Yesterday, I attended Sneaker Con New York, a huge convention that is all about shoes of all types. Now one would think that this was probably a small event but would be wrong to believe so. There were so many people that I had to wait outside the Jacob Javit Center for about an hour before I was able to get in because of overcrowding. The line outside spanned about a half mile down West 40th Street. What made the wait outside even worse was that it was cold and raining. As bad as the wait outside was, I could confidently say that once I was inside, the experience was the complete opposite.
When I got in, I was greeted by the roaring noise of fellow sneaker-heads (term used for people who have a passion for shoes) buying and selling shoes and related accessories. As I walked around, I was able to see all the interesting booths created by vendors and displays of shoes that were not available for sale but rather strictly to be shown off.
One thing that truly struck me as interesting was all the custom art that was there. Some of the things I saw were shoes that were once completely white, painted on to portray somewhat of a skin print pattern and on the grey part on the upper, there is a few bolts of lightning. Another thing that I saw that was not related to shoes at all were these two paintings that were hanging on the racks of clothing that a vender was selling. I spoke to Myles, the artist who made these and he told me that the company was called Get A Real Dream. Unfortunately, he was really busy and I was unable to ask him a ton of questions about his work but I did really enjoy these pieces.
All in all, SneakerCon was all I hoped for and more. The high energy money-flowing atmosphere and just being surrounded by all kinds of shoes and artwork I have never seen before is the definition of my sanctuary.
Walking late at night down Park Avenue, I stumbled across what seemed to be an empty room with a bored security guard watching nothing. I walked past the gallery without even realizing it was a gallery. It wasn’t until I was down the block that I realized that that couldn’t have been a human being. I went back, and stared at the figure to watch for any movement. Then, I realized that it was a gallery and that the security guard was just a sculpture.
The sculpture is done by Duane Hanson. It’s a life-size sculpture. Made from bronze, polychromed with oil and with mixed media accessories. Duane Hanson also created other human sculptures. He created hyper-realistic ones that portrayed the American working-class—probably the reason I thought it was so real. Some of Hanson’s other works include “Woman with Dog” and “Man on Mower,” shown below.
My favorite part of these sculptures is that they portray average American life. Hanson does not work to sugar-coat anything. He makes people the way that they are. He uses the sculptures, but also real items. All props are real, which forces Hanson to make the sculptures themselves as realistic as possible. The sculptures must properly fit with the persona he is creating, and also must fit in terms of size. These are so unique, that they make you second guess whether or not they are real even after you know that they aren’t. Duane Hanson definitely showed me that this type of art can be extremely realistic. It is a true talent to develop these pieces of art.
Let’s be clear. I’ve always been into cars. Heck, I’ve been a car and driver subscriber for years now. I wouldn’t say that I’m some incredibly informed car enthusiast but I definitely have a lot to talk about when it comes to the topic. One thing I’ve noticed recently has been how much better cars look now than in they did in the past. However, I’m not just talking about those dream cars that everyone has posters of in their dorms. I’m not talking about the Lambos and Ferraris. I am talking about the cars that anyone can afford to buy.
Lamborghini Reventon
2012 Ford Fusion
Take for example Ford. Ford in the past has mostly designed their cars to be modest and inconspicuous. Things have changed. Take for example the Ford Taurus, their 4 door sedan. The car has gone from being lanky and blah to being quite good looking. The Ford Fusion and Fiesta are probably the two best examples of cheap Fords that still look good. A huge reason why cheap Fords have looked better in recent years. First of all, consumers have actually become more concerned about appearance. With less to separate cars in competitive markets and less consumers in the market, car companies need to do everything to separate themselves from the pack. However, when it comes to Ford, the biggest reason in design improvements has come down to personal. After Ford sold Aston Martin to Tata, the company went on to hire several of the sports car companies designers to their own company. All of a sudden, this designers went from creating cars that easily cost more than $100,000 to cars that anyone can afford.
2008 Ford Taurus
2013 Ford Taurus
However, branding has also become increasingly more important in car sales. Hyundai, and their sister company Kia, are probably the most prominent examples of changing your brand through improving the design of your cars. Both companies as recent as five years ago were thought of as companies that produced cars that were cheap and ugly. They were all utilitarian and no style. Things have changed in recent years. Not only has sales for both companies improved significantly, but the cars have also gotten prettier. The perfect example of this branding change has been the release of the Hyundai Genesis, a car designed to compete in significantly higher markets than in the past. All in all, when it comes to cars, style does pay off.
2015 Hyundai Genesis Sedan
2014 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
I had not noticed this when I first entered Baruch, but the Newman Vertical Campus can be both a college building and a museum.
When we go to museums such as the Metropolitan or the Guggenheim, we enter through the doors with a mindset of expecting to see great pieces of art. When we go to Baruch, we go through the turnstiles focusing on our next class or thinking about a paper due in a week; looking at art is probably not our main focus. However, on the walls of the Newman Vertical Campus, much like on the walls of the Metropolitan or the Guggenheim, there are some great paintings that I always notice and take a few seconds to look at before entering the classroom.
Doing some last minute practice for my speeches for Speech Communication, I always sit in front of this painting.
Going up the escalators to my large Introductory to Business Lecture, I notice these paintings
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Exiting the 8th floor escalators to my English class, I pass by these colorful paintings.
There are probably so many more great paintings throughout the building that I have never seen before and that just shows how the Newman Vertical Campus can be, in a way, a museum.
Feel free to share or describe any paintings or works of art that you always notice on your way to classes!
I remember a trip I went to when I was in elementary when we went to a museum. I was so tired of going to museums and the same one every year too. I mean, come on, the same thing every year? Uh-uh. No, thank you.
But then one year, instead of going to a normal exhibition where we couldn’t touch anything and had to had at least 2 feet away, we went to a different show. This show was about the Big Bang Theory. We all sat down in seats, with no screen in front of us. I was thinking, “What in the world is going on?” and then something magical happened. Above us, in what seemed like the ceiling, the show started. I was in 3D too so I felt like I was a small meteor observing all the action. It was breathtaking. It was the first museum visit where I wasn’t sleepy on the ride home because everyone was talking about that show. I was so excited I remember wanting to become an astronaut for the next month!
I don’t remember what museum I went to for that show or even exactly what grade I was in, but it’s definitely an experience I never plan on forgetting. (I’m also still looking out to see if museums will do anything like this again because I want to watch it again!)
A similar exhibition was a past exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History, which you can read about here.
This past week, I went to the Museum of Modern Art with my brother to look around. I came across the “Spun Chair.” I first saw it across the room, and was thinking that it was a very large piece of pottery. It has the classic ridges that look like the work was being smoothed out. I pictured a man with an enormous lump of clay sitting at a pottery wheel and working for hours to make the smooth edges perfect.
However, after further research, I found out that the chair is made using a process called “rotational molding.” Plastic beads are melted into a rotating mold. It is for this reason that the texture seems like pottery.
Then I thought to myself: Why make a chair shaped like this? It seems a bit uncomfortable.
Heatherwick created a “geometric simplification” of a chair. One can balance, spin in a circle, or rock in it. Anyone in the chair is supposed to throw their weight around as if they are on a spinning top. Sitting in the chair mimics sitting in a giant bowl.
I couldn’t stand there looking at the chair for too long, or I would’ve sat in it. It doesn’t look very comfortable, but it seems like a great experience. This is a chair that I will always remember, and it will always fascinate me.
Finally, after doing more research on Heatherwick himself, I found out that he is an extremely well-known designer. A garden bridge he designed just recently got approved to be built in London, and it will be the most expensive footbridge in the world. It seems as though London is going to get their own version of New York’s High Line Park.
If there’s one thing that researching Heatherwick taught me, it’s that design is absolutely an art, whether in furniture or in architecture.
Situated in Soho is the Leica Gallery, a gallery “Dedicated to the fascination of photography.” Thanks to Professor Eversley, Our IDC class has been privileged to go on so many trips year, allowing us to learn so much about all different types of art. We have experienced sculptures, paintings, drawings and multimedia. However, one form art we did not explore was photography.
Photography is a unique form of art. It takes a special skill to be able to capture a moment in time and generate life, emotion and energy onto a piece of paper. Personally, I find photography very fascinating.
Currently, the Leica gallery is hosting an exhibit called LIFE Across America, which features photos from a number of times, places and memories of 20th century America. I found myself walking around the gallery with mixed emotions. Some pictures were sad, some were funny, and many were just so easy to connect to—this artwork will speak to everyone
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Some people think art is only what sells for a million dollars at an exclusive white-collar auction. Because this art is valued for a higher material price, no one really notices the art that is around them everyday.
I was probably one of those people. But now I’ve come to a new reckoning and that is that art is everywhere if only one looks.
Something that any p
erson can see no matter what is the art that fills cities and towns. Art made up of objects that are already there—art made up ON objects that are already there. For some, this art will be on a trashcan, for others, on a wall, on a sidewalk, on stairs, on a random pipe poking out; the list really goes on and on. Who’s to say that street art is any less valuable than art in an auction? To the artists, their creations are masterpieces because everywhere around them, there are people that will see, that will love—that will be inspired! Who’s to say that street art has no meaning, no message? To the artists, everything they create is a little part of them—a little part of their message.
And for those who can’t afford expensive tools and canvases for their paintings, the world IS their canvas.
I thought Wang Jianwei’s installation was extremely thought-provoking. Knowing that it was meant to play with the idea of time forced me at least try to associate each piece with “time.” In an interview, Jianwei said that he wanted the audience to feel raw emotion when looking at the art rather than trying to interpret everything, but that was not always easy.
With the auction scene painting, I could clearly see the blurring of time. It is not a traditional painting. I like how it has a three dimensional quality, which can only be noticed from some perspectives. I also noticed that the area within two yellow slashes is a repetition of the figures. I specifically liked this work because it seems completely different based on the the point of view. From a distance, it looks like a normal conference table, but it turns into a time-lapse as you move closer and look at the details.
If there was any part of the exhibition that I was not supposed to understand, it was this set of three-dimensional sculptures. Rafael, our guide, told us to think of each piece individually, and then as an entire set. However, this was impossible for me. It seems like chaos to me. Maybe, Jianwei was attempting to create this feeling of chaos as a representation of time—that time was chaos, and not as orderly as it may seem to us. I found myself reacting to these pieces solely by thinking of how Jianwei created them out of mostly recycled material. They seem irregular, clearly indicating that they were hand-crafted. This made me think most about the process in which they were made.
The trip to the Guggenheim was enlightening. I found myself capable of organizing my thoughts about the art well, as opposed to the beginning of the semester. Even in an exhibition that was supposed to blur time and cause some sort of confusion, I found myself able to make some interpretations and come up with clear thoughts.
Complexions Contemporary Ballet at The Joyce Theatre was the first modern dance performance I’ve seen. I found contemporary dance to be interesting because it doesn’t follow the normal forms and rules like other forms of dance, like ballet. What surprised me was what the article said about how contemporary dance sometimes ignores the music altogether, so I paid special attention to how music played in a role in the performance.
At the beginning, during the performance of Head Space, I felt slightly uncomfortable because of the dissonance in the music that was playing. At one time the dancers were in pairs and each pair danced their own routine. This goes with the dissonance in the music in that it seemed messy and uncontrolled. I found this especially interesting because it was unlike other dance performances I’ve seen in which they were usually in unison. I didn’t know which pair to look at since there were so many different things happening on stage. There were a lot of push and pull in their dance between the pairs that made them complement each other.
I was able to see how they emphasized the use of different muscles. I noticed many times the use of the Martha Graham stance, which we tried in class. While it looked simple, we realized that it was actually quite difficult. It takes a lot of strength to dance while staying in that position and the dancers even did it on tiptoes!
My favorite part of the performance was the final dance, The Groove. It was different from the rest of the dances in that the music was upbeat and energetic, making it lively and exciting. The lights were also brighter and moved around the stage adding to the overall effect of the mood that was portrayed.
Throughout the whole dance, I was constantly thinking about how talented the dancers were and how much practice and effort they must have put in the performance. Overall, I definitely enjoyed the experience.
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