Juxtaposition means placing things side-by-side. In art this usually is done with the intention of bringing out a specific quality or creating an effect, particularly when two contrasting or opposing elements are used. The viewer's attention is drawn to the similarities or differences between the elements.
Some well known artists who use juxtaposition are Salvador Dali, Damien Hirst and Frida Kahlo (among many more).
The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on canvas, 67" x 67" by Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo uses juxtaposition to contrast two sides of her personality .The Frida on the left represents her more traditional self. Dressed in traditional Mexican clothes she is the weaker of the two the one that her former husband Diego Rivera has rejected. The woman on the right represents a strong and independent Frida , who looks over and protects the traditional Frida.
Damien Hirst Diamond Skull Diamond Skull- Through his choice of materials Hirst contrasts two extreme opposites. Hirst symbolizes mortality with the use of a skull and eternity with the use of diamonds.
While researching I stumbled upon the artwork of Leslie Holt
Hello Goya 2006 oil on canvas 4x6" Holt contrasts Goya's The shooting of May 3 1808 with a hello kitty doll. The Goya painting depicts a horrific event of terror and death, the hello kitty doll represents a sense of innocence and virtue.This contrast between a heartless massacre and childhood innocence represents the implementation of juxtaposition in art.
Jamie and Kirstin taught their lesson on narrative. They showed a PowerPoint on Cindy Sherman and asked us questions like what do you see? and What do you think that piece of paper is? Who is this woman? I think the questions encouraged the class to make up their on stories (narrative) about the woman in these photos. One student started talking about how the women in the photograph looks like she could be on desperate housewives, the photo is so filled of drama. They talked about genre and asked the class what type of genre these photos would fit into.The class replied drama or mystery. The photo Untitled #92 was given to us in the form of a worksheet. There was one box above the photo and one box bellow. We were asked to draw a narrative depicting what had happened to this woman before and after. I think this exercise was a great way to get the class thinking about putting a story together in a sequential manner. Kirstin also showed a demo on camera angles and we were told to think about what angle we wanted to shoot our photos at. For this project we used digital cameras to take a picture that tells a story, we were also asked to think of a genre for our photo. We had the option to make props for our photo. To start we were given a page to draw out an idea for a photograph. At this moment I froze up. For some reason I just couldn't jump right into this project. I couldn't think of any ideas do I just drew a picture of me kneeling on the ground looking frightened at something. To think of it it looks very similar to Cindy Sherman's Untitled #92. For this project my idea was not very original, but I think a few things could have helped. When I was drawing I desperately wanted more boxes on the paper so I could mess around with a few ideas, this way I wouldn't be tied to just one. I think it would have been helpful to be given random words describing a subject or verb that our narratives must include. Even if it was just one word I feel like that alone would have helped me generate some ideas. We worked with a partner who took our picture but the two narratives did not correspond. I think the lesson would have been more engaging if we worked with our partners in concept as well as production. Overall great job Kirstin and Jamie.
Here are a couple of Cindy Sherman self portraits I found appealing.
November 9th - Tanya and Katie taught their lesson on the
theme of insanity. I think their theme is attention grabbing and exciting. I
was engaged from the start. We were given a packet titled Repetitious
Compulsions and told that we should fill out this packet out during the PowerPoint.
They started with asking the class what the word insanity means. When students
started to call out (crazy, wide eyed etc...) they wrote the words on the smart
board. I was glad we talked about the artist Judith Scott. We had just talked
about her in my disability studies in art education class and this was a nice
connection for me. Judith Scott has Down syndrome, is deaf and cannot speak her
way of communicating to the world is through her art. Judith was put into an institution
for 35 years and her artistic abilities didn’t start to emerge until she was
taken out of the institution by her twin sister. She often finds objects and she
wraps them with colorful string, over and over again until they lose all utilitarian purposes.
These objects can now be appreciated for their artistic and aesthetic function.
Curlicue Sculpture, Judith Scott
After the Power Point we all got a box the boxes all contained different types of materials. Each group got a verb something they would have to implement in the making of their project. My group got cupcake wrappers pins and glue. Tanya and Katie gave us small pieces of foam board to practice on. After we experimented on the practice board we could then move to the larger piece of foam board. I really loved how fun and creative this project was. Plus their was an element of surprise with the boxes and choosing of techniques. I also think that Tanya and Katie did a great job of staying consistent with their theme of insanity. Our materials and the verbs encouraged students to use repetition. The actions of stacking and wrapping and pinning over and over again represents the compulsive actions of the artists Judith Scott, Eva Hesse and Tara Donovan. It was very helpful to have a verb we must use, it narrowed down the possibilities and this way we could concentrate one repetitive action. I enjoyed the critique at the end it was nice to see what everyone else had done and what materials and verbs they had. Some groups had clay, some had wire, and some had cardboard.
On November 6th 2012 Shannon and Sara taught their lesson on Environment.
We received an e-mail from Shannon asking us to bring in five objects within
our environment. At least one natural and one fabricated. We also were asked to
bring in our cameras. I thought it was great that we got the chance to bring in
our own objects. It made the project more personalized, and it was exciting
(kind of like a show and tell). It encouraged the students to look around at what others brought in and interact with their
peers. Shannon and Sara reviewed the slideshow
of artist we had talked about earlier as well as some of the concepts we had
learned. I am very interested in the
artist Andy Goldsworthy who creates earth art. I’m glad that during these
lessons we are getting the chance to learn about contemporary artists. One
thing I need to work on is gathering the names and artworks of artists who interest
me; this will be extremely helpful in the future. The artist Banksy interests me;
I like how he brings art to urban areas. I also enjoyed the artwork of Alexa
Meade who used a contrast between the medium of paint and photography. Shannon and Sara discussed how a composition can be dynamic or
it could be static. They both explained these concepts accurately and allowed students
to add their input. We were asked to take photographs of both a dynamic and
static composition. Shannon came around and asked me if my composition was
static or dynamic and asked me why I thought so. I like that she was following
up with students to check for understanding. The teacher examples were great! They
looked very professional. Shannon and Sara seemed to cover all aspects of the
lesson, and they showed different viewpoints of their topic.
November 2nd 2012- Meagan and Amy taught their lesson on the
theme of Gesture. There slideshow presentation showed the difference between
the gestures of the young and old in photographs by the artist Nikki S. Lee. I
liked that Meagan and Amy asked the class to show in gestures with our bodies
what a young person looks like and what a young person looks like. This got the
class involved and interacting. I also like the artwork with the hand gestures
done by Avery Lucas this showed the class that emotion can be evoked through
body language. The questions Meagan and Amy asked got the class involved.
Students started talking about how the two hands together reached out look like
someone asking for more, it is inviting compared to the other artwork. The
other picture shows the hands squeezing the arms and moving away from the
viewer, if the artwork could speak it might say “stay away”. These examples
gave a variety of ways in which gesture could be used. This got the class ready
to start our projects. Meagan and Amy gave a demo on how to use plaster and
told the class they could use any body part we wanted. I worked in a group with
Mikayla, Joe, and Taryn. We choose to plaster Mikayla’s nose.We were a little confused by the goal of the
project and didn’t think the body part was required to show a gesture, so our
project in concept did not work. I think Meagan and Amy could have encouraged
people to plaster their hands because that’s the most expressive body part.
Their presentation as well as demo and class critique was very strong and the
project was fun. I enjoyed using a material I had never worked with before. Great
job guys! I thought Amy was very enthusiastic
and Meagan was inviting and engaged the class.
On October 30th 2012 my Theory and Practice class started theme-based
lessons. Leah, Chris and Cameron were first to teach their lesson. Their theme
was the Apocalypse, which I found to be a very exciting topic. I remember their
images and I think the artwork with the mutant dog created an enthusiastic
conversation and was a great intro to the theme of Apocalypse. The teacher’s
samples were mutant creatures made out of clay and we were told our drawings
would later be translated into clay. We were broken up into groups of three or
four, and asked to collaborate with our classmates to create our own mutant. We
were given four cards and we got to choose one from the pile, this was
excitingway to present the element of
chance into the lesson it made the lesson like a game. The categories were
arms, legs, body and head. I received the card for arms. From there we were
asked to draw four drawings of our body part. I like this because it gave us
options. Once we were done with our drawings we were asked to show our drawings
to the group. We talked about which drawings worked the best and what kind of
mutants we wanted to create from there. There were many drawings that looked
robotic and others that looked more organic. Julia chose to create a plant
creature with a human head. I decided to make a robot. I thought it was great
that the teachers went around and asked if students thought they would have any
difficulties when they were making their mutant in clay. Cameron was very
helpful and he asked me if my robot would be able to stand? Then I noticed the
legs were very thin and fragile, so I told him no it wouldn’t. He suggested I
add a base to give my sculpture support, and that the base could reflect the
environment the robot lives in. Cameron was very good at trouble shooting problems
that students might have. The one thing I was a bit disappointed with was that
we didn’t get to work with clay. There was extra time at the end and I think we
could have started using clay and spend less time on the drawing part. During
the critique of the teachers it was mentioned that the students could have
worked with clay but I guess this is a drawback of going first. Groups that teach later have the advantage of learning from this.Overall I loved the lesson!
