Brittany Kennedy aka amber kay 10/27/09

I went to visit the Gallery at UTSA on the second floor near the music area. I was intrigued by the lithograph by Heinrich Zille called "Schnapdestille". I am unsure if this is the artists' name but I believe it is. The child like qualities of the line drew me in. The content of the lithograph drew me in even more. I identified with the content in which there was text. There was a translation of the text because the original is in German. It was a poem regarding what goes on in a bar. How you drink to forget your problems and get drunk to numb the pain. This brought me back to a time in my life when I worked in a bar. I drank to forget, to numb, to release. This was the emotional effect the piece actually had on me. I have not ever had the emotional experience from a work that I could actually identify with. On the flip side the formal elements of the work are apt. The line quality in which is expressed in child like forms transforms from thick to thin which allows the firgures and shapes to form shadows and character. It allows the formation of the work to have depth as a result of the treatment of the lines. I did a little research on this artist because I had never heard of him and I was surprised that he was considered more of an illustrator and photographer. Various techniques of printmaking impress me when I become aware of how they connect to some of the aspects of photography. The element of surprise!