2/7/2013 0 Comments Long-Lost LoveIt's been nearly a year since I last posted something on this page. I glance at the title I had made up when I first created my MC website, and MAN do I have an artistic appetite right now! This sudden spike in my urge to consume something, anything art-related has to do with my past few weeks of doing nothing but studying accounting (I am taking other classes of course, including an art discussion class, but that art class is only two days/week as the accounting class requires much effort and time.) Although I have enjoyed learning what has been labeled as "the language of business," it's surely not the same as all the art history classes I had taken these past few years. So, I am taking the opportunity here on this "Artistic Appetite" page to write about my long-lost love, Art. I guess I can say that it's been a good thing that I my love's been taken away from me this quarter at UW, because without that I wouldn't have realized how much I love my art history major. Now I know for sure that art history is what I want my future career to center itself around. :) Anyway, this is a painting I have thought about from time to time these past few weeks: This is The Old Guitarist by the one and only Pablo Picasso, from 1903. A somber-toned piece from his Blue Period (which began after his friend's suicide), it is overtaken by a monochromatic blue that even penetrates the elderly man who we see here in an arching, enclosed pose. There is curvature in front of you, beginning with the contours of the man and continuing into the shape of the guitar. During this time, Picasso had just moved to Paris and was living in great poverty, so during this Blue Period he painted people he had identified with, such as prostitutes, beggars, and society outcasts.
Out of all these descriptions, I mostly love this painting because of how revolutionary it was at the time. Picasso was on the verge of Expressionism, one of many movements that counteracted the ancient tradition that demanded naturalism, reliance on shading to create volume, and allegorical images. But, Picasso and like-minded artists (Manet, Monet, Cezanne, etc.) pushed the boundaries of painting to make the viewer actively recognize the function of line versus color, in addition to the flatness and materiality of the canvas--notice how here in The Old Guitarist, the man looks completely flat and nearly pressed into the canvas. In other words, these Vanguard painters urged the viewer to concentrate and think deeply about the formal aspects of painting, the individual part that come together to become what people label "a painting." Instead of creating a new world that one is supposed to dive completely into, the viewer is meant to take in what's in front of him/her and realize how the painting relates to his/her own world. ...You can probably tell by now how much I have missed writing art history papers!
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3/8/2012 0 Comments 2011If you're ever in need of some artistic inspiration or any regular inspiration for that matter, I suggest you take a gander at this lovely video made by an LA artist named Madeleine.
You may have heard about this when it came out nearly two months ago, but she made a video where she's put together bits and pieces of every single day of what her Year of 2011 was like. Filled with random yet unforgettable memories (cue cheesy music) and energizing background tunes, this video has always been like a little pick-me-up when I've lost motivation to get something done or to think of something creative. So the next time you find yourself in that same hole where you're nearly desperate for something inspiring (okay I'm probably exaggerating right now with the word "desperate," but still), watch this video! :) Enjoy! http://vimeo.com/34874881 ~~MC I can't remember if I ever mentioned this to you fellow readers in a previous blog post, but last month I made the decision to venture back in the depths of Facebook (after two months of having the account deactivated), as I made a slightly shaky vow to myself to not get as addicted as I was before.
And to my horror, I found myself surrounded by the burning fire of that addiction again, as I was being led by my fingertips on the laptop to the website too many times per day, looking over other people's profiles and commenting on too many things...and feeling too tempted too many times to read over those little bright red-colored notifications that almost haunted me in my sleep. That probably sounded a bit over dramatic, but anyways, I once again deactivated my Facebook account yesterday, and I hope I won't find myself deciding to throw myself again into the website... So this morning, on the first day of my life post-re-deactivation, I drew a few sketches. It seems that without Facebook, I actually have the urge to create more artwork, because right after I deactivated my account for the first time last May, I also did a painted/drawing or two. Here they are, the results of Fb re-deactivation! Enjoy! :) ~~MC 8/12/2011 0 Comments Jack Johnson in an Art GalleryTwo nights ago, I walked into an art gallery shop that I didn't think would give me the intense reaction it did.
Maybe it was the fact that Jack Johnson (probably my all-time favorite musician) was playing softly and yet lively in the background...Maybe it was the various hues and shapes that took over my eyes as I traveled from one corner of the store to the other...Maybe it was just the general sense of peace that blanketed the gallery, as this peace had allowed me to fully appreciate and take in every piece of art work and furniture and every scent of the candles that were perfectly laid out for any artsy person to savor. ...Hmmm, it was probably all three of those things. :) Have you ever walked into a room of art that all of a sudden shut out all noise that was surrounding (and perhaps draining) you the entire time before? Has an effortlessly thrown-together ensemble of decorative arts, paintings and bright candles overtaken you with its silent power of bringing a feeling of serenity? Or rather, to put it more simply, has your heart ever slowed its beat within your first glance at a piece of art? I would love to hear about any such interactions you may have had with art. These experiences are what I imagine to be the goal of the creators of these tangible visions we so admire. Thus, there is no reason not to share the thanks we should give to the artists/sculptors/etc for their work. ;) ~~MC I have had this certain question turning around and over in my mind for quite some time now, and I just thought of putting it out there for all of you to ponder about as well...
How big of a role does inspiration play in what we do? Or is it only something people consider secondary, an extra fabric piece floating in a possible world, where all art and literature and other modes of creation exist based just on effort? There are those times we all go through, where you find it difficult to come up with what to paint or draw (this is the example I came up with, since this is the Artistic Appetite page after all ;) )...and you begin to hesitate, because you start wondering whether or not you should actually make the painting or drawing if it's going to be based on forced effort. Making a forced effort to do something isn't going to lead to a creation you would be very proud of...or is it? What do you think? Do you think every art piece you see in a museum was crafted out of the efforts generated solely from the working hands and arms of the artists/sculptors? or were the pieces washed down effortlessly with the intangible spirit unique to every single one of those creators? ...Or even, are inspiration and motivation all we need? ~~MC 7/16/2011 0 Comments Archaic, Classical, HellenisticEarlier today, while in the midst of one of my worrisome moments of trying to figure out exactly what type of art I want to specialize in for my Art History major, I began to search for answers by exploring my very first art history textbook I bought when I started college two years ago...And I explored the many and ever-evolving images of Greek statues.
And then I thought of a question that I am curious of your answer to...Which period of Greek sculpture do you admire most? First, there was the Archaic Period, where the Greeks implemented Ancient Near Eastern artistic traditions of rigidity and complete frontality, where interaction with the universe about the statues was kept at its minimal. Then there was the Classical Period which was filled with more lively sculptures, as I personally believe that these sculptures have been more publicized in society. It was the time when Greek sculptors and philosophers began to embrace and emphasize the ideas of movement and realism, as they used their tools to ignite them within the carved bodies. And as these great thinkers began to depart from the constraints of stillness held in the previous sculptures, revolutionary concepts like the contrapposto stance (according to dictionary.com, = a representation of the human body in which the forms are organized on a varying or curving axis to provide an asymmetrical balance to the figure...In other words, it's a principle of weight shift in the visual arts) began to shape and set themselves in stone. And finally, there was the Hellenistic Period of Greek sculpture, where not only the emotion and technique within the carved bodies heightened, but also the range of subjects that were carved. Instead of only creating models of philosophers and athletes that exhibited the ideal human body, many other types of people were portrayed such as lower-class citizens. And with the more accentuated lines and curves of the carving technique paired with the intensified emotions, the faces and gestures of the figures began to be presented much more dramatically and provokingly. With these sculptures that had evolved greatly from the motionless, emotionless pieces of work of the Archaic Period that had changed to the more realistically and smoothly rendered human bodies of the Classical Period, one can say that the ever-stretching minds of the Greek sculptors and thinkers had not stopped at pushing themselves through the barriers of societal expectations and ideas, even the expectations of people living today like us. I guess just by comparing the sizes of the last three paragraphs, you can easily figure out which period of Greek sculpture I prefer...And you are right, I do prefer to mostly admire the Hellenistic Period! But this is not to say that I don't appreciate the other two periods--I definitely love the way that sculpted figures of the Classical Period look as if they're about to come alive, as I admire the way the Archaic sculptures symbolize an unbreakable connection between the Greek civilization and the Near Eastern civilization that didn't allow any boundaries to counter it. As you ponder the differences between these three periods of Greek sculpture, which one of them seems to cause the greatest reaction from within you? Please share what you think; and even if you can't decide between them, feel free to share any ideas you may have on what you think of Greek sculpture in general. :) ~~MC Isn't it undeniable for us to say that art can take place anywhere? :)
You can see it in the Summer sky as it transitions from afternoon to evening, as the golden hue of the Sun mixes perfectly in the deeper shades of blue and hazy orange, blending altogether into one gigantic finished canvas... You can see it within the brushstroke-like sweeps of chocolate frosting that have effortlessly covered every inch of the round, finely crafted cake that sits before you, waiting for its artistic pleasure to be devoured... You can also see it in the most obvious places labeled 'art'--Picasso's alluring paintings of Marie-Therese, the Classical and Hellenistic sculptures smoothly modeled by Greeks, and even just the surprises of color that appear on the sidewalk below you as street art. ;) But what I recently discovered is that the art of your living room, dining set, and any everyday object normally seen as not more than for blinded use can be just as pleasing to the eye as the greatest of masterpieces beheld in museums. The photos below are just a few examples. I came across these images while reading Building 25, a blog written by the people of the Free People boutique. The message of Bldg 25 is that everywhere you look, there is art. It doesn't have to be a world-renowned piece or the oldest work to exist--Art can be the entire room in the picture above with the natural light illuminating its greatest aspects, the way a light can shine the highlights of an oil painting on canvas; art is also within the glow of the hanging lights in the picture below, complemented by the bright, loud-speaking tones of the pillows laid out thoughtfully over the soft-white couch. As long as something speaks loudly and distinctively as to stand out from its surroundings, it is worth being admired by the aesthetic eye. What do you think? Do you think these objects and everyday scenes could be set in the same light as a Picasso painting or as a mural painting recently excavated in Pompeii? Please let me know, there is nothing better than to extinguish one's flame of curiosity! :) Enjoy today and all the art that comes with it! ~~MC 7/5/2011 0 Comments An Explosive BandI was super excited to post this video for you, because it is evidently a great four minutes of artistic expression, not only by the music but by the visual arts as well. :)
Coldplay is one of my favorite bands as I have always admired them for their musical charisma and talent--their sound is like that of no other band. But I feel like this music video has taken them from being a band to a band of artists! As you are hit by the song's first strums of guitar, the Sun rises behind a row of quietly standing, deep blue-toned skyscrapers, as this bright light fills the clear morning sky with life. And as the song goes on, colors fill the camera and are splattering in all directions, as they sometimes blend and explode into fusions greater and more vivid than you can imagine. These colors seem to follow and surround the members of the band throughout the music video, as if the band is trying to say that wherever they go, they carry their passion for music with them as they will use their brushes and palettes to share that passion with the world around them. This is what I admire about Coldplay--they are not afraid to spell out their feeling for music to the world. Some bands may try to tone things down a bit before displaying their tracks and videos for all to see, but Coldplay seems to hold nothing back--it's as if, instead of spending time making and erasing pencil outlines on the canvas before adding the paint, they throw all the paint on with the entire possible range of colors showing up! Their full potential practically explodes within their lyrics and music videos! So I hope you enjoy this wildly explosive, colorfully talent-filled piece of work as much as I have. :) ~~MC What do you think an art museum should look like?
Perhaps it was my longing to become a museum curator that made me come up with this question, but it's also that I've been drawn lately by a curiosity to know what people think of art museums. There's the Getty Museum, Le Louvre, and the EMP (Experience Music Project, in Seattle Center) for instance. They exhibit various forms of art whose expressions last through time, but each museum does so in a distinct way. With the Getty's highly sophisticated look of a modern architectural style where the smoothly-rendered walls stretch far into the sky, one's eyes will linger over the paintings and sculptures with a strong sense of aesthetic appreciation. There is such a rich, dense history within each piece, and not just by the dates printed on the captions, but also by what is purely tangible, the little details that are at times easily overlooked--the delicate edges of the stone sculptures, so precious because they appear about to fragment mercilessly at any moment; the sweeping contours of brushstrokes projecting slightly out of the canvas, strokes left by a painter who had wished to leave us with this secret masterful technique that created his painting into what it's been all these years... Each tiny detail contributes to the grand statement of how infinitely valuable and worthy of preservation the museum's wisely aging pieces are. However, looking at Le Louvre, it has an even deeper and more recognizable history than the Getty. With its overwhelming size and decorative intricacy dictated by the traditional French palace architecture since the Renaissance, the entire building must be called a masterpiece all on its own. The pieces themselves have not only come from the Western world (Greek and Roman antiquities, furniture and objets d'art, etc.) that is so popular in art museums and the public eye, but also from the depths, rolling hills and seas of places that deserve just as much attention--Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian antiquities, as well as Islamic Art. What distinguishes the museum even more from the Getty is the fact that it houses the pieces that have over the years stood as uniquely ground-breaking definitions of memorable works of art, such as da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the beautiful and sensuous Venus de Milo statue. That said, it is undeniable that without the valuable piece of history Le Louvre stands for, the word "art" wouldn't have as much of the color of life and diversity that it's wrapped itself around through all the years. With the EMP, it is honestly difficult to compare it to the Getty and Le Louvre, because of the extreme shift to the type of art this museum exhibits. It does not show the highest successes by Michelangelo or the highlights of Picasso, but it instead declares the sure achievements of musical legends like Jimi Hendrix. When you walk into the museum, you will be instantly surrounded by a modern aura radiating through the towering and curving walls and the vivid, glowing colors, as well as technologically advanced ways to allow moving music to catch your attention (for example, having a giant projection screen in one room that shows videos with music blended with scenes of cityscapes). You will be led by stairs, ramps, and turning paths to various exhibits, one of which tells the history of guitar amplification through displaying a 1770s Italian guitar, and going all the way to guitars that were played as the main vehicles of rock 'n' roll. All these artifacts that you will encounter are precious remnants of the evolution and bottomless pool of music, where styles have mixed and blended into each other, while other colors of sound have spun and molded into what have become true definitions of music shared by the entire world. This is what I admire most by the EMP, which is why I decided in my mind to almost put the museum in a compartment of its own, separate from the visual world preserved by the Getty and Le Louvre. This is not to say that I don't admire the visual arts, because I definitely do! There is nothing better than to stand in front of a painting with wonder and awe, watch how the evident brushstrokes curve and overlap each other to blend the colors with ageless versatility, and try to answer the inevitable question of how this piece of work survived the hardships of time and now looks just as much of a masterpiece as it did in the beginning. And despite this drastic differences in art form between the three art museums, it is safe to say that all three state the same theme: that the big names like Picasso and Nirvana had used their unique visions and motivations to redefine the world around them, and in turn to redefine the art form they had immersed themselves in--and these museums are willing to take every little bit of their architecture, organization of the art, lighting, and all the other features, and turn it into the reenactment of the change that those names had created at the time. So if I were to answer the question, What do you think an art museum should look like?, I would say it can look like anything, because Nirvana's biggest hits were not meant for the same part of the outside world as Michelangelo's David statue. No two pieces of art (or genres of art) can interact with the outside world in one way; since an art museum is to mirror whatever painting/sculpture/guitar it wishes to exhibit, its final look would as a result be different with Nirvana versus Michelangelo. What do you think? How would you answer the question? Please let me know, because my curiosity is practically boiling over! :) I'm all (pig) ears... ~~MC 6/24/2011 0 Comments Ok Go and Basil LeavesHello!
I know I already raved about Ok Go (in Life au Cochon), but I feel like I didn't do it enough! I posted this music video, which is yet another one of their three/four-minute packages of unimaginable creativity, unique entertainment, and--as stated in the title of my last blog post--, a new sound (new to me at least; and new is always refreshing to a person :) ). You can easily tell from their music videos that these guys truly dedicate themselves to making music, and in particular to music they love. Their overflowing passion is admirable and even contagious, because after watching their videos I feel the urge to do something creative on my own and out of my ordinary--like throwing paint balls at canvases, or spontaneously creating a new coffee drink (from the top of my head: Mint-chocolate-chip-flavored shots of espresso I'll throw into a steaming mug of strawberry-flavored milk while dancing, smoothly blended with a root beer float and then decorated with freshly plucked basil leaves and rainbow-colored cinnamon!). Their choreography is simple yet unique, as they fill your computer/TV screen with the best shades of color and talent you can imagine! Creativity is something to appreciate in everything you encounter, especially when it comes to music. And since I normally don't listen to this kind of music, I thought it would be nice to transition from my normal listening of pop to this new world filled with unexpected beats, explosive visuals and radiating enthusiasm for rhythm (and also, adorable puppies!..For the video I posted here, I mean) ...If you read a future post where I declare passionate love for the mint-chocolate-chip-strawberry-milk-root-beer-float-basil-leaf-rainbow-colored-cinnamon beverage, that will mean I am as talented and gifted as Ok Go. :) ~~MC P.S. Besides this song, I also like the song "Get Over It;" it's a little older and actually a different style (more of a rock tune), but the way the music video was made is equally impressive! |
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