Marilyn Manson
it's interesting to look back on the propaganda figurs just before own time, i found this clip on youtube of him presenting a surmon. it's so personally bitter i found it intersting, but i have no idea why. review at your own discretion. i am working backwards on counter-cultural decedence icons and i think he qualifies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh0WGhf2s3U
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Entry 3
A WORLD OF DECADENCE
As I sit here in my Modern Art and Ideas of Decadence I am quite overwhelmed by the book list of 22 works to be read/reviewed. First, a recap of the past few days.
PAST FEW DAYS
This week I had the privilege of talking with one of my old painting teachers for an hour and a half, he also doubles as an academic advisor. My original intent was to address some concerns with the painting department and seek information about the school’s photography department. My concerns with painting are (in my experience so far) the lack of focus on painting technique being replaced with a focus on concept and approach to painting. A friend of mine and I were discussing our frustrations a week ago with this problem. He felt confident in his direction and intent in painting but struggled with an appropriate technique to form his ideas. It is not always easy to look at a painting and understand the process that created it but it is imperative to understand ones own technique to form intent in a painting. Unfortunately it is not enough to make a pretty picture, something has to separate comic books from art galleries and on the other hand a brilliant comment can’t come clearly from an untrained hand~ though many may argue against that. Anyways, Richard Deutsch (teacher/academic advisor) mentioned a number of teachers who’s classes I should consider in the near future. We then proceeded to discuss the history of painting indirect vs. direct painting. Then he answered a bunch of my questions about paintings mixtures. I’ve been struggling with using Stand Oil properly. He drew a picture of a brush he thought I should buy that was commonly used by sign painters back in the day. That got me pretty excited, it is used to draw long thin lines. I need it for painting fabric designs and shadow outlines. I believe I will spend the remainder of the semester with indirect painting, which is the technique of all painters up until the mid 1800’s (time of Pre-Raphaelitism). It is use of color glazing so instead of light reflecting from the surface of the painting (direct painting), light passes through layers of color to produce what we perceive. It is a very mathematical and process oriented style that I am more drawn to. It also shares common ties with photography and color, so I am interested in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood
I am really interested in the movements of Pre-Raphaelites and Neoclassicism in painting. I also think they correlate in many ways with the concepts that are being addressed in my present class. So in summation, we spoke on more things and then I spent the remainder of the day in the Museum.
QUESTIONS
I would like to begin designing a painting to complete by the end of the semester. I am interested what comes to mind when you (the reader) think of, when you imagine “decadence” ~ images, scenarios, archetypes, etc. Example: 80’s glamour, Dorian Grey, the Temptation of St. Anthony, Rocco paintings, apocalyptic themes, etc. So let me know, I am interested in compiling others ideas.
Well, that’s all for now. I’m almost out of laptop battery.
As I sit here in my Modern Art and Ideas of Decadence I am quite overwhelmed by the book list of 22 works to be read/reviewed. First, a recap of the past few days.
PAST FEW DAYS
This week I had the privilege of talking with one of my old painting teachers for an hour and a half, he also doubles as an academic advisor. My original intent was to address some concerns with the painting department and seek information about the school’s photography department. My concerns with painting are (in my experience so far) the lack of focus on painting technique being replaced with a focus on concept and approach to painting. A friend of mine and I were discussing our frustrations a week ago with this problem. He felt confident in his direction and intent in painting but struggled with an appropriate technique to form his ideas. It is not always easy to look at a painting and understand the process that created it but it is imperative to understand ones own technique to form intent in a painting. Unfortunately it is not enough to make a pretty picture, something has to separate comic books from art galleries and on the other hand a brilliant comment can’t come clearly from an untrained hand~ though many may argue against that. Anyways, Richard Deutsch (teacher/academic advisor) mentioned a number of teachers who’s classes I should consider in the near future. We then proceeded to discuss the history of painting indirect vs. direct painting. Then he answered a bunch of my questions about paintings mixtures. I’ve been struggling with using Stand Oil properly. He drew a picture of a brush he thought I should buy that was commonly used by sign painters back in the day. That got me pretty excited, it is used to draw long thin lines. I need it for painting fabric designs and shadow outlines. I believe I will spend the remainder of the semester with indirect painting, which is the technique of all painters up until the mid 1800’s (time of Pre-Raphaelitism). It is use of color glazing so instead of light reflecting from the surface of the painting (direct painting), light passes through layers of color to produce what we perceive. It is a very mathematical and process oriented style that I am more drawn to. It also shares common ties with photography and color, so I am interested in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood
I am really interested in the movements of Pre-Raphaelites and Neoclassicism in painting. I also think they correlate in many ways with the concepts that are being addressed in my present class. So in summation, we spoke on more things and then I spent the remainder of the day in the Museum.
QUESTIONS
I would like to begin designing a painting to complete by the end of the semester. I am interested what comes to mind when you (the reader) think of, when you imagine “decadence” ~ images, scenarios, archetypes, etc. Example: 80’s glamour, Dorian Grey, the Temptation of St. Anthony, Rocco paintings, apocalyptic themes, etc. So let me know, I am interested in compiling others ideas.
Well, that’s all for now. I’m almost out of laptop battery.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Entry 2
CULTURE
The spirit of this time seems overall to be that of infinity. You can never know it all. And if you know a lot, you know little; with each new step of wisdom you see there are more steps to make. But this acquiring of knowledge is no more hungered for, as it is scrutinized. The more we learn, the more we question what we have learned. Yet we still press to learn more in the act of doubt. In my short experience I have seen the birth of an electrical network allowing but not limited to: instantly connecting individuals with common interests across the globe, Encyclopedias composed and edited by their readers (the common man), video footage of everything under the sun. In a matter of seconds I can watch the recent execution of a dictator, a funny joke, or an instructional video on the proper way to fold a flag. In a time and culture where learning is not about “how” but “what.”
QUESTIONS
How does this affect how we think? How does this affect the way the world interacts? How does this affect the new generation? How will our culture change; how will our values be affected? Can we relate this time to one in the past? Does any of this really make a difference? These are issues I concern myself with. I have for some time considered these things with ambivalence.
PHILOSOPHY
The proposal: humans are ultimately unchanging in their inconsistency. We have always fought and we have always found ways of making peace. We have always sought knowledge and sought ways of bettering our own lives. The thought here is a consistent imbalance of value between self and society. This is a recursive idea. In this idea, one person ultimately can change nothing; any efforts to do so would only be part of the equation. This one time I was scolded by a friend for littering, I responded by saying, “someone will pick it up.” This is the age-old metaphor for purpose. Someone picks up trash because some one else threw it there. These actions need each other. In a world where you can’t solve the great problem, the only thing left to do would be to better one’s own life, yet by doing so that person becomes part of the problem. He/she becomes yet another part of the equation that must be solved. So what are you? The dreamer or the hedonist? This recursive idea once again echoes infinity.
The argument: the corporal human is limited. We only last a short while in varying degree. The former paragraph suggests that success has no varying degree; it suggests that everything fits under good or bad, white or black, progressive or regressive. I like to see the former statement as “looking through Gods eyes.” Seeing all things at once and consequently feeling powerless. Why look through Gods eyes when we have but human hands? By claiming one person cannot change the world he/she denies his/her influence. Obviously this argument could go on for a while. It is just something I’ve been diving into and trying to organize in my mind.
OBSERVATION
When the world was seemingly simpler, a person’s world was all that they could see, touch, and smell. Then knowledge brought discovery. Isolated cultures discovered new cultures and so on. This still occurs. Yet as knowledge and technology brought us farther from our homes now it has brought us back again. The world is smaller today; there are no grandiose voyages into esoteric cultures, at least not like there used to be. Everything has found a way to reconnect.
WHAT ABOUT ME
In dreams, which I am hesitant to declare considering their fleeting temporality (particularly in young age), I fascinate myself with becoming an icon of recognition, reputation, and respect. As a result, it seems, I take a strong interest in learning the means my “fathers” had to attain these qualities. But why Art? Among many things, the obvious being my predisposition toward visual illustration, I am fascinated and drawn to the ambiguous nature of art. I don’t think it would be foolish to say that most people don’t “get art.” Actually I believe it is true and an interesting quality to art (as we presently know it). I mean why should the average individual “get it.” It doesn’t affect them nor does it benefit them in a daily routine. As Oscar Wilde once wrote, “all art is quite useless.” But I do not believe that this is because artists stand on a pedestal of higher understanding that separates them from common people, (or better “non artist people”). I have faith that the concepts or purposes within famed artwork could be easily communicated (with time) to most. One must spend time to investigate and deconstruct art even after having a thorough knowledge of art and history. This would be why I choose art, I could probably reason and explain for a while, but that would take more time and I would rather do something else right now.
Thanks for reading, comments and critiques are welcome. Actually they would be helpful.
~ Joshua Ammon
The spirit of this time seems overall to be that of infinity. You can never know it all. And if you know a lot, you know little; with each new step of wisdom you see there are more steps to make. But this acquiring of knowledge is no more hungered for, as it is scrutinized. The more we learn, the more we question what we have learned. Yet we still press to learn more in the act of doubt. In my short experience I have seen the birth of an electrical network allowing but not limited to: instantly connecting individuals with common interests across the globe, Encyclopedias composed and edited by their readers (the common man), video footage of everything under the sun. In a matter of seconds I can watch the recent execution of a dictator, a funny joke, or an instructional video on the proper way to fold a flag. In a time and culture where learning is not about “how” but “what.”
QUESTIONS
How does this affect how we think? How does this affect the way the world interacts? How does this affect the new generation? How will our culture change; how will our values be affected? Can we relate this time to one in the past? Does any of this really make a difference? These are issues I concern myself with. I have for some time considered these things with ambivalence.
PHILOSOPHY
The proposal: humans are ultimately unchanging in their inconsistency. We have always fought and we have always found ways of making peace. We have always sought knowledge and sought ways of bettering our own lives. The thought here is a consistent imbalance of value between self and society. This is a recursive idea. In this idea, one person ultimately can change nothing; any efforts to do so would only be part of the equation. This one time I was scolded by a friend for littering, I responded by saying, “someone will pick it up.” This is the age-old metaphor for purpose. Someone picks up trash because some one else threw it there. These actions need each other. In a world where you can’t solve the great problem, the only thing left to do would be to better one’s own life, yet by doing so that person becomes part of the problem. He/she becomes yet another part of the equation that must be solved. So what are you? The dreamer or the hedonist? This recursive idea once again echoes infinity.
The argument: the corporal human is limited. We only last a short while in varying degree. The former paragraph suggests that success has no varying degree; it suggests that everything fits under good or bad, white or black, progressive or regressive. I like to see the former statement as “looking through Gods eyes.” Seeing all things at once and consequently feeling powerless. Why look through Gods eyes when we have but human hands? By claiming one person cannot change the world he/she denies his/her influence. Obviously this argument could go on for a while. It is just something I’ve been diving into and trying to organize in my mind.
OBSERVATION
When the world was seemingly simpler, a person’s world was all that they could see, touch, and smell. Then knowledge brought discovery. Isolated cultures discovered new cultures and so on. This still occurs. Yet as knowledge and technology brought us farther from our homes now it has brought us back again. The world is smaller today; there are no grandiose voyages into esoteric cultures, at least not like there used to be. Everything has found a way to reconnect.
WHAT ABOUT ME
In dreams, which I am hesitant to declare considering their fleeting temporality (particularly in young age), I fascinate myself with becoming an icon of recognition, reputation, and respect. As a result, it seems, I take a strong interest in learning the means my “fathers” had to attain these qualities. But why Art? Among many things, the obvious being my predisposition toward visual illustration, I am fascinated and drawn to the ambiguous nature of art. I don’t think it would be foolish to say that most people don’t “get art.” Actually I believe it is true and an interesting quality to art (as we presently know it). I mean why should the average individual “get it.” It doesn’t affect them nor does it benefit them in a daily routine. As Oscar Wilde once wrote, “all art is quite useless.” But I do not believe that this is because artists stand on a pedestal of higher understanding that separates them from common people, (or better “non artist people”). I have faith that the concepts or purposes within famed artwork could be easily communicated (with time) to most. One must spend time to investigate and deconstruct art even after having a thorough knowledge of art and history. This would be why I choose art, I could probably reason and explain for a while, but that would take more time and I would rather do something else right now.
Thanks for reading, comments and critiques are welcome. Actually they would be helpful.
~ Joshua Ammon
Friday, January 5, 2007
Entry 1
Recently i have taken an interest in overcomming self-doubt as i approuch painting or the like. i started a collection of mundain drawings that i do through out the day. i suppose this isn't different except that from now on i have made a note to preserve and date them. In the past i have found myself on the brink of insanity because i couldn't settle on a new idea. i have always been an "all or nothing" kind of person; never kept anything i wasn't fully satisfied with. But NO MORE! i'm not sure why i put myself on such a high pedistal or felt that i was worthy of some artistic recognition. Maybe it was in responce to the common barrage of nosiating questions: "What do you paint? What is your work like? Who's your favorite artist?" My natural inclinantion was to retort with some lofty yet brief manifesto involving a satyrical social commentary of some kind.
Recently i have developed an overwhelming hunger for knowledge, which makes me happy. Presently, i am enroled in a class titled "Art since 1945." The professor is James Yood, a long time chicagoin. He is one of the top, in a relatively small number of Art crtiques in the chicago area. He is a writer for the chicago branch of Artforum. Anyways, it's easy to say he knows his shit. This class is fabulous and better that half the people we review and study he has accually met and seems to know their work intimately. i will keep posted about any interests that come up in the near future. As this is my first post, thank you for reading.
Recently i have developed an overwhelming hunger for knowledge, which makes me happy. Presently, i am enroled in a class titled "Art since 1945." The professor is James Yood, a long time chicagoin. He is one of the top, in a relatively small number of Art crtiques in the chicago area. He is a writer for the chicago branch of Artforum. Anyways, it's easy to say he knows his shit. This class is fabulous and better that half the people we review and study he has accually met and seems to know their work intimately. i will keep posted about any interests that come up in the near future. As this is my first post, thank you for reading.
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