Art Appraisal Task for 'The Heart of Life' Exhibition

This report presents an art appraisal task undertaken by a student for an exhibition titled "The Heart of Life." The student analyzes two artworks: Atta Kim's "Museum Project #001" from The Field Series and Caitlin Hackett's "The World Within." The appraisal includes detailed descriptions of the artworks, focusing on design elements such as line, color, shape, tone, texture, balance, harmony, variety, proportion, space, movement, and dominance. The report explores the artists' intentions and the artworks' ability to convey the concept of existence and the state of life. The report also includes appendices with images of the artworks and a bibliography of sources used.

Appraising Task

Table of Contents
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
APPENDIX 1...................................................................................................................................4
APPENDIX 2...................................................................................................................................7
BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................10

TASK
To
Name
Address
Date
Subject: Appraising task
I would like to thank you for inviting me to provide you ideas for your upcoming
exhibition, “The Heart of Life”. I am extremely honoured to have been chosen by you as I have a
great interest in your gallery. Unlike other exhibitions, you give importance to many
contemporary artists and their artwork, while focusing on existence or in other words, “fact or
state of living”. I find human life very amusing as we have so much to explore during our
existence in this world. The concept of existence and life is an art of living as a human being or
animal and having the privilege to experience everything that this unique world has to offer. I
have selected 2 artworks that I can relate to on a personal and collective level. A South Korean
photographer, Atta Kim is one of my favourite artists. He has been creating artwork since 1980
and focuses on life concepts, while looking at lives, through camera lenses (Eardley and et.al.,
2017). The second artist chosen is Caitlin Hackett, as she gives weight age on animals and their
existence in human world. Her extraordinary artwork is created by using watercolours and inks
on papers.
Museum Project #001 (Check Appendix 1), is the first proposal that has been made by
Atta Kim. His artwork has been exhibited on an international level and he is the first Sounth
Korean to have his photographs chosen to be presented at Sao Paulo Biennial (Aram, 2014). This
piece is a chromogenic print that is sized at 114.9 x 155.6 cm, and is face mounted to plexiglass.
It belongs to The Field Series which was created in 1995. This artwork depicts 5 humans
contained separately in clear glass boxes and they all are nude. These elements are placed on the
middle of a road, during night hours which white street lights. The sky is between a Prussian and
Egyptian blue with the road, being of same colour. These humans, 2 females and 3 males, are
restrained in foetal position and are lying on the empty road.
Atta Kim utilised many design elements and principles by which he was able to produce
various dynamics in Museum Project #001. The colours have amusing elements and are
harmonious, which creates variety. There is a dominance of blues that are monochromatic and
1

neutral (Hubard, 2015). The hues of blue implies repetition and cool toned humans contrast the
warmness of the sky. This includes variety in the artwork, which has geometric, vertical and
horizontal lines. Humans have organic curves and remaining elements of image is rhythmic,
harmonious and natural. Glass boxes are in proportion to humans and emphasis is given on their
restraints, especially struggling to fit inside it. These boxes are very little when looked at the
whole image taken by Atta Kim and these create much contrast.
It was analysed that Museum Project #001 had been made in such a way that emphasis is
given to existence of life. Horizontal division of thirds show that one box sit in the middle
segment, while the remaining ones sit in the bottom segment. The upper segment consists of
street lights and tall buildings, that are man made elements (Zhang, Tas and Koniusz, 2018).
These are present is both sides of the image, keeping the humans in middle. There are no natural
items present in this image. At the end of the middle area, one female inside the box can be seen
and she is placed in between 2 boxes , where males lie in same position. The street lights are of a
bright florescent white and there are a few car lights that are shining from behind. This creates a
rhythm.
Caitlin Hackett is an artist that creates artwork that is inspired by her childhood, where in
a mystical world with animals and wildlife. This shows her interest in the natural world and its
existence (Larson, 2014). The World Within is a series created by her, in which an artwork of
30.5 x 30.5 cm is made with watercolours and ink (Appendix 2). This consists of animals and
creatures present in the wild. An owl takes up the artwork. Many design elements and principles
have been used in this as well.It has a fascinating layout and lines are thinly created in an
organic form with vertical and horizontal strokes (Hubard, 2015). The blues, oranges and greys
all blend together to create a harmonious feel. Few sections of cool purples blend into the owl's
fur. There are many textures present on the surface.
This artwork shows how life cycles as there is a human's face on a bird's body (Kennedy,
2016). This creates an irony and division between humans and animals. The organic lines are
soft and smooth, which gives emphasis on nature and its creatures. The orange and blue
background contrast each other as well as the warm pink eyes of the owl. The butterflies too,
provide a contrast in the entire artwork. This masterpiece has been beautifully blended with
watercolours and it gives an understanding of why human life is important and various
uncertainties that are present in every creature's existence.
2

I have found these artworks to be exceptionally wonderful and I hope they are suitable
for your exhibition. Existence and state of life can be truly depicted in them as they add meaning
to human lives. Atta Kim and Caitlin Hackett are talented artists that have created these
masterpieces. They can create an impact of everyone's life and I believe everyone enjoys it as
much as I did.
Looking forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Name.
3

APPENDIX 1
Museum Project #001, The Field Series, 1995 . Atta Kim (b.1956).
Chromogenic print, 114.9 x 155.6 cm.
Elements and principles of design
Line:
 Measure: n/a
 Type: Organic with inorganic boxes
 Direction : Horizontal and vertical
 Location: to unbalance and divide
 Character: n/a
Colour:
 Mostly a primary colour (blue)
 This blue is between a Prussian and Egyptian blue
 The humans have cool skin colour
 There are street lights of a cool white tone.
4

 The humans and street lines contrast the landscape.
 Landscape’s colours are balanced.
Shape:
 Humans are organic and naturalistic
 Glass box is geometric and inorganic
Tone:
 Landscape is monochromatic and neutral.
Texture:
 Simulated
 Visual
Balance:
 Asymmetrical
Harmony:
 Glass boxes are in the same size, shape and angles
 Hues of blue creates repetition
 A rhythm is created by organic shapes
Variety
 Cool tones of humans are contrasting the roads,
 Inorganic shapes and lines are geometric
 New dimensions are provided
 Objects are aligned horizontally.
Proportion:
 Proportion is proper
 The humans are emphasised when compared to the boxes
Space:
 Infinite
 Shallow space
 Plastic
Movement:
 In the middle of the road
Economy
5

 n/a
Dominance:
 Glass boxes and humans
6

APPENDIX 2
The World Within, 2018 . Caitlin Hackett
Watercolour, ink, acrylic, 30.5 x 30.5 cm.
Elements and principles of design:
Line:
 Measure: Square
 Type: Organic
 Direction: Vertical and horizontal
 Location: To balance
 Character: Watercolour ink
7

Colour:
 Primary: Blue and white, Secondary: orange, Tertiary: Purple with all warm colours.
 There are small parts of warm pink and cool greys. Tones are differentiating.
 The blues, whites and oranges are harmonious.
 Orange and purple contrast each other.
 Grey feathers of the animal.
Shape:
 Naturalistic and organic
Texture:
 Visual
 Simulated
Tone:
 Monochromatic background
Harmony:
 Warm colours create rhythm and repetition
Balance:
 Asymmetrical
Variety:
 Cool purple and warm pink creates contrast
 Numerous textures that create elaboration
 Line measures create elaboration as well
 Lack of colour on animal creates contrast
Proportion:
 Proper proportion, animals and other creatures are in proportion with each other.
Space:
 Plastic
 Shallow
Economy:
 Minimal
Movement:
 Vertical lines in up-down motion
8

Dominance:
 The owl is dominant as compared to other creatures.
9

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books and Journals
Eardley, A.F. and et.al., 2017. Enriched Audio Description: Working towards an inclusive
museum experience. In Inclusion, Disability and Culture (pp. 195-207). Springer, Cham.
Zhang, R., Tas, Y. and Koniusz, P., 2018. Artwork identification from wearable camera images
for enhancing experience of museum audiences. arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.09084.
Kennedy, B., 2016. Zones of seeing: Artistic, touristic and digital images of the DMZ. East
Asian Journal of Popular Culture. 2(2). pp.287-303.
Hubard, O.M., 2015. " How does this artwork make you feel?" A" no-no" question in art
museum education?. Journal of Aesthetic Education. 49(2). pp.82-98.
Online
Aram, G., 2014. Kim Atta: “The artwork is the artist’s scripture, with which he communicates
with the world.” [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.koreafocus.or.kr/design2/layout/content_print.asp?group_id=105474>
Larson, K., 2014. Artist Interview: Caitlin Hackett. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.moderneden.com/blogs/interviews/11314945-artist-interview-caitlin-
hackett>
10