Nov 29, 2012

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12,

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With the exception of the first two pieces by Robert Arneson, the above ceramic sculptures were made by contemporary artists. Take a look, select one, and post your response explaining what attracted you to this piece? Be sure to identify the artwork by number 1-13.

70 comments:

Unknown said...

Sculpture #1 by Robert Arneson caught my eye the most. Even though it lacked color, it had plenty of detail and was quite abstract. Just by looking at the sculpture, I could feel the bushy and shaggy texture of the head's beard and hair. Even the man's forehead is creased. The abstract extension from the head also attracted me to the piece. The miniature heads that extended from the giant head all seemed to portray the same man, but the heads seemed to have different personalities, which I thought was quite interesting.

Anne Rogers said...

Sculpture #6 is the one that drew me in the most. I noticed that it resembles the sculpture that I am making right now, although it is more abstract than mine. I really liked how everything looks very smooth and connected, and that although it appears to be all one colour at first, it is actually many different shades. The way the neck just ends in an opening also intrigued me, I wonder if maybe the smoke is supposed to portray the head.

Unknown said...

I was most attracted to sculpture 12, because it seemed, unlike many of the rest, a happy, whimsical, joyful piece instead of a scary or harsh one. I also enjoyed the contrast of colors and simplicity. It’s extremely different from the yoda-like ceramic sculpture I am working on now, but I think that’s why I like it the most.

Lexus Mosley said...

To be honest, they were all creepy, so I'm not really attracted to any of them. I don't know why, but there is something about human heads and features being associated with animal parts that really creeps me out. The ones that creeped me out the most were 1, 2, and 13. I would really like to interview the creators of these pieces and ask them what inspired them to create such an out-of-the-ordinary (I don't want to say weird) piece.

Unknown said...

They all pretty much creeped me out, but the one that caught my attention the most was #7. Although, it wasn't one of the creepiest ones to choose from, I like how it clearly displays the morphing of two different things. I also like how the artist used the shape of the actual animal to create a position for the hand. The compilation of sculptures bring a whole different perspective on one certain object.

KGray said...

I was attracted to sculpture #7 because looking at it from right to left, it first appears as only a lobster. When you get to the head, you can see that there is a hamd incorporated into the sculpture. I like how the two flow together. The colors go well together, and the position of the sculpture is nice as well.

sarah said...

Sculpture #7 attracted me the most because it does not even look like ceramics. The glazing and the sculpting of this piece makes it appear as if it were made of metal. I really liked the metallic effect and the use of dark red colored glazes because it creates an angry or evil effect. Also, I liked how the artist used a human hand as a part of the animal. At first it didn't look like a hand and just part of the real animal. Also, the arc shape of the sculpture made it seem alive and real, which was very captivating to me.

Unknown said...

Sculpture #7 was one of the pieces that drew me in the most. I like how it is still eye catching without the need for bright colors. I thought that the piece was really strange and a little creepy. i thought it was cool that it was clearly a human hand, with an almost dragon-looking eye, and then a lobster body. Overall, I just thought the piece was really interesting.

Sydney said...

Sculpture 12, attracted by attention the most. I don't know if I'm off base, but I guess with art you have your own interpretation of the piece. I thought that with the girl having a sad head connecting to her head, it showed how she really felt behind her happy face (and the sun as one of her eyes). I just thought it related to insecurity about herself with her hiding her pain behind a smile.

Unknown said...

I liked the seventh sculpture the most. It is made with a lot of realism but it depicts a completely non real entity. I actually like all of the sculptures' use of human faces on varying other shapes and organisms. The blend is often bizarre, but the whole of the sculpture usually still looks awesome.

Unknown said...

The sculpture that I was most drawn to was sculpture #7. I really enjoy the morphing of the hand and the prawn. I also enjoyed the surrealism and dreamlike state. The copper red, metallic gray color, and the slit of the eye evoke an angry emotion at first glance. The hand coming out of the "face" is similar to actual prawn because the hand resembles a prawns tentacles.

Rebecca Stover said...

Sculpture one was the most interesting to me because of the detail involved in the face(s). The eyes are really well done because they are so crinkled and they look like actual eyes. The tiny heads are just sort of bizarre but the detail in them is really cool looking especially how they each seem to have a different expression yet look like the big head. I'd sort of like to know if it is a life sized head(that would make the piece even weirder because of the comparison between it and a real head).

Unknown said...

Sculpture #9 caught my attention in how figurative the sculpture is compared to the others, and it makes it stand out. It's really intricate and has so many different components; I'm not sure what all of them are and I can't really tell what the sculpture is -- it looks like some sort of oil lamp--

I think it was interesting in how the artist had the clay have the appearance of iron, (similar to how #7 looked like copper and iron fused together) and how smooth it was.

Also--
Those strange two barnacle-like things in the back gross me out.

Unknown said...

#9 immediately caught my attention. I believe this artist mastered textures and manipulated the clay in a manner that causes the final product to look like a completely different material. Also, I could be wrong, but the function of the piece seems to be a hookah, and the object it takes kind of looks like a morphed heart (stretching it,i know) but that makes #9 even cooler. you're smoking out of a heart, which harms your actual heart, which can be seen as weighed down, parallels to the chains. I just thought this was brillant.

Stephanie Senanou said...

Sculpture #9. Though I was attracted to many different sculptures, #9 attracted me the most because of the amazing detail. For my own sculpture I have to make a jackal which, compared to this sculpture, seems like no work at all. The chains and spouts on the piece are so defined that the fact that someone carved and shaped them makes the piece even more fascinating. The sculpture looks more like a type of metal cast into a certain shape than a block of clay shaped into chains and spouts with extra drawing added on. The different look and feel the piece gave off, made it pop out over the other attractive sculptures.

Noah Sawyer said...

number 7 looked almost metalic, and had a very natural progretion from the srimp to the hand

Unknown said...

I really enjoy #7 because it's a really interesting manipulation of hands and their shape. It reminds me of the body art, specifically paint on just hands like http://stickersanddonuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/zebra-hand-paint.jpg and http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2007/august/hand_paint_4.jpg, and it's an incredible way of using human bodies for art. In this piece, the lighting on the hand and the color of the paint is really vibrant and intense without being overwhelmingly bright.

Elizabeth Tom said...

I personally really like Sculpture #7. I like who detailed it looks, and the transition between the shrimp thing and the hand is really natural. It looks amazingly realistic, despite how strange of a combination it is, I like that about it.

sela123456789 said...

I'm drawn to the lady in the red swimsuit. It reminds me of a silly Hallmark card with grandmas in swim wear. The red suit and the swim cap are really nice for colors but just the plumpness of the woman and her shape as like a very round but somehow weirdly proportionate just make it seem like shes a whole lot of wonderful woman.

Unknown said...

I loved how in #1 there was an incredible attention to detail. The wrinkles, eye creases, and hair are so realistic and exquisitely done. Though there is this realistic quality, we have this unrealistic depiction of miniature heads protruding from the top of the main man's head. I believe it is the same guy, and with all the different angles we see them at, we are in a sense seeing all the different "faces" or sides to this particular man. On a more humorous note, from a distance the faces resemble a crown and remind me of the Burger King man. Overall, I enjoyed this piece a lot. I also liked number seven for reasons already stated: the hand and shrimp flow nice together as if that were natural. The hand is a good representation of the real finger like projections that shrimp/prawns have on their faces.

Daisy Ruiz said...

The transition of color in sculpture 10 really caught my attention the most. It seemed like the green slowly faded into a light blue and the light blue to a dark blue. In my opinion, the flow of the colors is more appealing to look at compared to some of the other sculptures.

Unknown said...

Sculpture #13 immediately caught my eye as I was scrolling through the pieces. The childlike position of the body first caught my eye and the appearance of the woman kept my attention. I love that the colors are sort of like clown colors. I love that the woman's facial features greatly contrast with her body language. It is clear that she is crazy! I just love how this piece caught my off guard. I expected to see the face of a child and instead got a grown woman.

Unknown said...

I wouldn't say I'm attracted to #11but I would say aspects of it attracted me (and not because Sela chose the same piece). If you look closely you can see that the sculptor used a bunch of different colors to enhance the weird effect the legs have on the sculpture as a whole. The goggles make the lady look like an alien which is kind of neat. While the sculpture is disproportional and contemporary, for some strange reason it brings back memories and no other sculpture had that effect on me.

Unknown said...

I like #2! I think that all of these pieces are very weird and interesting and look good, but I don't really get them-- the second piece resonates with me more than the others. I have a dog, and my dog is part of my family. I think this piece is funny because it kind of shows that dogs can be part of the family and how we attribute human characteristics to them.

esmé naumes-givens said...

#7 was the first piece that caught my eye, I think mostly because it appears so polished and smooth and natural, that you don't at first notice what it's comprised of. It has aspects of multiple creatures, including a human hand and a lobster tail, with an interesting, almost supernatural eye. I liked how cohesive the piece was, even while combining parts that don't naturally go together.

Unknown said...

Sculpture #13 caught my eye considering how eerie the child or person looked. It didn't look like a normal human being, but it has legs and arms. The ceramic is not at all beautiful, and I think that it looks dead. Her ears are bunny-looking and she puts her hands in her mouth,in a weird way. I just feel like the sculpture overall is ugly, and it's positioned in a weird way.

KingMamba said...

Sculpture #10 really caught my attention because of the striking colors at play that really made for a nice visual effect. The creatures in the sculpture are also interesting and seem animated due to their placement, both have their beaks open which helps serve the purpose of movement even when they're not actually moving. I personally liked the sculpture as a whole because it was visually appealing.

Unknown said...

Sculpture #9 is awesome. I had to look at the picture of it again to realize what it is. It seems to be a heart wrapped in chains, the long stems off the structure look like the aorta and pulmonary valve(superior vena cave...etc)I love how dark it is,and it also appears to be shaped in a pipe form. The creator seems to be showing the death(Chains) of a heart of a smoker, and it is ironic how the heart is pictured as a smoking device.

Erick Masias said...

Sculpture #11 was the one the sculpture that most drew my attention. The main reason it drew my attention was the cartoonish feel of the first head that went into a more serious and realistic face on the second head. I couldn't help but ponder what the artist was trying to accomplish by juxtaposing these two heads.

Unknown said...

Sculpture number 5 intrigued me with its looks. It seemed very basic at first glance, but had much more detail after I examined it closer. The head and the leg are a pale, sky blue color. There's emphasis on certain features of the face, only the nose and the ears. But after zooming in quite a bit, I was able to see additional detail on the face and leg that was very flowery and decorative. Also, at the end of the piece, the foot had great detail and stood out from the other part. Its rich gray color popped next to the light blue.

Chloé said...

Sculpture 7 was the one that caught my eye the most. I like how the orange gives the piece a slightly rusted, antique look. In addition, I like how the hand and the lobster forms blend together seamlessly so it is hard to find the exact point where one ends and the other begins. This, along with the positioning of the hand, gives the sculpture a very graceful appearance, which is odd because I've never thought of lobsters as graceful.

Zoe Brown said...
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Zoe Brown said...

Sculpture #5 caught my eye the most because of the way it was created and what it seemed to be of. It's interesting that it is only of a head, a leg, and a foot. Along with that it doesn't have eyes which I find very intriguing and representative of our every days lives, that we probably run through life without taking advantage and noticing our surroundings. I also love the contrasting and varying colors. The rest of the sculptures (except 1 & 7) were, like others said, kind of creepy.

Elaine said...

Sculpture #6 caught my eye immediately because it resembles an armadillo - an animal of which I am very fond. The craftsmanship of this piece is impeccable - it is virtually seamless. This is an aspect of sculpture, and art in general, that I very much admire: although we may use our imaginations to mix different animals together and "create" new and wild creatures, we can always make them appear completely natural through solid craftsmanship.

Will Bernstein said...

The one that stood out the most to me was sculpture #12. I liked the material it was made out of and how it differed from the other sculptures. The overall design was really cool as well, with two faces showing two different emotions. The hair connecting it also was very unique and gave the overall piece a more symbolic meaning. The contrast of colors in this piece, along with the contrast with the other sculptures in the gallery gave the sculpture more meaning or uniqueness and also made it my favorite.

Thurman said...

I'm still deciding on the final form for my sculpture and sculpture 12 is helping me figure it out. The way the heads are formed together using a tube is something that would be nice to emulate. The shape of the top-most head is a flawless sphere, giving me a template to make a mushroom head for my sculpture. To me, the piece represents one man, but the one without hair is the inner being, the personality or soul if you will. The connection tube is obvious but subtle as the observer is partially distracted by the hair on the bottom portion.

Alexandria Figueroa said...
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Alexandria Figueroa said...

Sculpture #5 caught my eye first. It seemed, at first, like just 2 parts put together, but when I enlarged the image, it looked a lot more detailed. I really like the detail in the head-thing, the ears and design are very detailed. I don't know what it's made out of, but the design in in is awesome. The foot is cool, but I don't know if I like it as much as the head.

Jackson Beard said...

Simply put, #7 caught my attention because it's so strange. The form is distinctly animalistic (looks like a krill to me), but with closer inspection, you can see a human hand, a human eye, and what appear to be tiny leaves incorporated into the piece. It's a weird combination of organic and supernatural!

Alex Chong said...

8: I like the metallic appearance. At first glance, it appeared to be some sort of dragon, and even when it resolves into the shape of a duck, it is somehow menacing. I also appreciate how the form of a bird was adapted for the vessel.

Linda Yu said...

Sculpture # 7 caught my eye the most. It looks like a lobster, octopus hybrid. Although mythical, it seems like it could be a real sea creature (maybe one found in the deepest areas of the ocean). One of the main reasons I was drawn to this sculpture is the head/face. The eyes make it look intimidating and angry, but not really frightening or scary. In addition, I noticed that the tentacles/face area is a mold of a hand, which I thought was really cool.

Alejandra Flores said...

i thought Sculpture number 3 was the very interesting. it had the head of a woman and the body of a cat or small animal. i thought the use of different pastel colors was very pretty and appealing. the overall piece was so abstract and distinct to traditional sculptures. the mixing of human and animal features was very compelling and interesting to look at

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Alejandra Flores said...
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Alejandra Flores said...
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Katya Mazon said...

To be honest all the sculptures made me feel especially uncomfortable. However, the concept behind #2 I found enjoyable. I might be way off but I feel like the artist was trying to show how we humanize our pets. Being the animal lover that I am I found myself attracted to the sculpture.

Katya Mazon said...
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Anna Miller said...

Although all the sculptures are a bit odd and creepy, I was particularly interested in #5, a face connected to a leg and a foot. It caught my eye because of the illogical placements and use of the body parts in this way, which makes it somewhat confusing. It makes me question why these parts of the body were chosen for the sculture and why in this arrangement, and what meaning the artist was trying to portray. Also the fact that the foot is a different color and material than the head and leg is interesting, because although its connected to the leg in the usual way, its still not really together because of the different color and texture.

Unknown said...

To me sculpture number nine was the most interesting. I liked the contrast of the biological with the inanimate since it looked like a human heart but also involved chains and pipes and metallic color. The texture was good and the overall shape was very interesting and complicated which makes it nice to look at.

Cameron said...

Sculptures #7 and #13 attracted me the most, and not necessarily because I thought they were beautiful. They were a little grotesque and disturbing. I was attracted to #7 the hand-shrimp thing, because it looked menacing. I also liked the coloring on it, how there were shades of orange on the shell. #13 I liked because at first, when I looked at the body, I thought it would be a cute sculpture of a little girl, come to find out that she's actually a pig stuffing her face. I thought the colors were playful, and her position gave her a personality.

Ellen McGarrigle said...

i lovelovelove #7. it reminds me of the project we did last year, like it's a few forms morphed together, but still manages to look very natural. it's creepy and different and looks a little bit evil, which is something you don't usually see.

Unknown said...

Sculpture #13 caught my attention because I found it so weird that I could not stop staring at it. The woman is lying on her back like a baby. She has pointy ears like an animal yet has a human looking body. I could see tons of texture from the hair to the shoes. I just do not get what is going in on and I guess that part of the reason why it caught my attention so much.

Unknown said...

I thought #7 was really interesting, I like how all of the components/parts blend together and look like they could almost belong together. Additionally the gesture of it kind of puts it in motion and the color choice was really cool because it only uses a few colors but they also (like the different parts of different animals in the form)are blended together beautifully and used selectively. I like the air of surrealism it provides and the detail in it.

Unknown said...

I was most drawn by sculpture #3 because of how creepy it looks. It immediately reminded of the black-blob spirit with the white mask in the movie “Spirited Away” because of the fact that it’s basically a blob with a human face on it and random legs and feet. I loved how creepy it was, it’s like creepily cute. Such expressionless human faces on really abstract things freak me out, yet attract me. And it is made of so many different colors – the yellow body, the purple human legs/feet, and the orange arms with little claws. I don’t really understand why it’s like this, or what it’s supposed to represent. But what I really don’t understand at all is the reason for why that woman is on the rear end and why there’s a little nook in the chest of the creature with what I believe is a baby…

Unknown said...

Sculpture number 13 definitely caught my eye the most. It actually scared me as well, which is why it's the most memorable to me. Whatever it is that's being depicted, it's frightening. Basically it's looks like a maniacal red headed human who is completely disproportionate. Aside from it's scare factor, I think the colors make it really interesting. It looks youthful and innocent, painted white and red and patterned. That's a pretty stark comparison to how creepy it actually looks. As I said before, I found the shape of the body interesting too. It's head looks human but the rest of it's body doesn't, which adds to the fear factor. The face is very expressive and detailed, which I was pretty impressed by as well.

Monika Wysocka said...
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Monika Wysocka said...

Number 13 caught my eye the most because when i first scrolled through it i just thought that it was a child or a doll, but then when i looked at it again i realized how creepy it was. The colors and the creepiness remind me of a clown and i think it's interesting how the artist decided to use those animal-like ears. I'm also curious as to why the artist chose that specific pose, because it seems unusual.

josephineL.yu said...

Sculpture 7 is really interesting. It's is a combination of a lobster/ shrimp and a human hand. The way that the human hand is connected to the lobster makes it look like it has tentacles.... which oddly reminded me of Davy Jones from The Pirates of the Caribbean. The form of the sculpture has a fantastical feeling to it.

Jackie Anyaso said...

I was most attracted to sculpture #7 because of its shape, color, and expression. At the end, it looks like a typical lobster, but at the tip, it embodies a human hand. I find the shape interesting because it blends both forms of a lobster and a human hand and the fingers make the figure look like it is in attack mode. The red and black color, and shape of the eyes also contribute to the attack mode the animal seems to be in. I think the art piece overall is eye-catching and thought-provoking because it confirmed to me that altering a facial expression isn't the only way to imply a mood.

Unknown said...

Although they are all pretty eye catching, #13 definitely caught my eye the most. It's form reminds me of that of a character from Narnia and the colors like red make it dark. I instantly thought of a horror film setting, especially with the motion of the sculpture eating his hands. Have to say i was drawn to the twisted and evil atmosphere i felt from the piece that made me more responsive.

Donovan Aranda said...

I really liked sculpture #7
The first time i looked at i just saw a regular squid, but at a second glance you can see how it is literally personified having human qualities, in this case a human hand

Connor Solms said...

I found all these scupltures to be really wierd. I didn't particularly enjoy any of them, but I was entrigued by all of them. None of them seemed particularly happy, some even seem demonic. I'm curious to learn more about these little things.

Jacqueline O said...

Sculpture #3 was definitely my favorite. All of them were obscure and deserving of a second glance but this one struck me the most. The mixture of the vibrant colors and textures and designs really draws my eye. The face is clearly that of a woman's while the fore legs are an animal's (I'm assuming from the claws), and the hind legs appear as human feet but are in such an animal-like position. It seems the artist is attempting to assimilate the human and the animal through this sculpture. Also, the detail on the face is so realistic, giving the figure a more beautiful feature after getting past the odd shape. In fact, all the details of the sculpture are individually fantastic and when they're all put together it confuses the observer.

Unknown said...

I would like to speak on Sculpture #7. This piece really stood out to me because of the fusion of two different objects as one. I think the craftsmanship of this piece is immaculate. The detail is really great as well. I like how the piece stands and the way in which it is positioned. It has a realistic aspect to it which is far from what it actually is but I really enjoy that. I also want to comment on the colors which help to lend to the realism which is portrayed through the piece. Overall, I would definitely feel inspired to make a piece as such. It sparks emotion and thought within me and I would want to do the same in my art.

John Collins said...

I really like sculpture #9. the reason why i like this is because the effect the artist had made this sculpture look like it was not made out of clay, but aluminum and steel. it looks really industrious and the exhaust vents are a very nice touch. the texturing on the metal plating was highly realistic, it almost looks like the real thing.

Grace Hildebrand said...

The link wasn't working when I tried a while ago and you said I could do it again. Sorry this is so late! Sculpture #2 by Robert Arneson was my favorite out of all of the sculptures. Although it was a bit unsettling to see a dog with a human face, I thought it was clever how even though the face was human it had the exact same expression a dog has when it knows its in trouble. In addition the detailing of the sculpture makes it look very realistic despite the fact that it is of a dog with a human head.

Eddie said...

Sculpture #7 caught my eye the most because i felt that it had the smoothest transition between the animal and the human part. The colors also make it look very old and almost mythical which i find interesting.

Sierra Copeland said...

Sculpture #13 really attracted me because of the colors and the positioning of the figure. It made me want to meet the artist and find out the story behind this creation.

Unknown said...

I think picture #7 was the only one that made a little sence to me.The rest just seemed pretty random.