Observing and Describing

1. Class 2
VISUAL ATTENTION
Class 4.1
Observing and Describing

2. agenda 9.13.16
questions about quiz?
survey (5 questions)

4. “It’s personal.”

5. Brandywine River Museum
Chadds Ford, PA

6. Located Along the
Brandywine River

7. Interior
galleries

8. Andrew Wyeth
Maga’s Daughter
Tempera on panel
27 ½ x 31 inches
1966

10. Finding out more is a great
thing to do.
But NO Amount of
Information will answer all
your questions.

11. AndrewWyeth,
IndianSummer
1970
temperaonpanel,
42x35inches

12. Caspar David FRIEDRICH, Seashore in Fog, c. 1807

13. Picasso
Ma Jolie
1912

14. There are as many flavors
of art as there are people
who make it.
New flavors are being
created all the time.
You get to pick your
favorites.

15. The point is to give it a try and see
which kinds you think are especially
great. Then experience to the fullest
and enjoy.
Hint:You might like them all.

16. Morris Louis, Tet, 1958, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 95 x 153 in, WMAA

17. Olafur Eliasson, Your strange certainty still kept, 1996
Water, strobelight, plexiglass, recirculating pump, foil and wood
Base 20 x 204 3/4 x 10 inches
Top 173 1/4 inches long

18. Bruce Nauman, Self-Portrait as Fountain, 1970, c-print, 20 x 24 inches

19. Nam June Paik, Magnet TV, 1965, 17-inch black-and-white television set with
magnet, 28 3/8 × 19 1/4 × 24 1/2 in.

20. Duane Hanson, Woman with Dog, 1977.
Cast polyvinyl polychromed in synthetic polymer, with cloth and hair
46 × 48 × 51 ½ in

21. Charles Ray
Puzzle Bottle
1995
painted wood, glass, cork, 13 3/8 x
3 3/4 dia

22. Joseph Kosuth, FiveWords in Green Neon, 1965,
neon tubing, 62 x 80 x 6 in

23. Brice Marden, SummerTable, 1972–73.
Oil and wax on canvas in three parts, 60 × 105 5/16 in.

24. Doug Aitken, Untitled (Shopping Cart), 2000.
Chromogenic print mounted on plexiglass, 48 5/8 × 56 5/8 in

25. Jean-Michel Basquiat, “LNAPRK”, 1982.
Synthetic polymer and oil stick on canvas, 73 1/2 × 72 1/4 in

26. Catherine Opie, Self-Portrait, 1993
chromogenic print, 39 5/8 × 29 15/16 in

27. You’re allowed to—
supposed to!—respond
personally to artwork.
The artist wants you to have an experience—an emotional,
physical, spiritual, intellectual, moral (some combination
of these or all of them) experience of the work.

28. If you like a work of art,
you’ll often want to find
out more about it.
That’s great, find out more, it will enrich your experience of the work, no
doubt about it. But there is no “final correct answer” to the meaning of a
given work.There are more and less satisfying interpretations, more and
less sensitive readings, but no single reading is ultimately correct.

29. Like your parents probably told
you, “How do you know you don’t
like it if you won’t even try it?
This class gives you a chance to try out different kinds of art.
There’s no obligation to like the things that I, or your classmates, like.
Pick your own likes and dislikes.
However, you can learn from—even come to appreciate—works you don’t
particularly care for.

30. SO, HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE
ART TO THE FULLEST?

31. So, How do we experience art to
the fullest?
 One way we try to experience art more fully is
by understanding how it creates the effects it
has on us.

32. So, How do we experience art to
the fullest?
 One way we try to experience art more fully is
by understanding how it creates the effects it
has on us.
 Experience, with your eyes, mind, feelings,
memories, body.What does this piece do to
me?
 Examples: Does it make me happy?
Uncomfortable? Sad? Upset? Does it turn my
stomach? Does it make me shiver?Worry? Sweat?

33. EXPERIENCING THE EFFECTS
 1. Experience comes first. What do you SEE and
how does it make you FEEL in your bones.
 At this point, it doesn’t matter who made it,
when, or why.The point is to try to figure out, as
completely as possible, the effect the work is
having on you.
 So let’s sum this up as “experiencing the effects”
of the work.This process can take a while. It is
not necessarily simple. In fact, one definition of
art could be work that takes the viewer some
time and trouble to experience.

34. Accounting for the Effects
 2. Now that you have a handle on what you’ve
experienced, you want to know how the piece
made you feel that way. Cf. driving a car to
looking under the hood.
 This is where formal analysis can be helpful.
 How did this piece make me feel (x, y, and z)
way? How is it structured to achieve those
specific effects?
 This is where purely personal, idiosyncratic
responses can be weeded out if you are writing
to share with an audience.

35. Effects 1
Bruce Nauman
Hanging Heads #2, 1989, wax and wire
two heads, the first is 10 3/4 x 9 1/2 x 7 ¾, the second is slightly
smaller, both suspended approx 6' above the floor

36. WayneThiebaud, Cakes, 1963