Nonfinito

Nonfinito seems particularly interesting to me. Leaving something unfinished would appear to beg the question of why. In the book it explained that nonfinito was used to give a sense of worldly imperfection to certain pieces of sculpture but I think it would be interesting to be used in painting, especially murals. At the High School I graduated from, a girl painted a part of one of the walls but intentionally left space, as well as connecting pieces (painted to look unfinished at the edge) for another painter to integrate their own scene next to it.

Art 1B: Art/Religion

Is Art and Religion Relevant Today?

Art and religion are both relevant today. Art, creative expression, etc. are always relevant as indicators of contemporary beliefs and perceptions. The effect religion has on people shows its importance in American culture (as Patton Oswalt put it in reference to Mel Gibson's film: "Jesus beat Spider-man at the box office!"). Mel Gibson's "Passion of The Christ" seems so strange to me, but is an excellent example of the huge impact of religion on people. If it were ANY other man, very few people would last more than 10 or 15 minutes of watching a similar beating on a big screen. The closest thing I can imagine is "Roots" and I can understand that part a little more because it seems closer to a personal struggle and EVERYONE loves to feel heroic through someone else. Why would someone spend $10 to watch their Lord and Savior get beaten and nailed to a plank? I don't think they would have the same self-projection to Jesus, but then again, some people are just so righteous. It seems to me that this is exactly like any other kind of advertising: bringing people closer to an idea or belief (or product) by emotionally pulling them into it. Outside of the United States: some years ago there were riots and murders in Europe because somebody drew Allah in a cartoon (for some reason this didn't happen when Allah appeared in an episode of South Park with Joseph Smith, Jesus and the like to fight David Blaine's cult).

Arbitrary Value of Art

An interesting example of some contemporary artists' opinion of the value of their art is heard from British rapper The Streets in his song "Hotel Expressionism" in which he sings about checking into a hotel, filling the iron with brandy and letting it out in steam, pouring shampoo and soap all over the carpet and upholstery etc. explaining that it is only done in big hotel chains which ca afford or are insured against damage. He also explains that in the end his credit card is charged for the damage anyway, thereby assigning his "art" it's own value, also claiming that the albums he puts out are intended to fund this. The Streets real name is Mike Skinner, he is heavily interested in western philosophy and psychology but his first album, as one of my former supervisors at Borders put it, "is great if you like hearing someone rap about smoking weed and playing playstation."

Cezanne seen by Burroughs

"A painting tells a story but viewed from different time and positions simultaneously. Cezanne shows a pear seen close up, at a distance, from various angles and in different light... the pear at dawn, midday, twilight... all compacted into one pear... time and space in a pear, an apple, a fish. Still life? No such thing. As he paints, the pear is ripening, rotting, shrinking, swelling."(p.15)
- from My Education: A Book of Dreams by William S. Burroughs
Written in 1990, it is obvious to see the lasting effect of art on artists. William Burroughs often melds together past, present and future in his writing which would explain why he wold gravitate to this interpretation of Cezannes style. William Burroughs and Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five) are both contemporary writers (Burroughs wrote up to and died in 1997, Vonnegut until 2005 or 2006) who were very interested in time travel in a sense that everything that was and would be already existed in some way, just that we were unable to access it as an alternate reality or universe. Burroughs explains that anything painted by Cezanne, such as the pear, expresses in itself its own creation, destruction and everything in between. I think that because of this Burroughs had a similar view to that of Nietzsche that through introspection and self discovery one could understand more than through outside observation alone.

Offili

The public reaction to Ofillis "Virgin Mary" is eerily common. People often see something and assume that their first reaction is automatically correct rather than looking deeper into what something really means. It seems strange that if something raised an eyebrow people would not want to find out more about it.

hyper-realism

I would agree that trying to emulate something real almost exactly is not worth doing because the real thing will always be more correct. The exception would be to exagerate certain aspects in which case one is not really emulating reality.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus' work is interesting but it is specific to it's time. Today there are so many photographers that no matter how compelling the subject matter, there would be much criticism because of lack of composition. Photography now seems to be very competitive and the same subjects would likely have been shot by others. I order to get the kind of recognition she had then, these days she would have had to have printed them on sheets of human skin or something.

Assignment 1: Five Pieces of Art Which Describe Me:

I am Mario Casillas. I'm taking Art 001D because I am very interested in photography but I cannot seem to get much of an interest in other forms of visual art. I am more into writers and directors than I am painters and sculptors.

One: William Burroughs Photographed by Richard Avedon

URL: http://www.thecityreview.com/avedon2.gif

Richard Avedon is a famous photographer and I generally like his work although I can't really say why from an artistic point of view. William Burroughs is my favorite author so that is why I chose this portrait. William Burroughs was considered the father of the Beat Generation and was a huge influence on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and even Hunter S. Thompson. I liked Jack Kerouac's On The Road, and Hunter Thompson's The Rum Diaries but I never read much of Ginsberg because I'm not one for poetry.

Two: Sarah Palin by Eric Schilling
Sarah Palin by ~p-erplex on deviantART
Less than halfway through the 2008 Vice Presidential debate was when I decided I could not vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin. I tried to take in the candidates neutrally and educate myself to make an informed decision come election day but once I heard Sarah Palin for 30 seconds I felt that any alternative would be better. When I was about 15-18 years old, I was convinced that politics in the United States was a joke. I tried to change my thinking about it but it seems like the two parties always work together to make an obvious choice for everyone. John Kerry seemed to screw up real good, and John McCain appeared to have a fighting chance until he selected a human doorknob to be his VP.

Three: Self Portrait By Mario Casillas
Link: http://mac81688.deviantart.com/art/self-portrait-42892749

This was an assignment I had for one of my photography classes at CCSF. I don't really like taking pictures of myself so I hung up some recent photographs behind me and legitimized it by saying that my photographs are representative of me. I got an A and didn't have to really photograph myself.






Four: Studio Manly By Rebecca Nehse
Link: http://animalnoise.deviantart.com/art/Studio-Manly-108567721

This is a photo taken by my girlfriend of her sister. I like it because she is generally a shy person and doesn't like her picture taken but she was convinced to help with this for an assignment and everyone liked the results. This is a good example of why I like photography; a lot of my friends, as well as myself, are not the most outgoing people and photographs like these can show a little bit more about a person without saying anything definite.









Five: Highlander Cookie By: Mitch Clem
Link: http://www.mitchclem.com/rockcity/index.php?comic=42

Mitch Clem originally wrote an online comic called "Nothing Nice to Say," which was punk rock themed which he still updates occasionally. This one was from an autobiographical comic he used to do called "San Antonio Rock City." I found this comic funnier than I probably should have but apparently nobody got the joke about "There can be only one" highlander cookie on his end and nobody I explained it to in person got it either. I usually find things like this funnier than I should.