Roy Lichtenstein And Pop Art
Roy Lichtenstein was a great contemporary artist of his time. He grew up in New York during the 1920’s. Lichtenstein’s father was a realtor, and his mother was a house wife. He was known as the most sophisticated of the pop artist with his unique paintings. During his time in high school, there was no curriculum course for art at his school, but he still began to paint as a hobby during his junior year of high school. Lichtenstein received much motivation from a very famous artist known as Picasso. Lichtenstein was admired by Picasso’s Blue and Rose period Paintings, and was a big fan of the jazz musicians (Lucie-Smith, par. 2).
Lichtenstein was a teacher throughout his career, while teacher at Rutgers University during the 1960’s. Being an artist at first for Roy wasn’t that easy, his first pop art painting was a dollar bill in 1956, and he got barely any attention for it. The painting was classified as “Abstract Expressionist”, and during the 1957-1960 period, Lichtenstein’s work was broadly spoken (Lucie-Smith, par. 3). Lichtenstein later became well known as an artist, when people began comparing him with Andy Warhol, who was considered the best of the pop art movement until Lichtenstein came about.
Lichtenstein one day took his paintings “unannounced to the Leo Castillo Gallery, and was almost immediately accepted for his exhibition there, in preference to Andy Warhol, who had started doing similar work” (Lucie-Smith, par. 5). Lichtenstein began his career in 1963, after doing his first show with Castelli which launched him on a huge career and made him successful. After becoming known for his art, Lichtenstein left Rutgers, and moved back to New York where he quit teaching altogether to focus on his art (Lucie-Smith, par. 5).
During an interview with Gene R. Swenson, Lichtenstein was asked “What is Pop Art?” Lichtenstein then answered, “I don’t know- the use of commercial art as a subject matter in painting, I suppose. It was hard to get a painting that was despicable enough so that no one would hang it… The one thing everyone hated was commercial art; apparently they didn’t hate that enough either” (Janson, Anthony F. 945). Basically, even though many people didn’t like commercial art, Lichtenstein’s was so unique; it was hard for the people to stay away. He was an artist too unique for some, and one of the best of his time in the pop art field.
Today, Lichtenstein has a trio of paintings in the art gallery at the Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. The paintings include Meat, Strong Hand, and Desk Calendar, which were all painted during the year of 1962. Lichtenstein lived a beautiful career, but sadly died not too long ago. His life ended of pneumonia on September 29, 1997; he was 73, but left behind his legacy of the best pop artist of his time (Lenin Imports, par. 1, 16).
Roy Lichtenstein was an artist that was of the pop art movement. He is very famous for many of his paintings, but Whaam! and Blam! are two of his paintings in which Lichtenstein expresses his art work greatly. Blam! is a painting in which Lichtenstein used oil on canvas to develop. The oil on canvas gives the painting a unique style and the colors explode in your face. Whaam! is another painting painted the same way, but Lichtenstein has something extra behind his paintings. In these two paintings, along with many others by Lichtenstein, it seems people or something is in danger. Lichtenstein may have created these paintings to express the violence of war during the times of the 1960’s in cartoon as a way of having his fans figure out an aspect of the war their own way, as if one was reading a comic book. Also, there may be a deeper connection between these paintings in which Lichtenstein hopes his fans would recognize.
Blam! is a painting by Lichtenstein that is of the work of a comic book style of painting. The painting has very bright colors that explode in your face while observing it. The main object in the painting is an airplane that seems to only be capable of holding one passenger. The plane is tipped upside down in midair, and there is a man or some sort of black shadow figure falling from the plane. Surrounding the plane is a huge explosion of colors that seem to express the fact that a bomb has just exploded. The colors consist of yellow, red, orange, orange-red and black. The colors of the airplane consist of white, red, a dark shade of blue and there is a number three on the side of the plane. In the front of the plane, there is a huge hole or opening in which maybe a propeller was to be, but was blown off. The colors inside the hole are interesting, and consist of a shadow black deep inside the hole and a red color on the outside of the hole. There is one star figure on each of the wings of the plane. The left wing shows a blue star and the right wing a red star. At the bottom of the painting, the cover in which the pilot was inside of seems to have fallen off and is in midair falling with the man that has fell out of the plane. Inside of the explosion, there is the word BLAM in all caps and in a red color, with a black outline.
BLAM which is shown in the explosion inside the painting happens to be the title of the painting and may be a clue that the man in the plane was a target of some sort to be taken down. However, Lichtenstein’s paintings of war have been noticed by many people. “The images Lichtenstein appropriated from the war comics of the time become some of his most widely recognized works in the early 1960’s” (Lobel, Michael. 95). While people viewed this painting, as well as others by Lichtenstein, such as Whaam! and Okay, Hot-Shot, many wondered what the purpose of these paintings were. “All three depict intense moments of aerial warfare, and they show how Lichtenstein manipulated his source materials (especially details like explosion) to render highly abstracted shapes in his canvases, another instance of his alteration of his sources to achieve the greatest formal effect” (Lobel, Michael. 95). Lichtenstein depicting this image on war leads to my thesis in which I described how I believe Lichtenstein was heading toward the theme of war. Also, the colors in the painting have a connection towards our country. The plane itself is white, and the stars on the wings are blue and red. The colors of our country are red, white and blue, and I believe Lichtenstein was heading toward creating this painting with similarities to our country. Lichtenstein was always known for having his paintings filled with comic styled creativity and had many people guessing. “His Blam! is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the taste and the fantasy life of the public. Trivially familiar as the form and iconography are, they create a powerful effect when written large and out of context.” Basically, Lichtenstein was trying to express his feelings towards his country and the war in this painting, but also used his unique style of painting to sort of hide the main point (Wilkins. 1116).
Lichtenstein also used the Benday dot technique in this painting, to create a large-scale painting. This style was “popular in commercial printing to make large-scale paintings with comic-strip imagery.” “The artist navigated the minefield of categories used to differentiate between high and low culture-unique/reproduced, original/copy, high culture/mass culture-by creating a formally resolved composition of an exploding airplane rendered through a controlled, repetitive, and seemingly mechanical technique” (Cavallaro, Dani. 92). To get deeper into this painting, it is nothing more than a cliché of Lichtenstein. He wanted to stress the fact that the painting was a symbol of America by using the colors of our flag. Also he shows the meaning of war through explosions and violence. However, Lichtenstein may have painted this piece to simply express entertainment to his fans. People who read comic books look for action and violence. This painting depicts that for those who admire no meaning towards paintings, but for those who analyze and try to find the means of the piece may end up going into depth about war and the colors of our country. “The incongruity of scale and significance is matched in a different Medium by Roy Lichtenstein, who reconstructs on a giant scale the thudding clichés and earsplitting rhetoric of comic strips devoured daily by millions” (Kleiner, Fred S. 461). To get too the conclusion of this painting, maybe Lichtenstein used the oil on canvas and the Benday dot technique as better entertainment for his fans of comics. The larger scale of the painting may have been to create a massive case of disaster in which many fans of war love to see.
Whaam! is another painting of Lichtenstein similar to that of Blam!, in many ways. This painting uses many distinct colors and the same process of oil on canvas. The main focus in this painting would have to be the plane shooting rockets at another plane. The colors basically match those of the painting Blam!, and show sort of the same effect. This time, the plane that is more in focus is right side up and is still in perfect condition. Underneath the plane there is a cloud of smoke and some distinct colors such as yellow, red, green, and blue. Maybe, adding the cloud of smoke and the streak of colors is a way of Lichtenstein to show the speed at which the plane was traveling. In the upper portion of the painting, there is a caption that displays a message. “I pressed the fire control… and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky…” For some reason, this message gives me the feeling that maybe the plane shooting the rockets hit one of his own men on accident and he sat and watched the explosion just thinking of the tragedy he just caused. This leads to the second portion of the painting, which is another plane just seconds away from being upside down and is on fire in a huge explosion. The colors are definitely made to represent danger, because there colors we see in magazines that give us the feeling of danger. The colors are black, red, white, and yellow. At the top of the plane that is exploding, Lichtenstein though of painting the word WHAAM! in all capital letters above the explosion. WHAAM! happens to be the title of this painting and Lichtenstein did the same sort of technique in the last painting I described Blam!. Lichtenstein painted this piece for all the same reasons he painted Blam!. He wanted to focus on war and the aspect of war.
However I believe Lichtenstein wanted to get deeper into the war aspect by trying to prove that war can also hurt the ones on your side. In this painting, a pilot has hurt another pilot in which I believe was an accident, but Lichtenstein created to show sort of a comic book comedy to determine that accidents happen. “Whaam!” is based on an image from ‘All American Men of War’ published by DC comics in 1962. Throughout the 1960’s, Lichtenstein frequently drew on commercial art sources such as comic images or advertisements, attracted by the way highly emotional subject matter could be depicted using detached techniques. Transferring this to a painting context, Lichtenstein could present powerfully charged scenes in an impersonal manner, leaving the viewer to decipher meanings for themselves. Although he was careful to retain the character of his source, Lichtenstein also explored the formal qualities of commercial imagery and techniques. In these works as in “Whaam!”, he adapted and developed the original composition to produce an intensely stylized painting” (Lobel, Michael. 95). Giving this information, I realized that Lichtenstein was doing this painting for more entertainment reasons, because it was published by DC comics. Those who read DC comics aren’t looking for depth in art, but for entertainment.
While searching deep into this piece of art, I noticed a great metaphor. In Whaam! the plane that has been shot down may be a symbol of the comic book style of painting. After the 1960’s Lichtenstein gave up on his comic style characters and ideas, to get more into the works of Picasso, and Mondrian and big artists like them. Since this was one of Lichtenstein’s last paintings that showed a character of comic style, maybe he wanted to get deeper in his meaning. The plane exploding and being ruined, possible is being compared with the times of comic book style back in the 1960’s, and the plane is going down, because the time has come for Lichtenstein to end the style as well. “Roy Lichtenstein’s works may at first have appeared trapped within a limited format; but as he kept exploring, he continued to discover new range and diversity. His works became unmistakably American as he progressed—pop icons were used to (arguably) portray the events that were occurring in his own life. For example, he painted the images of attractive young woman in distress (“Drowning Girl” and “Frightened Girl”) as his marriage was breaking up in the mid-1960’s. Particularly poignant is his canvas “In the Car,” which illustrates a strained and chilly silence between a young couple in a car” (“ARTtalk” par. 11). This source here gives me the idea that Lichtenstein knew he was becoming an artist with better ideas and a bigger ego. This concludes me to believe that Lichtenstein gave up on the comic style of characters, because he knew he was more than that and wanted to express it through his work. However after doing some research I discovered I was right, for those reasons, but he also gave up for others. “By the late 1960’s, pop art had faded and Lichtenstein stopped using comic book characters as source material, focusing instead on works that were reminiscent of Picasso, C,zanne, and Mondrian. True to his style, he treated these works much the same as Andy Warhol handled the images of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley—as brand names of popular culture” (“ARTtalk” par. 11).
Lichtenstein was a man who had creativity in his work, and sometimes even hid some clever clues to how he was painting his paintings. While analyzing the two paintings Whaam! and Blam!, a connection by Lichtenstein may have been created. This connection may not have been what Lichtenstein was searching for while creating these two fine pieces of work, but maybe he was trying to create a mystery. In the first painting Blam!, it is of a plane being blown up and a man falling out. The painting was created in 1962 which was before the painting Whaam!. At first Lichtenstein probably painted Blam! for the style of war, but as the year went by, he may have decided to add to the painting. Whaam! was painted in 1963, a year after Blam! and in this painting, it is of a pilot who shoots down another plane probably by mistake. However, the mystery by Lichtenstein could be that the plane is the same plane from Blam!, that is being shot down and explodes. Lichtenstein may have done this as a mystery for his fans to solve while searching through his work. At first when Lichtenstein painted Whaam!, there may have not been another plane being shot down. Then as he figured out he has a painting of a plane being brought down, he added it to the work of Whaam! to give it the cool explosion everyone loves.
Discovering this mystery, first up was looking at the titles of the paintings, and realizing that they rhyme and are basically the same word accept for some minor differences. They also mean the same thing in a way, which could be destruction, because the word destruction can easily be interpreted with the sound effects “Whaam! and Blam!. Then looking at the dates in which the two pieces of art were created, it helped to figure out they were only a year apart. Lastly, came the idea that if Lichtenstein painted a plane being shot down, there has to be something that shot it down. Once he painted Whaam! Lichtenstein may have thought that the man in the plane could be the reason of the plane being brought down in Blam!. All of these fine ideas may have been the inspiration Lichtenstein used to create two of his very famous and beautiful paintings.
Roy Lichtenstein was a man of many mysteries and talents, and expressed them in his paintings. His unique comic book style was very well known, and he was recognized as one of the best of the style. His paintings depict many meanings, and can be viewed in any way necessary. However, Lichtenstein should always be remembered as one of the best artist during the emergence of pop art.
Works Cited
“ARTtalk.” A Little Art History. November, 1997.
http://www.arttalk.com/archives/vol-08/artv0801-1.htm
Great source from the internet, I got much information from this. Described my artist wonderfully and gave me some good stuff on his style of painting.
Cavallaro, Dani. Art for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., 2000.
Here they describe the basics of art, and what is used for it. I got some nice information with this source. I found out what Lichtenstein uses to create his work, along with being able to view some paintings from other artists who use the same style as Lichtenstein for their work.
Janson, Anthony F. and Janson, H.W. History of Art. 5th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 1997.
This was a great source that could be used for any type of art. It focuses on all art types, and I found some great information for my artist. This includes an interview with my artist, a couple paintings from my artist, and some information about how he uses his art and how it inspires him.
Kleiner, Fred S. and Tansey, Richard G. Gardner’s Art Through The Ages. 10th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
This source focuses on how Gardner believes art has changed throughout the years. I found some good information on my artist in this source and he was mentioned as a unique artist of his time.
Lenin Imports. Biography Roy Lichtenstein. March 23, 2009
http://www.leninimports.com/roy_lichtensteinb.html
Great website I found information on for Roy Lichtenstein. I used it in my paper and it helped me to analyze some points I made in my paper.
Lobel, Michael. Image Duplicator: ROY LICHTENSTEIN AND THE EMERGENCE OF POP ART. Ed. Walter Cahn. Yale University, 2002.
Great book I got from the library, and I used many pieces of information in my paper from this source. Worked out well for me.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists. September 1991.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/lichtenstein.html
Here I found some great information about the life of my artist. It was an article from a biography of Roy Lichtenstein that I found from a website. This should really help me in writing my biography of my artist.
Wilkins. David G and Zaczek, Iain. The Collins Big Book of Art – From Cave Art to Pop Art. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.
This source gave me some good information about my artist, because it focused on pop art, which is the main focus of my artist. In this source, I found out that Lichtenstein believes it is hard to find anyone who doesn’t appreciate his work.
Works Consulted
CoppleStone, Trewin. Art in Society – A Guide to the Visual Arts. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1983.
This source focused on how art is important, and the different styles of art. I found much information from this source. I found out what Lichtenstein focuses his art work on and how it is important. I also discovered how critics view his work.
Frazier, Nancy. The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History. New York: Penguin Reference, 2000.
This was more of a useless source for me. I found only a small piece of information. It was a dictionary of art, and basically gave me the answer to where Lichtenstein adopted his work. In the end, this actually could turn out too help me.
Gebhardt, Volker. The History of Art – An Illustrated Historical Overview. New York: Barron’s, 1997.
This source was an overall view of art throughout many years. I didn’t really find much information here, but I found a piece of artwork from my artist to focus on during my research.
Hartt, Frederick. Art – A History of Painting · Sculpture · Architecture. Vol. 2. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1976. 2 Vols.
Here I found out about the history of my artist and his unique style of painting. It told me how he came about his work, and I also found another piece of work by my artist to focus on. This source was a good piece of information.
Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. Ed. Dorothy Lichtenstein. Dr. Jack Cowart, Cassandra Lozano,
Natasha Sigmund. 2007. Foundation Staff, NY New York.
http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/frames.htm
This is a great source I found information about my artist from a website of my artist. Basically all I need to know I can get from this website.
Napoliello, Michael Jr. 101 Things I Don’t Know About Art. Newport Beach, CA: Literary Press, 2004.
This was another source that focused on the basics of art. I learned from it, but found barely any information about my artist. One thing I found was a nice piece of work by my artist that I can use for evaluation.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Act 3: Scene 1 Kenneth Branagh
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the famous line “To be or not to be-that is the question:” (64) has become very famous throughout history. In this scene, Hamlet is wondering whether or not he should kill himself. I watched three videos of actors trying to act out the famous Hamlet soliloquy, there is Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier. However, in my point of view, Kenneth Branagh has the best reenactment of the famous Hamlet for many reasons.
Watching the other two reenactments, I realized that Branagh was doing the best reenactment, because he acted the soliloquy out word for word and had the best delivery of lines, which includes pauses and spaces in the lines. The other two actors however changed it up a bit and used some of there own lines and actions in the videos. The tone of Hamlet in general is a huge aspect to why I chose this reenactment as the best. Branagh uses just the right tones and movements while he is acting his lines throughout the whole soliloquy and keeps me guessing.
Reading the scene, I got the feeling that Hamlet was whispering to himself because he didn’t want any one else to hear him. Then, after watching the scene by Branagh I realized that Branagh was also whispering in a soft tone while looking himself in the mirror just questioning as to what he should do. The other two videos I watched didn’t really inform me on what was actually happening to Hamlet in this scene. Watching Branagh, gave me a great idea that Hamlet has gone insane and may commit suicide. In the play, when Hamlet says “To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream.” (72-73) I figured Hamlet was yelling at the top of his lungs for any one to hear the news that maybe he just may kill himself. Then after watching the video, I realized Hamlet was whispering to himself very discretely while looking himself in the mirror as if he were talking to his soul. Hamlet knows he is alone in this scene and is speaking quietly so he is not heard.
I was very interested in the part of the reenactment, when Hamlet looks himself in the mirror during speaking the soliloquy. It just so happens that Polonius and the king were behind that mirror and it gave me the idea as too did Hamlet know they were behind that mirror and was speaking so they could hear him? Back to the part when Hamlet pulls out his dagger, it shows a quick flash of Polonius and the king and they are frightened. This made me wonder if Hamlet was pulling out the dagger as a sign to Polonius and the king as if they should watch out because he knew they were spying on him and he would get his revenge.
When Hamlet is talking to himself in the mirror, he begins to whisper with a lower tone and says “When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?” (83-84) This signifies that Hamlet is very much interested in killing himself because quietus means to quit, which basically means Hamlet is going to quit his life by killing himself. Then he says with a bare bodkin, which is a dagger of some sort. As Hamlet releases these words, in the play he takes out a dagger as if he is going to cut himself. When the dagger comes out, Hamlet is whispering to his reflection in the mirror and pointing at himself with the dagger as if this may be the end. Branagn does a brilliant job in selling this to me and I figured that at this point while reading the play that Hamlet was speaking loudly as if scared to kill himself, but then realized after watching the scene that Hamlet was whispering very softly.
When Hamlet says “And lose the name of action.” (96) he taps on the mirror with his dagger to signal Polonius and the king to pay attention. Then right after that, Ophelia walks into the room and Hamlet walks over to her and acts very nice and normal as if he were playing around with Polonius and the king and knew they were there. Polonius and the king figured Hamlet would be acting strangely in this scene, but after watching the scene I realized that Hamlet acted normal towards Ophelia to throw off Polonius and the king and make them wonder what is going on.
In conclusion, I believe the reenactment by Kenneth Branagh was the best of the three, because of his excellent word for word display of the famous soliloquy. Branagh acted out this scene answered many questions I had about how this scene was actually happening in Shakespeare’s point of view. After watching the video of Branagh I came to the conclusion that Hamlet knew he was alone, but was just acting strangely because he has gone mad by this point in the play. The other two actors did a very good unique version of Hamlet in their own way, but after analyzing all reenactments, I realized Branagh had the best solutions to my questions in the play.
Watching the other two reenactments, I realized that Branagh was doing the best reenactment, because he acted the soliloquy out word for word and had the best delivery of lines, which includes pauses and spaces in the lines. The other two actors however changed it up a bit and used some of there own lines and actions in the videos. The tone of Hamlet in general is a huge aspect to why I chose this reenactment as the best. Branagh uses just the right tones and movements while he is acting his lines throughout the whole soliloquy and keeps me guessing.
Reading the scene, I got the feeling that Hamlet was whispering to himself because he didn’t want any one else to hear him. Then, after watching the scene by Branagh I realized that Branagh was also whispering in a soft tone while looking himself in the mirror just questioning as to what he should do. The other two videos I watched didn’t really inform me on what was actually happening to Hamlet in this scene. Watching Branagh, gave me a great idea that Hamlet has gone insane and may commit suicide. In the play, when Hamlet says “To die, to sleep- To sleep, perchance to dream.” (72-73) I figured Hamlet was yelling at the top of his lungs for any one to hear the news that maybe he just may kill himself. Then after watching the video, I realized Hamlet was whispering to himself very discretely while looking himself in the mirror as if he were talking to his soul. Hamlet knows he is alone in this scene and is speaking quietly so he is not heard.
I was very interested in the part of the reenactment, when Hamlet looks himself in the mirror during speaking the soliloquy. It just so happens that Polonius and the king were behind that mirror and it gave me the idea as too did Hamlet know they were behind that mirror and was speaking so they could hear him? Back to the part when Hamlet pulls out his dagger, it shows a quick flash of Polonius and the king and they are frightened. This made me wonder if Hamlet was pulling out the dagger as a sign to Polonius and the king as if they should watch out because he knew they were spying on him and he would get his revenge.
When Hamlet is talking to himself in the mirror, he begins to whisper with a lower tone and says “When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?” (83-84) This signifies that Hamlet is very much interested in killing himself because quietus means to quit, which basically means Hamlet is going to quit his life by killing himself. Then he says with a bare bodkin, which is a dagger of some sort. As Hamlet releases these words, in the play he takes out a dagger as if he is going to cut himself. When the dagger comes out, Hamlet is whispering to his reflection in the mirror and pointing at himself with the dagger as if this may be the end. Branagn does a brilliant job in selling this to me and I figured that at this point while reading the play that Hamlet was speaking loudly as if scared to kill himself, but then realized after watching the scene that Hamlet was whispering very softly.
When Hamlet says “And lose the name of action.” (96) he taps on the mirror with his dagger to signal Polonius and the king to pay attention. Then right after that, Ophelia walks into the room and Hamlet walks over to her and acts very nice and normal as if he were playing around with Polonius and the king and knew they were there. Polonius and the king figured Hamlet would be acting strangely in this scene, but after watching the scene I realized that Hamlet acted normal towards Ophelia to throw off Polonius and the king and make them wonder what is going on.
In conclusion, I believe the reenactment by Kenneth Branagh was the best of the three, because of his excellent word for word display of the famous soliloquy. Branagh acted out this scene answered many questions I had about how this scene was actually happening in Shakespeare’s point of view. After watching the video of Branagh I came to the conclusion that Hamlet knew he was alone, but was just acting strangely because he has gone mad by this point in the play. The other two actors did a very good unique version of Hamlet in their own way, but after analyzing all reenactments, I realized Branagh had the best solutions to my questions in the play.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Artist I Chose is...
Dear Mr. Ryan Gallagher:
The artist I chose to research is a contemporary artist known as Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein was born in New York in 1923. He is known for being one of the best of the pop art movement. Lichtenstein’s art interests me, because it is very unique and his art reminds me of comic book characters in a way. A couple of my favorite pieces of art by Lichtenstein are Blam and In the Car. The art Blam really interests me, because I’m into art work that was done with oil painting, because my grandfather used to paint the same way. The colors Lichtenstein used in the painting are really colorful and are easy to see. They remind me of colors most seen in comic books. The same goes with the painting In the Car, because it has unique colors and gives me the feeling as reading a comic book. It also gives me the idea that Lichtenstein may have been into woman and being a spy, because he draws many blonde woman and the scene seems sort of old school spy work.
My initial research led me to find out that Lichtenstein grew up in New York, which isn’t too far from here. Also, he wasn’t really influenced at a young age by art, and began making art at a young age. He went to college and began teaching as well in his hometown of New York. My most favorite thing about Lichtenstein is his unique comic book style paintings.
There are many places in which I can find information on my artist Lichtenstein. Wikipedia.org is a very good reference, along with google.com and Lichtensteinfoundation.org. A couple of other places I can find information about Lichtenstein can definitely be the local library, or a book store. Some more websites where I can find information on my artist are artchive.com, artcyclopedia.com, artelino.com, rogallery.com is good for paintings by Lichtenstein, and finally there is answers.com in which I can find valuable information.
My ideas for a thesis vary, because I haven’t really decided yet. Some ideas I have include a thesis about Lichtenstein’s unique comic book style and why he chose to do that. Another thesis could include writing on the unique colors and Lichtenstein’s unique way of drawing woman as blonde most of the time. Those are just a few I can think of, but there are many more ideas I can come up with.
Sincerely,
Chad Ortiz
The artist I chose to research is a contemporary artist known as Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein was born in New York in 1923. He is known for being one of the best of the pop art movement. Lichtenstein’s art interests me, because it is very unique and his art reminds me of comic book characters in a way. A couple of my favorite pieces of art by Lichtenstein are Blam and In the Car. The art Blam really interests me, because I’m into art work that was done with oil painting, because my grandfather used to paint the same way. The colors Lichtenstein used in the painting are really colorful and are easy to see. They remind me of colors most seen in comic books. The same goes with the painting In the Car, because it has unique colors and gives me the feeling as reading a comic book. It also gives me the idea that Lichtenstein may have been into woman and being a spy, because he draws many blonde woman and the scene seems sort of old school spy work.
My initial research led me to find out that Lichtenstein grew up in New York, which isn’t too far from here. Also, he wasn’t really influenced at a young age by art, and began making art at a young age. He went to college and began teaching as well in his hometown of New York. My most favorite thing about Lichtenstein is his unique comic book style paintings.
There are many places in which I can find information on my artist Lichtenstein. Wikipedia.org is a very good reference, along with google.com and Lichtensteinfoundation.org. A couple of other places I can find information about Lichtenstein can definitely be the local library, or a book store. Some more websites where I can find information on my artist are artchive.com, artcyclopedia.com, artelino.com, rogallery.com is good for paintings by Lichtenstein, and finally there is answers.com in which I can find valuable information.
My ideas for a thesis vary, because I haven’t really decided yet. Some ideas I have include a thesis about Lichtenstein’s unique comic book style and why he chose to do that. Another thesis could include writing on the unique colors and Lichtenstein’s unique way of drawing woman as blonde most of the time. Those are just a few I can think of, but there are many more ideas I can come up with.
Sincerely,
Chad Ortiz
All Souls Mix CD
1. Thanks for the Memories by Fall Out Boy- In this point of the memoir, the author Michael Patrick MacDonald has comeback to Southie after four years of staying away. His family is either dead or has moved away to Colorado. As he walks through Southie for the first time in four years, he starts to reminisce the good and bad times from when he was a boy growing up in Southie. He also visits a funeral of a young boy who was murdered and it makes him remember the death of his four brothers and lights four candles for each of them.
2. Welcome Back by Mase- The memoir has now switched roles. The author Michael Patrick MacDonald has gone back in time and has started telling the story of his childhood from where it has began. He begins the story of his life at Chapter 2 throughout the rest of the memoir. He has some good times in his life and bad times that are all expressed throughout the memoir.
3. Hard Knock Life by Jay-Z- Michael Patrick MacDonald and his family are living in the black projects called the Columbian Point Projects where everyone is extremely racist and being white in the neighborhood is not easy. Jay-Z represents life not being easy as well in his hit song Hard Knock Life which has a nice little chorus that mimics the theme from the hit movie Anne when she is in the foster home singing it’s a Hard Knock Life while being tortured in the foster home.
4. Good Life by Kanye West- In the following chapter, Chapter 3 to be exact, Michael Patrick MacDonald and his family now have moved to the Old Colony Housing Projects which is a lot more safe and comfortable for a white family living in Southie in the 70’s. Considering the fact that everyone who lives in the Old Colony Projects is of the white race. It’s not the best place in the world for someone to live, but for a family like Michael’s, it is Heaven.
5. Fight the Power by Public Enemy- Southie has now been turned into chaos. The whole city has gone against busing. The government of Southie has decided to bus blacks into Southie to go to the white schools and send whites to the black parts of Southie to go to blacks schools. Riots have broken out, people are being hurt, but there trying to fight the power and get their neighborhood back to normal, the way it was before busing.
6. Locked Up by Akon- Times are beginning to change into harsh situations. Michael’s oldest sibling, his brother David MacDonald has been acting mental and just not normal. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and locked up into a mental home for help and safe keeping. Michael talks about the times he and his mom visited David and how scared David was as well as how scared he was just to be in a place like that.
7. I Wish by R. Kelly- The worst thing that could have happened for Michael has happened. His oldest brother David has committed suicide by jumping off a roof right in front of their house. He couldn’t handle all the problems and voices he was hearing from his schizophrenia and just decided to end the suffering. In this song by R. Kelly, He has lost his mother and wishes she was back alive with him to help him get over his great loss, and he reminisces all the beautiful moments they spent together just as Michael Patrick MacDonald does with his lost brother David.
8. The World’s Greatest by R. Kelly- There is now some excitement in the life of the MacDonald’s. Michael Patrick MacDonald’s older brother Francis Xavier MacDonald has become more concerned for his family and wants to make it out of the projects and take his whole family with him. He becomes the best heavy weight boxer in Boston, Massachusetts and beats all the toughest opponents in the area. He is about to make it and R. Kelly talks about how he has made it through this powerful song.
9. Hey Mama by Kanye West- Francis Xavier MacDonald has almost made it, until he was caught up in something stupid like trying to rob a truck of money and being shot and killed. His was told to be the favorite child of Helen MacDonald King, the mother of Michael Patrick MacDonald and all the other children. He was known all over Boston and was close to making it out the projects until this tragedy struck. His mother is now heart broken and will always remember Frank as they called him as a hard worker and the one who truly cared for the family. Kanye West talks about how he has made it and has helped them out the harsh life in this touching song.
10. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman- Michael Patrick MacDonald’s life could not be any worse; his mother and his whole family have lost four children or siblings, and now want nothing more to get out of the ghetto. Michael’s mother now has two more little ones who are now a little older from aging throughout the book, but not old enough to have experienced all the horrible that has happened. The mother wants nothing more then for her babies to get out of Southie before something horrible haunts the family again. Tracy Chapman tells the story of her life and how she wanted to just get away by driving a fast car through the city into a new city to live a better life in this touching song.
2. Welcome Back by Mase- The memoir has now switched roles. The author Michael Patrick MacDonald has gone back in time and has started telling the story of his childhood from where it has began. He begins the story of his life at Chapter 2 throughout the rest of the memoir. He has some good times in his life and bad times that are all expressed throughout the memoir.
3. Hard Knock Life by Jay-Z- Michael Patrick MacDonald and his family are living in the black projects called the Columbian Point Projects where everyone is extremely racist and being white in the neighborhood is not easy. Jay-Z represents life not being easy as well in his hit song Hard Knock Life which has a nice little chorus that mimics the theme from the hit movie Anne when she is in the foster home singing it’s a Hard Knock Life while being tortured in the foster home.
4. Good Life by Kanye West- In the following chapter, Chapter 3 to be exact, Michael Patrick MacDonald and his family now have moved to the Old Colony Housing Projects which is a lot more safe and comfortable for a white family living in Southie in the 70’s. Considering the fact that everyone who lives in the Old Colony Projects is of the white race. It’s not the best place in the world for someone to live, but for a family like Michael’s, it is Heaven.
5. Fight the Power by Public Enemy- Southie has now been turned into chaos. The whole city has gone against busing. The government of Southie has decided to bus blacks into Southie to go to the white schools and send whites to the black parts of Southie to go to blacks schools. Riots have broken out, people are being hurt, but there trying to fight the power and get their neighborhood back to normal, the way it was before busing.
6. Locked Up by Akon- Times are beginning to change into harsh situations. Michael’s oldest sibling, his brother David MacDonald has been acting mental and just not normal. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and locked up into a mental home for help and safe keeping. Michael talks about the times he and his mom visited David and how scared David was as well as how scared he was just to be in a place like that.
7. I Wish by R. Kelly- The worst thing that could have happened for Michael has happened. His oldest brother David has committed suicide by jumping off a roof right in front of their house. He couldn’t handle all the problems and voices he was hearing from his schizophrenia and just decided to end the suffering. In this song by R. Kelly, He has lost his mother and wishes she was back alive with him to help him get over his great loss, and he reminisces all the beautiful moments they spent together just as Michael Patrick MacDonald does with his lost brother David.
8. The World’s Greatest by R. Kelly- There is now some excitement in the life of the MacDonald’s. Michael Patrick MacDonald’s older brother Francis Xavier MacDonald has become more concerned for his family and wants to make it out of the projects and take his whole family with him. He becomes the best heavy weight boxer in Boston, Massachusetts and beats all the toughest opponents in the area. He is about to make it and R. Kelly talks about how he has made it through this powerful song.
9. Hey Mama by Kanye West- Francis Xavier MacDonald has almost made it, until he was caught up in something stupid like trying to rob a truck of money and being shot and killed. His was told to be the favorite child of Helen MacDonald King, the mother of Michael Patrick MacDonald and all the other children. He was known all over Boston and was close to making it out the projects until this tragedy struck. His mother is now heart broken and will always remember Frank as they called him as a hard worker and the one who truly cared for the family. Kanye West talks about how he has made it and has helped them out the harsh life in this touching song.
10. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman- Michael Patrick MacDonald’s life could not be any worse; his mother and his whole family have lost four children or siblings, and now want nothing more to get out of the ghetto. Michael’s mother now has two more little ones who are now a little older from aging throughout the book, but not old enough to have experienced all the horrible that has happened. The mother wants nothing more then for her babies to get out of Southie before something horrible haunts the family again. Tracy Chapman tells the story of her life and how she wanted to just get away by driving a fast car through the city into a new city to live a better life in this touching song.
Roy Lichtenstein Bio/Thesis
Roy Lichtenstein was a great contemporary artist of his time. He grew up in New York during the 1920’s and his parents were a realtor and a housewife. He was known as the most sophisticated of the pop artist with his unique paintings. During his time in high school, there was no curriculum for art at his school, but he still began to paint as a hobby during his junior year of high school. Lichtenstein received much motivation from a very famous artist known as Picasso. Lichtenstein was admired by Picasso’s Blue and Rose period Paintings, and was a big fan of the jazz musicians. (Lucie-Smith, par. 2)
Lichtenstein was a teacher throughout his career, while teacher at Rutgers University during the 1960’s. Being an artist at first for Roy wasn’t that easy, his first pop art painting was a dollar bill in 1956, and he got barely any attention for it. The painting was classified as “Abstract Expressionist”, and during the 1957-1960 period, Lichtenstein’s work was broadly spoken. (Lucie-Smith, par. 3) Lichtenstein began to become well known as an artist, when people began comparing him with Andy Warhol, who was considered the best of the pop art movement until Lichtenstein came about.
Lichtenstein one day took his paintings “unannounced to the Leo Castillo Gallery, and was almost immediately accepted for his exhibition there, in preference to Andy Warhol, who had started doing similar work.” (Lucie-Smith, par. 5) Lichtenstein began his career in 1963, after doing his first show with Castelli which launched him on a huge career and made him successful. After becoming known for his art, Lichtenstein left Rutgers, and moved back to New York where he quit teaching altogether to focus on his art. (Lucie-Smith, par. 5)
During an interview with Gene R. Swenson, Lichtenstein was asked “What is Pop Art?” Lichtenstein then answered, “I don’t know- the use of commercial art as a subject matter in painting, I suppose. It was hard to get a painting that was despicable enough so that no one would hang it… The one thing everyone hated was commercial art; apparently they didn’t hate that enough either.” (Janson, Anthony F. Pg.945) Basically, even though many people didn’t like commercial art, Lichtenstein’s was so unique; it was hard for the people to stay away. He was an artist too unique for some, and one of the best of his time in the pop art field.
Today, Lichtenstein has a trio of paintings in the art gallery at the Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. The paintings include Meat, Strong Hand, and Desk Calendar, which were all painted during the year of 1962. Lichtenstein lived a beautiful career, but sadly died not to long ago. His life ended of pneumonia on September 29, 1997; he was 73, but left behind his legacy of the best pop artist of his time. (Lenin Imports, Paragraphs, 1, 16)
Roy Lichtenstein was an artist that was of the pop art movement. He is very famous for many of his paintings, but Drowning Girl and Blam! are two of his paintings in which Lichtenstein expresses his art work greatly. Blam! is a painting in which Lichtenstein used oil on canvas to develop. The oil on canvas gives the painting a unique style and the colors explode in your face. Drowning Girl is another painting painted the same way, but I feel Lichtenstein has something extra behind his paintings. In these two paintings, along with many others by Lichtenstein, it seems people or something is in danger. I believe Lichtenstein uses his paintings to express the dangers of life and to bring out some of the trouble he had while growing up during his life as a pop art painter.
Lichtenstein was a teacher throughout his career, while teacher at Rutgers University during the 1960’s. Being an artist at first for Roy wasn’t that easy, his first pop art painting was a dollar bill in 1956, and he got barely any attention for it. The painting was classified as “Abstract Expressionist”, and during the 1957-1960 period, Lichtenstein’s work was broadly spoken. (Lucie-Smith, par. 3) Lichtenstein began to become well known as an artist, when people began comparing him with Andy Warhol, who was considered the best of the pop art movement until Lichtenstein came about.
Lichtenstein one day took his paintings “unannounced to the Leo Castillo Gallery, and was almost immediately accepted for his exhibition there, in preference to Andy Warhol, who had started doing similar work.” (Lucie-Smith, par. 5) Lichtenstein began his career in 1963, after doing his first show with Castelli which launched him on a huge career and made him successful. After becoming known for his art, Lichtenstein left Rutgers, and moved back to New York where he quit teaching altogether to focus on his art. (Lucie-Smith, par. 5)
During an interview with Gene R. Swenson, Lichtenstein was asked “What is Pop Art?” Lichtenstein then answered, “I don’t know- the use of commercial art as a subject matter in painting, I suppose. It was hard to get a painting that was despicable enough so that no one would hang it… The one thing everyone hated was commercial art; apparently they didn’t hate that enough either.” (Janson, Anthony F. Pg.945) Basically, even though many people didn’t like commercial art, Lichtenstein’s was so unique; it was hard for the people to stay away. He was an artist too unique for some, and one of the best of his time in the pop art field.
Today, Lichtenstein has a trio of paintings in the art gallery at the Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. The paintings include Meat, Strong Hand, and Desk Calendar, which were all painted during the year of 1962. Lichtenstein lived a beautiful career, but sadly died not to long ago. His life ended of pneumonia on September 29, 1997; he was 73, but left behind his legacy of the best pop artist of his time. (Lenin Imports, Paragraphs, 1, 16)
Roy Lichtenstein was an artist that was of the pop art movement. He is very famous for many of his paintings, but Drowning Girl and Blam! are two of his paintings in which Lichtenstein expresses his art work greatly. Blam! is a painting in which Lichtenstein used oil on canvas to develop. The oil on canvas gives the painting a unique style and the colors explode in your face. Drowning Girl is another painting painted the same way, but I feel Lichtenstein has something extra behind his paintings. In these two paintings, along with many others by Lichtenstein, it seems people or something is in danger. I believe Lichtenstein uses his paintings to express the dangers of life and to bring out some of the trouble he had while growing up during his life as a pop art painter.
Meta Paper on Faulkner
This assignment was very creative and took good imagination. The assignment was to choose a story from either Faulkner or Hemingway and re-write it as Faulkner if it was from Hemingway or re-write it as Hemingway if it was from Faulkner. I chose to re-write A Clean, Well-Lighted Place as Faulkner, because it was a sort of short story by Hemingway but I feel if Faulkner wrote it he could have made it a lot longer with much more detail.
To start off, I opened the story with much detail in describing the setting and the old man, because I feel Faulkner would have done the same. Then I took pieces of the story by Hemingway and pieced them together to make the story seem shorter but with much more detail as Faulkner would have done. While writing this short story, I used some time and describing scenes in detail as well as the characters. I also used dialogue a lot in order for the readers to get a better feel for the characters as Faulkner does in his stories.
The story by Hemingway wasn’t in much detail and I feel he should have added more so that the reader could find out more about the characters, especially the old man. After re-writing Hemingway as Faulkner, I used comments to comment what I did to mimic Faulkner’s writing style. The comments were a good idea, because it lets me know what I did just in case I forget, or if anyone asks, it’s written there for them. One last thing I did in this re-write was use characterization to describe the characters. The old man was the one I focused on more throughout the writing, because he was the main character. Faulkner uses much characterization in his short story A Rose for Emily, so much that I felt I knew the characters and thought I was there in the small town.
To start off, I opened the story with much detail in describing the setting and the old man, because I feel Faulkner would have done the same. Then I took pieces of the story by Hemingway and pieced them together to make the story seem shorter but with much more detail as Faulkner would have done. While writing this short story, I used some time and describing scenes in detail as well as the characters. I also used dialogue a lot in order for the readers to get a better feel for the characters as Faulkner does in his stories.
The story by Hemingway wasn’t in much detail and I feel he should have added more so that the reader could find out more about the characters, especially the old man. After re-writing Hemingway as Faulkner, I used comments to comment what I did to mimic Faulkner’s writing style. The comments were a good idea, because it lets me know what I did just in case I forget, or if anyone asks, it’s written there for them. One last thing I did in this re-write was use characterization to describe the characters. The old man was the one I focused on more throughout the writing, because he was the main character. Faulkner uses much characterization in his short story A Rose for Emily, so much that I felt I knew the characters and thought I was there in the small town.
Metacognition Paper
First off, I started with the Mix CD for the memoir All Souls. I went through the memoir and split it into 10 pieces, one for each song. I searched for powerful sections of the book that I could correspond with songs that I know would fit the memoir properly. There are some songs that involve peaceful and happy times the family went through, then there are the songs that represent the harsh times. I put the songs on the CD from how the book went from start to finish. There were some repetitions of harsh times that eventually led to a repetition of good times. To make sure the song was perfect for the text I looked up the lyrics and read them to get a good understanding. I then read the text to make sure it was right for the song. I am a big fan of music which is why I chose this project out of the five I had to choose from. Music inspires me as this memoir did, not only because it was about a man who went through rough times to becoming a famous author, but because the setting is in Boston. After putting the songs on the CD, I then explained why the song was good for the memoir. I explained the text that I chose for the piece of music and why they corresponded well together. I also compared the song with the text. To get the music, I had to download the songs off Limewire and make sure they were in good condition. I then burnt the CD and got it ready for listening. I believe I complete this assignment well and I did what was asked. I wouldn’t really change anything I did, accept for maybe getting the songs in a more respectable way other than Limewire. This assignment helped me to better understand text by comparing it with other things I like, for example music. This assignment was interesting for me and I enjoyed doing it.
I then wrote a filler chapter to my book, between Chapters eight and nine. I called the chapter “Chapter 8.5”, and I changed the way Michael Patrick MacDonald’s life took place by making my own happier and more inspirational piece. First off, I went through the memoir to find the perfect piece of the text to expand on. I then found the piece that involved Michael’s brother Frankie being killed after he made it so far into boxing, beating the toughest of opponents. Then a tragedy of murder took his life and wonderful career. In my opinion, I think the story would have sounded a lot better if the brother Frankie had gotten shit like he did, but instead of dying, he came back from therapy and won a boxing championship. I know this is a memoir and it really happened so nothing I can do can bring poor Frankie back, but I liked to make believe that Michael’s family got lucky and became wealthy from Frankie’s boxing and all the money he would bring to the family. After piling up all my thoughts, I wrote the paper as in the mind of Michael Patrick MacDonald by using his style of writing. He writes freely and likes to go from bad to good times, or past to present. He also likes to bring up his mom a lot while writing his memoir and I did so as well in rewriting the chapter. After doing this assignment, Michael Patrick MacDonald has become my favorite author and I would love to read more books by him in the future. I had some trouble with figuring out the exact writing style of Michael, but I got familiar with it and did what I had to do. I wouldn’t change much from what I did, accept maybe go deeper into the text and try and become one with Michael, but I feel I did I good job and got the job done.
I then wrote a filler chapter to my book, between Chapters eight and nine. I called the chapter “Chapter 8.5”, and I changed the way Michael Patrick MacDonald’s life took place by making my own happier and more inspirational piece. First off, I went through the memoir to find the perfect piece of the text to expand on. I then found the piece that involved Michael’s brother Frankie being killed after he made it so far into boxing, beating the toughest of opponents. Then a tragedy of murder took his life and wonderful career. In my opinion, I think the story would have sounded a lot better if the brother Frankie had gotten shit like he did, but instead of dying, he came back from therapy and won a boxing championship. I know this is a memoir and it really happened so nothing I can do can bring poor Frankie back, but I liked to make believe that Michael’s family got lucky and became wealthy from Frankie’s boxing and all the money he would bring to the family. After piling up all my thoughts, I wrote the paper as in the mind of Michael Patrick MacDonald by using his style of writing. He writes freely and likes to go from bad to good times, or past to present. He also likes to bring up his mom a lot while writing his memoir and I did so as well in rewriting the chapter. After doing this assignment, Michael Patrick MacDonald has become my favorite author and I would love to read more books by him in the future. I had some trouble with figuring out the exact writing style of Michael, but I got familiar with it and did what I had to do. I wouldn’t change much from what I did, accept maybe go deeper into the text and try and become one with Michael, but I feel I did I good job and got the job done.
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