Author: Julia Schmidberger

To start, I wanted to talk briefly about my interpretation and experience at the opera.
Firstly, unfortunately I was not a fan. I felt like I couldn’t truly appreciate the story because I kept having to look down, and then the words translated just didn’t make sense to me. I thought the sets and singing were beautiful, but I don’t think I can ever fully emerge myself in opera because of this lack of “spiritual communication”.
But, after watching Rent, the similarities were so noticeable. I mean, some of the characters even shared names. They also have the same thematic setting, with poor artists trying to survive among brutal class divisions. We also see in La Boheme how hard it is for the boys to find treatment for Mimi because of their status, and in Rent we see the same treatment but due to AIDS and the scare that caused in the 90s. I also think La Boheme was more tragic, and tried to romanticize this tragedy of way of life, while Rent criticized it a little more. Rent is also obviously more modernized, but it’s adjusted well to modern issues. 1800s Paris isn’t exactly relevant in our day and age, but the story it’s telling is still the story of many in NYC, especially during the time period that Rent is set in. I loved rent, and I hope I can see it performed live at least once, and I loved how Johnathan Larson used La Boheme and its core “values” to portray something so relevant. I don’t like watching La Boheme, but Rent gave me more appreciation for it, as Rent “communicated” with me. And I think that’s what makes Art different in everyone’s eyes. Because I wouldn’t consider La Boheme my style of “art”, but the man who sat in front of us was so moved by the opera, While Rent spoke to me and moved me emotionally. And I think that speaks a lot about what this class is about, and I enjoyed it as our last blog.

I thought it was cool that Rich was able to come in and talk to us about tattooing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the overall history of tattooing, but I really appreciated hearing his history with the art, and him sharing his experience with us. I also appreciated him giving the time to answer our questions, because I’m looking to get tattoos in the future and He was really insightful and helpful in informing us about all of the possibilities.He was really nice, and super generous for zooming in and teaching us about tattooing.

The Brooklyn Museum trip was unfortunately very disappointing to me. The bus ride was fun, and for the first few minutes the museum was fun, getting to see all of the art and people form other campuses, but after about 20 minutes, we ran out of things to see on the floor, and soon got bored. There was also way too many people crammed onto the one floor, and I felt like I couldn’t full appreciate the art because of how anxious I was from the environment. I really liked the paintings, but for the American art floor, there was a lot of European art on it. Also, during the dean’s talk, I heard some kids from Brooklyn crapping on Staten Island LITERALLY saying “why are they even here, why were they even invited actually” like be so for real you’re basically as far as us. Anyways that put a sour taste in my mouth for the night, and the fact that we couldn’t explore more upset me a little.

I’m just going to start this off with the fact that I had no idea what this was until we were in line waiting for our tickets. Originally, i had thought it was a sort of theater production. So I was definitely surprised to find out we were going to the ballet. But too start my day, me and Mia caught the S62 to the ferry, and got on the 12:30 with everyone else. we then hopped on the 1, made a pit stop to Starbucks (I got a hot pumpkin spice latte—yum), and we were in the theater. I was taken aback from how close we were, and honestly I think it took away from the experience. We were poking up at the dancers, which gave us a major warped view of the stage and dance, and you couldn’t see there feet, or if they were on the floor you couldn’t see them. Aldo, we were a little too close because you could hear their feet hitting the ground which took away from the experience, coupled with the fact that sweat was flying everywhere. But I digress. The first and Last movements were my favorite for sure. I loved the big group pieces, and their dynamic, always changing behavior. I thought the secon was a little too… weird and confusing to follow, plus the guy was sweaty and hitting the floor really hard, so that’s all I could focus on, taking away from that piece. The third was pretty, but they were on the floor a lot, and from our seats you couldn’t see them. I like the traditional first dance, and though the triple partner work was really cool. I loved the last one though. I liked how it centered around 2 dancers, but the other 100-odd dancers were still major components of what was going on, and in telling the story. I thought their story telling was the best in that one too, which is impressive with such a large company. Although the actual ballet part was short, me and Mia still made a day out of it. We went up to time square, got raising canes, and ate under an umbrella as it rained in Bryant Park. A great day if you ask me.

Even though I was a part of a dance company growing up, I wasn’t ever into ballet, which I think is why this didn’t appeal to me much. Undoubtedly it was a beautiful performance, but being so close and seeing TOO much, and the fact that it didn’t speak to me, made it a dragging watch. I’d love to see a different type of performance, maybe more contemporary like the third and fourth piece, instead of ballet.

This piece created by Felipe Galindo under the pseudonym “Feggo” in December of 2017, is captioned “If she overstayed her visa, would she get deported?” Galindo, a Mexican immigrant who moved to New York in 1983, is an animator and cartoonist which focuses on political pieces and activism. He’s had his work posted in The New Yorker and The New York Times for his reverence as a political cartoonist, working with modern day issues.

His topic of deportation is still very relevant today. ICE is more active than ever, even more so now with the BBB, and not only its methods but validity for deportation are being questioned all around the nation. America, where it used to be considered safe for anyone and everyone, has turned into a place where people do not want to move anymore. I think that Galindo’s art is still very relevant, and even more so than when he made it, in society today. ICE’s change in prevalence in everyday life has alter how this country is perceived, but ran, and it affects everyone of us, whether you realize it or not.

The same day we went to the MET, we decided to knock out the art gallery visit as well. I went to”SALON ZURCHER: 100 WOMEN OF SPIRIT+, PART 3” off of Bleecker Street, which is a satellite fair of The Armory Show, and it was free which was a nice factor (the affordable art fair wasn’t looking so affordable). When we went, the only thing I could seriously focus on was how hot it was inside. The building. Mind you, it was raining all day and kinda chilly, so we were in pants and raincoats. But an, this building was an instant sauna. We didn’t last that long inside purely because of how hot it was, but there also wasn’t much artwork left, but what was was amazing.

This piece’s artists as actually in the building, and I got to speak with her. All of the pieces are herself as I am my most reliable model” she says. Even though each expression is identical, I think each portrait tells a different story. A bonus was that she was really nice and answered all of my questions.

This was another piece in the corner of the gallery that caught my eye. I love sculpture, so this was one that I immediately felt drawn to. I love the dynamic, almost moving nature of it, and I was sad I didn’t get to meet the artist like I did the others. The black and green contrast of living and dead also tells a story of life, and I think that’s so beautiful. I also can’t help but think ”ain’t no way I could make something like that”, because I was so in awe of how complicated it looked in person. I had a really fun trip this day between the MET, Midtown, and the gallery, so I’m glad it ended with something more niche and cool.

I think the first sign that this trip was going to be crazy was the fact that I spent 7 DOLLARS on a one-way bus into Manhattan. But I went to not only the MET on Sunday, but the art exhibit as well, and our day ( Mia, me, and our friend Bella )started bright and early when we met at 8:30am in the lobby of Dolphin cove south. We then walked the obscene amount to the SIM33C stop outside the school, and I then paid the stupid $7, and we got on our way. We got off in battery park to take the 4 up from Bowling Green and the station was way too hot. The train was smooth, but we then walked a long time to the met, and that also should’ve been foreshadowing to the 20,000 steps I was going to walk that day. We get to the met, and they conned me into spending $15 for a ticket when I didn’t have to pay (mia only a paid a dollar, lucky). But, once we were in, I was havinga great time. I saw Van Gogh, Monet, but my favorite exhibit was the superfine exhibit inspired by the met gala. The ambiance was unreal to start with, and I know you said we should focus solely on the art (which we did because couldn’t find the ancient Egyptian section), but this fashion section could only be described as highly curated art. The mannequins were flawless, depicting the African American story in America. And not only the clothing from the met gala, but old history clothing from the wars or slavery were in the exhibit, and amazingly preserved and shown. After this exhibit, it was about time for lunch ( meaning we all were complaining about being hungry) so we stopped at the Mediterranean place, didn’t like what we saw, went all the way across the floor to the American Cafe only to find out it was the same exact food (This led us to wait to eat and we ended up going to Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Midtown which was a blast!).

Now, back to what I’m supposed to be talking about. Art has never really spoken to me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good painting or exhibit (as seen through my herding out over Superfine), but my favorite of the bunch was this one by Claude Monet.

I absolutely love sunflowers, which is why this one caught my eye. I don’t know if there’s a deeper meaning to this artwork, but I know I appreciate it and the hard work that went into making it. Looking up close, each brush stroke is so meticulous, and honestly I think that’s the real meaning of art—not some “deeper meaning”, but recognizing and appreciating the labor and time it took to create a piece. I think that’s why sculptures are so appreciated by people, but everyone can’t help but think “There’s no way I could’ve made that”. And that is the core of art—The disbelief in a creation. And awe it leaves you in from its beauty, rather than searching for a deeper meaning or secret message. Overall I had a great time looking at all of the work, and my legs hurt the rest of the day from all of the walking we did. Shout out to the MTA app for giving us directions to everywhere we went!