Ocean by Philip Gutson

397 Words2 Pages
Yashar Feizi
Art Appreciation
San Antonio Museum of Art

Ocean
Philip Guston, American
1976
Oil on canvas
78 x 116.5 in.

The following piece of art, demonstrated in the San Antonio Museum of Art, is an oil based painting on canvas. The artist uses many lines, bright red hues, shapes, and forms to organize the piece of art. Upon first encounter, the primary visual elements include colors and lines. Most striking element that captures my attention is the bright red color of the water. Using the primary color, red, with different shades of white strokes the artist creates a non-representational and abstract form, a principle of design, of the ocean. Also, the artist juxtaposes two complementary colors, red and green, based on the conventional color wheel. This creates a more intense focus on the red. The green spirals in the middle of bright, red colored depict more focus to the painting. This is called simultaneous contrast. Next, the artist uses parallel lines in the baseline to create an organized sense for the incoming waves. The size of waves seems smaller toward the gray sky because the artist uses the baseline to depict the position of the waves to the viewer. The waves with more emphasis of longer parallel lines close to the baseline seem larger and closer to the viewer. The same applies for the waves moving toward the horizon line at the end. With the use of overlapping and smaller parallel brush strokes, the waves seem further away from the viewer. The division between the top and the bottom of the painting indicates a horizon line. Moreover, different strokes of the brush create a sense of time and motion. Again, the curvilinear and parallel strokes from the white lines depict the movement of the waves toward the viewer. These lines show that waves are becoming larger as they are moving toward the viewer. Lastly, two more principles of design

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