Bury my Soul in Chico River
By Santiago Bose (b. 1949, Philippines; d. 2002, Philippines)
When I first looked at the art piece, I felt that it was a piece full of emotions; struggle, hardship, a depiction of hard times. The artist possibly wanted to portray his emotions or depict a certain experience in life he had gone through.
1st analysis:
Implied lines at the top of the picture to form the shape of the mountain, or our eyes could possibly have percepted it by Law of Continuity (Gestalt Law). Strategic placement of other patches of greens to show the edges and the terrains of the mountain by Law of Similarity. Also, in the middle of the picture, Law of Closure forms stream like lines flowing into a water source. There is the use of optical mixing in the background, blacks, greens, browns to give implied texture. Together, a clear mountain can be seen.
There is also a lot of real texture in the picture, such as the rough edges of the mountains, the stone-like texture on the ground, the pop up figures, the texture at the end of the bridge(?).
The people in the picture are pop-up and take up more than half the picture, making them noticeably the focal point in the art piece.
Hues and shades are used in the picture, creating quite a dull and serious setting. Because green and red are complementary colours of the colour wheel, the mans red shorts against the green background appears bright and stands out in the picture.
2nd analysis:
The style of work seems to be some sort of painting + collage + sculpture piece of work, as the artist also included the use of wood, wire mesh and aluminium tubes. He made the humans as well as the bridge they are supporting the focal point due to the pop-up effect. The people seem to be supporting a broken bridge and are having a hard time, portrayed by the emotions on their faces as well as their stance. Also, the colours used sets a setting of dark hard times.
3rd analysis:
Who is he? Santiago Bose was a mixed-media artist from the Philippines. His assemblages communicated a strong sense of folk consciousness and religiosity, and the strength of traditional cultures in a culture inundated with foreign cultural influences. Bose worked toward raising an awareness of cultural concerns in the Philippines.
Upon some research, I found that Bury my soul in the Chico River depicts the struggle of the tribes in Cordillera, Phillipines ; many of whom were imprisoned and brutally treated by the military. It depicts Igorot warriors holding up their mountain and guarding it against their enemies. In the centre of the picture a woman holds back the water rushing down the mountain side with a young child; serving as a reminder that it was not only the Cordillera men who fought in the resistance against the dam. The concern and struggle of the people is evident, as they hold their traditional weapons in defiance against the impending flood of water threatening their homelands.
The artwork and some background research tells me that Santiago Bose felt very strongly for his village and the struggle that his people has faced. He probably wanted change and tried to do so through his paintings, explaining why so many emotions can be felt from the picture.
Espana y Filipinas
By Juan Luna(b. 1857, Philippines; d.1899, Hong Kong)
When I first looked at the art piece, I felt a nice fuzzy feeling; friendly and heart-warming. It is a bright happy piece of work.
1st Analysis:
Implied lines are formed by the use of colours on the stairs, through the use of Gestalt Laws. The different shades of yellow form highlights and shadows, allowing the staircase to have dimension and actually look like stairs. While our eyes and mind perceive them to look like stairs by Law of Simplicity. The way the artist places the red, whites and greens, causes us to perceive these as flowers by the Law of Simplicity once again.
Optical mixing in colours of white and red are used to form the pink in the flowers, at different ratios to provide variation in colour of the flowers throughout the picture.
The created light source through the use of a light colour from the upper middle part of the picture creates dimension throughout as it sets where the highlights and shadows are going to be. Together with linear perspective, it creates some movement, as if the ladies are walking and reaching towards the light source.
Implied texture can be seen the women’s clothes through the use of tints and shades. Also, red and green are complementary colours on the colour wheel, allowing the women to appear bright even against the already bright background.
2nd Analysis:
I observe that the painting puts into use many of the Gestalt Laws as there are no actual lines to represent the figures and objects, yet as a whole the picture looks very complete with identifiable objects throughout. The picture seems to have a 1:3 ration both vertically and horizontally, making it very pleasing to the eye. The colours use are bright and cheerful. From my own analysis, I observe that the artist is trying to portray freedom or a start of a new beginning.
3rd Analysis:
Juan Novicio Luna(October 23, 1857 – December 7, 1899) was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century.
He’s many travel expeditions probably led him to the painting of this picture, between his home country and Spain, where he was very recognised. Upon closer inspection of the photo I realised, that the arm of the woman in the red dress is around the waist of the woman in the green dress, probably guiding her to freedom. Also, both of them seem to be pretty well dressed.
The dressing of the women in traje de mestizas shows the cultural character, class consciousness, and social transformations resulting from 19th century Hispanization. Both women have their backs to the viewer, heading towards a far-away horizon, while embarking on the steps of a staircase. Side by side in the painting, Spain was shown to be leading the Philippines along the path to progress and development.
Pagodas II, Pago-Pago Series
Latiff Mohidin(b. 1941, Malaysia)
On first look at the art work, I found it nice and pleasing to the eye. It was easier to relate to as compared to some of the other works.
1st Analysis:
Many kinds of lines were used, zigzag, curved, horizontal, diagonal, actual. Which led to the formation of natural and geometrical shapes, by Gestalt Law of simplicity. Also, actual simple shapes were drawn, e.g triangles, circles, rectangles. The lines also formed some implied textures on the art piece.
On the centre pagoda, a lot of repetition is seen, from the dots at the top, the curved panels and then the straight panels, the repetitive diagonal lines and dots, and the repeated circles at the bottom. Law of similarity is seen, as we group the various markings together.
A complementary colour combination of blue and orange can be seen. Hues, tints and shades of orange have been used. Some optical mixing can be seen, yellow and brown to form orange.
The combination of various lines and dots work very well together to form well defined identifiable shapes.
2nd analysis:
It portrays calmness and sturdiness as neutral colours are used as well as the strong thick lines.
3rd analysis:
Latiff Mohidin held his first solo exhibition at Kota Raja Malay School in Singapore in 1951 and was labelled a “wonder boy” by the local press. He was ten years old then. Nine years later, Latiff received a scholarship from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to study painting in Berlin, West Germany. During that time, he travelled around Europe extensively, exploring Western classical and modern art before returning to Malaysia.
He’s home country being Malaysia, and travelled so vastly, he could probably wanted to create something close and true to him, not only representing his birth country but also his own heritage.
