Art has always been an outlet to many. Something they could do to show what they could not say, to represent who they were/are as a person and to show what they believed in. Diego River is a great and inspiring Mexican Artist, whose paintings tell detailed aspects on how he saw things around him. As husband of one of the greatest woman artist in the Latino Culture, Frida Kahlo, he found ways to always incorporate his wife into his paintings, most commonly as the Calla Lilly. As beautiful as his paintings are they also have meanings behind them. Diego Rivera’s masterpieces interpret the way he saw society, his religious believes and his political views.

      To start out with, most of Rivera’s paintings show the life of the common people. First of all, many of his paintings incorporate the occupation of the common people in society. For instance, many of his paintings, such as : The flower vendor, The flower carrier, and el vendedor de Alcatraces, inferences that the common people were vendors they sold what they made. Also, many of his art works display the economic standards of the majority of the people. In his paintings one can tell that he concentrates on the poorer part of society. You can see this because in the art work the people are wearing clothing that is considered to be worn only by the poor. Last but not least, Diego’s work illustrates that a major part of the society consisted on working hard jobs that require a lot of manual labor. For example, a majority of his paintings show farmers plowing, people selling and making goods. One of his paintings, the weaver, there is a woman on her knees on the floor weaving what looks to be a blanket. In another one of his works, La Molendera , a woman is hard at work making tortillas.   All in all, Rivera’s art work displays the way he saw society around him.

            Adding on, many of his works involve is view on religion. To start out with, religion was already a touchy subject with Rivera. For example, he was part of the group of people who were Jewish but were forced into Catholicism. As Diego grew up he was aware of both his religions but proclaimed he was atheist. Adding on, he created a beautiful piece named The New Religion and the Inquisition, which’s perpose was to show how he saw being forced into a religion looked to him, or what the inquisition was to him. For those who don’t know at the time of Diego Rivera the Spanish Inquisition took place; this made millions of people under the Spanish rule to convert to Catholicism. In the picture you see people on their knees kissing, what I guess to be, a priest’s hands.  

 On the other hand, even though he claimed not to believe in any religion once he grew up; he did create pieces that symbolized religion in his culture. For instance, he created a piece called “Dia de los muertos” (Day of the Dead” which is a holiday celebrated by the Catholic Church. Concluding, for a person who believes he is atheist he did create art symbolic to the religion of his culture.  

            Lastly, Diego Rivera grew up around the time of the Mexican Revolution, and traveled to many places, throughout he painted piece that symbolize his political believes. Firstly, Diego was a communist and his views were shown in many of his murals. One of them being The Arsenal, which illustrates Diego’s wife passing out weapons to the communist soldiers. This of course was before Diego returned to Mexico. Once he came back he joined the Mexican communist party. Meanwhile, he believed in communism he created pieces that showed the new war he came back for, the Mexican Revolution. For instance, Diego created many portraits of Zapata, a famous revolutionary hero. Also, he created paintings that showed the violence that was  going on in the war. In conclusion, His political views governed some of his ideas for his paintings.

            In summery, a person’s art is governed by what they see and what they believe. Major things that are going on at the time inspire many artists. Not just that, but a persons own person believes and what they see happening in everyday life has an input on what gets painted on a canvas. For Diego Rivera it was many things, how he saw everyday life to be in Mexico, how religion had an impact on his own life, and his political views. 

What Is Art?????

            What is art? Million year old question, millions of different answers. Wouldn’t you think that the same question asked a million times would have the same answer? Like asking the color of dirt, one way or another it the answer will be similar. But asking what art is, it is like asking different people what they are thinking, you will never get the exact same answer. So is art thinking? Is it movement? Is it enjoyment? The essence of beauty? The contrast of colors? The movment of shapes and lines interacting as one? The power of shadows and volume? Is it the power of the artist?  The expression of the soul? The choice to be different? An idea that pops into a mind and has a need and thirst to escape and be shown? A collection of thoughts to express feelings? Is it the solid form of your soul? So you ask me what art is. Actually I have no idea, you tell me.

race & gender criticism

“One could argue that the art of disempowered peoples should be judged by the same aesthetic standards as the art of the powerful. But it can also be argued that the criticism of art is based on aesthetic principles developed in the mainstream of Western culture. How then [should we] judge quality in works that are not part of that tradition?”

1:  What the quote is saying is that some people think we should judge everyone’s art equally, no matter what. But at the same time its confusing because if art is based on principles made by the western culture how are we suppose to judge?

2: One situation I picture is that of an upcoming artist presenting his artwork, but his artwork is different. It is something we have not seen before, not structured and clean, this artwork has dementions and textures. It shows his culture and how his people are. The thing is that we look at his art as not being different and unique, but as being weird because we have not been exposed to it before. 

3: The thing is that, I do not think that a society can fix this. Because to us as humans there is always going to be a right or wrong way of looking at things. And if we are are not exposed to diversity, and are only exposed to Western art we will most likely not except the new. 

First blog, Feminist galleries

Feminist art is not just art that is made by females, but a sort of sisterhood and characteristics that bring this artwork together. And many people are wondering if feminist galleries are really necessary in 2010. Some say that it is not the idea of feminist art trying to prove that we are equal to men but the idea that the female race is being represented. And that is exactly what these 2 feminist galleries, ARC and Woman Made galleries, here in Chicago are trying to do. The point is that not many people believe that these galleries are really needed in 2010 because of sexual equality that we have now.

                        One thing that may not help ARC’s cause is that they have decided to show men’s work in an all women gallery. But ARC’s grant writer stated “We’ve all been influenced by the feminist movement.  We’re all somewhere between male and female.  There are men who do embroidery, there are women who do heavy-duty sculptural work.  Feminism is still relevant, as is feminist art.  It’s important to open the dialogue and to have a dialogue.  That’s what art is becoming more and more about”. So maybe those people that are saying that all-female galleries are not so necessary are right. I mean if every one is just in between sexes in art, should we really need art galleries displaying works from one gender? Because according to this person art is not about what gender you are but how you express yourself. So now my question is like the many other people who read this article, is one gender galleries really needed now a days?