Aesthetics of Graffiti: Comparison to Text-Based and Pictorial Artforms

Graffiti art is a controversial art form, and as such there has been little empirical work assessing its aesthetic value. A recent study examined image statistical properties of text-based artwork and revealed that images of text contain less global structure relative to fine detail compared to artworks. However, previous research did not include graffiti tags or murals, which reside in the space between text and visual art. The current study investigated the image statistical properties and attractiveness of graffiti relative to other text-based and pictorial art forms, focusing additionally on the role of expertise. A series of images (N = 140; graffiti, text and paintings) were presented to a group of observers with varying degrees of art interest and expertise ( N = 169). Findings revealed that image statistics predicted attractiveness ratings to images, and that biases against graffiti art are less salient in an expert sample.

Authentication of a Painting by Nicolae Grigorescu Using Modern Multi-Analytical Methods

The paper presents the expertise of authenticating a painting by Nicolae Grigorescu through the involvement of multi-analytical techniques, in order to identify and evaluate some archaeometric and chemometric characteristics of the pictorial materials and of the support, used in determining the age. The painting is made with oil colors on pressed cardboard, with preparation based on chalk powder and animal glue. The painting presents two elements as being counterfeit, which have attracted suspicions, namely the signature of the author (presenting a semi-transparent covering veil), and, on the back, a writing of dating, performed by a very controversial art historian. The investigation was carried out by direct analysis with magnification devices, in reflected UV (ultraviolet), VIS (visible), and NIR (near- infrared) light, and by OM, SEM-EDX, and μ-FTIR. The results showed that the painting is authentic and belongs to Nicolae Grigorescu, and the dating established previously by Amelia Pavel through the writing on the back is certain.

Protests Against Controversial Art As a Political Strategy

The article discusses the phenomenon of politically motivated public outrage around art in Russia. The history of protests against art in Russia is relatively short but intense. Since 90’s there occurred a number of attacks on art, the majority of which were protests against art that in some way expressed criticism of current state policy or Russian Orthodox Church. It may seem that in Russia the moral majority decides the fate of controversial artistic events, but as this article argues, that conflicts around art are frequently used by religious fundamentalists and nationalist right-wing groups to pursue their own political agendas and gain popularity in the media. Keywords: hate spin, contemporary art, public censorship, offense, Russia, religious fundamentalism, SERB, vandalism

Art in Early Modern Italy: Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio

This paper compares the careers of two internationally known painters from seventeenth century Rome, one male and one female, to further understand the broader gender relations of early modern Italy. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi are individually known for being Italy’s greatest painters of the Baroque period. As artists, the professional challenges that they faced exemplified the dichotomy between genders in the early modern period. While Caravaggio’s controversial art style and violent lifestyle did not hinder his success, Gentileschi faced persistent apprehension and criticism by her contemporaries, solely because she was a woman working in an almost exclusively male profession. The professional restrictions and limitations that were experienced by female artists in the seventeenth century are represented in the career and reputation of Artemisia Gentileschi. By comparing the art, careers, and reputations of Rome’s most notable painters, this paper offers insight into how art is representative of gender and gender relations in early modern Italy.

Dismembered Lives

This chapter uses the twin concepts of dismemberment and rememberment to investigate the media discourse surrounding a controversial art exhibit held in 2009 in Orange County, California involving mass protests by hundreds of people demonstrating against a community-based art exhibit for showcasing creative reinterpretations of the South Vietnamese national flag and Vietnamese women’s role, as proper gendered national subjects fueled a public outcry against the exhibit as profane, pro-communist trash. The chapter concludes by discussing the ban on LGBT people from the community’s annual new year TET parade, and how this had to do with more than homophobia, but South Vietnamese nationalism, which allows for no alternative identities within the diasporic family. This chapter ultimately aims to broaden the scope for studying Vietnamese American “homeland politics” by venturing to speak to the puzzling ways the overseas communities and identities formed by refugees from South Vietnam are shaped, circumscribed, and policed in the current day by the politics of anti-communism.

The Human Zoo: A Critique of Brett Bailey’s Exhibit B

This essay examines Exhibit B, a controversial art installation by South African artist Brett Bailey in which actors portray historical scenes of colonialism and slavery. Exhibit B is meant to spread awareness of the widely popular human zoos of the past. Brown’s essay investigates whether or not recreating scenes of slavery does more harm than good.