Essay on Mythological Bird

Submitted By stellanc
Words: 801
Pages: 4

The piece of artwork that I discovered at the Madison Art Collection is called the Mythological Bird. Out of all the pieces in the gallery, this one stood out the most to me because of its intricate designs, the technique used to make the bird and its size was relatively big compared to the other artworks. It seems to be made out of wood, which would mean that this artwork was made out of plant based, organic materials. The bird is supposed to represent a mythology of a group of people that don’t actually exist, but of one that the artist created himself. In this artwork, there are both inactive and active lines represented. Towards the bottom of the bird there are vertical (inactive) lines and on the wings of the bird there are some horizontal lines (also inactive), which gives a sense of stability non-movement. But, there are a lot of organic shapes that offset the inactive lines and make the artwork come alive and stand out, and convey a sense of motion and liveliness. Some of the organic shapes are swirls towards the neck of the bird and at the bottom of the bird there are other biomorphic shapes. Those organic shapes are contrasted by some geometric shapes like the circles at the bottom and on the back of the bird and on the wing as well. This gives the piece some unity and order; it is interesting to see how the elements themselves in the artwork contrast each other with the mix of inactive and active lines and geometric and organic shapes. Color is definitely not one of the more prominent elements in this artwork; most of the bird is brown, but there are some hints of red on the wing, and the object that the bird is holding in its mouth is red in the middle and there are some light blue circles also on the wing. Usually, color can evoke some type of emotion for the audience; in this artwork, since brown is mostly used, it typically wouldn’t stand out because brown is such a dull color and some people, including myself, would probably be bored by this artwork, but the intricate shapes and lines within the piece luckily make it stand out. Since the piece is behind a glass window and I cannot physically touch it, the implied texture definitely seems rough and bumpy because of all the shapes and how they are not carefully designed. This artwork definitely has more open space than closed; there is open space between the back of the bird and the bottom of it, and there is open space between the mouth of the bird and the object that the bird is holding in its mouth. This makes the piece more lively and naturalistic, and intrigues and engages the audience more. This mythological bird is asymmetrical, which makes the piece seem more disorganized and off-balance than if it was symmetrical. There is also a lot of variety within the