'X-ray reveals hidden Goya painting' review

Here's the link to the original article on BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15018174

I was scrolling through the BBC News website the other morning in AP Bio (like I do every purple 1st block) and stumbled upon this article, which I find oddly fascinating.

Apparently this painting, Portrait of Don Ramon Statue (left) by Goya, was actually concealing one of the artist's previous works. This was discovered using a new innovative x-ray technique developed by the University of Antwerp and the Delft University Technology. When you use powerful x-rays on an artwork, it causes atoms in the picture's layers of paint to emit "fluorescent" x-rays of their own which indicate the chemicals they originated form. This enables a "color map" of the hidden picture to be produced. This method was actually tried out on a Van Gogh painting two years ago, showing that a portrait of a peasant girl was behind the work Patch of Grass, from 1887. Anyway, historians believe that the original hidden Goya painting is actually of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, and they think that it was obscured for political reasons after Ferdinand VII was reinstated to the Spanish throne. Obviously, Goya would want to distance himself from the old regime, especially since he was the first court painter to Ferdinand VII.

I think the reason why I find this so interesting is because everything you do is almost permanent. Even if it was just a mistake or if you're actually hiding something, nothing is ever truly erased. Like when we do watercolor and Stamp says "Act as if each stroke costs you a quarter." These artist hid paintings for whatever reason, but they're still there. They still existed and now we can see them too.

Frank Gehry (Bonus Blog)

This is another response to an artist, but this time I'm choosing the architect Frank Gehry. Gehry is a current, Canadian, Pitzer-Prize (an annual award to honor "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture") winning, architect. He creates ridiculously cool modern buildings and his works are cited as being among the most important works of contemporary architecture, he was named "the most important architecture of our age" by Vanity Fair in 2010. (http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/08/architecture-survey-201008?currentPage=all) His work falls in the postmodern architecture offshoot, deconstructivism (meaning it's based off the ideas of fragmentation). Deconstructivism is very different from other forms of architecture in that it doesn't try to express overwhelming ideas of society or even a belief that form follows function (the shape of the building is based upon the building's specific use). His architecture just is. 

This is an actual building in New York, finished in February. It's 76 stories high with a titanium and glass facade. 

The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington

The reason why I like Gehry's work so much is the fact that most of his buildings have nothing to do with being functional. That isn't his first thought when he sits down and drafts, he wants his buildings to be visually interesting and he gets a lot of criticism because of it. 

Dancing Hall in Prague 

Gehry isn't only an architect, he also created a line of jewelry, furniture, and sculptures.  

A chair designed by Gehry based off his fish motif.

History, Oh, History.

The historical art work I'm choosing for this particular blog is Da Vinci's 'The Lady of the Disheveled Hair' or 'La Scapigliata'. How original? I know, but I love this portrait. In this piece Da Vinci uses many elements and principles of art. He uses different values of the sepia-type color. Everything is very bland almost and airy except for the face of this woman, creating contrast. All of this places emphasis on the woman's face, not even her entire head, just her face. He also uses texture to his advantage by making everything seem very soft and delicate.

Kiss Me Deadly, by Shepard Fairey Elements/Principles

This is a print by the contemporary artist, Shepard Fairey entitled Kiss Me Deadly. I think it's a really powerful piece in his Obey Giant collection, which is all about 'Make art, not war' and 'Peace > war'. In this particular print it shows a woman applying lipstick, but as you look closer, it isn't lipstick, it's a bullet that reads 'Kiss Me Deadly', it pretty much says flat out that the statement he's trying to make is of war being bad and deadly. A kiss of death, if you will. The artist uses many principles and elements of art in this piece. Balance: there is a bulls-eye in the center and directly over that is the bullet, the main focal point of the print. Line: he uses thick, almost cartoon-like, lines for everything except for the bullet/lipstick and the lips, which are more realistic than the former. This creates high contrast between the two and it emphasizes even more the words on the actual bullet. Color: Fairey does most of his work in this color scheme; red, black, cream/white. These colors contrast to make the piece very striking so that you'll want to look at it. Want to examine it and see what it's about.  

Just as a side-note, this is the same artist that did Obama's 'Hope' Campaign ads.
Also, he did this really cool-looking Dio de los Muertos print that you might think about for the t-shirts or whatever.

Ew, Art Administration.

One job that I would absolutely hate to have would be in Art Administration. Arts administration is the business end of art organizations. They plan things, deal with the money, and all the fine details. Education for arts administration is based upon degrees in business administration with special courses in administering non-profit organizations. You could do more than just non-profit art organizations with this degree; performance theater, gallery, dance company, art center, art festival administration/management. Your start up expenses would depend on whether you are starting your own business or if you are being hired, obviously you would have more start up expenses making you own business. You wouldn't really need a portfolio for this job because it's mostly business dealings, but you would need a resumé with good credentials. I wouldn't really like this job because it seems just down right boring. These people spend all their time behind the scenes of numerous galleries or exhibitions or performances and get none of the true credit for. Also, I don't think I would have the organization to actually plan things, I'm having a hard enough time in AP Art.

Otto Dix

Otto Dix was a young German artist who began his career doing simple self portraits and landscapes.

"Self Portrait with Carnation"1912

"Sunrise" 1912

But once Dix joined the German Army and took part in WWI and WWII everything about his art changed. Everything he painted or sketched became more and more gruesome. He tried to represent his feelings about war in his artwork. He depicted the hellish combat he witnessed in numerous paintings and etchings. Some showed what he thought of society and the disgust he felt for the German populace and others were religious allegories. He did do some commission portraits but everything else showed mentality on humanity. 

                 "Prager Straße"1920                                       "Skat Players" 1920