Where Words and Art Collide

Second-year English major and aspiring writer. Borderline insane obsession with tofu, animals, vegan cooking, Abraham Verghese's writing, and the colour teal. Self-declared lipstick collector and eyeliner connoisseur.

[ivykart]

My experience at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art was definitely an extremely memorable one. I went to State Street reluctantly, already exhausted after a 8-hour schoolday and dreading the idea of walking around peering at dusty paintings. However, upon entering the museum, I was immediately impressed by its unique architecture that mixed both modern and traditional elements of interior design, which resulted in a bright, well-lit, and quite elegant interior that was enjoyable to walk around in.

The art pieces of the permanent collection were a mix of ancient-looking statues, beautifully polished vases, and traditional framed oil paints—exactly the type of art pieces I would expect from a “standard” art museum. The piece that stood out to me most is the dark green-brown vase on the left side (Photo 1), and one reason it drew my attention to me was the placement of the exhibition glass case in the room, where it was carefully arranged near the edge of the room, but not so far to the side where it was unnoticeable. I was drawn to the vase’s strong silhouette: its narrow base but wide, protruding jug of a body, and the slender handle and elegant pouring tip. Though it was simple, I appreciated this artwork for its shape and design.

As a fervent animal lover, the exhibit I enjoyed the most was the Art-to-Zoo: Exploring Animal Natures. These series of photographs depicted animals in the effort to showcase, in a scientific manner, animals ability to feel pain, experience varied senses, and exude joy in a nearly human-like way. As a vegetarian and animal rights advocate, the mission behind this exhibit was especially touching to me, because it recognized the fact that modern science tends to degrade these living beings as non-feeling, unintelligent creatures, when in fact, they possess great intellectual capabilities and varied talents. The description of the exhibit was painted on the wall, and included a quote from Charles Darwin that stated, “Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected with the social instincts which in us would be called moral.” It’s this quote that perfect exemplifies the goal of this exhibit: to demonstrate how complex and vibrant animals can be.

  Since horses are my favorite animal, I was drawn towards the trio of beautiful horse photographs in the left exhibition room. I thought these three images showcased the majestic beauty and powerful strength of horses perfectly.

The first photo on the left , Untitled (Galloping Horse) by Richard H. Ross (1984) is of a dark brown horse in mid-run through a green field, the epitome of freedom and joyous liberation in the middle of beautiful nature. Though I enjoyed seeing the horse in mid-trot, with its little white hoof sticking out, this definitely wasn’t a picture that made me breathless. The horse isn’t demonstrating a powerful gallop through mountainous terrain with muscles and mane rippling, as I’ve seen in other photos; it seems more like a halfway run between a leisurely stroll and a mild trot. The landscape is a bit bland, as it’s just spotty green grass dotted with brownish-looking trees in the back. This photograph definitely wasn’t one of my favorites.

In the middle is Skye Ponies by Keith Carter (1998) showcased a majestic white horse in the middle of grazing. In the midst of chomping on grass, the horse flickers its deep black eyes into the camera, and with a click of his shutter, Carter captures a seemingly soulful and intense stare between the photographer and horse. Though the horse is quite a distance away from Carter, there seems to be an instant connection between the two. However, I wasn’t such a fan of the editing. I wish he had brought the horse in the back into a more blurry focus, because it distracts from the subject of the painting.

On the right is Running from the Storm by Loretta Young-Gautier (2000), and this visually captivating photo is definitely my favorite one. It features a semi-blurry, layered and edited image of a horse running through a haze of black and white smoky clouds. At first, I couldn’t tell if it was a painting or an incredibly photoshopped image, and it was Diane who told me that it was most likely a series of digitized photos layered together to create this unique effect. I loved the dreamy, but fierce lines of the digitized brush strokes, as well as the meddling of colours that created an incredibly realistic stormy pattern. It truly is a remarkable work of art.

Upon leaving the museum, my peers and I browsed through a few nearby galleries, one of which was 100 Grand, which was a gallery that featured a room full of “100 paintings at $1,000 or less!” These price tags were much less friendly than the $30,000 labels stuck on extraordinarily priced paintings we gazed at earlier. It was in this gallery where my group met Stephanie, the adorable woman in the last photo. We were shocked and delighted to discover that she was the subject of Jean Swigget’s oil painting, Little Princess, depicted in the 1951 painting! Her father oftentimes used her as a model for his earlier pieces, and two of them hung in this very gallery. It was definitely an interesting experience to meet Stephanie and ask her what it was like to be forever immortalized through artwork.

Though I admittedly embarked this trip with rather low expectations, I was left amazed and astounded by Santa Barbara's vibrant art culture, and a bit starry-eyed at all the beautiful sculptures, paintings, and installations I had the privelege to view that day. This trip honestly did open my eyes to the wonders of museums (which is even better when they're free), and it's undoubtedly going to push me to explore more art scenes inside museums and festivals in the future.

[ivykart]

LeRoy Neiman: Empty Colors

UCSB Art Museum. November 27, 5:00-8:00 PM

Curators: Diane Byun, Ivy Kuo, Cindy Nguyen, Juan Gonzalez

UCSB will be hosting an exhibit showcasing the most prominent paintings of popular American artist LeRoy Neiman, a notrious artist that critics love to hate. 

Neiman's art has been widely controversial due to the large profits he's accumulated from his artwork, which critics argue are devoid of true meaning, emotion, or significance. His work is so widely patronized is because his work seeks to aesthetically appeal to a wide audience, and therefore, comes to odds against the world of professional art critics and the public sphere. Professionals in the art industry define a "true artist" as one who rejects popularity and monetary gain in favour of artistic sincerity and expression. This raises the question: which group should be the one giving value to this work?

UCSB will be hosting an exhibit in order to explore the relation between artistic value and aesthetics, and how this connection affects the credibility of the artist. This exhibit will be hosted in the effort to ask the viewers if artwork needs more meaning than just aesthetics, and is financial success a true indication of artistic genius?

When someone in art school says, "Oh, that looks like a LeRoy Neiman," is that a true compliment or not? 

[ivykart]

Guerilla Girls

I arrived in I.V. Theater on Thursday night and was startled to see a woman with an incredibly realistic-looking gorilla mask completely covering her face. It turned out that she was the speaker who was here to educate us about the Guerilla Girls, their journey, their purpose, and their stories.

The presentation started off with a history of the group and how they formed. In 1985, a group of 7 female artists banded together to protest the unfair representation of women artists in the MoMa’s new exhibit that depicted important contemporary artists of the time. Out of 169 artists, only 13 were female, and this resulted in heated backlash.

However, the Guerilla Girls’ protests weren’t very successful, so they printed colourful posters (similar to the ones they use today) around New York City. Once they became a group, they also tackled issues of racism along with sexism.

One of the main symbols of the Guerilla Girls, is, of course, their gorilla masks that allows these artists to remain anonymous. From what I heard during the presentation and my own observations, these masks are as much of an artistic statement as much of a safety premeasure. Unfortunately, prominent feminists can oftentimes become dangerous targets of a society that doesn’t understand their mission, such as modern-day celebrities who speak out against feminist and receive death and rape threats in return (i.e. Emma Watson’s U.N. feminist speech). These gorilla masks also embody viciousness and masculinity in the enraged expression of the gorilla, which is an effort to prove to others that these feminists are truly a force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, the “gorilla” masks are a clever and witty play on the word “guerilla,” and the myth is that the “gorilla” idea originated from an original member who accidentally made a spelling error while writing her group’s named down.

After the speaker gave a brief history, she showed an accolade of promotional material for the Guerilla Girls. I noticed that their paraphernalia of posters, flyers, and advertisements had a theme of bold colors, giant block letters, and quick, witty phrases—all “pop art” features that delivered their points in a concise and interesting way.

For example, there was a picture of women with gorilla masks and a slogan “I decide, you decide” stamped over the top, conveying their independence from the status quo and females’ desires to make choices for themselves. Another creative poster depicted a birth control pill as a rocket ship about to land on earth, with the caption, “The estrogen BOMB: The world needs a new weapon.” It was a humorous way to show their support for the birth control pill, which was a tool used by females to assert their sexual individuality and choice in their reproductive matters.

Another important point this presentation highlighted was the fact that most women portrayed in art are oftentimes nude, and it conveyed the Guerilla Girls’ mission to get more female subjects into museums without undressing them. They showed the statistic that 99% of men in music videos aren’t nude, but most women are. Furthermore, many of the female subjects in museums are usually without clothes.

The speaker continued to talk about current artistic movements that the Guerilla Girls were making with their continued feminist activism. For example, the group had the honour of giving a commencement speech at an arts university in Chicago, which gave the group established credential.

The Guerilla Girl also continued to talk about the concept of art, and how readily consumable modern art is. She denounced conventional modern art that were being sold for extraordinarily high prices, simply because rich individuals and groups were in control of museums. “Don’t make expensive art, make cheap art!” she said. “We need more cheap art that everyone can own – like books, movies, music. Show museums some tough love! Art collectors invest lots of money to control art institutions, and that’s such a lousy way to show art. We need to demand ethical standards inside these rooms. No more cookie-cutter collections of art that cost the most.”

The speaker ended her presentation with a poster of a Guerilla Girl, with the slogan, “Use the ‘f’ word: feminism,” stamped in block letters next to it. The speaker said, “The ‘f’ word, feminism, is also the ‘f’ word of the future. Join us in writing the right side of history!”

Though I enjoyed the concept of this colloquium, this talk wasn't one of my favorites due to the muffled voice of the speaker and our inability to decipher what she was saying, along with the disorganized agenda and the random array of topics she covered. It was extremely difficult to understand what the speaker was saying during most of the speech, but it was even harder to comprehend the connections between the miscellaneous topics she covered.

Despite the lack of organization, I did learn quite a bit about the feminist art movement, but more importantly, why people should pay more attention to the Guerrilla Girl's goal. Through the disorienting dialogue and flashing of unrelated images, I understood that this radical and almost even comedic group is only attempting to raise awareness for their cause in an extremely radical, but creative, way.

[ivykart]

The Artwork of a Murderer

The exhibit catalogue I chose, The Late Richard Dadd (1817-1886) showcases the complete works of a Victorian artist prominently known for the crazed murder of his father (which is ironic considering his surname), and thus, spent his remaining life in the Bethlem psychiatric hospital. It was this asylum in which he created the majority of his artwork.

This collection of works seeks to dispel the myth that his creative genius is wholly derived from his insanity by showcasing the creative talent which partially (but not completely) resulted from his unique isolation, something that rarely any other artist had to endure. The book states that during his lifetime, Dadd “could never win any more recognition or response from the world outside his asylum than if he had been literally dead.” Perhaps this is why some are so drawn to his artwork, for they are intrigued by art  that’s completely produced in a vacuum cut off from the rest of the world. Dadd’s paintings and drawings were a channel of creativity and passion created solely for himself, as he clearly was not in the convetional quest to become an established artist.

It was fascinating to flip through a chronological timeline of his works and see how they corresponded with the degeneration of his mind, which in my opinion, affected the types of works he produced, but isn’t the sole reason he was an artistic genius. Dadd’s work prior to his murder was quite conventional and almost serene, perhaps because they were completed in a prestigious art academy he studied at. These artworks are more realistic and depict joyful scenes, such as a family at a park, or numerous black and white portraits.

However, as his mental illness took over him, Dadd’s course of work shifted to mystical paintings with supernatural themes, scenic paintings of nature, and simple black and white sketches. Dadd is most famous for the painting featured above, The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, which also inspired the British rock band, Queen, to make a song in the same name. It features a complex scene of fairies, elves, gnomes, and a magician, all of who are gathered around to watch a fairy woodman raising his ax to hit a hazelnut.

Though the subjects of Dadd’s artwork changed after he was hospitalized, to me, there is no discernible pattern in his artwork. He created a variety of colorful and supernatural scenes of mystical fairies and cherubs, surreal paintings of tiny naked people walking hand-in-hand (almost like a tribal gathering), black and white portraits, watercolours that feature characters with a disturbed, unfocused stare in their eyes, and serene landscape of buildings and idyllic oceans with sailboats.  

This assignment was one of my favorites I’ve completed in this class, because it allowed me to look through the interesting artwork of a man who endured a mental breakdown. Through his art, I now view him not just as the sensationalized media figure he’s known to be, but as an artistic genius whose mental illness affected his creativity and art; but insanity and depression aside, I can still appreciate the intrinsic talent he possesses.

[ivykart]

The Dichotomy, Interplay, and Relationship Between Language and Art

This article was an interesting exploration of the separate dichotomies of art and language, how they've been interweaved throughout history, and how they're being forcibly separate in modern societal realms of art and education. 

        The comic first portrays a kid and how society accepts children’s pairings of language and art (comic books, drawings, show and tell), but to pair both these things together is primitive and childish, and as we grow older, we “graduate” from picture books. I was really interested in reading about this process, because I myself loved picture books as a kid and was secretly devastated to let go of them, but outwardly proud of being able to moved onto more “advanced” reading.

        However, humankind was evolved from pictorial images and hieroglyphics—we used actual pictures and images to form our first ever human language, and ironically, art is now denounced upon as informal and seen as a lower-order thinking skill. I enjoyed McCloud’s succinct history of how pictures evolved into language, and thus, people’s rejection of pictures as a solid means of communication, despite our engrossment in movies and our current use of pictoral language, such as Chinese. In fact, I remember sitting in Chinese class when I was younger and rolling my eyes as the teacher gushed about how amazing it was that pictures were turned into writing characters—but now, I can actually appreciate the aesthetic worth of Chinese words, and the symbols and images they represent.

        One of my favorite explanations of the relationship between words and art is depicted on page 145, which shows a picture of a man standing in a museum with a painting on one side and a poem on the other. It portrays how, in the 1800s, the painting was “obsessed with resemblance, light and color, all things visible—the other rich in invisible treasures, senses, emotions, spirituality, philosophy.” I thought this was an interesting interpretation of the difference between language and art—art is a visible, semi-tangible thing that can be readily consumed, while language holds depth and meaning folded into its layers of words and text. (Of course, I know this isn’t entirely right, for text can be readily consumed if it’s vapid and superficial enough, and art can carry deep symbols and meanings as well—for example, in Impressionism, which is described in the comic).

        Later on, McCloud explains how Impressionism pushed artwork towards an abstract vertex, in which realism and representational styles were pushed aside in favour of abstraction, cubism, expressionism, etc. Simultaneously, writing (especially language) evolved from a tricky, abstract language into a more direct style. It conveyed “meaning simply and quickly, more like pictures” did. However, in pop culture, words and pictures were combined together continuously, but were regarded as ‘low” art (tabloids, newspapers, comics, etc.)

This comic is a perfect example of how words and pictures come together to form both a coherent understanding of literal content and direct knowledge, but also, helps construct an abstract image and form deeper ideas in the reader’s mind. For example, I found McCloud’s triangle diagrams on p. 146-147 extremely helpful in understanding the relationship between words, pictures, resemblance, and meaning. (If only all difficult English papers and readings could have accompanying comics for us!) Also, his alternate forms of comics devoid of either artwork or writing on p. 157 and 159 shows just how integral art and language are to each other in certain works. Alone, without either captioning or pictures, the work is either confusing, or dull and lackluster. Together, however, they form a complete story that is both understandable and entertaining for the reader.

        McCloud does an astounding job in explaining the curious relationship between artwork and language—how the two were one entity at the beginning of history and why modern Western society rejects the interplay of the two as “low” art. However, through his entertaining yet educational comic, McCloud proves to us that comics, movies, and other fields that use images and language, can simultaneously educate and entertain its readers. Now that is a feat in and of itself. 

[ivykart]

DJ Flowing Waters and the "flow"

Decades ago in 2080s, DJ Flowing Waters enraptured his audience with his techno-electric music, also known as EDM (Electrifying Dynamic M00sik). Considered a revolutionary forefather of this timeless music genre, he completely changed the landscape of the music industry with his innovative beats, captivating energy and enthralling visuals. He was the only artist of his time who went above and beyond in creating the ultimate surreal experience for his audience, the majority of which were already intoxicated upon entering the venue, but his special effects created an even more bewitching experience for his young concertgoers.

Instead of using traditional light lasers, he decided to shoot out fire-fueled beams of flames into the crowd; and in lieu of artificial fog machines, he dropped bags of dry ice into mosh pits. Also, instead of adhering to volume standards established by the American Concert Organization, he used thrice as many speakers as was legal in order to ensure literally deafening concerts for his fans. These methods proved to be controversial, for they posed extreme safety hazards during his performances. Several venues have been evacuated due to bursting in flames, and there have been hundreds of lawsuits filed against him for first-degree burns and exploded eardrums.

However, in response to the contentions over his concerts’ effects, DJ Flowing Waters only stated in a tweet, “Brahh.. It’s all in the name of art. Like, this is art. It is literally, blood, sweat, and tears—or it’s nothing.” The majority of his fans agreed, for what’s the point of creating an illusion of something if you bring the authentic experience to a show, no matter how dangerous? They reveled in the artistic dedication of their idol, and greatly admired his commitment to providing unearthly productions for his fan base.

From the first day DJ Flowing Waters has entered the music scene, he has preached a life of flowing energy. Ikiada Derokoona, the man behind the DJ persona, has stated in his interviews that his intrinsic life philosophy is to fully experience the flow and bring that same exhilarating feeling to his fans. “It’s a state of mind when you are completely in the moment. Every person on Earth can relate to this feeling of flow.” It is this mindset that caused him to make such revolutionary changes in the field of concert’s special effects, and it’s the same ideology he hopes to impart onto his young fans. “Chase the flow, feel the flow, be the flow,” he often screams out into mosh pits of shrieking fans.   

Many of his followers, particularly the younger preteens, became extremely inspired by Derokoona’s radical credo to simply live in the moment. Thus, the flow movementwas born, and half of this nation became crazed in committing illegal, and often dangerous actions, in the pursuit of embodying their deity’s ethics. They actively commit these crimes in order to prove to themselves and their peers that none of life’s struggles should taint their inner peace and happiness, and that their actions should exist in an isolated bubble without any consequences whatsoever. They also actively refuse to read the news, think about their future, vote in politics, or converse about anything meaningful in fear of disrupting the flow.

DJ Flowing Water’s fans have been uploading social media pictures of themselves partaking in reckless behavior, such as stealing thousand-dollar jewelry or planking in the middle of highways, captioned solely with the word, “Flow." Or sometimes, they get creative and punctuate their headers with profanities, such as "F***ing flow, motherf***er" or "Flow, b****." The majority of his teen fans are now self-declared addicts, for they’ve turned to substances in order to literally be the flow, per his advice. It is now not uncommon to see underage users popping pills or lighting up joints on the subway, in classrooms, and in churches in order to silence the “cacophonic chatter of everyday life,” per Derokoona’s words. Pictures of underage children at raves, high schoolers in hookah lounges and preteens at bars now flood every corner of the Internet, all hashtagged with “#flow4eva” and #betheflow.”

It is undoubtedly certain that Derokoona of DJ Flowing Waters has left behind a truly inspirational legacy in the wake of his music career, for he has encouraged his fans to embody the flow he emanates in his electric performances, and thus, caused a generation of teens to exist in an indefinitely sedative state of uncaring apatheticness.

[ivykart]

To describe my art is like trying to accurately depict the movement of the tidal waves of the crushing Pacific Ocean, for each flow of saltwater is ever-changing and atomically different from the other. No sea wave is ever identical to the other, for though they may aesthetically appear similar, their chemical makeup can never be replicated again. Though seemingly identical on the surface, the internal bonds of droplets and molecules are living masses that interact and form differently each time.

Similarly, though my poetry and prose are similar to one another in style and syntax, the raw emotions coursing through the veins of my words are different every time. Each piece is bred out of my primal thoughts and feelings, my own experiences woven together in a web of wisdom I hope to impart onto my readers. There is no greater artistic expression than weaving of human language, and there undeniably is no greater language that the English language.

But alas, I have a pathetic little fanbase, for everyone wants to admire my great art, but no one wants to spend their dollars to consume it. Therefore, I have enrolled myself in an extravagantly-overpriced, four-year institution in order to potentially have a chance at succeeding in an alternate job so that I may pay off my hefty student loans while simultaneously whining about how capitalism drains my creative energy and is detrimental to my artistic spirit, but the iron bars of America will continue to cage me into its stifling imprisonment.

Therefore, I am asking for donations so that I do not figuratively and literally starve into artistic doom.Please forward all proceeds to ivykart.tumblr.com/feedmysoul, and you will be handsomely rewarded with original copies of my rejected poetry and prose, for no human being who buys their way into art is worthy of laying eyes on my greatest masterpieces. 

[ivykart]

(Please disregard any previous posts with profanities)

I seem to have forgotten to log out of the computer in the classroom, and a lovely fellow college student decided to post a series of profanities on here. Please disregard that :) 

[ivykart]

Artist Statement Generator

"Through my work I attempt to examine the phenomenon of Minnie Mouse as a methaphorical interpretation of both Georgia O'Keefe and swimming. What began as a personal journey of twatism has translated into images of tofu and elbow that resonate with Asian people to question their own tealness. My mixed media kangaroo embody an idiosyncratic view of Buddha, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection between Michael Jackson, koalas and smoothies. My work is in the private collection of Audrey Hepburn who said 'Oh my!!, that's some real aromatic Art.'  I am a recipient of a grant from Folsom Prison where I served time for stealing mugs and tie clips from the gift shop of The New York Met. I have exhibited in group shows at In-n-Out and Asian history exhibit, though not at the same time. I currently spend my time between my kitchen and Berlin."

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1.) Best ideas/sentences: The incorporation of a popular culture reference — Kanye West — made the introduction of the post relatable. As mentioned in the review, the quote”…showcases how the affection and attention of the masses can put ‘normal’ people onto sky-high pedestals”. The thesis...

[ideabunny-deactivated20200219]

Culture in Relation to Celebrity in Bollywood

"When someone comes up and says something like, ‘I am a god,’ everybody says ‘Who does he think he is?’ I just told you who I thought I was. A god. I just told you. That’s who I think I am," - Kanye West, September 24, BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe

Celebrities can be glorified by society to the point where they are perceived as godlike figures. This quote by Kanye West shows an example of the most extreme of situations; nonetheless, it showcases how the affection and attention of the masses can put ‘normal’ people onto sky-high pedestals. Is society the cause for this phenomena? The works in the Bollywood 101 Exhibit at the UCSB’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum suggest that it is the influence of art and culture on society that results in the “celebrity-deity phenom”. Seen below is a man praying in a shrine dedicated to a Bollywood actress due to her being framed as ‘godlike’. 

Bollywood celebrities and their works are given cultural value through the incorporation of religious influences. This melding of mediums started with Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) who “developed a distinct style of representing Hindu gods and goddesses by merging academic western realism with traditional Indian art forms”. In short, it is because of the cultural influences in these works that make them artworks, and the celebrities akin to deities. The works become “highly charged yet malleable object[s] of consumption”.

These paintings hold an aura of mysticism similar to religious paintings that depict the Hindu gods and godesses. For example, in the “Sholay” painting, the woman is the center focus of the scene, depicted as a holy deity with her arms raised up.The colors used in the modern film poster are also seen in religious paintings, showing a deliberate effort on the artist’s part to create this correlation. We see this pattern continue in the hand-drawn “Thor 2” movie poster; The artist alters the facial features of the actors to look more Indian, which allows viewers to relate to a Western movie that, in reality, holds no references to their culture.

               THOR-2: The Dark World Poster is a piece of artwork that exemplifies the idea of currency. Despite the exchanges you have to make when you go to different countries, at the end of the day, money is still money. The Bollywood version of the poster has been changed to adapt to the Indian culture with the vibrant hints of colors, but the people who view the poster can still tell that it was highly influenced from the original one—it still represents Thor. Furthermore, the photo of the man worshipping the pictures of the lady is analogous to glorifying the gods. This depicts the concept of putting so much importance on people or things that may matter to one individual but not to the rest of the world.

The Bollywood exhibit shows that art is heavily influenced by the cultural context that it serves. The movie posters are exemplary of this. Through the exhibit, one sees the influence of religious art styles that help deify actors and actresses. As the western field of movies unites with Indian religious symbolism, there is a blend of meaning that brings the two in harmony. This unifying character of art is amazing considering its broad range of expression.

[ivykart]

But first, let me take a #selfie (and take away the meaning behind "self-portrait")

The proliferation of virtual self-portraits, or "selfies," across our social media platforms is, perhaps, one of the most interesting digital phenomena of the century. We are now so accustomed to our friends spamming our Facebook feed with photos of them posing, their skin glossed over by special effects and filters, that there has been numerous articles, blog posts, and Tweets about the ridiculous nature of selfies—but then again, who am I, in my Minnie Mouse ears (as portrayed in my Tumblr icon), to argue against them? Undoubtedly, these photos do serve they purpose in our culture, for they can document a certain emotion or experience and allow self-expression; but somehow, along the way, perhaps we’ve lost the true meaning behind the word “self portrait.”

Even Urban Dictionary, an e-dictionary that’s usually more accepting to strange social behaviors that usually occur among teenagers, defines a selfie as, "A strange phenomenon in which the photographer is also the subject of the photograph, in a subversive twist on the traditional understanding of the photograph," and even as a "ridiculous practice of narcissism." 

Actual self portraits, on the other hand, were once carefully crafted with paint and brush by masterminds like Picasso and Friday Kahlo. They slaved over their creations for hours in the effort to recreate their physical aesthetics on canvas, unlike the quick half-second snapshot of a selfie. Self-portraits were not only more time-consuming, but they were also a way to convey the artist’s emotions (their facial expression), or a certain message they wanted to portray in their art.

Self-portraits were ways to eternalize themselves through art—and in one way, selfies do the same thing, but in a completely different way. Just one look at the selfie feed, and you’ll see black and white-tinted photos of a girl pouting with the hashtag #missingyou portrays their sadness of their significant other leaving; a picture of a group of friends at a bar holding up drinks shows their will to make others believe what a fantastic night they’re having; and a mirror snapshot of a shirtless man captioned “hardcore night at the gym, #gains” portrays his pride in his aesthetic progress, and could perhaps be an attempt to gain the attention of other women online.

Also, selfie tags are often used on photos that have nothing to do with the human face: photos of food, promotional ads that ask people to Like their picture or follow them, etc. It seems that Instagrammers love using a wide array on hashtags on every photo (some completely irrelevant) just so their “art” can reach a wider audience, and they can garner virtual affirmations that boost their self-confidence.

While both selfies and self portraits serve their individual purposes, their value of art, or their “aura,” is vastly different. The fact that self portraits take weeks, months, or years to create already elevates it above selfies in terms of value. In fact, it’s the easy reproductivity of selfies that strips it of value and meaning: why cherish a photo of a girl pursing her lips into a duck-like expression if there’s millions of other photos of girls doing the exact same thing?  As Benjamin stated, “that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.” Art’s value declines the more it’s widely reproduced.

  Benjamin argues that advancements in technology paved ways for art to be reproduced efficiently, and due to its ease of access by the masses, art became created for the general public, when before, it was an individualistic way of expression raw emotions, feelings, and ideas, that held beauty to a higher standard. However, with new methods of art reproduction, the meaning of art shifted from self-expression towards gratifying others, and therefore, the artist loses its roots and the purpose of the piece is warped to suit the tastes of the consumer. Therefore, this efficient reproduction strips away art’s meaning, cultural value, and intrinsic worth. It is now nothing more than an object to be bought and sold in a capitalist market.

Benjamin believed, “the situations into which the product of mechanical reproduction can be brought may not touch the actual work of art, yet the quality of its presence is always depreciated.”  Benjamin believed that reproduced pieces couldn’t even be considered art at all, and the quality of the piece only degenerates each time. One can only wonder what he would say about these virtual photos that are disseminated onto every virtual platform possible in the attempt to gain Likes and Reblogs.

[ivykart]

Artistic Innovations (Preface)

In Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of mechanical Reproduction," he portrays how dramatic changes in a country's economy and social institutions further impacts the artistic culture. 

As Paul Valery stated, "We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art."

Due to the dramatic changes of the country's political and socioeconomic state, art was able to become rapidly reproduced, thus decreasing its authentic value. It was being bought sold as a mere commodity, a monetary object devoid of its "creativity and genius, eternal value and mystery." Ironically, despite the fact that art was rendered "useless for the purposes of Facism,' its aesthetics and value allowed it to become political symbols.

[ivykart]

I depicted the internal and external processes that occur while working on my personal creative writing pieces (prose and poetry). This same process takes place while writing school assignments as well--though I usually don't have multiple days to edit my essays, because, well.. I'm a bit of a procrastinator! :x

[ivykart]

The Symbol of Art and Language

       Langer’s article, “The Cultural Importance of the Art,” is an interesting comparison between language and art. She argues that language clearly conveys our rational experiences and ideas, a “prime instrument of conceptual expression,” and is an ideal tool to draw out our rational thoughts. What resides in our “inner experience,” however, are untouchable emotions that language simply cannot express. Langer argues that it is this pit of indescribable emotions that artwork aims to portray. While the language of words and sentences conveys symbols that merely allude to feelings, artwork is the direct result of our feelings, a “direct vision of vitality, emotion, subjective reality.”

       While powerfully written, I disagree with some areas of her argument. While I do believe that art can profoundly tap into our innermost complexities, I believe language has the same potent power to express our “inward experience.” Perhaps one could argue that as a writer, I’m extremely biased, but I truly believe that despite the shortage of words in our language to describe varied human emotions and experiences, poets and novelists still hold the same power to depict accurate portroyals of complex and abstract emotions. It isn’t just our vocabulary that we employ to deliver potent messages, but also our syntax, diction, and clever arrangement of words.

       As I read Langer’s article, I couldn’t help but notice her tone and language. While impressed by her repertoire of vocabulary and insight into cultural knowledge, artistic value, and the human experience, I was slightly put off by her elitist tone. With condescending statements like, “Art is the epitome of human life, the truest record of insight and feeling,” her seeming narrow-mindedness of other forms of self-expression can be rather offensive. Never mind her outright accusation of language as inferior to her specified artforms—as one can argue that poetry is as much of an art as dance is—but I can only imagine how irritated or offended an average reader (one not voluntarily taking this course about writing and art) might be.

       While Langer believes that art itself is human emotion, experiences, and feelings—and therefore, becomes our culture—Hickey states in “A World Like Santa Barbara” that it is our culture that assigns meaning to artwork. Art is completely reliant on human interpretation of it, and it is only then that it carries social and political meaning. I found Langer’s statements about the purpose of art interesting, for I also agree that art is a powerful tool that can enlighten us and allow us to explore our imagination, transforming our “anxious discomfort at not knowing into a vertiginous pleasure.” It is the feelings of discomfort and unknowing from the complex artwork before us that allows us to transcend into a deeper understanding of whatever political, social, or emotional subject the artwork depicts.

       The strongest point of Langer’s article is his relation of artwork to mass killings. He argues that children in the city kill for “poverty, greed, anger, and ambition,” which he waves away as inevitable and almost understandable, but “city kids kill because they want more life.” He believes that these suburban shooters massacre their peers and siblings because they are unused to the discomfort and anxiety that comes about with “being teenagers and don’t think they should have to feel that way,” and therefore, they oblierate the situation with the trigger of a metal gun.

       No matter how many times I reread these few paragraphs, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the direct connection between the lack of having “read an exciting book, felt the anxiety of high drama, or experienced the disorientation of difficult art” and the internal chaos that must be necessary to even imagine killing one’s peers. But perhaps, tomorrow’s class discussion will help me better understand his viewpoint and argument.

[ivykart]

Sarah Sze's Play with Negative Space

Sarah Sze's world-renowned intricate sculptures uses thousands of mediums--often steel, wood, or even mundane household items--in order to form unique play with negative space, spreading out in multiple dimensions. Her "Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat)" piece in New York City's High Line, portrayed in the picture above, serves not only as a observatory for birds and insects, but acts as an interactive exhibit in which passersby can walk through. Sze has held exhibitions in countries all over the world, including New York, France, London, Chicago, and Sweden. 

Sze is constantly finding innovative ways to mesh together her different artistic disciplines into one piece, and she ponders,  "I'm always thinking, what can you do in a sculpture that you can't do in a drawing? What can you do in a building that you can't do in a print?" 

Undoubtedly, Sze's work forms an unique intersection with painting, architecture, and sculpture, and allows viewers to experience artwork in an interactive way. Her installations provoke viewers to reanalyze their relationship between nature, art, and human life.