Week 5 Art

This week once again I spent the majority of my time creating a presentation although for art this time. I was suck between two very different artists both with very different and unique styles; Jenny Saville and Kandinsky, after doing quite a bit research I found Kandinsky works much more interesting with his bold abstract pieces of art. Kandinsky was first discovered in the early 20th century. When came about the birth of abstraction art. Out went fine art painting with identifiable people and objects. And in came abstract floating shapes, geometric blocks of colour and canvas’ full of vertical and horizontal lines. 

Kandinsky’s style developed towards abstraction with a colourful and expressionist manner. In 1925 Kandinsky’s painted yellow, red, blue. This has became one of Kandinsky’s most well known pieces. Kandinsky’s noted the form and colour of each primary shape. The painting has corresponding colours - a yellow triangle, red square and a blue circle. Within this painting Kandinsky adds variation and a theme. 

Composition VII (7) is a series of 10 paintings, composition VII is one of Kandinsky most famous paintings, this is one of his most complex and ambitious works. It is made up of many different shapes and colours. This painting is one of the largest of Kandinsky’s paintings. 

At a first glance the painting seems just a outcome of spontaneous creativity. However the painting is carefully constructed. There is powerful diagonal thrust towards the upper right hand corner, this creates a sense of fracture between the left and right and sides of the picture. On the left, the jagged forms suggest a collapsing of structure. Contrasting to the right where there is more lighter, flatter forms and calmer rhythms perhaps suggesting and symbolizing the garden of eden. As Kandinsky was seen to be quite a religious man. Within the image there is no conventual perceptive, although strong dynamics provide a sense of depth and space. 

As I said music was a big influent in Kandinsky work. Kandinsky first realized the emotional power within music when he first attend a performance of Richard Wagners opera in the 1980’s. Later on Kandinsky become a good friend of the Australian composer Arnold whose 12 tone method of composition was a turning point in 20th century music. Arnold showed expressionism movements within his work allowing sounds to remain clashing and rejected conventual structures to give a compositional meaning. In a similar way Kandinsky replaced representation with abstraction in his work.

Kandinsky continued painting almost until his death in June, 1944. His Endless quest for new forms carried him to the very extremes of geometric abstraction that have provided us with an unparalleled collection of abstract art.

I felt my presentation went well, I tried to speak loud and clear however I do think the nerves got the better of me!!