blog #7: art & society- its influences in advertisement & teenage culture

http://www.nicks.com.au/Index.aspx?link_id=76.984
The Excerpt about the Legacy of Fragonard was very interesting to think about. Mostly since this light-hearted, frivolous painting has A LOT to do with the whole party-going, sex-infused beer advertisements of today.
The Rococo painting above "shows us that French upper class in the late 18th century was frivolous & carefree, and had a playful regard for sexuality and relationships."
The patron of Fragonard's work (an unknown "gentle"man) had asked the artist to paint his mistress on a swing with himself in the scene, "in a position where he could look up the woman's skirt." goshhh unknown patron of Fragonard...you are one dirrttyy guy.
knowing this... i take into consideration of always wearing jeans whenever upon a swing. (heehee it sorta rhymes)

& like French Rococo paintings of the late 18th century, beer advertisements, (as well as Ax cologne, Gillete shaving razors, & even hair dye) of today try catching our attention (or guys' at least) w/ what else?... Sex. or at least the idea of sex. (like this Skyy Vodka advertisement which I have seen in Instyle magazine)
but it's not always sex that sells...Homer Simpson speaks veryy true. A lot of ppl turn to beer as a short-term solution to life's problems. Or a way of simply escaping.
(note to ppl who can relate: escapism through movies work- sometimes not always... or just go crazzy w/ a person who acts impulsively withOUT being under the influence)

How else does art (in terms of advertisement) influence teenager culture? Just look at Abercombie and Hollister. You know...the distinctive stores that you can smell their cologne from miles away. Both clothing brands sell like crazyy & it's not even the actual clothing they are selling. As well as many other stores (Express, Victoria's Secret PacSun, American Eagle...) it's the 'ideal LIfestyle' that grabs the attention of consumers. which is essentially how their businesses are in such high demand.
Abercombie & Hollister should be SOO thankful for their uber hot models & talented photographers...for their ads are the ultimate reason teenagers like them. It is as if, when in the store looking down on their clothes, a shirt will say: "Oh you know you want me. If you purchase me, soon you'll be running off, frolicking in fields of wheatgrass playing rugby with toned, shirtless guys. oh & I have an adorable moose logo." (which is essentially mostly what you're paying for!-Abercombie) "You'll get piggy back rides from guys on the beach! & have an oh-so-cute red eagle logo! Come on...buy me. You know you want to. " (Hollister)
but really, when one wears the HCO or Abercombie logo, it speaks: "I'm so unoriginal, a follower of trends & am paying wayy too much for this simple tank." well, it doesn't really...just in my blunt opinion it does
The power of a muscular shirtless guy. Example of how eye-candy can be effective in promoting business. Still doesn't motivate me to buy their products though. -it's SOOO ridicously expensive! HAHa we totally covered the hot girl. =P
People are constantly looking for a way to escape this boring reality of what most of the time is life...& seeing how attractive/'perfect' Alessandro, Adrianna, Marissa, or Gisele look, how desirable they are, & how much fun they are having in photos of V.S. catalouges, girls associate all that sexiness with V.S. products.
We as humans, are vunerable in drinking our problems/reality away, indulging ourselves in food, going party-hoping, or pouring ourselves in fictional lifestyles. (full of impossible drama & always-looking-good characters- whether it's books like Twilight, TV shows like Gossip Girl or the OC, or for some guys...they can satisfy their inner bad-boy rebel with a large dose of thriller-killer action-packed scenes-- shows like 24 or Prison BReak)
(not that I myself do this... i don't drink, go party-hoping, or watch that much TV..& haven't read any Twilight series. But i do drown myself in music, zone out to movies...& always lovve a good desert.)

what makes these clothing brands soo successful? It is the fantasy advertisements! Art plays a HUGE role in selling what they are selling. Consumers of a certain culture, of course, are much more tempted in buying a shirt that's Roxy, Volcom, or Vans (w/ all the notions of surfer/skaterboard cool) than purchasing a shirt that, though may look similar, is a no-name brander. Which is completely understandable, it's a way of associating yourself into a particular group that helps identify who you are & what you're about. So other Vans-loving ppl will see you in your decked out outfit & be like: oooo

Tying in the 18th century Rococo art piece by Fragonard, The Swing...
art, -whether it's in terms of paintings, advertisements, or even music, movies or greeting cards... has an underlying message that grabs our attention by appealing to our desires.
The Swing, though not an advertisment, appeals in a Romantic, frivolous, carefree way. There's the love aspect, the dreaminess of the brushstrokes, the clouds, the trees...it makes me want to visit that veryy place & go on the swing myself. But unlike the girl dressed scantidly in the lucious, pink gown...I'll be wearing either shorts or jeans..thank you very much. :)

blog #6: Flanders & Netherlandish Baroque- & the magic of movies

assignment 6: pgs. 772-792
Throughout these pages of Flanders & Netherlandish Baroque, 2 art pieces (both oil on canvas) have stood out to me the most.
The Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam painted by Emanuel De Witte (pg. 790)
& The Jewish Cemetery painted by Jacob van Ruisdael. (pg. 791)

These both evoke a surrealism to me...with a bit of magic & subtle mystery to it.
Never having traveled outside America or anywhere like these two locations displayed in the paintings...I reference the two to movies!
Portuguese Synaugogue, Amsterdam. Thanks to art, I can sorta identify some architectural terms. The columns are in ionic order. It is evident by the sheep-horn-like top. & the circle window is called an oculus. I Lovve the arched windows & chandeliers. They make the synagogue more comforting.
"De Witte's shift of the viewpoint slightly to one side has created an interesting spatial composition, and strong contrasts of light & shade add dramatic movement to the simple interior. The caped figure in the foreground and the dogs provide a sense of scale for the architecture and add human interest."

When I saw this painting, many things have came to my mind. Though the painting is of a synagogue, the architecture of the location reminded me of train stations. & not just any train station... but grand old fashioned ones. :) The girl draped in the sky blue cape reminds me of any young girl in the olden days in London.
Ex: The Secret Garden. (movie i saw when i was young...based on a children's book)
I remember the very reserved & solemn character Mary had been wearing a formal coat in a similar fashion with a beigeish colored hat.
a lil bit of Anne of Green Gables came to mind too. except her train station was outdoors. But she did have on a straw hat & dressed in a countryish- doll-like vintage dress.

& of course, couldn't help but think of Harry Potter. :) Yes Harry Potter is just full of art references!
The whole magical scenes where Harry & Ron's family would visit the train station and run through a brick wall to enter the station w/ 3/4ths or something.
wow...all 3 are movies I saw based on books that I have never read.

But the verry 1st thing I thought of when I saw the painting was...a breathtaking photo that I have seen in one of my architecture books. I love the idea of light shinning through skyscraper high windows! When I 1st saw this photograph, I couldn't help but gasp. I was in complete awe of it's beauty. I just stared at it for a while & imagined what it would be like to be there...standing under the light beaming down.
In my very old apartment (SOO tinny-lived there in middle school & b4) I used to have a screen door along with the actual enter door. during the summertime, the house door would always be open & we'd use the screen door to let in fresh air & sunlight. the sun would shine through the open space & I would just lay on the carpet under the angled rectangle of sunlight. It was the 'warm spot'.
Thanks to Emanual De Witte's painting & the connection to the photograph, I actually started researching the building. New York's Grand Central Station!
famous iconic photo. Can't say I'm a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, haven't really seen her films. but she has some pretty damn good quotes. One of my uber favorites: couldn't have said it better. So very true
i Lovve the photograph. Want one like it someday. :)

famous four-faceted clock! Luckily, I have been to New York before. It was amazing! (except for the fact that I was with my relatives who treated my sisters and me like little kids w/ no choice or say in any matter) Driving by Times Square at night- I was like a kid at a candy shop, wide eyed, twinkling eyes, subtly smiling & in a surreal awe. but i have yet been to the Grand Central Station. i will...someday. maybe w/ my sisters again. It'll be a nostalgic trip in a sense. & we'll take turns taking pictures like Marilyn Monroe's! :)

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID031.htm

The Jewish Cemetery, Jacob van Ruisdael
"His (Ruisdael) Jewish Cemetery is a thought-provoking view of silent tombs, crumbling ruins, and stormy landscape, with a rainbow set against dark, scudding clouds. Ruisdael was greatly concerned with spritual meanings of landscape, which he expressed in his choice of such such environmental factors as time of day, weather, the appearance of the sky, or the abstract patterning of the sun and shade....The meloncholy mood is mitigated by the rainbow, a traditional symbol of renewal and hope."
When I saw this painting, with its erie, gloomy spookiness, it reminded of movie landscapes. Yup...Harry Potter is one of them. =P Of course.
Not exactly Hogwart's castle, but some haunted mansion up in the mountains in the more later, darker movie series.
But also Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The Adam's Family...horror movies in general. The Others.
possibly Frankenstein, Lord of the Rings maybe? & I'm sure a lot more. Let me know if u can think of any.
It's amazing what movie/theatre set designers can create. We often overlook their talent, but just that short second or minute or so of seeing the various locations really do give a sense of place to the scene. andd also it's pretty much our exposure to the world!
Not everyone can or do travel much. some places only exist in our imagination
With movies... it's a window to the many possibilities of both reality & the what ifs.

blog #5: ch. 22 Baroque Art & fairytales

Aurora by Guido Reni

Ceiling of the Garden House, Palazzo Rospigliosi-Palavacini, Rome 1613-14, Fresco

"The composition itself, however, is Baroque classicism at its most lyrical. Framed by self-emanating golden light, Apollo, escorted by Cupid and the Season, drives the sun chariot. Ahead, the flying figure of Aurora, goddes of the dawn, leads Apollo's horses at a sharp diagonal over a dramatic Venetian sky. ..... But the graceful figures, the harmonious rhythms of gesture and drapery, and the intense color are Reni's own, demonstrating his close study of models and his skillful combination of the real and ideal." pg. 761
My blog doesn't show the goddess Aurora (who is on the upper right hand side), but if you click on the picture, it will enlarge and reveal her.
When I first saw this painting, I thought the colors were so dreamy! The way the sunglow bursts out from the clouds, adding to a warm halo backdrop. To me, it evokes a sense of surreal magic and ethereal airyness. The movement, of the characters themselves and the flow of their clothing (with the evident gushes of wind) is both grounded yet elegant and light. -which I think the art of dance gets across- like Ballet..so glad I'm taking beg. ballet this semester :)

Reading the passage, although the chariot is not clearly visible, it reminded me of the song: Chariot by Gavin Degraw

& if you've never heard the song, or just want to hear it again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoweszD2BkE
Hearing the song after it came out, I thought: Why a chariot? But it's probably metaphorical...the chariot could represent a girl possibly?? Or it could go back to Plato's way of thinking. The whole rational & emotional brain. Control. How emotions can be like horses, implulsive and wild, while rationality/reason is the driver..the one in charge of the reins.

Also after pondering on this painting a little, it made me think wayyy back to my childhood... where fairies, fairytales and all that make-believe have roamed through my mind as they did to most little girls growing up reading children books and having the magical-happily-ever-after kingdom, stereotypical girl stories SOOO reinforced in my mind. (I think I shall change that with my future daughter...haha)

Growing up, being an older sister with an overactive imagination, & sharing a room with my younger sister who used to always ask me to tell her a bedtime story, I used to make up my own stories... usually tying in a fairy, a princess, or sometimes even an alien (not the lil green figures, but normal humans who actually were born from a different planet)

I know! I might have watched a little bit too much TV or movies as a child.

I guess I got carried away, for I was a bit like Wendy in Peter Pan going on about Neverland.

This place, that my older sister and I have made up, was called Fairyland.

& you could only visit this other world...at night. You'd be sleeping & these fairies would come and knock on your window. One fairy would then take out her/his hand & escort you onto the Chariot! you could ride in the back if you wish, or even upon the Unicorns & take lead. I would always want to ride upon an unicorn.

& we would drift off into the clouds into some magical land far off into the sky

yeahh...i had quite the imagination as a little girl... not soo much anymore

I can see various influences to where I might have gotten the whole "Fairyland" from...

Peter Pan, Twelve Dancing Princesses (children's storybook w/ gorgeous, decadent illustrations..depending on the version) didn't know about it back then..but another reference to Harry Potter (the whole flying aspect & a person knocking on your window) & probably any animated film that included fairies or unicorns

(the alien part of influences...E.T., Sailor Moon, & possibly this one Disney channel movie where the step sister is an alien...something about bubbles & a hair dryer)
With all my entries about Disney princess, fairies, & unicorns, one must think I'm this dreamy, naive girl, with my head always up in lala land. But I'm nott! =P

Although I'll admit I can be quite the sunshine, optimistic girl.... I take the world for what it is, & not how I wish it to be. (well maybe sometimes...rarely. I'll defend my optimistic view on life) i just happen to relate these myth-like themes to art history often.

I think I get enough reality checks every now & then. (often times, MORE than enough)

hope this entry was somewhat nostalgic...& made you, with your inner kindered spirit revealed, reflect upon your own childhood & imaginative scenarios :)

xox Diana Nguyen