Rich in culture and solemn in stature, art featuring Native Americans has been reproduced in many different forms, mediums, with countless interpretations. I chose to share a very colorful pop art style featuring portrait renditions of Native Americans.

Kicking Bear, Siuox

John Nieto,  2013

Rockwall, TX

Quanah Parker 2008

John Nieto, 2008

Rockwall, TX

“I paint native American themes so I can step back in time and shine some light on those people – that culture. Through my artwork, I hope to show their humanity and their dignity.” -Nieto

John Neito

Neito is a bold contemporary artist that has been exhibiting paintings since 1981 to the present and has many works in museums all over the United States. He has produced bronze sculptures, etchings, lithographs and silk- screen prints, in addition to drawings in pastel crayons and charcoal. His Native American ancestral roots are primary from New Mexico in which his family has lived for over 300 years.

I enjoy Neito’s work for the bold use of color, mixing of patterns, and his courageous blending of colors. His work is very impactful and the dark shadows creature very moving pieces.

Native American 1

Tamara Ruiz, circa 2013

Blair, Nebraska

Native American 2

Tamara Ruiz, circa 2013

Blair, Nebraska

Tamara Ruiz

Ruiz is contemporary artist out of Blair, Nebraska that primarily creates works that are collage pieces using old photographs with acrylic and oil painting collaborations, mixed media 2D and 3D projects, jewelry, and still life paintings with clear bold colors. Her work has been exhibited across the United States, in Singapore, Japan and Belgium.

I enjoy that Ruiz chose to create portraits of Native Americans on maps of tribal lands, I feel like it creates an interesting juxtaposition of the lands that they once inhabited with a bright portrait of what modern culture has transformed them into.

Mother and Child

Andy Warhol, 1986

New York, New York

Sitting Bull

Andy Warhol, 1986

New York, New York

Andy Warhol

Warhol has been a very prominent artist in the pop art movements since the 1960s with both films and printmaking, with other interests in sculpture and photography in the 1980s. Many of Warhol’s work expressed bold combinations of color upon every day items such as Campbell’s Soup cans and Coca Cola bottles, after which he began to work more with photographs of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson.

I like the shift of Native American portraits chosen by Warhol because I enjoy the combination of photographs with non complimentary colors. The painterly touches of the two previous artists are beautiful, but I also enjoy the depth that is created in Warhol’s work as the dark shading of the photographs slightly shows through.

“John Nieto.” Nieto Fine Art, 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

https://www.nietofineart.com/about-nieto-fine-art

“About Me, Tamara Ruiz.” Tamara Ruiz, 2014. Web. 29 July 2015.

http://tamararuiz.com/about/

“Andy Warhol.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

http://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875#artistic-career

The Harlem Renaissance was a revolutionary time in the art world for African Americans, many works were considered “lowdown” (lower class) and “guttbucket” and created an extremely great barrier to entry for African Americans to become prominent on such an immense social scene. This change of social stigma, creating a upperclass well to do scene was facilitated by many artists of the era including the painter Hayden Palmer, cornet player Louie Armstrong, and pianist Scott Joplin.

Juenesse

Hayden Palmer

Location Unknown, 1927

Palmer’s piece Juenesse (translated in French to “youthfulness”) exemplifies a new stage for African Americans within the social and dance scene with music provided by other Harlem Renaissance artists. The couple takes the center of the room while others cling close together on the sides, perhaps portraying the newfound confidence and courage to be seen. African American musicians are pictured on the far left, providing the upbeat jazz that the couple swings to, with graceful images of dancers across the ceiling. Palmer was an intentional Harlem Renaissance painter, as his earlier works were primarily seascapes and landscapes, but as the revival took hold, so did he. His works were recounted as being more modernistic … more decorative, high-keyed and in broken color.”

Weather Bird

Louie Armstrong

New York, 1928

Louie Armstrong was a revolutionists as he brought class and etiquette to a music scene unpopularized by social reformers, that of New Orleans “hot jazz”. Armstrong was not classically trained until late on his career when he was trying to refine his image to greater degree and followed the grooming of his second wife Lillian Hardin. His piece Weather Bird combines the higher class training of his cornet skills,  melodious piano, and with a strong jazz rhythm to drive.

Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin

Sedalla Missouri, 1899

Apart from the obvious jazz tunes of the Harlem Renaissance, ragtime also made a premiere for a very short time, being led by the “King of Ragtime”, Scott Joplin. Joplin’s ragtime pieces have been recomposed by many artists, and even though there are recordings that state they are true recordings of Joplin performing, they are not. There are no audio recordings of Joplin performing any of his pieces, except for the 7 piano rolls composed before his death. Maple Leaf Rag is noted for its seemingly playful flailing that maintains a constant upbeat tempo and pace with the style of ragtime music.  Joplin was thought to bring a more “classical” style to ragtime of the era, “lift[ing] ragtime from its low estate and lined it up with Beethoven and Bach”. This is characteristic of the Harlem Renaissance in its revival of many art forms secularized by African Americans and the reutilization that brought them onto the public scene.

I enjoy many of the pieces of artwork and music produced by the Harlem Renaissance, including the one’s I discussed. The style of that era was very expressive, artwork utilized bright colors, music like jazz chose improv and stylized playing, all of which create a dynamic flow of enjoyment in my opinion. There was seemingly no structured beginning or end to the artwork, but rather the flow of the moments as you get lost in the music.

Routledge, 2004. http://cw.routledge.com/ref/harlem/armstrong.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_Leaf_Rag. 2015. Web.

http://www.welcometoharlem.com/scott_joplin. 2015. Web.

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/4283/Hayden-Palmer-1890-1973.html. 2015. Web.

Self Portrait in a Grey Felt Hat

Vincent Van Gogh

Paris, 1887

Wikipedia Source

Van Gogh has many famous pieces such as Starry Night, Irises, and Bedroom in Arles, but I enjoy this painting out of his many self portraits for the clever use of color and skill in consistency. Many of Van Gogh’s self portraits were used as testing grounds for styles of painting and interestingly depict many different styles that he chose to practice on. At this stage of his self portrait journey, his brushstroke skill is growing profoundly and the rhythmic nature of his painting adds to the emotion and direction of a still life portrait. There are strokes that form down his nose, but every other stroke outside of that radiates from the central point on his face, widening an already stern expression. Clever use of the rippling effect of curved strokes around his head create an aura-like effect doppled with orange spots that might represent a starry sky. Although there are many obvious similarities in colors used throughout this piece, there are very few instances (white outlining on the jacket), where it is a apparent that a singular color made up the majority of a single brush stroke, as this is but a minor detail- bold single color strokes are very common in oil paintings. There is much speculation about the processes in which Van Gogh painted, and interestingly enough it has been very well studied. There have been algorithms created (De-pict), that actually replicate Van Gogh’s style and through X-ray analysis have found that there were at least 3 different layers of brush stroke patterns before the final product was produced. Many of these intermediate layers provide framework for getting feel for the direction of the painting, but as more layer progresses, they add dimension and underlying highlights to an apparent strictly conformed painting.

I chose to compare Van Gogh’s work to UAF’s very own Todd Sherman. I am a very big fan of Mr. Sherman’s work, and actually struggled trying to find good photographs of some of his work. Here are a few examples. Someone 

Todd Sherman

Fairbanks, Alaska

Walrus, Momma Polar Bear, Young Polar Bear, and Ringed Seal

Todd Sherman

Fairbanks, Alaska  2014

Sherman’s work has a very colorful style, which I find similar to Van Gogh’s Self Portrait. There are many colors used in both paintings that would not be traditionally considered for shading or highlighting, but inherently bring life to the pieces. Examples include the many of the dark greens and light blues chosen by Van Gogh for shading around the eyes (perhaps to bring out his own green eyes), and Sherman’s yellows and pinks found in his Polar Bear paintings. Much of Van Gogh’s style comes from his carefully executed rhythmic brushstrokes, but the lighthearted freeing style of Sherman’s less constructed depiction of animals in the natural world.

-More of Todd Sherman’s work if you have the interest, many of his pieces around the University are not in this portfolio. http://www.toddsherman.com/artwork/index.html

Variations in style give each artist their own appeal and admirable qualities, I enjoy both styles, especially for the bold use of non traditional colors to provide dimension as well as character to the pieces they chose to paint.

Kuang, Yubin, D. Stork, and F. Kahl. “Improved curvature-based in painting applied to fine art: Recovering van Gogh’s partially hidden brush strokes” n.d. http://www2.maths.lth.se/vision/publdb/reports/pdf/KuangStorkKahlfinal.pdf