Christopher Demchak - Critique for Kylie Sandt: Personal Belief System

Materials: cardboard, aluminum foil, mud

The Artwork: Angel-like figure mounted on a blue sky-colored background. Four symmetrical wing-like structures (two at the top, two at the bottom) protrude off the edges; the bottom-right one covered in mud. The design is simplistic, clean, and exciting - looks like a logo.

Interpretation: The angelic-like figure leads me to believe the artist is somewhat spiritual. How spiritual is left open. The artist may be like me, and enjoys religious symbols and art more than religion itself. Although the use of mud is used to relate to her previous work, one can perceive it as the artist being grounded or quite possibly conflicted as to her own religious views.

Things I Enjoy: I love the aluminum foil on the wings and head and how it catches the light. The complementary colors of the brown (deep orange) of the mud and the blue background is visually appealing. When my eyes fall on the negative space I can make out what appears to be another angelic figure or even the shape of a cross; being what I assume is unintentional makes it more exciting.

Things That Can Be Improved: The only thing I saw was that the upper left wing had pieces of tape which looked like it was holding it together. I'm not sure how that fits in with the whole piece.

Going Further: I'm not sure if she should continue to cover up the foil-covered wings with mud or not; I'm really digging it being only on the bottom right one. If anything, cover up the bottom left one as well but leave the two on top uncovered. Doing that will create a tension throughout the piece with this wanting to reach up into the sky on top but being firmly planted down on the bottom.

Last Comment: I'm not sure of any angels that have four wings. I know that Seraphs have six wings...hmm, something to consider. In any case, I'm not going to say if the figure is or isn't an angel at all; I would hate to put a definitive label on something before knowing what it actually is.

Cailin Crisler_Crit on Deanna Lardieri, Personal Belief System 2/8/10

The materials: cardboard, paper, acrylic paint, ink maybe(I don't believe she specified what it was she used in that case), wire, printed paper cutouts

Description: Her theme was religion vs. science. At first I thought it was about horoscopes which is based off of my faulty observational skills when first writing this critique. The upper left hand corner is a red and white swirl with lettering written on the white. The middle piece is a formation of paper painted over black with three signs. A heart, a fire symbol, and,even though I can't be sure, a horse shoe or lucky charm? The right side is painted yellow corrugated cardboard with a little red paint. Hanging from the main image is a wire ball with two tiny images suspended from the inside. The images are a cross and a planet.

Overall construction: It is put together meticulously. The colors coordinate with each segment of the piece. I like how the wire ball was constructed.Its apparent that there is a lot of detail and careful planning that went into it. You need to get a closer look in order to get the full affect of what she is conveying with her artwork.

helpful criticism: The lettering around the white part of the red and white swirl can be gone over with a darker shade because it was hard to read even from a closer look. A darker color will also make it more cohesive with the central image with the symbols. Other than that, great job Deanna!