The old story of boy meets girl, boy saves girl, and finds good fortune that enables him to provide for a family is a story as old as time. It is no wonder that Old Holly Wood took the story and ran with it.
In the Charlie Chaplin film that we watched in class, I was reminded of a concept from sociology class that deals with the how the media plays out fairytales. The basic idea behind the Heterosexual Imaginary concept is easy. Basically the stars/lovers are white and find their happily ever after that ends with a family. I think that this film follows this patter to the tee, and probably was one of the first films that inspired others to follow the same plot line.
It is not that I think that these kinds of love stories are bad, or hurtful. I just think that in current times, we could modified the basic template of a love story to allow other races and sexual orientations to have half the spot light. In no way am I blaming Charlie Chaplin for the way things are now, I just think it is interesting that the same plot formula is still being used today. I think this is a mark of the power of Holly Wood.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Bringing up Buster
Buster Keaton is a talented silent film star. In the film Cops I felt bad for the family that lost there furniture. I mean they were just trying to move into a new house, and they lost every thing they had. I felt like I might have liked the movie better if the family had some how come out ahead or if they had won a game show and had gotten all new furniture.
I liked the humor of the movie how he was always slipping right out of the fingers of the people who were chasing him. The par where he was on the ladder was really interesting and showed how the original stars of Hollywood had to work a little harder for their money. I think that it is cool that he did all of his own stunt work.
I thought that it was odd that the end of the movie was him going to jail and I guess dieing from the image of the tomb stone. I think that the girl he liked was a silly reason to get in as mush trouble as he did, or die over. She did not even love him for who he was. I am glad that movies now days have better love plot lines.
I liked the humor of the movie how he was always slipping right out of the fingers of the people who were chasing him. The par where he was on the ladder was really interesting and showed how the original stars of Hollywood had to work a little harder for their money. I think that it is cool that he did all of his own stunt work.
I thought that it was odd that the end of the movie was him going to jail and I guess dieing from the image of the tomb stone. I think that the girl he liked was a silly reason to get in as mush trouble as he did, or die over. She did not even love him for who he was. I am glad that movies now days have better love plot lines.
Madonna
Madonna
In Madonna’s music video, Like a Prayer, she deals with racy topics that were being confronted in the 80’s. It is strange now to look back to what previously was considered controversial compared with today’s standards. I think that if she was going to remake this music video and try to deal with current topics of debate some of the material would be changed in order to still be considered controversial.
I think that some of our ideas about race have changed in the last couple of decades; however it is still a hot topic. By no means do I think that racism does not exist in the world today, because it does. But I think that she would have to push the envelope a little bit further in order to get the same reaction she did back in the 80’s.
I think she would have to make it a gay relationship between two people of different races, or maybe make it a threesome.
The media that we are accustomed to now has much more violence and nudity in it. So I think there would have to be more violence and nudity in the scene where the girl is getting stab and raped. This is because I think that people now days are harder to impress in the genre of rape and nudity, and in order to be truly shocking you have to try to do something that people have not seen done yet.
The whole religious iconography that was used in the music video might have seemed sacrilegious at the time, but times are changing. If Madonna portrayed herself as a Muslim, I think that would shock viewers today. Non-supporters of Obama, are doing that very thing to him in his political campaign. It seems to bee working pretty well, or at least enough for every one to talk about it.
Madonna has been performing, in my life for as long as I can remember. She has proven her ability to entertain millions and provoke responses from people with her controversial actions. I think that her bank account should be proof enough.
In Madonna’s music video, Like a Prayer, she deals with racy topics that were being confronted in the 80’s. It is strange now to look back to what previously was considered controversial compared with today’s standards. I think that if she was going to remake this music video and try to deal with current topics of debate some of the material would be changed in order to still be considered controversial.
I think that some of our ideas about race have changed in the last couple of decades; however it is still a hot topic. By no means do I think that racism does not exist in the world today, because it does. But I think that she would have to push the envelope a little bit further in order to get the same reaction she did back in the 80’s.
I think she would have to make it a gay relationship between two people of different races, or maybe make it a threesome.
The media that we are accustomed to now has much more violence and nudity in it. So I think there would have to be more violence and nudity in the scene where the girl is getting stab and raped. This is because I think that people now days are harder to impress in the genre of rape and nudity, and in order to be truly shocking you have to try to do something that people have not seen done yet.
The whole religious iconography that was used in the music video might have seemed sacrilegious at the time, but times are changing. If Madonna portrayed herself as a Muslim, I think that would shock viewers today. Non-supporters of Obama, are doing that very thing to him in his political campaign. It seems to bee working pretty well, or at least enough for every one to talk about it.
Madonna has been performing, in my life for as long as I can remember. She has proven her ability to entertain millions and provoke responses from people with her controversial actions. I think that her bank account should be proof enough.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Film, a part of us.
The way the world is today, I would be surprised to find any one who has never seen a film. Actually, I would be surprised to find that there were any of us that made it through the day with out seeing at least one film clip. Film has brought so much to our daily lives. It brings us the news of our time and embodies the stories that we love.
Film has become a new medium that we use to relate to each other and express ideas and desires.
It is not a rare occurrence to be sitting in class and talking about any old topic and someone in the room say something to the affect of, “Hey that is like the thing that Tyra talked about last night” or “Yeah, that reminds me of the situation in this move I saw last week”. Some go as far as to offer advice on relationships based on cinematic knowledge of the endings of movies that dealt with the same/similar problems.
In the media culture that I am immersed in today, the medium of film has become a way of assimilating ideas and concepts. Film allows us to draw nice comparisons in our own lives and the lives of screen inhabiters. Film has also become away of relating to each other and the world we live in.
Film is powerful, and like what was most likely a dead white guy once said, “And with power, comes great responsibility.” Powerful films have changed the mindsets of people to think in new ways. Film has given people like M. Moore the power to share his ideas with others.
More recently since the birth of Youtube, any old schmuck with a USB port and a camera has the ability to send their message to infinite numbers of homes. Giving the power of film to the every day person opens up new worlds of possibilities. We can all me our own Youtube supper star, the fore runner for our own personal crusade.
Film has become a new medium that we use to relate to each other and express ideas and desires.
It is not a rare occurrence to be sitting in class and talking about any old topic and someone in the room say something to the affect of, “Hey that is like the thing that Tyra talked about last night” or “Yeah, that reminds me of the situation in this move I saw last week”. Some go as far as to offer advice on relationships based on cinematic knowledge of the endings of movies that dealt with the same/similar problems.
In the media culture that I am immersed in today, the medium of film has become a way of assimilating ideas and concepts. Film allows us to draw nice comparisons in our own lives and the lives of screen inhabiters. Film has also become away of relating to each other and the world we live in.
Film is powerful, and like what was most likely a dead white guy once said, “And with power, comes great responsibility.” Powerful films have changed the mindsets of people to think in new ways. Film has given people like M. Moore the power to share his ideas with others.
More recently since the birth of Youtube, any old schmuck with a USB port and a camera has the ability to send their message to infinite numbers of homes. Giving the power of film to the every day person opens up new worlds of possibilities. We can all me our own Youtube supper star, the fore runner for our own personal crusade.
film, a love story.
One of the most precious gifts that film has given us is the ability to escape our lives and experience the world in someone else’s shoes. As the house lights darken our psyches leave our moral bodies and transcend into the bodies that inhabit the silver screen. We are drawn to the screen. We crave the sensations that await our viewing pleasure.
In this new age shrine we pay homage to the great film stars and pray that they will enlighten us and help us transcend our mundane lives and bless us with an exceptional experience. It is then that we receive visions of heroic men, and attractive women overcoming unthinkable obstacles ultimately achieving their “Happily Ever After”. When these silver gods are blessed with good fortune, we receive warm fuzzy feel good sensations knowing that love can conquer all. Similarly, when our silver friend that we have gotten to know over the year in a matter of minutes are cursed with misfortune some morn in the audience and some receive feeling of joy in knowing that they are not the only one’s who have streaks of bad luck.
Some people are devote and committed in their viewing relationship with “their shows”. They develop a long term relationship and become invested in the lives of their favorite characters. Some people may go as far as to say that they know their weekly and rerun friends better than they know the people around them. People turn to the familiar screen when they feel alone and just want to see a familiar face.
Our relationship to film is a deep and romantic affair. Film takes us the glamorous parties that we will never go to. It introduces us to witty and fascinating people who will never know our name, much less our deep thought or emotions. But film will always be there for us to turn to when times get tough. Film will always have room in it’s heart to take us in and show us a world that we could otherwise only dream about.
In this new age shrine we pay homage to the great film stars and pray that they will enlighten us and help us transcend our mundane lives and bless us with an exceptional experience. It is then that we receive visions of heroic men, and attractive women overcoming unthinkable obstacles ultimately achieving their “Happily Ever After”. When these silver gods are blessed with good fortune, we receive warm fuzzy feel good sensations knowing that love can conquer all. Similarly, when our silver friend that we have gotten to know over the year in a matter of minutes are cursed with misfortune some morn in the audience and some receive feeling of joy in knowing that they are not the only one’s who have streaks of bad luck.
Some people are devote and committed in their viewing relationship with “their shows”. They develop a long term relationship and become invested in the lives of their favorite characters. Some people may go as far as to say that they know their weekly and rerun friends better than they know the people around them. People turn to the familiar screen when they feel alone and just want to see a familiar face.
Our relationship to film is a deep and romantic affair. Film takes us the glamorous parties that we will never go to. It introduces us to witty and fascinating people who will never know our name, much less our deep thought or emotions. But film will always be there for us to turn to when times get tough. Film will always have room in it’s heart to take us in and show us a world that we could otherwise only dream about.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
My Face Is Your Fortune
Barbra Kruger
In her piece “My Face is Your Fortune” there are multiple points of interest in the title that are relatable to both society and the price of art and advertising.
One being the obvious ownership of the face. The face belongs to two people: One being the person born with the face and the other being the person with the camera who has captured the face. This mirrors the text across the image as the “My” and “Your” text. However, Kruger herself is making a pretty penny off of the image herself and is in a way exploiting the owner of the face for her own financial benefite, which is mirrored in the “Fortune” portion of the Text. This dichotomy that the artist brings up leaves one hanging and wanting to know an unanswerable question.
Scondly. Women have become prime target market in the advertising world. Many products and PROCEDURES can be bought to “fix” one’s face. These lotions and powders are sold by the cart load to women. Many companies are manufacturing products knowingly exploiting insecurities in woman that the companies themselves have instilled in these women through media and ads. These companies create false problems in women’s bodies in order to self unneeded products to these women just to make a profit with out even worrying about the social ramifications of their actions.
The comodification of women’s faces for the profits of another is both unnecessary and just plain mean. Aging is a losing battle, every one will age no matter how hard one tries not too, or what one bys to prevent it.
In her piece “My Face is Your Fortune” there are multiple points of interest in the title that are relatable to both society and the price of art and advertising.
One being the obvious ownership of the face. The face belongs to two people: One being the person born with the face and the other being the person with the camera who has captured the face. This mirrors the text across the image as the “My” and “Your” text. However, Kruger herself is making a pretty penny off of the image herself and is in a way exploiting the owner of the face for her own financial benefite, which is mirrored in the “Fortune” portion of the Text. This dichotomy that the artist brings up leaves one hanging and wanting to know an unanswerable question.
Scondly. Women have become prime target market in the advertising world. Many products and PROCEDURES can be bought to “fix” one’s face. These lotions and powders are sold by the cart load to women. Many companies are manufacturing products knowingly exploiting insecurities in woman that the companies themselves have instilled in these women through media and ads. These companies create false problems in women’s bodies in order to self unneeded products to these women just to make a profit with out even worrying about the social ramifications of their actions.
The comodification of women’s faces for the profits of another is both unnecessary and just plain mean. Aging is a losing battle, every one will age no matter how hard one tries not too, or what one bys to prevent it.
Stieglitz, O'Keeffe, body of work
Stieglitz and O’Keeffe
The photo graph of Georgia O’Keeffe’s torso by Stieglitz is a wonderful twist on the “body” of work by the two artists. I have for a long time loved the upclose paintings the centers of flowers that O’Keeffe has produced. I always thought it was odd that some people were offended by her art work. I never really saw a great resemblance between the center of a flower and a the female genitalia. Similar to the art of Edward Weston, O’Keeffe’s work could be mirroring nature and the human nude. I think it an odd idea that people would be humanizing nature, where as I would think as it more naturalizing humans. Nature is not vulgar or obscene. People’s social constructions are what governs this idea of what they think to be obscene, not the natural world itself.
That being said, I think that it is very moving that O’Keeffe’s lover documented her body. One’s body is a very intimate and personal thing and being able to capture images of it and sharing them with the world is bold and touching. I find a kind of naive sweetness in the boldness of this action, similar to the way I find young children swearing. I think that the human body is a very beautiful thing and to show one’s body and progression of aging is wonderful. It takes guts to show one’s guts starting to sag and hang feeling the weight/wait of gravity and time.
The photo graph of Georgia O’Keeffe’s torso by Stieglitz is a wonderful twist on the “body” of work by the two artists. I have for a long time loved the upclose paintings the centers of flowers that O’Keeffe has produced. I always thought it was odd that some people were offended by her art work. I never really saw a great resemblance between the center of a flower and a the female genitalia. Similar to the art of Edward Weston, O’Keeffe’s work could be mirroring nature and the human nude. I think it an odd idea that people would be humanizing nature, where as I would think as it more naturalizing humans. Nature is not vulgar or obscene. People’s social constructions are what governs this idea of what they think to be obscene, not the natural world itself.
That being said, I think that it is very moving that O’Keeffe’s lover documented her body. One’s body is a very intimate and personal thing and being able to capture images of it and sharing them with the world is bold and touching. I find a kind of naive sweetness in the boldness of this action, similar to the way I find young children swearing. I think that the human body is a very beautiful thing and to show one’s body and progression of aging is wonderful. It takes guts to show one’s guts starting to sag and hang feeling the weight/wait of gravity and time.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Rocket Science
Rocket Science
I went to see this film March 13th , once again accompanied by my boyfriend. At first it thought this film was going to be similar to the film What the Bleep Do We Know or Spellbound. I thought those other movies were okay, but I am not really good at understanding astrophysics or at spelling (see writing samples). Thus, I was really relieved that this move’s plot was about a foiled love story, and a boy learning how to live with a speech impediment.
I though that this film was really ingeniously funny. This is not to say that stuttering is funny and something to be laughed about; disabilities are serious and should be treated respectfully. What were funny were the situations that the boy, Hal, got himself into and how he responded to those situations. For example, after he through a cello in the window of the house of the girl he liked, he told the family that “now there was a cello in your house”. In my opinion I though that this statement was very poetic and funny. What else is there to say after you through a cello through someone’s house window? I felt this way about most of the lines that Hal said. I thought the raw matter of affect way he spoke was very genuine, and it felt even more so with his stutter.
Untimely, I think that what Hal learned form his debate experience as well as his dabbles in matters of the heart can best be summed up by the pizza analogy that persists through the film. Hal consciously tried to order pizza in the cafeteria and he continuously failed at the ability to make his desire for the pizza verbally know. However, in the end he did overcome this verbal obstacle at a pizza diner. This idea of continuously struggling to overcome obstacles was however than contradicted by his father. His father in sort gave Hal the bad advice that one in the end just learns to settle and be continent in matters of the heart and life. I would like to think, that Hal’s experiences helped him transcend this idea of settling and continued to fight the good fight of achieving his dreams and meeting his potential.
I went to see this film March 13th , once again accompanied by my boyfriend. At first it thought this film was going to be similar to the film What the Bleep Do We Know or Spellbound. I thought those other movies were okay, but I am not really good at understanding astrophysics or at spelling (see writing samples). Thus, I was really relieved that this move’s plot was about a foiled love story, and a boy learning how to live with a speech impediment.
I though that this film was really ingeniously funny. This is not to say that stuttering is funny and something to be laughed about; disabilities are serious and should be treated respectfully. What were funny were the situations that the boy, Hal, got himself into and how he responded to those situations. For example, after he through a cello in the window of the house of the girl he liked, he told the family that “now there was a cello in your house”. In my opinion I though that this statement was very poetic and funny. What else is there to say after you through a cello through someone’s house window? I felt this way about most of the lines that Hal said. I thought the raw matter of affect way he spoke was very genuine, and it felt even more so with his stutter.
Untimely, I think that what Hal learned form his debate experience as well as his dabbles in matters of the heart can best be summed up by the pizza analogy that persists through the film. Hal consciously tried to order pizza in the cafeteria and he continuously failed at the ability to make his desire for the pizza verbally know. However, in the end he did overcome this verbal obstacle at a pizza diner. This idea of continuously struggling to overcome obstacles was however than contradicted by his father. His father in sort gave Hal the bad advice that one in the end just learns to settle and be continent in matters of the heart and life. I would like to think, that Hal’s experiences helped him transcend this idea of settling and continued to fight the good fight of achieving his dreams and meeting his potential.
10 Questions for the Dali Lama
10 Questions for the Dali Lama
I went to see this film, Feb. 14, with my boyfriend at Centenary. This was one of the most attended films I had been to in a while, and I hoped it was because this was going to be an exhalant film. And it was. Before I saw the film, I had little knowledge of Tibet, other than students and faculty around campus had “Free Tibet” bumper stickers. There were many surprising things that I was exposed to in the film.
One of the most surprising things I learned was how much fun and funny the Dali Lama was. I had never in my life seen such an animated religious head. He had a nice sense of humor, and he brightened up every one he encountered. He has a real sense of empathy for his people, and even takes time out of his rituals to express individual care for his people as well his daily life. Watching the way he interacted with his people it was obvious that he has a big heart, and loves everyone. I though it was ironic however, that when his people showed their devotion to him in the form of festivals that he did not enjoy the festivals and became bored and restless. I interpreted his reaction as that he prefers intimate forms of interaction over public ritualized forms because while he cares about all of his people, he prefers to care for his people individually.
The second thing that I found surprising was how technologically advanced and driven the Dali Lama was. I thought it was interesting that the best way to reach him was via the internet. I think that this is a huge and important statement of our current structures of society. The fact that he is keeping up with the times is in my opinion a sign that the Dali Lama is making his religion more accessible to contemporary society. Similarly, this follows the trend seen in other third world countries where people who never had access to phones are skipping the land line step and going directly to predominantly using cell phones. This is accruing because it is more practical/cheaper to get a cell phone and cell phone tower build than putting up cables. It is easier to adopt newer technology usage in these areas than the old technological methods of communication, and it is more efficient.
The thing that I found most offensive was what the Chinese’s government did to the old Tibetan monastery. Turning a historical and spiritual place into a amusement park, is sacral gist, and disrespectful. However, I it did bring up an interesting idea. Is what China did to the monastery so different from what we have done to historical places in our country? Is it as upsetting that we sell hotdog and tee-shirts at famous battle ground like the Alamo, or at hubs of suffering like at Ellis Island? Capitalism could have a sick sense of humor that profits of the suffering of others and uses history to whore out its trivial products.
I went to see this film, Feb. 14, with my boyfriend at Centenary. This was one of the most attended films I had been to in a while, and I hoped it was because this was going to be an exhalant film. And it was. Before I saw the film, I had little knowledge of Tibet, other than students and faculty around campus had “Free Tibet” bumper stickers. There were many surprising things that I was exposed to in the film.
One of the most surprising things I learned was how much fun and funny the Dali Lama was. I had never in my life seen such an animated religious head. He had a nice sense of humor, and he brightened up every one he encountered. He has a real sense of empathy for his people, and even takes time out of his rituals to express individual care for his people as well his daily life. Watching the way he interacted with his people it was obvious that he has a big heart, and loves everyone. I though it was ironic however, that when his people showed their devotion to him in the form of festivals that he did not enjoy the festivals and became bored and restless. I interpreted his reaction as that he prefers intimate forms of interaction over public ritualized forms because while he cares about all of his people, he prefers to care for his people individually.
The second thing that I found surprising was how technologically advanced and driven the Dali Lama was. I thought it was interesting that the best way to reach him was via the internet. I think that this is a huge and important statement of our current structures of society. The fact that he is keeping up with the times is in my opinion a sign that the Dali Lama is making his religion more accessible to contemporary society. Similarly, this follows the trend seen in other third world countries where people who never had access to phones are skipping the land line step and going directly to predominantly using cell phones. This is accruing because it is more practical/cheaper to get a cell phone and cell phone tower build than putting up cables. It is easier to adopt newer technology usage in these areas than the old technological methods of communication, and it is more efficient.
The thing that I found most offensive was what the Chinese’s government did to the old Tibetan monastery. Turning a historical and spiritual place into a amusement park, is sacral gist, and disrespectful. However, I it did bring up an interesting idea. Is what China did to the monastery so different from what we have done to historical places in our country? Is it as upsetting that we sell hotdog and tee-shirts at famous battle ground like the Alamo, or at hubs of suffering like at Ellis Island? Capitalism could have a sick sense of humor that profits of the suffering of others and uses history to whore out its trivial products.
Monday, March 3, 2008
male gaze
The Panopticon prison is a prison that has its residents act as both the jailer as well as the prisoner. The prison is has such visibility that the prisoners feel the affect of the jailors gaze causing them to act as their own jailors by regulation their own behavior. This same concept of people regulating their behavior with out any formal rules can be seen in how women regulate their own behavior and practices of gender ideology that perpetuates gender inequality.
However, it is not a jailor who’s gaze that women are responding to but the male gaze. The male gaze is the dominate gaze of our patricidal culture. The male gaze has the power to say what is beautiful, worthy, and socially acceptable. Women see media images in the fashion of the male gaze and use that to construct their gender ideologies. Women are bombarded by ads and magazines of stick thin white women who are revered by the male gaze as the ideals of feminine beauty. Thus, women strive to achieve this unrealistic body, and white features. When these women do achieve, to some degree, these ideals, they feel a since of power and satisfaction. This sensation is called repressive satisfaction. Repressive satisfactions is born from the way conforming makes one feel good. Thus women construct their ideas of what it means to be feminine by how well they can conform to the ideals of the male gaze and how they good feel from be in accepted/sense of power after conforming. This allows for the cycle of repression of women to continue, by falsely giving women a sense of control/power. This allows for women to remain repressed, but not be aware of their repression because they feel that they made their own choices. If women are too busy trying to conform and feel good, they will not try and rebel and turn they patriarchal system upside down.
However, it is not a jailor who’s gaze that women are responding to but the male gaze. The male gaze is the dominate gaze of our patricidal culture. The male gaze has the power to say what is beautiful, worthy, and socially acceptable. Women see media images in the fashion of the male gaze and use that to construct their gender ideologies. Women are bombarded by ads and magazines of stick thin white women who are revered by the male gaze as the ideals of feminine beauty. Thus, women strive to achieve this unrealistic body, and white features. When these women do achieve, to some degree, these ideals, they feel a since of power and satisfaction. This sensation is called repressive satisfaction. Repressive satisfactions is born from the way conforming makes one feel good. Thus women construct their ideas of what it means to be feminine by how well they can conform to the ideals of the male gaze and how they good feel from be in accepted/sense of power after conforming. This allows for the cycle of repression of women to continue, by falsely giving women a sense of control/power. This allows for women to remain repressed, but not be aware of their repression because they feel that they made their own choices. If women are too busy trying to conform and feel good, they will not try and rebel and turn they patriarchal system upside down.
Monday, February 25, 2008
not my size Barbie...
Early on, the wedding industry makes it very clear who white weddings are for and their importance. These fairy tails and wedding imagery that consist of blonde haired and blue eyed princesses, being given to their prince charming, is romanticized by young girls everywhere. This white princess bride idea is further developed by the toy industry. Little girls everywhere are exposed to Barbie, and yet it is understood that the default Barbie is white, blonde, and has blue eyes. This default Barbie that is instilled in the minds of young girls conveys the message that in order to have that “happily ever after,” one needs to emulate Barbie. This idea is reinforced by the creation of “My Size Wedding Barbie”. What message is being sent to young girls when they are given a doll their size, and told that they can put on the dolls clothes, and become Wedding Barbie? Further more, what if you do not fit into the role of the Wedding Barbie, because you are not the right color, or size? A value judgment is cast upon the young girl. This conundrum can not be rectified by merely giving Barbie a black friend as a bride’s maid, or creating a black “My Size Wedding Barbie”.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Hudson River School
The other day, I went to Norton Art Gallery with my boyfriend. He had never been there before so I thought this would be a good activity for us to do together, and to do some school work. I thought that it would be so fun to show him around the exhibits and sound all smart using vocabulary from my diligent studying for my comm midterm.
The featured art exhibit was Hudson River School. The exhibit was composed of oil paintings depicting landscapes of the Hudson River area. I have never been a huge fan of landscapes. I can appreciate the skill and patience it takes to complete the painting, but rarely has a landscape painting resonated with my soul. My favorite painting was this one of a mother deer with two fawns; animals I can relate too. I started to become worried that, like myself, my boyfriend was going to get board and wonder off. To my surprise however, he was liked the painting. You see, my boyfriend moved here like two years ago for New York City and could recognize some of the landscapes. He had more fun telling me what location each painting was of. I have never been good at using landmarks to identify national parks in photos and therefore I was impressed with his ability to just look at the landscape and give there location.
The over all experience was good. The paintings were very good landscape paintings, and I had fun walking in the azalea garden. However, I did not get to show off my impressive art analyses skills and flaunt my intellect. My boyfriend however, got a chance to remember his old life in NYC and show me up in geography.
The featured art exhibit was Hudson River School. The exhibit was composed of oil paintings depicting landscapes of the Hudson River area. I have never been a huge fan of landscapes. I can appreciate the skill and patience it takes to complete the painting, but rarely has a landscape painting resonated with my soul. My favorite painting was this one of a mother deer with two fawns; animals I can relate too. I started to become worried that, like myself, my boyfriend was going to get board and wonder off. To my surprise however, he was liked the painting. You see, my boyfriend moved here like two years ago for New York City and could recognize some of the landscapes. He had more fun telling me what location each painting was of. I have never been good at using landmarks to identify national parks in photos and therefore I was impressed with his ability to just look at the landscape and give there location.
The over all experience was good. The paintings were very good landscape paintings, and I had fun walking in the azalea garden. However, I did not get to show off my impressive art analyses skills and flaunt my intellect. My boyfriend however, got a chance to remember his old life in NYC and show me up in geography.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
DADA, a way of life.
DADA art is a wonderful period in art history. I feel that this revolutionary period has made it possible for me not to clean my kitchen for a week and consider my living space a venue of cutting edge instillations. If my house was in a Better Home and Garden catiloge it would have to be labeled as in the style of DADA.
I have always liked my home to look lived in. I leave dishes out for days and half the bed is on the floor along side the better part of my closet. I think that when everything is all neatly tucked away and so fresh and so clean, that my home loses my true essence. When I walk into my home I want to smell warm flesh and day old chine’s food, not a chemically manufactured aroma made to trick our brains in to thinking that our home is in a lavender forest or lemon. One can not live inside of a lemon.
Some may think that I have clutter, but I think it is a different texture of living than most people are use too. I think that this texture of living that I inhabit is personal and can represent my inner most being. My walls, floors, dishes, and sheets reflect what I have done and who I am. Is this not the same idea that all of the home journals try to persuade us of, that our home is a place of self expression. If our home is a place of self expression, than there is no wrong way to express oneself.
I have always liked my home to look lived in. I leave dishes out for days and half the bed is on the floor along side the better part of my closet. I think that when everything is all neatly tucked away and so fresh and so clean, that my home loses my true essence. When I walk into my home I want to smell warm flesh and day old chine’s food, not a chemically manufactured aroma made to trick our brains in to thinking that our home is in a lavender forest or lemon. One can not live inside of a lemon.
Some may think that I have clutter, but I think it is a different texture of living than most people are use too. I think that this texture of living that I inhabit is personal and can represent my inner most being. My walls, floors, dishes, and sheets reflect what I have done and who I am. Is this not the same idea that all of the home journals try to persuade us of, that our home is a place of self expression. If our home is a place of self expression, than there is no wrong way to express oneself.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
What is it about Visual Culture
Meredith Mighell
January 29, 2008
Intro into Visual Culture
The other day I was in art class making gesso. As it turns out Gesso is not the easiest thing in the world to make. It can be quite difficult to get the proportion of rabbit skin glue, water, and whiting right. The fist thing I thought about was who ever thought to boil a rabbit down and make glue. While I was pondering this, I started to reflex on what we had discussed in Intro into Visual culture class about authenticity and what it means to be real.
Is making my own gesso going to make my art feel or appear to be more authentic? It is a tremendous amount of work, so I hop that this more “authentic” gesso is going to turn out to be more impressive than gesso that is made in factories by big machines then packaged and shipped all over the world.
I do think it is these exact kinds of touches that give things/products that authentic feeling. Like food taste more authentic when it is homemade than from a can or box. It is just a feeling of a higher quality, however if you are not aware of the subtle differences than is it irrelevant?
January 29, 2008
Intro into Visual Culture
The other day I was in art class making gesso. As it turns out Gesso is not the easiest thing in the world to make. It can be quite difficult to get the proportion of rabbit skin glue, water, and whiting right. The fist thing I thought about was who ever thought to boil a rabbit down and make glue. While I was pondering this, I started to reflex on what we had discussed in Intro into Visual culture class about authenticity and what it means to be real.
Is making my own gesso going to make my art feel or appear to be more authentic? It is a tremendous amount of work, so I hop that this more “authentic” gesso is going to turn out to be more impressive than gesso that is made in factories by big machines then packaged and shipped all over the world.
I do think it is these exact kinds of touches that give things/products that authentic feeling. Like food taste more authentic when it is homemade than from a can or box. It is just a feeling of a higher quality, however if you are not aware of the subtle differences than is it irrelevant?
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