blog #8

Alberto Gironella's piece The Black Queen, really stuck out to me in the reading for this week. The piece itself did not grab my attention so much as its comparison to Diego Velazquez's Mariana of Austria. The text says that Gironella was "fascinated by the dark and hidden history and legend of the Spanish Court." The piece in the text is one of many takes on Mariana produced by Gironella. I couldn't find that one online to post here, but i found a few others (followed by Velazquez's original below). I've seen the original at the Prado in Madrid, and it upholds the staunch, propriety of classical European painting and the embodiment of the Spanish ruling class, along with the majority of paintings in the Prado and historical sites in Madrid. Gironella's treatment of the subject really communicates his disgust toward Spanish painting, and is, in his own words, "the product of the disillusionment of the conquest and plunder." His paintings seem to strip the layers off the facade of Spanish painting and expose it's dirty secrets and the "smell of sweat and garlic."


I couldn't find any info on Gironella online :/ does anyone have any sources? I'm intrigued...

blog #7

I find it difficult to really talk about surrealist art... which I suppose has something to do with its aims. Surrealist art, with its strange dream-like images, sometimes seems like it would be incomprehensible to the viewer as separate from the artist. It is always difficult to imagine the vivid colors or eerie feeling someone describes in a personal dream; communication is a daunting enough task without adding in the subconscious and the thoughts and feelings we don't even understand about ourselves? But what better medium to picture the indescribable than art?
Though art and science are often thought of as polar opposites, they often work together and toward the same ends. Freud's revolutionary ideas on dream states and the unconscious led to a better global understanding of psychology and the self, and the spread of these ideas gives us fuel for discourse, common concepts that many people can understand and relate to, making communication through the images of the surrealists very effective. This common knowledge gives us the collective power to better understand in others what may otherwise be seen as personal and unreachable thoughts and feelings in others. The piece above The Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali can be dissected by its viewer because of its reference to the well known myth of Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection, as well as its use of Freudian symbols, along with the viewer's own perception and emotion brought forth by the painting's artistic qualities (muted colors, symmetry of forms etc.)
It is an amazing quality of our time to be able to look so deeply into the mind of another.

(I think the first piece above, Breakfast in fur by Meret Oppenheim, does an amazing job of communicating an otherwise indescribable feeling, imagine what it would feel like to drink from that cup...)

blog #6

So far I love what I am learning about the Mexican mural movement. Though I don't believe one mural by one artist (no matter how grand or prominent) can sum up the heart of an entire culture, I do think art in public places can create a sense of community, and bring vibrancy to the places we live, work, and connect with those around us. I think it is important for individuals to have a sense of pride in the place they live; important for the human soul to have a home rather than just a house, and a community rather than just a location. I would love to be able to see these great murals in person; to fully view their scope and breath in their colors. I'd especially love to witness their reflection in the people of the area. It is hard to visualize these pieces and get their full effect looking at 4 inch reproductions in books and articles. I've seen a few of Rivera's murals recreated at SFMoMA, but it almost defeats the purpose of a mural to stick it in a museum exhibit. I thought this 3D representation of the Great Wall of Los Angeles was really cool. I think I might take a trip down there to see it. Anyone know of any local murals worth checking out?

http://www.sparcmurals.org/sparcone/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=60
you can watch the 3D "flythrough" here. (Its worth it)

blog #5

The picture of the Altar of the Kings in the Cathedral of Mexico City from this week's lecture (below) reminded me of the gleaming gold and grandeur of the Cathedral of Toledo I visited a few years ago. This picture (left) is the retable of the High Altar in the Cathedral of Toledo. Though it was built well before the Cathedral of Mexico City, and the ornate gold decor surrounds statues, not paintings, the two seem like they would have a very similar effect on the viewer. And for good reason; Toledo was historically a region of competing religions, so, as with colonial Mexico, awe-inspiring religious art must have been a very effective form of social control... I wonder though if the similar religious art in Colonial Mexico and a different effect on its viewers because it was created by the people who were under control of the church, rather than hired Catholic artisans...

blog #4

Reading Anzaldua's essay made me think of some of the poetry I have been reading for my Chicano Lit class; the way the languages are infused and juxtaposed to bond and separate two drastically different cultures. It is a unique art and burden for the Latino writer to illustrate the pressures of being trapped between two worlds. The crafting of language has always seemed to be such a powerful tool to me. Teachers in high school always lecture about the importance of being able to write out an argument in the professional world, but it is so much more than that. The way you organize your thoughts and communicate, to anyone: co-workers, family members, strangers, even yourself, structures your relationships, how you view the world and how the world views you.

As I was contemplating this I came across a poem called "Elena"by Pat Mora that I remember reading years ago:
My Spanish isn't enough.
I remember how I'd smile
listening to my little ones,
understanding every word they'd say,
their jokes, their songs, their plots.
Vamos a pedirle dulces a mama. Vamos.
But that was in Mexico.
Now my children go to American high schools.
They speak English. At night they sit around
the kitchen table, laugh with one another.
I stand by the stove and feel dumb, alone.
I bought a book to learn English.
My husband forwned, drank more beer.
My oldest said, "Mama, he doesn't want you to be smarter than he is." I'm forty,
embarrassed at mispronouncing words,
embarrassed at the laughter of my children,
the grocer, the mailman. Sometimes I take my English book and lock myself in the bathroom,
say the thick words softly,
for if I stop trying, I will be deaf
when my children need my help.

Though I immediately recalled reading this before, I could not help but have the same emotional reaction. I think most people can relate in some form to feeling simultaneously caged in and locked out, trapped in our own finite bubble of understanding.
Anzaldua's essay explained the dilemna of language in a much more technical fashion, but what I grasped from her writing was the intricate and varying inclusion/exclusion that the numerous dialects carry in all her different roles. It is hard enough to figure out who we are and put it into words without the world scrutinizing every syllable.

blog #3

This week's reading about the mestizo painters' response to colonial art was fascinating to me. I have always thought it is amazing how much power is held in religious symbolism, not only in the art world, but also in literature, and even in the daily life of the common person (religious or not). The Virgin Mary in particular holds great significance for a wide range of people, especially in the Latino culture. I wanted to share the beginning of this poem, "The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica," by Ortiz Cofer:
"Presiding over a formica counter,
plastic Mother and Child magnetized
to the top of an ancient register,
the heady mix of smells from the open bins
of dried codfish, the green plantains
hanging in stalks like votive offerings,
she is the Patroness of Exiles,
a woman of no-age who was never pretty,
who spends her days selling canned memories
while listening to the Puerto Ricans complain..."

Though I am not Latina, or religious, I can see the importance of this strong and comforting symbol to a struggling, displaced culture. In fact, I am constantly surrounded by the effects of this symbol as I walk through my home that is filled with images of Christ and the Virgin Mary. After reading the section about the mestizo twist on the Madonna, I went downstairs to get a bowl of cereal and had to stop and take a closer look at the forty-some statuettes of Mary displayed in my living room, the precious collection of my step mother. A woman of Latin decent, my step mother and grew up in a time and atmosphere much different from my own, and though I can never fully understand where she came from, I can appreciate the symbols that are important to her world-view, and try to see the beauty in what those relatively foreign objects mean to the culture that raised her.

It is widely thought that many religious symbols have survived in different forms through very different religions... I won't get into that in detail here, but I think it is an intriguing concept and it makes the enduring attributes of art even that much more important in the flow of ideas from past to present...

Aztecs and Tenochtitlan

I loved the description of the Aztec beliefs described in the Ancient Voices video. As someone with an intense interest in cultural histories, the Aztec reverence of Tenochtitlan strikes me on a personal level. The Mexica were entranced by the ancient civilization - its art, architecture, religion - everything there was to be discovered. Not only did they use the temples of Tenochtitlan as their own capital, they completely accepted the gods depicted therein, continuing ancient beliefs and practices, which, though years and years older than the new Mexica civilization, suited their society and trancended time. Studying other cultures to me is the ultimate path to better understand yourself and other humans, past and present. As the novelist in the video, Carlos Fuentes , said "The whole conception of the world of the Aztecs is so alien from our own modern concept of the world that we can only guess..." I'm thankful to have to opportunity to guess.