The art of Graffiti / Graffiti: spray cans, stencils and skateboards / The writing on the wall

The art of Graffiti / Graffiti: spray cans, stencils and skateboards / The writing on the wall Graffiti: the ultimate art crime to some, and a means of expression to others. To the graffiti artists themselves, they are revolutionaries reacting against a repressive political order or Western ideas of capitalism and private property. Some are against the restrictive nature of the art world or gallery system where art is only that which is determined by the curator. Many are simply misunderstood and want a chance to showcase their artwork where it will be seen by all. Graffiti is a very general word and can be used to describe a number of different types and styles of the art form. Graffiti artists all have 'tags' which are the artists own scrawled names or nicknames used mainly to indicate their presence in the area. A tag has little to no aesthetic appeal; it is undecipherable like the signature on a cheque or a doctor's prescription. Speed is of the essence, the style is built on that. Then there are the more intricate pieces that get done. These require a lot more time, effort and skill. The graffiti artists who do these works are usually part of a 'crew.' A crew is a group of graffiti artists who share either the same style or live in the same area. Tyno69, who heads a local crew, 'DB Crew' explained the differences between those who just tag and those who do pieces.

  • Word count: 786
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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What is Ceramics? Pottery is made by shaping clay into specific objects and introducing them into a kiln which would bring them into a process of extreme heat in order to give the clay a better aspect such as being harder, and an enhanced shape.

What is pottery? It is one of the oldest forms of ceramics used in the world today which still remains a big industry. Pottery is made by shaping clay into specific objects and introducing them into a kiln which would bring them into a process of extreme heat in order to give the clay a better aspect such as being harder, and an enhanced shape. The way the clay is mixed differs in many ways. Sometimes people mix the clay with other minerals in order to give it specific aspects. Before even starting the shaping process the air trapped within the clay has to be removed because if the air is trapped, the finishing project will be likely to explode when placed in the kiln. In order to remove the trapped air in the clay, people use the process of wedging when done manually or put into a machine called a vacuum pug. Wedging can help one ensure the amount of moisture in the clay shape. After wedging, the clay can be shaped and then dried before being put to the kiln. The main method of shaping used for pottery are the hands but many other methods have developed with time in order to facilitate the process and having more precision in shaping. There are various types of methods for shaping such as the hand building, jiggering and jolleying, the roller head machine, the RAM pressing including the granulate pressing, and last but not least, slip casting. The method mostly used is

  • Word count: 1507
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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What would a costume designer need to consider when designing for Ohatsu from Chikamatsu Monezamons play, Sonezaki Shinjuu, as performed in the kabuki style?

Research Question: What would a costume designer need to consider when designing for "Ohatsu" from Chikamatsu Monezamon's play, Sonezaki Shinjuu, as performed in the kabuki style? Theatre Arts Research Investigation Word Count: 1747 What would a costume designer need to consider when designing for "Ohatsu" from Chikamatsu Monezamon's play, Sonezaki Shinjuu, as performed in the kabuki style? Chikamatsu Monezamon is Japan's most noted playwright, who while being a prolific writer, also pioneered kabuki theatre. The first of Chikamatsu's shinjuu or love-suicide plays, Sonezaki Shinjuu (The Love-Suicides at Sonezaki) focuses on the love of protagonists Tokubei, a 25-year-old soy shop worker, and Ohatsu, a 19-year-old courtesan, and eventual suicides as a result of the villainous Kueheji (Chikamatsu 39). While not his most famous work, it is upheld as a classic example of a shinjuu play and any designer wishing to costume for Ohatsu would need to familiarize himself with the characteristics of this particular genre and the traditional garb of an onnagata actor. Additionally, one must consider the restrictions placed on kabuki costumes during the Edo era with their effects on color and pattern and the specific requirements for Ohatsu's costume as detailed in the script. Kabuki is most well-known for historical and dance plays involving characters of the privileged, upper class

  • Word count: 2267
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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AA100 - What does the Passage Tell Us about Plutarchs View of the Relationship between Antony and Cleopatra?Outline what you Think are the Main Differences between Czannes Jug and Fruit (1885 87) and Zurbarns Still

What does the Passage Tell Us about Plutarch's View of the Relationship between Antony and Cleopatra? This part of the essay looks at the passage (lines 1 - 23) cited in The Open University 2011 and will analyse the text to see how Plutarch interprets the relationship between Cleopatra and Antony. When looking at the passage on Plutarch view of Cleopatra and her relationship with Antony, one could perceive that he is saying that Cleopatra is very obsessive and possessive over Antony. Plutarch says 'that she kept him in constant tutelage, and released him neither night nor day' (lines 2-3). According to Plutarch, she did absolutely everything with Antony, e.g. 'hunted with him, watched him as he exercised and played at dice with him. He also states that she dresses in the garb of a serving maiden' (lines 3 - 8). Plutarch's passage also gives the impression that Cleopatra uses Antony as a bit of a spectacle and makes fun of him and his abilities to fish. In the passage, Plutarch states that 'she invited her friends to come and watch Antony's fishing abilities. However, she asked one her attendants to swim down and attach a salted Pontic herring to his line. Once he pulled it up, everyone laughed at him' (lines 10 - 23). This can be interpreted as if Cleopatra made an exhibition of Antony as he wasn't any good at fishing, and made a mockery of him in front of her friends.

  • Word count: 965
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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Documentary Photography. Focusing mainly on a comparison between photographers and their styles, this essay intends to investigate the efforts carried out by the photographers of the Farm Security Administration.

Focusing mainly on a comparison between photographers and their styles, this essay intends to investigate the efforts carried out by the photographers of the Farm Security Administration. In order to fully appreciate their hard work it is essential to understand the history and motivation behind the program. During the 1930s the whole of America was thrown into turmoil due to the Stock Market crash on October 29th 1929, which led to the largest economic depression in modern history. This along with the dustbowl disaster, caused by severe drought, dust storms and over farming the land, hit the poorest communities the hardest and many were left unemployed and homeless. American farmers and their families were forced to find work elsewhere, making the long journey to California; however they were faced with an already existent high unemployment rate. Available work was extremely hard to find so these now homeless families joined others in camps set up along the side of the roads, unfortunately, with the extreme poor living conditions, disease was rife. The film the Grapes of Wrath, 1940 based on the novel by John Steinbeck, 1939, provides visual impact and additional perspective to this era of hardship. Steinbeck was heavily influenced by images taken by Dorothea Lange of the FSA. The Farm Security Administration, originally named the Resettlement Administration, was set up by

  • Word count: 2408
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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The Evolution of Pop Art

The Evolution of Pop Art by Marius Janavicius Critical and Cultural Studies Caroline Archer August 2011 During the 1960s Art Deco and Art Nouveau already were already established movements, which did not have the labels of "contemporary" styles. People were looking for something new, and shocking. Reactions towards established moral standards, social tensions which included race relations, sexual mores, women's rights gave birth to total reassessment of old values. It was born twice: first in England and then again, independently, in New York. During the early 1950s, several London artists transformed the artifacts and mass media imagery of American popular culture into critical, satirical art works. They were responding to a flood of American postwar export of consumer goods, movies, magazines, comics and advertising. However, Pop Art became popular movement in United States. After the Second World War came the birth of the consumer society. The American way of life, with its emphasis on growth, quantity, consumption and fun, dominated western values. However, underneath many of the same old dark forces raged on: war - Berlin, Korea, Vietnam; racial unrest; the political intolerance of the early 1950s. Among the young, new values awoke, and protest movements sprang up. Pop art mostly opposed abstractionism, represented by Jackson Pollock. It was said that

  • Word count: 1913
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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"The work of 'Body Artists' is merely a decadent corruption of Artaud's ideal." Discuss.

"The work of 'Body Artists' is merely a decadent corruption of Artaud's ideal." Discuss. In his essays and manifestos, collected in the Theatre and its Double, Artaud advocated a metaphysical theatre, linking spectator and spectacle. He was influenced less by literature than by myth, ritual, Oriental art, gestures of Balinese dance, and the subconscious world of dreams. Artaud felt that the theatre should give rise to numinous feelings within the audience. He always emphasised space, physicality, colour and sensual awareness over text and language in order to shake an audience to the very core of their personality. Artaud's main aim with regards to theatre was to create what he called 'pure' or 'total' theatre. An episode taken from The South Bank Show, entitled Body Art , showed the lives of four people, each from different Western countries, who had been inspired by other cultures and used these influences within their performance art. Artaud was very interested in the American Indian Peyote religion, which is a religious movement that was created as a result of the suffering from the effects of domination by American society. He was awed by the ritualistic and symbolic aspects of the religion. This influence could also be seen in Body Art. Fakir Musafar, 'Father of the Modern Primitives Movement', has researched and personally explored primitive body decoration

  • Word count: 1363
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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The aim of this art history essay is to discuss the ways in which primitive, African art affected the style and subject matter of the Cubist art movement.

Art History Essay The aim of this art history essay is to discuss the ways in which primitive, African art affected the style and subject matter of the cubist art movement. Cubism is considered as 'art of abstraction' which makes reference to the visible world but doesn't copy it. It depicts real forms in a simplified way - keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject. Cubism originated from Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1907. Their style was heavily influenced by post impressionist artist Paul Cezanne, who's later work starts to depict the multiple perspectives that defined the cubist period. The cubists felt that the traditions of western art in which subject-matter and style had been depicted had been unchanged since the renaissance and they believed a new challenge was needed to revitalise the conventional methods set by the academy. Most of the cubists were attracted by the anarchist philosophy, and they wanted to create art that would shock the academy, critics and public. About this time Paul Gauguin had travelled to Tahiti were he painted the natives and their natural surroundings, this in itself was revolutionary as no other western artist had explored to such a depth geographically or artistically. Primitive art was not greatly known outside the African continent but other artists were also beginning to notice these cultural differences. So with

  • Word count: 1733
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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What is creativity? What are the criteria that we can use to call someone or something creative?

What is creativity? What are the criteria that we can use to call someone or something creative? Creativity can commonly be described as the ability to produce something that previously did not exist. Whilst there are also implicit suggestions within that definition of improvement, innovation and novelty, there is also an accepted, intrinsic sense of the essence of creativity as something to be highly regarded and not to be confused with success. As Sturnberg (1999) stressed in his critique; 'creativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel (i.e., original, unexpected) and appropriate (i.e. useful, adaptive concerning task restraints)' (Sturnberg 1999, p.03). Throughout the academic world a consistent definition of creativity as a phenomenon seems to be elusive among scholars. As David Bohm (1998, p.01) asserts in his work On Creativity; 'Creativity is, in my view, something that it is impossible to define in words. How, then, can we talk about it?' This statement, whilst possibly glib in its succinctness and admittedly presented here without proper reference to context, goes a long way to explain the frustration felt throughout academia regarding the subject of creativity not only as a definable term, but as a motivation, a talent and indeed an attainable skill. Throughout the majority of investigation into the subject there has been a series of recurring

  • Word count: 1821
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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Examine either overt or covert relationships with the work of particular artists or movements and the political contexts in which they where made.

Examine either overt or covert relationships with the work of particular artists or movements and the political contexts in which they where made. Art movements through out history have been created in the midst of various political upheavals. Even though the larger part of art has always given an impression of no politicisation as it would have liked itself to be known as an autonomous entity functioning with no political aspirations, or under the banner of any political correctness. Having itself looked upon as a form of expression with the sole purpose of providing aesthetic pleasure. Which was very much the view provided by prominent art critics and the more mainstream galleries. But the authenticity of this ideological concept was contradicted and faced head on in the late 1950's with the emergence of a predominately American Art movement by the name of Pop Art. Pop emerged in the late 50's and managed to thrive in the 60's and way in to the late seventies. It utilized the imagery and techniques of consumerism and popular culture. Many perceived pop as a mere continuation of abstract expressionism, well at least in part, or if anything more a reaction against it. Emerging from a shift of various sources. Surrealism with its appeal to the subconscious was replaced by dada, with its concern with the frontiers of art. This was not a purely intellectual choice. There were

  • Word count: 4106
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Creative Arts and Design
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