ART200X: Gerald Montuya

 The Art of Video Games To consider video games as a form of art is to stir controversy. The nature of video games was hotly debated as arcades boomed in the 1980s. As the technology improved and video game consumers became more abundant, the diversity of video games expanded. Games were no longer two-dimensional and 8-bit pixels on a screen. In just a few decades, video games evolved into something greater. However, that growth invited a call to regress the ever-changing landscape of video games. It was not until 2012 that the Supreme Court declared video games as a form of art and were protected under the first amendment as creative works. The Smithsonian American Art Museum held an exhibition titled "The Art of Video Games" that celebrated 40 years of the genre that included video-game screenshots, videotaped interviews with game designers, and vintage consoles (Tucker). This blog is a showcase of video games as a form of art. All presented works are screenshots of users p

 Harlem Renaissance The New York City neighborhood of Harlem fostered African American achievements in the humanities such as art, music, and literature. Many African Americans were fleeing the South and sought New York City as an asylum. The exodus was brought to the community of Harlem. Due to a surplus in housing available in the community, many families took the opportunity to find a home in Harlem ("National Gallery of Art"). The exodus from the South to Harlem lead to the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.     Aaron Douglas, Harriet Tubman Mural Bennet College Art Gallery, 1931 Oil on canvas   Aaron Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas on May 26, 1899. He used the early modern art form of cubism, geometry, and abstractions. Douglas was a member of the Harlem Artists Guild (Crée). He was famous for his murals and particularly those depicting the Jazz Age. In this piece, Douglas wrote Harriet Tubman “as a heroic leader breaking the shackles of bondage and pr

 Romantic Era Styles My favorite art style of the Romantic era are of the Realist variety. Art Noveau, in my opinion, lacks the emotional intensity I crave in paintings. This is an aspect of art that the Realist style provides at the forefront. Realist   Illia Repin, Barge Haulers on the Volga   State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg   Oil on canvas    Illia (or Ilya) Repin presents Barge Haulers on the Volga . Illia paints a desolate scene in which people are fastened to a barge to pull it into the bay. The landscape format of the painting creates the sense of a large landscape as the observer's eyes move from left to right scanning the piece. The lines emphasized by the ropes takes the observer to each barge hauler and the shared grimaces they hold. It is clear by the tans Illia paints on each of the haulers that some are newer to the routine while others are bent over in anguish as if they are in an endless cycle of barge hauling. The piece is incredibly striking and each details

Morality in Art Morality is the distinction between what is right and wrong, just and unjust. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher of the Classical era, states that those who are capable of reason are sovereigns in the moral domain. According to Kant, women were not included as those who are capable of reason. Kant remarks that "[a] woman who has a head full of Greek, like Mme Dacier, or carries on fundamental controversies about mechanics, like the Marquise de Châtelet, might as well have a beard" (Mosser, Kurt.). To Kant, a scholarly and accomplished woman might as well be a man. The female artists of the Classical era were subdued by the European patriarchy that was amplified by Enlightenment thinkers like Kant. Female artists struggled and underwent greater magnitudes of difficulty to achieve recognition. In this gallery, I present three different artists who, despite the patriarchy, established themselves as artisans in their own right and paved the way for the women afte

Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting Johannes Vermeer was a seventeenth-century Dutch painter from the Baroque era. He was relatively obscure during his lifetime but rediscovery led him to become famous towards the end of the nineteenth century. Only about thirty-six works of his possible forty-five total works are known today (Liedtke). Many of his paintings seem to be in the same setting, his hometown residence in Delft. The works all appear to be in small rooms featuring women. The work I am presenting is no exception and is considered to be Johannes' most revered piece. Because of the very limited amount of pieces he produced, it is suggested to be one of his most important paintings due to its size (“Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting (Video)”). This is also supported by the fact that his family and descendants made an effort to keep it despite a downturn in economic circumstances (Janson). Johannes Vermeer demonstrates his masterful portrayal of light and allegorical capr

 "Why has God given me such magnificent talent? It is a curse as well as a great blessing." - Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer was a revered German artist leading the movement of the German Renaissance. He was born May 21st, 1471 in Nuremberg, a city-state within the Holy Roman Empire. He was a devoutly religious man which lead him to controversy later in his life, between Roman Catholicism and the reformed Lutheran Church. He rose to prominence due to his intricate wood-cut prints ("Albrecht Dürer Biography"). He was the first artist to make use of the printing press to distribute his works. However, the work I am presenting is one done by pen-and-ink on blue colored paper that he had made himself. This work is arguably the most  distributed and most identifiable image in the world. Albrecht Dürer displays his faith in God in this sketch.     Albrecht Dürer, Praying Hands Albertina, Vienna, 1508 Pen-and-ink on paper I did not know that this image was created by Dürer.