The little desolate theater known as the Joyce Theater managed to get me to walk through the howling bitter cold wind, just to watch a cliche ballet. It was completely worth it. It was engaging, fun, elaborate and sensational. The dancers physique was graceful and sturdy. I myself enjoy going to the gym as often as i can. However, the kind of flexibility and muscle that these performers had to acquire is truly inspirational. While i am on the topic of physical attributes, the odd thing about this display was how often the dancers changed their body’s direction. It gave the audience views from all orientations. It wasn’t one conformed performance that one can see every christmas season. No it was free and contemporary and that was what i think people wanted to see now. The underlying engager during the performance was the music. It started slow and naturally graceful and ended up reaching an upbeat, fast and aggressive tone that was very empowering helping deliver the message of the dance theme. The emotional experience is exacerbated by the music and the performers wanted you to feel the theme in all of its rawness. Its not enough to just focus on the show but on the performers movements and emotions as well. When the audience feels the same emotions that the dancer does, then the dancer can rest knowing the audience has felt the theme.
Overall, this was an unforgettable experience that i will have no regrets for walking through the bitter cold to watch. I plan on returning to watch more modern ballet.
As a fan of contemporary and abstract art, Tom Smith’s “Heavenly Bodies” exhibition at the Rox Gallery was a great opportunity to learn about how these works are conceived and the artist(s) behind them. I enjoyed hearing about Smith’s painting techniques, creative inspiration and travel experience. With these displayed pieces constructed in Brazil, Iceland and Fire Island, he experimented with paper, spray paint and wood for the past two years to evolve his craft. This painting that he created in Fire Island this past summer is my favorite because it conveys the most “heavenly” environment to me. For many people, the connotation of the word “heaven” consists of rejuvenating oneself with purifying light in a land above the clouds. Contrasting from the other works in the installation, this painting concentrates on more pastel colors rather than bright neon or dark spacial colors. To add on, this work illustrates natural earthly features instead of a futuristic appearance. The cotton candy sky with gray haziness emotes a feeling of floating in the clouds or in the heavens, while the blue and orange mazes of waterfalls spew from the seemingly 3-dimensional cliffs providing a place to cleanse one’s body and soul. After admiring the entire exhibition, I was amazed by the encapsulating colors and themes throughout the paintings, but this particular one drew me in with its atmospheric vibes and promising allure.
Visiting Tom Smith’s Heavenly Bodies exhibit at the ROX gallery gave me an insight on the life of an artist and how they work. The first thing that captured my attention was the bright colors in almost all his artwork. The colors he used made his paintings stand out from the white walls, making such a stark contrast as if they were glowing, making the atmosphere of the gallery bright and lively. On each side of the wall, there are different sets of artwork, each with a different style. He explained to us how one set of his artwork led him to create the next, building on each style.
This is my favorite piece from the exhibit:
I love the colors used here, the layered effect, and the splattered paint, which all make it very unique. There are painted strips overlapping each other that made me feel like I was looking through window blinds. Tom Smith explained that he cut similar paintings into tiny strips and glued them all together to create the collage. Even he didn’t know exactly how the painting would turn out! I thought that was interesting because I always thought artists had a clear idea of what they were going to create and how it would turn out.
When I first saw his 3-D works, the effects of the carved wood reminded me of a landscape map and the bright red color he used reminded me of fire. This makes sense since he later said that he worked on it in Iceland, where there are a lot of volcanoes.
I also learned from this experience that artists usually take on another job while they work on their art. This makes sense since it’s hard for emerging artists at first.
In conclusion, I’m really glad I was able to visit this exhibit and see the artist, Tom Smith, and learn from him through his experiences.
Once entering the Rox Gallery in the lower East side, I could not avoid but notice immediately the beautiful, vibrant colors that characterized every single painting of “Heavenly Bodies”. Although at first, I must admit, the abstract nature of Tom Smith’s work made me feel confused and incapable of defining what it is exactly that I am looking at, after a closer observation of the paintings I finally found myself able to identify with their hidden meaning.
Undoubtedly, the usage of radiating, neon colors serves a very specific purpose: to attract the viewers and make them feel as if they are personally experiencing the landscape represented in the painting. As Tom Smith had pointed out during our discussion in the gallery, “the painting is shining a light on you (the viewer)”. As he further explained, the colors are meant to be seen in relationship to what is around them as opposed to when they are isolated. Therefore, the colors that are used in a single painting often contrast with each other to create a sense of depth in a two-dimensional painting. However, while I thought that the paintings themselves represent an infinite world in which the viewer is almost invisible, I thought that their frames in fact made the viewer feel restricted and contained within their borders to some extent.
Out of the three different sections of the gallery, I particularly enjoyed looking at the three dimensional paintings that Smith had created during his trip to Iceland. When I first looked at them (specifically the one below), it seemed clear to me that the work is meant to represent a sort of destruction in the form of fire and rocks. In my view, the 3D effect made these themes stand out even more because it awakened not only my sense of sight, but also my sense of touch. Although I did not actually touch the painting, I found it fascinating that just by looking at this particular work, I was able to almost feel the texture and the heat resulting from the radiating red color and the little wooden pieces glued together.
After looking individually at every work, I was able to recognize numerous themes that demonstrate landscape, such as fire, water, nature and sky. Coming to this conclusion, I realized that these themes established the foundation for the name “heavenly bodies”; while all these forms of different landscapes are meant to represent ‘heaven’, the viewers and the different perspectives that they hold represent the ‘bodies’.
After visiting the Rox Gallery and seeing Heavenly Bodies, I have truly learned to appreciate the value of abstract art. I am confident that Tom Smith’s career is awaiting great success!
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