JonMark Photography

Archive for the ‘Humanities’ Category

A bronze sculpture has gravitas. Even a small or whimsical piece made out of bronze demands respect. It is a material not to be taken lightly. In fact, the sheer heft of bronze gives weight to its presence and sense of place. Whether sitting alone on a polished ebony display stand in a gallery, or displayed outside in a public space where kids can crawl all over it, or placed in a fountain for a tourist to admire, a bronze sculpture is a silent, but powerful part of our world. It fills parks, homes, and offices around the world. It was part of great civilizations long since departed, and is likely to be with us forever.

Mixed media is sometimes called assemblage art. It is a way of altering or arranging things into new forms and shapes. It includes things like collage, or some other handmade item, using a wide collection of things. It doesn’t really matter what those things are, or where they come from. That’s one of the things that makes this type of art so exciting and delightful.

My first impression of mixed media was that it is fun, whimsical, sort of easy to understand, and maybe not worth taking too serious. It is certainly fun. I mean, when do you get a chance to experience chunks of miscellaneous rubbish put together in different ways to make an entirely new form or figure? You just don’t see it lying around. Mixed media art pieces don’t put themselves together. They don’t just appear randomly. They are deliberate and engaging. Whether it is worth taking serious or not is for each individual to say. It is, perhaps, best to see mixed media as a way of integrating different items, either found or reclaimed, into something wonderfully new.

I am not an artist, art history major, nor was I raised around art and been an art buff all my life. But, I have been learning a lot more about art lately, and my ability to appreciate abstract art paintings has increased over the past few months. As many lay people who do not know much about art, I would look at a Jackson Pollock piece and say, “my kid could paint that!”. But in my heart I knew that was not true, and silently I liked and admired his work.

Representational paintings are much easier for the every day person to understand. You look at the painting, you see what it is, and the form acts as a beginning to understand and interpret the piece. But, with abstract art paintings, there is no recognizable form to influence your conscious opinion. Abstract art works at a deeper level, with the intention to evoke unconscious feelings and emotions. As the observer, your purpose should be to open yourself up and allow the painting to evoke these feelings and emotions.