ART CRITICISM
By: Tyler Berry
“Drouth Stricken Area" by Alexandre Hogue
oil on canvas,1934
In “Drouth Stricken Area “, I see a desert full of pain and sadness
that never ends. I see a buzzard that looks on at the cow that is
suffering from thirst and starvation. The windmill is broken and it
seems like it hasn’t worked in a while. So that tells you that there is
little wind there. The title “Drouth Stricken Area", tells you that this
is a place that has been going through a drought that is hurting
everything in the desert including the cow, the windmill, and what
seems like food and water. This artwork uses color/warm colors to
show contrast and the heat of the desert and the environment.it
also uses space to show that it is a barren waste land that is full
misery.
He uses lines that curve to show texture. Some of the lines he uses
are to show the texture of the sand the wood and the skinniness of
the cow to show starvation. I think that he uses a unique technique
of how he positions everything to show that everything in the
artwork is painful. In his artwork he shows you that life in a desert
is not great but you can keep moving forward and try to get
something in life. His technique allows you to realize your life is
great compared to whoever lives there and gives u a moral that you
don’t know how good you have it and you to change your attitude
and keep your head up just like the cow does as he is still trying to
survive.
the theme of this artwork is to make you feel as the cow and the
place will as if you lived there. I think he meant to inspire you to
live your dream and keep your head up no matter what you go
through. I think he meant that you have to go through suffering to
get you where you want to go.to get where you need to go you
have to keep striving to make yourself better and remind yourself
that you never want to be back in that horrible place again.
I think he did a great job of using the space he had to his
advantage to show the ongoing sadness in their life.one thing I
think he could have done better was use more warm colors to
make his art stand out better. I would have added more red-orange
to the sand in the background.