For my Video Art Project I put Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech(video) on a 40" flat screen HD -TV. I then video taped it with an Iphone. Then video taped the I phone video taping the TV. Then finally I video taped the I phone video taping an Iphone video taping the TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIUzd5wvjrA
Mike Morris Art
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Marcel Duchamp and William Burroughs
Marcel Duchamp was a painter and mixed media artist. It is
said that he changed the course of art history.
He was mainly associated with Cubism and Futurism in his earlier
paintings. Although he avoided
alliances, he is said to have spearheaded the American Dada movement. He incessantly pushed the boundaries of art
and had an ongoing preoccupation with desire and human sexuality. He is best known as the father of Conceptual
art. He believed that art could be about
ideas instead of worldly things.
William Burroughs was an American novelist, painter, short
storyist. His works are said to have
been important in the development of many subcultures of the twentieth century
such as Hippies and Punks and for this reason, he was best known as having been
culturally influential. It is also said that he was a homosexual who
murdered his second wife. His misogyny
and drug addiction are said to be what made his literary works so interesting.
The
comparison between these two artists is quite interesting. The similarity appears to be related to their
desires in pushing the limits and boundaries of art. They also both based some of their works on
sexuality, but most importantly, they were both influential and changed the
course of art history.
Butoh
Butoh
is a type of Japanese contemporary dance.
It consists of a wide range of performance or movement practices which
first emerged in 1959. It is often
defined as resisting definition or explanation but can have great impact on
it’s audience. It is often called the ‘dance of darkness’.
It
is said that it came about because of the social devastation and sadness left
by World War II. Other opinions state
that is was designed as a contrast to the contemporary dance in Japan at the
time. However, the founder of Butoh
(Tatsumi Hijikata) has said that it was based on an imitation of the West or as
an imitation of Noh (classical Japanese musicals).
Today,
Butoh is known for its’ darkness which can include sex, death, grotesque
imagery and eroticism. It is usually
performed in white body makeup with very slow movements. Often the dancers will
have upward rolled eyes and contorted faces, inward rotated legs and feet and
can be performed with or without an audience.
It
is a very popular dance form today and is performed all over the world.
Steve Jobs Commencement Speech
Steve Jobs delivered a commencement speech at Stanford
University on June 12, 2005. He was the
CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios. In his speech, he tells the audience that he
did not graduate from college and goes on to tell three stories.
The first story is about something he calls “connecting the
dots”. In this story, he tells of his
college years and how he dropped out of college, taking only courses that truly
interesting him, including calligraphy. At
the time, he did not think this course would have any practical
application. However, ten years later,
when he was designing the MAC computer, this knowledge was in fact helpful and
he states that it is not until much later in life that he connected the
dots. He stated that you can only
connect the dots when you look backwards and that you have to trust that dots
will somehow connect your future.
The second story he tells is about love and loss. He tells the story of getting fired from
Apple, starting all over again, starting Pixar and NeXt and returning to
Apple. He tells the graduates that they
should never lose faith when life hits you in the head with a brick. He suggests that the only way to be truly
satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and to keep looking until you
find that work.
The third story he tells is about death. He tells of his
cancer diagnosis and how he has
always lived each day as if it was his last.
He states that all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure all fall
away in the face of death and that remembering that you are going to die is the
best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. He wraps up his speech by saying that no one
wants to die and yet we cannot escape it.
He reminds the graduates that their time is limited. He closes his speech by quoting from one of
the bibles of his generation. “Stay
Hungry, Stay foolish”. Steve jobs died
in 2011.
Baroque Era
The Baroque era was representative of an artistic style which
began in Rome in approximately 1600 (1592 – 1720). Painting, architecture and sculpture embraced
this style and eventually, this style of art became popular throughout the rest
of Europe. This style is described as
dramatic, colorful, massive and theatrical. It
also greatly influenced dance and music.
The music of this period was ornate and heavily ornamented while the dance was
mainly a simple step (English country dance or The French Noble style)
The style grew out of the religious tensions of the 1600’s. The Catholic Counter-Reformation Art of this
period were greatly influenced by the Baroque era. Catholic emperors and the Vatican in general used
this style to show their power, grandeur and to reassert themselves. Baroque art in more protestant countries had
less religious focus and attracted the middle classes of the country. During this period, palatial structures were
built consisting of extravagant staircases and elegant reception rooms.Undoubtedly, the baroque era was one of the richest and most diverse
periods in history
Monday, December 1, 2014
Performance Piece
For this performance, my anonymous associate, laid down on a bench with a pillow and an umbrella for nearly an hour. It was during the morning hours of a beautiful day. The theme is the decontextualization of the umbrella, park bench, but questions the behavior of college students.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aL_yGvr28g&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aL_yGvr28g&feature=youtu.be
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