There are many things that can be opposite , yet comparable between a painter and a photojournalist. Each one has a creative way of showing their work to the world. Two works that aren't alike but yet are in certain ways is The House by the Railroad by Edward Hopper and Ground Zero by James Nachtwey. These two pieces are very extraordinary, which is why I found them impulsive to my eyes. Although they don't relate to things that happen on an everyday life, I was still able to connect with these pieces due to experience.
The House by the Railroad was painted by Edward Hopper who was born in New York in 1882. He had decided to become an artist in 1899, but due to family finances he decided to have a career that will bring more benefits economically. After a year he decided to transfer to New York School of Art and from there his career as a painter flourished. Many people that met him as a painter admired him with passion, one of his closest friend Sheena Wagham, once said "Great Art is the Outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world". James Nachtwey, the journalist of Ground Zero, was born in 1948. He worked as a news paper photographer in 1976 and later on moved to New York and began working as a photographer and from there his flourished as well. For the past three decades Nachtwey has been a journalist for war tragedies. His best friend, John Kifner argues that Nachtwey is the best war photojournalist of his time, " He is a war photographer, arguably the best of his time, but he prefers to call himself an 'anti- war photographer'". Nachtwey also became winner of TED Prize in 2007. These two artists had different passions and beliefs about life. But some of the things that they have in common, not only in careers but in life experiences too, is that they both flourished their career in the State of New York.
The House by the Railroad is a painting that describes a house that looks very solitary, it seems as in the middle of nowhere, it looks abandoned. It;s very dark looking with old fashioned windows ans there's a railroad right in front of it, where the train is supposed to pass but it doesn't because it feels like the location of the house isn't known to anyone. On the other hand Ground Zero is a journal about 9/11; Nachtwey describes the experience that he had when the twin towers fell down over a plane crash. Apparently he lived downtown ten minutes away from World Trade Center and as soon as he heard something unusual he went over and took pictures. He lived a live experience. There are obviously a lot of things that differ from these two pieces, one is a painting and the other is a journal, one is about an abandoned house and the other is about the twin towers. Both are very distinct from each other.
Although it may seem impossible to find similar things within these two pieces of work, I have a few things that makes them alike. Both of these work describe abandoned, the house i the painting looks old and lonely and the World Trade Center looked as if it had been abandoned for years after the tragedy occurred. Both pieces were located in New York City; The House by The Railroad was published in the Museum of Modern Art in an oil on canvas, 24 inches x 29 inches in New York City, the World Trade Center was located in New York City as well. They both fall into the genre of horror; both of their descriptions are scary, old, and uncomfortable. One feels as if they wouldn't like to be part of either one of these works or have any experience related to it. Another thing that these pieces have in common is that they are both pieces of arts, they both fall into the same category, and they describe the magic of art and its history. And one final thing that these two works of art have in common is that I've experienced both of their arts, even though they do not describe an issues that happens everyday.
These arts impacted me in many ways, because I could relate to them, which is the reason why I decided to write on both pieces. My relation to The House by the Railroad was more like a nightmare vision. I was pretty young and I was always watching the "Chucky movies". My family and I had gone to Connecticut to visit my aunt, it was so solitary over there, and me and my cousins decided to go outside in the night and went down a slated road. Right in front of us, like 50 feet away we saw this house that looked so creepy and what made it so scary was lights that flickered on the windows; that scared me so much because I always saw scenarios like these in scary movies and someone ended up dead. So it freaked me out. My relation to Ground Zero was a lot more vivid, when 9/11 occurred I was 9 years old, I was in school and out of no where my aunt came to pick me and my cousins up early and told us that something terrible had happened. She told us that the twin towers were crashed by two planes. The case was all over the news, our whole world turned around, people that we knew had family members that worked at the twin towers, and we were anxiously waiting on people to get back at us with some good news out of this tragedy. It was a day that New York will never forget, the whole city was in panic, crying, going desperate all over the place. We could see people live on TV throwing themselves from numerous of high floors in the second tower. We witnessed how things got worse by the minute via the news. I t was a horrific event that I doubt anyone would like to relive. I like what these two pieces have in common and their details differ from each other, but what I like the most is how much I was able to relate to them.
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