Awakenings

Willem De Kooning was a world renowned Abstract Impressionist. He was noted for his bizarre images of deformed women’s torsos painted from 1952-1954, as shown above. These two paintings were titled, Women I (on left) and Two Women IV (on right). Prior to committing to a specific design, De Kooning would make countless pencil and pastel sketches for his paintings (known as studies). In his paintings, he would exaggerate certain features on the female body; such as the breasts and the toothy smile. Many believe that these depictions of women stemmed from the trauma that he experienced during his parents divorce when he was five years old. Others believe that these paintings reflected De Kooning’s lust for women, or his rebellion against his own desires.

A Friendly Visit From Spidey

Dream Big

Elder

“I’m just Angela,” Angela Brown warmly announced at the beginning of her little conference at Baruch which was made possible because of Professor Bernstein’s keen e-mail writing skills. Mr. Brown’s modesty was an understatement; we soon came to realize when she shared her journey leading to classical opera singing at the Metropolitan Opera House, for the renowned play by Verdi, “Aida”.

“I originally wanted to sing gospel music,” classical music “wasn’t my first love… it wasn’t my middle love” Ms. Brown said. It seemed that classical singing was more drawn to her instead of the other way around. However, “When it is for you, its for you,” Ms. Brown reassured us. Classical Music was simply setout for her, and she eventually caught up with this destiny and saw her connection with the world of opera singing. Ms. Brown repeatedly accounted the events of her life as something she unconsciously had taken part in order to catch up with her “vision.” All the events in her life, ranging from studying classical music to enrolling in the Young Artists Program by the Met and finally winning Regionals in 1997, traveling to NYC and landing a spot in the set of Aida were tied to this “vision” of where she is now. Her determined attitude and warm personality undoubtedly aided in rolling her a spot as a cover for Aida in her audition at the Met.

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My collage reflects a blossoming to the idea of love as I grapple with the idealistic and practical notions that it entails. The images are superimposed on a map of the world to represent the metaphysical quality of love and the idea that love transcends nations and physical boundaries. This romantic, hopeful interpretation is balanced by the practical realization that space and distance are in fact physical restraints to love in a real world. (Immigration, wars, national borders end marriages and relationships.) Similarly, the persistent images of clocks, interpreted idealistically, express the timelessness and boundlessness of love. I have wondered how love endures through time as life runs its course. Does it persist as beauty fades and does it live on unchanged after a lover’s death? More practically, the symbol of time in my collage represents my musings on the importance of timing in love. If one love ends and another begins, does the first fade with the passage of time? Can there exist a latent form of love as we begin to love another person? Ultimately, this montage is an expression of my puzzlement and a collection of questions. It is not a complete awakening but a ripening of realizations. The couple on the lower left represents a physical manifestation of love, one of the only concrete forms of love I know to exist. The faceless torso of a woman with black polished nails and a hand pressed against her chest is a reflection of me, and perhaps other girls who have played along with petty drama in the pretense of true love. The faceless male figure is an imagined lover, classy, sophisticated in a black suit, intelligent and with a book in hand. In the lower right a broken CD, chosen for its reflecting surface, symbolizes my introspection and invites reflection from viewers on the question of love. In my grappling with love, the white dove represents my belief that love in its truest form is purely good and a supreme state of peace. Lastly, the satin brown ribbon is a finishing touch, a final but incomplete conclusion that whatever love is, it is precious, something worth our yearning.

New Yorkers
Walking out onto the streets, there is so much going on in our small yet bustling city of New York. Art is found everywhere New York: from the skyscrapers to the graffiti and engravings found on the streets and walls of our buildings.

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A couple of weeks before attending “Aida” at the Metropolitan Opera House on November 5, 2007, our class was constantly reminded of the great opportunity we were given, after all Angelo Brown was playing the protagonist, Aida, and to brace ourselves for the near four hour duration of the opera as well. Maybe the latter was not something to be taken so lightly because nearly four hours in the night with constant opera singing, is not something we are innately trained to withstand. This is not to say that there wasn’t great talent in that show, which was clearly not the case.

The lavish clothing of the singers was not something to ignore. Glittering and shimmering under the bright lights of the set, maybe the glimpses of the clothes kept one’s eyes from fully shutting after a good thirty minutes had past bye. The set, with statues and pyramid-like infrastructures captured the ancient Egyptian aura. It was something breath-taking beautiful that one’s eyes need not be forced open. The horses galloping on stage in the “Triumphant scene” knocked the sleep out of even the most sleep-deprived students. (more…)

Walking into this exhibit, the serene quietness forces every viewer to tiptoe around the pieces and soak up their messages; sometimes straightforward and other times abstract and hidden. The structure of the exhibit with its sectioned walls and its maze-like effect, matched the creativity of the art. With displays from names like Andreas Feininger to Jill Mathis, each photographer truly captures the essence of the theme of “between language and photography.”

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My mother, Gina, has been a great role model for me.  She has taught me about honest, simple living and the importance of hard work.  I remember that she would tell me of her life as a youngster growing up on a small island of one of the Visayan provinces in the Philippines.  My mother would tell of her three mile walk to school through sugar cane fields, dirt roads, and fields with grazing caribou. She spoke about her parents’ work in the sugar mills and how her family’s earnings were just enough to meet most of their basic needs in life.  As I listened to these stories, I wondered how my mother was able to leave her humble beginnings on her island and make it half-way around the world to New York.  I also thought of how the person I see her as came to be and whether she considered a specific moment in her life to be a turning point.  As I dug deeper into my mother’s journey, I discovered that turning points are not events that spontaneously occur, but rather, are moments that are built over time and culminate when the time is right. (more…)

NAATCO, The National Asian American Theatre Company, struggles to provide theatrical performances as a non profit organization.
NAATCO was founded in 1989 by Richard Eng and Mia Katigbak to promote Asian actors, directors, technicians, and designers in classical and contemporary American and European works. Its first performance was in 1990 and has since produced 27 plays. It has maintained it non-profit status throughout its tenure. Now Rubén Polendo manages the organization as he tries to continue its traditions.
Its newest performance “Blind Mouth Singing”, by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas and directed by Rubén Polendo, required a hefty amount of time, money, and in the end made little or no profits. Blind Mouth Singing is about a distressed mother who is trying to hold on tightly to her two sons and sister. One son, Reiderico, has conversations with his other side, Lucero. Lucero, an incorporation of everything that Reiderico seeks but can’t accomplish, finally takes over his body. He causes pain to the family and finally decides to leave for the city, to leave the mother.
Such performances require a large amount of funding. Even though it is small, Blind Mouth Singing required over a hundred thousand before it could happen. Director, Rubén Polendo, and stage manager, Hilary Austin, frequently look for funders to make such performances. These investments include grants, donations, and other sorts of endorsements.
According to Rubén Polendo, NAATCO has a board of members that annually contributes a certain amount of money, either from their personal wealth or from fundraisers. The government also provides money but a very small amount. Grants are harder to get because certain grants are selective to certain genres of performances. This leads to threats in creativity. Polendo aims to choose a play that incorporates many different ideas. Another struggle of a non-profit organization is the job and the work required. Blind Mouth Singing alone took about three months to put together. The organization first has to find support for its performance. Then the organization has to find an inexpensive place for the main performance and hire actors, designers, technicians, and other faculty. The performance is priced at a reasonable price, $20 for Blind Mouth Singing, but in the end, the organization hopes that they have enough revenue to pay off its debts.
A non profit organization requires a lot of work, sacrifice, and in the end it provides only intangibles. It is a gamble to make such expensive performances and price the tickets at low amount. A non profit theater organization such as NAATCO invests plenty of resources to receive little or no profits.

Tings Dey Happening is a one man performance by the playwright, Dan Hoyle, in the Culture Project’s SoHo; the performance is a play based on Nigeria’s oil politics.

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