NYC Hip Hop Graffiti

Since the dawn of early man, public walls have been used as a prime surface for the creation and communication of ideas.These scribbles appear everywhere from prehistoric caves to modern day urban alley ways and are visible in hundreds of different sizes and styles, colors and forms. One of the most exciting genres of wall art hit New York city in the early 1960's and has been growing and evolving for the last 50 years. Hip hop graffiti and those responsible for upholding the hip hop culture use a vast array of tools (namely the spray can and microphone) to communicate the goals of this movement.

Tim Burton at The MOMA

When I visited the MOMA in New York City this past year, it was the first major museum experience that I had. I was very impressed with the variety of exhibits that the museum had to offer and I found it very interesting. Besides the Marina Abramovic exhibit which I already discussed, there were many other interesting exhibits. My favorite by far was the Tim Burton exhibit. The exhibit included his early childhood drawings and his other visual creations up until this point in his career. It also included paintings, photographs, moving image works, storyboards, puppets, costumes, and cinematic ephemera from such films as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, and Beetlejuice, and from his little-known personal projects. It really made me appreciate Burton's work a lot more. He not only creates unbelievably unique films, but he is a skilled drawer and painter and he is the true mastermind behind the unique characters that have become synonymous with his films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Edward Scissor Hands.

Functional Art

There are many examples of functional art (Automobiles, clothing, furniture) but one that is specific to the sporting world is Goalie mask art. In professional hockey, 95% of goalies have their masks painted. Some only use their team logo, while others go all out and express their creative side by having very intricate designs done. This is a very unique example of modern art. The artist's who paint these masks usually are specialists in this area, with some also painting motorcycles and cars as part of their business. The first goalie credited with painting his mask was Boston Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers who painted black stitches on his mask for every time a puck hit it, representing the stitches he would have gotten if he wasn't wearing a mask. Since then, goalies at all levels have been painting their masks. Some of the more notable ones since 1971 when Cheevers first painted his mask are Gilles Gratton's Tiger mask, Gary Bromley's skull mask, Mike Richter's Stature of Liberty mask, Ray Emery's Mohammed Ali mask, and Rick DiPietro's Stars and heros mask.

The Art of Hip-Hop

The current world of hip-hop in America no longer revolves around a gangster lifestyle with baggy clothes and hard drugs. These days, it's about style and even art. Many artists like Wiz Khalifa and Kid Cudi use an extensive amount of art for their album covers and promotional items such as posters and t-shirts. Pharrell has even launched his own clothing company, Billionaire Boys Club, that commissions an artist to design unique t-shirts. This puts a whole new spin on modern art.

Courier

I was very disappointed with the "Courier" exhibit at UAlbany. Although I can appreciate art created by typed words, it seemed to me that the work was rather elementary for an exhibit that garnered so much attention. First of all, the entire exhibit as a whole was very visually unappealing. For me, color is what draws me into a piece. Black typed words on a white background is not only boring in content, but there is nothing to draw in the audience. The only part of the exhibit that I found appealing was the video of Michael Winslow making the typewriter noises with his mouth.

Economics and Art

Money is a key aspect of most peoples lives. It is the one element that drives most individuals in the work place. This is important with artists too who survive on their very work they hope to sell. Which has been hard to do in the last two years with our country's economic issues, but art’s value is its capacity to direct our attention to a particular object, image, sound, environment, or situation.

De La Vega

An artist who is very similar to Banksy is James De la Vega who primarily does sidewalk art with chalk. De La Vega resides in Soho and most of his work appears in Spanish Harlem. He usually accompanies his drawings with aphoristic messages such as "Become Your Dream," which has become perhaps his most popular slogan. He has been doing this work since the early 1990's. In addition to his sidewalk art, he does street murals, paintings, and has even developed his own line of clothing. He has an East Village gallery in Lower Manhattan called Galeria De La Vega displaying his work.

Public Art at Imperial Beach

My Uncle, Malcolm Jones, is an artist based in La Jolla, California. He does a great deal of sculpting and works with acrylic. He graduated from Harvard University and is 1 of only about 50 artists in the world who do this type of work specifically. This is his contribution to public art. It's called "Surfhenge" and is located at Imperial Beach near San Diego. It is a very well known piece of public art and took him over a year to complete. “Surfhenge” consists of four 16-20 foot high surfboard shaped arches, weighing up to three-quarters of a ton each, and are believed to be the largestcolored acrylic moldings ever cast. Alluding to giant surfboards stuck in the sand, the huge colored shapes of Surfhenge pay homage to the proud surfing heritage of Imperial Beach.

Surfhenge, along with I.B. Pier Plaza, was dedicated in July 18, 1999, as the newest signature landmark on Port of San Diego tidelands.

He also did 10 "surfboard" benches that are scattered among the pier

The Mona Lisa Curse

Robert Hughes's documentary provided a very insightful view into the world of art that many people are not aware of. Personally, I was very surprised at the amount of money that exchanges hands in these art auctions. For example, I had heard of Andy Warhol, but I had no idea his paintings and photographs sold for so much money. I thought Hughes argued his case well about astronomical prices ruining the "true purpose of art." He interviewed many who agreed with him and he also interviewed collectors who are selling and buying these pieces of art and directly contributing to their Titanic-sized price tags. We were able to see both sides of the story. The only thing that I didn't like about Hughes was that he personally attacked certain individuals, like Andy Warhol whom he called stupid and boring.

How Expensive is Too Expensive?

With paintings and sculptures being purchased for astronomical prices these days, one has to ask the question: how much is too much? More importantly, have we already surpassed this? The answer, in my opinion, is probably. $135 million for a painting is an astronomical price for something that is simply hanging on your wall, making only an aesthetic contribution. In comparison, the most expensive car ever purchased at auction was a 1965 Shelby Cobra Coupe for $7.5 million. A hefty price, yes, but not even in the ballpark of $135 million. A car, it can be argued, is functional art and can be driven to work, raced, or sit as a showpiece. As an economics major, it is amazing to me that the market for art has created such prices for its most distinguished pieces.

700 Hours at the MOMA

I visited the MOMA when Marina Abramovic was performing this piece. Everyone who I was with thought it was strange and we all discussed how in what way it could possibly be considered art. We watched for awhile and I remember all of us thinking that the person sitting across from her who was in normal street clothes was a permanent part of the act. It wasn't until class today that I realized she was just a person visiting the museum who wanted to participate. After learning more about her and the exhibit in today's class, I have changed my mind about whether it is art or not. I realize now that although very strange, it is art. If one has an open mind, it is easy to see what the art is behind this performance and that is the reaction of the audience to the piece.

Reaction to: Enter the Dragon: On the Vernacular of Beauty

The first, and seemingly most important question that I asked myself was: "What the hell did I just read?" Not only was Hickey confusing in his organization of whatever argument he was making, but he used a drastic amount of unnecessary words that turned out to form ridiculous sentences. Take for example this sentence: "He appropriates a Baroque vernacular of beauty that predates and, clearly, outperforms the puritanical canon of visual appeal espoused by the therapeutic institution." Now, for those of us who aren't double English and contemporary art majors at Oxford, what in God's name is he trying to say here? Because I have no idea. His whole essay seemed to be little bits of information that could be understood by the masses surrounded by sentence after sentence of philosophical bullshit. Hickey jumps all over the place, from talking about the Renaissance to Andy Warhol. I couldn't even begin to tell you what his argument is here. I know that he is talking about beauty, but can anyone realistically get a firm grasp on what he is saying? He seems to be saying that beauty is what gives visual pleasure to the observer (which is an observation that any half-brained 10-year-old could tell you). He also seems to be saying that beauty sells (duh). He seems to be saying that this is a problem in our society, but I am not clear on his argument here. My conclusion is that he is not telling us anything new. He is taking a subject and making an argument which could have been expressed quite effectively in 2-3 pages but instead decided to use his keen writing ability and turn it into a 17 page essay of filler, useless jargon, and blabber. Hickey is clearly a smart critic who writes with intellectual grace, but he needs to understand that the average Joe who would normally be interested in this type of argumentative piece will have no idea what the hell he is talking about.

Art In My Life

Up until this point in my life, I have never really thought about art and it's role in society. Growing up, the only extensive amount of art I was exposed to were the car drawings that my dad had framed in our basement. Being a car collector and growing up around the automotive business, my dad loves car design and to this day, if you ask him, the best artists are the ones who design automobiles. Growing up in a family who has been in the car business since they came over from Italy, when I think of art (besides the obvious famous pieces such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper) I think of automotive design.

Violent Art

In response to the violent works of art we were viewing in class, I discovered this painting by Barnaby Furnas depicting Jesus. The image is intriguing because it's creatively violent. Furnas uses simple splashes of red paint to show blood. It is violent without being over the top.