Sage Wintle

Janet Fotu
Drawing 1020
3/16/2016
Contemporary Painters
Deborah Butterfield
Born: May 7, 1949 in San Diego California
Studied at: University of California
Now Lives: Between Montana and Hawaii

1.

What first gave you the idea to build

your sculptures with the objects you build them

with?- I experienced a lot with multiple objects
because I didnt want to just be subject to one thing.
2.
Why do you sculpt horses over all other
animals?-I grew up with horses, so naturally my
attention would be turned towards them compared to
other animals.

Louise Nevelson
Born: September 23, 1899 in the Russian Empire
Studied at: Art Students League of New York
Now lives: New York

1.Why do you do abstract contemporary art like the one on the

left?- I see things differently because I have been to many
places, and seen many things
2.What do you see in this kind of art?- I see all kinds of
patterns, geometric and not, and also household objects but
together with others that you havent really seen.
Mark Tansey
Born: 1949 San Jose, California
Studied at: Art Center College of
Design
Lives Now: New York City

1. What gave you the idea for the look of your pieces?- The photography technique called
overlapping. They overlap two photographs and it gives it a overlapping look
2. Why do you paint landscapes?- I have always loved nature and large figures like
mountains and also famous land features, like The Sphinx.

Janine Antoni
Janine Antoni was born in Freeport, Bahamas, in 1964. She received her BA from Sarah
Lawrence College in New York, and earned her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in
1989. Her art is a mix or performance art and sculpting. She takes everyday things such as
bathing, eating, and sleeping and makes them into art. Her art tool is her own body, such as
chiseling with her teeth, washed away the faces of soap busts made in her own likeness, and used
the brainwave signals recorded while she dreamed at night as a pattern for weaving a blanket the
following morning. She went to college such as the Sarah Lawrence College and the Rhode
Island School of Design. She is known for her sculpting and installation art.

Why do you use your body as an art tool?

Using my body to make art helps me understand what it is im doing and really get into it
obviously. It also gives me more control of what I can do with the piece I am working with. I
never run out of ideas when I use my body in my art.

What other examples of using your body as art have

you done?
I have used my eyelashes on a canvas with mascara on
them. This work is called, Butterfly Kisses I have
dyed my hair and used the hair dye as a brush I used
across the floor. I have slept in a gallery and recorded my brain waves to weave a blanket with
them as well.

Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu was born in 1970 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia When she was young, her and her
father fled the country and moved to East Lansing, Michigan. She studied at University Cheikh
Anta Diop, Dakar (199091), earned a BA from Kalamazoo College, Michigan (1992), and an
MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (1997). She was a resident of the CORE
Program, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (199798) and the Artist-inResidence Program at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2001). She refers to her art as mappings of
painting and architecture.
What images do you see in your
abstract drawings and paintings?
I see trees and buildings of all sorts. I
love to layer different materials to get

the desired effect. I think of my abstract mark-making as a type of sign lexicon, signifier, or
language for characters that hold identity and have social agency. The characters in my maps
plotted, journeyed, evolved, and built civilizations.
What first gave you the idea to make art like this?
The paintings occurred in an intangible no-place: a blank terrain, an abstracted map space. As I
continued to work I needed a context for the marks, the characters. By combining many types of
architectural plans and drawings I tried to create a metaphoric, tectonic view of structural history.
I wanted to bring my drawing into time and place.

Matthew Ritchie
Matthew Ritchie was born in London, England, in 1964, and lives and works in New York. He
received a BFA from Camberwell School of Art, London, and attended Boston University. His art
revolves around a personal mythology drawn from creation myths, particle physics,
thermodynamics, and games of chance, among other elements. He connects his art ot 20th
century historical events.

What is your art process?

I start with a collection of
ideas...and I draw out all these
different motifs, and then I lay
them on top of each other. So I
have piles of semi-transparent
drawings all layered on top of each other in my studio and they form a kind of tunnel of
information. Out of that, you can pull this form that turns into the sculpture or the painting.

What is your art philosophy?

I draw from numerous meta-narratives that explore religion, philosophy, and science in order to
create my complicated, yet freshly simple work. My pieces have a scientific nature to them, but
do not solely represent scientific agenda. Instead, my work investigates the role of science within
society, creating a narrative between order and chaos.

Anderson Critique Model

Mark Tansey
The Innocent Eye Test

What is it- It is a painting in black and white depicting a cow looking at a painting of other cows.

What does it mean- This painting is a metaphor. We are the cow, and the scientists want to know how and
what we see, which is a painting of other cows.
What is its significance?- It is significant because it is supposed to make renditions of reality. It
represents the very problem that we face with the notion, reality
1. I overall like this painting, it is very well done with an interesting meaning behind it.
Although I find it boring compared to some of his other works, such as White on White.
2. Representation: I think that this painting represents contrast of colors. Or in this case,
absence of colors, black and white. It is also meant to be realistic.
3. Themes & Principles: Tanseys paintings are never actually anything that exists, they are
always something from a Different Reality The things he sees differently are subject to be
painted. It is a matter of is it black or white? Upside Down or Rightside up? Left or Right? His
paintings are all backwards in a good way
4. The connections I make with this painting arent very many. Its obvious that the cow is a
cow and those people are people, but it also reminds me of a raffle. Like they are giving this cow
to the highest bidder and they are somehow trying to prove its intelligence.
1. The evidence of something behind just what I see is in Tanseys other artwork. They are
far from normal, and almost always have a double meaning. Other than that, there isnt much
evidence to show my point.
2. Mark Tansey painted this, he painted it to show people of the different realities that arent
immediately visible to the human eye. He painted this in 1981.
3. The sound truth of this painting is that there is a meaning behind it that is hard to
understand. You cant really see it from researching the painting like I have, but by studying
Tansey himself. You cant look at this painting and say, Oh yeah, I definitely catch the meaning
behind this but you have to have a knowledge of Tanseys other work.
1. I dont think the work is successful in achieving what Tansey wanted. It isnt plain
enough to the eye so people just look over this painting and move on. I didnt even know about
this artist before this assignment.
2. I actually do not believe this art pieces theme is significant to us as human beings. Its
theme doesnt mean anything that would change our lives or make us think differently, it is just
an interesting idea.
3. I think my perception has changed in the way that the meaning of this painting isnt
anything majorly significant. I dont see how the theme or hidden meaning of this painting is
relevant to anything, or will change anything either.

Anderson Criticism Model:

Dana Gordon
Alice Neer
1. I think that it is a great work and I love the style.
2. Elements used are lines and shapes that are soft and go with the sadder more
serious tone of the painting. This also coincides with the autumn colors of the picture and
the faded blurry background that suggests a vague unclear and dark feel. And also that
hes in shadow gives the feel that hes hiding and depressed.
3. Evidence beyond what I see is that her daughter died which influenced her art to
be more dark which can explain that the man is frowning and is hiding in a dark corner
with his face covered by a beard and long hair that could be seen as another thing to hide
under. As well as that he has all the same colors around him that he is trying to blend in.
4. Alice Neel painted this in 1972. Its title is Dana Gordon. She would draw her
friends and this is an example of one of those typical paintings of hers.
5. I think the meaning of the work is that she was depressed and showed this friend
of hers with a solemn look on his face and showing some the darkness she may be feeling
on the inside as a result of the death of her daughter.

I think that the work is very successful, it is beautiful and is very modern and stylistic. It
shows characteristics of the 90s which is when it was painted.
I think the theme is very significant to human beings because everyone has lost someone
and felt extremely affected by it. We all feel like we are in dark corners with solemn faces at one
point or another, especially when we lose someone that we are close to and love.
I now see meaning and have read deeper into why she may have done different things with
the painting such as color choices and direction of light.