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Author: matthewlam
Modern dance is a very unique form of dancing that puts itself in its own category. What makes modern dance so original? Modern dance takes in many different forms of dancing and mashes them all together to form a completely new form of dancing. It is very interesting that a good part of modern dance was born right in our backyard, Harlem.
Being taught to be a classical musician for the most part of my life, there was little room to actually deviate from the actual piece that was given in front of you. Later on, when I started experimenting a little bit with jazz music, I realized that jazz in sense took aspects of classical music while breaking every other rule that I was taught growing up. Phrasing, note values and style of playing jazz went completely against the conventions of “standard” music playing, but it did bring a completely different vibe to music that classical music could never do. Modern dance basically took various aspects of dancing and broke many rules that are associated with classical dancing. Modern dance can convey a message that classical dancing could never convey to the audience. There is a lot more emotion that goes in modern dance because there isn’t a definitive set of “rules” that constrict the emotions a dancer from expressing.
After watching the video, it seemed like everyone on stage had their own interpretation of the music, yet they were in sync with one another in an unconventional manner. At first I thought it was a complete free-for-all and each dancer could do whatever they wanted to dance to, however I was so wrong. The dances vary from very abrupt/dramatic to very gentle and expressive; the whole group of dancers were working well together to emphasize each person’s solo dance/idea. The message was quite clear that the dance had to do something that was extremely important to society. Only after reading the article I could see the connection with the dancing and the Civil Rights Movement; there was so much passion in the dancing that it showed the struggles of the past and how much will power was needed to give equality to African Americans. Kyle Abraham’s work has opened my eyes to different forms of communicating different ideas and social problems that exist or existed in our world.
When people aren’t bounded by a set of rules then people’s creative ideas can go into complete overdrive and express ideas that no one thought could be possible. Modern dance has broke the traditional sense (while taking a lot of aspects from other dancing styles) of dancing which has led many people to experiment with dancing to another level, bringing another level of emotions and ideas.
Like all operas, Turandot, didn’t disappoint when it came to being a very tragic story. People in play were all selfish in their own rights, but in the end love is very powerful and can make anyone do things they usually wouldn’t have done. Due to the fact people were selfish, they were very ignorant about the people that truly loved them, the ones closest to them. Everything you do in life can affect the people closest to you, just like the tragic death of Liu, who gave her life up to protect her love, Calaf.
It’s very understandable why the Chinese government would ban this play because it portrayed the country to be a bit aggressive and liberal with their executions. The crowd (in the play) was getting very excited each time the royalty threatened to bring out the executioner, a little too excited. Also, the play showed a heavy divide in wealth, which contradicts the the communist mindset that China has implemented in its country. This divide in wealth can be seen between the characters of Turandot and Calaf (who was thought to be a slave), she was extremely elitist and wouldn’t have any other way but her way. The play contrasted heavily with the ideals that China had wanted its citizens to know about.
The ending with Liu’s death is very conflicting. In the end she died because her love for Calaf was too great and would do anything to protect him. Calaf did get to marry his “love,” Turandot, however at the cost of Liu’s life. Liu was quite devoted in making sure that Calaf was happy with his life; it takes a really strong person to give up their own life to protect and ensure that the people they care about live happily. In the very last moments she was able to tell Calaf that she loved him, and as result, Calaf was able to marry Turandot.
After listening to the music from the play it greatly shifted my emotions of the play. In the aria/solo, it felt a bit dragged out in length. It seemed that the purpose was to show the agony of emotions that was bottled up in the characters. The solo also emphasized Turandot’s elitist personality because the song was all focused towards her as she was explaining the riddles. The technique required to sing each piece required so much attention and life long practice; it really showed how much you can accomplish in the world if you just stick to anything you do.
Sarasota Opera production of Puccini’s Turandot
Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind can be described as all the worst thoughts middle school kids could have come up with and then compact those thoughts into a play. There is no doubt that this play was meant to shock people to the highest degree, but it forces the audience to face all these taboos all at once. The play describes how society has repressed so many thoughts that it forces kids to learn on their own and experiment their thoughts. Wedekind is bluntly telling people to be more open to talking about taboo topics because in the end if people aren’t exposed to different view points they only end up making the same mistakes. Wedekind ingeniously uses very bold and suggestive tactics to shock the audience, where they will never forget the themes and motifs of the play. As a result, the play becomes super controversial and forces society to talk about the play.
Each story in the play just got more and more progressive with each controversial act that succeeded. Wedekind really laid everything on the table, every controversial topic increasingly got edgier, which only made the play much more interesting. It was a very fast paced play with each scene jumping back and forth between previous scenes, forcing the audience to pile on their thoughts about the taboo themes that were presented. Spring Awakening started off on the lower end of the spectrum of controversy with the whether or not Wendla was a woman or girl; then it ramps up to sexual thoughts, incest, suicide, rape and homosexuality. This is very effective in making sure that the audience pays attention what is going, eventually with more exposure they will become more open minded to about these ideas.
Towards the end of the play it becomes more evident what Frank Wedekind was trying to express to the audience. He tries to convince the audience that life isn’t easy and there are many problems that we will have to face eventually, but none of these problems should be solved with death. The more knowledge people have on various topics, it will create a better educated society. There are often times in people’s lives that they just want to give up when the tough gets going, but once they get past these hurdles is when they improve themselves and society as a whole.
People may argue that most of the characters in the play are too young to even experience these thoughts or actions. But are they really too young? The characters are about 14 years old, give or take, a time where they are experiencing a rush of bodily changes. With those bodily changes comes with a completely different mindset than when they were children, a time where they question their identity. If kids aren’t exposed and taught about different things that exist in our world, they will only (in the worse case) repeat what has happened in the play. Wedekind wants to shock his audience to change their mindsets about the way we live our lives.
The Wasteland
The Battle for the Skies
Scrapping the Environment
John Singer Sargent’s Reconnoitring (Original)
One’s culture greatly defines how they perceive art, but if you are born in an aboriginal world then art is no longer perceived the same way as an average person would like to believe. Too often, we are stuck thinking in very conventional and non-original ideas. In Randy Kennedy’s “An Aboriginal Artist’s Dizzying New York Moment,” the author describes a man that came from a long lost tribe that hadn’t assimilated into civilization until 1984. This man, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, was raised in a remote desert in Western Australia. It was “so remote that even after other Pintupi were forcibly relocated into settlements in the 1950’s and 1960’s.” Mr. Tjapaltjarri’s art seems so abstract to a regular person, but he is having fun telling the stories of his people and of his ancestors through seemingly simplistic lines. His art is so different that most of his work doesn’t have any titles, which allows the viewers to make their own assumptions and ideas fly.
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri was the head leader of the Pintupi Nine, also known as the “lost tribe”, who insisted they were separated from their other Pintupi clan members. The group consisted of two sisters and their seven teenage children, where they would travel from waterhole to waterhole, just like their ancestors. They were so isolated from society that they were “…overwhelmed by the experience of travelling in a car for the first time.” In addition, “The plane would fly over and we would hide in the tree. We would see the wings of the plane and we would get frightened. We thought it was the devil and so we kept hiding under the tree. When the plane had passed we would climb down from the tree.” They weren’t found until 1984 by pure chance, but they can be shown as a prime example of people that weren’t influenced by the outside world for a good amount of time.
Living in modern society, we often are influenced by many different cultures around the world. But, in the case of Mr. Tjapaltjarri, he was only influenced by “ceremonial designs that Pintupi men used on rocks, spears and their bodies.” The art really speaks with nature because it really seems like Mr. Tjapaltjarri drew in the desert sand and froze it in a specific movement. Making desert paintings is no easy task, as these paintings consist of “…thousands of dots — a signature of much Desert Paintings. The dots form tight parallel lines…” This exemplifies the difference between modern people and “old-school” people, in today’s society we lack the mental capacity to focus on something that requires all of our attention because we are always overthinking on what we should be doing next.
Mr. Tjapaltjarri’s artwork reminds me of a child in the sandbox with a branch who is drawing anything he/she wants in the sand. His artwork is so unrestricted from a mental-state and an artistic point-of-view, even though it seems so simplistic, each line in his works is another reason to enjoy life. His artwork is a reminder of where he came from, where his ancestors came from, and what he has endured all these years. Being in America, sometimes we forget about our own heritage and family history. Maybe we should reflect more about our family history. Perhaps we can get a better understanding of our identity. There is no doubt in my mind that Tjapaltjarri understands the value of culture and family.
“The lines and switchbacks, painted on linen canvas while it is flat on the ground, correspond to mythical stories about the Pintupi and the formation of the desert world in which they live.” The paintings are like topography maps, as they show geographers a story about a landscape at an average wouldn’t know. Tjapaltjarri’s work tells Pintupi a story about their ancestor, his works allow us to create our own stories just by gazing at it.
Too often we, as people, forget or neglect the issues that exist in our lives. Society usually gets stuck in its own little bubble, not knowing the events that happen around it. People don’t know if they are being manipulated by the various forms of propaganda that have been embedded in society. There is one artist that creates artwork from various materials that our society uses to tell a story about the problems in our culture. His name is Will Ryman. In Hilarie M. Sheets’ article, “Will Ryman Prepares His New Exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery”, she describes the powerful stories that Will Ryman’s artwork tells about our society’s issues. Will Ryman (the son of artists Robert Ryman and Merrill Wagner) utilizes materials that our society heavily depends on and incorporates it in very realistic pieces of artwork. Through realistic sculptures and the material that Ryman chooses, he is able to tell a story about our society during specific times and the problems we faced.
Will Ryman’s The Situation Room is depicted in the article as, “The grouping of 14 cast-resin figures were blanketed in black coal dust, making the ominous scene feel timeless and yet instantly recognizable, with the defining detail of Hilary Clinton’s hand concealing her mouth as the action plays out.” I find it very intriguing that Ryman really experiments with different materials in his artwork that most would overlook, it adds another depth of symbolism in his work. Specifically, in this work, he dusts the sculpture in black coal dust to show his audience how dependent the United States is on natural resources “that have led to so many wars.” The American society needs to find different ways of powering the country or more bloodshed and animosity will arise around the world. Ryman’s work was based off the 2011 photograph of President Obama and his advisors while watching SEAL Team 6’s operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. In the article, the artist felt “a little manipulated” when he first saw the picture because he knew he was being influenced by the photo. By recreating it, Ryman is able to show the photo in a 3 dimensional form, which forces viewers to see the situation in different dynamic views. As a society, we don’t know when we are being influenced by propaganda, so Ryman reminds us to have an analytical mind whenever possible.
Will Ryman’s America is “a recreation of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood log cabin in gold leaf.” His work is more than just a building; it is a story filled American symbolism, history and mindset. This serves as a reminder of America’s past and current ideals that are forever embedded into our society. “He lined the walls and floor of the cabin with materials that had contributed to the development of America’s economy — including arrowheads, slavery shackles, bullets, pills, tobacco, iPhones, arranged in dazzling grids.” Ryman’s artwork doesn’t lie; it only tells the viewers what America was or on what principles it was built. America depicts America to be very aggressive, greedy, and materialistic throughout time. Even though the United States is one of the greatest countries, Ryman reminds us that America didn’t come to greatness with morally or ethical acts. Sometimes we, as Americans, forget where we came from and Ryman emphasizes that nothing great comes without a price.
Reading this article opened my mind to different points of view. Through Ryman’s artwork, the viewer will not only get a story, but he will also be moved by Ryman’s symbolism and morals. These works are designed to be realistic to show off life through different scopes and be relevant to many people so they can connect to them. Most importantly, these creations tell us not to overlook anything that is happening around us and to be proactively aware in our environment.
There is no doubt in many people’s minds that John Singer Sargent was a very talented painter, but his paintings hold a greater story than what we can see through his works. Though he possessed a gift that only so many could be born with, he was very secretive and enjoyed his personal life to be private. In a way he was a bit “snobby” because he thrived to paint portraits of wealthy people, but his personality tended him to be extremely shy in public. It seems as if he did his artwork to get recognized for the highly technical skill that he had acquired, rather than doing his art for pure enjoyment and creativity. He was a performer in the art world and often did what people wanted him to do, portraits. As a result, it was hard for him to experiment with his artwork until later in his career. His portraits allow us to take glimpse of how John Singer Sargent was feeling and how his subjects were feeling through various aspects of each of his paintings. For example, we can examine the color choice, expressions of the subject, the brush strokes and time at which he painted the portrait. We may see him as this person with masterful skill in painting and we tend to forget that John Singer Sargent is also a human with flaws.
His life may seem as if it was painted with perfect brush strokes with the right amount of pressure and finesse, but was it really? For him to paint at such a high magnitude he must’ve lacked in some other area. As discussed in the article, John Singer Sargent wasn’t ever married and usually kept all his thoughts behind closed doors. There are tons of people in the world with many different “disabilities,” such as autism and dyslexia. Society has deemed these people to be “stupid”, but some of the most intelligent and successful have these “disabilities.” Why is that? These people were forced to live their lives in an unconventional manner and take on life in a different manner to cope with their problems. John Singer Sargent must’ve had “something” that made him tick, he lost the ability to communicate in public well, but in return he was able to paint like no other.
It is safe to say that John Singer Sargent has lived a life with more accomplishments than most people will ever do in their lifetime. His works told stories that prophesied modern society, he declined the honor of knighthood, and his artwork’s style was ahead of his time (a “hipster”). John Singer Sargent under any definition will consist of paintings that were simplistically realistic to the eye, but held stories greater than 1000 words. His work may not seem to be super innovative, but he knew how to paint portraits better than anyone else during his time.
Is John Singer Sargent Italian? French? English? Or is John Singer Sargent American? Whatever the case may be, John Sargent is a one of a kind artist who makes his subjects stand out in his paintings in a noble fashion. His vast cultural experience allow his work to grasp a country’s culture and mindset. Each of his works have very different messages, due to his interesting background, that are heavily dictated by palette of colors he chooses for his subjects.
In John Singer Sargent’s works, Young Lady in Black (also known as the Lady with the Rose) and Lady Playfair, show very similar styles, yet they are very unique. In both works of art, you immediately see that they are portraits of females (probably women of noble class) in very elegant dresses with flowers in hand. In Young Lady in Black, instead of holding a bouquet of colorful flowers, the woman is holding a single white flower that greatly contrasts with her dark dress. This creates a darker atmosphere within the painting and the theme of light versus darkness. It is a seemingly depressing piece of work, but the women’s face seems like the faces of children when they don’t find a magician’s tricks amusing, unimpressed like our president. The dress resembles crow feathers, which further emphasizes the gloomy aura in which the painting radiates.
On the other hand, Lady Playfair uses a darker background and a dress that has a shine imitating gold. The dress seems so realistic, almost as if John Singer Sargent got gold foil and gilded the painting. Maybe the bouquet of flowers that the woman is holding shows off her more “senior” status, and maybe the colors shows her life to be more rounded off and completed. Unlike Young Lady in Black, Lady Playfair‘s face is much more content and more willing to get her portrait done, more of proud of her given situation.
John Singer Sargent must’ve met many different types of subjects while creating his refined portraits, just like Baruch and its diverse student body, you never know who you’ll meet.
In John Singer Sargent’s other artworks, they each have their very own character that are sometimes polar opposite in personalities. Take a look at Doctor Pozzi and the person in the white robe. Unlike the person in the white robe, Doctor Pozzi is portrayed to be a man of great power, which is conveyed through the painting’s blood red theme. Personally, he looks like he would hurt someone if he didn’t get his way (quite ironic since the person is a doctor). The person in the white robe is painted to be very serene and forgiving in nature. Maybe as humans we should be more open to seeing life in different perspectives. The white theme of the painting is definitely much more forgiving on the eyes and, as a result, allows the audience to focus on the religious ritual the person is performing on the vibrant flooring the person is standing on. John Singer Sargent emphasizes on certain colors in his paintings to give them very distinguishable personalities.
Sounds live in John Singer Sargent’s El Jaleo and The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. The lighting effect on El Jaleo makes the artwork lively and puts spectators of the painting in the audience. In addition, the shadows are just as lively as the people dancing, performing the music, and clapping to the powerful vibe of Spanish music; there is so much energy bouncing off the painting.
On a much calmer note, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit has a dainty classical piece that compliments the art. The calm demeanor of the girls with the grand room constructs a small ensemble playing the most relaxing and playful classical music known to man. The lighting of the room is very natural, which can only bring back memories of the non-stressful days as a kid. John Singer Sargent can dictate a piece’s melody through different perspectives of lighting.
John Singer Sargent has most definitely lived a life that many people will probably never experience. His diverse cultural background enabled him to create very powerful and calming pieces of art through the emphasis of his color choice, expressions, and lighting. It reminds me of the different experiences I encountered of when I traveled, each place made me grow in different aspects as a human. He understands the culture of what he is painting and then makes his painting scream the times.
Hi, my name is Matthew Lam and I was born and raised in Massapequa, Long Island. I’ve done a lot of travelling over the years since I was a young boy, who couldn’t walk yet. Interesting fact, I have a dual citizenship with the United States and the United Kingdom because my mom was born in England. Although I do enjoy travelling, I can’t stand packing for trips and gathering all the necessary stuff to go on the trip. Each country I’ve visited has greatly influenced the person I am today, which influenced my major to go towards business. The environments of each country are so distinct from one another, like England, France, Italy, Hong Kong and South Korea. I’ve visited England the most because I have family there. In a sense, it is my second home. After visiting these countries, I’ve come to appreciate living in the United States more because of its abundant and free lifestyle that most countries can’t compete with. People that live in other countries are just so much slower in the way they walk, talk and even act; I found myself getting impatient at times when comparing other countries to the United States efficiency. The biggest difference in other countries, in comparison to the United States, is that they know how to take care of tourists and show tourists the beauty of their country. Out of all the countries that I’ve visited, I would put Hong Kong at the top of my list because it was the only country that could compete with the speed and productivity of the United States. The food and service there was amazing, especially when you converted the United States’ dollar to the Hong Kong dollar (you could live like a king). These countries made me appreciate where I grew up and appreciate the diversity of a modern city.
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