Idea Essay #2

I defy anyone who reads this to go an entire day without encountering some form of advertising. Just try to dodge all the brands we are bombarded with. But the question I am asking is can an ad be an art form? Just to expand the idea a bit, can art be used to persuade and remain art? The question can be tackled from numerous directions, and really doesn't have a clear answer, but I am going to try to show some arguments. Some advertisements are treated as art forms, just look at movie posters. Though, haven't the posters been repurposed, are they still treated as ads rather than as simply printed art? Art has been used to persuade for other purposes than simply buying and selling, look at propaganda. So is it still propaganda when it is collected for its historical or its aesthetic value? Advertisements can show regard for the technicalities of light and shadow and other formalist concerns. However, it does violate the formalist viewpoint that art is about the medium rather than persuasive or informative. Ads are more concerned with the placement of their product rather than what would create the best image. In my opinion, advertisements and other forms of persuasion cannot serve as art from a formalist perspective. Today, as most art is analyzed from either an expressivist or formalist view, if ads are not art from a formalist perspective, are they art from an expressivist viewpoint? Do ads or other types of persuasive imagery stir emotion? Yes, propaganda often tries to create fear, product advertisements may target everything from love to frustration. But, the emotion is something that the writer created to suit the product. Ads can be aesthetically beautiful, but simply being beautiful is not enough to qualify something as a work of art. Advertisements and propoganda may serve as art but only when they have been removed from their purpose as a means of persuasion and have been moved to the realm of the aesthetic. Until then, they are simply a pleasing form of persuasion rather than a part of a distinctly aesthetic experience. Therefore, despite the fact that ads and other forms of persuasion, may be beautiful, they cannot be considered a part of a distinctly aesthetic experience because they are more focused on the product rather than the medium or the emotions connected with it. Advertisements and propaganda can become art objects but only when they are removed from the realm of persuasion. --Laurel

Art Essay Number 2: Romulus by Sufjan Stevens

I wanted to share one of my favorite songs from singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens' 2003 album entitled Michigan. The release is a collection of songs that reference places and people in Stevens' home state. The song is structured in a strophic format, meaning each stanza of the lyrics follow the same rhyme scheme and pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. This song could also be analyzed as being in AAA song form, becuase there is a refrain after each verse tying the song together. AAA song form is common in folk music where the song often becomes a vehicle for storytelling. The repeated verses give the songwriter plenty of space to develop that story and/or message. In songs with this format, the lyrical content is often the primary focus, not the music, and in this example Stevens makes effective use of sparse instrumentation with just guitar, piano, banjo, and voice.

I'm not an expert on poetic devices, but I think Stevens' mastery of his craft really shines in Romulus through the usage of alliteration, interesting rhymes, and imagery. Take a look at the lyrics below for some of these references. In lines one and two of the first stanza, Stevens employs alliteration and a slant rhyme with "called" and "cough." I also like the internal rhyme in the second stanza between "away," "day," and "Chevrolet." The imagery evoked in stanzas one and four of the children passing around the phone and the hospital scene is especially powerful in my opinion. Stanza three contains a brilliant line about the consequences of the mother's absence in the children's life and the grandfather's attempt to mitigate the situation. "Our grandpa bought us a new VCR/ We watched it all night, but grew up in spite of it."

There isn't much uplifting about this song, and I believe Stevens' quiet and somber vocal delivery perfectly captures this. Though the song is in a first person point of view, I don't know if this song is about Stevens' childhood or someone that he knew or was in contact with. Either way, it's still a very moving piece of art.

Once when our mother called,
She had a voice of last year's cough.
We passed around the phone,
Sharing a word about Oregon.
When my turn came, I was ashamed.
When my turn came, I was ashamed.

Once when we moved away,
She came to Romulus for a day.
Her Chevrolet broke down.
We prayed it'd never be fixed or be found.
We touched her hair, we touched her hair.
We touched her hair, we touched her hair.

When she had her last child,
Once when she had some boyfriends, some wild.
She moved away quite far.
Our grandpa bought us a new VCR.
We watched it all night, but grew up in spite of it.
We watched it all night, but grew up in spite of it.

We saw her once last fall.
Our grandpa died in a hospital gown.
She didn't seem to care.
She smoked in her room and colored her hair.

I was ashamed, I was ashamed of her
I was ashamed, I was ashamed of her
I was ashamed, I was ashamed of her
I was ashamed, I was ashamed of her

Idea Essay #2 Cooking

Cooking

There are many answers to the infamous question, what is considered art? Is it something obvious like architecture, paintings, and sculptures? Or could it be something more abstract like gourmet cooking? One of the important purposes of art is to evoke emotions from the audience. Whether those emotions are pleasant or not, is up to the artist, and how the audience perceives the work of art. According to the article in the link above, art is something made or transformed by man that functions aesthetically in man’s experience. If cooking consists of a man transforming and making food to evoke emotions from him and whomever he is cooking for, then cooking is considered an art form.

The article goes on to describe how cooking could potentially be the most powerful art form because of its effect on the senses. A painting appeals to one sense (seeing), and performance of live music appeals to two senses (hearing and seeing), but cooking impacts all five (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling). Because cooking impacts all five, theoretically it has a greater impact on the audience, thus making it a greater form of art. I do not necessarily agree with this argument point, but I can understand where the writer is coming from. Anyways, the narrator in the article goes on to describe how his father made biscuits on Saturday mornings. He explains how his father touches the ingredients and uses his hands to knead the bread. He describes how he could smell and hear of the crackling of the bacon. The narrator dramatically describes this in the article, “It is a smell that brings tears to your eyes and saliva to your mouth; a smell that haunts your memory and lingers in your soul. It is a smell for all of time.” The narrator would watch with admiration as his father cooked, and finally, the narrator and his father would be able to finally eat the food together. The article demonstrates how something as simple as making breakfast for the family on the weekends can provoke emotions and create memories that will never be forgotten. Because of the actions of taking simple things and putting them together in a sort of a way, and then being able to pull out emotions from the “audience” cooking is considered art.

Another example of why cooking is considered art comes from the movie Ratatouille. The basic concept is about a man who needs money, so decides to become a chef. At first, he knows nothing about cooking and is terrible, but then he comes across a mouse. (For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, it is an animation.) The mouse loves to cook and quickly becomes friends with the man. The man realizes that the mouse can help him become great in the kitchen, so he hides the mouse under his chef hat. The mouse pulls the man’s hair as a way of giving directions, and soon the man is great at cooking. The restaurant that the man works at is about to be criticized by a very mean and harsh critic, and it is the man who needs to make a meal for him. He decides to make a dish from home called ratatouille. As the critic eats it, he quickly has flashbacks of his home life and fond memories of his mother. The point that I am trying to make is that the dish that the man made was able to unlock those memories from the harsh critic and was able to soften him up. At the end of the movie, the critic wrote an excellent review and the restaurant got top ratings.

For me, personally, I love to cook. I may not be as old as the narrator of the article or the critic in the movie, but cooking reminds me of being with my mom in the kitchen. When I was little, she used to show me little tricks to make something taste better, or when she baked a cake, she always let me lick the bowl. It was her ability to take different ingredients and assemble them together, place them on the table, all in all creating a family dinner, and give me memories to keep forever.

I am not arguing that cooking is the greatest form of art, but I believe that if the chef is enjoying himself, putting his own little twist on a meal, and serving the meal with passion, then his creating (cooking) should be considered art. However, it is interesting to me how a hobby as abstract as cooking can evoke the same emotions out of people as a painting or a live performance of art. Overall, I feel as though cooking should be something that everyone experiences, in order to be able to relive valuable memories later in life.

http://www.ravenchronicles.org/FoodCulture/cookingasanartform.html

Friday

(Just to be clear, this is an art analysis.)

I would like to take the opportunity to express why the song “Friday” by Rebecca Black is perceived to be important, but in reality should not be. The story behind this horrendous music video/song is that there is a record label company that caters to rich parents with kids age 13 to 17 who want to record a music video. The end result? Rebecca Black’s song “Friday”. This song has been dubbed one of the worst songs if not the worst song in history and yet it has accumulated 26 million views on Youtube in a month and is currently the 38^th most purchased song on iTunes. This is a most curious conundrum considering that there are little to no redeeming qualities to the song, the lyrics are preposterous, and Rebecca Black’s voice is so horrendous that not even auto-tuning it could save the song, yet the song is still popular. Perhaps it is because the song is so bad that we feel obliged to listen to it and share it with all our friends; perhaps it is because the lyrics are so ridiculous that we can’t help but laugh at them; maybe even, it is because we like to have something to hate on that everyone mutually accepts to be terrible. Whatever the reason, value has been assigned to this song where value should not have been placed. The song should have drifted into the unknown corners of the internet, but instead rose to the surface as a song everyone “must” hear, but no one should enjoy.

Art Essay #2 Calligraphy

This post is a bit different and is on a form of art practiced in a similar manner by numerous people rather than a particular work. Calligraphy, while as old as writing itself, still continues today. It appears in both a handwritten form, such as on wedding invitations or on state documents, and continues to influence the very modern aesthetic of computer font design. What I intend to demonstrate in this essay is that calligraphy is not simply beautiful writing but a form of visual art in and of itself, and that lettering can truly be a great work of art.

The word "calligraphy" indicates many forms such as "Western" calligraphy, the writing of the Latin alphabet, or other calligraphies used in the writing of Arabic for example. I am going to limit this essay to western calligraphy. Calligraphy is also heavily tied to computer fonts, and some modern calligraphers use tablet computers to practice their art. Simply for the sake of brevity, I will be discussing handwritten calligraphy, the most recognizable form, but the art of calligraphy is not limited to what can be written with a calligraphy pen.

On the subject of tools, calligraphy is separated from conventional writing by the tools that are used. Whether you have beautiful handwriting or a barely legible chicken scratch, calligraphy is a separate style altogether. A calligrapher uses specially made pens with very precise tips and brushes to create thicker lines. The ink used in calligraphy is different than what can be found in most school bookstores or corner drugstores. Paper must be very high quality to create the proper image, and often pencil lines are used to make the letters appear neat.

Even the letters themselves are formed differently. In traditional calligraphy, letters have a very precise stroke order. There are rules governing the movements of the pen, for example, often when making a vertical line, such as the letter "L" only a downward stroke may be used. Some calligraphers alter or disregard these rules, or use some of the numerous older styles of calligraphy such as the Gothic script of 1400s Europe or eighth century Caroline script. (Incidentally, the Gothic script was used for the first Gutenburg Bibles, another demonstration of the relationship between calligraphy and typed writing.)

Calligraphy is clearly different from conventionally script, and appears continually in today's world. It is still practiced and has influenced other areas. Depending on your perspective it could be called either purposeful or purposeless art. It conveys information giving it purpose but there is no practical reason for its intricacy or its beauty. Even when the letters appear difficult to interpret they can still be beautiful. Calligraphy is both beautiful writing and great art.

So, have I convinced anyone to go out and buy a pack of vellum and a set of pens and brushes?

--Laurel Powell

Art Essay 2: Eric Whitacre "Cloudburst"

This choice of art was inspired by the Catawba Singers tour over spring break. We went to Chicago and performed the concert version of Eric Whitacre’s “Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings” which was an incredible experience. Whitacre’s music has a very unique style that is incredibly powerful and captivating, due in large part to its originality. His style is very contemporary and his pieces have an abundance of cluster chords. He also typically writes for at least 8 voice parts, ranging up to 18 parts in one piece. “Cloudburst” is a signature Whitacre piece with many voice parts, unusual chord progression, and use of percussion and spoken word. The piece is incredibly complex, and is set to an adaptation of the spanish poem “El Cántaro Roto” by Octavio Paz. The first a cappella section sets the tone for the piece and it includes a section where the choir has sustained notes with text randomly spoken by each member of the choir. The words are not meant to have a rhythm and they have a disorienting and haunting effect on the audience. This technique is atypical of most choral music, which is meant to be precise and clean. Here, the listener has a hard time understanding the words of the choir, but this cacophony mirrors the name of the piece. It begins the theme of a rainstorm which continues later in the work. The chord after the repeated words end is made even more powerful because of the sudden clarity of sound. These chords carry into the next choral section which has lots of suspended chords and minor qualities, some of my favorite musical elements. The all male section and baritone solo sound almost like ancient chant, continuing the haunting quality of the piece and Whitacre continues to build beautiful tension, portraying the feeling in the air before a thunderstorm. He then repeats the section of repeated words in the female voices while another reads spoken lyrics over the choir. The male voices have a similar chant-like line underneath all of this. The music tells a story and draws in the listener, giving an ominous feeling and anticipation. In the next section, the choir builds chords from the bottom, mimicking the first drops of rain and then building to constant chord progressions which sound to me like the first violent sheets of rain that fall. The storm becomes peaceful again and handbells begin. More and more instruments are added, imitating the sounds of rain and distant thunder, and the choir begins to snap and clap their hands creating a sound like rain. Singing over this percussion, they create a haunting melody and the minor tensions are finally relieved in a major chord progression. As the storm tapers off, Whitacre again uses clustered chords and repeated melodies to keep the mystical element of the rainstorm. His incredible talent for composition creates a believable rainstorm and a story which the audience can relate to. The tension in the air before a thunderstorm is one of my favorite feelings and he managed to capture that feeling in his music. All of Whitacre’s work is beautiful and captivating, but this piece in particular amazes me. His ability to capture a natural phenomenon in a musical composition is astounding, and every time I listen to this piece I hear more and more elements of his work. The text is also incredibly beautiful and speaks of reawakening the earth and dreaming of a lost time where nature and man were in balance.

Spanish Lyrics:
La lluvia
ojos de agua de sombra,
ojos de agua de pozo,
ojos de agua de sueño.
Soles azules, verdes remolinos
picos de luz que abren astros
como granadas.
Dime, tierra quemada, no hay agua?
Hay sólo sangre sólo hay polvo,
sólo pisadasde pies desnudos sobre la espina?

La lluvia despierta
Hay que dormir con los ojos abiertos,
Hay que sonar con las manos
Soñemos sueños activos de rio
Buscando su cause, sueños de sol soñando sus mundos
hay que soñar en voz alta,
hay que cantar
hasta que el canto eche
raíces, tronco, ramas,
hay que desenterrar la palabra perdida
recordar que dicen sangre, la marea,
la tierra y el cuerpo,
volver al punto de partida.

English Translation:
The rain ...
Eyes of shadow-water
eyes of well-water
eyes of dream-water.
Blue suns, green whirlwinds,
pecks of light that open
pomegranate stars.
But tell me, burnt earth,
is there no water?
Only blood, only dust,
only naked footsteps on the thorns?

The rain awakens ...
We must sleep with open eyes,
We must dream with our hands
we must dream dreams of active rivers
Searching for their cause
Dreams of the sun dreaming of its worlds
we must dream aloud,
we must sing till the song
casts roots,
trunks, branches, birds, stars,
we must unearth the lost word,
and remember
what the blood, the tides,
the earth, and the body say,
and return to the point of departure

Art Essay #2: The Swing by Fragonard

Okay so here you go guys, here is a piece of visual art for you! Warning: This work of art is not for all audiences, and involves some mature subjects. I'm sure you can handle it :)

Honestly the first reason that I liked this painting is because his name is fun to say in a fake french accent: Jean-Honore Fragonard. I first saw this painting in my art history class last year and my teacher basically dismissed it as frilly, meaningless art (he of course talked about the scandalous nature of the painting, but Mr. Williams is not at all a fan of Rococo art). A lot of people share Mr. Williams' opinion of Rococo artwork, but I think that some of Rococo (particularly this panting) are very interesting. I don't know enough Rococo artwork to attempt to defend it so I won't try, but I will hopefully give you some good points to think about regarding Fragonard's The Swing.

First of all, there's no denying that this painting is pretty. It may be frilly, but the use of detail, shadow, color, etc. are quite impressive. And this technical skill increases the power of the story that Fragonard tells in this piece. It all revolves around young love and the scandals that can be involved with that.

There are four important subjects in this picture. The first is obviously the girl on the swing. She is lavishing in the spring air, without a care in the world. As she kicks off her shoe, she spreads her legs for the boy in the bushes to get an interesting view of the scenery. The second subject important subject is of course the boy in the bushes. As he watches the girl swing forward he extends his arm to get closer to her. This is simply young passion. They are not together, it is a spring/summer fling. The next important subjects are the cherub statues surrounding the situation. The one on the left seems to be putting his finger in front of his mouth as to "shh" the situation. The others which are in the background, behind the girl are staring up admiring her. The symbol of a cherub is one of love and passion, which further explains the narrative of the piece. The final important subject in the painting is much more difficult to attempt to analyze. Who is the man pushing her on the swing and what does he have to do with the situation? Some have said he is her "priest-lover." This seems absolutely outlandish. The most logical explanation I can come up with is that he is simply a servant who is pushing her on her swing. I am happy to hear any other opinions from you all!

I think that this is an interesting piece of art simply because it is beautiful. It is made more juicy by the narrative within the painting, which you won't find in much of Rococo artwork. This isn't necessarily a powerful work but it is definitely nice to look at. I'll ask a question for you guys as well: is simply being beautiful enough to qualify as a "work of art?"
Here is the painting:

I hope you like it!

-Allijah

Art Essay #2 The Last Song

The Last Song by: Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks is known for his stories of romance and issues that families deal with. His book, The Last Song is an emotional story about a girl around my age who deals with family and personal issues. He uses his passion to create a form of art that truly moves his readers. I was attracted to this book because I love to read and have read many of Spark’s novels. I was also interested in this particular story because it was going to be made into a film.

The story is about a teenage girl, Ronnie, and her younger brother, Jonah. Their parents are divorced and they live with their mom in New York City. The summer of her seventeenth birthday, Ronnie and her brother are sent to spend the summer with their dad in Wilmington, North Carolina. Ronnie has feelings of anger towards her father because she does not agree with the divorce and she does not want to spend the summer with him away from her friends. Before the divorce, she and her father shared a love of the piano, and after the divorce, because of her anger, she quit playing. Every night, her dad plays the piano, but Ronnie refuses to touch it until her relationship with her and her dad is healed. During the time she spends in Wilmington, she finds meaning in herself and learns to forgive and build a relationship with her father. She learns to appreciate all the things in her life even when she isn’t with her friends or in a familiar place. She grows a love for the beach, sea turtles, and eventually a boy.

The story is powerful because it is written from Ronnie’s point of view. As readers, we feel what Ronnie feels and get to experience her struggles. The tone of the story is interesting because it goes from being rebellious and hateful to loving and caring. Sparks changes tones through Ronnie as she begins to change from being angry to happy and appreciative. Sparks uses Ronnie’s little brother Jonah, as an example of acceptance and forgiveness. Jonah holds no grudge against his father and is open to spending time and rebuilding the lost relationship. On the other hand, Ronnie is not open to rebuilding the relationship and looks toward Jonah as a form of comfort.

The imagery in the story is dominant for me because I love the beach and the story is set at the beach. Sparks describes the little beach house in which Ronnie, Jonah and her father live in a way that makes me long for the summer so I too can spend time in a little beach house. Sparks talks about the warm sand and water and introduces Ronnie to sea turtles.

Another tool Sparks utilizes is symbolism. The story is very sad because Ronnie’s father is dying of cancer. Ronnie and Jonah do not know that he is dying, and that this is the last summer that they will get to spend with him, and to mend their relationships. Sparks connects life and death with sea turtle hatchlings and their father’s situation. He uses the hatchlings as a symbol of new life and new creation and as a way for Ronnie to appreciate life and the importance of relationships.

Throughout the story, Ronnie’s father is writing a song on his piano, entitled “The Last Song”. He really wants this song to be shared between him and Ronnie. Sparks uses the song as a symbol for the relationship between Ronnie and her father. The song symbolizes Ronnie’s final transformation as she finishes the song right after her father’s death. Her love for her father grows to a point where she realizes she has to finish the song for her father because he cannot. Ronnie exposes her talents as a way of revealing her feelings for her father. At the end of the story, she plays the song at his funeral and sun shines through the stain glass window that he and Jonah created together. This final symbol brings Ronnie, Jonah and their father finally together.

As readers, the story is very emotional and brings the strongest to tears. I cried my eyes out when I read the book. Art makes the viewer reach into him or herself and connect personally to what is being written. I feel that Sparks draws the reader in by getting them emotionally attached to the characters, the setting, and the plot of the story, and then shatters their world when Ronnie’s father dies. Because he is able to provoke these powerful emotions from the viewers, he is creating great art. Hence, a very successful author. A reason that this story became a best seller and a movie is because Sparks wrote such an enthralling tale that readers of all ages could easily understand, sympathize, and relate to.

Art is considered powerful because it has the ability to move people. I consider this art because Sparks moves the readers with this story. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for good art.

Life is/as Art category

Take a look at this news item about James Franco in the online publication Inside Higher Education.  It's the last one.

Then click through the links to see Franco's picture and, more importantly, the articles (blog postings) the writer from the Yale Daily News wrote. 

In terms of the theory we have been studying, this flap makes an interesting case study.  Can a life really be a piece of "performance art"?  Is this a category of aesthetic work that you are willing to accept?