UPDATE: (regarding analysis of description assignment for 1/24)
Please write about the description that is posted after your own in the comments below. Except: The last person to post by 9:30 Monday (Ed Park) will write about the first post (Alina's). Leesha and Kirsten please write about each other's posts.
If you wrote about the wrong painting (you didn't go to the museum) please go see the Measure of Time exhbit and post a description of a different work of art in that show as a comment to the new post on that topic. You do not have to 're-do' your Stella description.
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Please post your paragraph describing Battle of Lights, Coney Island as a COMMENT to this post. (Click on "___ Comments" below this post, paste your paragraph into the window on the right, and then "Publish" your comment). Check your post for errors and typos and try to edit it before logging off. Be sure to sign your post with your first and last name.
Also, read the selections I handed out from Lessing carefully and bring this with you on Monday. I should have warned you, these selections are from a text written in 1766. Lessing was writing about classical (greek and roman) art and poetry. Photography and film had of course not yet been invented...
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Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella 1915-18
This painting resembles an energetic mosaic of colors, lines, and shapes. The tints of the colors are toward the middle and the shades border the center. This feature creates a night-time atmosphere in which there are millions of shining lights bouncing off, and moving around the sky. Furthermore, there are dots of color on the top of the panting and none on the bottom; the light is shining onto and illuminating the ground. The many geometric shapes tend toward a perspective point in the center. That aspect escalates the importance of the dark region in the center. Overall, the colors seem to swirl toward the middle, while the bright geometric lines provide a background for the action.
Alina Goldenberg R1b M/W 9:30-11am
Battle of Lights, Coney Island shows the frenzied action of a nighttime scene. Many intricately woven geometric shapes make the forms in the painting unclear at first. In the center of the scene a vaguely outlined building is lit intensely from all around. The lights shine bright yellows, oranges and reds onto the building, contrasting with the black, dark blue and earth-toned night that surrounds them. Several circular smudges and a curving path from the bottom of the painting to the center break the completeness of the painting’s geometric nature. Dots line some shapes in the top half of the painting. The overall effect is that of looking in on the hurried and bright activity from the somewhat distant shade.
Jamal Hunt
Joseph Stella’s Battle of Lights, Coney Island conveys distinct shapes and colors to illustrate the emergence of various people, cultures, and ideas that come to this Island. The bright, flashing strokes of paint represent the dazzling lights of a circus show or an amusement park, while the painting’s contrast becomes brighter towards a center shape of a rectangle to represent a major show or ride. Multiple shapes in the top left corner resemble the image of a person whose various colors and awkward size represents the large variety of people that the park attracts. Each unique shape and color rarely mesh together to combine another color in order to give distinction and individuality to each entity on the Island.
Joseph Stella’s Battle of Lights, Coney Island is a mosaic-like rendition of the New York amusement park composed of many deep colorful shapes. The bottom of the painting consists of many darker figures, mainly blues and deep greens, while the center is made up of yellows, whites, and pastel purples. The shapes are configured to make the center, what appears to be a gaming booth or some sort of stand, the focal point of the piece. Long lines protrude from the center to denote light illuminating the surrounding night sky. Stella also uses dots of pastel paint to represent individual light bulbs that add to the real Coney Island's allure and attraction. The overall painting shows the bright, nocturnal nature of park and how it is very easy to get consumed and distracted by its dueling lights.
Olivia Hatalsky
At first glance the Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella resembles a disco night club, with many different colors on the floor and then what appears to be stage lights towards the top. After closer observation, though, it appears that the artist started the painting with a dark layer of paint to maybe outline some part of the island, which is visible in the middle of the painting. Then he thought the outline was too boring, it makes it too easy for observers to figure out what the painting represents. So he then proceeded to use every type of paint stroke he knew to cover the outline completely. He painted dots on top, maybe to resemble street lights, then short and long strokes in random places to confuse everyone. The colors he used also appear to be random, except that he did not use any vivid colors that stand out, he only uses pastel colors that blend together. If the painting contained more bright colors I might think that this was an action painting, maybe the events of one night, but there is not, so this painting is very confusing to me. Maybe he just wanted to make a painting with a bunch of colors and then arbitrarily named it Coney Island.
From the first glance of the painting, it seemed as if a collage of colored shapes were organized in a random fashion; however, upon a closer examination of the painting, these shapes were actually intersected and extended in various directions as if they were battling for territories. My perception of the art work is that it seems to be an aerial view of Coney Island, where Stella froze the traveling light particles in a random frame of time. The colored patches represented different light sources captured in a very short period of time. In the upper center portion of the painting, there were more delicate details and colors that were depicted by Stella. This seemed to represent the center of festivities, where there are more lights and actions occurring simultaneously. Through the utilization of dots, lines, and polygons, Stella captured the intensity of lights that were becoming more dazzling as he approached the center of action.
Cathy Hwang
Upon first glance at this painting, it seems like a dizzying mess of colors with nothing to make sense of. After taking several steps back I saw a building or shop of some kind in the center, perhaps on a corner. There seemed to neon/fluorescent lights and signs surrounding this object. Up top there were several clusters of light - I figure these could be fireworks. In the upper left corner there seems to be some type of face. The painting is done in a way that resembles either a mosaic or shattered glass, with brilliant, varying colors.
Ethan Makhluf
This painting is a mass of colors and shapes that are overlapping each other in no special way. It looks as if someone took a painting of Coney Island theme park and cut it up into a bunch of odd shapes and stuck it back together in no particular order. The colors are darker around the edges and get lighter towards the center of the painting. The colors range in all different colors from white, yellow, and orange to red, blue, and black, as well as every color in between. By focusing on certain portions of the artwork, one might be able to pick out pieces of rides, booths and other theme park objects, yet nothing appears to be whole. The only words in the entire painting are "COM" and "PARK" just below the center of the painting. Designs include straight-edge shapes, smears of colors, and spirals that are set all about each other.
Since I know about Coney Island from experience, my interpretation may not be objective or based on first impressions. However, if I were to describe this painting to someone, I would have to first say that it is in no way realistic or traditional. It is like more recent art because there is not solid structure and more play with colors. Warm colors dominate the bottom of the painting and cooler colors make most of the top. It comes across as very messy since there is very little flow from object to object. It has several spiraled lines in different places, as well as a Ferris wheel type structure towards the middle left. You can also make out the words “Com Park” in the center, just below a window or building that has small dots of white around it. Overall, this painting is a mess of colors and a completely abstract representation of Coney Island.
Christina Norbygaard
The Battle of Lights, Coney Island is a visual representation of the sensual experiences of Coney Island at night. Subtle outlines of the Ferris wheel and posters or flyers divide the vivid array of colors. Gold and yellow light is concentrated in the upper corner of the painting which seems to be concentrated around a dark triangle or tent. The bottom of the painting is composed of asymmetrical blocks of red, blue, and green that are larger and duller than the colors in the center, which gives an illusion of depth. There are many different shapes in multiple colors that are intertwined with long, windy interruption of dark color or black that induces a feeling of dizziness.
The Battle of Lights, Coney Island, draws our eyes to the center with its bright burst of color. The bright yellows, whites, gold, and light blues set against the dark blues, black, and violet, focuses all attention and energy toward the center. What resembles random shards of color in a cubist fashion actually comes together as a brightly lit building or stand. On top of the building sits a brightly lit sign calling all to come and enjoy the attraction. In addition, the top left corner shapes loosely form a figure gawking at the bright lights and attractions. Through the use of color, shapes, and placement, Stella portrays the magical and enchanting aura of city nightlife.
-Benjamin Louie
The Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stalin
The art has great use of color scheme, such as warm, cool, and neutral colors. The night time extravaganza seems to be important but, you would not be able to tell when you first look at the painting. First appearance shows nothing, other than chaos, until later when you discover the meaning behind each powerful ray of light. The shapes are ever changing, like a shape shifter, to resemble rays of light that appear to head from the outside to the center of the art. Trapezoids, squares, rectangles, triangles, odd circle like shapes, diamond shaped, straight lines, vertical and horizontal with different shades and thickness to form the most exquisite panoramic battle of lights.
Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella
My take:
The contrasting colors and their brightness along with the small shapes all put together gave a dizzing effect which actually hurt my eyes--which I think was part of the author's point. Time is a measurement, a certain way of tracking and pacing and this painting captures the rush and the speed of Coney Island.
One of the things I noticed was that it was easier to look at when seen from further back. It didn't seem so glaring or busy, and yet the closer you got to it, the faster the picture seemed to become. This simulates the effect that a city has when seen from, say, an airplane: all you see are still lights and colors from up there, you don't have a sense for the pace of life in the city, but once immersed in it, it can be overwhelming.
There were individual parts--the different colors, the different shapes, and they each had their own purpose and direction, but they all flowed together to create one moment, with a center image that seemed more static.
The piece also reminded me of a memory, as opposed to a copy. The colors seemed bold and exaggerated and it felt like a conglomeration of pieces all put together to cature some image. Almost as if it isn't showing the city in one night, but of many nights remembered all put together.
Mara Booster R1B M/W 9:30-11am
In contrast with the traditional portrayal of movement, Stella coveys a sense of time by depicting several frames of action on the same plane. The dark background of the painting not only enhances the attractive features of the lighter tones, but it also blurs the outlines of time as it is usually measured. In other words, the artist erased the most accessible manner to recognize what he has represented. Furthermore, there seem to be hints of the attractions on the fair. The curves are the partial silhouettes that are lost on the frantic need to imprint as much time in as little space as possible. This would fit with the fact that the portrayal of what we assume to be the fair is minimalistic in detail. After all, our first impression of such attractions in real life is that of the bulbs and lights as opposed to the well determined perimeters and contours of the structures.
Christian Rocha M/W 9:30
The way I see this painting, the role of light is not simply as an influential entity that reveals dimensions and mood as it casts shadows and draws attention by brightness or contrast. Here, light is the star of the painting. Only bright yellow shapes of light radiating from some kind of building, perhaps a theater, give any idea that such a building exists. There are no solid figures in this picture such as plastered walls of the building, cement of a New York sidewalk, or even people walking by. The only thing in motion is light, shown by rays, curves, and spheres (light coming directly at the viewer) of colored shapes that represent light moving in all directions. There are no clearly defined boundaries as pieces of different colored light aggressively cut into space and into different light sources’ paths versus harmoniously blending and/or fading out. And only the color of each piece of light forms a picture of the setting – nighttime on the city sidewalk illuminated by city lights. In the end, the light - as it’s painted in a mosaic style radiating, cutting across, coming right at you, brightening, darkening, changing color – is the main attraction, but the different lights are flashing all over vying for attention and space in a disorienting way and yet providing the only means of knowing where the viewer is because there are no words or signs.
By incorporating various shapes and colors into Battle of Lights, Coney Island, Joseph Stella portrays a chaotic scene of the flashy lights and busy streets of New York City. Stella utilizes light orange and yellow colors to illustrate the main attraction within the park. The many colorful and triangular shapes bordering the painting help to frame the central focus and act as a representation of the diverse crowd in which the amusement park attracts. Stella adds an intricate touch to the scene with white and gold dots, which can be interpreted as shining stars or even fireworks. Every aspect of the piece contributes to the viewer’s understanding of the overall attraction the Coney Island possesses.
Stella’s Battle of Lights, Coney Island is a frenzied, apparently disorderly representation of the Coney Island experience. The occasionally indistinguishable figures are displayed towards the middle of the piece with the majority of the unfilled, or black space remaining along the edges and mostly along the top and bottom. The entire painting is composed of relatively vivid colors but the differs in shade and tone throughout the picture. The lower part of the painting consists of darkly shaded asymmetrical figures while the upper portion has more closely resembles the bright lights of the amusement park. While the bottom is shaded darker shades of mainly greens, and blues the park is illuminated in bright shades of predominately orange, yellow and red. The combination of varying colors, figures and shapes gives the viewer the feeling that Coney Island is a somewhat chaotic spectacle full of action, excitement.
Alex Schmalz
Joseph Stella's Battle of Lights, Coney Island is a dazzling abstract interpretation of Coney Island. His use of geometric shapes suggests a slight cubist influence. Certain shapes pop out which resemble theme park objects, such as circus tents and white linear structures which bring to mind images of ferris wheels and roller coasters. Stella's use of color also plays an important role in the energy which the painting portrays. His choice of using a dark black background makes the colors very dramatic and vibrant. Moreover, in accordance with the title, the dark background also suggests that he is trying to portray his impression of Coney Island during the nighttime. Near the center of the painting, the words "COM PARK" are boldly painted. Overall, through his use of shape, color, and line, Stella successfully emits Coney Island's night life to the viewer with a wild and potent energy.
Norbert Wong
Joseph Stella's "The Battle of Lights, Coney Island", is a painting that is full of dynamic movement and chaos. The abstract shapes overlap and sometimes piece together like a puzzle to create images that are not obvious at first glance. I see the painting in two ways. First I noticed the swinging and swooping deliberate swipes, which remind me of a rollercoaster. So when I have a rollercoaster theme in my mind, other objects materialize and the bright lights and colors begin to support the amusement park theme.
The second approach I have to the painting is that it is a stage at a nightclub. The geometric shapes look like the floor and the bright lights highlight the stage. If I look closely, I can even make out a guitar.
Joseph Stella’s Battle of Lights conveys the frenzied experience of a carnival with a mosaic of partial images painted in bright, contrasting colors. The ambiguous shapes which comprise the painting suggest familiar carnival sights: a ferris wheel and strung up lights, while the incomplete nature of these images evokes the overwhelming amount of visual, auditory, and olfactory stimulants one would associate with such an event. The confusion of colors and shapes does in fact convey the notion of competition suggested by the title with fragments of the painting vying for the viewer’s attention. While the painting does not seek to convey the scene the painter had in mind with photographic accuracy, a distorted interpretation of this image communicates the excitement and emotion the painter associates with the experience.
-Tessa Berman
I see a “dot com” in the painting, along with the word “park.” There appears to be the ride at the fair that is a bunch of swings hanging along a circular ring that spins in a circle like a merry-go-round. I see Native Americans dancing around a fire with feathers on their heads. There is a group of palm trees by themselves. There is a royal ship with magnificent sails and then a palace like the one in the movie “Aladdin.” There are circles, squares, diamonds, and other various shapes without that make it look much like a stained glass window.
-Danny Ponticello
Joseph Stella’s Battle of Lights, Coney Island is an art piece full of color, texture, energy, and chaos. As the placard beside the piece stated, it is (at least at first glance) a sensory overload. However, if you take the time to step back and think about the story the artist is trying to portray, a work of art begins to appear. Each individual is able to create a story based upon their interpretation to the piece; even if the artist had a particular scene, image, or memory in mind, someone else might get a totally unique and different idea when looking at the art.
In the case of this oil on canvas, I saw a fast paced lifestyle. The type of life that might be seen within a city (like San Francisco, CA or Manhattan, NY) in the evening. The work was brighter in the middle and darker around the edges. This could simulate the well lit area with all the people and chaos in the middle, and the sleeping, slower parts of town or life on the outside. In addition, the short, choppy brush stokes created by the artist seem to symbolize the many imperfect, yet enjoyable moments throughout one’s life. The scene can be viewed as one instance or as a lifetime. It reminds me of the different lifestyles people have, and the different ways that people decide to spend their precious time.
Laura Wood
Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella 1915-18
The painting is a futurist work celebrating man-made forms and excitement of the machine age. As such, it features jagged edges, sharp contrasts and bright colors - unlike more natural forms of curvy shapes and pastel colors that blend into each other. At first, I was at loss as to what I was looking at. Paying attention to title, on second glance, features reveal them selves. The rollercoaster is painted prominently sweeping across the canvas right in the middle. At the top is rays of christmas lights hung like circus tents. There are jagged shapes on the floor - brilliantly colored - like shards of light. Below the christmas lights are people like little lit matchsticks.
That was my impression anyway.
--
Seunghun Thomas Lee
At first glance, Joseph Stella's Battle of Lights, Coney Island appeared to be a scattered mess of colorful geometric shapes scattered all over a canvas that reminded me of a kaleidoscope. Yet as I focused in on the work of art, I started to discern a scene. The shapes toward the center seemed to come together to form a structure. At certain points along this center structure, colorful rays of light shot out. There was also a stark contrast in color, with the upper half of the painting consisting mostly of bright colors and the bottom half of the painting consisting mostly of darker colors. The use of the dark colors makes me think that this scene takes place at night, with the bright colors representing lights shining in the night. The title of this painting makes me believe that Joseph Stella was fascinated by a large display of colorful lights shining into the night sky on Coney Island and tried to capture this scene in his painting.
Philip Schmidt
Like most other works of abstract art, Battle of Lights, Coney Island can be rather difficult to interpret. The painting's jumbled shapes and images make it difficult to find any single central point that the artist wishes to draw the viewer's attention towards. The only element of the painting that seems to be able to stand out from the rest is the writing in the center of the work. In fact, without the title, it is nearly impossible to discern what the many shapes and figures in the painting are. Knowing that the name of the artwork references the Brooklyn amusement parks, the viewer begins to vaguely see things that resemble various Coney Island attractions, such as tent canopies or ferris wheels. However, one has to wonder what role the title of the painting plays in interpreting these shapes as amusement park wonders. The term "battle" in the title also suggests that the artist is trying to convey a sense of the densely cluttered nature of Coney Island.
The image depicted in the painting Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella is one of disorder, conflict and excitement. Stella uses a wide array of colors, which give the picture a vibrant yet random, unnatural feel. The various colors are broken into lines and shapes, which frequently intersect and border other objects of drastically different coloring and lighting. Such sudden change between colors makes the photo hard to look at, but more importantly it leaves the viewer with the feeling of unease within the image. When related to the bustling amusement park of Coney Island, this unease might be translated into the chaos and conflict of a large crowd of people and big mechanical rides. In the middle of the image, the colors tend to get brighter, while the shapes seem to shrink. This draws the viewer’s attention toward this part of the picture, much like how lighting up a stage attracts a crowd of people. This focal point symbolizes the excitement and novelty of the era of industrialization and urbanization because such an event could not have happened in any previous era of time.
- Christopher Melgaard
Battle of Lights, Coney Island represents the overwhelming experience of the New York amusement park. The painting is an explosion of lights, colors, and sharp geometric shapes. The only discernable object is the building in the center, a point of focus competing with the overpowering lights. Besides this one object, everything else is equally frantic, and moving in various directions, whether it is the lights of the booths, the whirling roller coasters, or the excited patrons of the Island. The elongated shapes illustrate an extended period of time taking place, suggesting the temporal aspects of the painting are as hard to keep track of as the visual aspects.
Eddie Berman
Battle of Lights, Coney Island by Joseph Stella is quite alive and energetic. To me, it represents a slice of jazz encapsulated in time. If one were to visualize a "snapshot" of Monk or Coltrane's magic, he or she would arrive at a painting similar in composition, a mixed bag of contrasting shapes and colors all the while working together to form a free flowing juxtaposition of diversity. The painting, composed of futuristic and modern geometric shapes taking cues from the cubist movement, incorporates a bit of bohemian graffiti-esque style as well. The painting is primarily warm as even the use of dark colors help to accentuate the bright center. Again the painting is very energetic, especially as you move towards the center.
Edward Park R1B M/W 930-11
Battle of Lights, Coney Island
This image appears to show an array of emotions. So much darkness, but within this world there is great emotion and excitement as the darkness is pulled a way for mere seconds with the blast of light and life. There appears no order, no beginning and no end. This is just a mere snap shot in time. It almost seems like a world of carnival life: constantly moving, changing, and never the same as before. The image is crowded and dense, perhaps too much activity for one to encompass in just one journey.
(posted by Brooke for Kirsten Nicholls)
Battle of Lights, Coney Island, by Joseph Stella is a lively cubist piece. The focal point features intense and pastel hues of white, yellow, pink, green, blue, and gold. The shades of color darken moving outward from the focal point. This effect makes the focal point unmistakable. Although, the focal point is dominant, every corner of the piece demands attention. The colors and hidden lines lead the eyes through the whole piece. There are angular pieces of color shattered across the canvas that do not complete or identify a familiar physical object. Nothing is complete; the pieces are mixed up and left to the observer to classify. The harsh angles and arbitrariness of their placement resemble something that has been crushed, and misplaced from battle.
Hey guys. Brooke and I will be holding extra office hours this week. Mine are tomorrow from noon to 2:30 at 6220 Dwinelle. I'll be holding another set of office hours on Friday at Free Speech from 1 to 3PM. Please e-mail me to set up a time. Feel free to e-mail Brooke as well if you need to set up a time to talk with her. As mentioned, copies of next week's Deleuze reading will be in my mailbox tomorrow at the Film/Rhetoric office at 7410 Dwinelle.
Norman
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