Art & Authenticy

I’m not even going to pretend.  Michelanglo maybe is better known for his sculptures than his artwork, and maybe its true that he was young.  But the fact of the matter is, this painting disappointed me and certainly many others.

We are ignoring the fact that Michelanglo forgot a crucial step.

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During my trip to The American Folk Art Museum I was most inspired by the Approaching Abstraction exhibit. The exhibit can be termed as unique, strange and even eccentric by some as it showcases models that are made up from materials like straws, graph paper, mismatched buttons and even plastic wonder bread bags. The exhibits truly encompass the theme of “making something from nothing”. The exhibit titles as The Button Tree by Gregory ‘Mr. Imagination” Warmack has the framework of an actual tree that was cut down and was rescued by Mr. Gregory from the streets. As a mark of silent protest against the uprooting of trees Gregory created this art piece in which bottle caps and buttons of different shapes and sizes are nailed to every part of the tree. Through his art Gregory is “willing the dead tree to linger in life still, now as a work of art”. Such is the inspiration behind many of the art pieces in this exhibit. The imaginative and creative represent much more than a pretty or aesthetic picture. They all have an underlying deeper meaning that express the artist’s personal experiences and beliefs.

“I could have made everyone happy if I’d chosen to write only about the distant past—my grandparents’ generation, or even just my father’s childhood or my mother’s childhood—if I’d kept the book rooted in the historical perspective.” This is Danzy Senna’s response to the interview question about her family members’ reaction to her memoir, Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
From reading an excerpt from her memoir and hearing her reading in the library, we know that she did not write Where Did You Sleep Last Night? to appease anyone in her family. However, her sacrifice is definitely worthwhile. By telling her story with all its facets, whether they show her family members proud history or their shameful experiences, she helps readers to appreciate the depth of complexity behind one of the nation’s first interracial marriage. Continue Reading »

フェラ タバコの壊れ目を楽しんでいる

The Japanese doesn’t actually make any sense.  I just did this to catch your attention. Continue Reading »

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again.

Falling for Dance was an interesting experience, not interesting meaning “oh it was quite lovely” but more on “holy crap, what just happened?” kind of feeling.

It was a kind of baptism, sort of like how Tyler Durden poured lye all over the main character of Fight Club’s hand and clutching him to make him feel his hand being eaten away slowly. Continue Reading »

The School at ICP sits like a sky-sleeping star in the center of the city. Seriously.

I have always doubted the authenticity of the art of photography (alliteration for the win!) I always thought that it was just a cheap craft that just involved a focused aperture and couple touchups with Photoshop that will eventually lead your artwork to fame, stardom and a place on DeviantArt’s “hourly top ten.”

I might have to rethink that opinion now.

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The Fall for Dance festival is a series of dance performances by various companies in the fall and the goal of the festival is to make the audience “fall for dance.” Even though I did not fall in love with dance after watching the four performances, I enjoyed following most of the dance movements although struggled trying to figure out the essence of the performances. Continue Reading »

After reading Where Did You Sleep Last Night and being told that everything in it is real, I was shocked. I was surprised of the union (although not for long) of Danzy Senna’s parents, amazed by how Danzy Senna’s stories were deeply moving but her incorporation of humor into the stories lightened the burden of sadness on my shoulders, saddened that her childhood was basically ruined by her parents’ divorce, and impressed that Senna can both write and talk about her personal life in front of so many people. It was heartwarming that Senna, although revealed so much about her and her family, wanted to protect her second family, especially her son. Even my “conversation” with Senna did not feel too intimidating as she had a smile all the time and answered my question with humor and ease.

Once I walked into the International Center of Photography, I was surrounded by photographs. Each of the photographs in ICP tells a story, a life, or even a culture. The one photo collage that stood out to me the most was the woman smuggling clothing by tying them around her waist. The collage, from left to right, top to bottom, consists of photos of her untying the clothing little by little—the last frame showing her with only her normal clothes. It is a powerful collage that speaks to me the story of this woman, her life, and perhaps the culture of many other women like her.

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Listening to Joseph O’Connor read his poem “Tower” is like listening to a rapper. Before meeting him, his rich vocabulary and difficult to understand (due to all the references he make to people and works that I’ve never heard mentioned) readings were intimidating to me. All the time during the reading, I was intrigued by his Irish accent, as it reminds me of Professor O‘Malley. The combination of O’Connor’s powerful voice and the romantic letter excerpt that he read was somewhat eccentric. However, after I’ve heard his poem “Tower” dedicated to Baruch College, (in addition to being impressed by his creativity of putting the “towers” on paper) I realized that poems, when read aloud, can move people emotionally. By the way, where and when can we get the poem?