Tools, and Process: Rembrandt and Shahzia, Essay Example

Analysis of Two-dimensional Materials, Tools, and Process: Rembrandt and Shahzia

The world of art has come to be what it is today through the great ambition that artists such as Rembrandt and Shahzia have employed through the use of various different materials, tools, and processes in order to create masterpieces we still admire today. These two artists had a great ability to showcase their art through every single element incorporated into their works. Thus, the reason that we often find the medium being related to the work of art. Together, the combination of experience and creativity has allowed them to create visual marvels that are aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. The use of medium is something few artists can incorporate into giving a deeper meaning to their art.

In 2001, Shahzia Sikander uncovered her masterful piece, Pleasure Pillars. This work of art was created by using: watercolor, dry pigment, vegetable color, tea, and ink on alsi paper, 12” x 10”.  Sikander has a particularly magnificent ability of using the medium in her pieces to give meaning to them that transposes beyond the visual, and brings a sense of history to the work. Through the use of watercolor Sikander addresses issues of identity which are clearly expressed in her piece of art. Sikander uses the size she used which is categorized as miniature painting, “As an act of defiance, because miniature painting was scorned by her teachers and peers at home,” (Lowry). Throught the use of miniature painting she also responds to the harsh regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in the 1970s and ’80s. The process that Sikander employs of combining images from different sources “Creates densely layered paintings that transcend traditional notions of narrative,” (Lowry). Her use of ink creates commentaries on lived experiences, art history, and pop culture. The visual qualities that Sikander uses explore the Muslim culture as well as the Hindu and Muslim divide in Pakistan and India. Her visual representations also join Western and Eastern figural tradition. Furthermore, she uses the female bodies to explain the multiplicity of women’s spiritual identity. She incorporates both tradition and modernism to reinforce the multiplicity aforementioned.

When seeking to discuss the history of art, the works created by Rembrandt can never be left out of the discussion. One of Rembrandt’s greatest works, The Three Crosses, is a visual marvel that would transcend into history forever. In this work Rembrandt uses the medium of etching and drypoint  (4th state) 15 1/4 x 17 13/16 ” to bring to life  one of the most dynamic prints that has ever been created. The main subject of the work is Jesus Christ flanked by two thieves that were being crucified with him. The meaning of this work of art is a dramatic representation of the Bible verses in which there are two destinies but only one way and in which one of the sinners goes to Heaven with Jesus and the other to hell with Judas because there is no sin on him but rather in him. The beam of light represents God’s Heaven and Rembrandt uses the process of etching in order to make this more dramatic as if it was piercing the darkness. The tools that he uses allow him to make the work very serious and direct focus to the message he is trying to replicate from the Bible verses from Matthew. Through the process of four stages in which Rembrandt creates the work he is able to make contrasts of light and shade. Rembrandt ingeniously used drypoint for darker areas such as shadows, and etching for the light such as Jesus Christ, in order to make this contrast between good and evil.

Analyzing the previously mentioned pieces of art we can not help but fill ourselves with delight at the ability that Sikander and Rembrandt made use of. The Pleasure Pillars serve a meaning that could go as far as being categorized “rebellious” for the manner in which the work goes against the way Sikander was raised. Rembrandt in his work The Three Crosses is able to solidify Bible verses into visual representations. Being one of Rembrandt’s many Biblical representations he takes this one a step further by the use of four different stages in which through drypoint and etching he extrapolates a visual marvel.

Works Cited

Lowry, Glenn D. “Gained in Translation | ARTnews.” ARTnews | The Leading Source of Art Coverage Since 1902. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.

Crenshaw, Paul. “Spotlight Series.” Kemper Art Museum. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.