The Grammar of Landscape

This past weekend, I went to see “The Grammar of Landscape: Eleven Photographic Visions of Illinois” at the Lockport Gallery at the Illinois State Museum. The exhibition contained photographic works of eleven artists. The subjects for the photography ranged from prairie, the lake, forest to the city and the industries. Because of the large variations in the topic and expression in all of the works and used by each of the artists, it is impossible to make a statement to describe the whole of the work.

One of the first works I saw and the one that probably captured my attention and stayed with me is a series of three prints titled Wave 1, Wave 2 and Wave 3. These were prints of the Lake Michigan. Yet they showed the lake in a way I have never seen expressed. It showed three phases of a wave. The wave itself was not blue, green or any other aqua color that are constantly used. Rather the color of the water is rather dark, almost brown among other colors. Each ripple and crest in the water can be seen. In each print, you can see the water on the sand, how one would see it standing on the lake.

Another series of prints that I really enjoyed are the photographs of industrial sites in Chicago by Michelle Keim. These had vibrant colors to them against the dark background of the night. The color of these buildings or structures itself were dark looking but they were outlined and illuminated by the few lights that were on them and the energetic colors of the sky on what seems to be a regular day.

A third series of prints that I really enjoyed are a series by Michael McGuire that gives glimpse of the city from parking garages. It shows the midsection of several buildings fully lighted for the evening against the light of the dusk. There was also a series of prints by Bill Sosin which he took pictures through his car window on rainy days through the streets of Chicago.

These are not the end of the prints that were present at the gallery, for there were a lot more touching a lot more topic and subjects. However, I think I may be biased by the vibrant, energetic colors of the dusk I saw in some prints. Overall I though the works by the various artists were well put together by the museum and well organized. The overall themes of the works were environment of Illinois, both natural and manmade. I especially liked how the museum had its large glass window open, adding its own sense of nature to the artworks.

More information about this exhibition and the museum itself can be found at : http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport/

Silent Vigil

“Silent Vigil” is a painting by Rolland Golden. It is part of a series of paintings called the Katrina series, inspired by the post Katrina New Orleans. Rolland Golden and his Katrina series are featured in the November 2008 edition of American Artist magazine. In the article, Golden stated that the paintings were a reflection of what he saw in news clips and in magazines.

The painting has a statue of a young woman in the center. The young woman is looking down and holding flowers in each of her hand. There is also mildew on the statue. The bottom third of the painting is water and there are reflections in the water of some of the structures painted above it. The background behind the statue is a town or a neighborhood affected by the hurricane Katrina. All of the structures in the background look empty. There are water marks on the walls of these structures that have a brown, rusty color. The equal height of the water marks around each of the walls shows that the water level went down. Also the walls looked cracked.

If you look closely you can see that the structures right behind the statue is not buildings rather they are tombstones and the forefront of the painting is a cemetery. Even though at first, the structures look like hollow, empty buildings, the crosses on top of most of them give it away as tombstones. There are at least four different individual tombstones that have a cross on top of it and there is also a large cross next to the statue.

Overall, the painting had an empty and quiet feeling to it. The darkness and emptiness of the cemetery and the town behind it is more emphasized by the few trees in the painting. There are no leaves or any fresh or new branches on it. It looks like a tree that survived a snowstorm. The very top of the painting contrast with rest of the painting. The very top has clear blue sky which contradicts with rest of the painting containing. But then again, it can represent hope. Above all this emptiness, there is hope.

"Bride and Two Companions"

“Bride and Two Companions” is a painting by the Indian artist Jamini Roy. He studied formal art at the Government School of Art in Calcutta, India where he learned of western art. Jamini Roy became famous as a portrait painter in the European tradition. However, he was later inspired by the local folk art and rejected the western style. The folk art inspiration can be seen in the painting “Bride and Two Companions.”

This particular painting is very flat and is heavily outlined, especially on the face. The eyes of the three women stand out because they are so long and narrow. Also, the white colors of the eyes contrast with rest of the painting which contains very bright colors. The eyes are also so long that they go beyond the outline of the face. The top part of the painting, especially the face is very flat. The bottom part seems less flat. This may be due to the fact that the layering of the sari shows some depth.

Also the saris of each of the three women contain a maroon color. This color is found on the edges of each of the saris. On the characters in the back, the maroon color on their saris is more prominent than the character in the center. There is also some maroon color on the sari on the character in the center however that brown color is more diffused with the pattern with the black lines. The maroon color is also present in the background above the heads of each of the three women.

From looking at the painting, it may seem as if each of the three characters is different. However, if you look closely, you can see that the three women are identical. The two things that vary in each of the women are their sari color and their skin tone. Also as far as I can see, each of the three women are wearing and holding their saris the same way. Roy made the woman in the center with the darkest skin tone and with the darkest color of sari. Also the character in the center is painted in another painting of Jamini Roy, “Mother and Child.”

I really enjoyed looking at this painting. Roy portrays a traditional woman without the artificial beauty and the mythological background. The traditional aspects of the characters are portrayed in their sari and their jewelry and also by how they wear their sari and their jewelry.