Art 230: Introduction to Painting
Multiple Space Assignment

Due date to be announced

What happens when you only obey the laws of form and do away with the creation of perspectival space? What are some of the advantages of making a painting this way? Can you shift, distort, create, or add to the meaning of the overall content of a piece by the juxtaposition of different forms? What does it all mean? Does it have to have a clear meaning?

Some critics argue that we live in a post-modernist age where clarity of exact meaning is impossible. We experience so many images everyday through advertising, web surfing and other media that sometimes the true meaning of something is lost or that it takes on a new meaning.

Another important idea of post-modernist thought is the notion that nothing is new, and that everything has been done before. Therefore, we can't make up a new style of painting but can only alter or combine already known methods of painting.

For this assignment I would like you to make a painting at least 24" x 30" on any surface you desire. Feel free to combine different sources such as photographs, images from popular culture, or even text. You will have if you are in the MW class the 20th and the 25th or the 19th and 21st if you are in the TR class to work on these in class, so be prepared to go. Feel free to get a start on these over spring break if you can.

Your painting should incorporate at least two different images.
At least one object must be painted from life.
You must use at least one art historical painting style, or it's appropriation. The appropriation of sculpture counts for this category.
Think about the design of the painting. Composition is important.
Think about content. Can you communicate with visual language to achieve your goal? Watch out for being too literal.

Think about the combination of different styles of painting to add visual interest. What happens if you are painting a beautiful still-life in the manner of Chardin only to obscure part of it by pouring paint over a section of it? Think about the difference of the meaning of a piece when using an image of soldiers fighting in Vietnam where all you see are their silhouettes, but a beautiful blue sky has been painted in the background and in the foreground is an image of the Virgin Mary, as opposed to the same image of soldiers not painted in silhouette, the background is composed of viciously sliced apples and the foreground still has the Virgin Mary. By shifting a few things and their context to each other we can completely change the piece=s meaning. The first image gives us the feeling of patriotic duty with nameless soldiers giving their lives for a cause that seemed hopeful. The second image is much more edgy. The sliced apples in the background and the ability to see each individual soldier=s facial expression stirs up other emotions that are much darker.

Artist to look at: Sigmar Polke, David Salle, Gerhard Richter, Robert Kushner, Julie Heffernan, R.B. Kitaj, Wade Hoeffer, Ashley Bickerton, Jeremy Borsos, John D'Agostino, Sheryl L. Rubinstein, Christopher Pelley, Salvador Dali, Jim Dine, Peter Blake.

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Kevin J. Muente
Assistant Professor of Art
Northern Kentucky University