Work of Art Essay Example

Ofili was taken to court and considered sacrilegious by number of religious groups. After winning the court hearing, a man snuck paint inside and attempted to ruin the work of art.

Nude Descending a Staircase is a painting by Marcel Duchamp. This piece is considered a modernist classic of its time. In 1913 this piece was shown in New York during an exhibition and received a lot of controversy and rejection. This piece illustrates an abstract figure moving down the staircase. This piece shows rhythm and movement of a figure coming together into one. It remains a mystery where or not the character is a male or a female. The painting is now widely accepted and appreciated and could be found in Philadelphia.

The Temple of Confessions was created by Gomez-Pena and Roberto Sifuentes. On day to day basis, they display themselves for 5-7 hours inside a Plexiglas booth. In it they have a variety of animals, trinkets, instruments, an alter, and techno music playing constantly. What makes this work of art interesting is the microphone that is placed for audience to admit to their fears and desires. All kinds of people stop by and express their feelings. The most interesting ones get recorded and used in the soundtrack. Most people find this amusing, some actually cry, others express hatred.

Explore the similarities and differences between the Viet man War Memorial and Michelangelo’s David. i. e. intent, reception, purpose, etc. Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial in Washington D. C. was accepted when she was 22 years of age. When it was first viewed by the public, people saw it as a disrespectful monument

because it declines below the ground level in a V shape. However, since then it has become the number one visited location that is visited in Washington D. C. People know understand the art behind this monument. As you walk up the hill, it represents the healing process and the end of the Vietnam War.

Similar to Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial, Michelangelo’s “David” was also once viewed negatively by the public. At the time, it was not accepted or approved when it was put on display in Florence. Like Maya Lin, Michelangelo was also in his 20’s when he created his masterpiece. After some time it was determined that the piece would be of better outside where everyone could see it. It was a statue of David who defeated the giant Goliath. This masterpiece was meant to be a symbol of freedom from the foreign and papal domination.

Discuss the pros and cons of censorship in art.

What are your feelings regarding censorship in art? Research controversial art, select two pieces and explore both the PRO and CON of each pieces' censorship. Finally, what are the pros and/or cons of censorship in the visual arts, in your opinion? There are pros and cons to censorship in art. The pros to censorship is that if something is censored it protects others from experiencing offense. This could mean offense from racial art, sacrilegious art, and so on. The cons of censorship are that it hinders progress and promotes closed minds.

Also, what some may consider offensive, others find abstract and beauty in it. One of the pieces I chose was Blu, MoCa, 2010.

Blu has been an artist in New York for the past 15 years. For one of his recent art projects he painted coffins covered with dollar bills instead of American flags on the entrance to a museum. The museum director was out of town when this happened and during the contract signing, a draft was not presented. Upon arrival, the director was notified by the neighboring veteran’s hospital and war memorial staff that the mural was offensive to the public.

Blu was then asked to paint over the dollar bills with something else. Blu refused and another artist was chosen. The pros to this censorship were that it would no longer offend the military and the soldiers who had fallen during the war. The cons are that the artist tried to convey his feeling in this art piece of corporate greed and the unnecessary deaths of these soldiers. The second piece I chose was Frederick MacMonnies, Copley Square, 1894. This was a statue of a woman standing with one foot on a tip toe holding grapes near her mouth and in the other hand holding a child.

Unfortunately the Women’s Christian Temperance Union greatly disapproved of this statue and caused uproar within the city. They called it the drunken indecency. The pros to this censorship were that people felt that this was offensive to their society and represented a nude drunken woman holding a child. During this era, WCTU and other groups were trying to prohibit the use of alcohol throughout the country. The cons to this censorship are that all the artist was doing was expressing his thoughts and feelings and because

of closed minded people, it was rejected.

 How does Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial demonstrate Lin’s role as artist, reporter, analyst, and activist? During the time when Maya Lin created the memorial she was a student at Yale University. Sometimes in order to be a good artist you also have to be a reporter, analyst and an activist to truly understand art. As an activist she believed that the memorial would bring closure to the soldiers that made it through the war and to those families who tragically lost their sons and husbands.

Despite public rejection of the memorial, she stood strong and pursued her vision of what she believed this memorial stood for. As an analyst she was able to capture both the symbolic and visual aspect of the Vietnam War. As a reporter she spent countless hours researching the names of the fallen soldiers in order to have accurate information for the memorial. As an artist she captured the true essence of the slow and dragged out Vietnam War. The walk up the memorial is meant to represent hope and healing for all.