Sample Article Review On Review Of A Work Of Art

The piece in question is on display in Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University. The author, A. Lee Ayars titled it All in Itself. Although created by American artist, the sculpture seems to be reminiscent of ancient Greek art because of the colors and some of the shapes present on the piece.
It can be argued that the piece belongs to representational art because if one were to look only at the sculpture’s silhouette, it would have looked like a three-dimensional bust of a snowman. On the other hand, however, the body of this particular snowman consists of architectural forms, various swirling shapes and ornaments that melt together and dissolve in each other, at the center of the sculpture is woman’s face; therefore, the piece does not serve as just a representation of a snowman; the viewer has to interpret it, which is a sure sign of a non-representational artwork. The sculpture is made of clay using coiling technique in which pieces of coil-shaped clay are layered on top of each other. This technique is used to make vessels and it is very effective for creating large pieces of pottery. The shapes are carved on the surface of the snowman and then glazed. The final stage of preparation for this piece was firing it in the raku kiln – traditional Japanese technique used for crafting pottery. It was fired with the glaze on, so in the process the glaze melted and adhered firmly to the clay body. The piece’s size and proportions are close to those of an average human figure. In my opinion, this choice of size allows most viewers to relate to the object more closely because it is natural for humans to feel comfortable while interacting with other humans. Apparently, artist’s intention was to convey a message which an average human being can find within. Make the sculpture bigger or smaller and it would unnecessarily obstruct or distort the message. The surface of the piece has a very characteristic texture which does look like a reference to ancient Greek statues and pottery in general. The prevailing color is white and the glaze adds a pleasant glossiness to the look of the sculpture. The whole surface is covered in black medium-thick and thick lines some of which look very much like cracks while other lines (generally thicker ones) form images of buildings, ornaments and the woman’s face.
The title of this artwork is crucial for understanding and interpreting it. No doubt, a viewer can make an educated guess about the sculpture judging by all its merging architectural, organic and ornamental forms, but the title makes the idea clear and unambiguous at once. All in Itself represents an Eastern idea of every being existing as a self-contained self-regulated entity, similar to the Universe in which entropy is balanced by order and vice versa. This is represented on the surface of the piece: the shapes of modern buildings are curved, twisted, bent and glued together in an attempt to withstand inevitable chaos that seeks to consume them, thus, creating and maintaining fragile, but powerful balance. Female face in the center of it all acts as a point of origin; and the fact that all the multitudes of being are contained within the shape of a snowman suggests that it is unnecessary to overanalyze both the piece and the ideas it represents because, after all, a snowman is only a child’s play.