The play “The Aristocrat” directed by Dennis Patrick Mulligan is an ironic, electrifying, and a funny play. My passion for the play is that it makes me see through the eyes of an upper class Irish family. The family comes from a privileged religious and political ancestry. The play is ironic because instead of the family to congregate for a wedding they stay to attend their dad’s funeral. The three sisters and their peculiar brother reveal the way in which the ache of one family becomes microsm for the ache of the society. I liked the play because of its genuine or realistic setting, scenes, and characters.
The setting of the play was genuine because it made a good effort in depicting the house of an Irish family. The play took place in summer, mid 1970’s at Balleybeg Hall, the home of District Justice O’ Donnell, overlooking the village of Balleybeg, County Donegal, Ireland. The stage is proscenium which looked like a picture frame. I felt the setting of the home was akin to a traditional Irish home. I liked the setting because it was elegant. The director made good use of the stage space because the actors and actresses had enough space to maneuver around. The setting also made me realize that the house was owned by Irish aristocrats as the title of the play implies. Read more…
In the 19th century whole stories and dramas were described by tattoos. Since 1885 is the full body tattoo known on dark ground, after pictures of genre painters. All motives passed over seamless in each other and were manifold. Popular subjects were for example robber shapes, monsters and other creatures, fighting heros, spirits stories and demons stories, as well as Buddhist prayer formulas. The combinations of the motives were defeated by traditional rules.
The Buddhist god “Kanon” was always represented on a riding dragon, if she was not duplicated alone. The motives of the flora were also defeated by certain models. So the chrysanthemums belong to the “lion-dog” and falling cherry blossoms or autumn foliage were seen as a symbol of the death.
After the opening to the west, Japanese tattoos soon reached a status symbol. From 1860 on Hori Choy worked in Tokyo, the Prince of Wales was one of his popular customers. His student Sutherland MacDonald counted as the “Michelangelo” of the tattoo producers. He knows around 20 colour tones and shadings and was the first tattoo artist, who produced popular paintings on the back of his customers. To his customers belong Edward the 8th, czar Nikolaus and the sultan of Johore. Soon, also tattoo producer in the west received Japanese models, which they adapted to the western taste. Until today Japanese models are very famous. Read more…
Spirituality and art are part of the human need to express emotion and to communicate this to other human beings. Yet often our understanding of an artwork might only be possible or of more value if we know the context, the emotional or the spiritual environment surrounding the artist. Religion results from faith – it involves a community of shared beliefs, ritual and introspection. Faith is a personal perspective on life. So too is art. The artist’s interpretations of the world are therefore shaped by their beliefs; this can be seen through Michelangelo Buonarroti figurative Last Judgment 1534-1541, Mark Rothko’s non-representational Light Red over Black 1957, Rover Thomas’s contemporary Aboriginal work Burradoo (Meeting Area) 1994 and Annette Messeger’s Post- modern Le Croix 1994.
When Christianity was illegal in Rome the painting in the Catacombs had to use symbols to convey messages to the audience. After Christianity was legalised in 313 A.D. symbols were not needed, however the idea of depicting a narrative to audiences was carried on. So when Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling and alter wall of the Sistine Chapel, it isn’t surprising that the images depicted were reminiscent of the bible stories. However when Michelangelo was asked or rather told to paint the altar wall, he was ‘enduring the tribulations of age and the long frustrations of art, his soul was further oppressed by the events that had been erupting around him from the time he fled Florence as a young man… Read more…
Communications, essential human ability, serves as the concrete holding societies together. Throughout the history of mankind a variety of communications types has emerged. Some of those channels of communication, like television or even writing, have become something that surpassed our understanding of an informational channel, something that has inherent value above mere information transmission. Internet, already worshipped as new mean of communication, overcome this oversimplifying status by begetting a new and unexpected value, Internet Art.
Since the date of its creation in 1980’s, Internet was viewed as simply a new way of transmitting information. The very simplest definition of Internet defines it as a way of sharing available information in electronic format. Perhaps, Internet has modified only design of information in the way meaningful to interactive nature of modern PCs. The majority of sites offer data and information that otherwise can be found in non-electronic format. The sites distributing and educating in art merely reproduce and transform traditional art for the electronic audience. Read more…
What was once the flat lower valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was transformed by the Sumerians into the Fertile Crescent of the ancient world. The Sumerian art was one of great power and originality, and influenced all of the cultures of western Asia. Sumerian art was primarily made of clay, because it was their most abundant material. It’s responsible for their style of baked-mud building, and their fine-textured pottery. Other materials had to be imported. Sculpture was the main art form used. Another addition to the world that the Sumerians are responsible for is the cuneiform writing system, which they invented around 3000 B.C. most art was made for religious purposes. Ancient Sumer was made up of a dozen independent city-states, and each one was under the protection of one of the Mesopotamian gods. The rulers in Sumer were thought to be the god’s representatives on earth.
One of the best and widely known examples of Sumerian art is the alabaster vase found at Uruk, known as the Warka Vase. It is ornamented with reliefs in several registers, which are typically Sumerian in their clearness and exactness. The reliefs can be read from bottom to top or top to bottom without affecting their significance. It was found in the Inanna temple complex, and it shows a religious festival in the goddess’s honor. It is divided into three registers and the lowest one shows sheep and rams above barley and flax, and a wavy line representing water. Read more…
