Theory (1 Viewer)

[vanush]

Theory.. I'm afraid I just dont understand it. It's mainly how to put them in an assesment which confounds me.

I mean you have the conceptual framework, frames and the "concept of artist, artwork, world and audience". It seems that they're just buzzwords, and no one knows what they actually mean.

How do you implement them in an essay/assesment?

 

[luscious-llama]

Artist - Their background, raised in poverty or riches?, good student? bad student? did they attend art school? once previously a taxidermist? - The Artist concept is basically the biography of the artist ...and various aspects of their life will come into the influence of their artwork

Artwork - The date, and title of the artwork and the elements/concepts within the art work. Uh.. Yeah basically self explanatory, explain use of colours, line, texture, whatever..medium (v. important)...identify these aspects.

World - The time they started creating art...like the 1960s? Pop art? Baby boomers etc...World concept is what was happening in the world and did this/how did this affect the artist in their artmaking

Audience - Audience reaction to artworks. Were artworks shown in gallery? or public place etc? Critics opinions, wether their work sells or is written about much, are they popular?

Uhh i'll demonstrate how to write about them..but not in essay form here.

My art teacher makes us do these things called art grids where we are given say 6-8 artists per term and are made to write about them using the various artist practice frames. Artemisia Gentileschi was part of my Term2, Yr11 "self and identity" artist study. I recieved full marks for what I wrote (there were 7 other artists too). Uh..what else..Oh yes there is much more I have written but have chopped this down...for ur viewing pleasure.
HOPE THIS HELPS!



~Artemisia Gentileschi~


Artist~
Artemisia Gentileschi born in 1593, was an Italian artist trained by her father Orazio Gentileschi and various other artists. Gentileschi in her late teens was raped by the artist Agostino Tassi, and this experience was the set up for most of her subject matter. During the trial, she was tortured with thumbscrews to try and make her deny the claim against Tassi as he was a prominent artist at the time. Her subject matter consists of powerful looking female heroines, challenging the then stereotype that women were unintellectual. Her experiences may be a reflection of her subject matter in her painting and she also painted self portraits of herself in a similar style. She died in 1652.

Artwork~
Her painting ‘Judith slaying Holofernes’ has a dark background contrasted with the glowing light of the murder scene (this painting technique is called chiaroscuro), and the painting shows a strong sense of movement within. The dominant colour is red and Judith’s portrayal is similar to Artemisia herself, Judith’s blue gown is a strong contrast to the red. The depiction of Judith is likened to her own rape experience and her suffering that was consequence. The strong diagonals in the artwork add to the dramatics of the work. Judith is the centre of attention, shown as a very powerful woman, not only through her own doing but through her position above Holofernes. Judith also wears a bracelet that depicts the portrait of Diana, goddess of chastity. This painting is similar to a one painted by Caravaggio about 20 years earlier, although Artemisia has developed Judith and her maidservant as personalities rather than stereotypes as in Caravaggio’s work, she also painted five different versions of this work.

Audience~
Praised and criticised by her contemporaries as having genius yet also being monstrous as she was a women exercising talent in a profession as seem to be exclusively male. Historians are discomforted by her subject matter; women exercising the use of women as powerful figureheads. Confronted by these expressive scenes of her women, writers are unable to fit her paintings in to the usual feminine stereotype; they cannot trace the expected signs of femininity, weakness, gracefulness or delicateness.

World~
As Baroque Italy was a male dominated society, females were not allowed to formally study drawing from a live nude model. Therefore most of the female artists’ subject matter repertoire consisted of still life or portraiture. As women’s art is inescapably different from men’s, each has different experiences of the world, so Artemisia’s paintings of traditional themes, would be radically different from those of her contemporaries. Artemisia has made a conscious effort to comment on the roles of women, as she is reacting to the social and political dominance of men in her time. Her self portrait “Self portrait as La Pittura (the allegory of painting) 1630”, shows herself engaged in painting – which is an unusual viewpoint for self portraiture. She approaches the composition boldly, with use of the Baroque style of strong diagonals, chiaroscuro and rendering of the lace and jewellery she wears. This self portrait challenges the notion of females as unintellectual, as it is a dynamic picture of a female artist, revealing her self pride. (okay you don't have to into detail referring to an artwork but i did beccause thats how i do it...this world section could be improved)

Ah enjoy

 

[electric_six]

I have a question. In the HSC paper, do we have questions on artists that we have studied throughout the year or is it just a bunch of artists or artworks that we don't know and talk about them in terms of the four frames. If this is so how are we meant to know the background etc of the artist. In my prelim exams we were just asked about artists and/or artworks that we did not study.

 

[vanush]

I have a question. In the HSC paper, do we have questions on artists that we have studied throughout the year or is it just a bunch of artists or artworks that we don't know and talk about them in terms of the four frames. If this is so how are we meant to know the background etc of the artist. In my prelim exams we were just asked about artists and/or artworks that we did not study.

Section 1 is presumably unseen artworks. Through the wording of the question, you have to decide if the questions refers to the frames or conceptual framework or artist practice or something.

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

I mean you have the conceptual framework, frames and the "concept of artist, artwork, world and audience".

To clarify this for you, there are.....

-the Frames (Subjective, Structural, Cultural, Post-Modern)
-The Conceptual Framework (the Artist, Artwork, Audience and World and the relationships between these within the artworld)
-Practice in Artmaking, Art Criticism and Art History

I have a question. In the HSC paper, do we have questions on artists that we have studied throughout the year or is it just a bunch of artists or artworks that we don't know and talk about them in terms of the four frames. If this is so how are we meant to know the background etc of the artist. In my prelim exams we were just asked about artists and/or artworks that we did not study.

The HSC exam in Visual Arts is split into two sections. Each is worth 25 marks.

SECTION ONE
Section one is split into three parts - A, B, C. Question A is worth 5 marks, question B is worth 8, and question C is worth 12.

Each question (A, B and C) will supply you with source material. Source material will be in the form of colour plates of artworks, other images, citations and quotations by art critics, art historians, artists and other audience members.

One question will deal with the Frames, one with the Conceptual Framework and one with Practice. The paper will not tell you which question is which, it is up to you to make that judgement.

The source material will deal with artworks you have not particularly studied. Art teachers do not know what will appear in the HSC exam. For Section 1, it is your art teachers job to make sure you are very familiar with the three concepts - the frames, practice and the conceptual framework. Preparing for this section means simply that - making sure you can easily identify what concept is being addressed, and you know how to write about a work in that manner.

The question will be written in such a way that background information about the artist and artwork is not needed. The sources will provide you with enough stimulus and information to answer the question.

SECTION TWO
In section two, you will be required to write an essay or long response. There will be nine questions, and you are to select and attempt ONE of these. What you pick, is up to you.

The questions are split up into three groups. There will be three questions dealing with Practice, three dealing with the Conceptual Framework, and three dealing with the Frames. You select the question you are most comfortable with. For example, you may be hopeless at writing about Practice, but great at writing about the relationships between agencies in the artworld (the Conceptual Framework). And so, you decide to pick a Conceptual FW question. You pick the one that best suits the knowledge you have.

The questions will require you to draw on what you have learnt in theory classes throughout the year, and what you learnt through your case studies.

The questions are not overly direct. There will not just be one particular artist or movement. The questions are written in such a manner that you can apply knowledge about the various artists, movements, periods, historians, critics, theories etc that you have studied.

In preperation for my prelim VA exam, I went through all the HSC exams since the new HSC was brought in, and selected some of the most typical questions, that seem to appear in one form or another every year or two. Here are some of these-

PRACTICE
-Assess the effects of time and place on artists.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
-Explain how contemporary art has shaped our understanding of the different roles of artists.

THE FRAMES
How does a postmodern point of view challenge the idea of art as unique and precious?

As you can see, the questions are quite open and approachable with a little bit of knowledge. For example, the frames question can be answered if you have studied any Post-Modern art, artists and ideals at all (which you would have, if you haven't already) and have a general understanding of how art used to be viewed in society (precious, one of a kind, masterpiece).

There are so many things you could talk about here. For example, Installation challenges the idea of the 'art' existing soley within the work itself, because it places great importance on the environment and exhibiting context. It challenges the traditional idea of art just hanging on the wall in a gallery.

Appropriation challenges the idea of art being unique, precious and purely the product of a 'master' artist or genious.

Interactives challenge the idea that art is something just to be looked and worshipped, from behind glass.

So as you can see, it's all fairly open.

You just have to make sure that you stay focused during theory classes throughout the year, you do a little background reading and study on your own, and make sure you are familiar with the various concepts. If you do all that - you should be fine

Hope this helped! It felt nice to exercise my brain (damn holidays!)

 

[electric_six]

Yes it did help my greatly. Thankyou so much, i would have been lost without knowing all that.

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

Woo! Glad I could help