Author Archives: Judith

The work I have selected is, Umberto Boccioni’s, The City Rises, created in 1910. The painting was placed in the Modern and Contemporary art gallery 908 amongst other works of Boccioni. Umberto Boccioni was an Italian painter and sculptor. He is famously known for his futuristic works as he helped shape the aesthetic of the Futurism movement. He became a student of Giacomo Balla, a painter focusing on the modern Divisionist technique and in 1906, he moved to Paris, where he studied Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles. Boccioni became the main theorist of the artistic movement. The City Rises is an oil on canvas. The artwork is considered the first futuristic work by Umberto Boccioni as it depicts realistic elements such as buildings, a modern city or town. It shows the urbanization of a city as high buildings is portrayed throughout the artwork. Construction seems to be occurring as there are plenty of workers who are in the middle of a task. The building takes up the background while what we see more prominently are several men and large horses. The painting itself shows an almost chaotic, moving and busy scene as there seems to be an effect of a motion blur. In the visual arts, the roots of Modernist painters broke away from ideas of perspective and subject matter. The avant-garde movements followed and Futurism was included. Futurism can be defined as Modernist. Artists increasingly abandoned past styles and conventions in favor of a form of architectural painting such as buildings because of what was going on around them in terms of the advancement in technologies after World War I. The tendency to create art in this form and leaving behind old traditional techniques became more of an international style and aesthetic. In this painting, we can see elements of futurism as we see the force and power of human work and see how important and necessary the creation of a modern town can be. Umberto Boccioni portrays the creation of a new city, with developments and technology. What first drew me to this piece was how much movement and blur was captured in the painting. On a quick glance I was unable to see the details as it looked almost chaotic and like scribbles but with further inspection, I was able to make out the movement of the workers and see the horses. The buildings in the back are in progress and stand larger behind them.

William Wordsworth

After reading several of William Wordsworth’s work,  I was able to see how he creates and implies a unity between man and nature in his work. For example, in “I wandered as lonely as a cloud”, Wordsworth was able to create a mental image and capture the essence of how nature makes someone feel. In the poem, the poet is wandering and describes himself as “lonely as a cloud” and soon discovers a field of daffodils by a lake. This is a memory that he is fond of and it seems to comforts him when he is feeling lonely or restless. While reading this poem, I felt a strange sense of nostalgia and after pondering for a while of what this reminded me of, it made me realize that I once had the same sight and feelings as the poet had. It took me back to the time I went to Ecuador, all to a specific moment. I had the same emotions described in the poem when I was standing near a Volcano sight in Ecuador, Tungurahua. While in Ecuador I felt a sense of connection between the valley breeze as I stood on a hill near the site of Tunguragua taking pictures of the landscape. As I was taking these photos, I remember noticing a river at the bottom of a steep hill. There lied a vast garden of daisies and other flowers. It was misty and cool and relaxed me as I forgot about the city back at home. Wordsworth’s poem took me back to this memory and took me back to feeling the same emotions I felt when I there and the similarities are odd and refreshing in a way. Specifically, the lines “When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze” seemed to describe the exact place I was in. I personally found that when I was standing alone on this hill, with such a vast sight watching the water in the river flow, I was able to truly feel a sense of peace, calmness, relaxation and I was able to truly clear my mind. The poet towards the end says that he is able to look back at this memory when he is feeling lonely, sad or overall in a pensive mood and thus be able to bring pleasure back to his heart. This gave me the idea that I can now look back at this memory and momentarily bring back the sense on tranquility.

My name is Judith Paredes and I am currently majoring in Digital Communications. I transferred from the Borough of Manhattan Community College and finished my associates in Multimedia Programming. The classes I took mainly revolved on creating multimedia platforms such as websites and apps using HTML,CSS, Java, Javascript, Photoshop, p5 etc.  I also previously studied Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and discovered my love for cinematography. I immediately was able to dive into the NY film industry as a freelance camera assistant with the help of my instructor as he took me as his personal camera assistant. Through that, I was able to network with several film workers on a professional level. I freelanced like this for a couple of years while working for a news television station. I later found that freelancing nor tv was not for me. I enjoy watching thriller films, documentaries and experimental films. The last time I wrote something was in my intensive writing course which was paired with an art studio class. I play guitar in my spare time and do some photography work. When I find the opportunity to do some volunteer work I do. Currently, I am assisting instructors as they teach guitar classes to kids near my area. This program is in Queens and is free. I love listening to music and am open to hearing different genres. Live music is something I indulge in and always like to attend shows.