Week 11 - Bio Art

I find bio art to be incredibly interesting because it raises so many different questions. The art form mixes art and science. such as Christina Nguyen Hung, who used bacteria to create a map of military airbases in Ira  Is it art or science? This type of art raises ethical questions because of much of it is based on experimentation with living things such as rabbits or trees. It okay to alter the biology of these things for our own amusement and entertainment, while possible harming the living thing? I certainly don't think so. If we as humans believe it's okay to perform bio art to animals against their will, who's to say that it won't be the case with other humans someday. It can easily lead to a slippery slope. 

Week 6 - Grid Art

In reviewing the links listed online, I begin to see a similarity in pointillism and grid art. Both of these styles of art can only be understood when the viewer is standing far away from the piece. By standing up close the art simple looks like an abstract art piece. This was especially true when looking at the Lego grid art. The artist was inspired by famous art works, like the Mona Lisa and American Gothic and remade them with Legos. Looking at these pieces up close they look like random blocks of color, like an abstract. When I stood away from my computer the whole piece came together and looked similar to the original work. Another example of this is the work of Jason Mecier. This artist uses various things such as pills, household items to make portraits of celebrities. Similarly to the Lego art these can only be fully appreciated if the viewer is standing away from the piece.

Week 3 - Al Jolson Blackface Minstrel Show

The film takes place on a riverboat stage with a large group of men singing well known Americana songs, like Oh Susanna and Suwanee River in black face. The entertainers were dressed in nice, flashing clothing. Some of the outfits were silk and others had sequins . The audience is completely white, and towards the end they stand up and sing with the performers. At the very end there is a shot of a black man picking cotton on a plantation. What I took away from the film was that it was a commentary on African American's role in U.S. society at the time. Black people were solely used by white people for labor or entertainment. A black person could be an performer, entertaining wealthy white people, or a laborer, picking the fields for white cotton plantation owners. Either way African Americans were used by white people or one purpose or another, and were certainly not equal to white Americans.

Week 4- Winsor McCoy Little Nemo

I thought this video clip was very interesting because it was two stories in one. There is the story of the animator who is drawing all these images to create an animated film, and the story of his animations. The wheel device that he used to make his drawings animated was interesting. It was so simply but it seemed to work really well. I was surprised that towards the end of the film the drawings were in color. These drawings were simple in the fact that there was no background detail or colors. Although the drawing consisted of only characters, the amount of action that these characters did in the drawings was impressive. The characters get bigger and smaller, and it some of the characters actually draw other characters! A dragon moves across the pages and turns into a thrown for a king and queen and two clowns driving a car blow up. I can't believe the detail and intercity for  cartoons that were created over one hundred years ago.

Final Video

Song is Collarbone by Fujiya & Miyaji

Jump rope rave

Unlike my last video, I wanted to be more upbeat and fun with this one. I haven't jump roped in over 10 years, so it was a challenge to make a video where I didn't make at least a few mistakes. Additionally the jump rope I used wasn't a quality jump rope, so that added a level of difficulty. I wish I would've worn more glow bracelets. I didn't realize how expensive they were, next time I would plan ahead of time and order some online in bulk. One of my favorite parts of this video is the music. I think the song fits perfectly to the theme of the video. 

Class Musical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dBgmXn77gM

Week 10 - Music Genres

The songs that I choose are my personal favorites. Since I've listened to all of these songs many times over, I am quite familiar with them.

Neo Psychedelic - Electric Feel by MGMT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9dSYgd5Elk
I choose this musician because many of the sounds that are in their songs are similar to the older psychedelic music of the 1970s. There music has a heavy use of sounds produced by electronics and not instruments. This song I picked in particular has many interesting and unique sounds. Even the music video has a psychedelic theme with the use of many colors and puppets. The use of psychedelic drugs is heavily implied in the music video. The music video is one of my favorites of all time.

House - Maliblue by Darius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntoMKM0ToP0

All the songs by Darius are strictly electronic. There are not any instruments used, and there are no vocals. House music is considered to be electronic dance music and his songs definitely fit the category. Although this song can be considered dance music, it isn't particularly high energy. The song has an element of tranquility to it which makes it great music or relaxing. I think one of the great features to house music is the same song can either be played for relaxation or high energy dancing.

Disco - Jive Talkin by The Bee Gees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBw25CrUS-o

The first thing that comes to mind when they hear the word disco is the Bee Gees. This song fits the categories of funk, pop and dance.  There is some use of electronics, but also instruments are played.

90s - Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8

I choose Nirvana because it is classic 90s. The main instruments are electric guitar, bass and drums. These three instruments were found in many 90s songs by popular musicians such as Blur and No Doubt. These are real instruments but the sounds are not acoustic, they are electronic. One thing I love in particular about Nirvana is that they were part of the grunge era of music in the early 90s.

Techo - Sandstorm by Darude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HQaBWziYvY

This song is one of the most popular techno songs of all time, which is why I choose it. It is a high energy dance song that is uses strictly electronics to create music. Like many techno songs there are no vocals. The beats are sounds throughout the song are repetitive.