Taylor Nixon - Gallery Assignment

Museum Visit Photography

            I visited Calvin College’s art gallery while they were doing their western exhibit. There were lots of pictures of horses, cowboys, and Native Americans. The picture I chose was a picture of a horse’s eye and reigns. I chose this picture because it was very interesting and detailed and I was impressed by how detailed it was. I also chose it because I liked that it was painted with oil paints on birch. This goes one step beyond painting on a canvas, because this material is more rigid. The artist used the paint to create textures that look like fur and hair for the eyelashes and part of the mane. It looked like a photo from far away, but as you get closer you can see that there are brush strokes of different shades of white and pink on the face of the horse. The artist used harsh brush strokes to create texture and soft color tones to make the painting feel soft and kind. I think this piece tries to contrast the gentleness of the horse with the hard work and labor they do when they are with their riders. The technique leads me to this interpretation, because of the harsh brush strokes mixed with the soft tones and the gentle looking eye of the horse.

            The piece I selected was, as stated above, a picture of a horse’s eye. It is only of the right side of the horse’s face and is focused in on the eye. The horse is white and very light pink and has a very dark black eye. Next to his eye, you can see the reigns of the horse, which are brown and very detailed, with layers, buckles, and stitching. The background of the photo is an orangey pink and is only slightly different than the color of the horse. The background also has hints of green in it and the reigns pop off of the background. Overall I think this painting is visually interesting and beautiful to look at. I like the evident contrast of harsh and soft and I like all of the textures presented. Although the composition seems a little strange, I think it works because it makes me want to keep looking at it. I want to further analyze why the artist chose to zoom in on this specific part of the horse and paint it with such detail.

           Instead of photographing a horse, I chose to photograph my friend's dog. These pictures are similar because they have similar compositions. I chose to take this picture outside to show the harshness of the weather in contrast to the gentle furriness of the dog. I also chose to zoom out a little so that the texture of the dog was more evident, like the texture of the horse in the painting. This photo is different, because it is zoomed out, it has a little more texture, and it is a dog instead of a horse.