Contemporary Art

“One of the principal ways we can change our relationship to difficult art is by repetition. An unpleasant piece of music may, the sixth or seventh time we listen, reveal new beauty. If we study one of Josef Albers's seemingly simple paintings of different colored squares, the colors start to shift. Of course, difficulty doesn't always give way to revelation - sometimes what follows is, alas, frustration. But when it does, we get that additional sense of satisfaction: The arduous ascent has been rewarded with a panoramic view.”


I think that the preceding quote tells its readers that practice and constant focus on difficult art leads to us opening our minds and finding a deeper meaning in the artwork. By concentrating and viewing the art continuously, we will be more likely to find a new beauty in the artwork and also be able to discover the underlying message in the artwork that the artist may have been trying to convey.

This painting is called "Shoes" by Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh was a Dutch painter who lived from 1853-1890. A lot of his work had a great influence on the 20th century because of his use of vivid colors and emotional impact.Although he wasn't very famous during the time that he lived, he is now widely regarded as one of the worlds best painters and an important contributor to modern art.


"Shoes" was created in 1888 with oil on a canvas. I find this painting very unusual because I don't really see the beauty in it. The shoes look old, dull and worn out and the colors seem boring and inanimate. I think this painting symbolizes more of a sign of struggle and hardship more than it does beauty. Nevertheless, this is one of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings. 

- O.D.

This picture is by Stan Lee. Stan Lee is a comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, and former president and CEO of Marvel Comics. Stan Lee is the creator of Spiderman, Iron man, the Hulk, and many other comics and comic book characters. He is known for his comics throughout the world and is one of the comic book giants and still is even to this day. 

I find this piece as contemporary art because in this picture spiderman, iron man, and daredevil are all portrayed as insects. I find this very odd and the picture is a little creepy. When one thinks of these superheroes, you think of their comic book image not this one. Also as you can notice in the bottom right corner Stan Lee is in the corner himself. The picture is just very odd and I would say it is a contemporary art piece in my opinion. I like the values and colors and the detail is done very well. Just a very odd picture in my opinion. 


- Owen