The Arts in NYC

1

Better Late Than Never

Well, now that I'm free from studio I thought it would be a good chance to catch up. Starting with our trip to the Chelsea galleries: I love artwork, but not in entirety. It's hard to explain, but I think it comes from being raised in a household surrounded by artwork. I was constantly drawing on my own, visiting museums, and looking at artbooks with my parents, both of whom have BFAs. I took AP Art History my senior year of high school and gained a whole new sense of respect for the works within the one thousand-some-odd pages of my textbook. It wasn't difficult to memorize the information or analyze the work, since it was subject matter I thoroughly enjoyed and respected. I found myself mostly attracted to twelfth century Byzantine and Renaissance works of art. Thus, I have not truly been able to understand concepts of recent modern art, such as the works we've seen in some of the Chelsea galleries. I feel like it's become so subjective that aesthetic beauty is compromised by the meaning behind the piece and the artist's opinions.

Here's a piece I had a really difficult time understanding and even accepting as art. Whereas Albrecht Durer's print titled "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" evoked the complete opposite reaction in me. I recognized the work immediately. The amount of precision that went into making the print, as well as its religious significance to its fifteenth century post-Renaissance northern European society raises the piece to a whole new level.

Another piece I found really interesting reminded me of the creation panel from the Sistine ceiling. The two fingers touching are reminiscent of man and god as represented by Michelangelo. Also, the painting kind of evoked a sense of creation vs. destruction with the trees burning.

-Jamie Edindjiklian