlor, member of the Blanton student guild, and Jennifer Wygoda share thoughts about Claude Vignon's "David with the Head of Goliath". (technomusic) JENNIFER: Welcome to the Blanton Museum of Art and the premiere of the Double-Sided Canvas ArtCast. Today we will be critiquing a curious piece of baroque art, David with the Head of Goliath, by Claude Vignon. PATRICK: Yeah. Hi. Ummmmm. This is definitely very strange. The first thing that comes to my mind is, okay, what is this little boy doing with a head? It kind of looks like he may be under the influence of something. No other way a little boy could slay a giant. Yeah. JENNIFER: This piece of art forcefully depicts the biblical story of David and Goliath. David's face suggests numbness after a difficult battle, not drug use. He seems satisfied with his accomplishment. His hand grips Goliath's head, but his face is turned away. Perhaps he is conflicted with the outcome of the battle or in disbelief of his victory. PATRICK: Uh. Yeah. And the lighting of this piece, okay, my guess. He is being interrogated. You know the bright lights that the police use? Yeah. Well you know what, it is the bible police. They want to know, okay, what happened, and why do you have a giant head and a sword? JENNIFER: Since this painting has an obvious religious context, the light can be interpreted as a metaphor for the divine presence of God. It is a very hard, revealing light that shines directly on David; examining him; examining the maxim of his action. It brings out the stark contrast between the blush vivacious skin of David with the pallid and seemingly clammy skin of Goliath's head. PATRICK: Yeah. Uhhh. That head is pretty nasty looking, if I do say so myself. And I just don't understand why on earth any artist would make everything point to the head. It seems everything comes to a head at the head. JENNIFER: Well, nearly all the components in the piece seem to point towards the head. The light. The hands. The sword. The head is obviously the focal point of the piece, emphasizing the grotesque nature of the act. PATRICK: Yeah. Uh. Whatever. Keep it real guys. This has been a presentation of the Double-Sided Canvas. Join us next time. (technomusic)

"Over the Circle" by Frankenthaler

Blanton Museum — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:35:00 -0600

Blanton ArtRemix: Dorothy Baden-Mayer, member of the Blanton student guild shares thoughts about "Over the Circle" by Helen Frankenthaler

"Cadmium Red Over Black" by Gottlieb

gsims@austin.utexas.edu (Blanton Museum) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:11:00 -0600

Blanton ArtRemix: Devon Loweth, member of the Blanton student guild shares thoughts about Adolph Gottlieb's "Cadmium Red Over Black" Hi, my name is Devon. I'm a student at the University of Texas. I'm studying photography and art history. I'm here to talk to you about a painting here at the Blanton by Adolph Gottlieb It is called "Cadmium Red Over Black". He painted this piece in 1959. It is part of a series of paintings which is entitled "Bursts". If we look at a quote from Gottlieb, He said, when he was explaining what abstract expressionism is, "We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth." So he is interested in the relationships between different objects and deep spaces which leads him to this radically simplified image such as we see in the "Burst" series. They are always this red disc over a black mass and the red has this quality like it is floating and it is this stark contrast. It forces us to go back and forth between the red and the black and we keep searching the canvas. It really creates this sense of motion and movement. This canvas is enormous when we walk into this room full of contemporary art. We cannot help but notice this huge canvas with such striking colors. We have this huge visual juxtaposition of this rich red that just rushes towards us against this dark black and the bright white. So, if we come up to this image, just our initial reaction. People may look at this and think, "It is too simple." "Any one could make this." "What is so special about this piece that it is hanging on the walls to be admired in such a revered museum space?" Well, it is precisely that factor of simplicity that this piece employs as its focus. A bit of background on the artist. Adolph Gottlieb was really well educated. He studied art from an early age. He spent a lot of time interacting with other artists and collaborating with them. He lived in New York throughout his life. But he really traveled extensively which was really important. He is an artist of the 20th century. He was born in 1903 and lived until 1974. At the time, European Art was really ahead of the Contemporary Art Movement. So, for him to travel and see all of this European Art really gave him a great perspective on what was going on, what were the big changes in art at his time. And so, how that would effect his own creation as a painter. It is abstract. It is not very concrete. It's not tangible. There's this suggestive nature about it but we don't know necessarily what he wants to tell us. Gottlieb sought simple representation of these really complex ideas. He painted a lot of landscapes at the time. Which became the inspiration for this image we are looking at. Because, then it was after World War II that he become very involved in this idea of the subconscious. The war had had such a profound effect on people. the way to portray this was by accessing their subconscious which they could do through art. And so we end up having these visual representations like this which are very abstract and related much more to ideas rather than looking at an image and painting directly what we see on the canvas. It is taking an idea and trying to express that through painting. Hopefully the more we know about this piece the longer we will stay interested because at first it looks really simple and how can their even be anything behind this. But when we get to know a little bit more about it, we see that Gottlieb was really trying to explain greater ideas and what was going on in his subconscious and in the subconscious of everyone who had experienced the war and everyone that was a part of American culture at that time and to express those feelings through a pictorial image such as "Cadmium Red Over Black".