Non-Western Arts

For a non-western culture and arts I chose Japanese Theater, more specifically on the Noh plays. This play is called Hagoromo and is very famous in Japan. There is no definite date of when it was created but the records go back to year 1524 as the earliest. The author of this play is unknown so the Japanese Arts Council owns the rights of the name. This video clip is at the end of the play but the story is pretty simple. A fisherman finds a magical feather-mantle and the Hagoromo claims that she needs it to head back to Heaven. The fisherman at first refuses and argues with her then finally asks her to dance for it and she gladly accepts. The video clip is when she is given back her feather and ascends to the heavens.

I chose this play because it is a fairy tale like story my mother told me many times when I was a child. I never knew it was a play so I was surprised when I found this. This play has brought me back memories and finally understand the meanings of the story with how its being portrayed. How the music is produced is just simply amazing with just a guy yelling stuff out with a special drum, it just sounds soothing.

Post Modern art

My theme for this project is opportunity. All of the artworks that will be shown will have hidden messages that introduce the artist’s true path of becoming a professional. I am doing two artists with 3 artworks of each. The first three works are done by a Japanese video and photographic artist named Mariko Mori. She was born in Tokyo, Japan 1967. She studied at Bunka Fashion College while working as a fashion model in the 80s. With the fashion job she started to work on art that had some alien oriented style of work.

The first artwork is called the Dream Temple which was created in 1999 and currently being held at the Royal Academy of Arts installation. This piece influences my theme of opportunity because of how she created something that shows something unique. The temple is made out of glass and with some metal, making it look like a divine area and only the few are allowed to enter it. I chose this work because of her message that she is leaving within that temple, which is the light which brings us all together.

My second artwork that I chose is called Entropy of Love and it was produced in 1998. This is a style of art called color photograph on glass. The word opportunity can be defined in many different ways but mainly it is represented through passion of some sort. This work shows a bubble like substance in the middle of nowhere with hundreds of electric windmills. The bubble is alone in that area looking different but being there shows that it wants to show the others what it can do by its uniqueness. I love photography and never knew that this kind of work can be done so I was intrigued in how this was created.

The third piece is called the Birth of Star, and was created in 1995. This artwork is pure photography and is very interesting photo considering it looking a little plain and simple. This sticks to my theme very strongly because of her expression of being confident and being surprised in how many colored balls there are surrounding her. The colored balls are all different and unique; they also represent different paths of opportunity. The photo shows how many choices she has to make her stand to be great thus a star being born. This picture is very colorful and has many meanings while looking plain which caught my attention.

My second artist that I use in my project is Maya Lin who is a Chinese-American artist who works mostly on sculpture and landscape art. She is mostly known by her aid in creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She went to school in Yale University and got her bachelor’s in Master Architecture. She is related to Lin Huiyin who claims to be the first female architect in China.

The first work I am going to present from her is called Ecliptic, created in 2001 and the location is at Frey Foundation Grand Rapids, MI. This particular work is an ice rink with lights underneath them making it look like space. She has done this work in some other landmarks as well making it look more futuristic and beautiful. This is her own way of saying she has the opportunity to show everyone what she is capable of to make the future of planet earth a better place. Walking around the streets with these lights as night will not only be beautiful but an idea of the unknown possibility of the future.

The second work is called Bodies of Water, created early this year in 2009. It is currently held at storm the King Art Center, Mountainville, NY. This artwork is done by small blocks of chopped wood aligned to make a wave. It kind of looks like some kind of domino setup and turned out to be crazy. This artwork reminds me of my theme of opportunity because of the wavy texture it has, which represents a rocky road to success and when finally passed all of that, your time is up and it is now up to you decide how rocky the road will be. I would have something like that in my house and have my friends be all confused about why it’s there, they will never understand.

My last work is called Langston Hughes Library, which is being held as a children’s defense fun in Clinton, TN. This was created in 1999, which is a house with a small built bottom and a very big exterior built on top. I chose this artwork because of how the house is built. As you can see the house starts off small and it doesn’t look all that exciting down there compared to the top half of the house. This is another way of expressing opportunity because of how you always start off small and as you built your way up you finally get to the top bigger part of life and get your chance to succeed. Think of it as a matter of survival with being down there it will be cold and suffer but when you reach the top part you get to be warm and relax. Hard work and determination will pay off. I really like the unique building style of this house but I just don’t understand how it is standing and looks like it could be really weak to some natural disasters.

Early Modern Era

I am doing my critique on a picture that was taken by a photographer during the Great Depression named Walker Evans. He took photos of different parts of the Great Depression, what it was like, what did it look like and what caused it. This photo was called Sharecropper’s Family, and was taken at Hale County AL in 1936. Evans first wanted to become a writer, going to New York to start his career. He then chose to go with photography over being a writer with my personal opinion that visual subjects are far more superior than writing in terms of explaining the message of a certain subject or object.

I personally like photography, and not only is it my hobby, it is my major in school as well. What got me interested in this photo was from the huge amount of detail of what is going on in that picture. Just by looking at the photo you could easily tell that the family is very poor and is having a miserable time. This photo gives so much expression and emotion. This connects to the Great Depression deeply because of what they are wearing, their expressions, and the house they are living in. It is pretty depressing seeing that the small child looks happy because he has no idea what is going on. The child doesn’t know what the depression is; he has no idea what is normal and what is not. The Great Depression brought these kinds of emotions to every family in America. Everyone who has not lived during that era has no idea what they have been through and don’t know how to learn more of it. The closest thing they could get is by seeing a photo during its time of what was going on within the people during the Great Depression.

http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/hard_times/walker_evans/

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.likeadesertprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/trodd-walker-evans-01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.likeadesertprophet.com/%3Fs%3Dagee&usg=__Z5dU6kYSmCyr0U4VANdgesPzM-g=&h=478&w=600&sz=217&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=z3qORzpckKfqxM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwalker%2Bevans%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

Impressionism

I am doing a piece on John Singer Sargent’s popular work called the Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. Singer was an Englishmen living in London from 1826-1925. This painting was created in 1885-1886 and is currently held at the Tate gallery in London, England. Singer actually had models of two little children to stand still quite a bit as he did the painting.

I chose this art because the artwork seems to be more on the original side of the impressionism style along it being very detailed for that style. What caught my most attention on this is that he added another culture into the painting. Impressionism is said to be inspired by the Japanese style prints (Japonisme). Singer added Chinese lanterns which are used in Japan for certain events, and I think that shows how the world is surrounded by inspiration to art. I’m half Japanese and am really interested in that side of the culture so I can see what he is trying to say in this painting with just a couple of normal girls and living peacefully.

At first, I didn’t get too attached to the impressionism style because I grew up learning more about that kind of art than any other. After looking through many paintings I have never seen before, I started to like the style. Although the post-impressionism is supposed to be an improved style of the art, but I find that the original way of the style is better. How it was founded and how it was portrayed to art with the idea of impressing others with painting with unique colors is way more fascinating than seeing modern style arts being printed with the improved style. Impressionism has more of the unique style because of artists choose to use the post-impressionism style for their study and practice. Vincent Van Gogh’s popular work, Starry Night, is a sole example of what the post-impressionism style looks like. Comparing that painting to Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise, the impressionism style looks more real. To me, Van Gogh’s style doesn’t look that great in quality. I know for a fact that isn’t the way he portrayed it but to me it disturbs me. For one, I can’t even tell if that left dark wavy thing is a tree or seaweed, very hard to tell. With Monet’s style, you can easily tell what the painting is of and it’s very clear even though it has the same wavy look to it.

http://gallery.sjsu.edu/oldworld/asiangate/bridgingtheocean/jap/gogh_ume.html

http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/monet.html

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/508/Starry-Night.html

I am sharing a piece from the famous composer Franz Joseph Haydn. This music score is called The Clock and was played for the first time in the Hanover Square rooms in 1794. It was completed in 1791 during one of his visits in London. This symphony was under the London Symphonies as No. 101. I chose this work because of the way the beat was played throughout the whole tune. At first, I was wondering why it was called The Clock so I listened to it a few times and finally found out that it has some sort of a ticking rhythm during the second movement. The other reason I chose this song is that the video with the music go along pretty well together. The way the video cuts to certain scenes of the waterfall with the beat makes it soothing.

Joseph as a child was a choir singer and eventually was tossed into the streets because he matured and could not sing high choral parts. From there on, he has his own epic journey to the top. He always put his music first before anything else so his performance would always be magnificent. I think that this work relates to the rise of the middle class from how audiences. It is said that more and more people in the higher class citizens were involved in watching the performance. Since music was getting more popular as the time went by, more jobs were available. The fee for entering the shows got more expensive as the talent got better so the middle class started to rise from the way economy was changing. In other words, the way the classical era was changing how the middle class was due to the composing and theatre works throughout inspiration and admiration.

I am doing my analysis on a work from an Italian artist named Caravaggio who lived between of 1573-1610. This painting is called Judith Beheading Holofernes and is done with oil on canvas. The painting was created in 1599 and currently being held at a gallery called Palazzo Barberini in Rome.

I chose this artist and work was because of the precise realism in his paintings along with the dark scenery. The painting could be looked at many different ways, for an example, when I first saw this painting I thought it was comedic. The way the girl and the guy dying making a certain face along with some random old man watching and smiling. The level of detail in this work is extremely top notch. All three of the figures look so realistic that it looks like Caravaggio was there when the assassination happened. The other way I looked at the painting was how he was looking up as he is getting beheaded like he is asking God why he is being punished. This painting is somewhat related to the Count of Trent because of how dramatic and emotional the painting is. This also reminds me of Stars Wars because of the maid looking like she is making Judith do this to Holofernes. Her face expression looks like as if she has done something wrong by seducing him and killing him after.

Paolo Veronese, an Italian painter during the Renaissance in Venice. He was known to use colors as his main theme in his works along with some types of illusions in the paintings. This painting is called The Wedding at Cana. The painting took 15 months to finish and was finally completed in the year 1563. The work was done in a monastery in Venice.

This artwork got my attention because of all the stuff is going on in the picture. You can see slaves work hard as they suffer every minute while there are others laughing and having the best time of their life with also some animals. With all the different things going on, there is only one person just staring right ahead, Jesus Christ. This painting has a huge amount of symbolism. How I first saw it is that there is Heaven, Limbo and Hell. The bottom of the painting where it is most chaotic and crowded represents Hell. The people who are standing around where the walkway is present with not much chaos is the Limbo where they are all calm and just standing around, indecisive. Lastly, above them is the beautiful clear sky with people on the sides raising their hands cheering symbolizes Heaven. The reason why Jesus is down where Hell is in my opinion is that he is trying to save those people from the chaotic wasteland. This work is a very good example of Humanism because of the religion prospect and humanistic life stance. The painting is nothing but words of how religion is very powerful. This painting was very well thought of and was created magnificently. It truly is like a wedding.

George Inoue

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