Thursday, 6 May 2010
Introduction
This Blog is split into 5 sections, this introduction being the first. The other 4 are a section of my reflections from the course, the gallery of modern art, which is the art section, Blood Brothers, which is theatre, and finally, Mahler, which is the section on music. The words or web addresses that are in green are hyperlinks and a new page will open up. I hope you enjoy reading it, I have certainly learnt a lot from this course.
The Arts in Our Lives
The Arts are all around us in the modern world. We are constantly listening to music, seeing visual images in TV and in advertising, however, before this class, I had not considered what a powerful communicator art and visual expression could be. Now, I look at a poster and I think what message this is trying to convey. Through one of our very informative art lessons, we were given information on the ways in which an artist can convey what they're trying to say. The objects, colour, lines, shapes and materials are methods of communication. The objects depicted can be quite an obvious one. However, sometimes the message the objects convey can be more subtle. In fact, Kester (2004, pg 13) goes as far as to say about avant garde work that it has an 'inscrutability and resistance to interpretation' rather than being about clichés.
The message that is conveyed is often challenging something in society, the commonly held views and social conventions. Kester (2004) gives an example of how some artists communicate things that challenge the social norms. He told of an artist who didn't use tangible materials but rather sociopolitical relations. The materials too can show what the artist is trying to communicate. The artist pulled together people of different political views and standings and asked them to take part in a discussion on a boat in a lake in Switzerland. He asked them to discuss the problem of drug addicted prostitutes in Switzerland. He found that as they challenged each other's views, their own views changed.
I have discovered that more conventional art can do this too. We studied a piece in our art lessons by Joan Eardley. The subject was a young boy called Andrew Samson. He wore scruffy clothes which were too big for him and was very slim. He was a Glaswegian boy from a family of 12 and living in a cramped 2 bedroom apartment. The artist wanted to capture the poverty and the hardship this boy had seen. She wanted to capture him just as he was and let the picture speak for itself. She contradicted social views of these boys being always in trouble and causing mischief. In the picture, the boy had a slightly haunted look to his eyes. He was not the carefree, trouble-making youngster that people sometimes assumed him to be. She used colour and tone to emphasise the boy. She gave him dark shadows and hollowed out cheeks. Even the settings she painted him in were dark.
A big change this piece and genre of art has made to my thinking is that art is doesn’t have to about capturing beauty or even self-expression. Kester calls it a ‘communicative exchange(2004, pg 106).’ I expected to see works of great beauty in the art gallery; instead I saw a series of messages with each one speaking into a contemporary issue. I have learnt to look in modern art for what the artist might be trying to say to me, instead of looking only for beauty.
References
Kester. G (2004), Conversation Pieces, London, University of California Press
http://www.heraldscotland.com/hidden-fires-1.835540
The message that is conveyed is often challenging something in society, the commonly held views and social conventions. Kester (2004) gives an example of how some artists communicate things that challenge the social norms. He told of an artist who didn't use tangible materials but rather sociopolitical relations. The materials too can show what the artist is trying to communicate. The artist pulled together people of different political views and standings and asked them to take part in a discussion on a boat in a lake in Switzerland. He asked them to discuss the problem of drug addicted prostitutes in Switzerland. He found that as they challenged each other's views, their own views changed.
I have discovered that more conventional art can do this too. We studied a piece in our art lessons by Joan Eardley. The subject was a young boy called Andrew Samson. He wore scruffy clothes which were too big for him and was very slim. He was a Glaswegian boy from a family of 12 and living in a cramped 2 bedroom apartment. The artist wanted to capture the poverty and the hardship this boy had seen. She wanted to capture him just as he was and let the picture speak for itself. She contradicted social views of these boys being always in trouble and causing mischief. In the picture, the boy had a slightly haunted look to his eyes. He was not the carefree, trouble-making youngster that people sometimes assumed him to be. She used colour and tone to emphasise the boy. She gave him dark shadows and hollowed out cheeks. Even the settings she painted him in were dark.
A big change this piece and genre of art has made to my thinking is that art is doesn’t have to about capturing beauty or even self-expression. Kester calls it a ‘communicative exchange(2004, pg 106).’ I expected to see works of great beauty in the art gallery; instead I saw a series of messages with each one speaking into a contemporary issue. I have learnt to look in modern art for what the artist might be trying to say to me, instead of looking only for beauty.
References
Kester. G (2004), Conversation Pieces, London, University of California Press
http://www.heraldscotland.com/hidden-fires-1.835540
Blood Brothers
This play was written by Willy Russell and first shown in 1983.The blood brothers are a pair of twins that are separated at birth because their mother can't afford to look after both. They meet several times by accident over the acts and become blood brothers at a young age because they share the same birthday. As they grow up, they grow apart in class and social standing but also in love with the same women.
From the start, the play was highly emotionally charged. It raises the issues of class standing as Mrs Johnstone struggles to feed her family while Mrs Lyons lives very comfortably. Mrs Johnstone is a key character and she was written in so well. She is easy to identify with and experiences real grief, and inner struggle. She sings and acts with such heart that you cry with her, laugh with and struggle with her. Music is a fundamental part of the play as it is a musical. The music outlines the scripts and adds depth to the words and the emotions. An orchestra sat in the pit below but there was also at one point a saxophonist in the wings above and his music floated out over the audience.
The contrast between the wealthy and the poor is well brought in. Mrs Lyon's house is full of light and imagination in comparison to Mrs Johnstone's which is darker and noisy and crowded. However, this contrast leads to the audience examining and reflecting on the debate between nature and nurture. Edward was brought up in a wealthy home enjoying huge priveledges and good education which Mickey had none of. Mickey lost his job and became desperate which eventually lead to robbery and jail. Mickey lived through hardship and struggle. However, the debate that rages in the audiences head is how much of this is down to his social circumstances and how much of it could he have overcome because of his nature. It is a contemporary debate that we still face in our society. Why is it that the crime rate is higher in poor areas? Why is it that a person from a more deprived area will have a lower life expectancy? Is it nature or nurture or a mixture? The theatre is supposed to do this; to make the audience think and question. Hodgson describes it 'investigation' (Hodgson, 1972). Hodgson would describe this play as a tragedy because it is describing actions and themes, based around happiness and unhappiness, that are really worth exploring.
A tragedy is helped by song and by 'language possessing rhythm' (Hodgson, 1972). Both of these characteristics are displayed in the play. The narration particularly uses rhyme and rhythm as can be heard in the trailer for the play above. It gives it a sense of melancholy and gloom, but also of procedure, like life just drones on for these people in unchanging continuity. Hodgson says that today's writers often make their characters sound like rhetoricians. They provoke thought without giving real answer. The narrator at the end of Blood Brothers questions class for example, raising thoughts within the audiences mind.
The end of play evoked real emotions of grief and a sense of the tragedy that had taken place. As Mikey came on to confront his blood brother about the affair he had, a sense of foreboding stole over me because of the music, the lighting and obviously, the gun. However, when the shot fired from behind me and both brothers fell, I really jumped out of my skin and had been totally unprepared for, totally engrossed as the brothers came to the realisation that they were twins. I was beginning to hope for a happy ending. It seemed like they were cut off before they really understood, before we knew how they were going to feel; it was a tragedy indeed. The narration was superb after that. It melancholy and allowed me to continue feeling the numbness which I did feel. When the last song rose up in grief and yet strangely with a sound of hope and determination to continue, that was when I began to unfreeze and I cried with the mother for the loss of two young lives. How relevant this play is to our society and to the problems that are so prevalent in Glasgow. As Aristotle said 'dealing as it does, both with the universal and the particular, drama can deepen and broaden our understanding of the truth even more so than actual events,' (Hodgson, 1972)
References
Hodgson J (1972), The Uses of Drama, London, Eyre Methuen Ltd]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Brothers_(musical)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFIxT7-pgno&feature=related
From the start, the play was highly emotionally charged. It raises the issues of class standing as Mrs Johnstone struggles to feed her family while Mrs Lyons lives very comfortably. Mrs Johnstone is a key character and she was written in so well. She is easy to identify with and experiences real grief, and inner struggle. She sings and acts with such heart that you cry with her, laugh with and struggle with her. Music is a fundamental part of the play as it is a musical. The music outlines the scripts and adds depth to the words and the emotions. An orchestra sat in the pit below but there was also at one point a saxophonist in the wings above and his music floated out over the audience.
The contrast between the wealthy and the poor is well brought in. Mrs Lyon's house is full of light and imagination in comparison to Mrs Johnstone's which is darker and noisy and crowded. However, this contrast leads to the audience examining and reflecting on the debate between nature and nurture. Edward was brought up in a wealthy home enjoying huge priveledges and good education which Mickey had none of. Mickey lost his job and became desperate which eventually lead to robbery and jail. Mickey lived through hardship and struggle. However, the debate that rages in the audiences head is how much of this is down to his social circumstances and how much of it could he have overcome because of his nature. It is a contemporary debate that we still face in our society. Why is it that the crime rate is higher in poor areas? Why is it that a person from a more deprived area will have a lower life expectancy? Is it nature or nurture or a mixture? The theatre is supposed to do this; to make the audience think and question. Hodgson describes it 'investigation' (Hodgson, 1972). Hodgson would describe this play as a tragedy because it is describing actions and themes, based around happiness and unhappiness, that are really worth exploring.
A tragedy is helped by song and by 'language possessing rhythm' (Hodgson, 1972). Both of these characteristics are displayed in the play. The narration particularly uses rhyme and rhythm as can be heard in the trailer for the play above. It gives it a sense of melancholy and gloom, but also of procedure, like life just drones on for these people in unchanging continuity. Hodgson says that today's writers often make their characters sound like rhetoricians. They provoke thought without giving real answer. The narrator at the end of Blood Brothers questions class for example, raising thoughts within the audiences mind.
The end of play evoked real emotions of grief and a sense of the tragedy that had taken place. As Mikey came on to confront his blood brother about the affair he had, a sense of foreboding stole over me because of the music, the lighting and obviously, the gun. However, when the shot fired from behind me and both brothers fell, I really jumped out of my skin and had been totally unprepared for, totally engrossed as the brothers came to the realisation that they were twins. I was beginning to hope for a happy ending. It seemed like they were cut off before they really understood, before we knew how they were going to feel; it was a tragedy indeed. The narration was superb after that. It melancholy and allowed me to continue feeling the numbness which I did feel. When the last song rose up in grief and yet strangely with a sound of hope and determination to continue, that was when I began to unfreeze and I cried with the mother for the loss of two young lives. How relevant this play is to our society and to the problems that are so prevalent in Glasgow. As Aristotle said 'dealing as it does, both with the universal and the particular, drama can deepen and broaden our understanding of the truth even more so than actual events,' (Hodgson, 1972)
References
Hodgson J (1972), The Uses of Drama, London, Eyre Methuen Ltd]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Brothers_(musical)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFIxT7-pgno&feature=related
Monday, 3 May 2010
Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art
Inside were 3 open galleries with a fourth being refurbished. Gallery 4 was called 'Unsettled Objects' and had a theme of constraints. It contained several very interesting pieces of work, my favourite of which is called 'the shadow of the object fell upon the ego,.' which Beth Forde was commissioned to do in 2007 for the bicentenary commemoration of the abolition of slavery. This title is a quote from Sigmund Freud as he spoke about Schizophrenia. The ego, or one's self, was merged with another object. The exhibition was placed just outside the main gallery and if one stopped to look at it and understand it then it made an excellent introduction to the rest of the gallery. However, I noticed that many people didn't stop to look at it because it is so seemingly unimportant, but merely moved past it into the main gallery.
The first half of the exhibit was a glass object on the wall. At first glance, I didn't realise it was actually part of a work of art. I thought there was supposed to be a picture hanging on it. However, I quickly realised my mistake. I wondered what it could be, it seemed fragile and the lines of it were gentle. As it was translucent, the light came through it, giving it a kind of ethereal beauty.
However, once I looked over to the picture next to it, I realised what it was and it made sense. It was to represent slavery. It suddenly became an ugly restraint- 'the iron mask, enclosing a human face and rendering it unrecognisable constricting individuality.' (Quote) An object has passed over the ego and masked individuality. Slavery became an object which cast a shadow over the ego, or the identity, and the mask is a powerful symbol which showed that. A slave with no individuality became your new identity. It was very interesting that the artist put herself into the picture. She was not only exploring the slavery issues but also her own issues of identity. It is so difficult to find out who you really are. Often people are constrained by social identities and norms rather than the person that you feel you are. The use of the black background against her white skin is startling and effective. Black can be used to represent darkness and evil but also Africa, which is fitting as it was commissioned for 'Voices of Africa' at St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. She might also be trying to say how the horrors of slavery should still haunt the west.
The simplicity of the picture masks the complexity of the issue. This time of art might be described as 'avant garde. It is trying to communicate a message and also challenge the viewers beliefs about something. It requires that the viewer think deeply to 'overcome his or her reliance on habitual forms of perception(Kester, 2004).' When I looked closely at the beauty of the first piece of art, I never expected what it would be connected to. The mask represented identity, which we look to as a good think, but it quickly became ugly and enslaving when put in connection with the painting. Art can be used in this way to challenge and communicate new messages. The art, is learning to listen and to interpret its message.
References
Kester, G (2004), Conversation Pieces, London, University of Los Angeles Press
http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/assets/fileStore/Preview-January-March-2008.pdf
http://www.gerald-pinedo.com/Gerald-Pinedo.2+M52087573ab0.0.html
References
Kester, G (2004), Conversation Pieces, London, University of Los Angeles Press
http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/assets/fileStore/Preview-January-March-2008.pdf
http://www.gerald-pinedo.com/Gerald-Pinedo.2+M52087573ab0.0.html
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