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.