New York Time Art Exhibit

I read an article from the New York Times art section. It explored the African styles of art that have crept into Western art and our artistic world today. The article made the point that the art and design of all different material creations are influenced from African design and art. The article critiqued an exhibition that tried to express the influence of African art into our modern designs. The analyzer recognized that in order to create an exhibit that did just this, there would be a good deal of aspects to considered of how to execute it well. The article stated that the exhibit could have in fact been executed better because it did not portray African art in a realistic sense, which the viewer could see is the original design, but could also connect and compare to pieces of art or design that were influenced by the original that they knew. I would agree with the author that it would be a difficult exhibit to execute because often times exhibitions show “high end” art or art that has been highly developed, however the African principles of design do not come in the form of a high end developed art show, therefore the representation is unrealistic. Personally I found this particular article interesting because although it is a trend, I am really attracted to patterns and colors with African origins. Also I think that I would like to see African works in their original form more than Westernized African styles incorporated into modern works.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/arts/design/03mad.html?ref=arts>

Notre-Dame

The work of art I chose is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.  I chose it for a couple of reasons, one being the fact that this Cathedral seems to have emerged in movies and such in my childhood and also that it is a very famous Cathedral and quite extravagant. What’s interesting about this piece is that it is survived the French Revolution by a slim margin, so this great work of art and this extravagant place of worship has barely made it to modern day times. Another fascinating quality is that Napoleon himself crowned himself emperor at it’s alter along with many other historically significant times. One of the most beautiful aspects to me personally are the circular designed glass decorative, as well as functional windows on the church. I am drawn to the design of them. Overall I really admire the structure for its history, its collosal size, its intricate design and the fact that it has survived through many rough periods in history when it could have gotten destroyed.