Grand Theft Auto

Grand theft auto radio stations



Probably one of the most ingenious masterpieces of brilliance I am thankful for to have in my lifetime. A combination of comedy, cynical views on modern life, parodies of advertisements all blended together with  awesome music. It helps define the games and their creators, a true work of art.








These logo in Particular are from 'GTA Lost and damned'.

There is something for everybody in this game, once you get past the psychotic killing frenzies. Over the years and various titles. They have acquired a huge list of stars who have voice acted for the games or appeared as themselves, dare I reference Wikipedia?
Rockstar continue to produce new exciting concepts into games keeping in full of heart and soul. players submerged into the story developing relationships with certain characters. Take my dad for example, i started him on a slightly slower pace game called LAnoire (also made by rockstar). Where you play as a detective who serve in the second world war. set in the late 1940's or early 50's it manages to capture the essence of the time. Since then hes been hooked on rockstar produced games for their mature witty representation of modern life with a twist of great cinematography.

Spiritual America and Richard Prince

Spiritual America and Richard Prince

Gary Grossman took a photograph of Brook Shields when she was ten.

In her study of the work of Richard Prince, Brooks (2003) discusses the re photographing of Gary Grossman’s photo of Brook Shields. “The ten year old Shields is naked, standing  provocatively in a luxurious bath tub, her outstretched arms resting on its sides. Her body is oiled, like that of a porn star and her face is made up to look like that of a young woman. Swirling steam rises up to her knees while semi-abstract Moore-like sculptural figures decorate the foreground and background . the angle of the photograph is an upward shot, which pornographically transforms the child into a woman-as-goddess-as-slut.” (Brooks et al, 2003, p53). This is an image from google that has had the colour edidted probably to make it more savoury.

Brooks (2003) explains that when Prince decided to re photograph and exhibit the photo,” timing was everything”. Despite Brooks mother originally giving Grossman permission to take the photo, she was now attempting to stop  its publication. Prince had read the story in the New York newspapers, and  quietly established a “gallery” entitled Spiritual America on the Lower East Side, placed the re-photographed picture in a gold frame, and opened the exhibition to the public by appointment only.  

 I find this difficult to understand as a piece of ar.> To me the border line with child pornography has been crossed.  Whatever arguments Prince uses to justify this photo somehow representing all that is wrong with America in terms if consumerism, vulnerability, etc , somehow  I can’t get away from the fact that this is just exploitation of a child. 

Reference List

Brooks,R.,  Rian, J., Sante,L  (2003) Richard Prince London: Phaidon Press LImited

What is Art?

What is Art?

“A urinal displaced and called art, this Readymade has caused much controversy ever since the fateful day in 1917 when it was refused entry to an art show priding itself as being open to all. Rotated and signed with the pseudonym "R. Mutt 1917" on its upper side, Fountain isn't merely one of Duchamp's Readymades. It has become a recognizable icon in the history of modern art.” (Fountain, 2004)

I thoroughly enjoy this whole fiasco! Even the name of the artist – “R or Richard, Mutt “ is humorous. We will never know why Marcel Duchamp chose this name as he was renowned for leg  pulling . His explanations  do not hold water – e.g. he claimed that “Mutt” was from the company that made the urinals –J.L. Mott  i.e.  a high class urinal -  although in reality the urinal was a low class type actually used in prisons

Personally, I can understand the visitors who were hostile to Duchamp’s idea of exhibiting a “readymade” as a piece of art but I also think that this has inspired other artists to use “readymades” to recycle everyday objects and turn them into art. On the one hand Marcel Duchamp did not use any labour to make the urinal into a piece of art but on the other hand by simply signing it, he was poking fun a the whole concept of art and asking people to question what they understood art to be.  This changes the way that you look at art and I am always trying to find everyday objects and think how I can turn them into art.  

Reference List

Fountain available at  http://www.toutfait.com/unmaking_the_museum/fountain.html  (Accessed 23 April 2012)

Identity

Identity

How important is an artist’s identity when viewing their work?  Why do we need to know who the artist is? 

Banksy is a street artist who uses stencils as his main/only medium.  His work has become very well known and almost iconic as a banksy style. His work sells for thousands of pounds and people have even tried to steal the walls or segments of walls where his work is displayed. Is it just the mystique of his unknown identity making his work so well known and revered or is it that his work is seen to be political and making a statement in a clever witty way?  

At the other end of the spectrum is Tracy Emin with her art work entitled  “My Bed” . Denotations from this include fag ends, dirt, used condoms etc but had Tracey Emin not sold this as art and called this  art, and labelled this as her bed and her art, then this work would literally be an unpleasant ,messy bed such as which can be found in many homes across the land.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman and her film stills

“Untitled film stills, together with many of Sherman’s subsequent series of the eighties, became seminal works of post-modernism. Throughout the eighties, Sherman extended the parameters of photographic art. She was commissioned in 1983 and 1984 and again in 1993 and 1994, by increasingly self-ironizing fashion industry, to make photographs which inevitably challenged notions of glamour and female sexuality” –  (Lowry, 2000, p.6)

When I look at Cindy Sherman’s film still work as a collection, I can’t help but get sense she’s completely overwhelmed by vanity. Where are these challenges to female glamour? I see these more as mimicking movie stills and serves no other purpose but to flatter the film industry and glamourize her self-image. It’s as if she’s trying to say, I am an intellectual, I am a housewife, I am a business woman, I am a librarian, I am a dancer, I am a city slicker, I am refined, I am fashionable, I am sophisticated, I am the girlfriend, I am the maid, I am the traveller, I am the loner, I am the popular, I am the hitchhiker, I am the everyday woman, I am an individual, I am sexy. I feel the film stills would have more meaning if they were everyday people made into the characters and film stars. It would show more of a connection between the movies and everybody’s lives.

“Cindy Sherman’s stills seems to anticipate the associations which her images trigger in the beholder. In some way she manages to gain control of an anonymous publics imaginary world.” – (Garrel et al, 1997, p10) 

   

“Cindy Sherman, trained as a photographer and painter, has never dwelt unduly on the content of the ‘untitled film stills’. Generally speaking, she does not profess to any artistic theories. She once said that she enjoyed dressing up as a child and continued to do so as an adult. She also discovered that dressing up helped to combat her depressions.” –  (Garrel et al, 1997, pp 11-12)

So if these are her thoughts. I can’t understand this obsession with making things into something they are not. Works of art should stand alone, dazzling and amazing. From 1986 and onwards I really enjoy her work.

Reference List

Lowry, J. (2000) The Hasselblad Award 1999 Cindy Sherman. Sweden: Hasselblad Center

Garrel, B.V., Lueken, V., Foster, H. and  Schjeldahl, P. (1997) Cindy Sherman. Holland: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Semiotics

Semiotics

The definition (The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1991, p1101) “semiotic /,si:mi’ɒtiks, ,sem-/ n. (also semeiotics)  1. The study of signs and symbols in various fields, esp. language.  2. Med. Symptomatology. ▫▫semiotic adj. semiotical adj. semiotically adv. Semiotician /-‘tiʃ(ə)n/ n. [Gk sëmeiötikos of signs (as semiology)]” 

 

 

People in European cultures who see this image of a ‘dove’ are most likely to have these thoughts.

Denotations.

·         Dove

·         Bird

·         Flight

Connotations.

·         Peace

·         Harmony

·         Hope

Reference List

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (1991). 8^th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Requiem for a dream

Requiem for a dream

I would like to apply my understanding of discourse to a film called “requiem for a dream”.

If you haven’t seen the film this will be a spoiler post. I would recommend watching it before reading this and seeing if you noticed or think the same as I. in short it’s a film based around the life of “harry” the main character, his girlfriend, his friend and mother whose uphill struggle with their own issues and addictions ultimately come to a gruesome end. It doesn’t glamourize the use of drugs in any way but shows bluntly the effects of addiction. It is no just drugs also, the film is ripe with sin and any other kind of addiction, adrenaline, sex, drugs, vanity, food, longing, love, money, excitement, fame, gambling. As seen in this mash-up of extracts from the film. I could not share the video so you’ll have to follow the link to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=V8Cm9iY3OtM

 Although the film is very artistic and stylised in my opinion it still show yet the most realistic representation of how drugs are good for about a week and then you just take them to feel normal. On the actual effects of them scenes are kept short with lots of editing the show the time lost to being high. In this clip the denoted content of the room is drab and run down with nothing but a record player, coffee table, cushions, dim lights and of course the necessary drug paraphernalia. However the connotations of the dancing and music for me show signs of complete bliss without a care in the world.

 Throughout the film they’re subtle references to all kinds of addiction as the two main characters plot to begin dealing drugs ensuring a constant flow, a police officer arrives to have coffee (caffeine) and donuts (gluttony), the man serving them smoking a cigarette (Nicotine)

1 hour 20 minutes and 45 seconds into the film Harry’s mother is in hospital after the psychological effects of her “diet pills” have taken their toll. She is being force fed by 2 male care nurses.

…”I want to just play blackjack all night long, so I make up this routine: I say “you guys go ahead I don’t feel so good, go and have a good time dancing.” Sure enough, they leave the room. And then, as soon as they leave I go running back down the casino an I sit at my blackjack table all night..” he continues to talk about his addiction in an anecdote manner as his voice becomes muffled as they force feed the confused wreck this is Harry’s mother. The fact that he openly admitted to lying to people close to him so he could feed his addiction is yet another subtle hint towards how we view our habits, and how most people if not everyone has some kind of addiction one way or another.

Stik's and Stones

Stik's and Stones

http://www.stik.org.uk/

As a small time graffiti artist myself, I like to think I can express an opinion on what it is to be one as well as expressing an opinion on others work which is labelled as such. I see graffiti as a free form of art, constantly changing and evolving, and over the years I think it has. I am studying at University at the moment and my work is constantly changing, I hope improving as well. In 2009 and 2010 I attended an urban paint festival called “UPFEST” in Bristol where I was one of the 150 Artists putting up work throughout the course of a day for viewing members of the public. I remember seeing one of Stik’s pieces in a prime position on stage in the bar/gallery area of the venue. In my opinion it looked  the same as most of his other pieces with nothing to make it particularly stand out.

Stik Upfest 2009

Stik Upfest 2010

Imitate Modern Art Contemporary Art Gallery (2012) Available at http://imitatemodern.com/artists/stik/     (Accessed: 24 April 2012)

IF YOU HIGHLIGHT THIS YOU CAN READ IT.

A critique of Styk’s work can be found online at the Imitate Modern Art Gallery “Deceptively simple, with just six lines each and dots for eyes, they are packed with subtle form and emotions, showing an extraordinary ability to reflect human psychology and diversity.” (Imitate Modern, 2012). I cannot see the validity in this remark. His work leaves me uninspired and slightly misplaced in society. Maybe it is out of jealousy that I dislike his work but it gets a lot of credit for something I am blind to see, and this frustrates me. His work reminds me more of a franchise logo that’s been repeated so many times it has accumulated some value but I question for how long will it retain this value. In 50 years will he be seen as a pioneer of street art?  will his work fade into the layers of fresh paint?

 I met an artist at Upfest called “Pahnl” http://pahnl.co.uk/on_street.php, who uses a similar stick man style figure’s but in my view in far more ingenious witty ways, every new piece he does has new ambitions and ideas. Yet he is not interviewed on sky news and given the publicity Stik has had.

Reference list.

Imitate Modern Art Contemporary Art Gallery (2012) Available at http://imitatemodern.com/artists/stik/     (Accessed: 24 April 2012)

Post-modern Graffiti

Post-modern Graffiti

So… When and where did graffiti start?

“Graffiti has been around since men could draw on walls. Caves from 30,000 years ago often exhibit over endowed men and Beautiful (by the standards of the time) women. It could be argued that these were some of the first tags” ( Wiki Answers 2012)

It could be argued that they were pornographic as well. Every school boy likes to think he invented drawing a crude penis on inanimate objects; it almost comes instinctively to most.

“Modern graffiti art as we know it now originated on the streets of New York City. Artists strove to create better pieces, refining their techniques and use of spray paint to turn what was once a marker of territory into a true art form. Graffiti art has been recognized in the fine art world since the first graffiti-centered gallery opened in Rome in 1979” ( Wiki Answers 2012)

Rome itself once stood a mighty empire, a picture of prosperity and opportunity. However archaeological discoveries paint a different picture, pun intended.

I used to love this show called Rome, in particular the introduction credits seen here… I think it shows an accurate yet enchanting depiction of roman life through its streets public art. There is even a guy with a huge wang.

So, Graffiti did not begin at one specific time, just recently it has become attached to a sub-culture of tagging, hip hop, break dancing, etc. this is where graffiti becomes  something more in modern society. To some it is defacing public property and vandalism, costing time and money to remove. To others it’s a way of life, interesting designs and epic murals purely for the public’s amusement. I lean towards the latter.

Reference List

‘Where and when did graffiti start’ (2012) Wiki Answers. Available at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_and_when_did_graffiti_start  (Accessed: 24 April 2012)

Semiotics Of Tartan.

Semiotics of Tartan.

I was once told during drunken conversation with a Scotsman in my local pub one evening that the clan I am descended from (the Campbell’s) have to wear a white strip (to negative effect) in their clan tartan because of historical events sometime in the 18^th century. I’m not sure how much of that was true but it intrigued me because in my ignorance I thought a tartan was constructed from the materials at hand in the region. The colour and pattern of tartan in various Scottish clans is defined by where they are from and the surrounding areas.

Recently I attended a wedding where I met a Scotsman in his traditional Scottish dress (there’s always one). During another drunken conversation he educated me about his tartan, the different colours represented the region his clan hailed from. The blue backdrop represented the sea, strips of white mimicking the swash coming off the waves, yellow for the sand of the beach, green of the heather hills and a deep black of the slate rock in the region. This is a rough idea of what it actually looked like...

Campbell Tartan

The colours in this tartan I think simply represent the heather and the thistles that would have inhabited the clan territories.

Matthew A.C. Newsome (2008) looks at the connection between clan tartans and regimental tartans and argues that it was only when Scottish regiments started to emerge in about 1745 that tartans were adopted as a uniform and different regiments had different tartans. He argues that many families that were in the same regiment now wear a similar tartan. ‘ the  Campbells, Grants and Munros all wear the tartan of the Black Watch’.  (Newsome, 2008).

Tartans seemed, therefore, to originate organically using colours that could be obtained through natural dyes from the environment around them i.e. plants and animals –  yellows from heather and purples from sea shore whelks. Clans were more easily identified by the plants that they wore in their caps than the colour of their tartan  (Scotshistoryonline, 2012)

In conclusion I think I prefer the romanticized patriotic version which comes out after a few beers.

Reference List

Newsome, A.C.  ‘The Military Origin of Clan Tartans’ The Scottish Banner July 2008 p.9 (North American Edition),

The History of Scottish Tartans and Clan Tartans (2012) available at http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/tartan-history.html   (Accessed 23 April 2012)