knepprath-EXAM

**21st Century Artists:** Robert Adams, Ai Weiwei, El Anatsu

 * All information can be found at @http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/

** Robert Adams **
@http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/robert-adams

@http://artgallery.yale.edu/adams/landing.php



====Born in Orange, New Jersey in 1937, Robert Adams is featured as a black and white photographer in the 21st century. The subject in which he likes to document is the American West throughout the last four decades; he captures the impact of human activity on vestiges of wilderness and open space. A few of his photographs, showcasing physical traces of human life, contradict themselves by some showing transformations and others showing destruction. Outside history that can be linked to his subjects are the Monroe Doctrine, sober indignation, and unlimited natural resources for human consumption. With a serious topic like this, Adams successfully conveys hope and change for the future by capturing the joy of what remains in the west.====

====Comparing Adams to past generations of art, the Romantic era would be most similar. Artists liked to paint sublime landscapes that showed nature as near to heaven as could be. This connects with Adams’ photographs because he is showing the results of landscapes being touched and altered by human hands. Another similarity is that artists, like George Caleb Bingham, used the American life on the frontier as a subject of art. Going out west, like Adams, is close to the areas where the frontier may have been at one point or another. Being a documentary photographer, Adam’s contrasts with the Romantic era because only towards the end of the era did photography come into the picture (no pun intended). He also doesn’t include any religious connections to his works, which also differs from past periods of art in general.====

====I found Robert Adams interesting because of the simple subjects he shoots. I was amazed at how powerful the empty and destroyed landscapes were. I was most fascinated, however by his decision to use black and white. The deep contrast of the dark and the light really attract attention and help to get his point across. His 21st century edge is shown by his care for global themes, deforestation specifically. His collection gives me an example of how a photograph can be powerful without being in color--something I wish to work on in the future with my art career.====

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**Ai Weiwei**
@http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/ai-weiwei

@http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ai-weiwei



From Beijing, China, Ai Weiwei is known for being an outspoken human rights activist. So much so, that he has been arrested and prohibited from traveling abroad and engaging in public speech. This may sound like a complete downfall, but from this—his intense passion—has come art. Weiwei has created sculptures, photographs, and public works in order to capture political conviction and personal poetry. Some of his mediums of choice are reclaimed metals, marble, and sunflower seeds. Common themes throughout his work are sarcasm, juxtaposition, and repetition to get his point across.

Considering his passionate feelings towards government, Weiwei relates to the art era of Christianity when looking at the big picture. In the time of 300-500 CE, the use of art switches to being a way to tell the story of Christ to new followers—persuasion of opinions. It is obvious that Weiwei likes to share his opinion with others, but what makes him similar with other generations is that he shares it through art. Another similarity is that as art advances in earlier times, it becomes more simplified and the use of symbols increases. A specific example of how Weiwei simplifies his concepts can be found in the far left picture above. He also uses symbols, the middle finger, to make a statement.

I chose Weiwei as an interesting artist because he has such a powerful background story that he uses for inspiration. His art has a purpose, rather than just to look pretty or entertain. I hope, being a photographer myself, that some of my photographs can have the same affect on audiences when dealing with a topic I am passionate about. Weiwei, along with Adams, share a common theme throughout their art--global opinion.

**El Anatsui**
@http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/el-anatsui

@http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/index.html



====El Anatsui, born in Anyanko, Ghana in 1944, is known for his mutable formed sculptures. Ranging is mediums from wood to clay and metal to metal caps off liquor bottles. His main subject references history of Abstraction in African and European art. The colorful patterns trace a broader story of colonial and postcolonial economy, as well as the cultural changes in Africa. Anatsui is most interest in the function of objects: destructive, transformative, or regenerative. He also likes his art to portray the role of language in deciphering visual symbols. ====

====The simplicity and massive size of Anatsui’s works of art make him comparable to the early Stone Age of art history. The group photo, shown above on the right, almost mimics the Easter Island stone heads. Deciphering visual symbols is another connection to earlier time periods, because around the Stone Age cave paintings were the main way of communication. All the paintings from that era have been left for many centuries to follow. The size of the Anatsui’s displays—multiple chain-link walls for example—also relate to the Stone Age when seeing the size of Stonehenge. ====

====Anatsui appealed to me because his work was so different than my other two artists. What sets him apart from the rest is his choice of medium. He goes so far as to recycle crushed metal caps of liquor bottles. It shows his craftsmanship and creativity; those two original characteristics are admirable from the artistic point of view. Anatsui fits into the 21st century artist definition because of his unique choice of materials and the space in which he displays them. This unique aspect of his artwork inspires me to think outside of the box when choosing materials to work with or subjects to photograph. ====

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