Sigalit Landau is a video installation artist living and working in Tel Aviv, Israel. She was born in 1969 in Jerusalem. She studied at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. In addition to video installations, Landau also works in sculpture.
I chose DeadSee because I really enjoyed the video still from the video project. I didn’t realize it was actually a video installation until I did research on the project. I like the combination of the colors. The muted green and blue with the flesh tones and red are just beautiful.
DeadSee video still, Sigalit Landau, 2005.
DeadSee was displayed in 2008 at MOMA in the exhibition titled, Projects 87. DeadSee was part of the triptych video installation titled, Cycle Spun(2007). The two other videos, Barbed Hula and Day Done (2007), also feature circular movements. In an interview with Paulina Pobocha, Landau said, “I think that the curator, Klaus Biesenbach, saw the pieces as formally composing a story and as a selection that stands in for my entire œuvre. The show is very dietetic and shows a specific layer of my otherwise pretty wild [appetite]. Everything that I do ranges in tenor because I respond to situations, sites, and life. In just one installation, there are whispers, screams, and five art languages. There is a formal connection, which is obvious in all of the four pieces in the cycle: they all have circles, circular movement, centers and peripheries, inner and outer spaces, and patterns that accrue from coils and radii.”
Salome is an Iranian hip hop artist from Tehran. I chose to feature some of her work because I think it’s awesome that in a country that does not look highly upon outspoken women, Salome is producing hip hop music. At 25 years-old, she is known as the first female rapper in Iran. She is very popular with the youth and the underground music scene in Iran.
Although I don’t understand most of her lyrics, they are sung in Farsi and do not all have videos with English subtitles, I love her sound. The melodies she uses to back up her lyrics are beautiful and really add to the intensity of her message. Her songs have urgency about them and at times seem dire. This is most likely influenced from living in a country that has suffered years of war. I also like the beats in her songs. They are similar to the beats that we might find in Western hip hop and you can dance to them. An example is Esmesh Rooshe, found on her MySpace page.
Another thing I like about her music is that she defies Western media’s perception of Middle Easterns. In T.V. shows and movies, Middle Easterns are often portrayed as people who are eager to kill and do anything for the sake of Allah. But, Salome’s lyrics, criticizes the extremists and questions their reasoning for their actions. In Scream Let your Voice be Heard, she asks people to think for themselves before carrying out acts of terror. Her lyrics in Grown Green on this Land promote unity within Iran among the people and ask people to act civilly regardless of whether or not they have opposing view points. With these strong lyrics, I think she will be one of the influential forces of change that reshapes Iran and other Middle Eastern nations.
Wangechi Mutu is a Nairobi born artist who works and lives in New York City. She earned her BFA at Cooper Union for the Advancement of the Arts and Science in 1996 and her MFA at Yale University in 2000.
Mutu’s art looks at female identity in modern times and especially focuses on African female identity. Mutu uses images from contemporary fashion magazines, African art, and scientific and anthropological documents with a variety of mixed media. Many of her collages seem to draw influence from the collages of Hannah Höch.
Cervical Hypertrophy, Wangechi Mutu, 2005, USA.
Cervical Hypertrophy with it’s disproportionate eyes, lips and ears remind me of Höch’s Grotesque and Mother.
Adult Female Sexual Organs, Wangechi Mutu, 2005, USA.
In Adult Female Sexual Organs Mutu guides us into the mind of a caricatured African woman made of packing tape and fur. Inside her mind, we see the idealized woman from a page in a fashion magazine. The juxtaposition of the white woman within the mind of the African woman encourages the viewer to question the female identity standard decided by the mass media.
Untitled, Wangechi Mutu, 2004, USA.
Her mixed media collages on mylar and vellum are reminiscent of the works of Gustav Klimt. However, unlike Klimt, Mutu does not just create sexualized women. In Untitled 2004, the woman is posed provocatively, however, it doesn’t seem to be sexual in nature.
Mask</em, Wangechi Mutu, 2006, USA."
Overall, Mutu’s works stimulates the viewer to question their own ideas of what it is to be a woman. And while these women in Mutu’s collages do not fit into the media defined perfect women, they are all beautiful. However, I don’t think that the faces created in the medical illustration paper series are all beautiful.
Hye Rim Lee is a Korea born artist that lives and works in New Zealand. She earned her BFA at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in 2003 and also earned a Bachelor of Music at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea in 1985.
Lee’s art attempts to break down the traditional identity of women in Korean society. In Korea, the woman’s role has traditionally been the subservient house wife. However, now with the Westernization of the country, that role is changing. Lee is helping to break that tradition by analyzing and questioning how women are treated in Korean culture, video games, anime and manga. Traditionally, the male has held the dominant role with little thought given to the female as an individual. In video games, anime and manga, women are often portrayed as hypersexualized beings ready to serve their male counter parts.
The Birth of TOKI: Hundreds and Thousands, Hye-Rim Lee, 2003, South Korea.
TOKI, a rabbit-human hybrid parodying the idealized females in anime and manga, operates within an animated world to help dispel tradition and change female identity. In Korean, toki means rabbit.
Crystal City Spun, brings an often hidden subject to the forefront. A cityscape of dildos spin while a sleeping dragon awakes and TOKI emerges to play.
I see the sleeping dragon signifying a dormant women’s liberation that has finally emerged in Korean society. In a culture where female sexual satisfaction is taboo, Crystal City Spun encourages women to not settle in the subservient role but to demand satisfaction whether it is sexually or in the everyday life.
Candyland at Adam Art gallery in Wellington, Austrailia. Photo by: This is Emily.
In Boom Boom, Super Heroine, Super Beauty four windows display manipulations to TOKI’s body. This animation looks at the obsession with creating the perfect body through plastic surgery. In a world where perfection is idealized in the mass media, many women are turning to plastic surgery to meet that mold. This is especially true in Korea where European women dominate advertising for beauty products and Korean women attempt to emulate the Eurasian ideal (King). While watching TOKI’s transformation, one can’t help but wonder which version is the right one.
During the World War I, women’s roles were expanded in many nations. Women were no longer working only in the home but were working as nurses, railroad workers, and munitions assemblers, among many others. After the war, many women lost their jobs to the returning men. “Because of the war demands, the role of women changed and they had new attitudes.” (http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/kim.shtml)
Many of Höch’s works reflect the new attitudes of women and the struggle to fit into the changing gender roles.
Cut with a Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (Schnitt mit dem Küchenmesser durch die letzte Weimarer Bierbauchkulturepoche Deutschlands), Hannah Höch, 1919, Germany.
Cut with a Kitchen Knife with its many figures of women comments on the “new role of women in post-war Germany” (moma.org). “Famous and easily recognizable women signify various metaphors of liberation: movement, technology, female pleasure, innovation, Dada, and revolution” (Lavin, 19).
It also comments on the new Weimar Republic that was established in Germany after the end of World War I. In the upper right, the anti-dada group, rulers of the Weimar Republic, is depicted (Lavin, 19).
Höch also depicts the people that help encourage the Dada movement forward. Höch places herself just above the map of Europe that highlights countries that gave women suffrage after the war (moma.org). Raoul Hausmann, another Dada member, is diagnol from Höch, wearing a diving suit with his mouth wide open (Lavin, 19).
The Blue Japanese Parasol, Martha Walter, c. 1914, United States.
Impressionism art is beautiful. I enjoy the look of the loose brushstrokes and dabs of color. The Blue Japanese Parasol by Martha Walter is a great example of this technique. Another appealing element of impressionism is the subjects do not have to have fine detail to understand what is happening. In The Blue Japanese Parasol it is clear that four women are enjoying a windy day at the beach. We can also see that there are many other people there as well.
While some people might contend that it does not take a lot of skill to paint impressionist style paintings, I would disagree. The ability to apply dabs of color next to each other to create recognizable subjects requires talent. In addition, the unfinished look has characteristics that add to the overall feeling of the paintings.
The loose brushstrokes in The Blue Japanese Parasol help evoke warm fuzzy feelings about hanging out at the beach. When I look at it, it’s like drawing upon my own memories of pastimes that are not always so crisp and clear, but the feeling of being in the moment is there.
In contrast, ,El Quitasol by Francisco de Goya seems less about the feeling of the moment. This painting’s purpose may be to show off the exotic things this young woman owns; a parasol, servant, cat or maybe it’s a dog, and a fan. However, www.spanishisharts.com says that it depicts the young woman responding to the flirtations of the young man.
The Parasol (El Quitasol), Francisco de Goya, c. 1777, Madrid, Spain.
Because this painting is less about feeling and more about creating a portrait of this woman with her things, it would not work if painted in the impressionist style. It would be difficult to distinguish the fan and the finer details of her clothing.
The piece below, Piano Sonata No. 49 in Eb Maj., Hob. XVI:49 (Sonata No. 59) was composed by Joseph Haydn in 1789 or 1790 in Esterháza, Hungary. He created the piece for his friend Maria Anna von Genzinger who lived in Vienna. Maria Anna von Genzinger’s husband was a physician for Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, who was also Haydn’s employer. It is believed that Haydn and Genzinger met through this mutual relationship.
Like many composers of his time, Haydn primarily composed music for the nobility. He was employed by the Esterhazy family for about 30 years. After the death of Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, the new prince released Haydn of his commitment to the family and gave him a pension. Haydn then moved to Vienna and later England where he continued to produce music.
During his time in Vienna and England, he created music on more of a freelance basis. He was commissioned to write symphonies for orchestras. In some cases, he created music for individuals. According to www.wikipedia.com, Haydn moved to London because of one such commission. His symphonies were successful and “audiences flocked to Haydn’s concerts,” says wikipedia. This allowed Haydn to amass great wealth in addition to the pension he received. His success with audiences was in part due to the fact that the size of the middles class was increasing and public performances were becoming more prevalent.
Although written for Genzinger, Piano Sonata No. 49, would have appealed to the general public because it has a very nice melody. As was Haydn’s signature, there are elements of surprise, which also make the song appealing. For instance, moving from the first movement, a flowing happy piano melody, into the second movement, the listener is struck with a forte dissonant chord. Additionally, throughout the first movement there are trills which add interest to the steady melody. The tone of the second movement is also quite different from the first. It is much like what I would image Strum und Drang sounding like, urgent, desperate, and dark. This piece also has a lot of texture. Throughout the sonata, Haydn uses both ends of the keyboard to create the homophonic texture.
Below is the adaptation of the second movement from the movie, Interview With a Vampire, where I first learned of this song. I’ve always really enjoyed this piece because of its dramatic somber sound and the contrast between the melody and the dark chords.
Fun Stuff:
This is a link to a biography of Haydn written in 1884. Some of the passages are quite comical in how the author describes his life, yet sad on some level. Joesphy Haydn by Pauline D. Townsend
The Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City is an example of Latin American baroque architecture. While not all elements of the building are in baroque style, many are.
The construction of the cathedral began in 1524 on Aztec land conquered by Hernán Cortéz for the Spanish crown. Cortéz ordered the construction of the building and is said to have laid the first stone.
The site for the Cathedral was chosen because that area was sacred to the Aztec and most likely to show the Aztecs who was in charge. The conquistadors built the Cathedral with stone blocks from Templo Mayor, a sacred Aztec temple near the Cathedral.
Over the 300 years it took to build the Cathedral, there have been many architects and artists that have contributed to the design.
The massive size of the building falls in line with the dramatic characteristic baroque architects strove for. According to www.sacred-destinations.com, Metropolitan Cathedral is the largest and oldest cathedral in Latin America. With its many altars and chapels, the Metropolitan Cathedral is sure to take ones breath away when seen in person.
The exterior also has intricate facades such as seen at the entrance of the Sagrario (tabernacle).
As you move inside, there is no release from the astounding art. There are many tall archways and columns. Gold colored elements with intricate designs can be seen at the many altars.
With beautiful construction such as this, many people were most likely awestruck by its construction and willingness to believe in and follow the Holy Order of the Catholic Church. This was probably one of the many projects backed by the Council of Trent in an effort to bring more people into the Catholic Church.
The Burial of Count Orgaz is a painting by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco, The Greek. This painting is an excellent example of the Mannerist style of art produced during the Renaissance. The intricate detail and imagination put into this work goes beyond what was expected as a craftsman. Williams writes, “…he captured the meeting of spiritual and material worlds in the elongated bodies spiraling up to heaven, with their otherworldly expressions and “winged hands.”
This painting also reflects the belief that if you donate to the church you will be well received into heaven. Count Orgaz had donated large sums of money to religious institutions and had left a lot of money to the Santo Tomé Church. However, Santo Tomé Church did not receive that donation for a couple centuries. It is the depiction of this idea that I believe the painting falls under the humanism style. While it might not have been El Greco’s intention to stimulate commentary about this belief, I think the painting can inspire individuals to question the validity of this belief, especially during the Reformation.
The painting also captures the custom of noblemen helping in the burial ceremony of other noblemen. The two saints are believed to have come down from heaven to assist Orgaz’s soul into heaven. The gold seems to pour out of the heaven by way of the angel in the center of the clouds onto the robes of the saints. According to www.sacred-destinations.com, El Greco was required to show this custom in his contract for this painting.
The Burial has also been noted for the portraits of important men in Toledo during the late 1500s. Most of the individuals in the painting are unknown. The known people are the priest responsible for the commission of the painting, Count Orgaz, El Greco and El Greco’s son. His son is the young boy in the foreground pointing to Count Orgaz. El Greco is standing behind the saint on the left waving and looking directly at the viewer.
