My group Experience

Altidor, Samuel

Professor D. Lemeh

ARH2000

31 March 2013

Blog Entry 10

My Group Experience

            Let me just say that I’m not really having a good experience with the group right now. First of all, two students who live on campus just meet up and appointed themselves as group leaders without the approval of the rest of the group. The same two students chose what the group presentation should be about; again without checking with the rest of the group. I’ve suggested other ideas but the group leaders shut them down saying that their idea was better. I don’t want to criticize any particular person from the group, but I have a feeling that there are a lot of people in the group that just want the grade without doing the work. I was excited about being part of a group because I thought we were going to meet, talk about what to do, and come up with a great idea. However by the time I met up with the rest of the group everything was already decided. I spent 9 years in the Army, so I really believe in teamwork. I believe in everybody from the team pitching in ideas and let the majority decide what to do. I believe that each and every student has a certain skills they could have contributed to the group; for instance, I’m a photographer, James is a DJ, etc… I was hoping that we could have used everybody’s strength to produce one of the greatest presentations. I don’t think everybody was given the opportunity to express his or her ideas. Maybe I had my hopes up to high.

Larry Rivers’ Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose

Altidor, Samuel

Professor D. Lemeh

ARH2000

31 March 2013

Blog Entry 9

Larry Rivers’ Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose

            From out trip to the Boca Art Museum last week, Larry Rivers’ “Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose” really caught my attention. This painting is oil on canvas painting mounted on foam board; which gives the artwork a tridimensional look. It depicts a chaotic scene from what I believe is the French Revolution war. At the center of it all is none other than a woman with her breasts uncovered uncovered holding the French flag. The fact that her skin tone is lighter than pretty much everything in the frame leads the viewers’ eyes directly to her. When I saw her the first thing I asked myself was: “what is a half naked woman doing in such a barbaric and chaotic scene?” She seemed so out of place in there. According to the docent however, the half dressed lady represent liberty, and is leading the people. In the painting the working group was represented by the poorly dressed gentleman brandishing a saber in the mid-left of the frame. The well-dressed gentleman in the top hat carrying a rifle represents the French “bourgeoisie”. The little boy on the left hand side of “lady liberty” represents the students…

            One of the reasons I loved the painting is because it brought back memories of going through school in Haiti. I grew up studying French literature and history. And the painting reminds me of one of the illustrations in my history books. Sometimes I could swear it’s the same exact image.

Turbulent by Shirin Neshat

Samuel Altidor

Professor D. Lemeh

ART 2000

Blog Entry 8

19 July 2013

Word Count: 220

Turbulent by Shirin Neshat

            Shirin Neshat is a very interesting visual artist. It can’t be easy being an artist in exile. Some of her works motivated Iranian youth to protest against a very oppressive regime. Not many artists can say that. I admire her courage. She’s a very strong woman. I specially enjoy one of her work: Turbulent. Even though I couldn’t understand the language, it was very easy to understand the message she was trying to convey in this two-channeled video installation. In Turbulent, Sharin Neshat contrasted the reception of male Iranian artists versus female Iranian female artists. What she’s trying to say is that Iranian male artists own the arts in Iran. The way she expressed that in Turbulent is the fact that while the male artist was singing to a packed venue, the female artists was basically singing to an empty theater. At the end of his performance, the male singer received a loud ovation, while the female singer received the silence of an empty theater no matter how impressive her performance was. I couldn’t understand what the female singer was saying but it sounded like an outcry for change. It is to say that female artists deserve the same recognition as male artists.

The Third Class Wagon by Honoré Daumier

Samuel Altidor

Professor D. Lemeh

ART 2000

Blog Entry 7

17 July 2013

Word Count: 250

The Third Class Wagon by Honoré Daumier

From the art works discussed in class this week, Daumier’s “The Third Class Wagon” impressed me the most. I’m a photographer, so I’m going to interpret that work from a photography standpoint. I love the way Daumier uses light and shadows in this painting. The warmth from the light coming through the tiny wagon windows would suggest that the painting was captured early in the morning right after sunrise or late afternoon at sunset. Photographers name those period of times “the golden hour” because of the soft, gorgeous, warm, yellow/orange light. Landscape photographers love shooting during those times of day. To a photographer, nothing is more beautiful than natural light. The tiny wagon windows make a very small light source; which makes the light very contrasty, and dramatic. The old lady completely obstructed the little boy on the far right in the foreground; therefore he was completely in the shadows. I also love the pattern of light the directional light from the windows put on the lady holding the baby and the old lady. Until today portrait photographers try to place the same classic pattern of light (Rembrandt lighting, loop lighting, etc…) on their subjects face. The photography industry created “sofboxes” just to mimic natural light going through a window. I couldn’t have lighted that scene more beautifully than the natural light coming through the tiny window of the wagon.