Alicia

=Concentration Statement:= For my concentration pieces, I wanted to stick with design elements especially color and lines. I also had interest in surrealism like Dali, as well as the colors used by Andy Warhol so I began by sketching two animals and morphing them together to form a new animal with vibrant colors. I studied the color wheel matching varieties of colors together from primary and secondary colors. At the same time I experimented with lines, geometric and organic, thick and thin, corresponding with several different colors. As I worked, I wanted to put myself in it and I thought the idea was a good fit because humans are also considered “animals.” So I stepped out of the ‘surrealism’ and ‘morphing’ to more of distorted self portrait images. Since my concentration is for the design portfolio, I focused my work towards more graphic, illustrative and design elements rather than fine arts or drawing.

=Devil Wears Prada= My file won't open! = = = =

= = Art Exhibit Write Up Art Exhibit Write UpArt Exhibit Write Up TITLE OF THE EXHIBIT: van Gogh Voyage into the Myth LOCATION: Seoul Museum of Art ARTIST: Vincent van Gogh DATES: 2007.11.24 – 2008.3.16 MEDIA OF THE WORK: 45 paintings, 22 drawings

//Describe the work in the show. Try to categorize the stylistic genre of the work (expressive, pop, etc). Give a little information about the artist if available. Make an effort to put the work in art historical context by making comparisons to other noteworthy artists either contemporaries or historical.// Vincent van Gogh would be categorized as a postimpressionist. He was born in Zundert, Netherlands in 1853, and his artistic career was rather short – 10 years. With his misfortune and poverty as he was growing up, he used art as his way of escaping reality. He is an artist who truly to do art and for art. In his early life, he used limited color palettes with many dark colors, however, with interest and influence by the impressionist painters in Paris, his color palette soon changed to bright. Aside the fact that he used many bright complementary colors, he also concentrated on making short brushstrokes and pointillism as well but always kept his own style by staying away from the traditional realism techniques. Van Gogh has left around 900 works during his short artistic period and was hardly recognized during his lifetime and unfortunately has had only one of his painting sold when he was alive. However in 1990, van Gogh’s portrait of Dr. Gachet, was sold for 82.5 million dollars and that was the highest price in a contemporary auction in history.

//Judge the show as if you were an art critic. Evaluate its merits and shortcomings. Make particular reference to strong or weak points to the show. 300 – 400words.// The exhibition starts from the second floor which is divided into Dutch Period, Paris, and Arles. The third floor is made up of Saint-Remy de Provence and Auvers-sur-Oise. As an art critique, I thought the exhibition had many strong points. The exhibition, the paintings were divided into categories of paintings and drawings and were set up in chronological orders with smooth flow of not only Vincent van Gogh’s work, but as well as about his biography and his family as well. Other strong points the exhibition held was the audio players that the audience can carry around with both in Korean and English and explains one by one, covering every painting and drawing being exhibited. My favorite part of the exhibition was, it is actually the same every exhibition that is held at Seoul Museum of Art, the last part of the exhibition: the video. The video introduces the artist, in this case van Gogh, and explains his philosophy on art and his biography. I was shocked to find out that he committed a suicide, while the whole time I thought he died of an accident, passing away at an early age of 37.

Some weak points about the exhibition were the lightings. I never liked the lights at Seoul Art Museum; they’re too yellow for the paintings. It makes every work appear very warm however, that is a minor problem. The big problem, and frustration I had was kids running around the museum and the fact that no parent disciplined them and no guards ever warned those hyper-active kids. Otherwise, I enjoyed the show a lot. I enjoyed it so much that, in fact, I watched the video twice. It felt surreal looking at his work close up, and observing each brush stroke that he has used. I have admired van Gogh for his brush strokes and some of the complementary colors that he uses because I like to use bright complementary colors as well in my own work. I might go again before the exhibition ends and this time, perhaps use those audios as my reference.