Saint Jerome reading.

Reading. National Gallery of Art. Consulted October 3rd 2009. Available at: http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Giovanni_Bellini/Saint-Jerome-Reading/

Name: Saint Jerome Reading
Author: Giovanni Bellini. Italian, c. 1430/1435 - 1516
Period: 1505 (Renaissance)
Current location: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Technique: Oil on panel
Painted surface: 47 x 37.5 cm

The colors are almost all tertiary except the blue used to paint the sky and part of Saint Jerome clothes. The Paleta is warm because most of the colors are like derivate from Yellow. The application is flat because is oil on panel. The composition is unbalanced and that make you pay attention to specifics parts of the painting. The type of line is pictorial. Perspective is by planes, there are 3 different ones: First were Saint Jerome is, second were the rabbit and plants are, and the third is the city on the background. The lighting is constant excepting some shadows on the upper and down left corners. The theme is religious because Jerome is a Saint and is also historical because he was who translated the Bible into Latin. (National Gallery of Art)

What is so special and unique about this work of art?
There are very few paintings of Saint Jerome and in most of them he is painted reading, studying or writing because that is why he is famous for. Also, here Bellini represents the nature by painting water on the bottom and animals on the middle. And of course there is the best Jerome’s friend: The lion.

¿ What was the prevailing atmosphere of the period? What was the cause of it?
This was painted on the Early Renaissance. Many people were interested in the religion because they Church gained a lot of power and influence in the society and it didn’t want people to do research or wonder about the world. The crusades had passed and the ideologist was focus on the human body. ( Frederick Edwords)
What were the predominant political, religious or artistic ideologies?
The humanism was the ideology that predominated in that period. Everyone thought that the human was the center of the Universe. Was the curiosity of learn more about us. They wanted to recreate the style of Rome and Greece. The focus on the perfection of the human body, that’s why there are a lot of naked paintings and sculptures from this period. (Frederick Edwords)

What scientific and technological advances made and impact in the period? In which way?
America was just discovered because of all the navigation technologies such as the compass, ships, astrolabe, sextant… Furthermore, a lot of scientist were making experiments and trying to answer a lot of questions. For example Da Vinci research and made a lot of paintings of the human body and it’s organs.

Is this work of art reflecting the atmosphere of the period? In which way?
Yes it is. The people were curious and remember that Saint Jerome was the first one who translated the Bible in Latin. That represents the open doors of knowledge from everybody (at least Catholics). Also it reflects the interest about the Religion and the Saints, Bible…

Is this work of art reflecting the predominant ideologies of the period? In which way?
The ideology was the perfection of the human body. I think that’s why Bellini painted Saint Jerome with very few clothes. Although Saint Jerome is not nearly the perfect man, they tried to represent the beauty of the best Creation of God: The human.

Is the impact of the scientific and technological advances reflected in this work of art? In which way?
Not at all. Or maybe someone could think that there is represented the printed press invented by Gutemberg in the 14th century. But I don’t think so.

What are the aspects of the period that you identify yourself with? Why?
I really like the idea of appreciate the beauty of the human body, but it shouldn’t be the unique way to see the man, because the most important part of a human is his soul and you can’t represent that. I believe that thinking about us like the most important thing on the Universe is very egoist and in this painting the author painted some animals next to Jerome like the rabbit, a crow and I think a squirrel it’s also there. We could think that these are like some symbols but maybe Bellini just wanted to represent the extensive nature that we have.

Geogrphic location of the origin of the work.

Venetia. Statoveneto. Consulted October 5th 2009. Available at: www.statoveneto.nl/diasporaveneta/venetia_en.htm

Opinion
I very like this picture because the fact that Saint Jerome is painted reading and I am very fond of reading. It is like the door to enter to another world to forget about who you are and where you are and start imagine you as other person, thing, material… I didn’t understand why there was a lion on the lower right corner so I did a little bit of research and I found that is part of a little story. I’ll do a brief for you: One day Saint Jerome was walking to a class and a lion appeared from somewhere and he was the only brave one to approach to him. He realized that he got a spike in his paw and he health it. Since that the lion become Jerome’s friend and they were always together. (Jacobus de Voragine).
I really do like this story. I don’t know if it’s true or false, but I don’t even care. I like the idea that animals could be friends of people and I believe that they have feelings and emotions.
The cave is because many times Jerome lived like a hermit on the mountains, with no one, but his lion.
There are also other animals that make me feel like in balance with the nature. The city on the back is representing the urbanization that didn’t let Jerome concentrate on his reading.

My re-interpretation
The music has been with the human since he appeared on the Earth. When I was looking deeper in the painting I thought that maybe Saint Jerome and his lion would want some relaxing music to concentrate in his studies. So I took my guitar and started trying to translate the atmosphere and the landscape into music. I started with happy melody thinking about the jumping of the rabbit and maybe some nice paragraphs on Jerome’s book. Then I play some thriller because of the raven on the top of the painting which represents the fears and the enemies of Saint Jerome, but he should not be afraid because his friend, the lion, is there to help him in any trouble and here I play some fast rhythms. And after the storm is the calm, where I returned to relaxed melody. And that’s how he lived his days in the mountains, doing it over and over again. Until one day he would finish his book and will return to the city for other one.

Enjoy.

Saint Jerome and his lion by Isaac Aguirre Latabán.

Bibliography

Saint Jerome Reading. Art in the picture. Consulted October 3rd 2009 http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Giovanni_Bellini/Saint-Jerome-Reading/

The Golden Legend. Jacobus de Voragine Consulted October 5th 2009
http://www.fisheaters.com/animals3.html

Saint Jerome Reading. National Gallery of Art. Consulted October 5th 2009
http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=361+0+none

What is humanism? Frederick Edwords. Consulted October 5th 2009
http://www.jcn.com/humanism.html

Venetia. Statoveneto. Consulted October 5th 2009. Available at: www.statoveneto.nl/diasporaveneta/venetia_en.htm

"Toothpaste on Earth" or "Humans on the sink"

Inspired by Van Aelst fingerprint series, I was wondering what could I do to make art with common objects, but different from Van Aelst’s? So, while I was brushing my teeth a very great idea come to my head! Why didn’t I use the toothpaste as painting and the sink as painting-surface? So I went to a grocery store, bought 4 different tubes of toothpaste and a toothbrush (I might use it like a paintbrush). I came back to my house and I started thinking how could I represent something personal, just like Van Aelst did.

I started thinking in others parts of my body, so I got this idea: Why don’t I represent a part of my body that wasn’t supposed to be on the sink? Yes, my feet. My first idea was just to “paint” two footprints on the center of the sink, but when I started drawing them I realized that there where many spaces in blank. So I decided to make more footprints, with different sizes. (I’m going to explain why in a minute). But there needed to be something else, maybe more color. So I made a mixture of toothpaste and coffee. At the end, it results in something like this:

Now let me explain you, why I choose every element for making the art. I chose toothpaste to follow Van Aelst’s style of doing art with common things, and that was another reason to choose the sink.

Why footprints? Why different sizes and colors? First, it is because I wanted to change the way we use the sink. Put feet instead of hands. And second and most important, it is because I wanted to represent a little bit of my personal philosophy and ideology of life.

I believe that the entire human race is connected someway, because we are very similar. And I’m not referring to our physical similarities. What I am trying to say is that spiritually, we are just the same. There are no women or men, homosexual or heterosexual, beautiful or ugly, black or white, Catholic or Muslim, young or old. WE ARE ALL HUMANS. There shouldn’t be any difference between us. Why do we need to fight? Why there need to be war? Why do we need to kill people?

I put white and brown (coffee came to my mind to make the color because I started drinking coffee like 2 months ago, so I think that is something that represents myself) footprints to express the difference of culture, religion and ideology. But then I don’t know if they are feet or footprints because if they are feet, then it could change the color. But if they are footprints, then there is no difference between my footprint and anyone’s. And that’s a simple example that we are equal. And I also put some footprints in different directions. That means that there are many people that still don’t know where they are going, others who are very sure, an others who are just lost.

I put some big and other small footprints to represents the difference of ages.

There also the ones who are being created.

And the ones that are not here anymore.

The sink represents the Earth, where we all live. The water is the essential element for life.

The Toothpaste and the toothbrush represents the One who is deciding where and when will be each one of us. You can call it God, destiny, Buda, Mahoma… It depends on what do you believe.

So there are the 3 Ingarden’s elements:
Physical object: Toothpaste, sink, footprints, coffee, and toothbrush.
The work of art: my ideology and philosophy of life, represented by the physical object.
The Aesthetic object: Witch is the combination of the Physical object and the work of art plus the aesthetic values.

But you could still filling in the blanks and interpret it in different way because… it is Art!

I was really sad when I had to destroy it…

I tried to do similar thing, but with a candle... It didn't work as well as I spected (maybe i chose the wrong surface) :S haha. Anyway here is a photo of it:

Kevin Van Aelst fingerprints

Kevin Van Aelst is a very recognized photographer from NY. I very liked his style because he becomes common objects and places from everyday life to AWESOME pieces of art. Van Aelts is just a new artist, so he isn’t part of any historical period. It’s just like a new way of doing art.

He was very fond of sciences like math, chemistry, physics, and biology when he was young. Now he has found the way to combine science with art; just as he said “This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us are capable of communicating much larger ideas.” And that is true. All of his photographs are taking place in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom… And he uses materials such as bread, milk, eggs, cat excrement, mustard… All together generates a new perspective of arts.

However, I want to focus on sequence of photos: The fingerprint series, 2007. Van Aelst represented each of his 10 fingerprints on different ways. He says it is like an autobiography because all of the fingerprints were made by objects that had some meaning in his life. For example, he describes that the cheese curls fingerprint remains him to a friend’s basement where they eat them and play Nintendo. And I find this very personal, I men, your fingerprints are unique. You will never find other person with the same ones. And what Van Aelst does its just beautiful. They all are very original, but he didn’t made them just because he had nothing to do. No! It’s his whole life, his hobbies, work, relatives, friends, problems, fears…

I think that currently, people, in general, are living a very fast world and they don't stop just for a minute to admire the beautiful world that we live on. We should stop for a moment and think all the things that we have, and the others that we want to have.It is nice to dream. And you could imagine that you are just in peace, with no stress, no problems, just happy, smiling.

I really like the photo of the “Right Index Finger” which is made of the tape of a cassette. Here is how I feel the blanks or “concrete” the photo. First of all, it represents music, a very important part of my life because I like to sing, dance, play guitar, make sounds, even I like to make rhythm with anything which is near me. Second, a fingerprint leaves a mark, like a song could mark your life or maybe remain you some memories or special moments. For example, I have my favorite song, and I could hear it the whole day without getting bored, and every time I heard it I can interpret it different. And I think that also make the song a piece of art. And the last one is the decorations around the fingerprint. It’s like he just put together all the things that were on his desks, and there is where the fingerprint get a whole meaning, the context.


Furthermore, I really believe that he is trying to explain us that there could be art everywhere! We just need to have something to express (the work of art, as Ingarden says). Then you need to find some material to make it (the physical object), and it could be ANYTHING. When you finish you could take a photo and keep it. Maybe it will be shown on a museum exhibition, maybe not. But the important thing is that you expressed what you felt. That is the very meaning of arts.

Here I put you the link to Kevin Van Aelst web page: http://www.kevinvanaelst.com/

Hope you enjoy it.