Daily Archives: December 9, 2013

Visit to the Taglialatella Galleries

Last Thursday, I just wanted to take myself out, and walking up from our school, I hit tenth avenue, and discovered this art gallery called the Taglialatella Galleries. No, forget the complicated name of the place. The artwork was amazing! Take a look at the piece shown below. Its Mickey Mouse! IMG_20131205_131840[1]

This piece was done by someone called Mr. Brainwash, and is a stencil and mixed media piece on paper. There are old sections of newspaper behind MickeyMouse, and he’s standing smack in the middle of history. I thought this was really a piece of art. Mr.Brainwash is trying to tell us, the viewers, that times are changing, from an era of black and white to one with color. Not only that. Mr. Brainwash is also telling us that modern times and icons like Mickey Mouse are allowing us to forget the times of the past. Because Mickey Mouse is standing in the middle of the newspaper articles, it’s not that visible and our attention is just on Mickey. Maybe if he would get out the way, we would be able to catch up on some of that history. 

Mr. Brainwash also had this piece below exhibited at the gallery:IMG_20131205_131931[1]

Mr. Brainwash calls this piece Einstein, but its stencil and mixed media on canvas. His vivid use of colors and overlapping segments in his artwork shown here suggests a message: people are constantly changing with times, and are acquiring more rights and freedoms.  Science, technology, and innovation are causes and byproducts of these constant changes and human evolution. Whether positive or negative, change has to happen, and we have to learn how to accept it and adapt to it. That is what makes the piece so cool to look at: its creative, original, and unique.

Now, as far as I understand, an artist has a meaning behind the art, because the artist starts off with an idea. I’m not sure why Mr. Brainwash is calling himself Mr. Brainwash. One reason could be that the center of his artwork ( like Mickey Mouse) or objects in his art in general (like in Einstein) are brainwashing the public. Of course, that’ll remain a mystery, like the man behind Mr. Brainwash himself.

 

OOF

While at the MoMA I stumbled across this one painting titled OOF by Edward Ruscha. It caught my eye immediately, most likely because of the vivid contrasting colors and made me appreciate the painting for what it had done. Initially before having any significant knowledge in regards to art I would have probably looked at the painting and then wondered to myself how it even managed to get in a museum. I mean, all it says is “OOF” and only uses two colors. Now I can see that the painting not only reads “OOF” but also has a way of expressing it. When I look at the painting the description fits rather nicely and because of the way the word is complimented the painting for me is basically an embodiment of the meaning of the word “OOF”. To make a person think like this is what makes art so great. Its more than just surface value, and as long as you’re willing to give it a chance, you can more often than not surprise yourself.

Alexander String Quartet

On November 18, the Alexander String Quartet was visiting Baruch College in preparation for two upcoming concerts they were going to have. My history class was invited to watch the group perform. It was my first time going to Baruch’s performing arts centers. The performance was taking place in the Engelman Recital Hall. Though it wasn’t a very large venue, I found it to be a very comfortable place to be.

Though I’m not too big on classical music as a whole, I always found it fun to watch the performers themselves, at least on a professional level.  I found classical musicians to give a different feeling, when performing, compared to say pop or jazz. musicians There seems to be a lot more structure and formality behind classical music that works its magic on its performers as well.

The quartet was made up of two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. One of the violinist took the lead role for the majority of the performance, although each musician had his moments of glory. They played famous quartet compositions that were supposed to help us better understand the time period we were studying. After the performances, we were given time to ask questions. I was able to learn a lot about quartets in general because they were very knowledgeable on the history of quartets. Performing famous pieces and arranging/composing there own, It was a very enjoyable experience. However, I was only able to sneak one picture in because my professor did not want us to use our phones.IMG_20131118_225653

MoMA – Members Only

While walking towards a group of seats with Stella and professor Eversley, we passed by an exhibit that was limited to MoMA members. Hoping we would be able to check out this special exhibit, professor Eversley took us with her to the exhibit before we interviewed her. The exhibit was called Retrospective – Isa Getzen and focused a lot on architectural design. The placement of the different sculptures, rocks, and installments amongst many other things seemed to have undergone a great deal of thought. My favorite installment in the exhibit is shown in the picture below. IMG_20131119_125110

Though the picture doesn’t really do the piece justice, it was really a sight to see. It just seemed like a bunch of frames put together from the side. It might have even resembled a building in progress if you gave it some thought. However, you realize just how grand the installment is when you look up. The installment seemed to stretch out towards the building from the view above. I thought the window was randomly a part of the room, used to bring some light to the exhibit. However, I discovered that it was all planned out…the lights, the window, the design, all of it was intentionally done. I felt a little foolish only considering the art within exhibits and now how and why they were placed in the areas they were.

The installments in the room were organized by time period and was mostly made up of architectural genius or emotion. There were blocks of stone piled together from a war in the beginning while there were futuristic plastic walls that seemed to represent buildings later on in the exhibit. Most of the art in the exhibit seemed self explanatory, but I have yet to understand what the piece in the picture below represents. It was rotating really slowly, but it just seems like melted wax on a stand to me. Am I missing out on the genius behind this piece or is it just what I see it to be?

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Dyker Heights Lights Up Brooklyn

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Living in Brooklyn, we have a great variety of hidden treasures. One of them includes the Dyker Heights Lights. Dyker Heights, a neighborhood Southern Brooklyn, is known for its beautiful christmas light presentations. Almost every resident in the neighborhood participates in decorating their house and yard with christmas lights and decorations. I live and pass by said houses constantly. And the one above is an example of its extravagant decorations.

Dyker Heights gets heavy car and foot traffic closer and closer to Christmastime because of tourists and locals checking out the beautiful lights. I’ve always thought that there was an art to christmas lighting because the right lights and combinations can bring the ultimate Christmas feeling. There is also a lot of work put into lighting. As in the house above, they have lights on almost every inch of the house and you can only imagine how hard it was to put decorations on the taller areas. Also not seen in the picture, they actually put reindeer lights on the telephone lines coming out from their house and above the street to mirror a carriage like image. A lot of hard work and creativity must’ve gone into these famous lights and other houses even decorate their mini gazebo. You all should check them out!

My trip to the NYC Body Exhibit

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A few weeks ago, I visited the body exhibit near Times Square. It was so much more interesting that I ever thought it would be! When I was little I was disgusted by dead bodies, blood, and dead things in general. As I got older, I grew more and more curious about what was in my body. The simplest muscles and body parts play an essential part of our everyday lives, and most people don’t seem to appreciate it as much. For example, we need our legs to walk, but once we twist our ankle, we are prohibited from doing the simplest task of walking.

When I went to the exhibit, the bodies were positioned in such an art-sy way on display. For instance, a man was holding his own skin in his hand; or a man holding his own organs in one hand. It was very interesting to see an actual organ in the exhibit. The picture above was the only picture I was allowed to take in the exhibit. It was amazing how each organ in our bodies play such an important role.

I absolutely loved how they positioned the bodies. This exhibit wasn’t just to learn but to experience what is in our bodies. I wonder what inspired the creator, Gunther von Hagen, of the exhibit to make such an exhibit. It was very interesting to see what’s in our bodies in 3D rather than in a book. I’m curious to who plans out the positions for the bodies. I’m also wondering about the physics behind holding the cadaver in place. For example, some models have the cadavers standing on one foot.