individual blog 6---Zodiac statue replicas---part 2

 

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ai+Weiwei+recreates+stolen+bronzes+in+Brazil/21552 

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist that recreates bronzes that were stolen from an art museum in the 1860 from Summer Palace in Beijing. He created these replicas in Brazil. He made replicas of 12 zodiac statues. This guy is good to be able to create replicas. These replicas were put on display. This display will be featured in many places, but they will be on display in London in 2012. Ai hopes that the creation of the statues will help in the ongoing investigation of the missing statues. Only seven of the original zodiac statues have been recovered. There are six more still out there. There is no exact documentation on how these statues look like. So the artist made the replicas look like what he imagined the remainder of the zodiac statues would look like. Each of the replicas is valued at $500,000. Ai is a smart person to make these replicas of the statues. It was an idea that would bring him money, and also bring him more fame. That is a great amount of money. The Summer Palace owners should continue their hope that the remainder of the zodiac statues will be found and returned to them. It has been over 150 years since these statues have been stolen. The main idea of the article is that Ai created these original zodiac figures-like statues to help the Beijing government get their statues and also make money. This article reminds me of what we discussed in class about the pharaoh pyramid and other places in Egypt being raided and robbed by different people. Some of the historical artifacts may never be found. The sculptures help us see the form of art the convention that the artist did them according to. The replicas will help, but the originals are better. I wish them good luck finding the remainder of the six statues. The second picture is thought to be an image of the original. The first image is of the replicas. 

Individual Blog 6: Step Pyramid--part 1

Step Pyramid

This is my favorite pyramid that was build to honor and bury King Djoser. He ruled in the third kingdom dynasty from 2630-2575 BCE. This monument is the first recorded history. The step pyramid is made of limestone, so that it can last longer and withstand the element. It is made up of six mastabas, which is flat-topped one story building with skewed walls raised above an underground burial chamber.  Imhotep is the person creator of the step pyramid. He achieved a level of being called the king of architect.  The step pyramid rises like a stairway up to the sky. The reason behind that is to have the blessing of the sun god Ra, and to honor Ra so that the pharaoh could have a great after life. Designed in a necropolis which is the desert edge on the West Bank of the Nile, the mastabas were made to protect the king’s remains when buried from robbers.   The step pyramid is 103m X107m. It is 62 meters high. King Djoser was buried in a 28meter beneath ground burial chamber. The chamber is a rectangle. Close to the king chamber blue marbles tiles were found which can represent other king’s family or royalty burial chamber.  Adjacent temples were made so that the priest could continue to worship the king even after his death. There are two peek holes in the wall of the chamber. These holes are supposed to be where the king would see the devotion made for him. Evidence of that are the presence of several offering rooms found by the chamber. There is a small sealed room on the north side of the pyramid called the serdab that houses the ka statue of the dead. This is where the two peek holes the king or pharaoh is suppose to see the devotion made to him. There are also building that are filled with fragments on the east side. This is the location where the king or pharaoh could keep on observing the custom preformed for him. Pure line execution scripture exist on the wall of the tomb of the chamber. It also contains several columns

Thoughts on Downtown Presbyterian Church

                    The Downtown Presbyterian church was not as I expected it to be. I thought it would stand out more from a distance. I did not recognize the location of the church because it was clustered with other building around it. I was lost getting there because the building surrounding had the same color. When attending the Presbyterian church, I saw that there was a great amount of ancient Egyptian culture incorporated in the church. The church did great to portray Ancient Egyptian architect, like the use of the column. Almost every aspect of the church was taken over with Egyptian culture and art. The stainless glass windows are supposed to have religious figures, but this church windows had Egypt sandy ground, sun god Ra. There was papyrus on the windows which signify the Egyptian culture. The decorations on the wall were like a the real architecture to me. I saw and examined the space, it was made to meet the convention of that society at that time period.  I felt nothing inside that church, meaning that I did acknowledge the area but did not feel any influence of religion. That church  really does display the Egyptian art , because it is good to see in person how the Egyptian convention was implemented in modern society. There were columns built in the wall. The blue color represents the Nile water. I did realize that there were a great amount of trapezoids and triangle in the church especially on the stainless glass window. The ceiling is divided and painted like the sky.  The space is well designed. It was great that they can make a small space look so large. Looking at the church from top gave me the impression of its sacredness. The wide variety color grabs the attention of the audience and directs them all around the church. example is the color on the columns and the wall. The use of color in the church like on the window made it seem like it has been conserved so that other can be educated by it. The colors on the stainless class were light not dark. the Light gives the space a temperate glow. I like the way the columns are set up, where one columns appears to be behind the other while it was actually painted on the wall. The appearance of the balcony and the column give the front side of the church a 3D shape when looking straight at it.  The ceiling painting of the sky creates an delusion of depth in the space.My group and I felt nothing in the church, but we were impressed by the Egyptian architecture that was there.

Narmer Palette........indiv blog 2

                                                                        Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette is the coolest piece of art history that we have discussed in class so far. It is true that a picture can speak a thousand words. The Narmer palette is a representation of an important time in Egyptian history. This important event is the unification of Egypt by King Narmer. With the incorporation of the hieratic scale, King Narmer is illustrated as the largest figure. He is larger than his adversaries. Phonetic symbols are used to represent Narmer name. The interesting part of the palette is the Unification of Egypt being represented by many images.  The twisting of the lion head represents the unification of Egypt. The use of lotus flower and papyrus represents the unification of Egypt. Narmer wears the crown of Upper Egypt. The falcon seems to have taken a man’s head perhaps representing Lower Egypt. The size of the humans decreases further down the image from the men being killed by Narmer to the dead people on the ground. This can be a representation of Narmer greatness. Narmer is also portrayed taking over his enemies with a large size bull. This represents his victory. Iconography is used in the image by the artist. A simultaneous narrative is also used to tell the story of Narmer the great unifier. Grinding eye paint is used in the palette because back then in Egypt both men and women wore it to protect their eyes from the sun by the reflected light.

Magical Realism.......blog part 2

http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=3043&current=True

This article caught my attention as I was browsing for an article. The images of the demons in the article are great. It is good than an artist uses abstract ideas to make art. It is good that the artist has influenced many other artist to use what they call magic. The main thesis is the use of magic. Artists use magic as a metaphor of the art world.  The world is depicted as “freakish, inscrutable, and demanding of inhuman endurance.” This article deals with an artist that makes work of art that has inspired others to do art work also. The artist uses illusionism in contemporary art. This plays with the perception of the viewer. A piece of work can turn into a million dollar thing if embraced by the art community. “Contemporary artists have been inspired by Houdini's showmanship, radical self-invention, transformation of everyday things, and extreme use of his own body," Houdini is the artist that created magic. The artist is expressing himself with himself. This is good because it is seen as original by many of the art community.

Collage Project

Collage Log

My collage represents the experiences that made me be who I am today, the world, and my art view. I chose several things to incorporate in the collage like Iraq and the United States map. I was born in Iraq but moved to the United States around the 96’s because Saddam ordered for my family to be executed. My family was not very cooperative with his governmental policies. The second picture represents my family and me as refugees fleeing. Under the map of the United States is a picture that stands for cancer. My mother had cancer, and I watched her survive it when I around six years old. Each picture on the collage reflects me one way or another. Under the cancer image is a picture of Nashville downtown taken from a distance. It is the state where I have spent most of my life. My family and I enjoy living in Tennessee. In the second column is a picture of a family, which is a very important part of me.  Even though there is hardship in family, they are my pride and joy.   I put a picture of sports ball and ESPN on the poster say that I love watching sports and playing them. In high school, I used to play soccer and wrestle. There are many more images included like global warming, a TV, game, law, economy, and school that stand out as things that are present today. After looking up the meaning of light blue color, I chose it as the background because it stands for stability, and calmness. I am a person that loves peace. I love when the place I am in is calm or quiet. The images touching the black border on the left stand for the times I had angry emotions. There is a big image in the middle of the collage that represents a medical school. Getting into medical school is my main big goal right now. Art to me is beauty, style, imagination, originality, and history. I see nature like flowers, grassy landscapes, mountains, and other landforms as art. Even though prehistoric Art like cave painting is not relevant to modern society, it is good to have knowledge of how civilization was back then and how it has changed so much. Art is history in the essence that it provides society a blurred sense of originality.

Decision: On the left side I chose images that were dark shaded to represents events of the past, while the ones on the right side are the current events that are happening.

Color: there is a lot of blue area in my collage to represent that I love stability and calmness. I tried to use dark colors to present the pas and also bring about a boring mood; On the other hand, the light colors are suppose to bring dynamism to the collage.

Light: the bright light sources in my collage are used to bring about energy. The dark ones are used to bring about the precedent. The light color above the medical school is used to create hope that I will make it.

Texture: The texture was created by the images like the refugee image with the line shaded background.

Volume: the images used create volume like the image of Nashville downtown at night with the lights on, the medical building with other builds around it in the back, also the Belmont bell tower with the café area in the background. Other images have volume like the soldiers, super bowl, global warming image, and other.

Line: the position of the images in the collage have implied lines that direct the eyes of the audience around the collage to the main image being the Medical school. The arrangement of the image like diagonally, or slanted create eye movement around the image. I organized all my images in a rectangle. The collage moves around the center. Many of the lines are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and curvy components guide the observer to specific part of the collage while also creating a balance.

Space: the background is the blue color I chose for the board, while the foreground is the images glues on it. Foreground and background can be seen in many images like the soldiers, super bowl, the United States on black background, god of war man in front of the building, and others. Depth is seen in many of the images like the refugee one, the colorful image under the medical school, and other.

Scale: the images of Medical school, Belmont, war, family are larger than other images to signify there importance. The other images are about equal importance but they are scaled in different sizes like the religion one is bigger that the law.

Symbolism: In the collage, there is an image of a globe with different symbols around it. My religion is included (Muslim) in it. I chose this image because I am mindful, tolerant, and respectful of other people religion no matter what it is. I like learning about other people religion just for the wisdom. There are stars glued all around my collage. These stand for the unexpected things like emotional things (red star), normal everyday things (yellow star), liberated life (white star), and the calm things to come in life (blue star). The bobcat paws on the bottom right hand of the collage stand for the high school that I went to, John Overton Comprehensive High School. I had a good time there and almost graduated as salutatorian from there. There is a balance law image on top right. I have profound respect for the law. I like policies and rules to certain extent. I want the law to be balanced and not over stringent.  There are more symbols in the collage like the war image with blood in the glass to represent the lives lost and people that declare it every time they can (republicans).   

Subject Matter:

Me: I am deeply defined by my experiences. I learned a great deal from them. I am a stronger person by going through all the experiences like fleeing, seeing mother have cancer, and moving to America. I am depicted all over the collage because I like to see society in a broad simple view and not complicate things. I feel that life is a journey with many experiences bad and good ones. Life is a test between good and evil. As I was told as a child, “it is easy to be bad but hard to be good.” I want to go to Medical school and become a doctor because many people in my family are sick. I want to find a way that I can help them and others. My family is who I am. The internal struggles are there but not displayed because it would take more than a collage to display them.

Friends and Family: I value my family more than anything. Without them on my side, I would not be the person that I am today. I treat friends like family, but in life it is very hard to find a true friend. Friends are not eternal but come and go. They are represented by high school bobcat symbol. Family is represented by the picture.

Town, community, and School: I included a picture of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is a beautiful quiet place. The community I live in is quiet, and peaceful. I went to JOHS. It was a descent school, where trouble was always around the corner waiting. There was a great amount of gang violence, but it was ok. Tennessee is a great place but it is ranked as the second overmedicated state in America. I have a lot of great memories at JOHS.

Country: I am a person divided equally between two countries. I love Iraq and America equally. I provided a map of both in the collage. The United States and Iraq are going through hard time. The war has brought about great endeavors to America and has liberated a nation from a merciless dictator. The US economy is displayed in the collage with the big inflation sign. Hopefully there will be peace in the future.

World: the world today is comprised of chaos. Global warming is taking effect. I went to Iraq over the summer and it was over 130o F. it was also really hot in Tennessee. Maybe Al Gore had a point when he warned about global warming. The world is what is see and experience.

Art: Art to me is beauty, style, imagination, originality, and history. It is comprised of all these features. Getting up every morning and taking a glimpse of nature. Nature is art, seeing the green grass, the traffic, pavement, is all art that is captured through the eyes. I love nature. The way the images are made with the perspective of the artist is incredible. Art is history meaning that prehistoric and other people recorded their lifestyle with art before the alphabet system came out. Art is everywhere today.

History: it is defined as past experiences of society of civilization. What I have experienced during my span of life years can be defined as history. The experiences that I have undergone are history to me. The environment that I was raised in are all shaped by history even the community and family. Art has always been apart of whom we are. It has served a purpose being entertainment, religious, or other things that are or will become apart of life.