This is my Art 21 Project for my Art Appreciation class at Howard Community College. Enjoy!

1. Creators of Aesthetics
Art 21 Project
By: Joshua Castle

2. Barry McGee
“I like that
personal
touch where
it's a lot like
graffiti.“
- Barry
McGee
Installation view at UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2000,
Deitch Projects, New York; dimensions variable
Barry McGee is very inspiring because he sees potential in artwork where other
people might see trash. Through his childhood and still to this day Barry practices
graffiti on anything that he can get his hands on. Although it may be vandalism to
some, Barry insists there is a story about a person behind every mark of graffiti. The
image above is an example of Barry putting hand drawn pictures inside of frames
and creating a mural with the frames. All the different images together creates a
clustered feel as if you were looking at graffiti art on the streets of Baltimore.

3. I chose to respond to Barry McGee’s
art work with a piece that, I feel,
represents love to all people. In my
opinion, McGee enjoys Graffiti because
he enjoys displaying his talents to
individuals who might not be fortunate
enough to go to a Studio or a famous
art gallery. He puts his work out to the
public to be seen and to inspire others.
McGee inspired me to create a
Rastafarian image that was made from
melting colored wax and crayons onto
canvas. From seeing McGee’s work and
knowing his intent to spread
enjoyment to others I wanted to make
art that displayed love.
Joshua Castle, Wax on Canvas, dimensions 8” X 10”

4. The artwork shown here relates heavily to Barry
McGee’s artwork. I consider McGee’s artwork to be
modern day wall art whereas, in this image you see
historical wall art that is found in caves. In this cave art
the artist uses gradations of color just like McGee does
in his work. The artist scrapes the wall in order to show
a deeper white contrast behind the horses. McGee
does the same thing with graffiti art when he uses
different colors to make the words or images protrude.
In contrast, however, McGee does not portray the
sense of realism like in this image, but more a form of
cartoon art. Research suggests in this cave art, “the
artists’ desire is to imitate the actual appearance of the
animals represented.” Although there are few
differences in these art forms, both artist have the
intention for their art to be seen for years to come.
Ardeche Gorge, Chauvet, France, c. 30,000 BCE.
Corbis/Sygma

5. Lari Pittman
Lari Pittman creates art that is very
psychologically strange as if you were
experiencing hallucinations. Pittman
does a very good job at using features
inside his artwork to symbolize love or
violence. In this piece that I chose,
Pittman creates the most chaotic
visual scene I have ever viewed.
Things such as an alien-like figure that
has a staff as a body, and a mirror-like
cutout in the wall of the background.
Pittman created many dimensions
within this piece by cutting the frame
in two(top and bottom) and having
two different scenes. Pittman added
another dimension by including the
alien man in both sections of the work
as if everything else is in the
background.
Operetta, 2006, Regen Projects, Los Angeles; dimensions 86 x
102 inches
“They demonstrate the complementary nature of beauty and
suffering, pain and pleasure—and direct the viewer’s attention to
bittersweet experiences and the value of sentimentality in art.”

6. Joshua Castle, 2014, Baltimore, MD, dimensions 5” X 7”
In order to construct art that would correlate with Lari Pittman’s artwork, I wanted to take a
picture that was psychologically strange or hallucinogenic. The picture I created above is a
shot I got of myself skateboarding. The intriguing thing about this picture is the way that I
seem almost “ghostly” or transparent. It is very evident that the skateboard is performing a
trick above the sidewalk but the person riding the board is not completely visible. I enjoyed
the inspirational art of Pittman and wanted to respond with a similar image in the form of a
picture.

7. Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937. Oil on canvas, 11 ft. 5.5 in. X 25 ft. 5.25 in. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte
Reina Sofia, Madrid. John Bigelow Taylor/Art Resource, NY. 2007 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York.
In the art work above, Pablo Picasso created “Guernica” to portray violence that had been
occurring during the Spanish Civil War on April 26th 1937. This image reminded me of Lari
Pittman’s work because of the heavy use of distorted figures as well as the violent scenery. In this
picture it looks like Picasso draws a plethora of caricatured heads to portray different emotions.
You see the man on the right that looks like he is terrified because he is being eaten by himself
and the man next to him who seems to be curiously looking into a basement window at all the
madness going on in this scene. At first glance, you might not notice that each character plays a
vital role in forming the scene. Upon further review, notice that each character is related to one
another to tell a story.

8. Robert Mangold
Robert is an artist who typically
creates abstract paintings, but is
heavenly concerned about his line
work. Robert also considers
himself to be very romantic. Out
of his whole collection of artwork,
I believe this piece sums his
romanticism up the best. He did a
great job at using his very creative
line work to create a heart shape
inside of an open ring. The lack of
symmetry is important in a lot of
his work because it allows the
viewer to draw a variety of
conclusions from one figure.
Ring Image C, © 2012, The Pace Gallery, New York;
dimensions 96 inches diameter

9. This artwork I created agrees to Robert
Mangold’s preference of art. In order to show
the same lack-of-symmetry as Mangold’s, I
painted two lines in the upper right hand corner.
I also decided to use three shades of a light
orange color to create unparallel lines within the
orange color. In the past, I never saw abstract
art to be appealing but, as I began creating lines
and thinking about what would “look right” the
art form became a puzzle and my goal was to
find the perfect lines to complement the rest of
the piece. Robert Mangold is very inspiring
because he mixes simplicity and fine line work.
Joshua Castle, Line 3, 2014, dimensions 8” X 10”

10. In order to “purify the spirit,” Piet Mondrian
thought he needed to “purify the art” first.
In his abstract paintings, such as this art, he
used straight, vertical, and horizontal
lines, along with primary colors to express
“pure reality.” I think this is similar to Robert
Mangold’s, Ring Image C, because of each of
there ability to draw emotions. Mangold is a
romantic artist and uses his work to express
his personality on his art work. Mondrian
gives off the same vibe in the work because
of the way the colors draw out the lines and
represent the purity of the art work.
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Composition II with Red, Blue, and
Yellow, 1930. Oil on canvas. 28.5 X 21.25 in. 2010
Mondrian/Holtzman Trust, c/o HCR International, Warrenton,
VA, USA