One notices things about it and tell another person what you observe verbally or in writing
Questions you ask
What is here?
What am I looking at?
What do I know with certainty about this artwork?
What to notice
Notice everything
Some things that are obvious to you are not obvious to others
DESCRIPTION DEFINED
Descriptive information includes:
Subject matter-what the artwork is about or the object being portrayed
Medium-what is it made of?
Form-how is the subject matter presented?
Background Info
About the artist
Time period it was made in
Social Milieu it came from
Description is factual information
Closely describes what can be seen within the artwork
Also, can be from external sources like: the artist, books, press releases
DESCRIBING SUBJECT MATTER
Identifies persons, objects, places, or events in an artwork
Identify what you see and characterize it
Characterize-describe character or peculiarities of
Subject matter can be the same-as or different than the subject
Subject may be 4500 nude people
Subject matter is a call for freedom
SPENCER TUNICK (NUDE ADRIFT SERIES)
Subject is 4500 nude people
Subject matter is a call for freedom
RICHARD AVEDON (AMERICA WEST SERIES)
Subject Matter was described by an art critic as, ranchers, housekeepers, rodeo riders, oil drillers, pig men, meatpackers, and an army of unemployed drifters. One drifter is tall and enigmatic and the snake is wrapped coyly around the boys arms.
Another critic calls the subject matter a human cyclorama and describes the apparent dysfunctions of the people.
Another critic started by telling about his older work first and then talk about it as a catalog of theodd.
CINDY SHERMAN
Simple but hard to define subject matter
Subject matter could be cultural construction of femininity, characters in dramas, women represented in media, women as pictured by male producers
To simply say they are self portraits is to misidentify them
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT MATTER HERE?
Photos by: Larry Sultan
DESCRIBING FORM
Form is how the subject matter is presented
The shape of content
How it is composed, arranged, and constructed visually
How does it use formal elements?
Principles of Design
Dot, line, shape, light, value, color, texture, mass, space, volume, tonal range, contrast, camera or file format, point of view, angle and lens, frame and edge, depth of field, sharpness
How does that form affect the subject matter?
JAN GROOVER
A critic talks about the form of this photograph
Scale of the objects
Understanding of everyday objects is redefined
Arrangement of the objects
Controlled lighting
Reflections
Natural color
Organic objects placed with manmade; juxtaposition
DESCRIBE THE FORM IN THESE PHOTOS
Photos By: Andreas Magdanz
DESCRIBING MEDIUM
Medium refers to what an object is made of
The medium itself can inflect meaning
Usually medium describes
Photograph or painting or
Kind of paint, photo, print
Black and white or color
Size, shape
Any process info
To fully describe medium include facts about the process as well as description of how these things effect the overall expression of the image
RASHID JOHNSON ( JIGGABOO HOLY FIELD NEGROES )
Subject matter is unclear
Medium
Photogram
Van Dyke
chicken bones
watermelon seeds
red beans and rice
The materials used have their own connotations
SANDY SKOGLUND ( WALKING ON EGGSHELLS)
Medium is Cibachrome or color photograph, but the installation has whole eggshells, cast paper bathroom fixtures, casts of snakes
DOUG AND MIKE STARN
Custom made macro lenses
Specialized printing method
softened the emulsion so that flakes of it washed away
Printed on soft paper
*The medium enhances the subject matter
DESCRIBING STYLE
Style-a resemblance among diverse art objects from an artist, movement, time period, or geographical location and is recognized by a characteristic handling of the subject matter or formal elements
Photographic styles include directorial photography and snapshot aesthetic
Painting styles include: traditional, impasto, different types of strokes, pointillism..
When describing style you should look at the artworks subjects, the use of the medium and the formal elements
Directorial Photography
Jeff Wall
Snapshot Aesthetic
Nan Goldin
Straight Photography
Ansel Adams
Compare and Contrast
Compare and contrast the artwork to other works by the same artist, to other artists works
This lets you see what the photo has in common with or differs from another work
Internal and External Sources
Getting information from the artist or some other source
You cannot observe from the photos that 12 of 4200 frames were chosen to be shown and who commissioned the work, and that is descriptive information
Description and Interpretation
You decide, as you describe an artwork, what is relevant in the artwork or what is worthy to describe and discuss
Description and Evaluation
Your judgments about an artwork are going to color how you describe it
Description and Evaluation
One critic described the work as representations of some of the most repressed and oppressed images of human behavior
Another critic described them as bizarre and sometimes extraordinary
