Site Specificity

     In conjunction with this class, I am also taking Philosophy of Art.  In that class, we covered Street Art at about the same time as we covered Street Art.  In that class we discussed site specificity and how and if that challenges the art autonomy theory.
     First off, we had to define what street art is.  The first idea was that a work of art is street art if, and only if, it is made in the street.  This doesn't work because then that would have to include any art that happens to be in the street.  This include those who set up an easel and canvas on sidewalks as well as art shows.  Nicholas Riggle proposes a far more acceptable definition: A work of art is street art if, and only if, its material use of the street is internal to its meaning.  I like this definition as it clearly defines that in order for a work of art to be street art, the site at which it has been placed in is also part of the meaning of the work.  Banksy has placed many works in places where what the meaning of that work is correlates with the surrounding area.  In the case where he painted what looks like a hole to paradise in the West Bank wall is both beautiful on its own and also a political statement.
     With regards to one of my images in my blog, "The World is Going Down the Drain," the use of the storm drain is internal to the meaning as the world is depicted as flowing down into it.  If this piece was taken and painted onto a canvas and placed within MOMA, it would would most likely be interpreted as though the world was melting and the true meaning of the work would be lost.  So, the site in which a work of street art is placed is both intentional and internal to the meaning of the work.

The World Going Down the Drain

     This image was painted in Spain, near a storm drain.  This image is meant to communicate mainly the artists viewpoint of the direction the world is heading.  I believe this is a great representation of that worldview.  In my journal section, I wrote a part about the importance of site specificity.  Would this image have the same effect if it was on canvas and placed within a gallery?  I would say that it would not.  It might get interpreted as the world melting or something similar, but not that the world was going down the drain.  So for me this image shows that street art must draw its meaning from the material in which it is placed or made from.

Lego Street Art

     I grew up with legos.  In the above image we have an optical illusion than looks as if a lego army is in the middle of the street.  When viewed from other angles, the image becomes distorted, as the picture below shows.  I found this image by simply searching for Lego street art.  The artists have correctly represented Lego men not only in their appearance, but in their attire and accessories.  The inspiration for this piece was the Terracotta Army found in China.  The event this was drawn at was the Sarasota chalk festival in Florida.  The Terracotta Army was buried with the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.

Massive Nazi-Looted Art Trove

Man Behind Massive Nazi-Looted Art Trove Strikes Deal With German Authorities

     Cornelius Gurlitt inherited a massive collection of artwork from his father who was an art dealer who traded in works confiscated by the Nazis.  1,400 items were found at Gurlitt's home during a tax case investigation back in 2012.  Officials are saying that 458 of those may have been seized from their owners by the Nazis.  Some of the works include works by Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  It is predicted that at least 300-350 of those works will be returned to Gurlitt.  A task force has been set up in order to research each of the confiscated pieces.  If, in one year, research hasn't been completed on a work, it will be turned to Gurlitt.  Further research on a returned work is still able to be done after the year and any works with a pending restitution claim will be kept in trust.  This article was interesting to me because of the sheer number of works that were being looked into.

OakOak Uses Street Art to Clean Up the City

OakOak Uses Street Art to Clean Up the City

     During the day, the artist known as OakOak works a normal 9-5 job, but when the workday is over, he finds places within the urban city of Saint Etienne, France to paint.  The town is mainly fueled by coal mining and has begun to become "grubbier" as OakOak puts it.  Anyplace that has a crack, is broken down, or in disrepair he tags it.  The article has some of his works and they are amazing.  This reminds me a little of the documentary about Banksy I watched in my Philosophy of Art class earlier this semester and our discussions on site specificity.  If OakOak were to paint these on canvas and place them in galleries, it would change the meaning that was meant to be conveyed.  This brings me back to the John Ahern case where the message he meant to convey was not the one that was communicated.  Here, however, it is clear that he is trying to bring light and color to these parts of his town.

Famous Stolen Painting Recovered After Hanging On Autoworker's Kitchen Wall For Years

Famous Stolen Painting Recovered After Hanging On Autoworker's Kitchen Wall For Years

     This story almost echoes back to the Jackson Pollock movie.  A Sicilian man buys a painting and it turns out to be worth far more than what he originally payed for it.  The difference here is that there seems to be no doubt as to the painting being an authentic Paul Gauguin still life.  This article is interesting because all that the man has to do is prove that he bought this in good faith.  This painting was bought along with another painting at an Italian state railway in 1975 for $100.  After the autoworkers son noticed that it could be a Paul Gauguin, an expert was brought in and it was decided to likely be a Paul Gauguin still life.  It was the dog in the upper right corner that tipped the son off to the possibility as Paul Gauguin usually used dogs as his signature motif.  It's worth is now set between 19 to 13 million euros ($14 million to $40 million).

Steampunk

    I found this image via deviantART, one of the main sites I will discuss in my paper on fanart.  Steampunk is best described expediently as a depiction of what the past would have looked like if the future had happened sooner.  Normally, steampunk clothing falls into the British Victorian era or American Wild West.  The main point of steampunk is to imagine an alternative history, one that mainly employs steam power.  The man in this image is wearing a Victorian era style hat, a pistol of complex design, and his clothing is leather with metal bolts to fasten everything together.  One of the traits that makes us him is the capacity for imagination.  No other species would be able to invent an alternative history as they are unable to think any further ahead than their immediate need.  Many of us wonder what what life be like if things happened differently and steampunk is one way of doing that.  What would our world look like if we ran solely off of steam power?  Would that make any difference in environmental impact?

Immortal Picture Stories

     Amar Chitra Katha, or ACK for short, is a series of comic books that are extremely popular in India.  Printed in color, and mainly English at first, they tell stories of mythological figures and historical figures.  I found it really interesting the ways in which they told the stories.  The main problem I had with them is that all Muslim rulers were cast as villains, even Shah Jahan was cast differently than Hindu rulers.  Shah Jahan was depicted as old, feeble, and not much of a warrior, even though he had been earlier in life.  The cover of his issue shows him staring out of his cell at the monument he had made for his wife, the Taj Mahal.  Honestly, I didn't know that the Taj Mahal was built by a Muslim ruler.
     The fact that these comics became the authoritative way for Indians to learn the "root to their roots," kind of bothers me.  The issue is that these comic books are being read by children, who have yet to develop critical thinking skills and thus assume these to be true representations of history.  However, not all Indians truly see these as definitive sources of cultural identity.  A friend of mine, who grew up in the state of Kerala, enjoyed them when he was younger, but now sees them just as Chitra Katha's, or "Picture Stories."  However, many still believe that the stories depicted in ACK are in fact the true story, unclouded by any particular political agenda.
     Growing up in the Christian community, the Bible stories that I grew up learning were meant to be accepted as literally true.  The problem with a complete literal interpretation is that sometimes what occurs in both stories from the Christian and Hindu mythologies is that there are events that seem to defy natural laws.  How does one illustrate/explain something that is literally impossible such as Krishna lifting a mountain with one finger or the world being created in seven literal days?  With an increasing emphasis on science and technology, scientifically, these two events are impossible.
     Today so many people argue over literal and figurative interpretations.  In the end I think everyone must make a choice.  For Indians: Will you believe that Krishna really lifted that mountain with one finger or was it that he was credited with helping people to find respite from Indra? For Christians: Did God really create the universe in 7 literal days or was he using the number 7, which was considered the divine number, to establish his divinity?

Something Black In the Lentils

     How many times have we been swindled by what we thought was a good deal?  There are so many self-help books and hotlines promising this and that.  With the large amount that exists, how can we know what is really true and what is false?  Swamiji tells us a story of a disciple who stole.  When he was caught, the king had his nose cut off, and he began to dance around claiming that he can see God.  So he began to gather followers, cutting off their noses, and in turn they begin dancing and claiming to see God.  The story then takes us to a kingdom where the king is about to have the noses of his entire kingdom cut off.  The Prime Minister does not think this is a good idea, but is unable to sway the king.  The Prime Ministers grandfather then goes to the king warning him about the Nose Cutters, but the king only rebukes him saying, "What do you know?"  It is then decided that the grandfather will have his nose cut off first, and if he does in fact see God, then the whole kingdom will follow suit.  However, when the grandfather has his nose cut off, the disciple whispers in his ear that he will get laughed at if he does not say that he can see God, as by doing so he will earn a great amount of reverence and respect.  He returns to the king and says that he does not see God and is in a great amount of pain.  The Nose Cutters were rounded up and thrashed.  The story ends here saying that with only one king this group was caught and stopped.
     What I love about this story, and Indian stories in general, is that one can take more than jut one specific morale of the story.  Reverence for your elders, discernment, caution; these are some of the morale's to be extracted from the story.  We are supposed to understand that cutting off the nose, in this case, does nothing to increase our vision nor does it help us to see God.  Exercising caution and making sure you have all the facts before jumping in head first is a must.  Reverence for your elders, a cultural practice that is somewhat rare here in the United States, is very common in South Asian cultures.  So it is a very bad thing when the king says, "What do you know?", as it shows a disregard for the advice of those with many years.
     One of the other points that Swamiji made, although not within this particular story, was what he believed to be karma balancing itself.  Americans used to be slave holders, so now with so many Americans become slaves to these false gurus, it was to balance out our enslavement of African Americans.
     For me, caution was the main morale I took away from this story.  Now, whenever I am presented with something, I will check to see if there is "something black in the lentils."

Who the *#$% Is Jackson Pollock?

          I really enjoyed this film.  You had the art world vs. Teri Horton over a painting that, with evidence, can be strongly believed to be painted by Jackson Pollock.  Here is what I found a little ridiculous about the who situation: neither would budge on either it's authenticity (the art world) or it's value (Teri).  During the film, Teri hires Peter Paul Biro, a forensic art expert from Montreal, and he was able to establish evidence that included a fingerprint that matches those found in Jackson's studio, and that the paint used on the painting matched the paint used in Jackson's studio.  Even with all of this evidence, the art world still just would not budge.  As the movie continued on, we began to see the bigger issue: the elite vs. the working class.  Why would a woman, who never graduated high school, have a painting estimated at $50 million?  Why would it have ended up at a thrift store?  Certainly Jackson would never have let his paintings go to those kind of places.  Because of there snobby reaction, Teri herself also ended up at a place where should we just not budge on anything.  At the end of the film, we see that she turned down an offer from Saudi Arabia, which was $9 million, because she will only take the $50 million that is it's estimated value.
          If I was her, I would have taken the $9 million, although honestly with a lot of regret and only if that was the only hope of selling it.  The whole world of connoisseurs is a very strange world to me.  Why would you let a painting that has scientific evidence proving it's authenticity?  Why is provenance so important?  I think it's about being able to tell a good story.  Good stories have drama, suspense, action and so on.  The story of this painting, as far as they would see, is that a poor woman bought it at a thrift store, then discovered that it could be worth a lot of money, but lacked the paperwork to prove to them that it was a true Pollock.  For them, the forensic evidence is irrelevant, because it still doesn't establish the paintings history.  I really loved the story that she cooked up.  That kind of thing is probably what goes on in the art world today.  Also, I do think that maybe more actually thought it was a Pollock, but were afraid to say so because being a connoisseur means establishing a reputation.  Nick Carone, who actually believed it was a Pollock, was "advised" not to say so on camera.  After his death, his family came forward with that fact as well as the families own agreement on his view.

First Interview

For my first interview, I interviewed Kathryn Gloshen.  Last semester I took an Intro to Museum Studies class and that is where I met her, along with other art majors.  She is a Junior in Fine Arts, emphasizing on painting.

A = Austin

K = Kathryn

A = When either given an assignment or pursuing personal projects, what is your creative process?

K = When given an assignment or when I feel like starting on a new project myself I usually am inspired by a thought.  So I'll research that idea, like right now I'm really interested in the different textures on plants. I work at a market that sells plants so I get to experience them hands on.  I print off many related pictures and also research artists that do similar work.

A = Interesting! Besides the market you work at, what inspires you?

K = A ton of things inspire me.  For one, music inspires me.  When I hear a really excellent song I just want to paint something as beautiful and intricate as listening to that song.  Looking at all of the different shades of green in nature makes me want to find all of those specific colors with paint.  I've collected leaves and different found objects in nature and have matched their colors with watercolor paint.  Sometimes I just go with my sense of humor, what I think is funny, awkward and weird interests me and I want to create something just as uncomfortable.

A = Connecting with nature is a great way to find ideas, for sure.  What influenced your decision to pursue a BFA in painting?

K = I always wanted to make art. My art teachers from when I was a tot all of the way through high school showed me that art is about being yourself.  I am physically making something that really is just a small part of me, to show others how I feel or what I love.  Who wouldn't want to do that with their life?

A = Exactly! So many people these days seem to have given up on doing what they really want to do and what they love.  What projects are you working on right now?

K = I am working on a series of water based monotype prints in printmaking about plants, and a piece in my mixed media painting class that is just about paint.

A = Sounds awesome!  Do you know what you might do after you graduate?

K = I've been thinking a little about grad school, whether I want to go immediately or wait a few years.  Also I want to start building up my portfolio and start getting my work into cafes, build up popularity and get my name out in the public.  I would probably also go to a lot of public events that had art to meet new artists.  I would like to work at an art gallery at some point in my life, but right now I love working with plants since I find it peaceful and inspirational to create more work.

A = Getting your foot in the door is difficult, but it looks like you have an idea of where to start!  That's pretty much all I've got for questions.  Thanks for meeting up with me!

K = Not a problem!

Cannibal Tours

          Cannibal Tours, a documentary made in 1988 by Dennis O'Rouke, was painful to watch.  It shows how wrong our view is of what we consider to be "primitive" people.  Also, we see one of the problems when an ideology is forced on them, destroying certain aspects of the people's lives.  While I am personally a Christian, I do not condone the eradication of an ideology and the objects that go with it.  As a human being, who am I to come in and say that my way is the only way and that all other things must be destroyed?  While I do believe that my faith is the only true faith, I will not discuss that here as it is not pertinent to this post.
          Watching the local people's reaction to the tourists, you can see that they really don't like it.  The best examples I saw were the interview with older woman who said, "Why do they have all the money and we don't?" and also the one man who as being interviewed and the elderly lady stepped into to frame to take a picture of the guy.  His facial expression was that of disgust, and I agree with him.  For them, this seems to be the only way for them to earn money so they can by "first-price" items in town.  The only problem is that the tourists, who can easily pay the first-price haggle for a second-price or a third-price.  As the one guy said, "We can't by first-price items with second-price money."
          Ethnocentrism is something I see running rampant here in the USA.  We believe that our way of life is the best way, when in reality, it is not.  We go in to places with stable societies that have existed for thousands of years and proclaim that our way is more modern and better.  I think of China, whose dynastic history goes back around 5,000 years.  Of course, communism, which took control of China in 1947, is not a good form of government, but the US has only been around for about 240 years, when China's existence is 21 times that!  If we began to educated our children how to identify and avoid ethnocentric thoughts and ideas, they would have a much more balanced view of the world.

Whose Art is It?

          I really enjoyed this book, although the entire controversy seemed  to focus solely on the fact that a white person was making art of black people.  His work was deemed as racist and confrontational by those outside of the community he was living in.  They viewed Raymond as a drug dealer, Corey as fat and unemployed, and Daleesha as a zombie instead of the real people that they were.  It seemed to me that they thought he was making bronzes of idealized figures instead of real people.  I love that despite the controversy, John is still making art in the South Bronx to this day.  His community respects him and vice versa.  No one in the community has stolen his artwork, nor have they defaced it.  They may have stolen money and batteries, but never his art.
         If the people who were so against the bronzes knew how much his community respected him, I believe the outcome would have been far better.  I feel like if they had taken the time to get to know John, instead of assuming that he is racist, the bronzes would still be there.  Some of the things pointed out by Mrs. Salgado are valid, but John is portraying the reality that is his community.  The problem does not lie with the drug dealers, the unemployed, or the "zombies," it is, in fact, the social construct that we have built that gives birth to these issues.  This is one the problems with a world that runs on money, not every person is going to have a decent amount of it.  Those who do, are able to acquire the best quality items to insure a healthy life, (of course, excluding the fact that many celebrities have drug problems as well...).  In order to get a good education, it takes a decent amount of money.  This is why Mrs. Salgado's point is somewhat valid.  As I see it, she has worked hard to insure a stable life for her children.  To have a daily reminder of the deplorable life that she has rescued her children from is of course not a good thing to be reminded of.  One must not take steps toward the future with eyes fixated on the past.
          Now, back to the issue of race.  Why is it bad that a white person is depicting black people?  It is seen as bad since there is an assumption that is made by, in my experience, many black people that all white people are racist and only want to oppress them.  This is of course, flawed, as the assumption itself is racist towards white people.  The experiences I have had are from working customer service.  For example, a black customer comes up and are either intentionally or unintentionally trying to do something that is against our policies.  I say no to whatever it is, and they immediately ask for the manager, who then tells them the same thing I just said and they are cordial and apologetic and smile and leave.  This is why I side more with John and the fact that there shouldn't have been a controversy to begin with.

Sword Art Online II

Sword Art Online II

          Sometime this year, the second arc of Sword Art Online, an anime based in a fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, (MMORPG or MMO for short), is going to be released.  The first arc began with the release of an MMO entitled Sword Art Online, a fully virtual world using a virtual reality helmet so the user would actually feel as if they are there.  All is going well until the creator tells them that they cannot leave the game until they beat all 100 levels.  If someone tries to remove the helmet, they will instantly die in the real world.  If they die in the game, they die in the real world.  The whole story revolves around two characters who together beat the game and free everyone...sort of.  All but the female main character is freed, who turns out to be trapped in yet another MMO.  This time the male main character saves her and frees her from the game.  I love anime so I continually look for news about upcoming and new anime.  This series kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I am excited to see the direction this new arc will take, with new characters and a whole new world to be explored.

Who is Banksy?

Who is Banksy?

          Banksy, an artist known for not being known.  He is a street artist that has been tagging buildings around the world.  Some of his pieces go for thousands of dollars.  There was a YouTube video of him placing his artwork with labels and everything in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It was discovered and taken down, but not after being seen by many.  The big thing about Banksy is the fact that no one knows who he is.  In this article, it talks about how if there are people that actually know him, they are not coming forward out of respect for him.  If they did squeal, their own reputations would be destroyed.  The article talks about how street art is about respect and how even if someone could make a quick buck from exposing his real identity, they still wouldn't because, “If you want to be cool with Banksy, you don’t really talk about him.”  Below is one of his most notable works: the NOLA Girl with Umbrella.

Video Game Cosplay

     League of Legends, a game developed by Riot Games, is a tower defense type game.  It is 5v5, with each team of 5 starting at the opposite end of the map.  The objective is to get into the other teams base and destroy their nexus.  Above is an image of a professional cosplayer who is dressed up as Ezreal, one of the characters or "Champions" from the game.  Cosplay has become huge in both the video game industry as well as the movie and anime industries.  At the bottom of this post is a picture of the actual character from the game.  While the above person is a professional, there are many people who make their own costumes or buy them online from websites dedicated to cosplay costumes.  I dressed up as a main character from one of my favorite anime shows one year for Halloween.  The materials that non-professional cosplayers use varies, but they are extremely creative.  Some people have spent hours and hours on one costume alone.  Some have made weapons that exist only in video games in real life.  It has been great to see what people are capable of when they let their imagination fly.

Instagram as an Anime Character

Instagram by Jon-Lock on deviantART

          I love anime.  When I first saw this as part of a post on Kotaku, I decided to look further at his page on deviantART.  He has humanized many different social media sites and internet browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and as pictured above, Instagram.  While Instagram is something I have only recently become interested in, I do feel like this captures Instagram if it was an anime character called "Insta".  He has taken elements that are found in anime, i.e. the anime eyes, the fashion, and futuristic tech, and applied them to the different social media sites.  When it comes to anime and fashion in Japan, the sky is the limit.  Japan has some crazy AND awesome fashion.  In this image specifically, he uses brown as the main color with different shades, black for the buttons, glasses, and headphones, and white for the cuffs and collar.  The colors for the bow tie, collar accents, and headphones match those of the sites icon.  Insta's hairstyle is a men's hairstyle that is very popular in Japan, with the top being very long with short sides.  The link underneath the image links to his deviantART profile, he's got some pretty awesome stuff! Check it out!

Map Painting

The Art in Cartography

          Fernando Vincente, an artist living in Madrid, has taken some antique maps and used them as canvases for a number paintings in his "Atlas Series."  For each painting, he used the geographic boundaries in order to shape each painting.  I thought this was really interesting as most of us really haven't thought of maps as something that could be art.  Maps function as a way to get from one place to another, and not usually to express creative ideas.  These paintings, although unable to function as maps now, allow us to see them as more than their usual static categorization.  This is why I chose this.  He is showing us his interpretation of these as more than maps of a certain location.  He is turning the world's landmasses into his perception of the aesthetic qualities that can exist within cartography.  This reminded me of the day we looked at different images and had to decide if we thought it was art and if it had a large monetary value.

A Capella Disney Medley

          I grew up watching Disney movies.  I find this image interesting because two people were able to recreate some of the iconic Disney songs from my childhood.  At the beginning, when the guy is singing the intro in Zulu I was listening for the (post)alveolar click.  He nailed it.  Since this is an A capella medley, they layered their own voices doing the different parts.  They recreated not only the melodies, but also by using both audio and visual mediums, a person is able to identify and recall both the original characters as well as the emotions of the songs.  It reminds us of our childhood dreams and hopes.  The time when we are unaware of the "real world" and all that that entails.  These two did an amazing job.