Gallery Critique

First of all I can’t say enough about how art is the best and most addicting narcotic. People say there is no such thing as love at first sight, but I think it is because they have not seen the next five pieces of art that I am about to critique. When you are standing in front of a piece grasping your hand over your heart to calm it from rapture, your breath stops cold in your chest as though all the air is sucked out of the room and the only thing you can breath at that moment is pure beauty, you have fallen in love at first sight. There is no better high than this excluding the act of creating it from your own fingertips. This love is unexplainable. In this paper I will do my best to dissect the components that make art this powerful. The first piece I want to talk about is shown at Angel Alley, a local clothing and art boutique. The atmosphere alone in this shop is amazing. From its’ collection of art to funky local clothing and carefully picked items to lavish yourself with. It sets the mood to see the art in its true element. It almost seems to be among friends. This first piece is by Laila Cola, a local artist. Its media I’m guessing is oil on canvas. Its size is two feet nine inches by four feet. The first thing that attracted me to this piece was the colors. They’re extremely intense croma and complimentary to each other (blue and orange, black and white). So the relationship between the background and the object stands out and also creates an after image if one looks away for a second. The image itself is a personal favorite of mine as well as many others. It is the human body. It almost seems androgynous but the slenderness of the arms suggests that it is female. Although only her torso is showing, the angle of her shoulders illustrate that she is standing contropposto. The artist did a remarkable job of showing gravity and movement. She did this through the use of different ranges of values which created shadows in the muscles portraying them aroused