ARTH1132 - Modern to Contemporary (F23)

  Solitude is a strange feeling. For many people it can feel like a mix of sadness, frustration, and numbness, but it can’t be so easily pinned down. Loneliness is a complex emotion with a lot of ways that it can manifest. In art, depicting loneliness isn’t an uncommon occurrence, but there can be challenges in trying to visually display something that everyone has felt, but no one can fully describe. There are many ways artists throughout history have displayed solitude, from wide shots in cinema, to desaturated blue tones in painting. The swiss artist Ugo Rondione however, chose an uncommon way of tackling loneliness in his public installation “Vocabulary of Solitude”. Ugo Rondinone, despite being born in Switzerland, is based out of New York City, but has found international success. Most well known for his colorful piece of land art “Seven Magic Mountains”, Rondinone has made a name for his bold use of color and contrast. His website is separated into two sections, “NIGHT” and “DAY

  Mirror Fence is a public art piece by Alyson Shotz. The artwork was originally created in 2003 and was then refabricated in 2014. Originally Mirror Fence was displayed in Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York in a multi artist show titled Yard . The art piece is now located in Storm King Art Center in Hudson Valley, New York along with many other public art sculptures. The piece consists of a 138 feet long straight non closing line of a standard picket fence design made with mirrors. The dimensions of this piece are 138 feet long by 36 inches high by 4 inches thick and is created using the materials Starphire mirror and aluminum.  Alyson, Shotz, Mirror Fence , 2003, Storm King Art Center, Photo by Jerry L. Thompson  Alyson Shotz is a New York based sculpture artist. She originally studied geology and physics before going into sculpture art. Shotz’s abstract sculpture art is influenced by science due to her background. Shotz uses her art sculptures to enhance natural phenomena

  Blacksmiths of Modernity and Soviet-era Mosaics Grace Campbell ARTH1132: Modern to Contemporary Art and Design Professor Joanne Kesten Oct 22, 2023 Figure 1. Zubchenko, Halyna. Pryshedko, Hryhorii. Blacksmiths of Modernity. 1974, Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv. Figure 2. Zubchenko, Halyna. Pryshedko, Hryhorii. Blacksmiths of Modernity. 1974, Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv. Blacksmiths of Modernity is a Soviet-era mosaic located outside of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Ukraine, Kyiv. Most Western audiences can identify this piece because of its appearance in HBO’s Chernobyl , a limited series that portrays the horrors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Like most mosaics from this period, the key component of the piece is the smalti. Smalti are tiny pieces of opaque glass in various shapes. The history of mosaics and smalti extends far before the Soviet Union. Mosaics themselves have been an art form found all the way back in Mesopotamia. However, most mosaics in his