Event 1

This week I attended the Exhibition at the Hammer Museum entitled, “Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957.” Black Mountain College was a school that focused on a liberal arts education. Their work was based off of the collaboration of ideas and perspectives between the students and teachers. This exhibition highlighted how the education at Black Mount College influenced the templates for American art schools and the concepts for artwork postwar.

Proof of attendance

One topic that stood out to me while going through the exhibit was the convergence of math and art. One of the leading teachers, Josef Albers, focused on how to interpret perspective into his artwork. Two of his art pieces stood out to me the most and I will be focusing on them.

The first piece of his that I am going to talk about is entitled “Sanctuary”. “Sanctuary” explores the idea of depth within a 2-Dimensional print. The Lithograph has four prominent black rectangles. The four rectangles open up into bigger and bigger rectangles. The stacked rectangles are gradually increasing in size. By having a consistent increase in each triangle, Albers creates the sense that rectangles are 3-Dimensional. It looks as through the rectangles are moving towards you. One problem that I found with this piece is that the top half of the rectangles provided more depth then the bottom of the piece. The bottom of the piece feels 2-Dimensional.

"Sanctuary" by Josef Albers 

"Tenyuca" by Josef Albers

The second piece of his that I am going to analyze is the piece, “Tenayuca.” “Tenayuca” is an oil painting. The painting has a background in two different shades or red. There is a large dark gray rectangle in the back of the light gray and white rectangles. Albers is illustrating perception in “Tenayuca” by showing the dimensions in the painting changes depending on where you are looking at the rectangles from. Looking at the painting straight on, the rectangles look as those they are 3-Dimensional. However, when you move to the left of the painting the rectangles look 2-Dimensional. Looking down onto the painting, the previously 2-Dimensional rectangles look 3-Dimension. I think this is one of Alber’s most successful paintings because it causes the viewer to experience and explore how perception influences and changes the dimension within a painting.

Proof of Attendance: Me and My finger 

I highly recommend this exhibition. It provides artworks that clearly demonstrate how math has a huge impact on the way that dimensions are perceived within a work. Black Mountain College had a huge influence on the way that we are currently learning, engaging with, and making art in school and on our own.