Egyptian Art

Egyptian art is almost unbelievable to me. I do not particularly like the paintings or sculptures more than other eras, it is the architecture that surpasses every other form of architecture I have ever seen. Egyptians thought about the future, making sure their art work would survive throughout the ages. This was because art was created for religious reasons. The people believed that this life was only lived to prepare for the afterlife. After death, the ka, or soul, would leave the body and go into the world of beyond. Although their body lay on earth, they needed a body in death. This is why the bodies were mummified. Organs were removed and saved in jars, such as the brain through the nostrils. The pharaoh, or ruler, was considered to be the king and a god-like figure. This is why the pharaohs had sculptures, paintings, and pyramids made for them to occupy. Supposedly, the body would lay inside the tomb in the pyramid, while the ka would go into a sculpture or other work of art in their next life. As a result of the beliefs, all art had to have every body part shown, while their heads were usually turned, creating a distorted look, yet surprisingly realistic. When the mummies were put in their tombs, they had jewels, food, drinks, toys, and other items with them for the after life, all depending on how wealthy they were in life. Architecture not only involves art, but it takes math knowledge as well. Egyptians made pyramids of huge stone, so heavy we can only imagine how they maneuvered it to go in the correct space, angled so they would not erode, some even having designs to them. I chose a picture of a pyramid called The great sphinx because it simply blows my mind away to even ponder about making this now, let alone thousands of years ago. It has a head and a body of a cat. The head looks evenly proportioned even after all these years, a few chucks clipped out of it. Simply brain-numbing.
Another work of art I chose is a highi relief sculpture of Queen Nefertiti. The Egyptians honored their rulers and wished them well afterlives, statues being one way to provide for both. This piece is very realistic, unlike most of the other works, and I enjoy the large hat, even though I would not wear it-but I'm not a much of a hat person :)

Prehistoric Art

As I'm sure everyone does, I did know people drew on cave walls, but I had never got into it in depth. I never really thought about how little these people had to work with, and they still made amazing works of art. The project we did today, with the crumpled paper bag paper and the watercolors, pastels, and chalk, put it into perspective, and it was much harder than I expected. I always draw with something to look at. I had completely forgotten these people had only memory to work off of, and my memory is bad. They signed their names by imprints of their hands, which is so personal, not many would know who did a form of art, if any knew, except the person. They obviously did not create art for recognition, materials, or fame. It's cool how these caves were discovered by accident, how splendid it would be if we could stumble into a whole cave full of history, adventure, art. It was surprising how the drawings were in very hard-to-reach places, and how much detail was depicted. It just shows how intense their beliefs of religion and power were, based on nothing. Nowadays everyone needs facts to believe, then it was based on faith. Artwork expresses so much about the artist, they must have had so much patience, memory, and a busy schedule to spend hunting, cooking, eating, sleeping, finding shelter, and on top of that creating art. It is odd how they color in the top of the animal in some pictures and leave the bottom of the belly open. Maybe that was the part they wanted to eat? Who knows. I love how the work keeps the viewer guessing to answer why, intrigued to answer when, and stunned to answer how.
One picture I remembered the most and liked the best was an owl in the Cave of Chauvet because most did not draw the owl. Also, it was etched into the rock instead of on it, where the majority was on the rock.

Rinpa Eshidan link

http://rinpaeshidan.jp/works/index.html

If you don't know what video to watch, check out 1 week of art, puzzle, and room. They are my favorites. Tell me what you think, hope you like them.

Rain Come Again Today

For many, rain seems scary, angry, or depressing, yet, in my eyes, it is not. It is one of the most extraordinary views of art, moving, pounding, living. Water is very hard to capture in another form of art, so it’s beautiful to see it splashing about. To me, rain is one of natures ways of reminding us, technology-loving humans, to spend some time with it, a dance of nature. Thunder, lightening, and rain intrigue me so, bringing forth the primitive instincts we all have rooted from. Impulse craves me to join this sense of art, swarming in my skin, twitching in my bones, flushing through my blood, making the hair follicles on my body poke out as if lightening. As the droplets of rain explode into a surface, they multiply and then form one, as if a family would that had been fighting when an unsuspected misfortune happens. Lightening slices the sky, brightening the dimmed scene, thunder craving my impulses all the more. Yet when the lightening and thunder cease, the rain alone sooths the Neanderthal inside. Breathing in dense humidity, dampness teases the tongue and urges the throat for a sip. Untainted the rain would be if human being had not started the cycle of destroying this world, now trying to turn back, a regret that cannot be fixed. Feeling such little blasts of pleasure, such droplets of coolness, such tears of tranquility. Your essence rises as the precipitation sinks, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling. The presence of something a human could never recreate, something so powerful, meaningful, vital, that takes you away from this world by simply enjoying it. It’s only was the rain fades away that we go back to the normal and have the haunting feeling that it’s such a shame more people do not embrace what had just happened, out of human hands. Only time could turn this friend into a foe.

April-Digital Media

I already know that digital media is creating art on the computer, yet I never really knew what it is. I am horrible with the computer, so I have always loved creating with my hands over everything else. Digital media could be altering a normal photograph to creating a symbol for designing a symbol using Microsoft. I still am confused, so I hope to learn more tomorrow.