Gerry Extravagant!

These puns could really be better but I'm at a loss right now.

Black Hole (version 2) 

Gerry Bergstein 

http://gerrybergstein.com

mixed media on canvas 

70 x 22 in.

2014

Gerry Bergstein is an artist who currently works at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He has been featured in several galleries and shows throughout the years and viewed widely in American presses.

The principles and elements of design that stand out the most in this piece are the sense of balance and direction. Since the painting spans a rather large canvas, and the subject appears to be standing straight up, balance seems to be key here. But it's not stagnant, as there are little pieces of paper torn out from the painting to give variation to the background of the painting. Its direction moves your eye up and up to the final bloom of colour and style. This piece also has a good use of texture. Different pieces are folded, lots of elements stick up and off the canvas, and the different materials used give the eye a different sort of perspective on the painting.

I decided to choose this painting because we have just started on mixed media paintings ourselves. I looked around at different artists and this piece really caught my eye because of the flowers at the top.  As far as deeper meaning goes into this painting, even after looking at it for a while, I'm not sure I understand it, but I can appreciate its beauty and its style. I love all the work that has gone into this piece, with all the different materials and colours that went into it.

"Bake me a landscape" sounded better in theory than it actually does as a title

Like no, seriously. Don't tell an artist that unless they're literally making a landscape out of bread dough and they gotta bake it. Also if you're paying them.

Unease 

Hilary Baker 

(website) 

Acrylic on canvas 

60 in. x 60 in. 

2007

Hilary Baker is a female artist based in southern California. Baker received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Later attended Temple University, Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italty. And finally received an M.F.A. from Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, CA. She currently works and lives in Los Angeles, CA as well.

One of the main elements of design in this painting are the use of shape and form. The general shape of the waves in the painting are round, but if you take a closer look, you can tell that the wave's shape is really curved rectangles that all have their own curve to them, like smaller waves. Which is weaving in part of the use of form. Out of the shapes of many curved rectangles, comes a unified form, giving a complexity to the painting and making the overall shape and telling you what the shape is supposed to be. The colour palette is cool colours, in a monochromatic scheme. The painting itself is minimalist in nature, due to the simplicity of the shapes in this. Minimalist, perhaps. But even in all of that, it is complex. It's both all in one.

I chose this painting because I was just recently working on an acrylic painting myself, and it feels nice to look around to see what others have done. Out of the series of paintings where this comes from, The Dread Sea, it is one of my favorites because of the moon and how soft it is compared to the other paintings. I like the shades of blue and the use of shape.