Search for Beauty 2017

11/27 I really loved Pollock's way of doing things. Many artists are so concerned with creating an image that is taken right out of real life: a scene from nature, a portrait of someone, etc. They are consumed by the attempt of making it look so real and like the image they saw. Pollock created art quite differently. Pollock created his work through surrealism. Instead of trying to recreate these defined objects, he painted by the way he was feeling. He did not even think about what he was doing; he just did it. He let his emotion take over and create the painting itself. His paintings were not representative but just were. He was truly a huge impact on the whole art for art's sake movement. His art truly had no intent behind it and he would just paint. He made art just for it to be art. It served no purpose and was therefore, fine art.

This blog post is about my third show at the "Murder Barn," so named because the guy who lives there is in a metal band called Murder. Sound enticing? No? Good. I've hung out with these guys here a lot, because they decide to throw house shows there in the barn on the property. This time, there were three bands: Rotten, Throne of Botis, and finally Murder. First was the finest death thrash metal band to come out of Virginia Beach: Rotten. The five piece band is lead by frontman Zach, who's known in the local metal scene as being influenced by death metal's most classic and well-known bands. Their sound is akin to something straight out of the American metal underground in 1987, and all the people at the party were VERY into bands like that. I enjoyed it so much, I actually fractured a bone in my foot in the middle of the mosh pit, which I didn't notice until after the set was over due to the adrenaline. Next was Throne of Botis, who I am personally frien...

Recently I went to a concert at Riffhouse Pub in Chesapeake. Maybe 30 people showed up at this little dive bar to see 3 bands; Tomb Mold, Taphos Nomos, and Night Hag. I showed up to the venue, gave the security guard my 5 dollars to get in. When I walked in, I was immediately greeted by the smell of cigarettes and Pabst Blue Ribbon. The people inside the venue were the type of people that look scary - tattoos, leather jackets, missing teeth, crazy hairstyles - but all were nice people (with only 30 people at the show, if you don't already know anyone, you will by the end of the night). Up first was Taphos Nomos. Right before their set, I wandered over to the merch table to check out their merchandise. One of the t-shirts had a drawing of a man being struck by lightning printed on the front of the shirt, and I was sold. It was so brutal and horrific, my sick and twisted aesthetic tastes kicked in and I eagerly awaited their set. The first thing I noticed wasn't even the music,...

This blog post will deal with the Jackson Pollock film we watched in class. I have a couple of thoughts regarding the meta artistic practice of the film, as well as thoughts elicited by the subject matter. Granted, I did not get the chance to watch the full film, so this response will be incomplete. Nonetheless, I have a few things to share… Firstly I am intrigued by the meta artistic practice of this film. It is, in essence, art about art. It is a drama about a painter . Van der Leeuw calls drama “movement and countermovement,” and image the “freezing” of movement. Two distinct art forms combined, one circumscribing the other. It seems natural that drama would be the one to subsume image. Drama can show more than one image. In order for image-art to be reflexive, it must have at least two images: one to be reflected upon, and one to display reflection or comment. Film (the medium in which the drama was presented) allows for many images, thus allowing for a greater reflexivity. D...

"Every good painter paints what he is ". Jackson Pollock In this movie, Jackson Pollock is depicted as an artistic individual with alcoholism and depression, plagued by frequent manic episodes. Throughout this time frame, Pollock experienced phases of sobriety, yet returned to old drinking habits. While Pollock exudes a depressed demeanor, the movie itself is not generically depressing as it intends to depict the laborious nature of his artworks as he concurrently struggles with postwar obstacles. In the film, Pollock portrays a sense of freedom when he paints and creates his artistic works. He is struck by inspiration and utilizes large canvases stretched upon the wall or the floor. This interactionist aspect between painter and painting allowed Pollock to become enveloped in his art work, leaving a piece of himself behind. Pollock's artistic style was based in surrealism, similar to that of Picasso. However, in the movie Pollock explicitly curses Picass...

This movie shows a dramatization of Pollock's life. He was an artist in the 1940's and is mainly a surrealist painter. He struggles with depression and alcoholism, and perhaps another mental illness. His wife claims his paintings express the way his mind works. It is interesting to observe the process of art being created while also watching an up and coming artist struggle to be recognized and appreciated. Film itself is its own type of art work which can be criticized by his camera work and screen writing. However, the subject being the story of an artist also seems to create its own perspective of Pollock. The movie is slow and many of the scenes and actors seem shallow. I don't find myself sympathizing with Pollock or his girlfriend. He seems to be a sloppy alcoholic who happens to have a mind for painting. Perhaps his alcoholism is what makes him a good artist. Maybe his depression helps him see color with a different point of view that many others would not think ...

I attended the show “Bella Gaia” in the freeman last Thursday evening with my environmental leadership class. I was skeptical based on the preview for it which showed a lot of clips of unique instruments and interpretive dancing which doesn’t really intrigue me. However, I tried to go into it with an open mind since I knew the message it was trying to convey was an important one and one that I support. The show was about an hour and a half long which was the perfect amount of time. It was interesting and captivating but since many elderly people were also in attendance, it made sense to end at 9pm before it started getting repetitive and tiring. The whole show, there was a large screen that showed videos of the earth, many taken from space. The show was inspired by astronauts who had visited earth and discovered the beauty and wonder of our own planet. The show used music, visuals, and dance to create an atmosphere of awe and hope in change. The most interesting part for me, i...