Event Blog #3

For the final excursion I visited the Hammer museum, here in Westwood. The architecture and colorful murals were intriguing from the outside; therefore I was excited to see what was within its walls. My favorite piece was the murals right inside the entrance (see below), for their intricacy, and almost shape-shifting form. The longer the viewer stares at the piece, the more patterns and shapes reveal themselves. The form and patterns are entirely symmetrical, reminding me of the mathematical symmetry in Leon Battista Alberti’s work. I enjoyed drawing similarities between the colorful, modern play with patterns to the Italian renaissance revelations on perspective we learned about in week 2.

In addition to the modern murals, I thoroughly enjoyed some of the older work in the Hammer museum. While drawing comparisons between our class material and these works, I noticed a significant difference between the more modern works and the older works—the framing. The more modern works have simply, or often no frames, compared to the extravagant, intricate framing of the medieval and older works (see below). My reasoning behind this would be that earlier works were most frequently commissioned by wealthy patrons for homes, honor, and portraiture, rather than more modern artist’s creations for the sake of art. Visiting the Hammer museum helped me bring to life the concepts we’ve learned in class, and I’m proud to have such a great institution here by campus.