Category Archives: NYC Art History
Neo-Dada
The history of Neo-dada and explanations of some of the most important Neo-dadaists and their work.
Graffiti Movement — Digital Archive Project
Digital Archive Project 1: History of Street Performers in NYC
Nighthawks
While walking to Baruch one morning, I saw this on the side of the Flatiron. I instantly recognized it as the first painting my art history professor gave us a lecture about. The painting features three people sitting at a café. One person is sitting apart from the others, completely engrossed in thought. The other two, a man and a woman, are sitting together but do not appear to be speaking to one another. My professor mentioned the painting was meant to depict loneliness. However, my professor did not mention to us that this was on the side of the Flatiron, a place that is usually busy and full of life. Why, then, is a painting depicting loneliness right in the heart of the city? Personally, I feel that it was put there to show that everything is not as it seems. People could be happy and full of life around other people but inside, they might be alone. Or maybe it is because of dimensions and overall shape of the flatiron mimic the shape of the diner in the painting. Or maybe simply because it is such a famous painting.
What do you guys think?
P.S. Sorry if it’s not clear. I tried to get the photo as best as I could!
NYFW- Street Style
“Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we’d like to be. Just like your scarf suggests that you’d like to sell used cars.”
– Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)
Perhaps it could do without the last condescending line, but the Queen Bee has the fundamentals right: Fashion is art. The last week epitomized this fact with Mercedes-Benz hosting the bi-annual New York Fashion Week where designers from all over the world showcased their latest collections for Spring 2014. Famous designers like Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, and others unleashed into the world their eccentric designs and trends for 2014. While Lincoln Center hosted a plethora of these interesting outfits, the streets around it also became a runway.
Celebrities, magazine editors, bloggers, and just regular fashion fiends plagued the streets with their own unique outfits—their own unique work of art. Some of them incorporated trends seen on the runway (black and white and retro prints) and many took it as a chance to showcase their own creativity. After all, art is what one makes of it.
From bold prints to detailed jewelry, all NYFW goers were dressed impeccably. I think that it is interesting to see absurd but definitive outfits not just reserved for the runway. Many people are taking that leap and defining fashion for themselves. Fashion is all about self-confidence and being able to express one’s self or creativity, not through a piece of paper, but through wearable fabrics, silhouettes, and textures. Showcasing your sense of style is a work of art in itself. That is why I believe that New York Fashion Week and just fashion in general, is critical to sustaining the art in our lives.
