lecture on identity

Today in lecture we went over identity. How we portray ourselves. We watched avatar which, i gotta admit, was pretty cool. In the movie Jake Sully, a disabled veteran  goes pretty much possesses and avatar, which is basically a new body (one that resembles the indigenous population) in which he has full body functions. As time goes on, as he keeps switching from body to body, his worlds begin to blur together and his realities melt together and his alternate reality starts to feel like his actual reality. We also saw to other cases involving sims. One lady, i don't mean to be rude, was a little on the heavy side. However, she identified herself as skinny and therefore made a sim in which she was skinny. Another case was a disabled girl. However, she identified herself as disabled and therefore made a disabled sim. In my opinion, there is one identity which is how you identify yourself. Everything else is just opinion. I think what matters most is how you identify yourself. If you think you are skinny and are happy with it then why does what anybody else think matter? Friends can help shape your identity but all they can do is propose the change. It is up to the actually person to choose whether or not they identify with the change. For example, i can listen to anything the world has to say about me, good or bad, and i can still stay the same without changing. However, what i usually do is if i hear something that someone says about me that bothers me, then i will take a look at myself and if i see it then i'll fix it. If i like the way i am and don't see anything wrong with me then fuck what everyone else says. To me, identity is all about how you see, portray, and present yourself. We are our own piece of art. We intake all these stimuli and we convert it into emotions or actions and present it using ourselves as the medium and the world as our canvas. Identity is art through ourselves. Well at least that's what i think.

Yang Fudong and gabriel Orozco

In the image of the film seven intellectuals in a bamboo forest, there are seven chinese intellectuals dressed like intellectuals observing nature and thinking about life and performing rituals that they don't quite believe in. What i love about this is you can tell, just by the way that the people are dressed, that they don't quite belong there. I love the black and white film though, it helps to convey the emotions one feels when they contemplate life and the future as well as the past. I love this piece because it reminds me of me and my friends. I love hiking to my favorite spots and just talking about life, the world, and the future. I find it funny that they are performing rituals that they don't believe in. It shows that, in the world, what tends to happen in this world is that people put aside their tradition and embrace the modern world. When we're kids or people growing up based solely on tradition, we like to rely on things like rituals to get us where we hope to be. However, in this modern world, we work for our own future and we know deep in our hearts that we make things, we want to happen, happen. it's kind of like a way of finding our roots and relieving it. The world changes and even if we change along with the world it's always good to remember where we come from and what our ancestors believe, even if we don't believe in it. Respect your elders even if you don't see eye to eye.

What i like about Gabriel Orozco's piece title Horses is that it's all about freedom. Although i don't quite believe that the knight is the only piece that can touch every square without touching the same square twice, the knight is the only piece that can hop over another piece without killing it. What i like about that is that it has a choice to pass someone up without having to hurt them. The chess board is expanded and the artist calls the pieces horses and not knights.  The cool thing about it is that the game seemingly doesn't have a purpose at all. I feel like the four different colors on the board symbolize diversity and the fact that the pieces aren't knights symbolizes that there is no war. Although there are differences in appearance, there is no hostility and no conflict. They all coexist in peace and get along. I feel that the artist was trying to portray a world that he one day wishes to see. Although i agree with the artist, i feel that this piece is a little naive. It's like a dream that the world will get along. There's always one horse that causes trouble. However, this world, like this game, has potential and i think that was maybe what the author was trying to get at; that this world has the potential to be at peace.

chapter 23 Ghada Amer and Subodh Gupta

Ghada's piece, titled Red Diagonales,  is a really interesting piece. What I love about the piece is that it is abstract in a way and in another it kind of isn't abstract.  Embroidered diagonally across the piece in a repeating pattern is an image of a girl in an erotic pose. It's painted over with a gel medium. at first glance it just looks like an abstract piece. I thought, this piece looks cool. i like how it's red at the top with black dripping down and from there how the colors drip down the rest of the piece in thin lines. It kind of reminds me of a dead forest with a red sky. Makes me feel like the artist is painting how she see's the world today. The majority of the painting is just black and red. underlying these prominent colors is some blue and yellow and orange (the colors less associated with negative emotion). it's like the sky in the artists eyes is dark; like an evil is running this world. when you look closely enough all that's there is desire or passion or lust. It's like all that people want now a days is to get lucky and have their physical needs met. It's a really sad piece in my opinion. In a world full of darkness the only thing we see is the physical wants and desires. We hide all other things. This piece makes me feel like the artist feels all chivalry and manners are gone and that all we're left with is negative emotion and selfish desires. many thoughts can be derived from this piece.

The next piece is a piece called Very Hungry God. When i was reading the chapter, i read about the twisted charity that this piece is based on.  I like this piece because it was made as a kind of symbol representing the evil intention behind the people who are "donating food" through charity. It was more of a taunt than anything and i think this piece captures that very well. The skull represents death; or in this case, the God of death. It is made out of kitchen vessels which symbolize the food that was supposed to be donated. When you combine the two it's resembles the food which was being offered as well as the idea that was being offered. The idea was not that the people were providing food, but they were providing a poison that would destroy their beliefs and in a sense destroy their God. What i like about this piece is that it shows the act for what it is and puts it in a visible interpretive form. The sculpture is like a god of death for the gods of other religions. This piece is very creative. It is kind of ironic that it was put in a church though. :P

Frank Lloyd Wright vs. Frank Gehry

First up is Frank Lloyd Wright. This man is a BOSS. He is, right now, my favorite architect. I love his principles which is that a house should blend with its environment and that the interior and exterior should be visually and physically integrated. Another thing that i love about this guy is that he is very different from most architects. Unlike many he is known for being a builder of houses whereas most architects are known for building big commissions. I feel that the most important building is one's home. Without a home, most of the other buildings become insignificant. Wright's structure Falling Water is just breathtaking in many was. When you look at it, you can already tell that it fits in perfectly with it's environment. It does look a little isolated but it looks very peaceful. Another cool thing is that it was built in 1936! However, whenever i look at it, I still think that it was built recently. The way he incorporates cantilevers to replicate the way the rocks protrude is pure genius. The stones used in building the house also help blend with the trees. The colors of the rocks are similar to the color of the bark of the trees. I thought that was pretty cool. Also i like the way the waterfall comes off a protruding rock right under a cantilever. That specific cantilever is perfect because it really makes me feel like the cantilever is like the protruding rocks. Everything about the house is just so well incorporated with the surroundings and also it looks very professional, very creative, and overall just very beautiful.

The next artist i'm going to talk about is Frank Gehry. Gehry built the Guggenheim Museum in Spain. First of all, the cool thing i learned was that there's another Guggenheim Museum. I never knew that there was one in spain. Anyway, I like the way that this structure appears. At first i didn't like the metallic look. However, after i looked at it for a little longer i quickly changed my mind. This building is cool because it looks just like a flower. It's kind of a trip. It looks like there are many different metal structures combined to make one big one. It also looks like the shape could change if you look at it from a different angle. It kind of reminds me of an optical illusion. In the picture shown in the book, it also reminds me of a giant boat. Maybe that's why i didn't like it at first. However, it is beautiful in more of a sad way to me. The color of the water and the color of the museum blend together in a way similar to that of Wright's structures. This flower seems well incorporated with it's surroundings. It's kind of like a jungle with a flower by the stream. However, the metallic look and the color of the water kind of made it look polluted to me. but all in all it is still a pretty cool structure.

The two structures are both similar because they incorporate their surroundings. Gehry made his "metal flower" blend well with the water. However, Wright's structure was just magnificent. It blends much better in it's environment than Gehry's structure does. I guess it is at this point where you could see the difference is taste or skill. However, it could also be the different scenery. Gehry's structure does blend well with the city ambiance... kind of. The difference between the two artists though is that Gehry builds the bigger structures whereas Wright builds homes. However, when it comes down to it, both artists are pretty awesom even though i do like Frank Lloyd Wright better.

Joseph Paxton vs. Alexandre Gustave Eiffell

The first artist i want to talk about this week is joseph paxton. Joseph Paxton put together the Crystal Palace. What i found to be really cool was that this structure was more than just a work of art. It was a structure meant to encompass the works of industry of all nations, to be a work of art itself, and to be a new form of construction. This structure is probably the first modern skeleton and skin construction ever designed. It kinda upset me to learn that people kind of took it for granted. Anyway, the Crystal Palace has so much going on its cool. There's things from fountains, to giant trees, to statues like those the Greeks made. It's so colorful as well. It's like a zoo, a park, and more combined into one. It was designed to be like a mesh of the work of industry for all nations. I think it's super cool that the entire thing is sheathed in glass. The metal skeleton was also a big thing one... because it was metal and two... because it was merely a skeleton. The glass then encased it. I find it awesome that glass which is something so fragile could contain so much energy within it. It looks like a fun place. It provides a roof over ones head and it seems like its the place to be. The ambiance just seems so fun and weird at the same time. It's kind of like an adventure

The next artist i wanted to about is Gustave Eiffel. Eiffel and Paxton are very similar in the fact that they used a metal skeleton in there work. The Eiffel Tower if just one giant skeleton structure made strictly from metal. This piece was a major breakthrough. Its pretty cool that many people called his idea foolhardy or insane. But this guy was just like in your face! here it is! now it's a world known structure that nobody goes to paris without visiting it. It was the only structure that I know of, at the time, that was just a skeleton. It proved many different concepts that people couldn't see in Paxton's work. It proved metal can make beautiful architecture by itself and that metal can provide a very strong framework for large structures. There are many things i like about the eiffel tower. one of the things i like about the eiffel tower is that it is strictly a skeleton. It doesn't have anything to cover it up and make it more beautiful. It reminds me of how i feel people should be which is proud of what they are and that they should flaunt it. Women don't need makeup just like this structure doesn't need anything to hide it's natural beauty. Another thing i like about the Eiffel Tower is that is starts off as four legs that unify into one large pillar that overlooks the city. It reminds me that working together can help you reach new heights and overcome boundaries.

These two artists are similar in the sense that they are both architects. Another way that they are similar is that they both used metal framework; a metal skeleton. Both their works proved that metal can provide a strong framework and can be very stable. The difference between the two was that Eiffel's structure was strictly a skeleton whereas Paxton's structure was encased with glass. Another difference was the reaction that the two people got. The public gave more of a negative reaction to his work whereas Eiffel's work left the world in awe. Both artists were creative and at the head of introducing metal skeleton into architecture. However, i must say that i do like Eiffel's structure better.

Vase in the form of two carp and Sasa

The first piece im going to talk about is the vase in the form of two carp. There are many wild and cool things associated with this piece. First of all, it's made of jade. In china, jade is prized and credited with magical properties. Another thing i'd like to talk about is that the chinese believe carp to swim in pairs of two. They associate this with a successful marriage because they are happy and produce a ton of offspring. If there's anything that i like the most in this world it's a successful marriage. I like that when i look at this vase, i can feel that it has something to do with love and people being together forever. Not just that, but i get the feeling that the two lovers are in peace and balance each other... kind of like they're perfect. I like everything about this piece from the color to the material it's made out of... It's also very creative. If i took one look at this piece i would definitely not be able to tell that it's a vase. Whoever receives this vase is said to be blessed and wished prosperity and to have an abundance of children.

The next piece that i want to talk about is the Sasa, when you look at the picture it doesn't look that cool... however, when you find out that it is made of small food tins and bottle caps it gives off a lot more meaning. This piece reminds me deeply of Africa... It is kind of sad but when i think of Africa i think of poverty. I see many commercials with poor African kids who are starving and stuff so i feel like this piece is a very powerful piece. When you look at it you think about all the foods that they don't have. How they are starving. It's like i feel all the pain and sufffering and see it sown together into this giant curtain. It's like a giant curtain of starvation that envelopes the Continent. This piece is pretty cool when you think of it on a deeper level.

yoruba vs andhra pradesh

The first piece of art i want to talk about is an arm ornament made out of ivory. The thing i love about this piece the most is the things it represents. It has carvings of human heads which is said to be a symbol of those that the wearer has power over. Also, this piece of art, in a way, is a symbol of power. Only the king or chiefs could wear armlets like this one. The piece of art is very busy. It combines two deities and is a symbol of prosperity, power, wealth, and worship. This single armlet portrays so much. Like we learned in this chapter, these pieces of art are very closely related to the people. They were worn and people's emotions are embedded into their work. In the armlet, there are carvings of kneeling hunchbacks. These symbolize the the association with the deity Obatala. Obatala is the deity who fashioned the human body. It's the deity that pretty much created the entire villages bodies. The hunchback connects to him because they say he made them while he was drunk... Personally i think that's kind of messed up. I mean he got drunk so he made people with disorders. These people have difficulties living throughout life and are sometimes made fun of. He's pretty much bearing people with disorders to live a difficult life simply because he got drunk and was bored. However, he is their patron so who knows, maybe the people treat hunchbacks well because they are special. Also the armlet has crocodiles biting the heads of mudfish. Crocodiles and mudfish were royal symbols that linked rulers to Olokun. Olokun is the deity of the sea who brings wealth and fertility. I think it's cool because it's the combination of the many symbols of power and prosperity combined into a piece of art that is made from material that requires power to obtain. The part i find the most awesome is that this armlet is made  of ivory. To me, ivory has always been a symbol of power because the first thing that comes to my mind is a giant elephant with tusks. Now to get the tusk, which the armlet is made out of, one must first overcome this powerful beast. To me, that's where the true symbol of power comes from... having to tackle the beast. After that, you combine it which the symbols of your people and symbols to represents your deity's and there you go... and ultimate armlet representing power and prosperity.

The next piece i wanted to talk about was the pair of golden ear rings made by andhra pradesh... first of all, i just think it's cool that metal could be forged cold. i never knew that. anyway, this work has quite the intricate pattern on it. It is made of gold and has little cold spheres in linear patterns on it.They make patterns in the shape of leafs and there's also a winged lion and an elephant. These are both symbols of royalty! These ear rings are cool and all but the thing i don't like the most about it is that they're so heavy. The Indians make it clear, as the book says, that these ear rings are heavy and they stretch your ear lobes so that they rest upon your shoulders. Apparently that was something that characterized rulers. However, Buddha had long ear lobes like that as well because he was an Indian prince. The book says that that gives off the splendor that he renounced. The piece of art is pretty cool but i don't like that it kind of has this association with physically altering you. In their culture, stretched out ear lobes might be the cool thing but i just feel like it would be more of a hassle than a luxury to wear these ear rings. I feel the whole purpose of this chapter is to know that these people use these works of art in everyday life. However, with these ear rings.... i just don't see why anyone would want to use it everyday... especially when it stretches your ears to your shoulders.

Graffiti Lecture

Today in lecture we watched a video called Bomb It. It was a long video about graffiti and art and how the artists are people fighting against the system. A lot of people consider graffiti to be a bad thing. They say that it's a bunch of people destroying the city putting their tag there, marking their territory. But each story has different sides to it. A lot of people only consider their side of the story. What they fail to understand is the story of the person bombing the walls with their words and art. It's pretty much an all out war. The artists mark the walls with their words. It's their way of saying that the government doesn't care about them. They could go anywhere in this world and mark it as their own. The world belongs to them. The government doesn't care about them and the government doesn't give them anything. they don't help so they throw up their words and pieces on the walls as if to say that since you don't want to help we're just going to take it. It's a form of rebellion towards the government. Some graffiti pieces are a way of showing that that area is a place where the government doesn't help and where the government doesn't care. The cool thing that i learned in the video is that the reason they call it "bombing" is because it's their non-violent way of bombing the walls. In war, people in planes drop bombs and destroy the city. with graffiti, the artists are bombing the walls figuratively. They put up their signs as a symbol of that canvas being taken down. The thrill of running away and getting caught or beaten up for painting over someones tag is all part of the art. It's not just an art of painting on canvas. It's a physical art; a performance art. We also learned that people who do graffiti for money are taking away the meaning of graffiti. Graffiti is done in the streets and when it's put into a museum it's like you're caging that form of art. You're taking away the gunpowder from the guns of the rebellious. There's so much to learn about graffiti and art in general. In the end, to me it's all art. People may think it's bad and stuff but it's still art. Some old paintings from way back were also considered bad. I remember the teacher showed us a painting that just looked like a boat sailing down a canal and told us that the painting was one of the most offensive paintings in it's time. I thought that was funny but that's how some people think. Graffiti is the same thing. It takes the questions that would offend anyone and throws it in your face, in your city, on your walls. Graffiti is a very deep art and although society may not like it or think of it as art... it still is. And i think it's freakin awesome.

Antony Gormley vs Yayoi Kusama

Antony Gormley's Quantam Cloud XX is a really cool piece. He's work is centralized around the body. His piece asks the viewers the questions How does it feel to be alive? What is it to be conscious. The piece consists of a lot of short pieces of steel bars welded together and in the center it's more dense and gives off the image of a body. The cool thing about this piece is that when you look at it you can almost believe that it's really someone in the center and that all these things are just surrounding him. It kind of looks to me like he could move at any time. However, it's trippy because you don't know if it's not really a person in the center. Like the book says it looks like theres a field of energy. This piece could be interpreted as a person standing there with this field of energy eminating from his body or a body emerging from this condensed area of intense energy. The title i think is clever because it does look kinda like a cloud but it looks very much like a tornado. It could also be seen as a man being consumed by a whirlwind. Like the many blades of wind are gonna slice him to pieces. The greatest thing is that in this picture, you really think is it this mans emotion and feeling coming out from him? or is it feeling that make up this figure? Do we make ourselves or are we made?


Another artist i wanted to talk about is Yayoi Kusama. This artist is pretty cool and creative. It's awesome that he took a small space and turned it into a giant infinite space. in fireflies on the water the room he made a room that is only 12 square feet and 10 feet high look like you're standing on the beach staring out into the ocean.... or even staring into the vastness of space. I love this piece, i want to see it before i die. The artist only lets one person into the room at a  time and the experience is solitary. I am a person who loves being alone and thinking. This would be the perfect experience for me. I'm also a person who loves astrology. To me this piece looks like a bunch of stars. It makes me feel like i'm in space and all i have is my piece of mind and my thoughts. Another cool thing is that he took a room so small and made it look infinite. It could be a symbol of how we could make the most of the little things we have. Or that we could turn something small and make it into something grand. Or no matter how small you are in this world... you could be the biggest thing ever. size doesn't matter in this artists mind. I love it! it's like a dream. a dream of one day turning something small into something big. Its an illusion. It puts the viewers in a surrealistic space. Leaves the viewers in awe. Water is another thing that is included in this piece. Water is a symbol of purity and serenity and peace. However, water is also very powerful. It could be a symbol of our mind. in that room it puts your mind at peace and lets it wander off tranquilly. It puts you in a state of serenity and calmness but at the same time you know that your mind is the most powerful thing you possess. It's like taming a beast.

Both artists are so cool. On one side you have a vicious whirlwind of energy condensing into one body or one body giving off a whirlwind of energy. On the other side you have calmness and peace. one piece is filled with excitement and the other is completely the opposite. two completely different pieces but they are both incredibly awesome.

Tilman Riemenschneider vs David Smith Chapter 11

Tilman Riemenschneider is one of the foremost German Sculptors of the late Middle ages. His carving called Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon is carved out of lime wood. He uses this wood because it carves easily and fits his style perfectly. I think this carving is cool because, like the book says, carving is more aggressive than modeling and more direct than casting. I like the idea of carving more than molding and casting. I think its cool to think this statue was once a larger piece of lime wood which he chipped away at and shaved off to make this awesome piece of work. The sculpture is of the virgin Mary and her baby Jesus. I think this sculpture is cool because 1.) Jesus is still a baby and he's naked. To me, the fact that he's a baby is clever because when you're a baby you're the most pure. There's nothing you could've thought or done to corrupt you or make you impure. Being a symbol of holiness and purity, this is probably one of the best ways to portray the two; even though Jesus was technically never corrupted or made impure ever. The park about him being naked i thought was cool too because man was born naked. In the bible, the first time man ever wore clothes was when they sinned; it's safe to say that clothes could be a sort of symbol of impurity and evil. The fact that Jesus is naked in a way shines more light on his purity and perfection. I also think it's cool because, like the book says, they both look like they could move at any time. Jesus is more animated than the virgin Mary because that's how babies are. But also, i think it was clever to make the baby more animated because it draws attention to the baby. The baby is smaller and so normally it would be the second thing you look at; but because Jesus was made to look so animated it draws the viewers attention. However, i would like to mention that one thing i don't like is that the Virgin Mary looks kind of unhappy.

David Smith is an artist known for assembling his pieces. Honestly, i don't know what to make of his work. I can't say i don't like it because i find it interesting... but i don't know what to look for in it. His work is pretty cool because it makes you kinda want to stop and look at it. His piece Cubi XII makes you think a lot about it. like what was the artist trying to do? what is this supposed to be? The coolest thing is that it might not even be anything. But it makes you wonder and ask questions which i think is kinda cool. I can't say that i'm a complete fan... but i can't say i'm not a fan either. The book says that the sculpture looks like an armload of packages about to tumble. When you look at it... who's to say it isn't? This piece is really just a mystery to me.

Both of these pieces are cool in the different ways they have meaning. the first piece is more of a religious piece that focuses on the purity and perfection of lord. The second, in a more mysterious way, draws your attention and makes you think. However, both pieces are similar in the sense that one makes you think about what it is or what the purpose of its existence is and the other makes you think about your beliefs. In the end, both pieces are pretty cool.