Museum Visit Michael Walkup

Michael Walkup
PHO 236
Museum Visit
Dec. 6, 2016

The piece that I am talking about is called American Beltline. It is an oil paint on canvas piece made by Stephen Clark. It is on display at Calvin College.
The piece is a depiction of the student tunnel bridge that goes over the East Beltline near Calvin College. The piece is at least 7 feet wide and 5 feet tall. It has a tiled floor, and the crossbeams along the windows. At the end of the tunnel is a silhouetted figure standing in the doors which exit the bridge. The painting is depicted near sunset, so there are strong beams of light that go through the windows. This adds a yellow tone to the piece. There are reddish brown tiles, and blue tiles. The beams on the roof are a dark earth-tone. You can see that there are buildings outside of the windows, but they are all very blurred. There are several highlights on the handrails which span the length of the tunnel. The bars that make the windows are reflected on the glossy tiles.

There is an obvious use of leading lines to create a focal point on the man at the end of the tunnel. The bars that create the windows create lines to this point. This piece creates a one point perspective. There is also a frame within a frame. The silhouetted figure is inside of a bright yellow doorframe. This creates emphasis on this point. The contrast between the brighter yellow and the earth tone wall creates even more emphasis on the figure. The final element that I will discuss is the primary color scheme employed. There is the blue, yellow, and earthy-red tones that I mentioned before inside the picture. This creates an aesthetically pleasing composition.

I interpret this to be partly, a picture to help him remember a certain place. The piece was done by a Calvin student, so he likely walked over this path daily. This bridge would have a lot of sentimental value to him, so he painted it. Another feeling I pull from this is a bit of a metaphor for the path of life. There's the bright end of the tunnel, implying that the artist believes that life will turn out good in the end. The shadows and occasional dark tones show that he knows life will have its difficulties. The end of the tunnel seems very far away as well, but it is still looming closely at the same time. The metaphorical implications of this seems sort of obvious, but it is still done very well.

I think that the artist pulled this off really well. Even if the idea behind the picture is somewhat cliche, it is very well executed. The painting is very nice to look at. I love the way that the painting creates a feeling of natural lighting. It is very calming to look at. The details that went into the piece are very nice to look at. It feels like a "stairway to heaven" piece. Sometimes, tunnel pieces are ominous and threatening. This one uses the soft lighting and colors to create a calm mood. The composition of the piece is very well done as well.


 


The photo I took was inspired by the leading lines of this piece. I also used the softer lighting to kind of imitate the natural lighting of the painting.


SS: 1/50 F/: 2.8 ISO: 800