Author Archives: Adrian

Simon Beck’s Snow Art

Posted on by
1

Now is the season that allows snow to fall. In France, Simon Beck uses a fresh blanket of snow as his canvas. The art he produces is very unique. He just walks on top of a frozen lake covered in snow and his footprints look like a nice pattern in the snow from above. The pattern looks simple, but it takes a very long time to make. Since I have a short intension span, I find this kind of patience breathtaking. Here is the URL to see this guy’s works: http://www.weather.com/travel/news/incredible-snow-art-created-foot-photos-20131212

Just Kids differences between Patti and Me

Posted on by
1

This book tells the story of Patti Smith’s process of becoming an artist. Like Kevin mentioned in class, I’m glad I’m not going to be an artist. Smith does not provide a good example for us college students because she dropped out of college and decided not to be a teacher, her initial goal. When I found out she did this, I thought she made a big mistake. I know college will help me pursue and gain experience to have a good job, so that my future can be secure. Smith overall seems to be completely different from me.

Throughout the book, Smith believes that her emotions are the most important, while I claim that cerebral thinking is paramount in people’s lives. In addition, Smith barely mentions her children. In fact, she neglected to talk about them so much that I did not associate her with having any kids until someone said she doesn’t talk about them in the novel. I plan on making my children a priority in my adult life. I plan to look out for my kids to make sure they have a successful future like me.

Tara Sabharwal’s visit and presentation

Posted on by
Reply

I was happy to see another visitor come to our class on Monday. She had a nice presentation for us and she answered our boon of questions. She was really happy that we were hungry for so much knowledge about her and was thankful that she came. I felt that the reason I asked so many questions is because the paintings were the ones making the questions. Rather than stimulating an enjoyment for observing them, they stimulated interest and there were so many things about each painting that needed clarification and to talk to the artist was the best way to find out. Without an easy way to figure out the mysteries of her art, I was compelled to ask questions to understand the paintings. To be candid, several of the paintings looked like they were painted by an elementary schooler, and I had to find out why an adult with so much experience would paint something so ambiguous and unclear. I learned so much from her visit.

Snapshot event

Posted on by
Reply

I had gone to the New York Historical Society to see the photos the students took and to see my work in a museum to make me feel like an artist. When I went into the room full of photos, there were a lot of people in the small room and I did not really enjoy looking at the photos. Thus, I went to see adjacent exhibits. I liked the presentation of how Chinese people were discriminated against in the nineteenth century. It enhanced my knowledge on how they used to get the least favorable jobs and their poor lifestyles in America. However, I was not impressed with the holiday train exhibits as I was expecting because both were small and the trains were not moving or there were no tracks. Then I went back to the room with the photos because I knew there would be little people still there. Like the professor said, we remember the moments where we are alone the most. Because I was one of the few people there, I could take a look at all the photos without pushing past a crowd of people. I then began to try and figure out when and where a photo was taken. In addition, it seems that some photos were not taken in NYC. I remember one description said “A bird in Philly,” which suggests the person was in Philadelphia at the time. Also, one picture was taken on a sunny day when 10/13 was cloudy; it must have been taken on another day or somewhere else. I noticed that a few descriptions must have been mixed up as well because they did not match the photo they were supposed describe, while providing an accurate description of an adjacent photo. Luckily, everyone got the right message when they saw my photo, except my name was not on it. Instead it said “Unknown Author.” I want to be known.

I felt that I could concentrate on the art a lot more when there were less people around, so from my experience, it’s clear that art would be easier to learn about in a rural setting, not in NYC. At least the Macaulay seminar fulfills my liberal arts requirements, while adding some unique experiences. I guess this class is encouraging me to challenge human propensities. I say: “Challenge accepted.”

The Subway Platform

Posted on by
Reply

I was reading this poem, by Laurie Sheck, while the subway was arriving at the station I was waiting in. It describes what you see and what happens in the subway station. Most people just let their commute pass by, but this poem makes the reader pay attention to what is going on. Like art, it encourages stopping what you are doing to enjoy every fleeting moment, even if you do something routinely everyday, like waiting for the subway. It demonstrates the excitement you can feel when seeing things you don’t notice in your common day: “Why hadn’t I noticed them before?”

Reaction to Genesis

Posted on by
Reply

This was the main exhibit in the International Center of Photography. It was a collection of photographs taken by Sebastiao Salgado. They show Salgado’s findings in the mountains, in Africa, and within the arctic circle. I enjoyed looking at the photos of the mountains because they were so large and beautiful. My favorite was a photograph of a small mountain range and clouds above it, and behind the clouds I could see the base of an enormous mountain. The grandeur of such mountains impresses me.

I also liked that the photos that were hanging in one of the hallways were showing two completely different things. On one side, photos of Siberia depicted the cold climate and how people struggled to keep warm while traveling across an immense expanse of a frozen desert. On the other side, were photographs of the natives living near the equator. Unlike the people from Siberia, they were warm all the time. However, they lacked adequate food, shelter and tools (they still used stone tools). This setup of the two areas juxtaposed in one hallway, shows how close Salgado allows us to travel to see such different aspects of life, but I’m sure it took him a couple of days to go in between the areas.

This exhibit demonstrates the ways so many people live using black and white photographs and short descriptions. I am glad I made this afternoon excursion to this exhibit to view the findings Salgado’s excursion that took several years to make.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet at Joyce Theater (Adrian)

Posted on by
Reply

On Tuesday, Joshua, Kevin, and I went to Joyce Theater to see a dance because we had enjoyed watching Fall for Dance. Thus, we were looking forward to watching this dance performance.

The building was similar to BAM Harvey Theater because the walls were old and made of bricks. It was around for a while, so the outer walls remained unchanged, but inside everything was renewed/replaced.

Outside it was cold and everyone had a lot of clothes on, while during the performers in the theater had very little clothing. In the first dance, the men were basically only wearing matching underwear and the women wore one piece bathing suits. The dancers performed ballet usually in pairs and sometimes in larger groups with about 20 performers on stage at the same time. They were all synchronized and switched partners often. In their groups, the dancers moved together and came really close to one another (something I would not do if people had barely any clothes on). They relied on one another for support and balance. Something common was a woman raping herself loosely around a man, while he spun around at the proper speed to make sure she did not fall.

Part of the music was recorded and some of it was live. I noticed that the two violin players that performed live at the ballet made the sounds of their violins compliment one another. If I did not watch both of the people playing the instruments, I would not have known that there were two violin players. Just like the dancers, they made their music (instead of dance) combine to make a single, proper functioning system. The recorded music played at the ballet would normally make me want to dance slowly, but the dancers were dancing really quickly to the retarded rhythm.

One thing that I remember well from the performance was that a dancer fell when he was running on the stage to his position. He had gotten back up in the blink of an eye and continued performing. This blunder demonstrates that people always make mistakes, which cannot be avoided even in a synchronized, well-performed ballet. Moreover, I was never expecting anyone to slip in a professional performance, so I guess that anything can happen.

Wasteland Reaction

Posted on by
1

In the beginning of the film, I was expecting the photographer to go to a looked-down-apon place where people use illegal drugs and have terrible working conditions. However, when I saw people saying that they are proud of their jobs, I was surprised. They seemed like regular people living close to poverty. The “wasteland” had quite a number of happy people. It was no challenge for the photographer to entice them to make art. It was cool how recyclable materials were turned int a photo. When the photos went to an auction, I thought the auctioneer was going to say 10 pounds, but he continued to say 10,000 pounds. I guess the photographer went all the way to England to make a good profit, and it got the workers in the “wasteland” excited. Like Professor Drabik said, there are such crazy people that do these crazy things and luckily we have crazy people who give us the opportunity to find out about these crazy events.

Macaulay seminar requires concentration

Posted on by
Reply

To understand the art we are looking at, it is important to concentrate (i.e. there is a lot trying to be conveyed through every word of the poems about NYC). However, the city is an environment that makes people naturally concentrate less on one thing and want to get as many things done as possible. Whereas, rural areas cause people to focus on one task and complete it from beginning to end and encourage people to feel emotions more readily than an urban environment. I find it ironic that we are supposed to look for meaning in art in NYC, a huge urban area making it difficult to concentrate. This kind of course would suit a college located in a rural environment.

Scientifically, we are all going through a struggle against nature to focus on tasks in a place meant for feeling rushed. Why does Macaulay present this challenge to us?

MoMa PS1

Posted on by
Reply

I enjoyed my visit to MoMa PS1 on Friday with Joshua and Kevin. I only saw the zero tolerance exhibit because there was so much that I felt I could not retain anymore knowledge of the other exhibits on that day.

There were many photographs and videos showing unique events and forms of expression. The videos really grabbed my attention especially because the second room I entered was full of TVs showing mostly uprisings and protests in Poland, the country my parents are from. One video that surprised me was a group of gay people calling for a medicinal cure to their homosexuality. They claimed that reason was not a good enough excuse for them to renounce their homosexuality, and they tried to let others know that it was not their choice to be gay. At the museum, I was surprised to see an openly gay protest since Poles do not like gay people. I did not know that if there were gay people in Poland, they would let everyone know about it because they are at risk of being ridiculed and discriminated. This video helped me realize the challenges some people go through in a place I thought I was familiar with. One of the photos that I found interesting showed a rock glued to Tienamin Square in China because it shows the small change someone can make to the featureless ground.

I recommend my peers go to this museum to see all its unique art, and for the ideal price if you’re a Macaulay student: $0.

Discussion on Dawn

Posted on by
1

We have not discussed this poem in last week’s seminar, so I thought I might try to describe one to the best of my ability. Also, this poem matches the timing I am posting this at.

“Dawn” uses a gloomy tone to explain events and feelings of New Yorkers. People feel like there is no hope, paradise, or love in the mornings. They are very sleepy and feel like if they had an enormous struggle to wake up. The poem seems to ask the question: why would any one want to wake up?

It is very confusing and more gloomy than necessary. I have noticed that almost everyone in the subway was sleepy, but I believe that the city is pretty clean in the mornings. For example, the public bathrooms have been cleaned and no one has used them yet.

Concert at Carnegie Hall

Posted on by
1

I found it hard to sit still when I was watching this concert. In fact, I usually feel impulsive when I listen to fast paced music. That’s why I like to do something else while I listen to it. Commonly, I walk or run when I listen to energetic music, but I also like to listen to music that goes along with with something I watch, like a movie or music video. Since there was little for me to do, I decide to take a few notes during the performance.

I felt a shortage of space in my seat, but I notice a huge space in front of me in Carnegie hall. So even though it is a large building, the audience cannot access a lot of the extra space. I believe it was unfair that people who pay so much money for the performances have so little room, while the people working get to stand in the wide aisles. I think it would be better if all the chairs were removed to allow people to stand and watch the concert. In general, the building seemed poorly adapted to people’s comfort, but offered good acoustics because I could hear the music loud and clear.

The music in Carnegie hall varied from quiet and slow to loud and fast. The slow music made me feel bored because there was little energy in the music and nothing interesting in the performance to watch. However, I really enjoyed the fast paced and energetic music because I like to feel energized by music. Also, the prominent thing to watch was the conductor’s movements and orchestra’s playing, so when they played an energetic song, everyone looked like they were really focused and active. The conductor would give such grand motions that it seemed he would fly away. He would stand on his toes and hold his arms as high as possible. He seemed to possess enough energy to play all the instruments on his own to make that awesome music. What’s an orchestra without a conductor?

Most of you have not posted anything about this concert yet. Unlike the other performances where full attention was necessary, I could listen to this while taking look at how the audience is feeling. It seems some of my peers were focused on the concert, while several felt a little bored. (I was doing this at the intervals I felt bored so I guess that is what I should expect.) I noticed one delighted face, however, and that was the professor. No surprise she chose to come to this performance. It is good to share with others experiences you like.

Robert Frank Photos

Posted on by
Reply

I am glad that Professor Grazyna Drabik posted five of Robert Frank’s photos on the blog. The photos show how different parts of the country look. New Mexico looks like if it is largely made up of deserts. In Chicago, musicians line up for a political rally. It looks like an elevator’s glass doors closed right in front R. Frank, but the people inside are indifferent and do not express any concern for him. A person looks ready to go to a rodeo, but it is hard for me to imagine having a rodeo in New York City. Lastly, a photo shows that the woman looking at Frank looks like she is trying to ignore him while everyone else is paying attention to a Hollywood premier and looks interested in it. This shows that many individuals do not enjoy one another’s presence and that they rather watch a show for entertainment. However, It is important that people get along well with one another.

I was a dancer on the A train today

Posted on by
1

When I was riding the A train from 125th Street to 59th Street leaving City College, a person was dancing, while another man was playing music, singing, and commenting on the man’s dancing. At first I was listening to my iPod, and the dancer looked like he was doing really weird movements. I decided to turn off my music because I noticed that the rest passengers were really enjoying the performance. I thought that his dance moves were still peculiar while listening to his music, however the audience was probably impressed by his enjoyment of dancing. He even tried to get one of the female passengers to dance with him, but none of the ladies were willing. Then he tried to get anyone to dance with him and asked me to dance. Since I am not good at saying “no” to people and since I love to dance, I agreed to dance. I did not mind dancing in front of people, but I was not comfortable dancing and holding hands with another man. Nonetheless, I believe that I had a unique commute, and the dancer and singer/commentator did collect a lot of money in the subway car. It’s not bad to have a job dancing on the subway, especially if you can get a person of the opposite sex to dance with you (if you can’t you have to improvise). I wonder why no women perform in the subway.

American Journey Review

Posted on by
Reply

This movie explained the journey of Robert Frank, a photographer, when he took photos across the United States of America and put them together in a book. Robert Frank was a man born in Switzerland and raised in Germany. He wrote, well put a bunch of photos together and called it a book called “The American.” I believe he named it that way because he had captured images of people doing their common activities in different parts of the country, rather than showing a few similar photos and claiming they represent everyone. He took photos of working class people living their demotic lives, rather than experienced performers or scientists.

View of Ridgewood from above

Posted on by
Reply

DSCN0765

I took this photo when I was going to the Metro Mall on Metropolitan Avenue on 10/11/2014. This is also what I would see every day on my way to high school and back home from the M train. Since the subway is elevated and on a hill, I can see my neighborhood from above and Forest/Highland Park in the background. Sometimes, I felt like if I was flying through Ridgewood when I took the subway to school.

Fall for Dance was great

Posted on by
Reply

I enjoyed watching the dancing in Fall for Dance at New York City Center.

The first performance was terrific because all the dancers’ movements corresponded with another and everyone took their turns dancing. During the dance all of them came very close to one another without making any contact, which impressed me. However, the music was bland because it sounded like the same key being played on an organ with a little bit of others occasionally coming in and simple the sequence just repeated. The ballet performances that followed were not very interesting to me other than their manipulation of gravity. The dancers were ready to fall when their partners stopped them just in time. That is not for me. I would probably fall over. Later, two dancers were quite funny when they danced because the man physically showed impulses to come closer to his partner. In the end a person that looked like he worked for City Center stood in front of the curtain, and did some funny dance moves for the audience. I thought he was just fooling around, but later it seems that it was all part of the dance. I found this to be a very unique trick on the audience. After the dance built up in intensity, the dancers took people from the audience onto the stage and dance with them full of energy. It was very entertaining to watch trained, lively dancers dance with unprepared audience members. I wish I could have been chosen to dance with them.

I was so happy we went to this performance.

Man on fire escape

Posted on by
1

This poem is difficult to understand and I’m taking another shoot to get this post right.

The man is on the fire escape to watch the sunset.

I think this description is good enough because if I add anything more I’ll probably have to correct it again. No one can argue with this, though.

Cold day for the Pulaski Day Parade

Posted on by
Reply

I was at the Pulaski Day Parade yesterday like all Polish people from New Jersey and New York. (The reason I mention New Jersey first is because almost all of the floats were from New Jersey.) It was rather cold on that day, and I only had a Polish t-shirt and shorts on. Luckily, my friend let me borrow his sweat shirt. I think that the pretty Ms. Polonias must have been really cold in their dresses in the parade.

An epiphany to me in Church

Posted on by
Reply

While I was at Mass in Church yesterday, I was thinking about why God is so important in are lives, while the choir sung “Lord, I need you.” Then all the pieces came together. I realized that a person needs other people, like teachers, farmers, manufacturers, and parents to live. (A person won’t survive alone in the world.) Also, God is in all people, so we need God to live. This is why God and other people should be so important to each of us.

Reflection on Let the Great World Spin

Posted on by
1

The book “Let the Great World Spin” was interesting because it was made up of three different main stories and it gave the audience knowledge of what was going on from the perspectives of different people. One story was about John and Corian Corrigan and the people they met in New York City. Another story was about Claire, Gloria, Jaslyn and other people they met in or going to New York City. There was also the real life story about the man, Philippe Petit, when he walked across a wire between the Twin Towers in New York City. Throughout the book, there are connections between the stories.

Each story has the goal of telling the reader that it is important to get involved with New York City, rather than sit back and let things happen without your input. Everyone is effected by the city. Whether living in it as a religious pauper, walking on a tight rope between the World Trade Centers, or even just coming to buy a special chess set made of Canadian wood.

What I find unique about this book is that the author, Colum McCann, switches his writing style back and forth between first person and third person. Once I read a chapter of the book, I have to change the way I pick up information from the following chapter.