The Arts in New York City

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“Enchanted” is basically a magic movie, it’s the No.1 ranking movie in the cinema now, as well as highly recommendated by New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Because of curiosity, I went to watch it on last Friday. I was actually kind of disappointed by it. The plot was both simple and cliched; a princess from magic world accidentally came to the human world and fell in love with an average man. Especially comparing with ” The Violin” I just watched also, I felt that the theme depicted in “Enchanted” is too trivial and naive.  Probably a deeper  theme in this movie is about trust because before the guy met the princess, he never trusted anyone. The princess made him start to trust people and to trust the world. He was deeply moved and attracted by the princess’ purity and innocence. Despite of the lack of originality and light theme, this movie, however, is the only one I’ve see that the audience spontaneously started clapping at the end of the movie. That just made me start wondering, what made the commercial movie achieve this that an artistic movie couldn’t? What is our ruler when measuring art? Does art still have any value if the audience feel hard to be emphasized? Or can we not call commercial movies arts since the audience really had a good time watching it, since they made the audience felt more relaxed and happier?

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We went to the Alexander string quaret in English class. The performance consists of three violinists and one celloist. One of those performers explained some music theories to us. It was the first time I really got to know Beethoven. The classical pieces they played were very unique. Usually, I think classical music is calm and slow, but the music by Beethoven is intense and dramatic, to some point, even frightening. It inspired me to perceive music in a different way. The experience was enhanced by the performers’ emotional attachment. They moved their bodies back and forth and their facial expressions were very intense. I was really enchanted by both the music and their body motions.

Tuesday, the windy afternoon, I rushed to the International Center of Photography on 43^rd Street planning to have a last minute glimpse of it before it closed, so I could at least have something to write on the IDC paper. However, it was that less than an hour look-around that redefined my definition of Photography. Photography, draws a line between art and life, and that line is truth. (more…)

I used to exclude commercial movies from my definition of art. However, the movie ” Kingdom” totally changed my view on commercial movies. “Kingdom” is a story based on some real personal experiences. It mainly depicts how a group of four Americans eradicated the terrorists in Saudi Arab. If some people consider this is a political propaganda, then it must be the best propaganda I’ve ever seen. It depicts the political idea with out political dreadfulness. The vivid pictures of those victims’ eyes with fear, their tears… totally touched me. The end especially impressed me. The terrorist leader told his granddaughter before he got killed by the American police: ” We’ll kill all of them one day.” And at the beginning of the movie, the American police officer told his dead fellow’s wife: ” We’ll kill all of them.” The little girls’ eyes with hatred, and the American police officer’s eyes with hatred, I seem could never forget. The movie touches terrorism issue, yet it far goes beyond that issue. Is war and revenge really the solutions for terrorism? How will it affect the next generation. The first time, when thinking of the terrorists, I had a feeling beyond indignation. Compare to those popular fantasy American movies, I think that movie really touches the reality, and that is what I think the essence of art: no matter it’s expressed in an abstract way, or a concrete way, it should make people think, it should have life, instead of those pointless fantasies.

This is my second time visiting Moma. The first time, like most of the visitors there, my eyes were glued to the masterpieces by those renowned first-class artists like Van Gogh, Monet or Picasso. Nevertheless, coming here again, I found it more interesting to compare those classic arts with the ones created by people from this new age. The comparison reshapes my definition of art: Today’s art has transformed its focus from skills to ideas. (more…)

The Spanish sculpture Renaissance lecture given by Metropolitan Museum on Friday evening was really an enriching and inspiring experience to me. It was about both art profession and art history in Europe. It was only a less than an hour lecture, but I really got a lot from it. I found Span’s art history was really interesting, moreover, to some extent, it was a microscope of European’s art history. Sculptors from Italy, Netherlands and other European countries all had come to Span to work. Noticeably, Spanish sculptors’ style was largely affected by Italian sculptors’, especially by Micheal Angelo’s. The figures they created were more symmetrical and muscular than those by norther European’s. Their materials were mainly marble, which was from Italy, and wood, span’s traditional material. An unique technique of Spanish Sculpture  was: the sculptors liked to put a gilded cover over their works. And then they mixed the gild with colors , which extremely resembled Span’s Ancient clothes’ material. Another thing I found interesting was how those works were obtained by the museum. Amazingly, all the works were original. They were first possessed by a Paris dealer. Later on, they were sold to an American merchant. That merchant accommodated them in his own house. Before he died, he made a promise that he agreed to contribute those works to the museum. Thus, the public would see. So, all the works(columns, stairs, windows, etc) were taken into parts piece by piece. Then they were transferred into Metropolitan Museum and rebuilt up.

Lu Huang Assignment #1 Due Sept 19
The big-draw event, I think it really is over-exaggerated by the organizers. Overall, I think it is a poorly schemed event.
First of all, its locations were arranged in an inconvenient way. It was a good idea to offer people different locations with different options. But each spot was located too far away from each other and some places were totally blocked by the trees. I mean it’s not supposed to be a treasure hunt. I spent approximately 30 minutes walking at a faster than average speed from one spot to another (American Indian Natural Museum to Battery Park City). So basically I’ve already been exhausted by the distance without even participating in the event yet. And I really had a trouble finding the Battery Park City. Eventually, an old lady guided me there. It was like a normal classroom-size and surrounded by tree. The old lady also commented it was really hard for a stranger to find that place.
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