Kramer's Spontaneous Art

With the age of 102, Kramer is the oldest dancer, poet, artist and costume designer. This artwork entitled “The inner stillness…”

Featured and organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Romare Bearden’s collection is one that appreciates and depicts life for what it really is. Bearden did not like abstract expressionism. Instead, he made many collages depicting life with different perspectives, allowing the viewer to see reality, but also try to figure out the true meaning that Bearden meant to portray in the collage that was not directly seen by just looking at the picture. These collages were made by “Cut and pasted printed, colored and metallic papers, photostats, pencil, ink marker, gouache, watercolor, and pen and ink on Masonite” (MET Museum). Bearden liked telling narratives within these collages involving Harlem life. Whether it was on the streets, inside

Uelsmann’s work was not well received in the photography community. His creations were not considered photography; however, he was well received in the art community. John Szarkowski hosted a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967. Uelsmann was considered “iconoclastic” and “set out to convince critics that photography offered alternatives to the conventional “purist” sensibility…” Uelsmann debated that photos could “evoke elusive states of feeling and thinking triggered by irrational and imaginative juxtaposition” (Kay). Uelsmann has succeeded in finding a following among photographers and artist alike. In the past forty years, Uelsmann’s work has been exhibited in over 100 solo shows throughout the US and overseas. He has permanent instillations in museums worldwide (Taylor). Uelsmann’s photos are now revered for their original technical form as well as their surreal matter (Johnson).

His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti done in a distinctive stenciling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.

“Street art is omnipresent in urban streets and is a rish source of inspiration for artistic creativity. . . It possesses the aesthetic voices of the ordinary and enables resistance for the marginalized. Banksy’s street art, in particular, can guide students to think about various social and political issues and to reflect upon the immediate, if not unjust, world in which they live, to transform that world, and to

Steven Spielberg once said “Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we’re too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone.” People used to read books before going to bed every night. In the book “Fahrenheit 451”, written by Ray Bradbury, books are not read anymore, they are actually illegal. People have technology that puts books on screens instead being read on paper. Many people tend to think that technology is helping society, but it is actually hurting society. Human beings today are glued to their televisions which proves that our society is nothing but a duplicate of Montag’s society. In the book, “Fahrenheit 451”, written by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s wife, Mildred, says “It’ll be even more fun when we can afford to have our fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get our fourth wall-TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars” (20). She is saying that she wants the fourth screen no matter how much it costs or what she has to do to get it. Most of the people in this society think the same way that Mildred does. If we keep thinking like this, the our society will eventually wind up just like the society in Fahrenheit 451.

Lizzy Minnerath Journal 1 Before I Go to Sleep 358 358/400 Certain songs may stick out and connect with characters in books. In Before I Go to Sleep the characters Christine, Mike, and Ben are perfectly represented by the songs “Who Am I” by Vance Joy, “Let Me Love You” by Ne-Yo, and “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye. The Song “Who Am I” reminded me of Christine because she is constantly confused as to where and who she is.

Since the start of his professional career, LaChapelle's work has attracted the attention of many other artists, celebrities, journalists, and regular people. I first noticed his work on advertisements in magazines several years ago. I immediately felt drawn to his images- they are photographs I could stare at for hours, playing out in my head the story each photograph is telling and what it says about the character

The novel, The Polished Hoe, written by Austin Clarke unravels a narrative filled with slavery, sexual and gender discrimination, labor hardships, and sexism. Throughout a story that unfolds in 24 hours, the author animates a tale of a crime narrated by Mary-Mathilda, a sexually abused slave descendent, in order to display the disturbing colonial history of the fictional Caribbean island of Bimshire. By using the legacy of colonialism and slavery, Clarke headlines the power dynamic and oppression through the deeper rooted issue that the lower class, powerless, are compliant to the volatile acts of colorism, gender discrimination, and sexual exploitation.

In her short story “People-Watching” from 2014, Julia Gray tells the story of Kajsa and Paul, two students who are both taking the Introduction to Drawing module at the art school of UC London. In connection with their studies they have been sent out to do some people-watching.

Elliott Erwitt is a street photographer born in Paris from Russian immigrant parents (Erwitt, 2011). This essay will not focus on his biography but rather put emphasis on his work. Elliott Erwitt is known for his spontaneity when taking snapshot and passion for the human condition (Magnum Photos, 2011). He also has a very sharp sense of humor that is without a doubt reflected on his work. Elliott Erwitt has also a particular affinity for dogs and kids (Erwitt, 2011). It is said that the challenge is to be able to recognize the work of a particular photographer based on specific characteristics distinctive to him (Magnum Photos, 2011). As a matter of fact, Elliott Erwitt’s snapshots all have distinguishing

The nature of Banksy’s work is iconoclastic in the way he blatantly designs images to rebel governmental authority or depict the failings of

Roy Lichtenstein’s art ‘investigates modes of representation - the visual properties of style and reproduction’. (Weitman 1999 p.46) Lichtenstein was fixated on advertisements and comic strips. These modes of

His images are rich in detail, and there is not a thing in the frame—not a stain, not a lampshade—that he does not carefully select. And yet, this abundance of detail is balanced with a striking lack of information—the settings are ordinary (a suburban kitchen, a living room, a dark street corner)—and, more importantly, the frame is de-contextualized: we

Jean-Michel Basquiat emerged from the punk scene in New York as a street-smart graffiti artist. He successfully crossed over his downtown origins to the international art gallery circuit. Basquiat’s work is one of the few examples of how an early 1980’s American graffiti-based could become a fully recognized artist. Despite his work’s unstudied appearance, Basquiat very skillfully and purposefully brought together in his art a host of disparate traditions, practices and styles to create a unique kind of visual collage. His work is an example of how American artists of the 1980’s could reintroduce the human figure in their work after the wide success of minimalism and conceptualism.