Artists employ different elements and principles of design to convey specific messages and sensations to the audience through the mediums. The message depicted by these mediums is related to past historical and cultural events. This discussion board post will evaluate two artworks represented by two different mediums.
The first artwork is made of a dove put in a gauge with a woman’s breast, eye, and sun in a plaster medium (Google Arts and Culture, a). The artist employs the principle of emphasis by placing the dove in the middle of the medium with a woman’s features. I think the artwork depicts the central position occupied by a woman in the community. I believe that the dove represents a woman in deep thought about how to transform the community. The artist has employed the principle of variety to hold the viewer’s attention (Syahidah 2019). The principle is portrayed by several elements on the dove, including the overflowing breast, which implies that despite women’s challenges, they are hardworking and determined to feed their families. I think eyes and the sun painted whit black paint demonstrate a woman’s focus and determination to find peace amid struggles and hardships.
The second artwork is A Ride for Liberty medium, showing three people on a horse, probably a family, in an oil painting medium (Google Arts & Culture, b). The artist uses the movement principle by painting a dull color within the work of art and a lack of bright figures to depict an enslaved family (Syahidah 2019). Emphasis principle is employed through the woman who is seen looking behind as they free while the rest have set their eyes in the front freeing from what looks disturbing. I think the artwork brings out a picture of tense surroundings where the family is looking for freedom, change, or justice. The painting presents a family in the agony of slave resistance and, using dusty colors and active brushstrokes, depicts a departure from usual contemporary illustrations of African Americans as shiftless.
References
Google Arts & Culture (a). Web.
Google Arts & Culture (b). Web.
Syahidah B. (2019). Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Web.