Wu Chen (Chinese, 1280-1354), Manual of Ink – Bamboo, 1350, ink on paper, National Palace Museum, Taipei.
In the first Chapter of Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, Rose describes of how the society changed views especially in Western Society. That is why she argues that Westerns accept visual as the center part of their society because we are all surrounded by imagery more than in our “antique times” and it plays a greater role in understanding and interpreting the world around us.
Later on in the Chapter, Rose mentions about Visual Culture and five aspects of it and the way the image “works”. Then she moves to the way she uses to interpret and describe images and it should be taken seriously, as she says. The viewer has to view the image from his or her own way of seeing to be able to understand it. Rose describes Sites and Modalities to further illustrate her point and how to go about the image, its production, and audience. The three modalities are Technological, Compositional, and Social.
1. I would apply my views and explanation of the first image based on Gilian Rose detailed techniques that she mentions in the first Chapter.
As we can see the image is from China and done by Wu Chen around 1280-1354. At that time there were a great influence of Yuan Dynasty on the all major artworks and social structure (1). The first thing that is seen on the paining is bamboo, then the text, and the seals all around it. The yellow color adds some warmth and exceptional ambient feel to image as a whole. It appears that the image was created for emperor and his visitors because of the quantity of the seals that are present on the painting.
The paining itself praises a big commitment of the author and the way he wants to represent his ideas to the public or emperor. The fist thing is concentration or meditation was used to be able to focus and imagine how the layout would look on paper when it is finished. The other thing is to have enough of talent and experience to be able to place that thought on the paper. It was usually done by using a rice paper with watercolors and a good variety of brushes to work with.
The composition of image that we see is well balanced by using bamboo in the middle and text from the left. The whole composition has depth to it and it can be seen that some part of the plant are closer than the other because of the thickness of the ink applied on paper.
The main important part of the image is seals. Seals for the most part can describe a feeling, a person, or the wish. Just by seeing the artwork it is easy to tell that there are a lot of seals used and that means that the social modality here is present and that work has come a long way and is very appreciated by the audience. More seals = more value to the painting and that means a lot for the social surroundings and audience.
In conclusion I would say that these kinds of paintings posses great challenge like the time period it was created not only for the author but for the viewer as well. It combines mental stability, organization, concentration, and various paining techniques that create such an artwork that stays with audience for many years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erUMp1WZ6l4&feature=related
2. We can also apply all of this information for the second image. A “Second Wind” is actually a cartoon video that was originally created by few people on www.aniboom.com. It is a website created specifically for artistic people who can create videos and short clips depending on the assignment from aniboom.
The actual visual presentation of the artwork is quite unique. As we can see from the first seconds of the movie the style resembles Asian motives. A big cat as a main character, the pound with Japanese Koi Carp fish, and later an anime style glowworm will proof the claim of overall visual comes or inspired from Asian culture.
It seems that the author tried its best to mimic a kind of abstract atmosphere by using music and creating exaggerated characters with a specific kind of cubic forms. The actual composition seems balanced with dull colors and the contrast that is used throughout the video. However, the actual place where the action takes place is unknown. It is very mystic, magical but at the same time is believable. The green nature with trees, ponds and fields make me think of something not very far away but away from civilization. The only thing that distorts the view is that in the middle of the movie the characters play a soccer ball that looks kind of out of place because how the author created the perception at the beginning of the video and mood with it.
The complete idea of the art piece is clear. Two best friends where all the time together travelling around, eating, fishing, and playing. But, at some point when the old man was playing soccer with cat he found a glowworm with which he enjoyed the game even more. After cat has found out that the old man is busy with the game, he became mad and felt offended. By taking of the ball and killing a glowworm the cat was not punished, the one who got punished is the old man.
An interesting fact is that the even though the story ends at the happy point of the old man being alive, my feeling toward this is that the cat actually got punished and from now on to keep the man alive he always have to blow a wind. It is like a second chance for the cat for what he did by killing the glowworm.