Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Fine Arts experience: Escaped Images dance troupe, Fri, Sat, Feb 25, 26
Escaped Images dance troupe: Excavating Self
Friday, February 25 through Saturday, February 26
Presented by Escaped Images
$15
Call 318-869-5242 for more information
Escaped Images Dance Company in collaboration with Centenary College senior student, Costas Dafnis, will perform a concert entitled "Excavating Self."
This performance will showcase all original choreography and newly composed works of music written by Costas Dafnis. In conjunction with dancers and live musicians, there will be performances using a bungee apparatus.
Friday, February 25 through Saturday, February 26
Presented by Escaped Images
$15
Call 318-869-5242 for more information
Escaped Images Dance Company in collaboration with Centenary College senior student, Costas Dafnis, will perform a concert entitled "Excavating Self."
This performance will showcase all original choreography and newly composed works of music written by Costas Dafnis. In conjunction with dancers and live musicians, there will be performances using a bungee apparatus.
Today, Pittsburgh has become a liveable, desirable location
Pittsburgh, once a backwater city and one crippled by loss of the steel industry, is today's American darling. It has a diversified economy (HQ for American Eagle) lots of high-tech industry (has a Google campus) and is ranked as a city high in arts (Warhol Museum) and culture.
Pittsburgh museums include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Mattress Factory. Installation art is featured outdoors at ArtGardens of Pittsburgh, says Wikipedia.
Warhol's experience of Pittsburgh was not glamorous. He was born Andrew Warhola in a working class suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928 to Slovak immigrants (Ondrej and Julia Warhola [Varchola in Slovakia]). Because Warhol showed an early interest in photography and drawing, he attended free classes at Carnegie Institute.
Warhol's father worked in a coal mine, and the family lived at 55 Beelen Street and later at 3252 Dawson Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The family was Byzantine Catholic and attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. Andy Warhol had two brothers John and Paul. His father died in an accident when Andy was 13 years old.
Pittsburgh museums include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Mattress Factory. Installation art is featured outdoors at ArtGardens of Pittsburgh, says Wikipedia.
Warhol's experience of Pittsburgh was not glamorous. He was born Andrew Warhola in a working class suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1928 to Slovak immigrants (Ondrej and Julia Warhola [Varchola in Slovakia]). Because Warhol showed an early interest in photography and drawing, he attended free classes at Carnegie Institute.
Warhol's father worked in a coal mine, and the family lived at 55 Beelen Street and later at 3252 Dawson Street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The family was Byzantine Catholic and attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. Andy Warhol had two brothers John and Paul. His father died in an accident when Andy was 13 years old.
Warhol the amoral
Among the characteristics said to have been exhibited by Warhol -
Amoral:
1. not involving questions of right or wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral.
2.
having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong: a completely amoral person.
voyeur:
a person who obtains sexual pleasure or excitement from the observation of someone undressing, having intercourse, etc.
[French, literally: one who sees, from voir to see, from Latin vidēre]
Warhol was also called a mirror of 60's society. He was called a camera, since his principal artistic impulse was to record events.
Inscrutable: incomprehensible; mysterious or enigmatic
[from Late Latin inscrūtābilis, from Latin in-1 + scrūtārī to examine]
Warhol was called "Drella." This nickname was a combination of Cinderella and Dracula.
He was widely criticized for his passivity as he filmed the self-destructive people who gathered at The Factory.
The most famous of his discoveries and film stars was Edie Sedgewick, a tragic figure built up by Warhol before being allowed to slip into oblivion.
Amoral:
1. not involving questions of right or wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral.
2.
having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong: a completely amoral person.
voyeur:
a person who obtains sexual pleasure or excitement from the observation of someone undressing, having intercourse, etc.
[French, literally: one who sees, from voir to see, from Latin vidēre]
Warhol was also called a mirror of 60's society. He was called a camera, since his principal artistic impulse was to record events.
Inscrutable: incomprehensible; mysterious or enigmatic
[from Late Latin inscrūtābilis, from Latin in-1 + scrūtārī to examine]
Warhol was called "Drella." This nickname was a combination of Cinderella and Dracula.
He was widely criticized for his passivity as he filmed the self-destructive people who gathered at The Factory.
The most famous of his discoveries and film stars was Edie Sedgewick, a tragic figure built up by Warhol before being allowed to slip into oblivion.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Magnet fine arts - Warhol in the 1960's and 1970's
In the mid-60's Warhol began to diversify.
He stunned the public with the "Death and Disaster" series.
He bought a 16 mm Bolex and began making art movies (ex, "Sleep").
He expanded the Factory and hired more assistants.
In the Icons ("image") series, he went from Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy to posterized portraits of wealthy women such as Ethel Scull ("Ethel Scull 36 Times").
Hot musicians such as Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan entered his orbit.
He promoted rock singer Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.
Warhol himself became a star at the center of the NYC art scene.
He stunned the public with the "Death and Disaster" series.
He bought a 16 mm Bolex and began making art movies (ex, "Sleep").
He expanded the Factory and hired more assistants.
In the Icons ("image") series, he went from Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy to posterized portraits of wealthy women such as Ethel Scull ("Ethel Scull 36 Times").
Hot musicians such as Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan entered his orbit.
He promoted rock singer Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.
Warhol himself became a star at the center of the NYC art scene.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Andy Warhol project due Th, Feb 24; 15 pts
Rembrandt and Warhol project
Using 10 images, explore the consonances and confluences that connect or distance Rembrandt and Warhol. If you like, substitute Michelangelo or Leonardo for Rembrandt.
On each image, add 2 to 4 items of info. Document the information gathered in your work.
Eleventh slide: compose a brief essay that includes details (self-portraits) and offers insight from academic sources into the ways in which they were similar.
15 pts.
Powerpoint!
Be prepared to show the work in class.
Using 10 images, explore the consonances and confluences that connect or distance Rembrandt and Warhol. If you like, substitute Michelangelo or Leonardo for Rembrandt.
On each image, add 2 to 4 items of info. Document the information gathered in your work.
Eleventh slide: compose a brief essay that includes details (self-portraits) and offers insight from academic sources into the ways in which they were similar.
15 pts.
Powerpoint!
Be prepared to show the work in class.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Guns: Warhol silkscreen prints at the Tate Modern, London
In the early 1980s Andy Warhol painted a variety of iconic objects, including guns, knives, and crosses, explains Warhol.org.
Warhol rejected the idea that his work functioned as social criticism and instead described himself as an American artist who was merely depicting his environment. This description suggests that his paintings of guns be read in the same way as his images of Campbell’s Soup, Marilyn Monroe, or Coca-Cola—as simply images of American icons.
Yet, as with many of Warhol’s statements and works, there is the surface of things and then the multiple meanings below it. Gun ownership in America is hugely popular, in part, because it gives people a sense of security.
Hollywood imagery and video games add to the allure of guns. The gun is also, through its widespread use and availability in America, a tool of real and commonplace violence.
This particular gun, the .32 snub-nosed pistol, was of the type that Valerie Solanas used in her 1968 assassination attempt on Warhol. In his choice of such richly associative iconic objects, Warhol becomes a truly artful social observer.
Warhol quote from warhol.org:
"When you hurt another person, you never know how much it pains. Since I was shot, everything is such a dream to me. I don’t know what anything is about. Like, I don’t know whether I’m alive or whether I died. I wasn’t afraid before. And having been dead once, I shouldn’t feel fear. But I am afraid. I don’t understand why."
- Andy Warhol after he was shot and seriously wounded in 1968
Warhol rejected the idea that his work functioned as social criticism and instead described himself as an American artist who was merely depicting his environment. This description suggests that his paintings of guns be read in the same way as his images of Campbell’s Soup, Marilyn Monroe, or Coca-Cola—as simply images of American icons.
Yet, as with many of Warhol’s statements and works, there is the surface of things and then the multiple meanings below it. Gun ownership in America is hugely popular, in part, because it gives people a sense of security.
Hollywood imagery and video games add to the allure of guns. The gun is also, through its widespread use and availability in America, a tool of real and commonplace violence.
This particular gun, the .32 snub-nosed pistol, was of the type that Valerie Solanas used in her 1968 assassination attempt on Warhol. In his choice of such richly associative iconic objects, Warhol becomes a truly artful social observer.
Warhol quote from warhol.org:
"When you hurt another person, you never know how much it pains. Since I was shot, everything is such a dream to me. I don’t know what anything is about. Like, I don’t know whether I’m alive or whether I died. I wasn’t afraid before. And having been dead once, I shouldn’t feel fear. But I am afraid. I don’t understand why."
- Andy Warhol after he was shot and seriously wounded in 1968
Chairman Mao, Communist leader of China, at Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, DC
Mao Zedong, also Mao Tse-tung (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), was a Chinese communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, author, political theorist, and leader of the Chinese Revolution.
Commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, says Wikipedia, he was the architect of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held authoritarian control over the nation until his death in 1976.
Through his policies he laid the economic, technological and cultural foundations of modern China, transforming the country from an underdeveloped peasant-based agrarian society into a major industrialized world power.
Yet nationwide political campaigns led by Mao, such as the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for millions of deaths, causing severe famine and damage to the culture, society and economy of China. His rule from 1949 to 1976 is widely believed to have caused the deaths of 40 to 70 million people.
Commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, says Wikipedia, he was the architect of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held authoritarian control over the nation until his death in 1976.
Through his policies he laid the economic, technological and cultural foundations of modern China, transforming the country from an underdeveloped peasant-based agrarian society into a major industrialized world power.
Yet nationwide political campaigns led by Mao, such as the Cultural Revolution, are blamed for millions of deaths, causing severe famine and damage to the culture, society and economy of China. His rule from 1949 to 1976 is widely believed to have caused the deaths of 40 to 70 million people.
Edie Sedgewick: fragile, tragic Warhol film star
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars, says Wikipedia.
Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films, in the 1960s.
Although Warhol's films were not commercially successful and rarely seen outside The Factory, as Sedgwick's popularity grew, mainstream media outlets began reporting on her appearances in Warhol's underground films and her unusual fashion sense, which consisted of black leotards, mini dresses, and large chandelier earrings. Sedgwick also cut her hair short and colored her naturally brown hair with silver spray, creating a similar look to the wigs Warhol wore. Warhol and Sedgewick were photographed together at various social outings.
Throughout 1965, Sedgwick and Warhol continued making films together, namely, Outer and Inner Space, Prison, Lupe and Chelsea Girls. However, by late 1965, Sedgwick and Warhol's relationship had deteriorated and Sedgwick requested that Warhol no longer show any of her films. She asked that the footage she filmed for Chelsea Girls be removed.
* Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde are purportedly about Sedgwick.[25] His 1965 #2 single "Like a Rolling Stone" was also reportedly inspired by her.[26]
* The Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale" from the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico is an ode to Edie.
Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films, in the 1960s.
Although Warhol's films were not commercially successful and rarely seen outside The Factory, as Sedgwick's popularity grew, mainstream media outlets began reporting on her appearances in Warhol's underground films and her unusual fashion sense, which consisted of black leotards, mini dresses, and large chandelier earrings. Sedgwick also cut her hair short and colored her naturally brown hair with silver spray, creating a similar look to the wigs Warhol wore. Warhol and Sedgewick were photographed together at various social outings.
Throughout 1965, Sedgwick and Warhol continued making films together, namely, Outer and Inner Space, Prison, Lupe and Chelsea Girls. However, by late 1965, Sedgwick and Warhol's relationship had deteriorated and Sedgwick requested that Warhol no longer show any of her films. She asked that the footage she filmed for Chelsea Girls be removed.
* Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde are purportedly about Sedgwick.[25] His 1965 #2 single "Like a Rolling Stone" was also reportedly inspired by her.[26]
* The Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale" from the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico is an ode to Edie.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Warhol multi-image high-key portrait, 12 pts
Warhol notes:
Warholian Pop Art Quatro-image self-portrait due Tues next week. 12 pts.
- Simplified background and facial structure
- high-contrast
- 8 1/2 X 11 paper
- image the same in each quadrant
- color wash over each image.
- can be done w/ computer.
Warholian Pop Art Quatro-image self-portrait due Tues next week. 12 pts.
- Simplified background and facial structure
- high-contrast
- 8 1/2 X 11 paper
- image the same in each quadrant
- color wash over each image.
- can be done w/ computer.
Andrew Warhola: from a Pittsburgh slavic ghetto to the upper East side, Manhattan
Warhol notes (Andy Warhol; PBS / Ric Burns):
- Slavic ghetto outside Pittsburgh
- shy, sickly, effeminate
- rheumatic fever, St Vitus dance, skin condition
- sketching obsessively from age 5
- impoverished family
- art lessons
- support of mother and father
- Orthodox Catholic services
- celebrity worship (Shirley Temple)
- Carnegie Museum, Carnegie Art Institute
- 1949: NYC
- illustrator for Glamour, top magazines and ad agencies
- steady rise to success as commercial artist
- townhouse, upper East side
- mother lives with him, contributes to his art work.
- collects modern art.
- his fine art not taken seriously.
- blotted-line technique: shoes, faces, flowers, etc
- simplicity
- Slavic ghetto outside Pittsburgh
- shy, sickly, effeminate
- rheumatic fever, St Vitus dance, skin condition
- sketching obsessively from age 5
- impoverished family
- art lessons
- support of mother and father
- Orthodox Catholic services
- celebrity worship (Shirley Temple)
- Carnegie Museum, Carnegie Art Institute
- 1949: NYC
- illustrator for Glamour, top magazines and ad agencies
- steady rise to success as commercial artist
- townhouse, upper East side
- mother lives with him, contributes to his art work.
- collects modern art.
- his fine art not taken seriously.
- blotted-line technique: shoes, faces, flowers, etc
- simplicity
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Late Mask? Bring it to next class, Magnet fine arts survey
The masks I got this week from fine arts survey 4th block were delicious.
Above is a Japanese mask from Melissa Alost.
Those of you who have not turned in a mask must get to work and take part in the fun.
Above is a Japanese mask from Melissa Alost.
Those of you who have not turned in a mask must get to work and take part in the fun.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Review of the Morris Lessmore movie and exhibit by Tim Hoff
Sneak peek: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore at Artspace Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau
After walking past a cane, crosshatched with a goofy looking hat, sitting on a dark stand, this writer’s attention was grasped by the amazing flying books hung from the ceiling and the mantle of pages, sketches and other works from the two year work effort it took to bring, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, to life.
William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg, and fledging media production company MOONBOT Studios graced Artspace with an exhibition detailing this two year ordeal.
Joyce, who came up with the concept while on a flight to New York, helped to make this movie like no other, with the help of miniature models, tons of props, a brilliant workforce, and modern advances digital animation.
The short is the story of a funny looking man, Morris Lessmore, and how he was touched by the flying books; his experiences with them turn him from a sad hue of grey to a man filled with color.
Inspired by Joyce’s love for books, hurricane Katrina, and The Wizard of Oz, this short will defiantly leave the viewer with questions and some food for thought. It’s a “must see”; there is something for everyone, as-long as you don’t have an aversion to Pop! goes the weasel and the many clever variations made to it by John Hunter.
- Tim Hoff
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Let's take a virtual tour of the Met, NYC, and examine a few of their masterpieces: googleartproject.com
Unveiled this week, http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/met will take art lovers inside the world's great museums for digital tours.
This program is a student's and teacher's dream come true.
This program is a student's and teacher's dream come true.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Illustrator, author, moviemaker William Bill Joyce establishing new company: Moonbot Studios, Shreveport
Bohdon Sayre, Luke Heathcock, Bill Joyce, Adam Volker: Moonbot Studios, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau
He aided John Lasseter in the epochal movies Toy Story (1995) and Bug's Life (1998).
He directed and produced the animated feature Robots (2005) and the Disney production of Meet the Robinsons (2008).
Today he is building an animation company in Shreveport called Moonbot Studios.
Their first product, a short called The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, is currently an entrant in the competition of the Santa Barbara Intl Film Fest.
He attended Byrd HS and SMU, where he studied film.
His influences include the film The Wizard of Oz, the illustrators Maurice Sendak and NC Wyeth and 1950's sci-fi literature.
Blue Poles close-up; one of Pollock's most famous drip paintings
Blue Poles is an abstract painting from 1952 by the American artist Jackson Pollock. It is more properly known as Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952, says Wikipedia.
In 1973, the work was purchased by the Australian government for the National Gallery of Australia for US$2 million. At the time, this was the highest price ever paid for a modern painting. In the conservative climate of the time, the purchase created a political and media scandal.
The painting is now one of the most popular exhibits in the gallery, and now is thought to be worth as much as $200 million.
In 1973, the work was purchased by the Australian government for the National Gallery of Australia for US$2 million. At the time, this was the highest price ever paid for a modern painting. In the conservative climate of the time, the purchase created a political and media scandal.
The painting is now one of the most popular exhibits in the gallery, and now is thought to be worth as much as $200 million.
The Rothko Chapel, Houston: giant black canvasses by Mark Rothko before his death by suicide
Among the contemporaries of Jackson Pollock was painter Mark Rothko. Poolock and Rothko were part of a group of artists in NYC who made their names in the early 1960's.
In the 1930's Rothko wrote that the work of modernists, influenced by primitive art, could be compared to that of children in that "child art transforms itself into primitivism, which is only the child producing a mimicry of himself." In this manuscript, he observed that "the fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with color."
He worked penuriously for decades. In the 1950's he won widespread fame - alongside Pollock.
In the 1930's Rothko wrote that the work of modernists, influenced by primitive art, could be compared to that of children in that "child art transforms itself into primitivism, which is only the child producing a mimicry of himself." In this manuscript, he observed that "the fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with color."
He worked penuriously for decades. In the 1950's he won widespread fame - alongside Pollock.