William Burroughs

William Burroughs (1914-1997) was a key figure of the Beat generation.  He was a novelist, and spoken work performer.   He wrote 18 novels, six collections of short stories and many essays.  It is said that he is still looked up to by today’s writers and that he greatly influenced popular culture. Mr. Burroughs was born to a wealthy family in Missouri and became interested in writing at a very early age. He went to Harvard University where he studied English and Anthropology.  Mr. Burroughs became addicted to drugs (heroin specifically) and this affected him throughout his life and career.  Burroughs wrote and published his first book in 1953, Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict.  His third novel, Naked Lunch (1959) was his most popular.  

He shot and killed his second wife in 1951 and his parents took custody of his son.  Mr. Burroughs died of a heart attack in 1997 and was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1984 by France.  He also received an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1983.

 

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) had a huge impact on 20^th century art through his painting and mixed media art.   He was a French-American painter, sculptor, and writer whose work is associated with Dadaism, Cubism and Surrealism.  He had a conceptual approach to art.  Mr. Duchamp is quoted as saying that he wanted to “put art back in the service of the mind”.  He has been described as many things, including “a one-man movement”.   He believed that art could be about ideas instead of worldly things and this idea has influenced many generations of artists.   He challenged other artists of his time and refused to accept their standards as his own.  He also did not like to show his work often and refused to have a style of art that would be easily recognized as his work.  

 

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs grew up in Silicon Valley in the early 1950’s.  Because of this, he grew up (after being adopted as a baby) in a neighborhood of engineers.   As a result, Mr. Jobs had a great interest in the electronics field as he grew up. I found it interesting that Steve jobs dropped out of college after one semester, because he was more interested in drugs (LSD specifically), philosophy (he became a Buddhist and also joined a hippie commune) and fruitarian diets.

In 1970, he met Steve Wozniak who also loved electronics.  They created the Apple I and Apple II computers.  Steve Jobs was focussed on the design of the computer and Steve Wozniak was responsible for the electronics.  The Apple II delivered color graphics (the first of it’s kind).  Steve jobs was instrumental in the creation of The e Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, MacBook, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad.

Sadly, he died on Oct. 5, 2011, of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Alan Turing

According to biographer Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing (born born 23 June 1912) was a “Founder of computer science, mathematician, philosopher, code breaker, strange visionary and a gay man before his time”.  Mr. Turing studied mathematics at Cambridge University where he concluded that automatic computation could solve all mathematical problems. Turing believed that "a single machine that can be used to compute any computable sequence". This finding is the basis for the modern theory of computation and clearly depicts why he was so important in the development of the first computer.    When war broke out, he worked at deciphering messages encrypted by a German Enigma machine which provided valuable information for the allies.  He also worked on a team which developed a machine which could decode these German wartime messages.  Unfortunately, Turing's was not involved in building the world's first working electronic stored-program digital computer.  Sadly, in March 1952 he was prosecuted for his homosexuality and eventually committed suicide.

 

Markjstock.com

Upon researching this artist, I learned that this artist states that his work involves “still, video, real-time, and interactive installations with seamless interfaces featuring highly dynamic, detail-rich imagery”.  I found it interesting that many of his influences are artists and scientists whom are from the pre-computer ages (i.e., Da Vinci).   Upon reviewing his works, I have chosen Magma 19 as my favourite.  I have read his description of this piece of art and he states that it depicts a “virtual flow of red-hot molten magma and nearby cooler rock”.  I prefer this work over some of his others because it does depict something familiar to me and is based on something real.  I enjoy the energy in the piece and the colours used in the patterns were pleasurable to my eye. 

Stop Motion 1

Stop motion is also known as stop action in the film industry.  It is a method used by animators to make an object appear to move.  The object is moved in small increments. The end result is the illusion of the object moving.  Sometimes it is used to show objects moving magically.  In 1898, stop motion techniques were first used in the production of The Humpty Dumpty Circus. It was a film in which a toy circus and animals were brought to life and appear to be moving.   Initially, stop motion animation was used with “non-drawn” objects or inanimate items.  This was followed by an era of clay animation.  In 1912, the first clay animation film was completed and released and was considered hugely successful.  I found it very interesting to read that one of the earliest stop motion films, which was only 1 minute in duration took over 50 hours to complete.  Sadly, this technique is not used very often anymore.

Abelardo Morrell

Abelardo Morrell is a Cuban-born artist whose art delivers visual surprise and wonder.  He arrived in the United States in 1962 with his family and received a scholarship at Bowdoin College in Maine, and later attended Yale University.  . He began his career with still life works, focusing on simple, basic items, like childen’s toys or a glass bottle. As a teacher, he wanted to teach his students the basic concepts behind photography.  He demonstrated, in a class setting, how light could transform any space or room into a camera.  This was a career turning point for him and as a result of this lesson to his students, Morrell has produced, using his camera obsura, an original and interesting collection of contemporary photography.  He has perfected this technique and uses this primitive method of making images as the basis for his more recent collections, which include New York City panoramas and warm Italian vistas. "I want to refresh how people see the world," says Morell and after having viewed his works through this assignment, I think he certainly has done that. 

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist, born on 6 May 1856.  He studied at the University of Vienna and was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century.  Sigmund Freud was the first to use the term psychoanalysis in 1896 and he eventually came to be known as the father of psychoanalysis.  He spent much of his career working on understanding human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions.  He believed that mental illness, in many cases, did not have a physiological cause.  He is most famous for his approach to curing mental illness and various mental conditions through psychological analysis.  It was interesting to learn that Freud was an atheist who fought against religion, and yet, was of Jewish origin.  He thought that religion was an obstacle to human intelligence and its development.  .  It is often said that many fundamental aspects of psychology today can be traced to Freud’s original work.

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

The Great Train Robbery was the first narrative film and was filmed in November of 1903. It is said that the Great Train Robbery kicked off the motion picture industry.  It was a one-reel film what lasted approximately 10 minutes in duration.  In total, it had 14 scenes.  The film told a story related to a train robbery and was actually based on a true story which occurred in August 1900. 

Many new techniques were used for the first time in this film.  Some of these techniques included minor camera movements, location shooting and parallel editing.  Pan shots were also used the film which were new to the industry.  Jump-cuts showed two separate storylines or events happening at the same time and were used throughout the movie as well.  The story was narrated throughout the fourteen scenes of the movie.  This film was considered a milestone and is significant in the history of film.