“Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.”

 

-Salvador Dalí, 1953

 

 

            Nothing quite so well defines Salvador Dalí as himself. By that, I mean that Dalí always was and always indefinable. Salvador Dalí is world renowned for his fantastic, perplexing surrealist paintings and art. The image of Persistance of Memory is something that, though not by name, everyone can recognize. His style and key elements (watches, elephants, eggs, ants, etc.) are recognizable by his frighteningly realistic surrealism. His public image: the pointy, waxed mustache and large crinkly eyes are all too familiar. Andy Warhol cites Dalí as one of the great inspirations for Pop Art culture. His art work also stretched beyond his painting into film, costume and fashion, lithography, sculpture, and drawings, to name a few. In his 84 years of existence he seems to have spread to every corner of modernity and art culture possible. Based on the reputation and commendation of his artwork he seems like a god of canvas. However, throughout his life he was met and fought opposition as well as raised more than a fair share of concern and displeasure.

            Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Doménech was born 11 May 1904 and would leave to his eighties. His birthplace of Figueres, Catalonia, Spain was the home of not only his childhood but also his first public exhibition, museum and death. He was always supported by his mother, who passed away when he was sixteen from breast cancer, and encouraged by her to pursue art. He was sent to a drawing school in 1916. After three years, at the age of fifteen, he had his first public exhibition. But it was his mother’s death that most impacted his childhood. He was completely devastated.

            The next year he moved away to Madrid where he attended Academia de San Fernando. This was the place where the endlessly talented and egotistical Salvador Dalí would emerge. Even when he arrived he was already an object of attention because of his odd style of dressing as though he were from the 1800s and his friends Pepin Bello, Luis Buñuel, and Frederico Garcia Lorca. This would be the point to introduce the idea of Dalí’s sexuality. Though he had many women  as well as a steady wife, he was notorious for sexual advances on nearly anyone, to his ultimate denial. This is present in his college years where many people speculate that he and Lorca had a much more romantic relationship than simply platonic.

However, even those things were not the most important. It was his work that was most lucrative for his popularity. In his early years at Academia de San Fernando he experimented in Cubism and drew much attention from his peers and teachers. He covered a wide range of styles in the 1920’s. In his work you can often see hints of his classical influence from Raphael, Vermeer, Velázquez, and others as well as his classic and avant-garde stlye. His talent was undeniable and even Dalí recognized that he was much more talented than many of his peers. But when it came time for final exams Dalí made a comment, the exacts of which are still disputed, that he was more qualified than any of the men whom would judge his work. This got him expelled. It was at this point in his life when Dalí would adapt his signature feature – the curly, handlebar mustache.

Dalí’s style was always original. But for the years after his time in Academia de San Fernando he became increasingly more eccentric in his attire. In 1936 he gave a lecture at the London International Surrealist Exhibition while wearing a deep-sea diving suit that needed to be unscrewed when he began gasping for breath. In 1934 he and his wife attended a Halloween party dressed as the Lindbergh baby and it’s kidnapper. Dalí was most comfortable in the spot light and was nearly as famous for his outrageous actions and feats and the way he pushed boundaries as he was for his artwork.

In an ultimate act of surrealism, Dalí partnered with his friend from college, Luis Buñuel, to create a seventeen minute film entitled Un Chien Andalou. The film is a strange picture which opens with a man taking a razor to a woman’s eyeball. He and Buñuel contributed on the script but Dalí claims that he did a large amount of shooting as well. It was around this time that Dalí met his, then married, future wife, Gala. She was a Russian immigrant who was ten years older than he was but she admired his work greatly, particularly after his hailed exhibitions and, what critics called, “paranoiac-critical method”.  Dalí often boasted of their affair since she was married to Paul Éluard when he met her. In his book The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí he details a romantic affair for years before their marriage and her ultimate split with Éluard in 1934.

Through the 1920s and 1930s Dalí produced what historians consider to be some of his best work. It was in 1931 that his most famous and iconic painting, Persistence of Memory, was completed. It is the easiest to use in description of his constant use of imagery. Common symbols that Dalí used were clocks which he linked with Einstien’s theory of relativity. He also used eggs to symbolize love and hope because of it’s connection with the female anatomy. Eggs appear in many of his works, namely The Great Masturbator and Enigma of Desire.  What is interesting about his symbolism, particularly with Persistence of Memory, is that it evidently changes as his social and political opinions change.  As a boom in quantum mechanics and scientific ideas came about in the late fifties, Dalí changed right along with it. His The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory is often analyzed as his change from being focused on dreams and human thought and representation to a focus of science and theories. "In the Surrealist period, I wanted to create the iconography of the interior world and the world of the marvelous, of my father Freud. Today, the exterior world and that of physics has transcended the one of psychology. My father today is Dr. Heisenberg." The symbolism in much of his later work can also be connected to his growing interest in Christianity. Often times the two coincided and images like Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) were created from his devotion to Christ and his love of the hypercube.

After Dalí’s marriage to Gala he met an art dealer in New York who opened his first exhibition in America. He was an immediate hit. At the same time, Dalí’s largest patron in Europe was Edward James of London. He was a wealthy business man who took a shining to Dalí’s work and collaborated with him on the iconic surrealist object Lobster Telephone and Mae West Lips Sofa. During these few years in the early 1930’s Dalí’s once formidable presence in the Surrealist group was become shaky. It’s leading surrealist, André Brenton, felt that Dalí’s decision to remain ambiguous about his political views were causing him to support the “Hitlerian phenomenon”. Though he adamantly denied, he was put on trial and removed from the surrealist group. André Brenton for the years to come would criticize and hash Dalí, nicknaming him “Avida Dollars” (a phonetic spelling of the French avide á dollars meaning eager for dollars, conveniently also an anagram for Salvador Dalí). Many surrealist also felt that his work was become less about art itself and more about money and fame. There was also a tendency to talk about Salvador Dalí in the past tense, as though he had died. As the world rolled into the 40’s the harsh commentary from nationwide surrealist groups continued and didn’t stop until even after his death.

It was in 1938 that Salvador Dalí met Sigmund Freud whom he instantly idolized. He centred much of his work around human mentality and dream sequences so for him, meeting Freud was like meeting the Wizard of Oz. Another thing about symbolism – when Dalí walked into Freud’s house there was a snail on the front gate. In many paintings afterward snails can be found to represent the head, or the mind.

The 1940’s marked a changing point for the whole world. When World War II went into full swing Dalí and Gala moved to the United States. There he began to shift his work into other medium. He created a few other movie projects, one of which was in collaboration with Roy E Disney on a film called Destino. He also began in 1941 a set of jewels. Many of them were complex, moving pieces that are laden with rubies, crystals, diamonds and the like. He also began working with some Americans on photography, the most famous project being his work with Phillippe Halsman, Dali Automicus.

It was also in the early forties that Dalí re-founded himself in Christianity.  He had been born and raised Christian but after he fled WWII in Europe his work took a turn for the religious. He, himself, also became devoutly religious and is said to have had an exorcism performed on himself in 1947. Ironically, he also became fascinated with science and math. His work between the forties and fifties all tends to incorporate some sort of mathematical notation or symbolism as well as religious imagery. The surrealists at this point began to say that his work was getting repetitive and pointless. Many historians also claim that after Dalí moved to America his quality decreased.  His actual work became commercial: things like logos, commercials, an autobiography, and a novel).

After WWII was most definitely over Dalí returned to Catalina where he lived until his death. Though his work became “repetitive” during this period it was no less icon or virtuously composed. Pieces like Christ of Saint John on the Cross show his unyielding talent. His Christian imagery was, however, almost completely limited to his paintings, which seemed to have declined in his later years because of his interest in alternative media. After the later forties the reputation of Dalí’s work seemed to have completely crumbled in historians mind. A main reason for this was that during the eighties and nineties a large number of forgeries were created. Another factor was that some people claim that Dalí’s guardians while he was on his deathbed forced him to sign blank canvases that would later be painted and sold as originals.

Before Dalí died he constructed the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, his hometown. It was there that he stayed when his health finally began to topple. There are speculations that he had been poisoned in a drug-laden cocktail in multiple doses by his wife Gala. By the age of only 76 he was showing symptoms of Parkinson’s and he was confined to his bed. He completed his final drawing for King Juan Carlos after he changed Dalí’s official title. That was in 1983, 6 years before he died on 23 January, 1989 in Figueres.

His lasting impression followed him beyond the grave. In 2002 there was a scandal where the owners of the right to Dalí’s name made Google remove a logo based on his works. In 2005 the Philadelphia Museum of Art had a Salvador Dalí exhibition which was so successful that it’s dates were extended for nearly a month and it was and currently is the museums highest grossing exhibition.

Regardless of the strange, self-aggrandizing, obscure nature that encompassed Salvador Dalí, his talent and craftsman ship is undeniable. His artwork lives in almost every continent and through every decade. He has been an icon and an inspiration to numerous art generations. His long-lasting legacy will be a presence and an irrefutably interesting story that will travel far into the future of art and art history.

Clear Glass- Small Sketch​ (Scanner didn't do the shading much justice.)

​Art History Assignment- Art In The Style of Alex Pardee

For my Art History Assignment I decided to do my artwork in the style of Alex Pardee. Pardee has been one of my favourite artists ever since my cousin introduced me to him a few years back. I adore his use of colour and his bizarre subject matter. My pieces had no real rhyme or reason behind their creation, I just based them off of inside jokes that my friends and I share. The media that I used was prismacolor markers and pen.

Here's a link to Alex Pardee's website if you want to check him out.

 January : Hand-Pencil



For this project my artist that inspired me was Andy Warhol, an American Painter who was a leading figure and well known for the visual art movement, pop art.
 Some of his famous painting include the Campbell's Tomato Soup, the lovely Marilyn Monroe , or the late great Michael Jackson.


      Andy Warhol and Nicki Minaj inspired me to do these three pieces pieces simply because I love them both. From their style to their way of life,  and ultimately the talent that they share with the public. These are, "The Artists' That Inspire".

​For the third quarter we had to create a compilation of drawings. For a short run-down it was: a sketch of a hand, a sketch of a self-portrait, a full self-portrait, a full-size figure drawing, a full size still life, a sketch of a plastic bottle and a full-size plastic bottle. The medium was simple, mostly charcoal or pastel. The drawings were all from observation which also, for me, made them easier.

Basically, this was my forte. I have been learning how to draw for years and I finally got to exercise them in a classroom setting. Starting with the hand and portrait sketches, I was able to smoothly transition into the larger 24 x 36 pieces. I feel as though the content wasn't too challenging; it was nothing I hadn't done before. 

However, for these I chose to being working in color which I had never done before. I used them first, simply, in my large portrait. I used conte (sanguine and medici) and white conte. For the full figure I went back to using only black and white because it was larger than any drawing I had ever tried before. For the other drawings I chose to work in multiple colours. 

I feel as though all of my drawings turned out really well. I think that the water bottle and the still life, as well as possibly the full figure, could be used for portfolio pieces. I showed the water bottle to admission counselor at Tyler and she really liked it. Regardless, I learned a lot this quarter about how to use my medium to make new looking things rather than the same old things I've been drawing.

*PICTURES ON THE WAY*

these are the three drawings that I did for my quarter 3 benchmark art project. I picked an artist by the name of Rik Lee to mimic I guess you could say. I picked him because his art work is kind of out there, but at the same time it's normal and really pretty. He incorporates some words in his drawings and only uses hits of color. When I'm drawing I don't like using color, because I feel it ruins the drawing. So it was nice that I found someone whom shared that feeling. I probably could of added more to each drawing, but to be perfectly honest I'm quite proud by the way the turned out overall. I also found it fun, that I got to inquorate my style of drawing in and at the same time learn new styles of art. This was definitely my favorite project so far.

Tajh Jenkins

April 8, 2011

Senior Artist Statement

            This quarter of senior art has been very challenging. The drawings that we had to create we’re very challenging to me because I’m do not trust my abilities as an artist. I think that when drawing things, you trust your skills and have confidence that what you are drawing is good and has meaning. There were times during this quarter when I was discouraged by what I was drawing because I would look across from me to see someone else’s drawing that I thought was way better than mines. Even though I think that my drawings aren’t as good as they could be, I did try my best on each one. I completed every assignment except for the full figure drawing. I didn’t finish that drawing because it took me longer than a week to draw it and after the first week, Kim was posing for the class anymore.

             The drawings that I liked doing the most were the hand drawing, and the self-portrait drawing, specifically the large one. I liked these drawings the most because I think that those were my best work. My hand drawing was very simple and easy to draw and I like the detail that I was able to put in it. I think that my large self-portrait is my best drawing that I create in the third quarter. It looks exactly like me in my eyes. I actually enjoyed drawing both the hand and the self-portraits. My enthusiasm to draw them made the drawings become my best works.

          Having a drawing once a week became stressful because I was used to have ample time to create one piece as we did in the first two quarters. Having a drawing once a week kept me on my toes. The fact that Ms. Hull gave us an extra two weeks to complete any drawings that we missed did benefit me. I don’t think that Ms. Hull getting sick affected me negatively. I think that since we are seniors, we should have been able to hold our own and still complete the drawings and ask Ms. Hull to tell us what she thought about them whenever she came back to school.

            Ms. Hull did a good job this quarter giving the condition that she’s in. As a student, I could have done some things differently. I think that I could have used my class time more effectively. Even though I got most of my assignments done, I found myself procrastinating a lot because we had so much time to finish these projects. I think that I could have used most of the time I took not doing work to make my projects better. Overall I think that I was mostly successful this quarter. I hope that I can continue being successful in the 4th quarter and for the rest of the school year. 

Drawings: 

Here is the link to my 5 page art paper. I wrote about the history of digital art.

Qianna Nelson

For this quarter we did a lot of still life drawings in which we drew what we saw and not what we thought we saw. This was especially hard because when someone tells you to draw something such as a hand, immediately the thought is to trace the hand. But no. that is not what our task was. Our tasks were to look at certain things and draw everything that we saw and not how we knew them to look. Such as when we did have to draw a hand. We had to stare at our hands and draw the lines and take out the lights and darks as well as add the lights and darks. Drawing our hands were one of our more simpler projects.

Our second project was to draw our self-portraits, this was particularly harder to do then drawing a hand. A face has a lot more detail and getting the proportions are also harder. Drawing things such as the eyes and lips were the hardest parts to me. Because drawing things twice and making them look alike has always been a struggle. 

The next picture we drew was of a person, Kim. She posed for the class and we all drew her. Getting the figure right for her body was complicated and drawing the curves and such was a struggle. 

We did a still life drawing of supplies that were in the classroom. This was one of the more simpler drawing we did. The complicated parts were taking the lights and darks out of the supplies.

The last thing we were instructed to draw was something clear. I chose to draw a pair of lab goggles. I enjoyed drawing the googles and I used colors in this one besides black, since the googles were green.

The final project we did we could chose from many topics. I chose the project where we had to ARTIST FOCUS - choose an artist and create works of art that are inspired by them or that are copies of the chosen pieces.  3 pieces for art 3 students. Choose the pieces you want to copy or be inspired by, create your pieces, upload them to your blog and tell about them and why you chose that artist. Since my art focus has been on city landscapes lately I chose to draw posters of city landscapes. I chose the artist Anne Garney, because all her pictures are really colorful and I love color, and i enjoyed looking at her art so I wanted to draw something like her. 

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