Art critique essays

Art critique essays I have always enjoyed scenic landscape paintings. One piece of artwork that really caught my eye was the Two Watermills and a Sluice painting found at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. This particular painting was created by the Dutch artist Jacob van Ruisdael in 1653. Ruisdael created the painting using oil on a canvas. The paintings dimensions are 26 x 33.25 inches. Captured in the painting are, as the title reveals, two watermills. One of the watermills is more centrally located than the other. In fact the second watermill is only shown partially, as the rest of the structure seems to disappear off the canvas to the right. Between the two watermills is an actively flowing expanse of water. A very large tree is an easily noticeable landmark that is positioned just to the left of the central watermill. The painting seems to embody a very simple theme, yet it is still visually captivating. There are various amounts of foliage painted in great detail shown in the foreground of the painting. There are also delicately brushed clouds in the sky. The clouds on the left and the right portions of the canvas are darker, making way for brighter, wispier, clouds resting in the center of the sky. There is a man in a resting position with his dog at his side in the far off background. A very good sense of naturalism is personified throughout the whole of the painting. When looking at the painting the viewers eyes are drawn from the lower left of the painting towards the center in a sweeping motion. Starting where the river begins on the lower left side by lighting the center of the river with softer colors surrounded by darker reflections and plant life on either side, the artist creates a path for your eyes to follow. The motion of your eyes drawn across the river begins to dissipate as the rivers softer shades of aqua and faint whites are covered by the darker colors of the shrubbery on the river bank. But, just as the moti...

Dead Until Dark, Analysis Essays

Dead Until Dark, Analysis Essays Dead Until Dark, Analysis Essay Dead Until Dark, Analysis Essay Since man’s creation we have been grouping things, trying to make sense of the world around us. We have grouped and classified all known flora and fauna in this world. The French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck classified over 1,634 species of marine animals. Carolus Linnaeus, often called the Father of Taxonomy believed through classification of plants and animals we would come closer to understanding the divine order.Johann German naturalist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, offered his contributions to taxonomy by subdividing humans into five distinct categories: the Caucasoid race, Mongoloid race, Ethiopian race (later termed the Negroid race), American Indian race, and Malayan race, but he did not propose any hierarchy among the races (Wikipedia). The problem with the idea of classifying humans is the instinctive pride in each of us that boils over into competition. This leads to members in each group having a sense of superiority over the others.This social segregation amongst the races has led to some of the most horrifying times in world history. Charlene Harris argues that we practice exclusionism while preaching equality in her novel Dead Until Dark. Harris addresses exclusionism by introducing a new group of beings into the already troubled society of the rural southern United States. Harris introduces vampires as the new minority group to the world, but more especially the state of Louisiana.Many will identify the vampire’s struggle for equality with that of gays in America, but I feel that this would be selfish and too narrow a scope, because any minority group that has ever challenged the social views of the majority rulers of these United States would fit comfortably in their situation. Harris demonstrates the attraction of people to things they don’t understand. She does this with the main character Sookie being attracted to Bill, a vampire, at first with basic curiosity which quickly turns into a deeper more sexual attraction.Sookie’s grandmother also shows a strong desire to learn about the vampires to get a better understanding of the past. Other characters have shown interest in the vampires in a more explicit nature and have been cruelly labeled fang bangers. This fictional term bears a striking resemblance to the more real terms of nigger lover, rump wranglers, and carpet munchers. These are a few examples of how society tries to resist change by categorizing in an attempt to exile through exclusion.Harris did not place the minority groups in her novel in an inferior position. But made them stand out as more in tune with society’s issues. First, one of the minor characters, Lafayette, a cook in Merlotte’s bar and grille is a gay male that demonstrates he is confident in his sexual orientation, and has a better understanding of others than they of themselves. Lafayette is later killed off in the novel, but lives on throughout the Dead Until Dark novel based television series TruBlood as a grounded voice of reason.Second, the vampires have their own government that provides everything that our existing government promises. They systematically provide swift justice and punishment for crimes. They have managed to exist for as long as anyone could remember as myth and legend indicating an extreme level of organization and control. We could stand to learn from their societal structure. Why do we fight an enemy of our own creation? We need to stop creating enemies. Our society fears change.As in Charlene Harris’ novel Dead Until Dark, society has to take a deep look into how it has viewed minority groups and find a way to accept those not of the status quo. We preach to be a great melting pot where all people of every race, color, or creed could coexist. In our history we have repeatedly, and still continue to fall short of that banner of equality we so proudly bear. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 April 2013 at 21:21. Web. 5 May 2013.