Final Project

Final Project

Art is a broad theme where you can find a variety of techniques such as contemporary, Cubism and Sculpture. For instance, contemporary artists such as Picasso became an icon in the art area. Cubism; David Smith was a remarkable artist and painter who focused more on cubism sculpture during the 1950s and 1960s. One of Smith’s famous Sculpture was Cubi V. Smith was inspired by Picasso’s Cubism paintings. Nowadays we have a range of artists who, like David Smith, are inspired by famous artists. I had the opportunity to interview Helmut Eppich, Humanities Department, Division for Academic Affairs; BFA, City College. Whose work consist of repairing art features, and handling art exhibitions installation. Is not an easy job, you have to be multi-tasking.

Eppich has a variety of comic books, drawings, and paintings. He actually enjoys watching students working on art. “It is nice to see students working in different art classes, styles, sculpture, and paintings”, says Eppich. He was inspired by contemporary artists from the late nineteenth century and 20th century.

I asked Eppich “Do you have any advice for young artists who are starting out?” he said that it is good to study early illustrators, especially those who are interested in comic books and fine art. For instance, Eppich mentioned Bryan Hitch, a comic book artist and Bob Peak, an American commercial illustrator. “Keep drawing, look at comic convention so you can look at what artists are offering and if possible, you can have a one to one conversation with the artist and learn even more about them and their techniques.

Here are some of Helmut Eppich's works samples:

Personally, I found these drawings and paintings interesting since I enjoy drawing as well.

9/11 Memorial

9/11 Memorial

9/11 changed New York City. Many security systems and artists express how sad 9/11 was in different ways: “The artists range from seasoned professionals to novices inspired to express their reactions to 9/11 through painting, drawing, writing, music, and more ” (9/11 Memorial Museum). What amazes me the most are the World Trade Center reflecting pools and the names of the deceased which are not in alphabetical order. The design is unique, two square pools with a cascade of water. The pools are surrounded by trees and it represents the absence of the twin towers. “They are large voids, open and visible reminders of the absence” (World Trade Center Site; Memorial Competition). It is interesting that the names of the deceased are not in alphabetical order. Perhaps that is part of the design. Both, the reflecting pools and the name of the deceased are visual art. However, why do the pools have square shapes? Square for some artists represents body. For example, David Smith's Cubi V represents his daughter Rebecca. the central square in the sculpture represents a torso. Cubi V not only represents body but balance as well.

The 9/11 memorial pools represent the body of the World Trade Center towers and the deceased: “Most significantly, the footprints of the original World Trade Center towers have been turned into two square, below-ground reflecting pools, each nearly an acre, fed from all sides by waterfalls that begin just above ground level and bordered by continuous bronze panels inscribed with the names of those who died there and in Washington and Pennsylvania.” (The New York Times). At this point we might conclude that the square shape of the pools represents the bodies of the deceased. Another famous artist who used geometric shapes on his art works was Malevich Kasimir. “He created nonobjective paintings composed of bare geometric forms—often just a single square on the flatly painted surface” (Infoplease; Casimir Malevich). Perhaps the designer was inspired by cubism artist such as David Smith and Malevich Kasimir. Both the reflecting pools of the 9/11 memorial and the names of the deceased represent the combination of cubism and modern art.

David Smith Exhibition

David Smith: Cubism

David Smith was an American abstract expressionist well known for his paintings, sculptures and steel figures. David Smith started out as a painter. He was considered the first artist to work with welding metal: “Among the greatest American sculptors of the 20th century, David Smith was the first to work with welded metal” (The Art Story). The majority of his sculptures portray equilibrium and some of them were inspired by his daughters. For instance, Cubi V, 1963 shows balance and was inspired by Smith's daughter, Rebecca who was running in the field with a plate in her hands. In the sculpture we can see the shape of someone, perhaps his daughter Rebecca, who is running with an object on his hand.

David Smith, like any other artist, was influenced by Picasso's art works, Such as his abstract paintings. Therefore, he came out with a variety of paintings. “Smith first influenced were primary painters Picasso was important to him early on” (Whitney). For instance, the Spray enamel on paper paintings are very interesting because Smith would take piece of metal and place them on a piece of paper on the floor and take the spray to paint the piece of metal on the paper and then he would remove the metals leaving their shapes on the paper. What is interesting about Spray enamel painting is that it looks vertical. However, Smith painted it on the floor. Smith created art out of any metal object. “In creating these and other similar drawings, Smith arranged cutout geometric forms on a piece of paper which he sprayed with automotive enamel paint” (Whitney Museum). Smith did not follow the tradition in terms of art while creating Circle III. How so? In Circle III he painted the bigger circle in orange color and the semi-circle in green. The fact that he painted the steel sculpture was unusual in the 1960s. “David Smith use paint to dramatically separate the three element of the circle: the base , the circle, and the horn-like arc on top […] The installation came together to form a multicolor series of concentric circles” (Whitney). The reason he painted some of his sculptures was to get a combination of sculptures and painting, since he started out as a painter.

Spray enamel on paper, 1962-63. What is interesting about this painting is that the image looks vertical although it was painted adjacent to the floor. You actually can see three rectangles as the base holding up the rest of the squares.

Cubi V, 1963. Smith was inspired after he saw his daughter running in the field with a plate in her hands. There are three themes in art: landscape, human figure, and still life. Smith focused more on human figure. Cubi V is one of the 600 sculptures he created.

Circle III, 1962.

Tanktotem VIII, 1960. All of the sculptures in Smith's Tanktotem series incorporate parts from a manufactured boiler tank.

"Exhibition on view at the United Nations"

The purpose of these projects is to bring society together and work as a team while building houses.

At the MET

 These pictures were taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Still Life

What makes New York New York in Art?  First of all, New York City gives opportunities to find ethnicity. New York City is the "melting pot" where people from different country come here. Therefore, we learn what their cultures are.

Artists express their emotions through paintings and drawings. For instance, the exhibition of 9/11 at Laguardia Community College shows how artists visualize what happened at 9/11. Their paintings show how sad these artists feel like this picture for example. "Sad", "Bomb" and "Dead" are some of the texts we can find in this artwork.



According to the MoMA PS1 home page " The attacks of September 11, 2001 were among the most pictured disasters in history, yet they remain, a decade later, underrepresented in cultural discourse—particularly within the realm of contemporary art. Responding to these conditions, MoMA PS1 curator Peter Eleey brings together more than 70 works by 41 artists—many made prior to 9/11"  
( www.momaps1.orgexhibitions/view/338 ).  

Eggs under The Sun Light

It was very enjoyable painting the Eggs under The Sun Light. The process was simple but I had to be very careful while working. The first thing I drew was the gray horizontal line to separate one area from the other, then I proceeded to paint the dish, the eggs, the flowers and the "pot of coffee".
I mixed white with a small amount of black to create a light gray color to paint the dish, the eggs and the table where the objects are placed. Then I used black  to paint the shadows behind  each object. I painted in white the right side of each item to indicate where the light was coming from and finally I painted in black the background.
It was a real challenge to paint a contemporary picture without using primary or secondary colors but black and white. I had to figure out where I had to paint with lighter or darker colors to make the painting as real as possible.