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The following analytical questions will help you uncover what the artist intends to suggest, convey or ‘say’ with
her/his work of art.
The analysis you are about to perform here focuses on what the artist intends the viewer to THINK about. Avoid
relying on or including your own ‘feelings’ about the work of art, as they are not necessarily the same as those
of the artist. Focus instead on what the work of art is about intellectually; that is, focus on (1) trying to
reveal or ‘get at’ the larger ideas the artist is working with and (2) how the work of art reveals those. In
other words, try to address WHAT the artist is saying and HOW he/she went about saying it. In essence,you are
trying to ‘decode’ the image in order to arrive at its content.
Please avoid discussion of line, color, etc unless they are a vigorous or crucial component of the work of art
that adds directly to its meaning. For example, the flowing lines in a Chagall painting help us understand the
dream-like nature of the image. And indeed, his images are all fantasies and memories – not hard realities.
Answer ALL the following questions in ALL sections in point form, unless otherwise directed.
Part A
VIEW an image
Select one (1) of the following three works of art below and view it online.Closely examine it.
1. PeterDoig, White Canoe.
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/doig_White_Canoe.htm
2. Aganetha Dyck, The Extended Wedding Party
http://www.aganethadyck.ca/theextendedweddingparty/content/AD09_2_large.html
3. BrianJungen, Prototype for a New Understanding.
http://theartblog.org/blog/wp-content/uploaded/Jungen_Prototype_23.jpg
PART B
These questions are aimed at helping you extract and reveal the artwork’s meaning and content.
These questions engage an array of human frameworks – the cultural,intellectual, political, religious, social and
historical contexts that the work of art was made in and which it also reflects. Be cautious here not to impose
your own attitudes, feelings, ideas or worldview on thework of art but rather try to decode the artist’s
attitude, ideas and worldview. What you are trying to do in this section is extract what the artist means. No
marks will be given if you simply say "yes" or "no" in answer to the questions: you must
explain why or why not.
What is the subject matter of this artwork: what do you see? Is it treated naturalistically or has it been
intentionally amplified, deformed or abstracted?
Do you see a connection between subject matter and the techniques used?
Is the subject matter imagined, remembered or observed? Does it come from some source that is familiar to you
from your own experience, such as a myth, a book, an historical event or from pop culture generally? If the
source is apparent, can you describe the original source?
Does this artwork resemble a work of art you are aware of from art history or the textbook or online lessons? In
what ways? What is that work of art about thematically? Do you think the artwork you have chosen is about similar
themes? Why?
Can you identify any symbolism in the work? Can you interpret the image in terms of these symbols’ traditional
use and meaning in art? Can you discuss the symbols’ in terms of their current social usage?
Do any of the elements and symbols seem to be ‘having a conversation’ with each other? How do they connecting to
each other? Does your reading of one symbol assist you in reading the other symbols?
Are there any visual metaphors in the work that point outside the image to any social, economic, moral,
political, scientific, historic or religious ideas? We have spent some time discussing these issues in the online
Module 1. How do these images refer to or reflect the way we live our lives?
Does this image seem to be about personal experience or social experiences shared by everyone in a particular
culture or everyone in human culture in general? Or all of these?
Can you consider these connections and metaphors in terms of our shared contemporary social or cultural
experience? That is, does or how does this work of art seem to refer to or discuss contemporary life? How?
Does this work of art affirm the present or is it critical of it?
In the end, what overall themes or ideas do you think are communicatedby the artist through this work of art?
Elaborate on the artist’s themes briefly.
PART C
READ
Read a short online essay or article about the artist you have chosen.
1. PeterDoig:
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/weird_places_strange_folk/
2. Aganetha Dyck:
http://www.mason-studio.com/journal/2011/10/interview-with-aganetha-dyck-canadian-visual-artist/
3. BrianJungen:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101903331.html
Part D
VIEW
View an online video or listen to the audio clip about the artist you have chosen.
1. PeterDoig:
2. Aganetha Dyck:
3. Brian Jungen:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113840238&m=113904870
Part E:
RESEARCH
It is necessary to do external research in order to come to some informed interpretation of the work of art you
have chosen rather than relying on guesswork or merely your emotions. Research is where you gather information
about the artist and the artwork. Indeed, Parts C & D immediately above where you read a short essay and
viewed a short video constituted research around the topic. This external information helps ‘fill-in the blanks’
on the artist’s thought processes, gives some context for the work of art and helps establish the artwork’s
cultural relevancy.
The research questions below are similar to those asked by art experts/scholars/critics who have done
considerable research and writing on an artist or a particular work of art. These writings should help you turn
back to the image with ‘new eyes’ and a deeper understanding of it. When doing the external research pay
attention to information that will help you answer the following questions.
Who is the artist and what is his/her background?
Does that background directly contribute what the artist creates?
What has the artist said or written about her/his work in general?
How does the image under consideration reflect those statements?
Does the image under consideration deviate in any way from what the artist has created before?
How do critics and curators sum up the artist’s larger body of work?
Part F
WRITE
Write a 500 – 750 word overview on the artwork you have chosen. You should not focus your attention on your
feelings as a way of accessing art as sometimes your feelings about a work of art are unreliable or they do not
synchronize with the artist’s feelings. Instead, pay attention to:
– the readings, the videos and to any external research you may have done
– your answers to the questions above.
(Indeed, you may want to reconsider your answers now that you have read the external materials above.)
These elements should be the focus of your written commentary, the aim of which is to convey to the reader, what
the artist was attempting to say with the particular work of art and what the work of art means.
This overview requires only a single sentence introduction and a single sentence conclusion.
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