Reflections

It was a fun journey, albeit a tiring one. We took many hours to build the set. Cause hot glue was a particularly damaging glue to Styrofoam and difficult for me to use, it was lucky that i found a better glue, one that is more specialized and wont damage the styrofoam.

The wall labels were then cut from laser printed paper and then stuck on to the black walls with double sided tape.

The ceramics were really cute and i had fun looking at other group miniature set as well.

It was cool and fun to look at other groups project in a more visual manner rather than the presentation slides they presented. It became a more clear and concise conclusion to their ideas.

Some of the points of lighting and flooring were interesting to note. I didnt realise the reasons why they were done in that way.

Overall, This was a fun project. But i enjoyed making the model more than writing up the labels. Its always much more fun to envision in physical sense rather than it remain in your imagination.

Islamic art conference at adm

I went to the Islamic art exhibition at adm. It was a dimly lighted room with some interesting pieces.

One of which is the motion graphic art, ferroux. It was interesting to look at from the mac computers even although i couldn’t really understand what its link to Islamic art was. The dynamism of the liquid and the syncing of the music to the movements were really awe inspiring. On second thoughts, maybe the movements of the liquid were made to form motifs of islamic art? it wasn’t really obvious in the short object label.

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The textile shown at the exhibition were interesting. This one had nice motifs decorating it. The way they hung it was also slightly different from the format i was used to . The textile seemed to be in mid air and enclosed.

Another one i saw had the prints reflected on the floor by light.

What was your favorite object from today’s visit to the Asian Civilizations Museum?

My favorite object would be the textiles from the Material World of Southeast Asia. These vibrantly coloured textiles are extremely eye catching. Especially with their beautiful fine detailing. The embroidery is not only for decorative purposes but also for ceremonies and ritual observances. As you step closer to take a closer look, the fabric patterns contain powerful protective images used in the many cultures and religions.

You would also see a different perspective on textiles from a time where everything was handmade and there were no machines to help aid the creations of these complicated pieces. It was amazing to admire the creativity and hard work of the people long past.

There was also interesting lighting, where the museum was dark and the lighting focused on the textiles. One can focus on the vivid patterns more clearly.

There were also Southeast Asian gold jewelry, textiles and metal work in the Asian Civilisations Museum collection. The gold jewellery are exquisite examples of Javanese goldwork, and were probably made during the time where technical sophistication reached its peak. which could explain the fine detailing on the two gold rings.

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If you could have a room of your own, how would you set about decorating it? Chinoiserie? Japonaiserie?

I would choose chinoiserie for its elegance and beautiful floral, birds design that are commonly incorporated into the chinoserie themed rooms.1

 

One such example is this room in the picture above. The wallpaper has an elegant pastel shade together with a incorporation of nature where the plants and birds coexist together. I find these type of wall paper pleasant and interesting to look at. They bring a different tone to the home environment, making it seem more fancy and expensive.

The blue tone of the porcelain brings in a nice orient edge to the room.

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Chinoserie themed rooms also have geometric elements that i like. The geometric elements have a clean look, contrasting well with the complicated floral designs. This is shown in the interior design picture above.

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Chinoserie themed rooms have upholstery with gorgeous tailored detailing and trim, lavish mirrors and antiques, beautiful lacquered oriental furniture that helps to create the atmosphere for the space.

week 6 : family

Most of the famous potraits are painted. They are of important people of history or painted by famous artists.

This painted portrait is of the washington family. I like how the painter portrayed the dynamic of the family, where the daughter and mother is smiling at the father, showing a close and tight knitted family. One of the daughter and mother is opening up the map for the father, showing their support for him in the context of his job and of history.

It is also interesting that the artist shows them smiling. This is due to the fact that history of portraits usually show a common sign of solemence.

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Such as this family portrait by picasso

Nowadays, family portaits are not painted. It would take too long and the family would be tired of posing. Now, technology has allowed us to take the portrait in an instant using a camera or a smartphone. The behavior of people towards portraits have also differed, people smile in portraits instead of looking solemn. Such as this photo of the British royal family.

week 5: labour

How have artists made us think about labor?

Banksys is a well known graffiti artist in the UK. His satiricastreet art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces.

One of his graffiti pieces is on child labor, a child working on a sewing machine. By placing his art piece on a publicly visible wall surface, he is able to get more people to see his artwork, ponder and reflect on the idea of child labor, how much of the stuff we use today that are gotten at the expense of these children. This approach towards art and social issues is particularly refreshing.

Hardworking folk: Artist Laxman’s Aelay’s artwork

There are also art exhibitions that stimulate our thoughts on the topic of labor.

To make us stop and think, the ongoing art exhibition, Labour of Love, at Ailamma Art Gallery highlights the work of labourers from different fields. How many times have you passed a construction site, without noticing the labourers who were toiling around in the heat? How many times have you eaten your food without thinking about the poor farmer who works hard to grow crops?

Take for instance the mixed art works of artist Mahesh Potabathini that depicts the lives of weavers. The two artworks showcase a girl with strips of cloth pasted over the painting. “In a weaver’s family, the entire family gets together to do the work, everyone gets involved in the work,” says the artist who comes from a weaver family himself. The work is rightfully titled Colours for whom and Mahesh explains, “Weavers’ lives are full of colours, but not for themselves, the hard work that they put in is  for making colourful clothes for someone else and they are still happy despite how difficult things get, that is what I wanted to depict,” he explains.

Week 4

How does Allan Sekula’s engagement with the sea, help us to think about trade in the 16th century?

Through his documentaries, Sekula insists we must attend to capitalism and labour, to unequal power and space. In his documentaries, he introduced the fact that in modern day capitalism, a large part of trade still deals with exchange of goods from sea ports all over the world, continuing the traditions of trade in the past. This is surprising to me as technologies have evolved since the past, I wrongfully assumed that most trade would be by air, a more efficient way to bring across goods. This reminds me of the importance of the sea in trade, be it the modern day economy or the economy in the 16th century.

Trade in the 16th century were mainly only rich countries who were able to build and send their ships, influencing culture and religions, also exploitation of labour in the poorer countries. To a certain extent, it relates to capitalism in the modern world. There is an exploitation of labour, where people are lowly paid, cultures and values are being influenced by the media, religions have also become wide spread

Week 3 Who is another female patron of the arts?

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603), Queen of England and Ireland, was another female patron of the arts, albeit not of painting or such, but of drama. She was also known as The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

Queen Elizabeth was the patron of the famous William Shakespeare. Queen Elizabeth greatly loved drama, devoted herself to the study of the ancient classical period; she also delighted in our own theatrical entertainments, and used her influence in the progress of the English drama, and fostered the inimitable genius of Shakespeare. In regard to her taste for the ancient stage, Sir Roger Naunton tells us “That the great Queen translated one of the tragedies of Euripides from the original Greek for her amusement.” Shakespeare was ardently attracted to Elizabeth and her Court, and proved a faithful servant to his royal mistress. The first evidence of this is in his fine eulogy of the virgin queen in that most sweetly poetical early drama, A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, as “a fair vestal throned by the west”; the play was probably produced for a special Court performance.