Eastern Influence: Ming Dynasty

When we focus on Western civilization and art, it is hard to think there were other significant cultures out there other than ours. After all, the United States hadn’t been born yet and renaissances and exciting changes were taking place in Europe so it is easy to believe that this was the only significant civilization on the planet at the time. This is not the case. The Ming dynasty ruled eastern China for 276 years from 1368 to 1644. It is sometimes regarded as the one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history.

Forbidden City, Ming dynasty 

Built in 1406 to 1420, it is hard to know who the direct architect of the Forbidden City was. The Forbidden City, located in Beijing, was an imperial palace for many of the Ming dynasty emperors and forbidden to the general public, hence the name. The Forbidden City is almost just that, a city. It consists of 980 surviving buildings that cover 180 acres. What makes this piece so great is that is exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture. When thinking of the architecture that came out of this era on this side of the world, this is the style seen and shown in history books and movies today. It not only has had a lasting impact on today, but also at the time with neighboring cultures. It has had strong influences in Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. It is also phenomenal that this traditional architecture style is still used in modern day, although due to the growing economies and growing cities, demand for high speed construction and higher floor area ratio means that this style has declined in recent years. Overall, this is probably one of the greatest non-Western pieces of all time. One unique thing about this style of architecture is the tiered roof. If you notice, below the main roof there is one some times two other tiers of roofing after that. Another feature of the Forbidden City is bilateral symmetry. If you notice, the complex itself is symmetric down the center. This is seen everywhere in Chinese architecture. This symmetry symbolizes balance. Being half Chinese, I love this style of architecture. Maybe I am a little biased. Not the only the details, but the symbolism as well make this work fascinating. Overall, this style of architecture is so phenomenal that I could post my entire post about just this style of art. Unfortunately, I can’t. I’ll let you looks at the pictures and observe the greatness yourself.

 

Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind by Tang Yin

This next piece is called Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind by Tang Yin. Born in 1470, Tang Yin was a renowned Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty. Although Tang Yin was a talented man, we will focus on the beauty of his artwork. To generalize his artwork, they usually encompassed an expansive landscape accompanied by calligraphy somewhere on the painting in and ink and wash style. One of my favorite elements of this piece is the incorporation of the paper and the fading of the background into this paper. The effect seems to suggest there is fog in the background or that the background melds seamlessly into the paper. The foreground, however, is flawless with detail. This style of painting is very classic Chinese. The paper style also adds great affect to this painting. Imagine this same painting completed on a white piece of paper or background. I think that we could all agree that it just wouldn’t look right. It could be the case that the paper has faded and worn over the tested time of history, but I like to think that this was purposefully done as I truly believe that the paper brings elements of the painting that compliment the rest of it. Aesthetically, I really enjoy this piece. If I heard the words “classic Chinese painting”, this is instantly the kind and style of painting I would think of. Overall, the aesthetics are gorgeous. When observing this paining, it seems very calming and relaxed. As the name suggests, its like I am watching the spring and listening to the wind.

 

Jar, Ming dynasty, Xaunde era (1426-1435)

The last type of art I want to note from the Ming dynasty is not architecture and not paintings, but a little bit of both. It is the pottery and porcelains of the Ming dynasty. This example here is of a jar created during the Ming dynasty. It has the Xuande mark indicating it was probably created between 1426 and 1435 from the Xuande era. Many of these porcelains during this period were so recognized that in the western world, they were just called “Ming”s. This piece is fascinating because of its sophistication. It exudes a sense of freedom and energy. The reason why I am so drawn to this piece is that we had these style vases, bowls, and other porcelains around the house! I got to see them everyday and didn’t think anything of it. Now learning the background of the artwork that was once in my house is awesome. Just like in this piece, our porcelains exhibited works or dragon and were painted extremely similar to that of this one here. Just as this piece, the dragon seemingly moved around the piece commanding its presence. The style of dragon was even the same with sharp back spines and strong features in the face. Overall, I really like this piece due to the connection with my childhood and I hopefully can go back to China one day to see all the works seen above.

 

Works Cited

“Chinese Architecture.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2014. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_architecture>.

“Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” Jar [China] (37.191.1). N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/37.191.1>.

“Ming Dynasty.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 08 May 2014. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty>.

“Tang Yin.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2014. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Yin>.

It’s All About Perspective

3D Street Art is taking the Internet world by storm. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. There is always some sort of 3D Street Art that is being spread across social media. This also makes the style very informal and personal. It is for anyone to enjoy and not something that can be sold. It can be observed by many without an entry fee into a museum or exhibit. Also, it is in the setting of a street or public area. This makes the work more public and for everyone. What makes this style really fascinating (at least to me) is two things. First, this style of art has detail and detail takes effort and effort takes time. For me, I can really appreciate this style of art due to the time that is taken to do this work. Second is the creativity of perspective. As you will see with the following works, this style of art creates a unique perspective for the viewer. It makes it seem as if the art on the flat surface truly comes out of the ground. Another fascinating aspect is that some artists incorporate the surrounding physical 3D items in the street into their artwork. It blends in so well, from the pictures you can barely pick out the painting part of the artwork from the physical items of the artwork. Anyways, enjoy the exhibit…

The first artist is Edgar Mueller. He was born in July 10th, 1968 in Muelheim, Ruhr, Germany. His fascination with painting started at a young age and throughout his teen years he had one multiple competitions. It wasn’t until about the age of 25 that he devoted himself to street paintings. That goodness he did because now, he is considered by some to be the top 3D street painter in the world. 

Cave Drawing by Edgar Mueller (from two perspectives) 

First piece is Cave Drawing by Edgar Mueller. It was created during the West India Quay’s Festival in London. This man is one of the best known 3d street artists in the world. The above photo you see above is the artwork from the perspective to create a 3D illusion. The photo below, however, is the same artwork, but photographed from the opposite end. This, one, proves the validity of the artwork, but two, it shows the artwork in another light. Before I saw both perspectives, I didn’t realize that the far away perspective didn’t require much detail. It never occurred to me. If you take a look at the below photo, the grey part in the back seems to be a couple feet in length, but only looks like an inch when photographed in the correct perspective. This work is phenomenal that it shows both sides of the artwork. When observing the other artwork in the exhibit, keep in mind this perspective. As you can kind of tell, I love this kind of artwork. I hope you think the same when looking at the following pieces.

Waterfall by Edgar Mueller (from two perspectives)

The next piece I would like to share with you in Waterfall by Edgar Mueller. This piece was created during the Prairie Art Festival in Moose Jaw, Canada. He turned River Street into a river of artwork, literally. In this piece, we get to see Mr. Mueller start to incorporate surrounding objectives into his work. We can see on the sides that Edgar starts to work in non-flat surfaces like the curb and a small wall. This piece was also fortunate enough to have a non-straight perspective. I would like to point out how the falling water seems to be falling straight down in the straight-on perspective, but looks vastly different from the side perspective. My favorite part of this work is the incorporation of the surrounding elements into the artwork including the curb and short wall.

The Crevasse by Edgar Mueller

Lastly from Edgar Mueller is The Crevasse. This piece was created during the “Festival of World Culture” in Dun Laoghaire from August 21^st, 2008 to August 24^th, 2008. This piece of art is truly amazing and done in such a magnitude as this! If you still don’t believe these paintings are real and you think someone is just really good at Photoshop, please see the video above. This illustrates well how linear perspective comes into play. Notice at the beginning of the video, he draws his guidelines to establish what is “vertical” to the viewer. Note these aren’t parallel in real life. It’s all about linear perspective my friend. This is my favorite out of all his work due to the shear size of the artwork, but also the color vibrance. The blacks are really black, the blues are really blue, and the whites are really white. 

My next favorite artist with this style of art is Julian Beever. Julian Beever was originally from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire UK. Born in 1960, he first became interested in 3D street paintings in the 1980s while working in York. In the following artwork, you will get to see why Julian Beever is one of the best at what he does…

Series called Treasures by Julian Beever

This is a series of photos created by Julian Beever called Treasures. This is probably my favorite work of this post, but also possibly out of all post-modern artwork. This piece is unique in that it tells a story. But also each painting or photo before needs to be strategically placed so that it can be covered up by the next artwork or easily erased. This in combination with keeping in mind linear perspective is absolutely amazing. ALSO, if you take notice photos 3 and 5, those are drawn in shovels, while photos 1, 2, and 4 are actual shovels. Clever, subtle details are seen throughout Julian Beever’s artwork and that is why it is so fascinating. Also the piece is done in public which adds to the complexity.

Back Off, Creep by Julian Beever

This work is called Back Off, Creep by Julian Beever. This piece exemplifies the fun you can have with this style of art. It not only incorporates human beings into the artwork, but also the surrounding environment. The easy thing to point out is that the snail is drawn on the bench in such a perspective as to appear 3D, but take a look at the left antenna of the snail. Yes, thats right, thats an actual pole that is sticking out of the ground that is incorporated into the artwork as the snail’s antenna. Making these clever and subtle incorporations makes this style of art work fun, surprising, and interesting. You can look at this piece for a lot of time and still discover new things. I probably looked at this piece for thirty minutes before I found out about the pole! Things like this amaze me and they make this art style fun.

Waste of Water by Julian Beever

Last but not least is Waste of Water by Julian Beever. I enjoy this piece because it is simple and detailed. Sounds like an oxymoron, but its not. The artwork depicts Julian “holding” a hose and spraying water in the street into a drain. This work is so detailed, I honestly don’t know if the drain is drawn or not and that is what makes me like this piece so much. Also, to note the detail, the reflection in the water also seemingly seems to match the buildings on either side. The subject is so simple, yet the details are so complex. Even the arc of the water is almost physically correct. This work phenomenal and I hope he continues to create work as simple, yet complex as this one.

Overall, 3D street art has been taking the world by storm. The art type is currently very popular and with the accessibility of the artwork through either the internet or the street allows for the artwork to spread rapidly and rapidly it has. This adds a whole new dimension to “paintings” and it truly shows that the world is your canvas. 

 

Works Cited

“Edgar Mueller – 3D Street Art.” Squidoo. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2014. <http://www.squidoo.com/edgar-mueller-3d-street-art>.

“Edgar Müller.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 July 2014. Web. 04 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_M%C3%BCller>.

“Julian Beever.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 04 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Beever>.