Public Art in Reno

Public Art in Reno is displayed in all sorts of ways, some larger and more eye-catching than others, but overall it all serves the purpose of showing private reflection in public space. I thought the bike racks that you can find in many different locations around Reno very interesting, to me it is the small details that ties that neighborhood feeling together. I love the fact that a simple bike rack can be transformed into something so much beyond the actual use of a bike rack, but to serve as an art piece as well.

Drift Project

During my drifting downtown, I noticed the things that I may have taken for granted during the times I have been downtown. I payed close attention to what I think makes Reno special. I never payed much attention to the buildings downtown or the art surrounding them, and took this opportunity to.

Visual Literacy

By using visual literacy with the pieces by Howling Wolf and John Taylor it is clear that one of these drawings is more representational and one is more abstractly done. In my opinion, John Taylor’s drawing would be more representational by the use of shading and the more realistic approach brings it to more of a real life image. As opposed to the abstract take of Howling Wolf’s Treaty Signing at Medicine Creek Lodge. Howling Wolf reduces this image to essential characteristics where we can easily recognize objects in John Taylor’s drawing. John Taylor focuses on only one area of the signing of the peace treaty, the grove, whereas Howling Wolf’s drawing depicts many other aspects within the signing of the peace treaty. This difference shows to me how these two people were influenced or maybe even viewed the treaty signing, it shows the cultural differences between the journalist, John Taylor, and the Native American artist, Howling Wolf. By the limited views shown by John Taylor it suggests to me that John Taylor may have just wanted people to focus on the essential part of the treaty signing and limit the viewers to what is being looked at. Howling Wolf’s work does not, maybe wanting the viewers to see the entire picture rather than just one part. Showing there was a lot of other pieces that went into the treaty signing that affected it rather than the act of signing itself. John Taylor’s work could be viewed as ethnocentric, by the way the Native Americans are portrayed as looking all similar and not showing individuality between any of them, no tribal affiliations or specific identity. Roles of women in both pieces are portrayed very differently and completely opposite of each other. The woman in Howling Wolf’s piece is shown to have played an important role, showing support during the treaty signing. John Taylor doesn’t depict women at all in his piece, showing women were not as shown as such importance.

Blog Assignment-Roles of Artist

Wassily Kandinsky- he is credited for the first modern abstract work. As stated in the Wikipedi, “Kandinsky's creation of purely abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense theoretical thought based on his personal artistic experiences. He called this devotion to inner beauty, fervor of spirit, and deep spiritual desire inner necessity, which was a central aspect of his art.” Kandinsky’s pieces of work shows through the abstract of his personal feelings mostly relating to the fascination of color, and what those colors meant to him in each piece.

http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/work-34.php

Black Lines also shown in the text on page 121 is an example of his nonobjective art work. World of Art states, “Color had a specific symbolic meaning for Kandinsky.”

http://www.glyphs.com/art/kandinsky/

This website shows even more specific art pieces and goes into explanation of Kandinsky’s personal feelings into the work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62BRsqEruE

This video is goes through showing Wassily Kandinsky’s famous abstract work.

Extra Credit...YAY!

Chester Arnold

Dirty Laundry

Walking into the Chester Arnold exhibit located in Reno at the Nevada Museum of Art, I found it to be very overwhelming at first glance. Each piece of work from Chester Arnold seemed to show evidence in the pushing of moral perspectives, through natural catastrophe, environmental destruction from man, or the dark side of life. It is evident that through Chester Arnold’s art he promotes important environmental issues that he wanted people to realize the true meaning behind.

The bright colors and the use of oil on linen in the piece “Dirty Laundry” caught my attention right away. Completed in 2007 this piece may not be as well known as some of Chester Arnold’s other work. It drew my attention with the impeccable details of clothes and the way Chester Arnold aggressively lays them out in the same fashion as in some of his other pieces that display trashy areas. Viewed in a wide country road just about every type of clothing article can be found in this painting, referencing the fashion industry and the high manufacturing cycles. The clothing in this painting is not portrayed to be of importance, yet the opposite by showing abuse towards it and the over abundance of material in society. It is no shock when viewing Chester Arnold’s gallery his aim is to open the eyes of the viewers to the issues that we may or may not be aware of, but still hold importance. The Nevada Museum of Fine Art states about this piece, “Depicts heaps of used clothing- blue jeans to cotton tees strewn along a wide country dirt road. Arnold’s ode to America’s fashion industry which exploits economics of scale and depends heavily on adolescents to achieve high manufacturing cycles.”

Chester Arnold’s piece “Dirty Laundry” spoke to me on many different levels. First and most importantly to me the fact that Chester Arnold depicts the use of clothing as an issue, the way we as society take for granted and lack appreciation. I agree on many levels with this, but also feel as though this is one sided when facing the over used and abundance of clothing that is wasted. For me, this painting speaks volumes as to the way we may treat our belongings and remembering what is important when it comes to important environmental issues.