Art Gallery of Ontario: Lake Superior

On Tuesday January 25th we visited the Art Gallery of Ontario. This was an exciting day because 1: it is always fun to explore beyond the walls of the classroom, and 2: the AGO was a really interesting experience. I was excited to learn about art, and had decided early on that I was going to critique a piece of art that I really enjoyed. I knew it could be easy to find just any picture, but I really wanted to find a picture that I would enjoy writing and learning about. For the first 2/3's of the tour I saw a lot of exciting pieces of work and expression, but I knew I had yet to find the right picture. Finally nearing the end of our tour we entered into a room, which Rachel referred to as the "Arctic Room", and I knew I was finally in the right place. I liked almost every picture in the room: I loved the way the pictures were painted, and the feel of the atmosphere. After the tour was complete I went back to the room and tried to decide which picture was "the one". Finally after a couple minutes of deliberation I decided on:

Lake Superior

Artist: Lawren S. Harris

For me this picture is so inspiring. My initial reaction was serenity and happiness. I loved the whole colour scheme of the painting, and I really liked how part of the picture was in shadows and darkness and clouds, but light and brightness was pouring in from above. To me this represents life: there are dark areas and times, but light and happiness can always come through if you just part the clouds. I feel like this is a painting that so many people could relate to and inspires images of hardship and struggle that I've faced in my life and was able to overcome. I also love nature and this picture makes a simple scene of nature look so beautiful. This picture reminds me of life and how every situation can be seen in another light, how you always have a second chance, or can make another choice. Nothing is static, everything is always moving and changing. Weather and nature is a perfect way to connect these feelings because weather and earth is always changing, Sometimes beautiful things can appear such as rainbows and eclipse, but other times disaster can strike with hurricanes and storms and devastation. This picture just reminds me that it's not what happens to you, or the devastation things cause, but how you overcome these situations and the outlook you hold on them. 

The materials that were used for this painting was oil, and oil to me always evokes associations with nature and the wild and beauty. I love oil paintings because of the way the colours can blend together, and the scenes and pictures that can be created. I love that the painting is so simple and crisp, there is not a whole lot of intricate details and things going on, but at the same time it feels complex because of the feelings and emotions that it can raise. 

I feel like to create this painting the artist used a combination of many elements of design: line, colour, shape, mass, design, patter, space, balance, and texture. But for me, the most important element of design was

Colour

I think the ways the colours were chosen and blend together would have taken much deliberation. I love how the picture is in part darkness but is bright and warm at the same time as being cool. It might seem like colour wasn't important since mostly blues and greys were used, but if you really look at the picture you see and understand how many different shades hues of blues and greys were used. It seems so particular how the different lighter shades are placed near the top, whereas the darker colours and shades are near the bottom, lower down on the picture. 

Although all elements of design are important, colour stood out to me as the most important because of the feelings it evokes. The same picture without those particular colours in those specific places would create a completely different feel. Without the subtle divide of dark vs light, and light breaking through the darkness the entire collage of emotions would be entirely different. 

To conclude this blog I really enjoyed visiting the Art Gallery of Ontario, because it really makes you think about how important art is to our history and society, and the changes and feelings and revolutions it has created. It helped me to realize that all art has a purpose, and when looking deeper into the picture and in trying to understand the time period and background of the artist, a whole world of meaning can emerge. 

Picture Reference:

www.joyner.waddingtons.ca