chapter 3

One of the pictures I came across in this chapter was Picasso's Guernica. I've always been a little iffy when it came to picasso's paintings. I wasn't a complete fan but at the same time i didn't hate them. Picasso painted people in an abstract way that captures more than their appearance. He warps their appearance in a style that gives more emotions and feelings about a person than simple facial expressions can convey. However, in some of his paintings i felt like that was sometimes an insult. Why change my face? I am who i am and don't want to be changed and warped into some hideous creation and be called art. With all my mixed emotions about his paintings, Guernica is one of his works that i actually just straight out enjoy. It's definitely not a happy picture but for some reason i felt drawn to it and so i decided to write about it. In the book it talks about the city of Guernica and how it was bombed just to see if the nazi air powers could wipe out an entire city. The way the picture is painted is so dark and sad. The people are in pieces, they're running for their lives, and on the ceiling is a light that's painted to look like an eye. It's like their trying to run but no matter where they run to they can't escape. The painting definitely gives off a melancholy feeling. It makes me sad to see and feel what these people were going through during the last moments of their lives. It is my belief that no person is born for the sole purpose of dying. But what the nazi's did was just so twisted that it upsets me. It fills me with anger and sadness and when i see this painting, knowing the story behind it, i can feel the emotions behind it. That's the beauty that i love in this painting

Another artist i want to talk about is Frida Kahlo. I've never quite been a fan of Frida. All the paintings I've seen by her have been of her. To me i feel like her self is all she cares about. Her painting Self-Portrait with Monkeys is pretty random to me. Like the book says, Frida's gaze seems to keep us at arms length and it's as if she's not gonna let us in. But it's that look that makes me dislike her works. The main thing i love about art is all the feelings and emotions. I feel like when i look at an artists works i understand a piece of the artist. From that point, i feel like i know exactly how the artist feels, what he/she was trying to convey, and i feel like i'm there. On the other hand, in Frida's painting i feel like i want to know more but i can't. Maybe i'm just being selfish and maybe that's what she's trying to show me but i feel that, when an artists is painting or doing whatever form of art he/she is good at, they are putting themselves into there work and sharing with the world all their feeling and lessons and stories they want to share. I don't feel like i'll ever have any connection with Frida nor do i feel like she's trying to teach me or share anything with me. All i get from her is a big silent rude glare.