Menil Art Review

 Menil Collection
Artist: Renzo Piano
Date: 1982

The Menil had a unique effect to it because it didn't seem like a very large building from the outside, but when you went in it seemed very large on the inside. In terms of size, from the outside it didn't stand out much from the surrounding neighborhood because it was not too tall like other museums. Also some houses in the surrounding area echo the "Menil Gray" of the museum so that it doesn't overpower the area. The roofing design was genius as well because it used natural light to illuminate the gallery without exposing any works to direct sunlight which gave everything a more natural look along with the gardens. The wants of the Menil's was the main focus of Renzo Piano's design, but he did not do exactly what they wanted. Piano, instead, tried to satisfy their wants through unique ways such as the ferro-leaf roof to let in the natural light, and blending the size and color with some of the surrounding houses. Overall he tried to incorporate some of his own ideas of green architecture into their museum to serve their purpose while connecting the building to the environment. The effect of Piano's design is very humble and ordinary on the outside while having a very unique experience inside with the natural light not usually seen in other galleries, which is typical of green architecture style.

"Untitled"- Richard Serra

Artwork
Artist: Richard Serra
Title: Untitled
Date: 1972-73
Materials: Paintstick on Paper
Size: 37-13/16" x 50"

I chose this piece by Richard Serra which is one of his many paintings in his vast collection of black and white paintings. It is not as large as some of his other works but still plays with some of the same factors of space as does the larger ones. His paintings cause the viewers to look at the room in a different perspective and how his drawing changes it with its presence. In this drawing he leaves parts of the white paper to kind of asymmetrically balance the contrasting space and makes you notice the positive and negative space just in the drawing. In his all black drawings however, he plays with the positive and negative space in the room by placing these large works in rooms of all white walls. In this he plays with the viewers perspective to make them imagine his drawing as a endless dark abyss in the wall. The materials Serra uses are also more typical of smaller drawings rather than large works. Most of his drawings, I believe, would fall under the category of nonrepresentational art because he is not trying to represent anything necessarily; he is just exploring and studying the elements that would make up a drawing. I found that Richard Serra's work might be very similar to that of Pat Steir, who shows different types of line that can be used in drawing. Serra's version is done in a more abstract way than Steir because maybe he wants the reader just focus on each element of line simply without the other complexities of drawing. He also said, “There is no way to make a drawing—there is only drawing,” which further proves why he does not label his drawings as "lessons" as in Steir's work.

Menil Visit

Menil Collection building Basic info:

Artist’s Name (if available): Renzo Piano

Date: 1982

Formal (Visual) Analysis –Describe the building visually and be as descriptive and detailed as possible. What are the size, colors, materials, etc?

- The building was not as big as other museums. It has a soft gray color with white panels on top of the building. It doesn’t have any extraordinary designs. However, the lawn was beautiful with a few designs on the grass. I enjoyed the environment that surrounded The Menil.

Finding Meaning- Why do you think Renzo Piano designed the Menil building in the way that he did? What  effect does it have on you looking at it from the outdoors and experiencing it from the inside?

- I think Piano designed the building with the intentions of making the building blend with the houses that surrounded the building. The houses weren’t fancy or elegant. He didn’t want to design something that will not fit in the area. When you look at it from the outside, you see a simple, not too big or small building. However, when you go inside it is big.

Work of Art

Artist’s Name (if available): Rene Magritte

Title: The Rape

Date:         1934

Materials: Canvas

Size:

Formal (Visual) Analysis –Describe the piece visually and be as descriptive and detailed as possible. What are the size, colors, materials, or sounds? 

- The piece with quit hilarious. From a far distant, you see a women's strange face. When you walk closer, then you'll see what it actually is. The eyes are the boobs, the bellybutton is the nose and the middle part with the pubic hair is the mouth. The hair is just added on top to make it more realistic.

Finding Meaning- Use titles, text, symbols, how the subject matter represented (abstract, representational, nonrepresentational), role of the art, the cultural origin, or any other info you can to try to find the meaning of the work.

-By the title id say is representational. Rene Magritte was a Belgian artist who drew realistic and illusions paintings. The Rape is few of his examples. It represents the anatomy of the women’s body and transforming it as a picture of a face. The breasts are the eyes, the stomach and bellybutton is the middle section of the nose and the middle part with the pubic hair is the mouth.     

The Menil Visit The building

    1. Part formal (visually  analysis Describe the building visually and be as descriptive  and detailed as possible.
What are the size color and materials. etc....
 The menil collection was opened to the public in 1987 .The Menil was opened to house the exhibit and preserve art work of Renzo of John and Dominique De Menil. .The Menil collection building has many different Foundations.Outside the building designs are   very different from the Fine Art building . The architecture of this building had a whole different design in mind.The building had lots of glass windows surrounding the building .I saw rectangular shape windows and I saw square shape windows. The  Menil building has a balance far as the windows .there was unity all around the building. The color of the outside  building was like a mint green ,and it is considered to be a cool. color. I loved the color green .The outside was like siding .I thought it would have been made of brick . The outside of the building had concrete pillars.,all around the building.The pillars were painted white .The architects used paint and  they used lots of cement ,glass sealer for the windows. This Menil building really different ,I had a total different design in mind. The white trim just add finishing touches to the building .When you observed the building the  way it is design you will know this building is not a modern design building.However,I like the covering of the building. ,so when walking around the sidewalk ,you are protected. inclement weather.The building is well kept and the land scapping is beautiful.. The building had high glass windows aswell. I enjoyed the visit I will be going and the time I will take my grand children.
 





   

Menil visit Pablo Picasso woman in a Red Armchair.

I visited the Menil Collection . There were so many drawing and art works to chose . I  looked around until I ran across this particular piece of art work. This piece of drawing caught my eye,because I loved the artist
Picasso . When I fell in love with the piece of art I didn't know Picasso was the artist of this drawing. The art drew my attention ,because the name  ,The name of the art is Woman In Red Armchair 1929.The materials used was oil base paint and a canvas board.Wide and thin paint brushes.The painting constisted of cool and warm colors. I thought the painting had a low light effect .Picasso used thick and thinn lines in this painting. There balance in this painting .The orginal size of this painting is 802x1088 . This painting is Nonrepresentational. .The colors used in this painting were Grey,Orange, Black, White,Pink ,Brownand Tan .I think the orange made the painting the warm feeling ,but I could not make sense of the painting .I call this painting representational . Pacasso is a great artist I just love his art work.

Comtempary Art Musuem

Ready Made Art Show-Cineplex
I went to this musuem to see the Ready made art show ,and was told this was no longer here on display.The showing of the Cineplex was there as you stepped down the staris you come face to face with a flashy light display that hurts your eyes,and seems to suck you into it.The telephone everybody answers the phone they show a number of people actors and ordinary people answering the phone.On an area where you sit and look at a long position of dots, wiggly lines orange, black and white. The music is hypnotic to draw you in. The pictures and display up staris are also very weird.

Sandra Thomas
Art APRECIATION 1301

The Menil Collection

Sandra Thomas
Art Apreciation 1301
April 22,2012


The Building: As you stepped out of your car the first thing you notice is a large red jack, then you see the large building.The building is huge the colors seem to be greenish-gray hues, tall white pilars seem to hold the building up it remains you of an old victorian home in the south.The white rails on the top of the building looks like a balcony, the green trees seem to grow right into the building itself. There are mazes embedded in the ground that makes designs ,and the white sails look like solar panels used to collect wind. The giant pengelium gray in color hanging on the front is slowly swinging when the wind blows. The flooring all troughout the building was a beautiful mahagony wood floors with vents showing.There are several building where the people go see the many beautiful display of art.
Artist:Renzo Piano
Date:1982


I have chosen two pieces to showcase.
1.Work of Art
Artist:Moscow
Title:Entry into Jerusalem
Date:Early 16th Century
Material:Oil paint on a panel of wood
Size:11in by 14in
This is a beautiful piece that shows Jesus coming in on the colt-donkey into Jerusalem. Their are people watching on both sides, the apostles and the people of that city they are spreading down cloths down on the ground before him.These cloths are beautiful green and red, all throghout the picture there are complimentary colors of red, green, yellow and browns. Every one on this piece are brown skinned, with wool hair dark brown in color. the colors are so bright and beautiful.

2. Work of Art
Artist:George Segal
Title:Seated Women
Date:1967
Material:Plaster, Wood chair
Size:Life size

This piece was very odd indeed I thought there was someone in this plaster it looked so life like.The color was white all over and the chair was an old wood one with a vinel material, a burgandy color.This seated women remains you of the piece The Thinker,she has her hand up under her chin and the elbow resting on the top of the chair. She has a good pose and she is sitting in the center of the floor. The period that this piece was made was during a time when plaster was very popular to use.This women is all totally white.A very nice piece of work.

Menil Visit

Menil Collection building Basic info:

Artist’s Name (if available): Renzo Piano

Date: 1982

The building itself looks like a modern greenhouse. Not sure what the building is all made of but it is a gray colored building with light blue windows. The outside has artwork in the grass and around the building to lure visitors in. The stores that surround the building looks like houses until you walk up and see the signs.  The floors had an erie creek to it I can imagine it would be a horrible stay at night. The place had a really laid back feel to it considering there were atleast 15 people sunbathing with beach towels in the grass and playing with their dogs.

 

Work of Art 

Artist’s Name (if available): Emerson

Title:N/A

Date: 2010

Materials: Paint stick on Handmade paper

Size:N/A

The first thing that I noticed on this one was that it reminded me of a black burning sun,  Balance of the artwork is shown with the same splatter like pattern on the paper's edges before it collects into a massive mold. This piece looks as if it were inspired by an eclipse. The artist gave it texture by building up the paint all the way around it in a 3" - 6" thick mound of paint. The color of it is black and it gives off dark art traits almost as it were a meteorite blocking off the sun as it crashes down.

Menil Collection Visit Due 4/23

Picture taken by Julian Diaz.

Menil Collection building Basic info:

Artist’s Name (if available): Renzo Piano

Date: 1982

There is a very modern feel to the building. It's painted a greenish gray with light teal colored windows that contrast against the green and plentiful landscape. The residential neighborhood surrounding the building almost makes the museum seem as if it is a college. I believe that Renzo Piano designed the Menil building to be attractive on the outside, modern contemporary on the inside and blend in with its surroundings. To me the building felt like an art gallery but with an airy urban feel. The deep dark wood floors I found very pleasing to the eye and it made me feel as if I was in an expensive loft in a high rise. Another thing I really found beautiful were the garden areas that could be seen through windows of the gallery. I remember reading in the description of the Menil building's history that De Menil wanted her collection to be displayed in the light. The large windows overlooking the garden and outside greatly produced enough light to highlight the african art in one room.

Work of Art 

Artist’s Name (if available): Richard Sierra

Title: Abstract Slavery 

Date: 1974

Materials: Paint stick on Belgian Linen

Size:114 x 212 inches

 The first thing you notice besides the painting being completely black is it's massive size. I believe the artist chose to make this painting large to help you capture the large time period in which slavery occurred. You stare at the painting, notice the title, and you can instantly begin to piece together it's meaning. When I look at "Abstract Slavery", I associate black with not only the dark history that surrounds slavery as a whole but the dark skin of my people, who were once field slaves, forced to work under the blazing sun picking cotton or be beaten. Among other colors, black is such a sorrowful color (used in funerals and other mediums to signify death or sadness) and the vibe of this painting says to me that in order to tell about slavery visually, the easiest way to capture the gruesome and inhumane treatment of blacks during that time period was to paint an entire canvas black (to show darkness). To me black stands for all the tears, pain, anger, frustration and meaness that went on during slavery.