Angels in America

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Samuel Nathanson

I really wish this show was not sold out because, even though 7 hour run time may seem daunting, I would have loved to see this performed live. I first heard of Angels in America when my school put on a production of The Laramie Project. It is mentioned in a monologue by one of the characters. I was interested and saw the seven part HBO mini-series of the play.

The play is a powerful piece that can be considered a historical piece. It is strange that something set in 1990 is considered historical but that was already 20 years ago. Anyway, I love the play because it is so relatable. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight or whatever, everyone has relationship problems, everyone questions themselves and everyone has problems. I actually like that the play is a full seven hours in two parts. It really does give the piece time to develop unlike a two our piece. Also, it is one long day spent in the city… which could never hurt.

Granted, the play is kind of weird, but hey, who isn’t a little weird?

Click here for the Time Out New York Review

Posted in Theater | 1 Comment

Don’t you hear? It’s winter.

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Erica Gailing

Everyone has heard of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” or at least, I’m sure, would recognize the theme from Spring right away. (Listen here.) The Four Seasons is a series of four concertos written for the violin by Antonio Vivaldi in the characteristically Baroque style, each named for one of the seasons. I began to think a bit more about these pieces when I came across a music review for a violinist Robert McDuffie, who just recently performed the Four Seasons along with Phillip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2 or “The American Four Seasons,” which McDuffie actually asked Glass to write.

Is there any way to put sounds to the seasons that we go through as humans? I think so! It is interesting to see how Phillip Glass chose to portray the same seasons that Vivaldi did. Try this as an exercise to see which you think ring more true to the respective times of the year. For me, Spring by Vivaldi is extremely convincing because it sounds so light, joyous and peppy which goes hand in hand with the excitement of new life, if you would like to look at it that way. You can see for yourself though. What do you think?

Vivaldi’s winter, summer and autumn.

Glass’ American Four Seasons here.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Real Live Quidditch!

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Sandra Lau

Yes you read correctly, real quidditch! Quidditch, as in the sport that they play in Harry Potter. Sunday was the World Quidditch Cup hosted by IQA (International Quidditch Association). If you’ve never heard of quidditch before, let me take a brief moment to explain the game. Two teams play against each other with seven players on each team, 1 seeker, 3 chasers, 2 beaters, and 1 keeper. The point of the game is to score as much as possible, and to capture the snitch. In the book, the quidditch takes place in the air (because it is a book about wizards), but since people can’t fly real quidditch does not involve flying.

If you’re still confused, I suggest you google it.

When I first heard about it, it was a mixture of awe and shock that people actually play quidditch. I was extremely curious as to how they could manage to play a sport that exists only in books and movies. I know that there are millions of Harry Potter fans out there, but being there on Sunday was truly an experience. I’ve never been a Harry Potter event, whether it is a book signing, concert, or a leaky con. The effect that this series has on people is incredible. Harry Potter is an extremely good example of how profound the effects of the arts are. A book series created a new sport that real universities play! (Much like how Star Wars inspired a religion of The Force).

Regrettably, I wasn’t able to take any good videos of the games but I did find something on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKW4rVivffU&feature=related

Click Here for another video that somehow didn’t show up here.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

It’s That Time of Year, Again

Posted on November 16, 2010 by NA

Everybody has their traditions for the holiday season. Some go on family vacations, others bake cookies together. For me, I have seen the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” show almost every year. This seasonal outing began to disinterest me once I started high school, because I believed that I outgrew its charming nature to young audiences. But then I thought, it’s called tradition for a reason.

I am sure that many of us have heard about the show on the radio and the television. After 78 years, it certainly has the money to afford it. How has it remained so successful? It preserves the show-stopping scenes that caught the public’s attention originally, and amends minor elements in order to reflect the taste of the time. For example, when I saw the show about ten years ago, there was no 3-D sleigh ride, nor was there a background screen that displayed hundreds of dancing Santas. The show “upgraded” along with the technology of the age. However, art must do this if it hopes to keep an audience’s attention. Such development can be seen in other mediums of art as well, such as dance and music. Audiences today have shorter attention spans than ever, and demand modernized entertainment.

Many scenes of this classic show remain the same. Numerous audiences are pleased with stories about both Santa Claus and baby Jesus. Elves help the white-bearded man send toys to all the well-behaved children in the world. A scene from the Nutcracker is beautifully performed. And of course, the Rockettes grace the stage with their high-kicking legs in perfect unison. Their meticulous attention to detail is baffeling, considering how many of them there are:

As a freshman in college, I look forward to seeing this show again after an unnecessary hiatus. This artistic tradition warms the hearts of many New Yorkers every year, and hopefully it will continue to do so for a long time.

Posted in Theater | 1 Comment

Shoes Are More Than Just For Your Feet

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Corina Yee

I have always been a shoe fanatic, especially with sneakers. I actually have an array of collection in sneakers ranging from Jordans, Nikes, Bapes, etc. If I had more money, I would definitely expand my collection. I’m bringing up my interest because I stumbled upon a webpage that showed some really fascinating artworks that utilized the idea of a shoe or the actual sneaker. Here’s the website of all the works (Some of the pictures do not work if you click on it though).

There were a lot of different works to choose from, so I decided to write about one of them that really stood out to me. It was the one called “Walking Bike”, which used a group of sneakers as the wheels of the bike. There is even a video showing that the bike actually worked. I thought this was a very creative idea and after reading through all the articles, I also realized there were actually so many types of artworks that can incorporate shoes as the main object.

Walking Bike

Posted in Visual Arts | 4 Comments

Real Life Osmosis Jones

Posted on November 15, 2010 by dharamati

Ever wonder what’s going on in the seemingly infinite amount of cells that are all around us? No? well me neither. There are however many people that are interested in questions like this, they are called scientists. In a recent NY times article I read about some very interesting scientists. These scientists are not only connoisseurs when it comes to ribosomes, cytoplasm, and mitochondria, but they are also experts in animation. Many scientists in the past have used pictures to help explain whatever complex subject it is that they are talking about. However, even scientists sometimes have a problem visualizing and understanding what is really going on. Scientists like Dr. Robert A. Lue, Dr. Janet Iwasa, Dr. Tomas Kirchhausen use molecular animation to think and see microscopic science through a whole new lens. When speaking of her interesting approach Dr. Iwasa said “For me, the animations are a way to glue all this information together in some logical way. By doing animation I can see what makes sense, what doesn’t make sense. They force us to confront whether what we are doing is realistic or not.” Science animations have recently gained notoriety because of Drew Berry AKA the “Steven Spielberg of molecular animation.” Berry is a cell biologist who has had some of his work shown in the MOMA, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The videos from a scientific visualization program at Harvard called BioVisions have also helped spread the word about molecular animation. Their videos “The Inner Life of the Cell”(about white blood cells attacking infections) and Powering the Cell:Mitochondria(about the molecules in our cells that convert food into energy) are spectacular. They remind me of documentaries I have seen about the happenings of life underwater. Maybe it’s the music used for the background and the way the molecules move, but I began to forget that I was watching animations of the workings of cells. The videos have vibrant colors which are obviously added at the science-animators discretion in order to highlight certain functions or parts of the cell. In reality there is no color as the cell parts are too small to that they fall below the wavelength of light. I’m amazed and astounded by these scientists because not only do they possess immense scientific information, they are able to creatively put their wealth of knowledge together to produce an intelligent and aesthetically pleasing product. I’ve been trying to decide what direction I should take in terms of my future career and amongst other things science and media studies have both come up in discussion. I don’t know if I would be able to do what these incredible people are doing but it makes me appreciate their work even more. This article also kind of reminded me of a movie I saw that depicted life inside of a human’s body(Bill Murray), “Osmosis Jones”. While the movie was not Oscar winner it was very amusing to see the molecular aspects of our bodies in anthropomorphic forms.

NY Times article
“The Inner Life of the Cell”
“Powering the Cell:Mitochondria”
Osmosis Jones Trailer

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s…

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Alexa Lempel


It’s the incredible flying man! In his recently published collection Flying Pictures, photographer Daniel Gordon has revived the dying art of analog image-manipulation to create what just may be the most magically beautiful photos I have ever seen. And of course, by analog image manipulation I don’t mean Photoshop, or even Hollywood-style smoke and mirrors: to create these beautiful illusions of unaided human flight, Mr. Gordon uses nothing more than his own acrobatic prowess, an impressive tolerance for pain, and the camera’s natural ability to capture a frozen moment.

With an eye for settings and a talent for staying remarkably parallel to the horizon, Gordon is able to preserve through film his ephemeral victories over gravity. The images are sharp (without any blur or appearance of movement) and vibrant, with a noticeably extended depth of field, and a brief enough exposure to give the impression that he is indeed hovering in the air. No matter that he always crashes painfully to the ground seconds later, his pictures exemplify photography’s inherent relationship with fantasy and illusion. In a way, by showing us only a fraction of a second, photos are never less mythical than human flight in the reality of our forever changing world.

In all its vulnerable and wonderment-filled glory, Gordon’s Flying Pictures is pure photographic magic.

Check out more Flying Pictures HERE



Posted in Visual Arts | Leave a comment

A step dancing legend turns to contemporary dance

Posted on November 15, 2010 by bweinstein

Jean Butler, left, during a Riverdance performance

Riverdance is a dance that probably almost everyone has heard of. It is the Irish foot dance that weaves Celtic mythology with Irish history in a series of complicated foot movements and step-dancing styles. It is face paced and requires years of technical training. It is a very distinct dance style. So when Jean Butler, the lead dancer of Riverdance throughout the nineties, decided to shift to a different genre of dance, many assumed that it would be impossible for her to out-do her Riverdance performance, one that she is so closely associated with. However, in a dance review written by Alastair Macaulay for the NY Times, he claims that it is possible she has surpassed her Riverdance days, and certainly those with years more practice in the world of contemporary dance.

Jean Butler performed “Day”, a 45 minute piece choreographed specifically for Butler by Tere O’Connor at Danspace Project. Alastair calls Butler “still elegant, reserved, cool; her feet, posture and brio are still exceptional. But she’s also testing out many new personas: bending that torso, lying down on the floor, puffing her cheeks out like a balloon, hurling her parted fingers like claws and suggesting a snarl, wittily deadpan in sudden shifts of mood.” This description is very different from the Riverdance style of dance. In Riverdance, one’s arms remain stiff and straight by one’s sides, while the feet do virtually all the work. However, in this particular dance piece, Butler experiments with different body movements, many of them coordinated by shifts in the mood.

Like the postmodern dances of Merce Cunningham and Yvonne Rainer, “Day” doesn’t have a continuous flow throughout, but rather switches from one theme to another in a series of non sequiturs. In this piece, Butler exemplifies how versatile she can truly be. I think that is what separates truly talented dancers, as well as all artists, from the rest – when they can attempt new styles of dance (or art) and still be great at what they do.

Butler, in "Day"

article

Posted in Dance | 1 Comment

A Show With No Script

Posted on November 15, 2010 by ToniAnn Fanizzi

Recently coming to an end on November 13th, a show called This Time Tomorrow was being performed in the basement of Duryea Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn.  Audience members had to sign up online to see this show, and were directed through email to meet up at the Blue Marble, which is around the corner from the church.  Here, each member of the unsuspecting audience was given a free hot chocolate before being sent to the basement of the church.  Once there, the people were led to a small area of seats, with the front row of seats nearly touching the curtain.  The curtain opened upon a seemingly plain basement, complete with just a few tables, chairs, balloons, and streamers.  Also on “stage” was performer Paola Di Tolla, who stared at the audience before frantically contorting her body and face into strange positions.  She seemed to be trying to “desperately…entertain important, easily dissatisfied guests, whose mood she couldn’t quite gauge.”  After a little while of this, Di Tolla was joined by two other performers (Ben Beckley and Dan Cozzens), who immediately joined in with Di Tolla’s crazy gestures.  The three tried a number of different things to try and gain the approval of their audience.  They danced and ran around, moved furniture, acted out a number of different scenarios, dragged themselves along the floor.  The audience was no doubt confused, to say the least, by the strange happenings on the stage.  However, this was the goal Di Tolla, Beckley, and Cozzens wished to achieve when writing this show.  They thought of their performance in This Time Tomorrow as “practicing a performance that we couldn’t predict.”

This Time Tomorrow was different each time it was performed, depending on how the audience reacted to what was going on before them.  Even though this show was planned to be this way, every performance, whether it be dance, music, or theatre, is different upon each performance.  No matter how a performer may try to make the show exactly the same each time, they cannot help but be affected even a little by the environment created by a particular audience.  If an audience reacts positively to what is being performed, the performer is likely to get more pumped and excited, possibly generating a better and more interesting show.  On the other hand, if an audience clearly looks bored during the performance, the performer may very easily get discouraged, resulting in a sort of tired, less energetic show.  An audience contributes to a show just as much as the performers themselves do.

You can take a look at the article here.

Posted in Dance | 1 Comment

Some Fine…Architecture

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Corina Yee

I have always had an interest in architecture and was always amazed at how some of the structures in the world were built such as Beijing’s “Birdnest”, Dubai’s “Burj Al Arab”, Rem Koolhaas’ “Seattle Central Library”,

Rem Koolhaus' "Seattle Central Library" - Best Architecture Since 1980

and even Paris’ “Eiffel Tower”. Architecture is definitely a type of art that requires a great deal of creativity because the finalized product will be placed on a street that people will see EVERYDAY, while works such as canvas paintings may only be seen in galleries by a few.

My interest in architecture was suddenly sparked after reading an article on the upcoming opening of the 20-story, 76-unit condominium located on the Upper West Side, called the Laureate. This new building will carry the vibe of buildings from the prewar period such as the early 20th century. I think this is a very creative idea because it is “out with the new and in with the old”, which reminded me of how fashion works too since many times, the new trend seems to be a remix of how fashion trends popular years ago. But going back to the Laureate, the interior of the building possesses the feeling of the 20th century time period as well with the baseboards, herringbone wood floors, and layouts with long halls. The homes will include large energy efficient, sound attenuated windows, separate dining and lounging areas, over-sized bathrooms, and eat-in kitchens with custom-designed faucets and hardware. This luxurious condominium is located on the corner of 76th street and Broadway that will range from $1.7 million to $8.33 million for each apartment. I would definitely not mind spending even a day in one of these rooms.

This magnificent building is designed by SLCE Architects, one of the leading residential architecture firms with over sixty years of experience. Some of their other projects include “The Visionaire” in the Battery Park neighborhood and the “Metropolitan Tower” of Midtown Manhattan.

The Laureate

Posted in Visual Arts | 1 Comment

Philharmonic at Carnegie: What a difference a hall makes

Posted on November 14, 2010 by nzeblisky

The title of thisarticle immediately caught my eye because just in class last thursday we were comparing the concert hall in Julliard to LeFrak Hall. I remember when I first began playing the clarinet and my teachers would talk about good acoustics I had no idea what they were talking about. Over the years, I learned that the room really does make a difference in sound.

In this article, the writer notes a huge difference in sound when the New York Philharmonic played at Carnegie Hall versus when they played at Avery Fisher Hall. The writer claimed that “even during hushed passages of the Beethoven , there was more body and depth to the Philharmonic’s sound than at Avery Fisher”. I have never heard of Avery Fisher Hall, and the article seems to give it a bad rep….maybe it isn’t the best hall but of course when it is compared to Carnegie Hall it is going to sound even worse.

The article is pretty short, I just wanted to mention it because it touched base on what we had briefly discussed in class. In order to make this post just a little more interesting, I’m going to post a video of Midori. She started with the New York Philharmonic as an 11 year old prodigy….crazy! This is a video of her in her earlier years and she sounds amazing!

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

Mystery Guitar Man?

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Susan Xu

Has anyone ever seen the Youtube videos of MysteryGuitarMan? I was browsing the web one day and ran across his channel, which now has over 1,500,000 subscribers. He’s a very gifted musician, but what makes his videos so different from other musicians is that he combines the use of technology to compose his pieces. At the same time, his videos are very entertaining to watch because he adds visual effects. In this way, both my visual and aural senses are stimulated. This allows me watch the video straight through without getting bored.

I also began to realize that art is becoming a lot more technological. Fine artists, for example, often draw using computers and programs such as Photoshop. Do you guys think that technological art is as appreciated as much as regular art? Some people think the use of computers devalues the art because it makes it simpler to produce. I tend to think the opposite because I believe it takes a lot more time and effort to make a computer generated project. It requires skill and creativity. I also find myself really appreciating the final piece because I am always amazed by how the artist was able to create certain illusions. I do not know how to add special visual effects so the fact that someone else can do it makes it more interesting to me.

Posted in Music, Visual Arts | 3 Comments

Isabel Leonard in Cosi Fan Tutte

Posted on November 14, 2010 by bweinstein

A little news regarding the opera “Cosi Fan Tutte”…

The mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, from top, with her personal trainer, Jeremy Levinn; with her teacher, Edith Bers, and the pianist Alan Hamilton; and rehearsing “Così Fan Tutte” with, from left, Pavol Breslik, Miah Persson and Danielle de Niese and, near left, Nathan Gunn.

Isabel Leonard, a mezzo-soprano, who sings Opera, will be one of the women performing in the cast of “Cosi Fan Tutte”. Surprisingly enough, however, she has just given birth to her son Teo a mere 6 months ago. Six months may seem like a long time, however, in the world of Opera singing, six months isn’t all that long in terms of training to prepare for the role. Leonard has been re-sculpting her postpartum abs to be physically fit enough to allow her to sing and reach her notes on point. There is a lot of prep work required in singing Opera. It doesn’t only require the physical fitness of one’s vocal chords, but the ab muscles as well, which are used to drive the sound outward.

Isabel will be playing the role of Dorabella, along with the rest of the cast who will include Miah Persson, Danielle de Niese, Pavol Breslik, Nathan Gunn and William Shimmell. These days, Isabella says, people expect the singers not only to be outstanding vocally but to resemble movie stars (unlike the opera of an older era). Therefore, it is a win-win, says Ms. Bers, her vocal coach since her days at Juilliard.

Isabel Leonard has been performing since 2007 when she made her debut at the Met as Stéphano in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juiliette.” Anne Midgette, of the New York Times describes her as one who “sang with the assurance of one who feels completely at home on the stage wielding an easy mezzo that went up from an amber-colored lower register to an impressive, sopranolike top.”

We are clearly in for an outstanding performance as the proof here shows.

In the article you can also find audio clips of Ms. Leonard singing in Cosi Fan Tutte if you are too curious to wait til the live performance Dec 2nd.

Posted in Music, Theater | 1 Comment

Silence is Golden

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Erica Gailing

A scene from "The Aliens"

“Saying nothing…sometimes says the most.” That is a quote by Emily Dickinson that reminded me very much of the plays that I read about today in the theater section of the NY Times. There are three plays being performed at the Boston Center for the Arts called “Circle Mirror Transformation”, “Body Awareness” and “The Aliens” by Annie Baker. Just as Alyssa wrote about how Rowling makes the world of Hogwarts come alive through her literature and screenplays, Baker apparently makes the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont real for audiences with it’s specificity and tangibility for audiences. It’s defining characteristic is how quiet it is, with emphasis on miscommunications between people that is an everyday problem for people everywhere.

A major point in these plays, which it is applauded for doing so well, is that even when words are exchanged between people there is always a gap that is “separat[ing] them, filled with frustrated thoughts and hopes of connection.” I would like to see how this is done because I would imagine that it would be hard to consciously portray this. One third of the play “The Aliens” is actually performed in silence. Living in NYC, I wonder after thinking about this: do we fill too many of the silences in our everyday lives with useless words? Another of the plays by Baker, “Body Awareness” even goes so far as to suggest that people involved in the most intimate relationships, who think they know one another, could be virtual strangers because of the way that words are often misused and misconstrued.

The theater, especially Baker’s works, has the capacity to make us really think and I believe that this is what leads people to respond and create more artistic things. Are these plays as interesting to you as they are to me? Find out more about them in the article here.

Posted in Theater | 2 Comments

Photography and Science- Another “Striking” Display at the Pace Gallery

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Praveena Persaud

If anyone is interested, maybe we could form a small group and head on over to the Pace Gallery. I posted another blog about Thomas Nozkowski’s exhibition there about two weeks ago, and the scientific display I’m about to talk about here is also located at Pace Gallery. Of course, it’s not anything as riveting or exciting as a theater or dance performance, but I myself have always been more drawn to art exhibitions such as these. I’m just totally afraid that anyone who accompanies me will most certainly have a boring experience.

Moving on to the actual exhibition, photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto opened his display “The Day After” on November 6th. These photographs are his largest photos ever, and they took four years of RESEARCH to be perfected. Definitely not your average photo. He causes electrical sparks to emerge over the film’s surface so that it gives a striking lightning effect. His goal is to make the process seem similar to the situation of the first meteorite hitting Earth. It illustrates the most believed theory about the creation of life; the theory that states that life was created after meteorites covered with amino acids that plunged into the sea.

The process is interesting, as well as dangerous. He uses a 7 x 2.5 foot sheet of film which is laid on a metal plate, a 400,000 volt generator, and an electrical discharge wand (which is normally a metal kitchen device taped to a plexiglass handle). The manager of Sugimoto’s studio, Greg Stanger then flips the generator switch on while Sugimoto waves the wand around until the air “cackles with static electricity.” When Sugimoto’s intuition alerts him that he’s got the right dose of charge, he lowers the wand onto the sheet of film. WITH A LARGE BANG, a miniature lightning field is created. Despite wearing rubber shoes, both men have been shocked numerous times. He then chooses the best 8 by 10 portion of the film to enlarge, a process which he compares to cutting a piece of the sky.

The "Lightning Effect" of this scientific, electric artwork.

Anything worth seeing? I’d love to go see it, but again, seeing as it’s just a plain ol’ exhibition, I’m not sure if anyone else would be willing to go with me..

The article for the event can be viewed here

I personally view this as an incredible attempt to illustrate the beginning of life. I also feel that Sugimoto is a little crazy for the risks that he takes. He and his studio manager have gotten shocked in this process, and while it doesn’t seem to have majorly affected their health, a time may come where the cost of art may be a little too high-risk. Sugimoto also draws inspiration from the days where he used to experiment with drugs, another aspect of his career which I cannot entirely agree with. Being entirely against hallucinogens, I don’t see why he should have those particular experiences as inspiration.

Posted in Visual Arts | 2 Comments

HARRY POTTER!

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Alyssa Blumenthal

So maybe all of you aren’t incredibly excited about the new Harry Potter movie opening this Friday, but I certainly am. Of course, then, I began to read the Times Arts article entitled “A Screenwriter’s Hogwarts Decade” as soon as I saw the headline.

This article discusses Steve Kloves, the Potter screenwriter, and his role in the Harry Potter series. Kloves has been entrusted, since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, with transcribing J.K. Rowling’s words into a screenplay. He constantly works at balancing accuracy with time and slaves over word choice and trueness of character.

Mr. Kloves, in an interview, also discusses the idea of living with art. He has lived in the Harry Potter world for years. The characters to him are not just words on a page of Rowling’s book or his script. They are not just stories to be acted out. He also discusses the wealth of knowledge Rowling knows about her Harry Potter universe that is never discussed directly in her novels.

I think this article highlights the idea of art as a living entity and also the balance that must be put into creating a great work of art, especially when it involves an adaptation of another work.

Besides, someone needed to discuss Harry Potter.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

The New Queen of Texture

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Alexa Lempel


I spent a solid 10 minutes staring at the desktop background image of the guy sitting next to me on the train before I finally decided that I absolutely had to know what it was. The picture was, after all, absolutely fascinating: an abstract shape of earthy colors, alternating between sweetly delicate and grotesquely anatomical. Turns out it was a painting by a female British artist who goes by the handle of GL Brierley, who recently had her first solo show (called Matersatz) in a London gallery last month.

To me, the most interesting thing about Brierley’s paintings is the definite sense of solidness and texture she manages to give to each “object.” Despite their complete abstraction, her subjects always retain the aura of something very physical. I love the luminous waxy feel of her paintings, and her habit of working on wood somehow makes her complex objects seem all the more plausible. I hope you guys find her art as interesting as I do! Click HERE for more info.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tupac Shakur=The Urban William Shakespeare????

Posted on November 12, 2010 by dharamati

The article on rapper Shyne made me think about something very interesting. It is clear that rap is a style of music generally with a thumping and catchy beat, but what about the words themselves? Can rap be considered not only a musical genre but also poetry? When you think about it rap and poetry share many similarities. Both usually employ some sort of rhyme scheme(although neither has to have one in order to be grouped in their respective categories), they both make use of many literary techniques such as metaphors and similes, both can be sung along with a tune(lyrical poetry like John Donne or T.S. Eliot), and both are great outlets for emotions and creativity. Although many associate rap with crude and vulgar subject matter there are many rap artists whose lyrics are poignant and powerful. If you were to look at the lyrics of some rap songs without knowing what it was, you may assume that the literature in front of you was in fact some form of poetry. When you really think about it quality rap could probably be classified as either  lyrical poetry or poetic prose. In fact, just recently a rap anthology entitled “The Anthology of Rap”(catchy no?) was published that brings together the lyrical poetry of many great rap artists. I personally look forward to reading this book and have been searching for it in stores. Take rappers like Talib Kweli or Lupe Fiasco  they are both very intelligent and creative people and this definitely comes through in their raps. Here’s a couple of samples from their work so you can get a better sense of what I’m talking about:

“My rhymes are like shot clocks,
interstate cops
and blood clots,
my point is your flow gets stopped.”-Talib Kweli on “Hater Players”

“You stopping us is preposterous
like an androgynous misogynist,
you picking the wrong time, stepping to me when I’m in my prime
like Optimus, Transforming…”-Talib Kweli on “Twice inna Lifetime”

Some of your smartest have tried to artictulate
My whole part in this
But they’re fruitless in their harvestin’
The drow grows from my footsteps
I’m the one that they follow,
I am the one that they march with
(lemme put you on game)-Lupe Fiasco on “Put You on Game”

Maybe I’m a bit biased because I love rap and thus would rather it be considered poetry because of the connotation it gives off? regardless i definitely see the artistic quality in this musical genre, what do you guys think?

Posted in Music | 2 Comments

Rebirth through Rap and Religion

Posted on November 11, 2010 by David Rand

If you happened to look at the front page of The Arts section of The New York Times today, you would have seen a man, wearing a black hat and standing in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, staring at you through Ray-Ban sunglasses. As an orthodox Jew, this picture grabbed my undivided attention and would not let go until I finished reading the article. This is the unbelievable story of an artist whose life has been a roller-coaster of ups and downs. The transformation of his name says it all. He was born Jamaal Barrow, his rapper name was Shyne, and his new name is Moses Levi.

While his life has taken many unpredictable turns, music has been with him through the highs and the lows. Jamaal Barrow was born in Belize 32 years ago. His father, a lawyer, is now the prime minister of the country. His mother, who brought him to United States when he was a boy, made a living by cleaning houses. He grew up a troubled adolescent in Flatbush, Brooklyn. However, in his late teens he became the protege of the rap-star Sean Combs, know at the time as Puff Daddy. As with many young celebrity gangster rappers, the negative influences of the gangster lifestyle spiraled out of control. In 1999, at the age of 19, shortly after he had signed his first record deal, he found himself in a nightclub in Times Square with his mentor when gunshots were fired and people were injured. To this day, nobody knows exactly what happened in the club that night, but Shyne was sentenced to 10 years in jail for assault, gun possession, and reckless endangerment.

As quickly as music had brought him fame and fortune, it all slipped away. But after serving almost 9 years in New York prisons, at the age of 32 Shyne has a new name, a new religion, and a new sound. You can call him Moses Levi. And you can find him in Jerusalem, dividing his time between studying of Torah and reviving his career in music. Just as the music of his youth reflected his gangster lifestyle, the music he is currently recording portrays him as matured, humbled, religious man. Even though Levi hasn’t released an album since 2004, he is releasing two new albums with Def Jam Records. They’re titled “Messiah” and “Gangland.” One of his song titles, “Am I a Sinner?” is evocative of his attempt to repent for the foolish actions of his youth.

The story of the life of Jamaal Charles (or whatever you’d like to call him) illustrates the power that music has both to hurt and to heal. Music, like many things, is a tool that can be used in positive and negative ways. Music brought him to his downfall and is helping him revitalize his image. The key is to let music enhance who you are, not change who you are. That is what Levi is doing now. He is combining his hip-hop soul with his religious beliefs to make a truly unique musical expression of his personal identity.

Read The New York Times Article

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

Going, going, gone! Sold to the lady in red. (Or whatever.)

Posted on November 11, 2010 by bweinstein

Like my two posts in a row? Me too. Well, its not like I have no life whatsoever and post about the Arts all day long (although I’d prefer it 😉 ), but I came across this article in my search and knew that I had to post about this topic as well. Most people know about the famous pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, and even more people know about Andy Warhol, another pop artist of their generation. This past week an auction was held at Christie’s, featuring some of their most famous works. The auction at Christie’s was an auction of postwar and contemporary arts and was held this past Wednesday night. What amazed me about this article was the price at which many of these pieces sold for. Lichtenstein’s 1964 “Ohhh… Alright…” piece took the top at $38 million. Warhol’s 1962 “Big Campbell’s Soup Can With Can Opener (Vegetable),” came in 2nd, taking the bid at $23.8 million. This piece features a can opener cutting into Warhol’s famous soup can. Yet, while these prices may seem high, they didn’t even reach the expected goal stated by experts who evaluated the works in advance. The Warhol piece was expected to rake in a whopping $30 to $50 million, coming short by almost $7 million. The Lichtenstein piece, of similar value to the Warhol, was estimated to sell for $40 million, but came up short $2 million. Now, I’m no expert but it seems to me like these pieces still did quite well considering. Pop art is one of America’s most loved and treasured art genres and it certainly shows by the price tags on these artworks. Possibly because this auction came after 2 other very prominent art auctions did bids lag, or could it be attributed to a more broad, global view of art and its worth? I’m inclined to think not, but the economy is certainly not hurting these bidders’ budgets. Art has great value and I don’t think that that is something that will ever change. Especially the pop art of the 60s, which doesn’t require much effort to decipher it’s creator and whether there is a deeper, more significant meaning behind the work. The art is pretty much taken at face value for it’s quirkiness and like-ability. At least that’s how I see it.
article

Posted in Visual Arts | 2 Comments

Restricted Access to an Underground Gallery

Posted on November 11, 2010 by bweinstein

When I came across the post about the underground art gallery, called the Underbelly Project, created in an abandoned subway station I was truly fascinated. It reminded me almost of a secret culture of art that was limited only to those who knew of its presence. A sort of underworld society of artists banding together to create larger-than-life masterpieces. Well after the New York Times revealed this secret to all of its readers, it’s no wonder that many built up the courage to seek it for themselves. This illegal refuge of art became a tourist attraction for the City’s most curious artists and art admirers. However, this short-lived debut has sadly come to an end. New York police gone undercover patrol the area arresting those who visit the site, or even attempt to. One officer has claimed, “This is not an art gallery; this is completely illegal.” Well, obviously. But the beauty of it is that it is illegal! The gallery takes on the “forbidden fruit” quality that makes people even more eager and desperate to see what’s behind closed doors. And so, despite the prohibition of seeing the site, it still attracts a crowd. The actual location of the site has not been disclosed to the public; however, it is speculated that it exists atop the Broadway stop of the G line in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The station was abandoned after the Great Depression hit, forcing a halt in its construction (part of a larger ambitious plan to expand the subway system in the late 1920s). The works will not be removed or painted over, say Transit Officials, but they do not encourage anyone to visit the site for safety reasons. Maybe one day they’ll open it up to the public, and generate a profit doing so! An anonymous person has posted photos online of the works, and can be viewed here.
Some of my favorites:

How appropriate.

A skeletal romance of sorts...

A tribute to the City's most beloved creature.

No caption necessary. They own the night.

Posted in Visual Arts | 1 Comment

Why do the States love “The Nutcracker?”

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Praveena Persaud

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” has been performed in the United States for seventy years. It was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russa in 1892, the country of its origin. It was brought to the United States in 1940 when the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo presented it in New York City.

And according to the New York Times Article (which can be read here), America has really “taken it to heart” since then. This story of children and toys and Christmas sentiments has the country enthralled. We have the most performances across the nation annually. In America, we have also altered the dance very radically. Across the country this year there have been/will be performances that include George Washington, hip-hop, and a gay-and-lesbian dance along production.

Russia hasn’t nearly treasured their own dance nearly as much as they have treasured other performances such as “Swan Lake” or “Giselle.” Europe recently adopted the tradition of having an annual performance. So why does the United States feel so close towards this dance? There were many different reasons tackled in the article, and a few stuck out to me.

The first is the concept of innocence. “The Nutcracker” is about a girl who travels to different lands. She freely travels over new terrain, with no powerful intent, no corrupt motives as to why she would travel; she explores for explorations sake. Another reason is the lack of social controversy. This play doesn’t seem to try and tackle the always-present issue of class-struggle. Social class isn’t present here. There is a prince, but when he extends his reach to Clara (the main character’s name tends to change depending on the production), a middle-class girl, the very sentiment of it all is so innocent that we don’t think about a higher-up reaching to someone lower.

The bigger concept as to why this would reach out to America is because it represented the very base that the country is known for; we “embrace newcomers.” This girl travels to the “Land of Sweets” and is welcomed warmly. The Statue of Liberty could possibly be compared to the Sugar Plum Fairy with her wand. The girl can stay in this paradise and enjoy all it has to offer, and thrive from it. Ideally, immigrants are welcomed to the country with open arms, from all over the world, so that they may rest and find a better life. Perhaps the USA in general enjoying grasping on to this ideology? That this nation is a land of sweetness, and that we accept everyone equally.

That’s a bold thought there..

It's the Nutcracker!

Posted in Dance | 1 Comment

STOMP

Posted on November 11, 2010 by nzeblisky

In this class, a lot of the music we talk about is more traditional- and by traditional I mean played on actual instruments or sung. But now, I would like to introduce everybody to Stomp. I first heard about Stomp through my wind ensemble teacher last year. He showed us a video one day of these men and women making music using “instruments” such as brooms, garbage pails, garbage lids, poles, and various other things you would find on the street. While making their music, their performance seems to be choreographed, so it is not only cool to listen to, but interesting to watch.

Stomp originated in 1991 in the UK. The performers have since traveled the world, to places such as Hong Kong, Barcelona, Sydney, and Dublin. They began their tour in the United States in 1995. In 2006, in New York, Stomp had its 5000th performance. They have opened up for various famous events as you can see on the timeline on their website.

Unfortunately, my wind ensemble did not get to go see the performance we had wanted to because the tickets were sold out, but they have a lot of performances in the Orpheum Theatre in New York City. I think it’d be really interesting to go see since it’s something that we all aren’t too used to. There are group discounts on tickets for groups of 12 or more, so if anyone wanted to go see this, either as a class or with friends, get a group together because tickets can be very expensive.

This is one of the videos my wind ensemble teacher showed us, watch it!

Posted in Music | 11 Comments

Art: Gateway to the Soul

Posted on November 10, 2010 by NA

High school was rough for almost everybody. There were countless classes to take, schools to apply for, tests to pass, and so on. But if these trivial issues were the only things that were bothering you at the time, consider yourself fortunate.

“To Be Heard” is a new documentary that exposes the rough lives of three high school peers. Karina Sanchez, Pearl Quick, and Anthony Pittman all live in the Bronx and have more on their minds than just next Monday’s math test: Sanchez is abused by her mother, Quick struggles with obesity and financial issues, and Pittman deals with his past gang affiliations and his imprisoned father. These dilemmas, on top of ordinary high school woes, stress these students beyond comprehension. How in the world were they to release such emotion in a healthy and controlled – and beautiful – manner?

An optional class at University Heights High School called “Power Writing” was the perfect solution. The instruction intended to educate the students about self-expression and how to do it effectively. This way, they students could resolve (or at least lighten) their prevalent issues themselves; no therapist or school can fix anything better than they can. The students are encouraged to be as honest and as real as possible, even if this involves explicit and informal vocabulary. The verbal art is usually recited in competitions afterward, which helps the students convey their passions more clearly; the way a text is read can be completely different from the way it is recited. Through performance, the students become aware of the beauty within their own words, and become inspired to polish the new-found skill.

The poetry helped Sanchez, Quick, and Pittman connect to who they truly are. Since they could better understand themselves, they gained an awareness of their fellow peers’ emotions. Unbreakable friendships developed in the process. Although much time has passed since the documentary was filmed, their lives have not gotten any easier (the students are now in their early twenties). However, they all continue to write. It was and will remain a huge part of their lives because it helped them cope with life. And as they gracefully age, their writing ability flourishes and becomes bolder and stronger. The three artists hope that their stories inspire students with similar troubles to find refuge in writing.

A preview of the documentary mentioned in the article is featured below:

Posted in Theater | 1 Comment

Dalí at Time Warner Center

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Shirley Mak

Remember the bronze statues of Adam and Eve by Fernando Botero that Professor Smaldone blogged about a while ago?  Now, in addition to these bronze statues of the Colombian artist, we can now see 16 of Dalí’s statues at the Time Warner Center, in addition to many of his original paintings and drawings in “Dalí: The Vision of a Genius”.  Dalí’s artworks are on loan from the collection of Enrique Sabater y Bonany, who used to be Dalí’s private secretary and curator for 12 years.  They are located in the lobby as well as the second floor, and they are on sale.  The price is in the $50,000 range, but it is free to see it!  Some notable sculptures are there, such as the “Woman Aflame”, “Persistence of Memory”, and “Profile of Time”.  The exhibit opened on November 3rd, and will be opened until April of 2011, so don’t miss the chance to see it!

Here is a website where you can find more information, as well as see the pictures of all 16 sculptures.

Posted in Visual Arts | 1 Comment