Welcome
Why Theory By definition, theory means a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena. In my opinion theory is a prevailing term that can encompass all forms of thinking. A theory is an approach, an argument, a basis of justification, an idea, an outlook, a philosophy, an understanding. All knowledge and what we know or assume to be true is threaded through this concept of a theory. It is the most flexible form of thinking and is open to improvement and able to be considered outdated or replaced. Theories allow us to validate our own existence and illuminate world around us.
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BASTARDIZED BINARY
Numbering System
Table of Contents Branding Propoganda Geisha Noguchi Dance Cindy Sherman Manifesto
The following attempts to explain my concept of what Art is to me. Also Art and Design are terms that can be interchanged.
Art is defined as “a have,” be it an idea, a sense of order or purposeful disorder, a skill, what have you. Art is art because it is art. Where as the antithesis of art is “a lack.” This lack is something unaccounted for, unclaimed, uncalculated, a cancer. It belongs to no one and stands for nothing. There are multiple facets to Art, like an outward expression of
personal identity, is created in and of itself. Relying on a selfreflective existence to hold its value as Art, metaphorically related to ones own self-image. Like a child being exposed to the outside world, there is a journey Art must endure. It is exposed to criticism and universal forces that the artist, like a parent, has little control over. Correspondingly life was created on this planet and left to fend for survival, Art must
find it’s own path and hold its head up to a constant battle for existence. In far reaching terms all matter, which is in and of its own creation, can be equated to as Art. For equal existence of this matter comes the void or space in-between, hypothetical dark matter. This dark matter has no real volume however its presence is equally as visible. Because
this balance of opposites exists it is possible to prove the validity of one through the other. Take for instance the ancient ying yang symbol that represents the polar opposites joined together creating a whole. The whole, or singular essence is something art has been explained through out the ages by eastern and western religions alike. Regardless of where the
message is coming from it is ultimately the same, stressing the importance of balance and harmony of the collective whole. Monotheistic religions teach the theory of divine creation, which would in effect be the origin of Art. Regardless of your religious background or scientific knowledge, I find this concept to be true.
BRANDING
As society has progressed there is a new need for a collaboration of faiths and science that focuses on the collective whole, which is why I have attempted to symbolize and identify this process with branding it.
BRANDING
Branding is taking something and giving it an identity. I wanted to give an identity to a spiritual entity that combines and equalizes all religions and points of view. These symbols identify the followers of a specific religion. The flaw in their purpose is that as much as these symbols unite those under the religion, they also isolate those not affiliated with them or associated to another.
OTHERS
FOLL
WERS
Taking the Christian symbol of the cross and fliping it upside down turns it into a symbol of Satanism. Much as Satanism is an antithesis to Christianity, this can also represent the entity of science often seen as an oposing force to religion.
Use the brand
ENLIGHTENMENT is like throwing everything up in the air – all our ideas, dreams, expectations, our separate goals, our previous spiritual experiences, all our ideas of who we are – and see what comes down again – if anything. Enlightenment is not only a question of individual enlightenment; it is also a question of global enlightenment. It is a question of creating a buddhafield, a paradise, on earth. We all seek enlightenment... independent of if we are aware of it or not. We all seek love, joy, acceptance, silence, truth, freedom and oneness with life. Some people seek enlightenment in unconscious ways through work, power, status, success, money, relationships, and sex or through becoming famous, but it is all the same basic search for enlightenment. Enlightenment is not only about individual enlightenment, it is also about collective enlightenment. COLLECTIVE ENLIGHTENMENT means an expansion of consciousness. It means to begin to think in terms of “we”, rather than “I”. To think only in terms of “I” is to act out of the personality. The personality is a separation from life. To think in terms of “we” means to be in contact with the inner being, with the authentic self, with the meditative quality within ourselves, with the inner capacity to surrender to life. To think in terms of “we” means to be in contact with the inner “yes”-quality. It means to cooperate with that which is larger than ourselves. Collective enlightenment could also be called for spiritual globalization – in contrast to the economic globalization, which is only good for the few and bad for the many. When we realize that all living beings seek enlightenment, that all living beings seek love, joy, truth and freedom, we can develop a sense of compassion for all living beings.
collective.enlightenment.com
PROPAGANDA
The freedom of speech is something we are lucky to have as Americans; in light of the times we must take advantage of the rights we still have.
PROPAGANDA
Step 1
Target source of inspiration.
is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
Step 3
Don’t hold back.
Step 2
Take “Step 1� and show in a more accurate light.
WHAT SHE SELLS IS OF HERSELF, BUT DON’T CALL HER A WHORE. EMBODYING ALL THAT IS PERFECT, COMBINING EVERY ART AND MORE. FOR THE LEGACY LIVES ON, AS MORE THAN JUST A SHOW. A LIVING MASTERPIECE, HEAD TO TOE.
Geisha Doll 1
Geisha Hanz 1
GEISHA AND PROSTITUTION There remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are regarded as prostitutes by many Westerners. However, legitimate geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients. Their purpose is to entertain their customer, be it by dancing, reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be. Geisha have been confused with the highclass courtesans of the Edo period known as oiran, from whom they evolved. Like geisha, oiran wore elaborate hairstyles and white makeup, but oiran tied their obition the front not, as is commonly thought, for easy removal, but, according to anthropologist Liza Dalby, because that was the practice of married women at the time. During the Edo period, prostitution was legal. Prostitutes such as the oiran worked within walled-in districts licensed by the government. In the seventeenth century, the oiran sometimes employed men called “geisha” to perform at their parties. Therefore, the first geisha were men. In the late eighteenth century, dancing women called “odoriko” and newly popular female geisha began entertaining men at banquets in unlicensed districts. Some were apprehended for illegal prostitution and sent to the licensed quarters, where there was a strict distinction between geisha and prostitutes, and the former were forbidden to sell sex. In contrast, “machi geisha”, who worked outside the licensed districts, often engaged in illegal prostitution.
LOOKS AREN’T ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM.
Geisha Hanz 2
It’s the things you can’t see in a photograph that matter. Although, looking beyound the image does not change it’s properties.
Geisha Doll 2
In 1872, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the new government passed a law liberating “prostitutes (sh-gi) and geisha (geigi)”. The wording of this statute was the subject of controversy. Some officials thought that prostitutes and geisha worked at different ends of the same profession— selling sex—and that all prostitutes should be called “geisha”. In the end, the government decided to maintain a line between the two groups, arguing that geisha were more refined and should not be soiled by association with prostitutes. Also, geisha working in onsen towns such as Atami are dubbed onsen geisha. Onsen geisha have been given a bad reputation due to the prevalence of prostitutes in such towns who market themselves as “geisha”, as well as sordid rumors of dance routines like Shallow River (which involves the “dancers” lifting the skirts of their kimono higher and higher). In contrast to these “one-night geisha”, the true onsen geisha are in fact competent dancers and musicians. However, the autobiography of Sayo Masuda, an onsen geisha who worked in Nagano Prefecture in the 1930s, reveals that in the past, such women were often under intense pressure to sell sex.
PERSONAL R E L AT I O N S H I P S AND DANNA Geisha are expected to be single women; those who choose to marry must retire from the profession. It was traditional in the past for established geisha to take a danna, or patron. A danna was typically a wealthy man, sometimes married, who had the means to support the very large expenses related to a geisha’s traditional training and other costs. This sometimes occurs today as well, but very rarely.
A geisha and her danna may or may not be in love, but intimacy is never viewed as a reward for the danna’s financial support. The traditional conventions and values within such a relationship are very intricate and not well understood, even by many Japanese. While it is true that a geisha is free to pursue personal relationships with men she meets through her work, such relationships are carefully chosen and unlikely to be casual.A hanamachi tends to be a very tight-knit community and a geisha’s good reputation is not taken lightly.
GEISHA GIRLS “Geisha girls” were Japanese women who worked as prostitutes during the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan. They almost exclusively serviced American GIs stationed in the country, who incorrectly referred to them as “Geesha girls”. The term is a mispronunciation of the word geisha. The mispronunciation persists among some Westerners. Adding to the confusion is the fact that these women dressed in kimono and imitated the look of geisha. Americans unfamiliar with the Japanese culture could not tell the difference between legitimate geisha and these costumes prostitutes. Shortly after their arrival in 1945, occupying American GIs are said to have congregated on the Ginza and shouted in unison, “We want geesha girls!” Eventually, the term “geisha girl” became a general word for any female Japanese prostitute or worker in the mizu shobai and included bar hostesses and streetwalkers. Geisha girls are speculated by researchers to be largely responsible for the continuing misconception in the West that all geisha engaged in prostitution.
Orange County’s nicest smoking courtyard.
NOGUCHI
GARDEN
Orange County’s nicest smoking courtyard.
As a modernist creation Noguchi was successful in taking the different environments and abstracting them to their most basic elements.
Orange County’s nicest smoking courtyard.
A
fter circling the block looking for a parking spot I settled for the designated parking structure, which charged an astronomical $1.50 per fifteen minutes. I knew my experience here would be brief. I followed the sign directing me to the Noguchi Garden. My initial reaction the space was that it was exactly how I would have envisioned it. I was told the garden has elements that embody the different landscapes of California. Steeping in to this world Noguchi creates it is similar
in style yet every viewpoint vastly different in texture and feeling. It was a bright and sunny day with puffy clouds breezing by, highlighting the surreal nature of Noguchi’s interpretation of California. The tan stone covering most the ground is of the same color one sees when traveling over most the state. Cutting across the vast courtyard is a windy river which starts and an epic waterfall jutting into the sky. The elements of the waterfall and the marble pyramid where the river seems to end give the space a terrestrial feeling and their meanings still confuse me. The tall grouping of redwood
trees are reminiscent of Northern California and reminded me of my trips to visit my grandma on the Russian River. The circular mound of rock and sand planted with desert vegetation was interesting in that one can walk around it but not go through it. Which is a similar mindset most have when thinking about the desert. Most view it as they drive past in their car and lack an experience of actually being in the midst of it. As a modernist creation Noguchi was successful in taking the different environments and abstracting them to their most basic elements.
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Women and gay male artists have often resorted to bodily fragments as a way of exploding the concealing external force of what might appear to be an inexorable male gaze.
Featured Influence
BY
turning the camera on herself, Cindy Sherman has built a name as one of the most respected photographers of the late twentieth century. Although, the majority of her photographs are pictures of her, however, these photographs are most definitely not self-portraits. Rather, Sherman uses herself as a vehicle for commentary on a variety of issues of the modern world: the role of the woman, the role of the artist and many more. It is through these ambiguous and eclectic photographs that Sherman has developed a distinct signature style. Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has raised challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.
Sherman’s life began in 1954, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. Her family having moved shortly after her birth, Sherman grew up as the youngest of five children in the town of Huntington, Long Island. Unlike some budding artists, Sherman was not particularly involved in the arts as a young person. Sherman’s parents were not involved in the arts; her father made a living as an engineer and her mother worked as a reading teacher. Born relatively late in her parents’ lives, Sherman’s father was retired by the time she was in fifth grade. Sherman has said that, “”It wasn’t until college that I had any concept of what was going on in the art world. My idea of being an artist as a kid was a courtroom artist or one of those boardwalk artists who do caricatures. My parents had a book of, like, the one hundred
Cindy Sherman integrates female identity, representation, contamination and taboo.
one beautiful paintings, which included Dali and Picasso among the most recent artists.” Despite her parents lack of artistic interest, they were supportive of her choice to enter art school after finishing high school, though, according to Sherman, her mother did caution her to “take a few teaching courses just in case.” Thus, Sherman’s exploration of art began at the State University College at Buffalo.
loft on Fulton Street in lower Manhattan, Sherman began taking photographs of herself. These photographs would come to be known as the Untitled Film Stills , perhaps the most well known and recognizable work of Sherman’s career thus far. In these photographs, begun in 1977, Sherman places herself in the roles of B-movie actresses. Her photographs show her dressed up in wigs, hats, dresses, clothes unlike her own, playing the roles of characters. While many may mistake these photographs for self-portraits, these photographs only play with elements of self-portraiture and are really something quite different. In each of these
physical likeness leads to an emotional individuality unique to a specific person. While these criteria are not the only ways of connoting a portrait, they are just two examples of how Sherman carefully communicates to the viewer that these works are not meant to depict Cindy Sherman the person. By titling each of the photographs “Untitled”, as well as numbering them, Sherman depersonalizes the images.
There are also very few clues as Sherman’s career at Buffalo to Sherman’s personality in the began much differently then it photographs - each one is so ended. As a freshman, Sherman unique and ambiguous that the set out to study painting until one viewer is left with more confusion day, when she realized that she than clarity over Sherman’s true had enough. Frustrated with the nature. Sherman completed the limitations of painting project three years and feeling like she later, in 1980, when had done all that she she “ran out of could, she gave it up. clichés” with which Sherman has said that to work. This series she felt that “ . . .there gave Sherman much was nothing more to publicity and critical say [through painting]. acclaim; she had I was meticulously her first solo show “By presenting images that copying other art and at the nonprofit then I realized I could space, the Kitchen, ask what’s OK and what’s just use a camera in New York City. not...she opens wide the and put my time into In 1980 Sherman an idea instead.” also created a Pandora’s box.” And this is explicitly series of what what she did. In she called “Rear- Artforum retrospect, Sherman Screen Projections” has expressed that in which, similarly she never could to the Film Stills, have succeeded as Sherman dressed a painter, stating up and paraded that she is unable to against a projected react to painting in slide background. anything more than a visceral way. Lacking the critical photographs, Sherman plays In 1981 Sherman was connection needing to proceed a type -- not an actual person, commissioned by the respected with painting, Sherman turned to but a self-fabricated fictional magazine Artforum to do a photography, which she studied one. There is the archetypal “centerfold” for one of their for the remainder of her time at housewife, the prostitute, the upcoming issues. Sherman Buffalo. During this time, she met woman in distress, the woman proceeded to submit a series of a person who was to become in tears, the dancer, the actress, images with a cohesive aesthetic very important in her life: fellow and the malleable, chameleon- look: the camera was placed artist Robert Longo. Together like Sherman plays all of these above Sherman, who was often with Longo and fellow student characters. crouched on the ground or Charles Clough, Sherman formed made to look like she was in a Hallwalls, an independent artists’ For a work of art to be state of reverie. This series, as space where she and fellow considered a portrait, the artist well as an additional series of artists exhibited. must have intent to portray a Sherman in a pink robe, was specific, actual person. This can rejected by Artforum ‘s editor, After Sherman’s 1976 graduation, be communicated through such Ingrid Sischy, who claimed that she decided to move to New techniques as naming a specific these photographs “might be York City to embark upon person in the title of the work or misunderstood.” her career in art. Taking a creating an image in which the
Sherman went on to change her style almost entirely in what are often referred to as the Disasters and Fairy Tales series. For the first time in her public career, Sherman was not the model in all of the images. Shot from 1985 until 1989, these images are far more grotesque than Sherman’s earlier work. Often intentionally dressing to look scary and deformed, Sherman sets herself in strange, indefinable settings which often feature oddly colored lighting in shades of blue, green and red. At times, Sherman employs dolls parts or prosthetic body parts to substitute for her own and many a scene is strewn with vomit, mold and other vile substances. Sherman’s intent is to explore the disgusting, yet these are things that she admittedly can find beauty in. Sherman’s second most known body of work came some time after the Film Stills had already been well received, around 1988-1990. In the History Portraits Sherman again uses herself as model, though this time she casts herself in roles from archetypally famous paintings. While very few specific paintings are actually referenced, one still feels a familiarity of form between Sherman’s work and works by great masters. Using prosthetic body parts to augment her own body, Sherman recreates great pieces of art and thus manipulates her role as a contemporary artist working in the twentieth-century. Sherman lived abroad during this time in her life, and even though museums would appear to be the source of inspiration for this series, she is not a fan of museums: “Even when I was doing those history pictures, I was living in Rome but never went to the churches and museums there. I worked out of books, with reproductions. It’s an aspect of photograph I appreciate, conceptually: the idea that images can be reproduced and seen anytime, anywhere, by anyone.” In 1992 Sherman embarked on a series of photographs now referred to as “Sex Pictures.” For
the first time, Sherman is entirely absent from these photographs. Instead, she again uses dolls and prosthetic body parts, this time posed in highly sexual poses. Prosthetic genitalia - both male and female - are used often and photographed in extreme closeup. Photographed exclusively in color, these photographs are meant to shock. Sherman continued to work on these photographs for some time and continued to experiment with the use of dolls and other replacements for what had previously been herself. Sherman’s life and work has been populated by more than just conceptual photography. She has been married to video artist Michel Auder for over 16 years and has found time in her busy career to add work in motion pictures. In 1997, Sherman’s directorial debut, Office Killer, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, was released in theatres. A self-proclaimed lover of horror films, Sherman draws on the characteristics of this genre as well as the visual motifs established as a still photographer. Sherman also made an appearance in front of the camera, making a cameo playing herself in John Waters’ 1998 comedy Pecker . Because Sherman achieved international success at a relatively young age, her work has had a considerable maturation in value over the past decade. In 1999 the average selling price for one of her photographs was $20,000 to $50,000. Even more ground-breaking was a 1999 Christie’s auction in which one of the photographs from Film Stills sold for a reported $190,000. This bid was perhaps inspired by the Museum of Modern Art’s lead: in 1996, they purchased a complete set from Film Stills for one million dollars. These prices are indicative of Sherman’s huge level of success, both critically and financially. Sherman’s popularity continues to grow around the world, as she has exhibited countries including Germany, Japan, France.
Recently, Sherman has returned to using herself as model. At a recent show at her New York gallery, Metro Pictures, Sherman displayed a series of portraitlike images of herself in the guise of women from California. These women are again simply types: The Personal Trainer, The Ex-Realtor, The Divorcee, etc. Sherman further manipulates the notion of portraiture through the use of conventional portrait signs including the setting of the figure against a neutral background. Unlike some of her early photographs, these are more straightforward images of created characters, not narrative fragments. Sherman continues these projects in New York City, where she currently lives and works.
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Portrait of Society Andy Warhol’s visionary zeitgeist of American culture and beyond Andy on love: “People should fall in love with their eyes closed. Just close your eyes. Don’t look.” Andy on beauty: “I really don’t care that much about ‘Beauties.’ What I really like are Talkers.” Andy on class: “The rich have many advantages over the poor, but the most important one, as far as I’m concerened, is knowing how to talk and eat at the same time.” Andy on money: “Its always good to get abstract when it comes to economics.” Andy on underwear: “I would rather watch somebody buy their underwear that read a book they wrote.”
Thursday, January 18, 2007. GAINESVILLE, Fla. — “Turn off your cell phones and pagers.” For most people, heeding these warnings in hospitals or at the movies is as simple as pressing a button. But for a growing number of people across the globe, the idea of being out of touch, even just for a 90-minute movie, is enough to induce anxiety, says a University of Florida psychologist who studies addictions to the Internet and other technologies
Unlike addictions to alcohol, drugs or even gambling, it can be hard to pinpoint problematic cell phone use. Almost everyone has a cell phone and uses it regularly. But if someone can’t get through dinner without sending text messages or furiously typing on a personal digital assistant during a meeting, it may be time to take a step back, Merlo said.
Although cellular phones and personal digital assistants such as the BlackBerry were created to make modern life more convenient, they’re actually beginning to interfere in the lives of users who don’t know when to turn them off, says Lisa Merlo, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the UF College of Medicine.
How people respond to being separated from their cell phones or PDAs is another clue. Frequent users often become anxious when they are forced to turn off the phone or if they forget it at home, so much so that they can’t enjoy whatever they’re doing, Merlo added. Often, cell phone “addicts” compulsively
“It’s not so much talking on the phone that’s typically the problem although that can have consequences too,” Merlo said. “(It’s) this need to be connected, to know what’s going on and be available to other people. That’s one of the hallmarks of cell phone addiction.”
check their phones for voicemails and text messages, she said. “When (cell phone overuse) really becomes problematic for a lot of people is if they have underlying anxiety or depression,” she said. “This can really exacerbate it or (cause) their symptoms to manifest themselves.” For example, someone who already worries about what others think of them could become easily agitated if their phone calls or messages aren’t returned right away. “This is something that is going to affect them on a day-to-day basis,” Merlo said.
The problem seems to be growing. A Japanese study revealed that children with cell phones often don’t make friends with their less tech-savvy peers, a Hungarian study found that threefourths of children had mobile phones and an Italian study showed that one quarter of adolescents owned multiple phones and many claimed to be somewhat addicted to them. A British study also recently found that 36 percent of college students surveyed said they could not get by without cell phones. But this may be more a sign that students view cell phones as a modern necessity like a car, said David Sheffield, a psychologist who conducted the study at Staffordshire University.
“The most shocking figure was that 7 percent said the use of mobile phones had caused them to lose a relationship or a job,” Sheffield said. Although experts have pinpointed these problems in frequent cell phone users, studies have yet to show if a bad cell phone habit constitutes an actual addiction. Yet as with traditional addictions, excessive cell phone use is associated with certain hallmark patterns of behavior, including using something to feel good, building up a tolerance and needing more of it over time to get the same feeling, and going through withdrawal if deprived of it, Merlo said.
“Cell phones are a great technology,” Merlo said. “They’re useful in a lot of situations. (But) one of the most important things is making sure you have some cell phone free time in your day. It’s OK to turn it off. Focus on family, homework, knowing that cell phone message will still be there.” Cell phone users could start out with one phone and switch to newer models with more advanced features or PDAs that act like mini-computers over time to get the same feeling they had with their first phone, she said. Although withdrawal is typically considered a physical response that occurs when the body goes without a chemical, the anxiety cell phone users feel without their phone could simply be another form of withdrawal. “Those things lend toward the idea that maybe this is an addiction, but maybe it’s manifesting in a little bit different way than you would think of a chemical substance,” Merlo said.
Addiction also causes changes in the brain, but scientists have yet to measure what happens in the brains of cell phone users, she said. Even eating and other behaviors have been shown to produce the same effects in the brain as drugs and alcohol in some people, UF studies have shown. For frequent phoners who do think they have a problem or for parents of children obsessed with their cells, Merlo advises downgrading to a basic phone with fewer features and setting limits about where and when to use the phone.