New York Scenes

Author: John Casella (Page 1 of 2)

Final Project: Trapped Behind the Iris

December 13, 2015 / / 6 Comments

Art is perspective. The definition of art cannot and will never be limited to one statement. Parallel to the definition, or lack thereof, art can be anything and cannot be limited to one form, object, idea, or meaning. We are art and art is us– the definition of art is up to each and every one of us. This concept alone makes everyone a piece of art.

Art is comprehensive. Music, paintings, architecture, sports, movies, language, and much more. Whether we like it or not, every single thing is an art form. The interpretation of art differs from person to person, and the emotions we associate with art also vary. Nevertheless, we are brought together by our enjoyment for art, regardless of which kind of art it is. It is one of the reasons why we love America, a governing system that gives the people the freedom to be creative and to express that creativity.

Everyone went to an exhibition, a play, an opera, and a dance performance, but no one had the same review of it. Some were shocked, displeased, appreciative, or excited. Some performances were draining, others revitalizing. Everyone had a different experience, though we all had the same catalyst. This is a small portion of how we see  art everyday. On the street, in a home, or on the subway, art approaches us just as often as we approach it; And our range of reactions are as diverse as our range of experiences.

Just as we placed ourselves in each location, we also put a little bit of ourselves in our reactions. Given the choice to visit any art in New York City, we specifically chose those shown in the video for a purpose. Our reactions were reflective of our personalities and our inner thoughts. With no sound, we can only say so much. Art is reflected in all of us.

 

So then how do we define art? According to our beloved IDC class…

Art is enticing.

Art is confusing.

Art is passion.

Art is something that makes you feel a certain way.

Art is complex.

Art is mmmmmMMMmmmmmm.

Art is infinitely boundless; yet we are the borders of art.

Art is interpretive.

Art is infinite.

Art is perfectly flawed.

Art is a journey that we unintentionally take.

Art is independent, ambiguous expression of emotion and values that resonates across countries, cultures, and languages.

Art is what you deem it to be.

Art is full of expression.

Art is everything and anything.

Art is unique and insightful.

Art is personal.

Art is speaking without words.

Art is beautiful.

Art is too subjective for tastes.

Art is confusing. Art is everything, therefore, art is nothing.

Art is expression of the soul.

Art is something I need, it’s like breathing. And every day I look for some sign of art in my life.

Art is forever, as it will always be unique and independent. Art is truly a timeless masterpiece– we as people breathe it, walk it, view it, move to it, hear it, smell it, taste it, feel it, and ultimately, live it. Art is…

The Woman Who Owns the Music Industry

November 13, 2015 / / 17 Comments
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Adele Adkins

Adele is back and she’s saying more than just “Hello.” The British superstar’s new single managed to sell 1.1 million copies in its first week in addition to its music video obtaining 100 million views on YouTube. But at this stage in the game, posting good results just seems second nature to Adele. Her previous album “21,” is the 20th best selling album in history with 30 million copies sold worldwide.

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Successful sophomore album “21”

Adele’s new album “25,” offers a different perspective from her last record; instead of the gloomy post-breakup feeling “21” elicits, “25” “is about what to hold on to from the past and what to let go.” Adele was keen on making this album perfect, as she’s taken her sweet time (4 ½ years) to release it. Writing partner and notorious hitmaker Ryan Tedder, lead singer of OneRepublic, said she’s thrown out about 20 potential hit songs away because they just weren’t right for the album. These songs might make their way into other artists’ discographies, and most likely will not have the same success than if Adele had opted to sing it.

A major part of her success has been her soul, passion, and emotions

Adele won 6 Grammy's in 2014

Adele won 6 Grammy’s in 2014

shining through every song she sings; the power and intense feeling packed into every melody magnifies and highlights whatever sentiment she  hopes to convey. I love Adele for this reason, because she makes music for the sake of making music. Many times in pop culture celebrities like to pull ridiculous stunts or say something completely absurd to stay relevant in the news. But Adele’s not in it for the fame. In fact, she’s turned down a ton of major endorsement deals strictly because she didn’t feel like doing them. When confronted why she continually elects not to immerse herself more in the spotlight, Adele said “If I wanted to just be famous, like be a celebrity, then I wouldn’t do music… Commercials, being the face of brands, being in movies, being the face of a car, designing watches, food ranges, buildings, airlines, book deals. I’ve been offered everything.…[but] I want to do one thing. I want to make something. I don’t want to be the face of anything.” The 27 year old is really living up to her words, because the only thing she’s the face of is success in music.

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“25”

No one knows what to expect from “25” because a lot has changed for her personally since 2011 when the last album was released. She now has a son. She now has a loving boyfriend. She has virtually disappeared from the public eye. She has even said that she cries to her own music, but I think she has enough tissues in the form paper money to wipe away the tears. But all kidding aside, Adele’s personal growth is truly remarkable. No matter what this album has in store for the music world, I look forward to experiencing firsthand. 

“25” comes out November 20th.

 

Dancing, Dancing, and More Dancing

November 11, 2015 / / 3 Comments
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The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a staple of my high school education. In virtually every history class I was enrolled in, the class discussed its effects on society and the major people involved in the movement. However, while the curriculum provided a general overview of the golden era, a large majority of the names mentioned were either writers or musicians, never dancers. Some of the best kept secrets mentioned in History of Black Dance: 20th-Century Black American Dance weren’t even listed in my textbook. Reading about such heavily influential people like Buddy Bradley, Pearl Primus, and all of the other performers listed, made me realize that just because they weren’t Langston Hughes or Louis Armstrong, doesn’t mean they weren’t a vital part of the Harlem Renaissance.

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Kyle Abraham

Even in and after this period of intense cultural flourishment, the black community continued to face a ton of societal hardships. Choreographer Kyle Abraham incorporates elements of this history in his works “The Watershed” and “When The Wolves Came In,” linking the Civil Rights Movement to both. In addition to a such a powerful historical allusion, the artistic vision offers a very interesting glimpse into the mind of the choreographer. Abraham states: “when you put [a] Black body on stage with any other dancer, the story shifts based on the history that whoever is watching it has already experienced…if you’re seeing a Black body and a white body, a Black man and a Black woman, and Black man and a white man – all of those things have their own kind of politic to them.” To get a better understanding of what Abraham was trying to execute, I went to YouTube to see a clip of his choreography.

The dancing was intense. Acrobatic moves, flowing motions, and rigid shifts in position really drew me in. But Abraham’s point of the “black body” enhancing the performance is clearly shown. The doubling and synchronicity of a black man and a white man certainly kicked up the intensity a great deal. Likewise, when a black woman was alone on stage in front of a projected image that said “WHITES ONLY,” the emotion that resulted was undeniably powerful. It was at both of these moments in the routine that had my peak attention compared to the other scenes I saw, so Abraham certainly succeeded in his terms of what he wanted to depict.

With all of this new information, I am very excited to see what Thursday’s performance has to offer!

Turandot

October 28, 2015 / / 1 Comment

I’ve seen a handful of operas before, but “Turandot” has the craziest plot out of all of them. Princess Turnadot is an icily independent person who refuses to marry anyone based on an ancestor’s terrible experience. To completely avoid matrimony, she employs a system where any man could marry her as long they solve three riddles. Simple enough, right? Not so much. The one disclaimer is that if you get any of the three riddles wrong, the princess reserves the right to murder you.

Turandot

The story focuses on Calàf, a prince who is willing to risk his life (seriously dude?) to obtain the love of Princess Turandot. Despite this seemingly Disney-esque plotline, the story contains much more drama than the stereotype denotes. Calàf becomes the first person to solve all three riddles out of a plethora of men, and Turandot throws a hissy fit; she refuses to have her independence taken away from her. Calàf says he’ll make an exception to his rule: as long as she can guess his name by sunrise, the marriage will be broken off. Oh, and this agreement also states she could totally kill him if she wants to. Turnadot sends out a decree that everyone must find his name, or they’ll all be killed (seriously what does everyone see in this girl?!). They accuse Liù, Calàf’s slave, of knowing his name, and continue to torture her until she says it. Long story short, Liù says that she’s madly in love with Calàf, murders herself, and then Calàf and Turandot end up in love by the end of the opera.

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I have a major problem with one aspect of Puccini’s masterpiece; this opera perpetuates the primitive stereotype that one’s looks defines who they are as a person. Boys are literally giving up their precious right to live for a princess whose sociopathic ways frightened me during most of the play; she treats killing people like a completely normal topic. Additionally, Calàf ends up loving Turandot in spite of the fact that she was the driving force behind the death of Liù, the girl who saved his life. Overall, it reflects a society that places a grater emphasis on materialistic and self-absorbed values, while completely ignoring characteristics such as intelligence and loyalty.

I am very excited to see how this work will be brought to life on stage Tuesday.

Old Photos, Same Problems

October 23, 2015 / / 8 Comments

Jacob Riis gained fame in the 1890s by releasing a photojournalism publication calledriis1 “How the Other Half Lives.” These photos depicted the poor living conditions that the tenements on the Lower East Side housed. From now until March 20, 2016, the the Museum of the City of New York is presenting “Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half.” The exhibit will feature 125 letters, manuscripts and other printed material and artifacts, generously provided by the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress.

The mysterious and unanswered questions that arise from these photos are what makes them so interesting. Upon viewing them, you might wonder “whatever happened to the three children of the English dockworker and his family living in a one-room flat…near what is now the High Line? Or the barefoot boys, who posed huddled above a grate on Mulberry Street in Little Italy?” The answers might never be solved, which is what makes their artistic statements unbelievably powerful. However, the concepts of these photos aren’t so archaic. In fact, they reflect modern society quite accurately.

New York City Still hosts “the other half,” but not just in the Lower East homeless_in_nycSide; penniless people are scattered throughout the concrete jungle. These poverty-stricken citizens are littered on the streets begging for change, digging through garbage cans, and sleeping through harsh weather conditions. What does the half that is better off do? Nothing but pass them by. I myself am guilty of this. While sparing a dollar to every homeless person I see is not possible, I wish that I had more sympathy when I ignored them all those times to avoid being late for class.

Riis used to give illustrated lectures, speaking to an audience of amateur photographers for two 23riis-night-quarters-articleLargehours about 100 of his slides. He later titled these lectures “How the Other Half Lives and Dies,” to show just how gruesome this way of life was. But 1890 isn’t so far off from 2015, because poor
people die in a very similar fashion to the way he depicted: “thousands of forgotten New Yorkers are buried annually in the same unmarked trenches on Hart Island off the Bronx that Riis photographed.” Aside from making me feel terribly sad, this statement really gave me a reality check of how lucky I am to be financially stable and to have a good support group of family and friends surrounding me.

453561177So while I sit here typing this blog post on my free computer, to be submitted for a grade at my prestigious university, someone else sleeps on the streets, waiting for enough change to purchase McDonalds’s. Jacob Riis’ photos are truly shocking, but they’re just art to the better half. To the “other half,” these photos are a reality.

The Awakening of Spring

October 5, 2015 / / 4 Comments

The Awakening of Spring by Frank Wedekind offers a very provocative view into the world of teenagers circa 1891, although the moral of the story may not be as archaic as the age of the play. It brings up several red flags like improper sexual education and ignorance over mental illness. With Wendla and Moritz being the targets of such behavior, it brings to mind that this is not uncommon in modern society; education on certain controversial topics fails to be properly translated to teenagers, which subsequently puts them in severe danger.

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Frank Wedekind

Wendla’s story in particular surprised me based on the stupidity of her mother. Her mother practically refused to teach her daughter proper sexual education. Not only did she completely fail in that realm, but she completely denied her daughter the privilege of knowing about her own rape and pregnancy. If she had been more forward with Wendla about sexual intercourse, it may have very well saved her daughter’s life, but her unwillingness to deal with sensitive subjects ultimately led to her getting the short end of the stick. Although the play was written in the 19th century, parallels can be drawn to modern society regarding horrendous gaps in education.

The play reminded me of an incident that happened in a California high school last December. Parents were outraged when Planned Parenthood was brought into Acalanes Union High School to educate the students about consent, sexuality, and gender identity because they thought the program was promoting their children to engage in sexual activity. Unfortunately, this is the root of the problem. If parents educated their children properly on the dangers of sex, then they should not have to worry about Planned Parenthood, the largest sexual education provider in the country, having a negative influence on them. I hope these parents among others who do not condone sexual education soon realize that informing teenagers about the dangers of sex is far more beneficial than no education at all.

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Frank Wedekind really took some risks when writing this play in such a conservative age. I’m not surprised in the least that it took him over a decade to stage a single performance. While I give him credit for that, I give him far more credit to be daring enough to bring out such controversial topics that still need to be discussed today. If parents don’t have serious talks with their children, the end result will not be a spring awakening, it’ll be a rude awakening.

Every Portrait Tells a Lie/John Singer Sargent Made a Scene

September 10, 2015 / / 2 Comments

“Every portrait exposes a truth that rides on the inherent lies.” This frightening truth revealed by Debra Brehmer in her article “Every Portrait Tells a Lie,” is something I think about quite often. This year in particular was my senior prom and high school graduation. My parents probably took upwards of 5000 photos, trying very hard to document these moments that could never be repeated. By the 5000th photo, I may have finally gotten the picture perfect smile plastered across my face, yet I did not feel any joy; my eyes were practically screaming for help with the flash going off every three seconds, and my back was on the verge of giving out after pretending to have perfect posture for several hours.

Although not displayed in the article “John Singer Sargent” by Sarah Churchwell, Churchwell does mention Madame X, one of Sargent’s portraits that I had interpreted yesterday. The portrait sparked major controversy among the French Public over her pose and Sargent’s apparent misuse of space.

Madame X(1884)

Madame X

Sargent expressed his concern to his friend Vernon Lee that he was “struggling with the unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness” of his model. However, Sargent overcame this obstacle by “fusing techniques from Velázquez, Titian and Manet, as well as [his] then fashionable interest in Japanese art.” With Brehmer’s notion that “every portrait tells a lie,” it made me curious; if he had no problem toying with the  artistic style of his portrait, I am convinced that he took certain liberties of adjusting the real position of his sitter’s pose. And if he did take these liberties, it was an amazing decision as Madame X became Sargent’s best and most famous work of all time.

Critics could argue that manipulating the reality of portraits or photographs like adjusting a pose, or smiling when you’re unhappy is tampering with the true beauty of reality. But so what if I smile in a picture when I had a miserable day? So what if I smile in a picture when I am dressed uncomfortably in suit at some formal event in which I don’t even know the host? I know the true story behind the photo, and to me, that is far more interesting than a fake smile. Besides, a fake smile puts the cherry on top of a captured memory; if “every portrait tells a lie,” then every story reveals the truth.

 

 

 

 

 

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