Taking Issue with a Contemporary Art Piece

Posted by: Casey LaChapelle



In doing some research on the Internet to find the perfect painting or sculpture that I didn't understand, it dawned on me that as long as I can remember, I turned my nose up to modern/contemporary paintings. I have downright found them unappealing. Growing up, my great grandfather was a painter, he did this for a living and I, still to this day love his work never understood why people would look at a piece of contemporary artwork and believe that it was good.
The given reason above is the main premise on why I decided to take this class, as I would like to me more educated about art as a whole and not sound or think so naive when it comes to good art. I finally came up with a painting that I look at and say to myself, "I just don't understand what is going on here". It is titled "Blue Vase" painted by José Manuel Merello. Merello is a Spanish born artist who states that his work has some Picasso in it, but likes to add that this is mainly his own style. He is also a self-taught artist who has paintings shown throughout the world.
In looking at this picture (appendix A) at first glance all I see are a bunch of heavy strokes on a canvas that a typical elementary student could do. Although I don't find this art beautiful or interesting, after looking at the piece for a period of time it began to dawn on me that art is truly in the eye of the beholder. No one person will look at art in the same exact way.

This type of painting is Merello's style. In looking at his other works, you can see a distinct pattern in the way he creates his paintings. They all have a distinct look about them. The painting that I chose, "Blue Vase", is very distinct because although there is so much going on around the featured blue vase in the painting, one thing sticks out and that is the blue vase in general.
It took me some time to realize Merello's style, but when I did it began to make sense to me. All of his paintings have one thing that is in the center, the focal point that the viewer automatically sees, at which point all of the other strokes and things in the painting mold together to form sort of a natural boarder around that one point.
I hope that in taking this class I will be able to distinguish between different artists and not have such a closed mind when it comes to different types of art that I may not be accustomed to.