Menil Collection

 Renzo Piano

Houston, Texas

1982 to 1986

The Menil Collection opened in 1986 in Houston, TX. During some research I found out that  Dominique de Menil,and her husband, John de Menil, became a power couple in the Houston art scene beginning in the 1970s. Their combined wealth and love for art left them with the inevitable goal of creating a place for Houstonians to come together and enjoy all that art had to given them. The Menil building has so much space to give and i love how the sun light goes in the the building as you are admiring the art. Renzo Piano designed the building the way he did because Dominique wanted to built the building were residential homes were located and wantedto have educational activities for the people. She wanted it to be open iluminated with natural light.This is the most interesting museum I've ever visited. It has the feel of a normal gallery, but there are some rooms that will blow you away. The art combined with the unique space can evoke a very visceral response. A few rooms were set up with the art in such a way that I wanted to leave and wanted to stay at the same time. There are other sites in the Menil Collection besides the gallery. I especially liked the Rothko Chapel. It is very beautiful.

Richard Serra

Out of Round X

Paintstick on handmade Hiromi Paper

79 1/2 x 79 inches

To me this painting is just a round whole painted in black and white or grey, but still a black hole. To me this piece of art is representational because it represents something to me and may to other people it is .This makes me feel sad when I look at it. It makes me realize that I feel empty inside, that I am not happy with myself nor the family I constructed with my husband even though we have a little girl, but Im not happy with him. It is just a picture of a hole a black one but it brings out so many feelings.

Julie Mehretu

I chose Julie Mehretu piece called the Dispersion. I like Julie's art because her style is very different. She combines symbols, maps and grids in her drawings. Drawing is important in her work because it is necessary for her to present a picture within the layering of all of the different objects used to build the picture. 

Final Art projects and presentations

Part of your final grade will be to create a work of art that has been inspired by any of the works of art or artists that you have seen or learned about in this class. You can choose any media (painting, drawing, photo, performance, etc) that you would like. You will be presenting the artwork to the class as along with a short (400-600 word) paper about your inspiration (the artist or artwork), elements/principles  of design present, your choice of materials, and the process by which you made it. The artwork and the papers will be due on Mon 4/30.

Menil Collection Visit Due Mon 4/23

Instructions: Visit the Menil Collection, take as much time as you can to look at the building itself (designed by Renzo Piano) and around the museum until you find a work of art that you are drawn to or are most interested in to write about. It is extremely important that you complete this writing at the museum, DO NOT rely on your memory! First write about the building then a work of art. Then post the info on the blog by Monday4/23.

Ps. You can also read up on the building and its history here

Menil Collection building Basic info:

Artist’s Name (if available): Renzo Piano

Date: 1982

Formal (Visual) Analysis –Describe the building visually and be as descriptive and detailed as possible. What are the size, colors, materials, etc?

Finding Meaning- Why do you think Renzo Piano designed the Menil building in the way that he did? What  effect does it have on you looking at it from the outdoors and experiencing it from the inside?

Work of Art

Artist’s Name (if available):

Title:

Date:

Materials:

Size:

Formal (Visual) Analysis –Describe the piece visually and be as descriptive and detailed as possible. What are the size, colors, materials, or sounds?   

Finding Meaning- Use titles, text, symbols, how the subject matter represented (abstract, representational, nonrepresentational), role of the art, the cultural origin, or any other info you can to try to find the meaning of the work.

Trenton Doyle Hancock

Trenton Doyle Hancock is an American artist. He was born in 1974 in oklahoma city, and grew up in Paris, Texas.Hancock makes prints, drawings, and collaged paintings.It seems that the lion  is going to tell something important to the animals of the animal kingdom. The background is  dark and there are some trees that we can be see.I like how he portrayed the lion. The lions eyes look filled with rage, it makes me feel afraid even more with the red color which to me in this painting it represents the lions anger, also in the lions face expesion.

Trinton Hancock

I chose Trinton Hancock The Story Basically I think his art is just a way he thinks it's like standing and letting it pull you in whatever directions it wants you to go in he feels that he finally being able to bring together the world of comic books narrating and the history of abstraction this is what he said his drawing and paintings tell the epic story of a group of mythical creatures. Walled mount while developing the most ancien installments and what amazed me me even though I thought he was disgusting and that he needed a whooping is picture was the first thing that caught my attention Trinton explains that his newest painting or colorful blast of energy or communication on from monks those vision of hope do in a way it's like Gods promise with rain after the flood stories basically I think art is Judy's way to think its like standing in the wind and letting it pull you into whatever directions it wants to take you and it's has no limits of what an artiste paint about a subject including witches, death, angels, animals, family, domestic objects and even Christ himself

Artist That Draw HW

For this blog post i chose to do my research on Trenton Doyle Hancock. when we saw the video in class about mr. hancock i was kind of skeptical because he is a christian, the son of a minister, and admitted that he is a very spiritual person, but it seems like some of his artwork may contradict the christian faith, or may be too "outrageous" for being a christian. as a child it seemed like he was faced with many different problems. in the video he claimed that he didnt have a very easy life which is how he came up with his alter ego torpedo boy. in the video there is a snipet that shows the viewers his place of work and it look so clutered; even his paintings look clutered, but as clutered as it may look he is still portraying a message and a vision in his artwork. i chose this particular piece because when i was reading the synopsis of the painting, it mentioned its flower-filled setting evokes the biblical Garden of Eden and it wasnt until i payed closer attention that i realized what it was saying. this artwork has so may mounds, colors, and creatures that cause the viewers to believe that hancock has quite an imagination. hancock's art is not the traditional type of art that i am use to seeing, but in viewing his art, understanding his background, and what it means to him makes for an interesting piece of art such as this one.