Author: Jennifer Stevens
I am a professor and live in Williamsburg, VA (USA).
We live in a virtual world
Yeah we do, yeah we do…
The virtual art world has just been promoted. We’re faced with limitations on travel and human interaction but Google Arts & Culture has already teamed up with thousands of museums to create virtual experiences, many of them including online tours that allow a simulated pedestrian experience. Continue reading “We live in a virtual world”
The whole is greater
In the Gestalt school of psychological thought, the mind and brain condense environmental stimuli so that they may be seen in their simplest form. The idea is that the whole — that which is seen– is of greater value than the processing of each individual part. This theorem can reach beyond basic perception and Steve Prince’s The Links work gives us an example of Gestalt in art form.
Mosh pit Mona
Zooming in to Mona
Smiling more in this grainy image?
The Louvre is still going strong. It’s still incredible Continue reading “Mosh pit Mona”
Bringing narrative to minimalism: A big thank you to Herb and Dorothy Vogel
Abstract art is the kind of experience that challenges a viewer to find words to describe. Minimalism, the art movement based on simple forms, may pose the starkest of these challenges. Continue reading “Bringing narrative to minimalism: A big thank you to Herb and Dorothy Vogel”
Hirshorn’s “Pulse”: Experiencing the heartbeat of karma
RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER engages the observer in a way that is as much peculiar as it is tantalizing. Continue reading “Hirshorn’s “Pulse”: Experiencing the heartbeat of karma”
Color biographies
Everyone’s got a story. And, in “The Secret Lives of Color”, Kassia St. Clair gives colors with names befitting those delightful paint squares their autobiographical due. There’s White with some of its cousins including Lead White, Ivory, Silver, Whitewash, Isabelline, Chalk, Beige and Red with its associates Scarlet, Cochineal, Vermillion, Rossa corsa, Hematite, Madder, and Dragon’s blood for example.
Gibsonian optics brought to life in the sculpture of Fred Eversley
J.J. Gibson outlined a radical approach to optics in his 1979 book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. In order to perceive the structure of space, we need just one thing: light. Continue reading “Gibsonian optics brought to life in the sculpture of Fred Eversley”
Depth cues are psychological constructs (we cannot rely upon when painting still life).
Tasked with painting a still life composed of boxes and bottles in shades of white and black, with oil paints in shades of white and black, it’s easy for a scientist like me to think about the usual suspects of depth cues as a path to success. After all, if depth cues are what we use to interpret the environment, then using them should translate to a successful painting, paint skill notwithstanding. Continue reading “Depth cues are psychological constructs (we cannot rely upon when painting still life).”
The sight of sound
Thomas Demand presented his work at William & Mary recently. His pieces span sculpture and photography, and, a number of them are based on exploiting some compelling properties of paper. His work entitled “Poll”, seen at MOMA, presents the relationship between becoming U.S. President-elect and measured change in polling paper (see below).
Museum of Modern Art Thomas Demand’s “Poll” (2001), based on a photograph of a Florida recount station.
Poll, 2001, C-Print / Diasec, 180 x 260 cm© Thomas Demand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn / ARS, New York
