Smithsonian National Potrait Gallery

Artist Statement:
Photography is a means for me to enter and experience the world. I become interested in a certain place or a person, and I work to engage with what unfolds in front of the camera. What I hope to show is a constellation of things surrounding us that come together in an interesting way. Light, color, gesture, and the subtlest delineations of skin and cloth are all elements that affect the emotional experience of a portrait. Some days it is enough to just look through the camera’s ground glass to produce a condition of wonderment. Photography’s greatest gift to me has been the way it allows me to observe a moment of time with clarity and attention.

Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C,
Smithsonian National Potrait Gallery

Title:Laura
Artist:Dave Woody
Date: 2007
Medium:Digital print, 2007
81.3 x 63.5 cm (32 x 25 in.)

Aesthetic Object
The portrait Laura by Dave Wood, seems to be an example of an aesthetic object, or dealing with the nature of beauty, art,taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. The soft light evokes a sense of peace and at ease. The soft skin and cloth color present a sense of sofness to the viewer. The portrait's color protrays beauty of the individual. Laura's simple facial gesture gives the viewer an appreciation for the individual's simplicity. The subject (Laura) seems like the modest type, or very low maintenance. The idea of modesty and simplicity takes the viewer to a common level of simpleness, even to the largest's of egoos. She represents a simplicity of life, and how simple life CAN be!

Rio Hondo Art Gallery Sea Change

Artist:Tony De Los Reyes
Title: Pequod
Year: 2008
Medium: Painting
Materials: Red Bister on Paper
Subject Matter: Sail Ship sailing
Genre: Stilllife object
Style: Expressionistic

The artist uses dot-like splashes to create what looks like blood drops. Blood drops that portray death and blood shed. The dot-like splashes create an outward burst. Line is used by the artist to create the flag stands and masts. The shape or height and width of the painting is very large to show to the viewer the enormity of the ship and painting. Light and Value is represented with the dark tone spots to create and give an illusion of damage. Color is represented with the bold red, to show fire or death from fighting. Texture from this painting is both real and imagined, it has a sfumato effect that blurs the image slightly. It contains a bit of chairoscuro with the light and dark splatters. The painting does a very good job of evoking blood shed and the pain it causes.

Madonna and Child with Book

Madonna and Child with Book by Raffaello Sanzio also called Raphael
Italian, 1483-1520
Oil on panel
21-3/4 x 15-3/4 in. (55.2 x 40 cm)

The mother's soft touch with her child presents the deep connection between mother and son. Her dark silhouette pressed up against the light background helps to enclose her and her son from the rest of the painting. The child's gaze is a look of dependence of his mother. Their rosey cheeks show softness of their characters. Their touch of the book shows some kind of importance, it may be the bible. The mother's gaze down to her child gives the viewer a sense of assurrance to her child. Telling her child I will never leave you and always be at your side. The baby also has a look of trust in his mother. The entire painting also gives the viewer a sense of peace and at ease with the mother and her child. You feel relaxed as if you were sitting with them.

The Triumph of Virtue and Nobility Over Ignorance

The Triumph of Virtue and Nobility Over Ignorance by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Italian, 1696-1770
Oil on canvas (Ceiling painted for the Palazzo Manin, Venice)
This painting was designed for a ceiling in the Palazzo Manin in Venice. Tiepolo was a purest of the Rocco and a master of airborne figures. He was an expert at creating infinite space using luminous colors to give a mediated experience. The shimmering colors give the viewer a sense of hope. I would think virtue is depicted with the woman in white. White being a symbol of virtue. Nobility would be the person with the spear, edpicting nobility and stregnth. I believe the bats are suppose to symbolize ignorance. The darkness of the bats, enhances the evil compared to the light of hope that is depicted in the rest of the paintng. Its like the person with the spear is forcing the bats to see the light of hope.

Frida Kahlo

Retrato de Frida Kahlo" by Diego Rivera 1839 Oil paint on Canvas
This is Diego Rivera's only known easel portrait of his wife. The image is hauntingly similar to Frida Kahlo's own self-portraits. Rivera's work probably dates from the late 1930s, the period of their brief divorce before their remarriage in 1940. The painting was found in Rivera's studio at the time of his death. Frida gazes with a nuetral look on her face. Her soft colored cheeks evoke a likeness about her. Her long earings help to highlight her beautiful long neck. Her eyes portray a seriousness about her. Her neutral facial expression can be interpurted in many different ways.

Thomas Sully- Mother and Son

Mother and Son By Thomas Sully 1840 Oil on Canvas
The colors in this image are very soft evoking a soothing feeling. The mother gazes off into the distance with peacefulness. Both mother and son seem so at ease. The son stand in front of mother with her arm slihtly embracing him, this gives a sense of protection of her son. The mother and son's pale skin stand out in contrast to the gray gloomy sky. The mother has a look of optimisim on her face. Thomas Sully was originally born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England. He got his opportunity to paint the Queen of England, "Queen Victoria" in 1873,by the request of Philadelphia's St. George's Society. Sully began painting as early as 18 years of age.

Potrait of Helene Parmelin 1952

Portrait of Helene Parmelin by Pablo Picasso 1952

Painting, Oil on paper on canvas, 20 1/4 x 26 3/4 in.

The painting is done in an abstract style which Picasso was known for. Helene appears to be intrigued by something she is looking at. One eye gazes with curiousity, while the other eye is half closed with a sense of sneakyness. Her grin suggests that she may know something not so obivious about what she is looking at. She has a look of cleverness. Her mind is definitely wondering and up to something. In 1895, Picasso's seven-year old sister, Conchita, died of diphtheria, this tramatic event may be why Picasso began painting abstract. The blue smokey background portrays a bit of mysteriousness about her and the scene.