Blog Entry Assignment 4

Visual Culture

Many people associate Mickey Mouse with colors like red, yellow, black, and white. When people think of these colors, they think of entertaining Disney characters. The color principles that make artist David Willardson's Mickey Mouse painting stand out among other works in the same medium are the hues that are used to make the image stand out and the triadic color scheme of red, yellow, and blue. Blue is typically not used in the image of Mickey Mouse but here it is used to show light in the eyes and on the ears.

This work differs from other works by Willardson because before he was known for doing movie posters like for "Raiders of the Lost Ark". These posters did not have the same energetic colors and playful painting style that Willardson used for his Disney character paintings. Willardson uses dominance in his painting with Mickey Mouse. The way that the mouse is placed on the page is very interesting because he goes beyond the boundaries of the page. Willardson addresses the human form with Mickey's eyes and smile. The way the eyes are accented with the blue are similar to the way light hits a person's eyes and highlights them.

I have been influenced by this piece in the sense that it reminded me of the original version of Mickey Mouse back in the 1930's. Back then, he was in black and white and was not well known as he is now. It really made me think about how far animation has come to create the Mickey everyone loves today. The symbol of Mickey Mouse has been manipulated over the years with the advancement of technology and now this Disney character is known by everyone.

This art piece is called "National Suicide" and was made by Greg Gossel. When thinking about Uncle Sam, people automatically refer to the colors red, white, and blue because he represents America. However, this image is different from the typical Uncle Sam recruitment poster. This image uses very dull colors: light pink, blue, and yellow. These colors are very dull and saturated because they were mixed with white, gray, and black.

The collaging and overlapping of all of the elements, make Uncle Sam, who is in the middle, stand out. The fact that these dull colors are different from the colors that are used in the original Uncle Sam propaganda art, makes this piece more original and unique. This Uncle Sam piece seems to be the only political piece that Gossel made. All of his other pieces are pop art and use the same overlapping of images and words like "power" and "attack". I believe that this art piece is the only one that deals with war. The dominant figure in this composition is Uncle Sam who is in the middle. The other figures appear to be accentual because they are in saturated colors like light pink and yellow while Uncle Sam stands out in white. Gossel addresses the human form by painting Uncle Sam's face and putting the face of the woman all around the composition.

I have never seen propaganda art collaged like this before. Whenever, I think of Uncle Sam, I visualize the recruitment poster with him pointing at you. This piece makes me see the symbol of Uncle Sam in a different way because instead of him pointing, he has his finger in front of his mouth. This completely changes the meaning of the art. It appears as if he is keeping quiet about the serious issue of war.

Fashion Design

This fashion design drawing was created by artist Justine Limpus Parish. This drawing makes analogous colors like blue, violet, and violet-red appear very dark and depressing. The girl wearing the dress in this piece appears Gothic which when looked at, makes people associate Goth with dark colors. Most fashion drawings are gesture sketches of the people and the clothes they are wearing. However, this drawing is not a gesture piece but looks very complete with lines that are very clean and precise.

This work is different from other drawings by Parish in the sense that her other drawings are very messy and are gesture drawings. They do not have as much color and intensity as this particular piece. Also, her other works do not show any type of emotion like this one does. This drawing has a very gloomy feel to it but has some sex appeal to it as well. Since there is only one figure in this composition, the woman in the dress is the dominant figure. The dress going off the page makes the viewer wonder what the rest of the dress looks like. Typical fashion design drawings show the whole outfit in order to visualize what the piece will look like when it is made. This drawing appears to only serve an artistic purpose.

Parish addresses the human form with the pose that the girl is doing in the drawing. The way that the girl is standing and the way she has her hand over her mouth gives this piece a sense of mystery. It makes the audience wonder what she could be hiding and what she is looking at since she is the only thing in the drawing. Before, I never thought of fashion design as art. I always thought of it solely as a way to make clothing and nothing else. This drawing shows that clothing can be a form of art. It just depends on how the person wearing the art will show off the clothing. In this piece, the girl wears the dress in a very dark and dramatic way and conveys this with her body language.



This fashion art piece is called "Mangandroid Babe" by Dominic Elvin. This piece is a combination of fashion design, art, and robotics. Elvin uses color to mix fashion design with robotics. The red that is used in this image is very chromatic and makes the model look very futuristic. The little shield that that is covering the model's eye will make her see everything in red which will change her perception and understanding of the color. This image is very monochromatic with red being used on the bracelet, collar, and eye piece. Pink can also be seen in the background. Having this image be monochromatic and appear futuristic makes it a lot different from other fashion design pieces. This work is different from Elvin's other art pieces in the way that he uses a human model in this image and mannequins for his other pieces. In this image, the human model portrays his futuristic and robotic vision of what people could possibly be wearing in the distant future. Also, in his other works, Elvin likes to manipulate and distort the human body to make it look more robotic.

Dominance can be seen in the gear that the model is wearing because of the high intensity of the color red. Also, it is the wristband, the collar, and the eye piece that are meant to stand out and be the area of focus because that is what the image is about: the future of fashion. Elvin addresses the human form every time he makes these robotic fashion pieces. Essentially, the purpose of these pieces is for a person to be able to wear them, so Elvin had to really think about the human form and how this clothing would look on a person. Also, he needed to think about what sort of impression he wanted to make on his audience with these pieces. In my opinion, Elvin's art work is very innovative and interesting because I have never really seen fashion from a futuristic perspective. This image has shown me how much machines and electronics in general have influenced society and our culture not just with the use of computers but in fashion as well.

History of Art

Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" is famous for its mixture of colors to portray the crystal clear night sky. When people think about this famous painting, they associate real stars with the chromatic yellow and orange colors seen in the painting. In "Starry Night," Van Gogh uses colors that are at their highest intensity (chroma) like the blue in the sky and the yellow that makes the moon and stars give off a glow. What makes this painting stand out from other impressionistic paintings is the visual texture that is produced by the thick, free flowing brush strokes seen in the sky of the painting. This work differs from other works by Van Gogh in the sense that the idea behind this piece has a bigger significance to the artist than the other landscapes that he painted. When painting this scene, Van Gogh was thinking about God and that when people are at their worst in life, they are never alone. The swirls in the sky are meant to represent the presence of God.

I feel that there are two figures fighting for dominance in this painting: the large trees to the left and the very bright moon to the right. The trees appear to be dominant because of their very large size. The moon is dominant as well not because of its size, but because it is the brightest figure in the composition and catches the viewer's eye right away because its colors are very chromatic. I do not believe that Van Gogh addressed the human figure in this piece but he did think about a person's environment and what they would see if it was night. After looking at this famous painting, I wanted to know more about what Van Gogh was thinking when he created it. After doing some research, I discovered that he painted this when he was suffering from a disease. Looking at this night sky made him realize that God was by his side and the evidence was in the night sky. After learning this, "Starry Night" became more than just a beautiful painting of different colors. I was able to look at this piece in a different way through the eyes and perspective of the artist who created it.