Video Review week 8

Buddhism

Buddhism started in India when a prince named Siddhartha Guatarma became Buddha. Born in 563 BC, this priest, lived a perfect noble life. One day he happened upon a civilization of less fortunate individuals. This led him to meditate about suffering of human kind. After hours of meditation, he was enlightened, and became Buddha. Buddha spoke out against authority, and taught, you must find your own way. However you must eliminate desire, and anything that feeds the ego. Another teaching was “be in this world, but not of it”. His final teaching was “all compounds wear out, walk your own way with diligence”. After he died, Buddhism broke into two groups: The Hinyana were individuals who strove for Nirvana on their own: The Mahinyana worked with others to reach their enlightenment.

The Great Stupa in Sanchi: pilgrims make their way here to be near the energy that is said to radiate from the Buddhas ashes. Architecture around the four gateways tells the story of Buddha. A walkway circles the Stupa, where all must walk clockwise around the structure. This journey is supposed to help the pilgrim let go of material things.

The largest Buddhist temple is the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia. 432 Buddhist statues are present. The temple was sunken by a volcano, and wasn't rediscovered until 1815.

The Chuang Monastery in upstate New York, is a complex of buildings dedicated to Buddhism. All architecture is in the style of the Tang dynasty. It uses glulan structure (layers of timber glued, and pressed together).

Today Buddhism flourishes all over Eastern Asia, except for in India where it was created

Hinduism

Valanasi is the holiest city of Hinduism. The River Ganges is a symbol of God's (Brahma's) love for the earth/a symbol of reincarnation. Unlike Christians, and like Muslims, Hindu's will worship anywhere. They believe in multiple gods, who act as pathways to Brahma. Like Buddhism, Hinduism teaches the relinquishment of earthly goods. To die in Valanasi, allows a Hindu believer to escape the cycle of rebirth, and go straight to heaven. Original Hindu art was carved into existing stone structures, and became cave art.

In Hindu art, the fantastic, and the familiar, are juxtaposed.

The statue Hari Hara is a combination of the god Shiva, and the god Vishnu. This signifies tolerance of all religions, and religious philosophies. Unlike most Western religions, Hindu's do not seek converts.

Sex reflects the creative love of Brahma, who gave life to everyone.

The Kandariya Mahadeva is a temple dedicated to Shiva. Its largest tower is called the Shikara. This raises over the chamber known as garbhagrihn. Here stands a statue of the deity. It is believed god is truly present here.

African Art Legacy of Oppression

The Tevuren Museum contains the largest collection of Central African art—approximately 250 thousand pieces.

Masks were worn by priests to connect with spirits of the dead. African art had exceptional modernistic qualities, that influenced western artists such as Picasso.

Masks were created to place fear inside people. For example:

• In young men so they would respect their elders
• inside all to force them to respect the handicapped
• inside the enemy

Stopped making war masks, when they realized they didn't stop machine gun bullets (they didn't actually scare Western imperialists

In a forty year period, ten million Africans were killed in the Congo by King Leopold's soldiers. (Known as the Belgian massacre.

The Belgians brought back African art, and considered it to be childlike, and exotic.

African Art: It's culture meaning

Art making is a part of everyday life for Africans. This is made evident by the extensive decoration of everyday items.

Lots of African art was once used in rituals, in combination with music. Because of the delicate materials they used to make their art, most African art is museums is less than 200 years old.

Ancient bushman paintings depicted animals. These paintings were found in drier environments, and were thus preserved by the environment.

20^th century Europeans viewed African art as primitive and child like.

African art was predominantly conceptual. Africans placed a greater concern in symbolism than in realism.

Art, and craft were synonymous in the African culture.

Artists copied traditions of previous artists. They did not attempt to out do their predecessors creativity. Instead they attempted to complete the same tasks with more skill. Because of this, we have an understanding of African art of the past, without actually seeing it.

African art was used to conjure, worship, and appease spirits.

Hand drawing

1.Drawing my hands forced me to notice all of the intricate details in them. Never knew there were that many wrinkles and veins.

2.I used a 4b graphite pencil. I like a smooth the pencil flows due tot he soft lead. 

3.Because of the smooth flow, at times the pencil would get away from me. It was very difficult to control my lines. On the other hand I found I let the drawing flow a lot more with less self judgment.

4.Before attacking this assignment I assumed my left handed drawing would be a lot worse than my right hand drawing.  My left handed drawing made my left right handed drawing look pitiful when the necessary handicap was included.

5.If I was trying to draw an accurate rendition of an object, I would never use my left hand. However, if i was drawing abstract I would contemplate using my left hand. That way I would be more free to put pencil to paper, and not brain to paper.

Video Review

Leonardo Da Vinci

At the age of 15 in 1468 Leonardo moved to Florence, the capital of the Medici family. He became an apprentice of Ardrea del Verrchio. He was obsessed with perspectives and proportion of animals and man. Book quote: “his interest in mathematics is also evident from his careful rendering of perspective”

At the age of twenty he was accepted into the painters guild, and works for the Medici family. Leonardo was knows to renounce there was a distinction between mechanical and fine arts. At the age of thirty he was sent to the court of Milan as a musician. There he boasts himself as a military engineer. He experiments with his mechanical innovations via theater and performance. He also developed a multi level city to provide circulation in a city that just underwent a plague. In 1499 he leaves Milan. He goes on to help the Venetian republic devise defense plans against the threatening Turks. In 1503 he returns to Florence where he is finally respected. People flock to see his paintings of “ earthly beings transformed into heavenly creatures. In 1513 he moves to the Vatican and is reunited with the Medici's. In 1516 he travels to Ambroise France where he is given the title of first painted, architect, and engineer.

Da Vinci famously proclaimed that in order to draw an impressive beast, one must take the eyes from one, the nose from another, and the mouth from yet another. The book quotes him as saying “Be on the watch to take the best parts of individual faces.

Albrecht Durer

Early is his career, Albrecht Durer became obsessed with the effect of again. This penchant can be seen in his portraits of elderly family members. He is given credit as the artist to bring the Italian renaissance to Germany. He is credited as the first true landscape artist influenced by Venetian artists. At 15 years old he becomes an apprentice to Michael Wolgamut. In 1489 at the age of 18, he sets off on a journey as a painter and draftsman. For four years he was a traveling craftsmen, surviving off income from his prints. One of his most important works was an altar painting commissioned by residents of the commercial center of Fondaco dei Tedeschi for their parish chapel. Durer was known to apply 4-6 layers of each color to his paintings, giving it an almost enamel like quality. Like Leonardo, he spent a large amount of his time writing treatises. Also like Leonardo, he was an accomplished mathematician.

Durer was a member of the council that decided to break away from Rome. He actually designed a number of prints in support of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation. A famous set of these prints depicted the Apocalypse. They were intended to reveal the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Durer said that he “expended the greatest industry in The 4 apostles.

Rembrandt The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman was painted in the year 1642 in Amsterdam. It was commissioned as yet another group picture of the militia, but Rembrandt took it to another level. The painting weighs 337 kg, and is 11' by 14'. It has become an object of pilgrimage for the Dutch, similar to Mecca for the Muslims. At this time, the militia, under Frans Banning Cocq, was mainly ceremonial. Rembrandt interprets the group portrait as a historical composition. The lack of lines guiding out eyes provide a sense of motion, as the eyes search the painting. X-rays of the painting show the painstaking attention to detail Rembrandt gave the painting. He rearranged a dagger multiple times in order to the viewer the sense that it was protruding from the art work. On top of the men who paid for their liking to be made a part of the portrait, Rembrandt added additional figures, namely a little girl illuminated by a bright light seeming to come from within. Today, The Night Watchman is hung at Rijksmuseum at the metaphorical altar of the cathedral like museum.

Michelangelo

During his lifetime, he kept is drawings behind closed doors. He did not want people to see the inter workings of his mind, or the hesitation with, which he designed his works. This desire to only reveal his final works, led him to destroy many of his drawings. At the age of twelve he was an apprentice to Ghirlandaio. From Ghirlandaio, he learned the concepts of rough sketching space, and using geometric renditions of human forms to lay out paintings.

Michelangelo was a self taught sculptor. The only sculpture he ever signed was The Pieta. In1505 he was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II. In 1508 he started the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. IN 1516, the Medici Pope commissioned him to design the Medici family church of San Lorenzo. Christian teachings, and the beauty of man both had big influences on his art. They often conflicted with each other in his drawings.

Peer Response

http://lydiamerlo.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=12

http://russeldl02.blogspot.com/

 The baskets Lydia used forbalance would also have been perfect for proportion. The only picture I was confused about was the one representing unity. I am by no means saying it was wrong. I'm simply saying I don't get it.

Lydia and Deborah both used Marvelous Sauce, and La Jeun Bonne. Neither of them put Marvelous Sauce under "felt a connection with".

I've gained a new appreciation for Convergence by Pollack now that I've seen it vertically. For some reason it seems to make a lot more sense this way. When vertical, the upper left lower right mirror each other. While this balance was present when the painting was presented horizontally, my brain didn't notice it the same.

I'm not sure if I really learned much from this project, but I enjoyed it regardless. It was interesting to peek inside the minds of my fellow students, and compare and contrast how we view art. Actually, this was a valuable learning experience; if for no more reason than that I was able to interpret art work through someone else's lens.

I really liked Emily's idea to take a series of pictures without attempting to capture specific elements, and go back and find the elements after the fact.

Video Review

Human greater than human:

Images of the human body encompass surround us. The most influential images of the human body are abstract. Artists produce grossly exaggerated human forms. Humans allegedly have similar brain function to seagulls. Just as seagulls prefer an exaggeration of their mothers beaks, humans enjoy exaggerations of important human forms. For three thousand years, Egyptian art contained no exaggerated forms, and didn’t change at all. Their art represented their culture, not how their brains functioned. Ancient Greeks were obsessed with the human figure. They believed that the gods had perfect bodies, and attempted to resemble them. After the Greeks attempted to overthrow the Pharaoh, Egyptian culture assimilated itself into Greek culture. The Greeks learned masonry skills needed to construct large statues.

On 8-07-1908 archeologists found the Venus of Willendorf statue. Egyptian art shows each body part from its clearest angle. The Greek statue Kourus exhibited Egyptian features; namely the rigid pose with shoulders square, and one foot forward. The Contrapposto style implies the potential for motion of a body at rest. This still also exaggerated human form. The central muscle was impossibly large, legs were impossibly long, and no coxic bone was present.

Other civilizations had a Venus statue similar to the one made in Willendorf. The Russians had the Kostenski Venus for example, while another culture had the Moravary Venus. All Egyptian were similar in the way they fit into a grid used for every painting.

Illuminated Manuscript:

Monastic scribes copied the text of religious books in order to spread the information around the civilization. As the Middle Ages wore on, the task of copying text became a for profit endeavor. How to books, romance novels, and chronicles, all developed during this period. After approximately 50 years, the printing press replaced scribes.

Charlemagne was named holy roman emperor. Scribes decorated text in the animal style. Monks not only copied text, but illuminated the stories.

In addition to religious material, monks wrote about current event. They were punished whenever they made mistakes. It was believed the evil spirits caused mistakes, and that all mistakes were kept in a proverbial bag to be kept in order to use against them at the day of judgment.

Art and Life in the Middle Ages:

Luttrell Psalter was a prayer book that contained Psalms. The images in the book taught us about farm animals, and preparation of food. Many illustrations were of holy scenes. The holy spirit was depicted as a dove

Egyptian Museum

Eighty-thousand artifacts are in the basement of the Cairo Museum. One such artifact gave evidence that body parts were repaired so individuals could walk in the after life. Artifacts were found in cachets (deep recesses in the hills). In one such cachet forty-four mummified Kings were found.

The statue of Kai portrayed the hierarchical scale in that it was tinted a dark reddish color. Gold signified more than wealth. It referenced eternal life, and light from the sun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPzRtvHziO8

 

1. Installation is art work that surrounds you. Installations must have a 3D element to them.
2. The materials used for installation art are endless. Any tangible item then you can grasp can be used. Also intangible things such as music can be used. Contemporary artists are now using video in their installations more than ever.
3. The purpose of installation art, is to draw the viewer in. The viewer has no other option but to be fully engrossed into the art work. It allows us to experience things that we would normally have to travel to experience. It brings life to us, and forces us to interpret it.
4. The computer generated music playing at the top of a light house piqued my interest more than any other project. The idea that only at that particular location can you appreciate that aesthetic value was mind blowing.

1. I felt a connection with the video montage of young girls with psychic powers. I appreciated the way the artist was able to manipulate the colors, so each clip streamed neatly into the next. To top it off the artist kept the music the same throughout, bringing a sense of unity to the entire production.
2. Theme: Visual Delight and the Arts of Daily Life.
3. I will be using a lamp, a fan, and will provide background music to accompany the production. A flip video camera will capture sound, and the visual elements of the piece.
4. The location itself is not an important part of this piece. I do need electricity, and appliances in my apartment. Therefore I will be setting up, and filming this installation in my living room.
   
   
   My video installation and two distinct parts. The first section was in the dark, with me playing in the background in a minor key. Mistakes resulted from playing in the dark, but I decided to leave them in; it seemed to make sense. I used an Emaj chord to transition from a minor to A major. After the chord was hit a second time the light came on. At the end of the second section I went back to that same E maj chord, and the lights went out. I faded the video out while back in a minor key. If this installation was in an art museum I would have it looped, and make it seamless. This would work well, because the piece starts and ends on the same chord.
   
   
   I used the elements of light, space, and time and motion. I was pleased the appearance of depth I was able to portray. The music gave us a sense of time, as did the change of a fixed scene. The light created some very appealing shadows. This effect also helped to create a sense of balance in the installation.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Through the Eyes of a Sculptor

1.Restoration- In the case of sculpture, they don't actually restore the original work. Instead, they use the original as a reference, and sculpt a duplicate.

Mold- Emmanuel created his mold with silicon. He painted the silicon onto the clay. Once it hardened he was able to gently rip it off in pieces. He put it back together via the pin holes he made prior. Now he was able to make the plaster caste

Cast- Emmanuel poured plaster into the mold to make his plaster cast.

2.The book mentioned how synthetic materials are used to make holds. The video shows the artist using silicon to create his. The video also showed us Emmanuel sketching his vision before sculpting. Both the book and the video expressed how important it was to sculpt or carve with the grain. Emmanuel agreed with the book that sculpting a figure can bring it into existence.

3.The video took the sculpting process a step further. It showed how the artist will make a plaster model from a clay model that was modeled after a drawing, prior to starting the carving process. Also I never would have guessed that “5-7 people” work on one sculpture. Also the video explained how important it was to know your medium. In this case they were referring to marble, but the idea transcends to all mediums. The artist must understand how to determine the quality of the stone, know the direction of the grain, and how that effects how the marble will react to different techniques.

Glass and Ceramics

1. Fluxes-improve fusion when mixed with silica to make glass. Fluxes are typically limestone soda or pot ash

Leaded Stained glass-Lead is used as the intersection between each piece of stained glass

Clay- is made of aluminum silicate.

Raw materials used, and firing temperature, determine the quality of ceramic.

Ceramics are used in joint replacement surgeries.

2. The video reminds us that glass never changes chemically. 

Glass is often reheated to be molten again so it can be further worked with.

After ceramics are fired they glazed. This part of the video reminded me of Maria Martinez, and her black on black glazing techniques. Glazes are made from powdered minerals mixed with water. Once applied, the ceramic object is fired again, resulting in a glass like non-porous coating.

The video also touched on green architecture, and reminded us that skyscrapers are not being equipped with special reflective windows that keep heat and UV rays from the sun out, and keep internal heat in.

3. After glass is blown, it is shaped with iron, wood, or by hand with a wet newspaper. A torch can be used on a near finished product to make it malleable and sticky, so finishing touches can be made. Stained glass can be colored through of process in which silver chemically bonds with the glass, rendering the color part of the glasses chemical make up.

Installation.

1. Installation-artwork that surrounds you

    Curators- Individuals who oversee the installation process

2. Turrel's Live Oak Friends Meeting House is shown as an example of site specific installation. Another example of this concept in both the book and the video was Spiral Jetty. These works only had meaning where they were created. 

3. Installation can include music, made to play at a specific location. It can also incorporate video images in its space. Artists manipulate the videos themselves, and of the spaces the videos are played in, to portray their artistic idea.

Architecture

Science and Design

1.Wind Tunnel testing is used to figure out the effects of wind on a building at a specific location. It can also be used to determine snow accumulation, and wind direction.

Reinforced concrete is created by forming concrete over iron

Pre-stressed concrete is made by pouring concrete over stretched out steel cable. 30000 lb/sq in of pressure are added to the cables before the concrete is poured.

2.Reinforced concrete was also mentioned in the book. It revealed its name to be ferroconcrete. The video reminded us that the Romans used concrete to form what is known today as the Pont du Gard. (Roman aqueducts). The video went into far more detail, but concrete is made of sand pebbles, broken stone, cement and water. The chemical bonds formed during the process give concrete its strength.

3.The video informs us that foundations are created by driving piles of wood or steel down into the ground until they reach rock that is hard enough to support the building. They typically must go about 60m into the earths surface. The science of ferroconcretes strength is, the concrete resists compression, while the metal resists tension. Scientists have also discovered new ways to make concrete stronger. They experiment with different ratios of raw materials, and often add super plasticizers.

Mathematics

1. Geometry is a driving force of design.
   It is important for architecture to be accessible to the public.
   It is important to harmonize new structures with pre-existing ones.
   Works of art require time before it can be decided if they are right or not.
   Functionality gets in the way of an architect being a sculptor.
   Theme and Variation. Just as Bach would write a simple theme, and compose numerous variations, so does the architect
2. Im Pei spoke of the difficulty of creating unique skyscrapers, that were architecturally sound. Similar to Frank Lloyd Wright, he also spoke of integrating nature into a structure. Both designers used products of the surrounding environment in their construction of buildings. Le Corbusier had a huge influence on Pei removing himself from the International movement. The book shows evidence of Corbusier's statement against the movement in his “Notre Dame du Haut.
3. Pei's Bank of Chine tower shows us the a buildings load can be carried down the structure by load reducing diagonal lines, that bring the load back to the 4 corners. The video elaborated on just what the International style was. There was no regional identity to the structures which consisted of straight concise lines.
4. I chose the Mathematics video because I am fascinated by the multitude of applications of mathematics across many disciplines.