Art Movements

Impressionism (1863)

The Impressionist movement of painting developed between about 1863 and 1886 by a group of French artists who shared a set of related approaches and techniques. The style is an attempt to reflect the visual reality of a scene or object in terms of momentary impressions of light and colour. This involved the study of movement, and human perception/experience.
The movement faded and transitioned to Post-impressionism by 1886, but its influence on art was both important and ongoing.

The most obvious characteristics include small yet visible brush strokes to simulate actual reflected light. Other characteristics include the use of unmixed primary colors, open composition, ordinary subject matter, and unusual visual angles.

Two principal Impressionist painters were Claude Monet, and Pierre Auguste Renoir.

Surrealism (1920)
Surrealism is an artistic style and cultural movement that was founded in the early 1920s by André Breton. This style uses imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehension. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War I, primarily in Europe, and was influenced by the psychoanalytical work of Freud and Jung. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as philosophy, and social theory.

Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers consider their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his claim that Surrealism was principally a revolutionary movement.

René Magritte and Salvador Dali are two predominant surrealist artists.

Magic realism (1920-30)
Magic realism is a visual art (and fictional literary) genre creating an aesthetic style in which magical elements blend to create a realistic atmosphere. It aims to place the "real" and the "fantasy" in the same stream of thought to access a deeper understanding of reality. The painterly style began evolving as early as the first decade of the 20th century but 1925 was when ‘magischer realismus’ and ‘neue sachlichkeit’ were officially recognized as major trends.

The term is a general description with exact definition. Matthew Strecher defines magic realism as "...what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe."

George Tooker and Jared French are noted artists in this style.

Action painting (1950)

Action painting (sometimes called "gestural abstraction”) was started in the 1950’s by a group of American Abstract Expressionist. It is an extremely direct, instinctual, and dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the chance effects of splashing, smearing, dripping, and spilling paint onto the canvas. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work.

Jackson Pollock and Elaine de Kooning are two major artists in this genre.

Op Art: (1950 - 1965)

The Op art movement involves creating optical illusions and is sometimes called optical art or retinal art. The movement developed from the work of Victor Vasarely, who created tessellations and work with shocking perspectives, and also the Abstract Expressionist movement that discredited the importance of subject matter. The aim of the style is to explore and understand the interaction between illusion and the 2d plane.

Op art works are usually abstract patterns, with many of the better known pieces made in only black and white. The color, line, and shapes are chosen for the purposes of illusion and not to evoke any emotion or mood. Colors and perspective and chosen carefully to achieve the desired effect, and both positive and negative spaces are of equal importance in the composition. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, swelling, warping, hidden images, flashing, and vibration.

A major Op Art exhibit in 1965, titled “The Responsive Eye,” caught the public interest. As a result, the style began appearing in print, television, advertising, album art, fashion, and interior decorating. Despite Op Art’s popularity, it never became a mass movement of modern art like Pop Art.

Julian Stanczak and Günther Uecker are two popular optical artists.

Lowbrow (1960-70’s)

Lowbrow is a widespread art movement with origins in punk, hot-rod, and other subcultures. The roots of Lowbrow go back to 1960-70s Southern California hotrod and surf culture. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth is frequently credited with starting Lowbrow, by creating Rat Fink in the late 1950s. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor - sometimes the humor is gleeful or impish, and sometimes it's has a sarcastic comment.

Most lowbrow artworks are paintings, but there are also toys, digital art, and sculpture and During the 60's branched into underground Comix. Over the years has picked up influences from classic cartoons, 60's TV sitcoms, psychedelic/rock music, pulp art, soft porn, comic books, sci-fi, "B" horror movies, Japanese anime, and many other sub cultures. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism.

Keith Weesner and mike Giant are two modern lowbrow artists.

Lyrical Abstraction (1960-70’s)
Lyrical Abstraction is a relaxed abstract art movement that emerged in the United States, Toronto, and London during the 1960's-1970's. It began with painters who directly reacted against the predominating Formalist, Minimalist, and Pop Art and Geometric Abstraction styles of the sixties, turned to new, experimental, loose, expressive and abstract painting styles.


Lyrical Abstraction moved away from minimalism in painting and toward a new freer creativity. Aiming to expand the boundaries of abstract painting and Minimalism by focusing on new process, materials, and ways of expression. Characterized by intuitive and loose paint handling, spontaneous expression, illusionist space, acrylic staining, occasional imagery, as well as other paint and newer technological techniques.

Emily Mason and Ed Moses are two leading artists of this style.

Photorealism (1960-70’s)
Photorealism is a movement that began in the late 1960's, in which scenes are painted in a style closely resembling photographs. Photographs are used to gather information and then from this information, a realistic painting is created. The subject matter is usually ordinary and without particular interest as the real focus of photorealist work is to accurately reflect a specific interpretation of reality.


The leading members of the Photorealist movement are Richard Estes and Chuck Close. Estes specializes in street scenes with elaborate reflections in window-glass; Close does enormous portraits of usually expressionless faces.

Hyperrealism (2000)

Hyperrealism is an art movement/style developed from Photorealism around the early 2000s. It is based primarily in painting and sculptures and is defined by recreating a high-resolution and/or highly detailed artwork of figures, landscapes, and scenes.

Robert Bechtle and Jacques Bodin are two well-known Hyperrealists.

Street art

Contemporary Street art is a recent movement currently developing in public spaces referring to unsanctioned guerrilla art, as opposed to government-sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti, stencils, stickers, wheat paste-ups, poster/billboard, written word, video projection, and street installations. Typically, the term street art is used to distinguish public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

This style develops by creating and exposing art in non-art contexts. Street artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment. They attempt to have their work inspire and communicate with the general public. The motivation of the work can range from socially relevant themes to simple aesthetic appreciation.

Two well known street artists are Banksy and Ghost Patrol.

IMAGES

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant,_1872.jpg

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INFO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)

http://arthistory.about.com/od/arthistory101/a/lowbrow.htm

http://wwar.com/masters/movements/op_art.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_art

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Lyrical-Abstraction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(painting)

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/photorealism.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorealism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_painting

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/4477/Action-painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

http://arthistory.about.com/od/impressionism/Movements_Impressionism.htm

http://www.surrealism.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_painting

Clash of the Titans

1) Who are the Titans?

The Titans are the Gods of Mount Olympus.

2) Are the any interesting motifs you see frequently appearing (Eg. Lightning bolts)? How do you interpret their meaning? Can you name a modern version, of this motif, used today?

Weather is repeatedly used to express the emotion and power of the gods. This is usually in the form of storm, lightning bolts, thunder etc. Wings are also a strong motif throughout the film, symbolic of being a higher power e.g Pegasus and various gods. Wings allow these characters a sense of freedom and divinity which separated them from mortals.

3) Is your Greek character in the movie? If so, does the film's interpretation match your research?

Zeus is a main character of the film and reinforces my research. He is portrayed as the most powerful in charge of gods and men.

5) Are any of the characters, in the movie, related (Eg. a mother or father, wife or husband, brother or sister) to your Greek myth? If so, how?

Persues is the son of Zeus. He was conceived when Zeus tricked a defiant mortals wife into sex to make an example of him. He is also the brother of Haydes and Poseidon, as well as being related to various other gods and half mortals.

6) Is their a constellation of stars named after your Greek character?

The constellation Aquila (Eagle).

7) How is Medusa killed? Does your Greek character have a weakness?

Medusa’s head is chopped off. Zeus is suggested to care about the human race too much, and this is seen as a weakness by the other gods.

ZEUS

Zeus  [Greek:  Ζεύς, ΖΕΎΣ] 

In Greek mythology Zeus is the god of sky and thunder, who oversaw the universe.

He was the Father of Gods and men, the great Olympian, and the king of Gods.

Appearance

In art, Zeus is depicted as regal, mature, powerful, and bearded. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

History

Zeus was a celestial god, and originally worshiped as a weather god by the Greek tribes. This has continued though the connection with his main attribute; the thunderbolt (symbolic control of thunder, lightning and rain).
Theocritus wrote circa 265 BCE: "sometimes Zeus is clear, sometimes he rains”.

Zeus evolved from a fundamental understanding of space to a human personification of infinity and power through Greek mythology. (See ‘evolution’)

Relationships

Zeus is the son of Kronos and Rhea. Gaia and Ouranos had warned Kronos that his own son would overthrow him, so he swallowed each child as they were born to prevent this. At the advice ­­of her parents, Rhea went to Crete to deliver her child Zeus.  She then wrapped a stone in baby's clothing and fed it to Kronos to deceive him.  At the end of a year, Zeus grew in strength. Kronos vomited the stone and then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Kronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Kronus' stomach open. 

Adventures

After reaching manhood, Zeus defeated his father and ascended to become the king of Gods and man. Then Zeus released the brothers of Kronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon, killing their guard. As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt (lightning). Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld).

Symbols

His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. He wields the thunderbolt as his scepter or sometimes he will be depicted with a separate scepter. 

He is seated, to show the stability and persistence of his power. His upper parts are bare, because he is manifested in the intellectual and the heavenly parts of the world; but his feet are clothed, because he is invisible in the things that lie hidden below. And he holds his sceptre in his left hand, as that’s the side of the heart, the most commanding and intelligent organ: for the creative mind is the sovereign of the world. And in his right hand he holds forth either an eagle, because he is master of the Gods who traverse the air, as the eagle is master of the birds/flight.

In a modern context Zeus could draw parallels with monotheistic ideals of an ‘almighty god’ and lend his image (strong, wise, bearded etc) to what many envision as God (such as contemporary Christian ideals). The Eagle has been heavily used as a symbolically strong animal in cultures such as America. As well as thunder and lightning still evoking feelings of power and dominance; relating to civilization’s helplessness in association to the weather and unknown.

Evolution

Zeus’ god status stems from the primordial evolution of the concept Æther (Aether originally was the personification of the "upper sky" -space and heaven- in Greek mythology).  The mythology surrounding this evolution is symbolic.  He is the personification of Aether and ‘ruler of the heavens’.
In a similar manner, Hera is the personalized, primordial evolution of Earth/Gaea (Gaea is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth-the Greek version of Mother Nature). Therefore, they are brother and sister, yet are united in marriage.  Zeus and Hera are preeminent in the Orphic cosmogony and all ritual ends with homage to them.

Through the mythology associated with Zeus and the adaption of various understandings he has come to symbolize power, infinity, and wisdom.


There are many references to Zeus in modern culture and branding including, music, clothing, sport, and corporate identity. 
Three popular examples are;


Gatorade (Sports Drink)

Electric Eyeware (Sunnies etc)

Port Adelaide Power (AFL)

Possible Sports for Logo

• M.M.A (Mixed Martial Arts)
• A.F.L
• Racing (cars, bikes etc)

Sources

http://www.hellenicgods.org/Zeus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeushttp://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Zeus-105217778

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/z/zeus.html
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http://snowboarding.transworld.net/files/2010/09/elect.jpg
http://static.productreview.com.au/pr.products/145527_gatorade.jpg

Porphyrys excerpt, translated by Edwin Hamilton Gifford