For my final commonplace entry I will be focusing on graffiti art. Specifically the graffiti art tunnel on campus just before the gates leading to center stage. While I couldn't get inside the of the tunnel itself, the art on the outside was more then enough for me to cover. I take frequent walks over to the graffiti wall when I need to think, clear my head, or if I'm looking for inspiration. And every time I've been over there the art has been changed. Nothing stays up there for more then a month or so and I often see groups of people walking over to spray over top of what's there to put up their own creations.Now until sometime last year I didn't even know graffiti was an art form and you can believe otherwise if you so wish. However, graffiti art is very difficult. I learned this the hard way because two of my friends who are astonishing painters are also amateur graffiti artists. When I found this out I chuckled and foolishly asked "Is that really considered art?" they gasped and showed me some of what they had created and told me to give it a try. Not wanting to back down after my remarks I gave my best attempt at creating art...it was a mess. Needless to say I made a fool of myself and learned to keep my mouth shut. I later followed them to the water tower (behind my high school), which frequently falls a victim to this art form. Watching my friends execute even the simplest design amazed me. They had to get every line, swirl, loop, letter, shading, and "mistake,” correct the first time because obviously spray paint isn't erasable. Spray paint can also be very uncooperative and tough to work with as can the medium the graffiti artist chooses to work on. So from then on I became a believer in graffiti art. I have not attempted to make anymore graffiti art since my first attempt but I have the utmost respect for the artists that have taken the time to learn how to create this precise and expressive form of artwork.After taking multiple pictures of the art that currently resides on the wall toward the back of UNCSA I decided to use this portion:
This particular piece of art has a mix of jagged, edgy lines and curved lines. The curves seem to only truly appear on arch figures in the graffiti and on the only off colored light purple part which has the largest curve in the piece. The piece mostly consists of zigzag jagged lines, which give the piece a harsh and coarse feeling. This is only the beginning of the graffiti area and covers between six to ten feet across and about three feet high. In the photo the graffiti appears to be smooth and almost glossy but in reality it has been painted on a rather rough surface of brick. I would describe this piece as symbolistic; it means something to the artists but passerbyers are left in the dark. I would call the work expressionistic as well because the painting has been created through an abstract medium in a way that many do not understand or see as vandalism rather than art. Graffiti art is imperfect and meant to be that way because it's about self expression and requires the artists to throw themselves into something that could very well be destroyed the next morning.
The majority of the graffiti is a bluish-purple color but one area is a much lighter purple that is not used anywhere else in the piece. The background is a yellow cloud outlined in red, an explosion maybe, coming from behind the main focus of the piece-the lettering. There are also three white stars bursting from the lettering. The shadows are colored in black and give another plain of depth to the work. This particular graffiti piece repeats itself you can see this by looking at the right edge of the picture where the pattern starts over. I can’t decide whether that sad smiley face on the lighter purple area was intended to be there by the original artists or added later without their knowledge. This piece bulges and pushes against itself, begging for more room so the jumbled letters can stretch out. The entire piece is outlined by a thin white line that contrasts with the black used for the shadows and fills making the painting pop from the wall.Somehow I think the graffiti knows that people are intrigued by it and will stop to try and decipher it’s meaning. I felt like I had to stop and look at every part of this wall or I would miss something. I find this true for the photo as well. I can’t ignore it or push it aside just because I don’t know the intention or meaning of the artwork, we wouldn’t have half the art we do now if that were the case. This kind of art is truly a statement; being able to create art anywhere and everywhere is a gift. Great murals and depictions of society have been created by graffiti art.Graffiti art would remind me most of mannerist paintings if I were to put it into a category from this term. The reason being, graffiti art delves into individualism and each piece of art, while similar, will always be different from artist to artist. The exaggerated lettering and shapes generally stay the same. But the color, curves, background, and meaning will vary from artist to artist. Graffiti varies from region to region much as paintings in the time of mannerism did. While Italy was still prominent the center or art was moving to France. Italian mannerism is not the same as French. In turn, a graffiti piece created in Detroit will not be the same as one created in Los Angeles. However, what graffiti art truly reminds me of are inscriptions such as the ones created on the French caves we studied in the fall term.
While thinking about what my focus would be for my final commonplace entry this term I remembered a strange type of art that my city has been displaying since the summer of 2005. Back in 2005 a project was created named The Crabtown Project which raised money for Baltimore City Schools because they are drastically underfunded and in terrible condition throughout the city. The project invited local artists to take a 5X5 foot fiberglass crab and turn it into a work of art. Over 350 artists were vying for a chance to get their hands on one of them. Out of those 350, 200 where eventually chosen. After the artists had completed their creations, the crabs were unleashed upon the unsuspecting city. In the fall, all of the crabs where auctioned off and ended up raising over a million dollars for renovations to bathrooms, replacement of exterior doors and floor tiles, carpet replacement and other needs for the schools. All of the artists received a bit of money (~$1,000) but most of them agreed that the project was fun and they would have participated without payment in order to help the schools. What I found exceptionally intriguing was some of the artists asked for input from the kids, what they wanted to see and create, not only what the artist felt like making.
Most of these crabs are no longer in Baltimore City but the few that do remain stand proudly and represent the full hearts of Baltimore artists and the people and businesses of the city. Some of the crabs are in plain sight, around tourist attractions such as the inner harbor or outside of Raven's stadium. Others are hidden only seen by the Baltimore native who knows where to look. When they first appeared I thought they were around because summer was approaching, thus crab season, a promotion tactic or maybe a college school project. But when they stuck around I was determined to find out why. When I did I was truly proud to a Baltimorean knowing how our city pulled together with a public event such as this one. And to help children no less. When I see tourists and children down in the city pointing at them, playing on them, and taking pictures of them I think about how absurd they must seem to an outsider. But if they knew the story behind them they might come to mean more then just creative and beautifully decorated glass crabs. These pieces of art have a deeper hidden meaning then simply sitting by the Washington Monument or outside of the Aquarium; they represent my city. Not only because crabs are the trademark of Maryland but also because of the goodhearted and loving people who inhabit a city that as of late is only known for it's high crime rate and subpar schooling. Creating these crabs was not something these artists did for the money or their careers necessarily. They were created by people who care about creating art for a cause and helping hundreds of schools and children. If you ever have a chance to visit Charm City make sure to keep an eye out for a crab taxi or referee and take the time to stop and explore them, find out who created them. Some of the artists even give credit to the children who helped creatively and physically build these art crabs.
I don’t usually enjoy art for causes because to me the events (as well as the art) seem forced. But in this case I found the art intuitive, unique, and creative, capturing my full attention and emotion.
San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk, also known as Dusk in Venice, painted by Claude Monet seems to capture all the elegance and mystery of a sunset. The church in the left upper corner melts into the warm reds and oranges of the setting sun and barely casts a reflection in the water below. And on the right you can barely make out the dome of Santa Maria Salute. The water and sky have become one to be told apart only by the gentle ripples along the water’s surface. The sunset has varying levels: the very top of the sky has not started setting while the middle has just begun to set and the horizon barely gives off any light with the disappearing sun. So bright and warm, inviting you to lose yourself in the colors and mystery of an evening in Venice. The melding of sky and water gives off a fogginess and mystery of nature but at the same time displays a beauty that can only be created by nature. Even though there is no sunset that will ever look like this, I still want to go to Venice and wait for this sunset to show up. If the world was a watercolor painting I’m convinced this sunset would be visible across the earth.
Well it's that time of year again folks! It's time for the Oscars! The biggest movie event of the year held in the wonderful gold filled streets of Hollywood in the Kodak Theater. As I sat on my bed watching the opening I found myself getting jittery and excited to see all of these amazing talents, both technically and acting, gathered together to honor each other.Hugh Jackman started off the evening by singing and dancing around on stage and making fun of the nominated movies and actors. As much as I didn't want to like his opening I found myself laughing along with the audience and thoroughly enjoying myself. Now it was time for the awards to start and as usual I had favorites in each categories even in ones I didn't know such as the documentary and foreign films. I was a bit distracted because I had work to do so it was mainly in the background and surprisingly no one else on my hall was watching them for some reason or another. My friend Greg ended up knocking on my door and watching them with me.We sat there and bet on who was going to win what and whether they actually deserved it or if it was film politics. I was happy to see Slumdog win a good amount of awards including best cinematography and director among others. Heath Ledger won supporting actor which wasn't a surprise to either of us and he definitely deserved it. In the middle they had some weird musical number that combined a bunch of old movie songs together. It was strange...I thought I was watching the Tonys for a minute instead of the Oscars. That sort of pissed me off because it had nothing to do with anything being nominated or film in general! But I digress.Sean Penn won for best actor which I wasn't very happy about but he gave a heartfelt and a stick-it-to-the-man speech about gay marriage so I couldn't be too angry at him. The only other award I really didn't agree with was Slumdog winning best picture. (I can hear the protesting now) Now I enjoyed this movie and I think it deserved almost every award except best picture. I mean to me, compared to a movie like Benjamin Button or Frost/Nixon or Milk it seems so childish and a little bit cheesy.Even though the Oscars didn't go exactly the way I wanted them (they never do) I thought this year was one of the best out of the past few years. The host did a decent job and wasn't making fun of politics the whole time (that really pisses me off) and most of the nominations deserved to be up there. Overall the ceremony was enjoyable and made me proud to be going into filmmaking. A who knows maybe one day I'll be up there receiving an award.
For this assignment I created a storyboard. I will get it up as soon as possible but for now I will look at the sculpture by Bernini that I based my storyboard off of. I decided upon trying to capture and recreate the story of Apollo and Daphne like Bernini did in his sculpture.Bernini creates an astonishingly realistic and amazingly lifelike sculpture of the moment Daphane starts turning into a tree. He turns marble into flesh before your eyes and when we looked at details in class I was completely fooled into thinking they were photographs. Bernini also gives his two characters amazing expressions. Apollo is lunging and grabbing for Daphne's exposed flesh but he cannot move his hands fast enough and his touch only finds the corse bark of her new form. Daphne's face is one of horror but also of relief to be saved from Apollo's grasp. Her fingers spread and rise toward the sun as they turn into leafy twigs and her feet become roots.I created a storyboard like I would have for film. Now while the storyboard could be a better quality, the main point of a storyboard (at least to a filmmaker) is for me to understand what it means and for it to help me visualize what I want to shoot. So while they usually end up being stick figures that my seven and eight year old nieces could draw better, they help me when I direct and that's all it needs to do.*Storyboard will be up shortly once I get it scanned.
This is going to be a bit different from a lot of my posts. And yes the story is mostly sarcasm. Enjoy.Story of The *Narcissus :Caravaggio is not known for creating classical mythology paintings or anything resembling them. So one day he decided he was going to go mystical on every one's ass. He was tired on doing paintings for the church and being a leader of the new Baroque style. But still the dilemma was there; what myth should he tackle. Well you can bet he thought long and hard about that and when had finally picked a myth he jumped into the air in excitement and went to work right away. Of course Caravaggio didn't want to e thought of as a fool or creating something "silly" or "light hearted". No, this painting of Narcissus would be brooding, cynical, darkness, while still keeping true to the myth. Caravaggio went about painting Narcissus. After having some arguments and trouble with his model it was done and looked pretty good. The painting still captured the classical myth but was introspective, a battle of dark and light, a loop of struggle with one's self and in the end no one could really say it was silly. Also since it is said that when a painter paints he paints himself, a painter is just like Narcissus, obsessed with himself.*Narcissus is the story of a young very handsome man who feel in love with his reflection.
Now for a bit of seriousness. I love this painting because it breaks away from Caravaggio's norm. He's not known for this type of painting but for some reason it captivated me the most out of the ones that I looked at. It could be the tender and loving look this boy stares at his reflection with. Or the sheer fact that this reflection stares right back at him in a changed form; a ragged older man. Perhaps Caravaggio meant to poke fun at the story itself because this story is associated with artists because they end up putting some of themself into their work and are therefore in love with themselves. He cleverly hides that fact but at the same time brings it to the forefront of our thoughts because he painted it thus proving the saying correct.
