Art

The chapter " The Art of Finding Yourself When You're Lost" in The Accidental 
Masterpiece teaches us lesson through examples of Frank Hurley, the adventurer. 
We learn that adversity and hardship make us better artists. While I do not want 
to trek through sub zero temperatures eating dogs to stay alive, I think that if 
we are focused, obviously with a lot less electronic distractions, we are more 
productive. 

How does this chapter relate to college you may ask  (I intend to keep the 
college theme going throughout all of these blogs ).  As seniors, it is 
difficult to keep our grades up and do the high school thing, while having one 
foot out the door ready to do the college thing.  One admissions person told me 
to remember to be a high school student.  Well, that is easier said then done 
when AP classes remind us each day that we will be in college any second and for 
all intents and purposes we already are. 

Keep it simple, keep focused and do what needs to be done, and all adventures, 
including the quest for college will work out. 

Art

In reading the chapter, “The Art of Collecting Light Bulbs” from The Accidental Masterpiece I could not help but wonder if Hugh Francis Hicks would be admitted to the college of his choice based upon his light bulb collection (As you can see I am still focused on college admissions).  Obviously Dr. Hicks went somewhere because he was a dentist, but that not my point.  If applying today, would Hicks be considered more interesting than the kid who was president of the engineers club and caption of the tennis team?  I imagine that if he threw in the story that his mother gave him a light bulb to play with in his crib (child abuse), then yes, I would say that he would be even more interesting.   Admission of course would also depend upon what school he was applying and if they needed experts on light bulbs or not.  
The bottom line is collectors collect. Whether some have emotional issues or because they are enthralled with the objects collected, it doesn’t really matter. They just do it.   Should a person like Hicks be admitted over the kid that collects stamps or doesn’t have a collection at all, that’s for admissions to decide.  As for me, I must admit I have no interest in collecting light bulbs, screws, coins or pens.  I would collect comics, but that is too much of a pricey venture at this point, so I remain that other kids applying to that school who is not particularly odd.  Wish me luck!

Art

The chapter "The Art of Making Art Without Lifting a Finger" in The Accidental Masterpiece, basically states that art is life and life is art. It can also be summarized as artists are crazy and even suicidal, but I like the life part better. Again, in keeping with my college theme, I see senior year as the time to complete the life art we started. It has been challenging years in the making and now the piece must be completed (we need to graduate) and the art must be sold or displayed (we need to get into a college).



I am going to take it one step further, to focus on my favorite kind of art- sitcoms (yes, they are art). If my life was a sitcom right now, I would submit my college application and by the end of the 30 minute episode, I would be rejected only to find out it was a mistake and I was actually accepted to my first choice school, full scholarship, of course. That is good art.



If life were a drama, I would be rejected from all the schools I applied and have other horrible things occur, only to learn some lesson and still not get what I want. I guess, dramas are more like life than comedies; Nah. Comedies are based upon reality, just with a flare.



My point is, I never want to be the artist that gives it all up under the guise of art, like Ray Johnson, put I do want to leave it all on the table, or canvas, by the time I graduate Herricks.

Jackson Pollack

This semester I have been studying the works of Jackson Pollack and I have to say I do not understand what the big fuss is about. Jackson Pollack is famous for breaking the traditions of art, and making painting into something new and unique.  What I am struggling with is that these later Pollack paintings are sold for millions of dollars and, to me, they look like lines and dots. My little sister, who is in elementary school, threw some paint onto a blank canvas and earned an “A” and many accolades on her art assignment because it was deemed that she created a “classic Pollack painting”.  Not to offend anyone, including my little sister, but that is ridiculous. Between you, me, and the media, as admitted by Pollack himself, he had one too many, was around some paint and woke up the next day with a splattered canvas which he then called his new phase of art and sold his painting(s) in order eat.  He died at the peak of his fame, never going back to his style, which was extraordinary, and is remembered as one of the “great American artists”.

            Pollack simply, in addition to being an artist, was a marketing genius. He created his paintings, set a price, and then refused sell them for less than what he deemed their worth thereby making the paintings costly and rare.  This strategy enhanced his reputation and once you have a big reputation in the art world, you can blow your nose in a tissue, call it art and sell it for millions of dollars.

            Remembering Jackson Pollack, not for his art, but for his ability to market himself to the art world and trick everyone into thinking that he was a genius in order to make money, does not do him justice.  At one point he truly painted like the talented artist he was, not selling out for profit.   But, art critics and viewers and connoisseurs alike are to blame.  I truly believe that when they look at Pollack’s paintings they see the same thing that I do, except they do not have the courage to say it is nothing special, but have to praise it because everyone else does.  In reality, we are the Emperor in Pollack’s clothes.  We just need a child to say that we are  “naked” or just admit that Pollack’s paintings look like a fourth graders work of art, but that just adds to the extent of Pollack’s legacy.

Beauty

Chapter 3, "The Art of Having a Lofty Perspective" is all about beauty,which is in the eye of the beholder. We can all recognize natural beauty as being aesthetically pleasing, or not, and the same goes for art. The opinion of art varies from person to person and that is the beauty of it all.

College is the same as art.  As I stated in my current blogs, I will be writing about college, a lot, because that topic is always on my mind.  The idea that one college is better than another, or has a nicer campus, or whatever, is in the eye of the beholder.  The tour guides of each college state that their school is the best and they are happy, not that the school would have a cranky tour guide. College campuses, like art, are different.  We need to accept these differences and the way people think about them and literally move on.  All art is some form of art and all colleges teach something.  To claim otherwise is to miss the point.

Art of Being Artless

Was George Eastman lucky or clever?  Did he have skill or just a marketing genius?  Was Bob Ross a talented artist or simply a brilliant promoter? Who is to say who is an artists or fraud?

Fraud is a word I chose with care.  Just because a picture is in a museum, does not make it great art.  The pictures that never make it to galleries is not  any less great? Of course there is always the idea that photographs have no value when taken and then years later are deemed great art. 

Acting is different.  We hear about paintings and photos that were panned by critics and later held up as an art standard, but acting performances that were said to be very poor are not usually heard to be brilliant in later years.  Bad acting as they say is bad acting (unless I learn otherwise later chapters).  Acting should also be part of the evolving review.

We need to get back to the issue of fraud. Are there really great actors as well as those that market themselves well, like Eastman and Ross.  The answer is yes. But does that mean anything?  At the end of the day if people want to purchase a camera they do not use particularly well, watch a guy who can paint some pretty tress, or tune into a sitcom with panned laughter, its all the same.

Bonnard

The thing about Blogs is, well, they are just that, blogs, or a train of thought or consciousness that takes on a shape or form (should I trademark that?).

We were assigned the task of writing about the article “The Art of Making A World” (“Art”).  If this were a traditional English class, I would feel compelled to do a summary of the article, quoting and citing and spewing back what I thought the teacher wanted to read.  However, I have entered my senior year at Herricks and am empowered with choices- do I want to do what is expected or venture out and use my voice and see what happens.  Voice wins. 

Upon reading “Art”, I thought, or knew, the article was about the artist Pierre Bonnard, his life, choices and paintings. But, then, almost immediately, like layers of a painting, the article changed and became about, well, me.

I am in the midst of applying to colleges and have many choices to make.  Where am I going to go? What shall I declare as my major?   Will I get in? What are my essays going to be about? My questions go on and on and on. The point is, that “Perspective is the key”, as stated in the first few sentences of Art. Perspective, of course, is the answer. 

“Art” spoke about perspective from an artist’s point of view, specifically, Bonnard. Bonnard chose to be with a woman, Marthe, who seemed a bit mentally unbalanced, to say the least.  Bonnard connected to her because , as stated, he “is the great example of an artist who made the most of a relationship that, to outsiders, seemed tragic, but which proves that all relationship are finally unknowable except to those inside them.” (p11) For me, perspective is not unlike Bonnard’s.  No one knows who I feel about this college process or can help me decide where I will end up.  It is all up to me and I do not have to explain my choice, only be happy with the final decision. 

“Art” put it best by stating that ‘it’s about looking hard enough to recognize, say, that things appear different when seen out of the corner of your eye or squinting into the sun or staring from the light into a shadow.”  (p.13)That is the artsy interpretation of perspective.  I would say, perspective is stepping back, taking a deep breath, looking at your options and then making an informed decision based upon the choices you are given. Whoever said that life mimics art or is it that art mimics life, wasn’t kidding.  Choices. We all have to make them.  Bonnard could have left Marthe, but chose to stay with her because she, on some weird level, inspired his art, but arguably ruined his life.  Choices.  I will have to make a choice about where I want to go school and cannot let my own Marthe (whatever preconceived notions about college or what I believe something one school may have over another) stop me from making my choice.

Bonnard said it best, “The moment one says one is happy one no longer is.” (p. 22) Bonnard would “go and look at them [subjects]. I take notes. Then I go home. And before I start painting I reflect. I dream.” (p.23) Again, here is an artist as college applicant.  If we are content, we do not strive.  Picking one college because of its location discards another potential college which has a program or two of interest.  Reflecting, imagining, dreaming, visualizing, picturing where I want to go makes me no different than an artist like Bonnard painting for perfection, nor was he different than a high school senior searching for his or her perfect fit.

I keep waiting for a sign from the universe telling me where to go.  It is said of Bonnard’s art, “things don’t happen, they’re implied.”  Just like in a Bonnard painting where Marthe is in the bath, the landscape is outside the window and a piece or part of Bonnard is somewhere in the picture, the answer is there, I just have to look for it.