Wedding designs, Formal designs, who cares? Me!

Alright for those that do not know, I personally love to design formal gowns and this passion came from seeing dresses from several designers, including the amazing Pnina Tornai. Her dresses are featured on "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC, which is a show based on brides looking for that "O so perfect" wedding gown at Klienfelds.

Tornai's dresses are based on a certain sexual appeal, mixed with sparkle and shine, with a feminine feel; while they also come with a high price tag, one many of us can not afford. Tornai's own website (http://www.pninatornai.co.il/) says that the "dresses are hand made... with the principle of Haute Coture."(par 2)

There are two dresses that have won my heart over from the 2009 series. Here is the first dress.

It is from http://www.pninatornai.co.il/

This sweet heart design is based on the mermaid aesthetic, while using a textured material to give it the gentle and vulnerable touch. It is unusual that there is nothing sparkling on the gown, but this could be because it is not in front of us. The sexual appeal in this specific gown is not created through the lack of clothing, but through clothing. The gown itself contours to the figure, while creating an hour glass shape. What brings this gown over the edge is its simplicity, with the one bow at the hip and the small train.

The other dress that won me over is this dress:

It is from http://www.pninatornai.co.il/

In this dress, many can say it is what they expected from Tornai, in the fact it is bringing wedding dresses to its limits without it being costume like. There is the sexy corset full of (what seems to be) gems, that outlines the top of the breasts in a curvilinear form and is sprinkled throughout. The corset shows the woman's curves very well and is probably tied in the back. The skirt is like a ballroom skirt that has drank three monsters and has ate a whole bag of sugar; its just out of this world. Personally I can not imagine how much fabric or time went into making this skirt. At the bottom you can see what would may have been apart of a normal ballroom skirt, but you can see all these added parts that expand and are made of tulle.

The showcase of these designs was very smart. Both are based are on darker colors where the dresses can be showcased to there best ability. The first dress is in a simplistic room, where rectangular boxes and trim are used in the background and also to possibly express space. While the simplistic room, is similar to the dress in its simplicity, since the second dress is showcased with several more elements. The second dress is showcased in a room with a darker gray color on the walls, with chocolate brown and shades of that brown on the walls; this made the walls look a bit destroyed. On the walls are several frames of a yellow-off-white (nude) and dark brown. What is interesting is that all the colors including the dresses are neutral, yet the dresses stand out. Could this be because of texture, maybe.. Ok probably...

The Walker Art Center.

All images are from the walkerart.org
Strong Formal

This Ellsworth Kelly painting really hit me and not for all the right reasons. But the painting is named the Black Curve as you can guess why. But I choose this for strong formal, because not only can the viewer see the positive and negative space easily, the black curve creates a strong form and shape. In the painting, it is so clear and concise where the black curve is because of the craft; it is as if a curvilinear line was extended into a form.

Strong Content

This is Tre ragazze alla balconata (Three Girls on a Balcony) by Michelangelo Pistoletto. I choose this image because the content is not just the mirror or the artwork it reflects it involves the mirror adding the viewer to the content. If you just see it without adding the reflection, it is three women from the 40s or 50s (I really do not know), looking out and watching some far and distant scene. But when you add in the reflection the women are staring at the future, at the viewer. Personally I love how the mirror reflects you and lets the women see you, it really brings a new sense and just sucks the viewer into the piece and adding. This means that each individual will have a different image to stand in front of.

Lacking Formal and Content

What can I saw, Ellsworth Kelly painted 3 big squares called Red Yellow Blue III copying the rainbow and put them up. There are no lines, no values, just color. That is correct I said it was just color; how can there be balance or unity when its just that red, blue, or yellow? Well I guess I can admit there is balance in the fact the 3 canvases are just one color and Kelly well he has great craft. While there is nothing to ponder, it is just 3 squares with one colored paint on each canvas. What this series bring up is what is really art work, is it determined by intent, by how one can ponder on an object?

Formal and Content Desired

This desired piece is Kiki by Chuck Close, which is desired because of the originality and wonder, while a reliance on abstract shapes. This seemingly formal portrait is created of small abstract colored shapes, that then construct implied shapes, color, and space; this creates the 3-d object, which in this case is a head. Not only that but the painting is that of a woman, who seems to be having a nonchalant moment and is just thinking; this allows the viewer to remember his or her times when they felt like that (hello day dreams, our teacher's worst nightmare). On top of all this the painting seems to be the one painting that mixes both postmodernism and modernism.

The WOW PIECE IF THERE WAS ONE, THE ITCH PIECE.. ECT+

While walking through the Walker there was nothing that sang to me or gave me the itch to do anything; I plainly just did not find anything very inspiring. Yes there were pieces I liked but it was not like when I saw a mixed media piece by Jim Dine that featured two images that depicted nudes with shells. During that situation my heart just pounded and it was like "o my gosh I need to find a way to incorporate some of those qualities in my work," well this just did not happen at the Walker. There are several possible reasons for this: A) I have a post modernistic view upon art and want there to be more to an image, than as Abbi said "paint" B) I still do not understand modern art and will fully admit it, since some of it can be so simple and so complex there is just no middle ground.. Seriously, after seeing a sheet with lights behind it, I think my mind just blanked .
So what I did was researched other art that the Walker has hosted. While completing the research I did find several pieces that I liked, but it was because they were not modernistic, including Untitled 10 by Melba Price. But then I came upon the Crouching Figure by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.



Henri Gaudier-Brzeska's Crouching Figure did not have the same effect as that of Jim Dine's, but I still had a small flutter in my stomach. It was because of the symbolism used in the image, which came from the fetal image to the disturbance of the disproportion; I am even assuming the medium of the marble added some aspect of disturbance and vulnerability to the sculpture. By the fact we can see the woman with in the sculpture, personally allows me to connect to the sculpture. But this makes me wonder who is this woman, why is she like this, how did she get there, and why the artist depicted her this way; what was hit intent. Although at the moment I can only see the sculpture in the 2-d picture I do hope that one day I will be able to see it in real life.