“Squinting at the Details” looks at an artwork by Guercino titled “Mars with Cupid: and attempts to identify possible references and symbolism in the smaller details found in the work.
The exhibition "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," staged by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fashion Institute, showcased a fusion of Catholic iconography with contemporary fashion. The exhibition served as an immersive experience within the Met Cloisters, blending architecture, artworks, and garments to elevate clothing to the status of art. Attire was transformed into an earnest expression of spirituality and cultural identity through thematic organization. "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" exemplifies the potential of fashion as a medium for artistic exploration and cultural discourse, challenging conventional perceptions and redefining boundaries between art and apparel.
In the mid-18th century, France entered the Rococo period, a period of enlightenment and play. As the Enlightenment spurred more liberal ideologies in French society, aristocratic women were afforded more freedoms than in previous periods, such as high education and participation in social and cultural realms such as Salons. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, known widely for his 1767 painting "The Swing", created a large body of work throughout the period often depicting female subjects in genre and allegorical scenes as well as portraiture. Often subverting the typical male gaze in his works, his paintings serve as a reflection of the period of empowerment experienced by aristocratic women in the Rococo period.
Many people and cultures throughout history have taken great interest in the end of the world. Christianity has been used to answer questions about the Apocalypse in the final book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Artists from all around the world have used this apocalyptic text as inspiration for their works. In 1498, German artist Albrecht Dürer published a series of fifteen woodcuts depicting scenes from Revelation. One of these was “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, which can be used to more readily understand the teachings and beliefs of the Christian Church in 15th-century Europe.
Witches’ Sabbath in Trier is a broadsheet that depicts a witches’ sabbath, and was a piece of the thriving print culture of sixteenth century Germany. The image of the witch reflects misogynistic beliefs about women, rooted in the Bible and the female life course. Witch persecution meant that people could find and punish the roots of evil causing their misfortune: witches sent by Satan. This othered population was most often impoverished women whose bodies were scrutinized as possible vessels for evil. Broadsheets like this one were a terrifying and fascinating form of entertainment, helping to spread misogynistic beliefs about witchcraft.
Tawaraya Sotatsu’s screen door print of the Japanese deities you cannot dismiss how unique each one of the figures appears. You also cannot help but wonder how these deities ended up looking the way that they did. We look back to 13th-century Japan to see why Raijin and Fujin ended up being depicted as they did. We consider their history, analysis, and the artist's importance within Japanese culture.
This document discusses the early life and artistic career of Caravaggio with his painting "Young Sick Bacchus". It also investigates the formal elements of the work and the contemporary theories behind it.
The only artist to be featured at all eight Impressionist Exhibitions in Paris was Camille Pissarro. The Impressionist movement emerged during a period of rapid social change and growing industrialization with more people moving to cities. In Pissarro’s works, he specifically concentrated on the conditions of different weather and times of day to alter how he painted scenes of a city. My paper focuses on the Boulevard Montmartre series and his use of building tonal relationships and skill of lighting placement across the fourteen paintings in order to establish a harmonious composition where the day’s essence radiates off the canvas.
Delphi - a touchscreen video game art installation for galleries and museums.
Viewers can explore a contemporary interpretation of the ancient Greek site of Delphi, home of a mythical oracle.
The Delphi gallery installation, designed for museums and cultural centers, gives each visitor about ten minutes to explore Delphi and visit the oracle to get a personalized message. The installation is easy to use, and accessible for general audiences of all ages and degrees of experience.
Two cubes (or a cube and a chair) are placed on a 7cm high, 2m square plinth stage; the large cube is a ventilated cabinet and tabletop for a touchscreen, the other cube is a seat. As players step up onto the plinth to interact with the touchscreen to explore the virtual world, they enter the installation observed by the other gallery visitors who watch the interaction on large video screens around them, displaying the virtual environment of Delphi onto the gallery walls, with soft, ambient sound of the Greek countryside and occasional interactive events.
Delphi requires controlled lighting and electricity, between 50-500 sq meters, large video displays, audio, plinth, and two cubes (or cube and chair) as above. An area of about 500 square meters is optimal, although smaller is possible. A CAVE version of Delphi is currently being researched.
Visitors can explore the environment in and around the hills and monuments of Delphi. By artificial intelligence, Delphi responds by AI to each visitors style of play, actions, responses, and behavior, choosing a classic Delphic maxim (150 Delphic maxims drawn from historical and literary sources) for each player in turn.
Unzip Delphi_Oracle_install.zip into a Windows folder to create a folder called Delphi_Oracle and its contents.
Change directories to browse into the Delphi_Oracle folder, and double-click on Delphi_Oracle.exe to play Delphi. If Microsoft Smartscreen asks to prevent an unrecognized app, click More info, and click Run anyway.
With mouse or touchscreen you can move and interact onscreen;
Slow or stop, left mouse button or touch the center of the screen
Move forward, mouse button or touch center top of screen (higher = faster)
Move backward, mouse button or touch center bottom of screen (lower = faster)
Turn right, mouse or touch right side of screen
Turn left, mouse or touch left side of screen
Look up and down, left and right mouse buttons together (or two fingers)
A touchscreen makes it feel very immersive, and a mouse also works just fine too.
Currently working to run Delphi in the CAVE software for CAVE systems.
Delphi is first and foremost a work of contemporary art and an interpretive reconstruction of a cultural treasure for everyone. Looking for a contemporary art gallery where I can premiere it.
-benb
copyright 2022 Benjamin Britton
June 14, 2022
all rights reserved
