Albright-Knox exhibits

Albright-Knox Art Gallery Visit

 

 

 

Questions about the exhibit:
1. What is the title of the exhibit? There were two exhibits that were being featured. One was the Decade Gallery, and the other was entitled Beauty, Life, and Spirit A Celebration of Greek Culture.

2. What is the themeof the exhibition?

The Dacae exhbit featured art works collected over the past ten years  (2002-2012).

Beauty, Life, and Spirit A Celebration of Greek Culture  featured Greek art works.

Step 2: The Gallery

Questions about the physical space:
1. What type of lighting is used?

The lighting in all of the gallery was soft, and unless used in the art, there weren’t any fluorescents.

2. What colors are used on the walls?

The walls were white in the gallery.

3. What materials are used in the interior artchitecture of the space?

The floor was made from slabs of stone. Upstairs there was a large open area that included beautiful stone pillars.

4. How is the movement of the viewer through the gallery space?

Downstairs was more open with a main hall, while upstairs there were lots of different little rooms to wander through. The upstairs felt more “homey” to me,  a little less stiff then the downstairs set up.

Step 3: The Artwork

A majority of the art was hung on the walls, however some sculptures and installations were on the floor. The artworks that were hanging on the wall were normally in some kind of frame. The types of frames varied in both size and color depending on the artwork. Some had thick black frames, others had smaller white frames, and some had no frames at all. The artworks were labeled with a small plaque describing who the artist was, a bit on their background, the media used, the title of the art and when it was produced. I would say on average there was about 3-4 feet in-between each art piece.  Depending on where in the gallery you were there were some similarities and differences in the art. In one room it was all paintings. In the Decade  exhibit it was obviously all art from within the past ten years. The Greek exhibit focused mainly on artifacts such as small sculptures and figurines, pots and small tangible objects rather then paintings.

 

Step 4: Art Criticism Exercise

 

 

Pablo Picasso's "Nymphs and Satyrs" from 1964.

These sculptures, made from glass, are semi-reflective of light. Althougb Picasso was not a Greek artist, he made the sculptures to represent Greek goddesses and nymphs. The sculptures are simplistic and have no real detail on the face or body, however you can make out the body shapes.

The pitcher in the upper right corner was made by an unknown person 750-600 BC. It was created by ceramic and pigment. When viewed in person you can see the detail that was in the design and the curves of the pitcher. Although it was behind a glass case, it looked like there was some type of shapes created on the outside of the pitcher that created a design. The pitcher is simple but well crafted. It looks smooth and the handle is a perfect curve.

Cycladic Heads, 1976. By Jiri Kolar. Chiasmage on wood.

 

These three masks were created using wood and chiasmage. Chiasmage is a collage of fragments. When looking at the masks in person you can see the all the little speckels on the mask that give it a texture.  The masks feature very angular noses with no other recognizable facial features. The sit on a rounded base.