AD 485: Midterm Study Guide Compare and contrast the different types of realism being utilized in the pieces below, including how Plato s and Aristotle s ideas regarding the function of art feed into them? (Be sure to address what is accomplished/achieved in each piece by the artist s use of realism.) Lewis Hine. Mill Girl. 1908. Ron Mueck. Untitled (Boy). 2001. Explain the basic ideas behind Freud s psychoanalytical theories as compared to the key concepts of Existentialism. How are Freud s ideas manifesting in Louise Bougeoise s Cell XXV (The View of the World of the Jealous Wife) and Existentialist ideas manifesting in the collage by Hannah Hoch? Louise Bourgeois. Cell XXV (The View of the World of the Jealous Wife). 2001. Hannah Hoch Summarize how Marx s social/political ideas inform his specific ideas about the function and purpose of art. How are these functions apparent in the works below? What superstructures and hegemonies are being called into question in the pieces? Wayne Coe. Pop Terror. 2006. Chris Jordan. Oil Barrels, from series Running the Numbers. 2008.
Summarize Schopenhauer s Doctrine of the Will. How do these ideas inform his ideas about the function of art? How do you see these ideas evident or manifesting in the works below? Wassily Kandinsky. Composition VI. 1913. Chris Columbus. ʻHarry Potter: The Sorcererʼs Stone.ʼ 2001. Compare and contrast Marx s function of art with Schopenhauer s. How do you see these differing ideas at work in the pieces below? Chris Jordan. Midway: Message from the Gyre. 2009. Wassily Kandinsky. Composition VI. 1913. What are the underlying principles of Formalism as they relate to aesthetics? Which of Bell s and Greenberg s philosophies inform these principles? How are Formalist ideas apparent or at work in the pieces below? (Choose two of the three) Jackson Pollock. Number 1. 1948 Agnes Martin. Untitled. 1995. Charles & Ray Eames. LaChaise. 1948
Explain the idea behind the freeplay of signifiers and how it relates to these particular images. Edward Weston. Sherrie Levine. After Edward Weston. Describe what a sign is and does in semiotic theory. (Using either Saussure s or Peirce s model.) How do semiotics and semantics inform our reading of the pieces below? What do they let us decode? (Choose two of the three images below.) David LaChapelle. Britney Spears. Tejo Remy. You Canʼt Lay Down Your Memories. 1991 (Calvin Klein Ad) Truth. Barthes is a key figure in how we read the sign and other texts. Define these concepts of his in relation to the sign : denotation, connotation, convention, motivation, anchorage, and relay? How does Peirce s model of the sign feed into Barthes ideas about the birth of the reader? Compare and contrast these two images below. What are the reasons the one of the left considered Modern/Formalist and the one on the right considered Postmodern? (Be sure to touch on specific modes/conventions/tools of Formalism or Postmodernism being used by the artists.) Mark Rothko. Red on Maroon. 1959. [or] Leon Golub. Interrogation I. 1981.
Constantin Brancusi. Bird in Space. 1927. Clare Twomey. Trophy. 2006. Define the similarities and differences between Essentialist Feminism and Constructivist Feminism, including how these ideas relate back to Structuralism and/or Post Structuralism. How are these competing ideas at work in the images below? (Choose two of the three.) Judy Chicago. The Dinner Party. 1974-79 Kiki Smith. Daughter. 1999. Dina Goldstein. Snowy, from Fallen Princesses Explain the fundamentals of Lacan s concept of the gaze. How are these ideas being utilized/questioned in the works below? (Choose two of the three.) Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still. 1978 Vanessa Beecroft. VB 35. 1998. Deborah Bright. Untitled, from Dream Girls. 1989-1990.
Politics influences art; sex and gender can also influence art. Referencing the examples below discuss how these issues are intertwining and explored. Do these artists seem driven more by modes of resistance or reaction? (Choose two of the three images.) David Wojnarowicz. One Day this Kid. 1990. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) 199 Catherine Opie. Justin Bond. 1993.