Author: Hasan Choudhry

    This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a J Cole Concert as part of his Fall Off Tour in Madison Square Garden. To provide a bit of background, J Cole is a hip-hop artist that incorporates lots of wordplay and storytelling within his music. Personally, I am a fan of the instrumentals that J Cole uses in a lot of his early music and early albums. The instrumentals set ithe tempo and mood in the beginning of any song and are fundamental to the structure of the music. I was influenced growing up by my older brothers who were into his music so I naturally began listening to J Cole and similar artists. At the concert, I enjoyed the music and my impression was pretty much the same as it always has been since I have grown up listening to the music. It was a great time to listen to one of my favorite artists perform and be able to have the chance to share that moment with so many of his fans at the legendary Madison Square Garden. 

     When it comes to visual signals at the concert, there was no shortage of past tour shirts and ‘Dreamville’ merch in support of the artist. It was easy to see that J Cole has a loyal fan base that has been with him since the start of his career. There were fans I had seen and spoken to who have been following J Cole for years and knew his entire discography from start to finish. The audience was very well connected to the music by knowing the lyrics and singing along to the songs and nodding their heads to the music to appreciate the lyricism and storytelling that was going on. Personally, it was surreal to go and see one of my favorite artists perform with all these fellow fans and community of supporters.

    Being that J Cole is originally from North Carolina, there is a subculture in that community and identity that he has in his home town. People of his hometown will celebrate his achievements and continue to support him as he continues to succeed. To the people of his hometown, J Cole is an icon that has changed the lives of millions through his music. There also was representation of these people from North Carolina here at the concert whom J Cole shouted out and gave thanks to during his performance. In regards to the community, I believe that being at the concert does definitely connected me with the community of people who enjoy the music. We all are connected by the music and it brings us together in more ways than one. Just by being a fan alone and at the concert, I was able to strike up conversations with fellow fans and feel that sense of community when conversing. It was interesting to interact and hear the stories of people who traveled miles and miles to come see the performance and relate to one another in how J Cole’s music has impacted our lives. Overall, I enjoyed the concert and am glad to have done this assignment as part of the experience.

 

    The piece I chose is the 25 foot Buddha statue which can be replicated in many different ways. To give a bit of background, the statue is a symbol of peace and compassion for people to let go of suffering in their lives. Buddhism itself explores the nature of the mind to help individuals overcome conflict and chaos in order to reach enlightenment. With Buddhism being the fourth largest religion in the role, it is easy to see how this statue can be replicated in many different forms. Anecdotally, I have seen some of my Chinese friends who are Buddhists wear the Buddha pendant around their neck in traditional green Jade. In addition, when researching, I discovered that there is an Ancient Sculptural Gallery that sells oriental Chinese Buddhist statue reproductions at varying price ranges.

      Seeing this in person was a breathtaking experience as it is not everyday that you see such a large detailed work of art. Seeing it in person made me think about the process behind importing this work of art and how much time and dedication that went on behind the scenes to bring this work to life. A replication would certainly not have the same effect or impact in the way that a 25 foot statue in the middle of Manhattan would. A replication would not be able to do it justice to the craftsmanship of the artist behind the original piece.  In this case of art, replication is a tall task both literally and figuratively speaking due to the sheer size and complexity behind this work of art. It is not any ordinary piece that we see in everyday life such as poetry in motion on a subway. This piece is unique in that way. Moreover, this sculpture cannot directly be replicated in the way that paintings can be as we discussed in class with Berger’s Ways of Seeing. 

 

     During today’s lesson, when Queer Van Kult dropped by, I asked a question regarding any misconceptions or misunderstandings that people may have about their work. Before diving into their answer, I want to provide a little bit to background on why I asked this question to begin with. The answer is simple, I wanted to get to know the public perception of their art. After reading that they were a LGBTQ group operating in primarily conservative Staten Island, it was easy to see how they may have faced backlash and harsh criticism by those around them. In accordance with that logic, the cofounders were able to tell me that Queer Van Kult did indeed face criticism in the form of people claiming that they were a devll worshipping group because of their logo as well as the fact that they performed rituals with pig’s blood. Naturally, this response did surprise me to hear. I was expecting an answer that included some sort of harsh criticism, but certainly not baseless accusations such as pig’s blood being used by the group in their work.

   In terms of my understanding, answering this question and hearing the response, it gave me insight and strengthened my understanding of how certain people perceive the Queer Van Kult group. As Professor Pentangelo mentioned in class, many individuals are not able to differentiate the art from the artist. What I mean by this is that the group does explore certain “taboo” topics and ideas in their work but in that same token, they are not literally devil worshippers who would go to the extent of using pigs blood in their art.  Many people do not see the artistic vision that this group has or may not certainly agree with it, especially in a primarily conservative area such as Staten Island. However, my hope is that people learn to accept that we are all unique individuals with our own beliefs and that is what gives art such as Queer Van Kult meaning and purpose.

   Overall, I learned a lot through this experience and talking to the cofounders of Queer Van Kult. It exposed me to new art forms and was a beneficial learning experience.

During my visit to the Museum of Modern Art, what caught me eye was a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican-American artist who explores themes of identity. I was strolling through exhibits and when I reached the third floor in the Phillip Johnson Galleries, I took one look at Frida’s pieces and headed inside the gallery to explore more about her. Going into the museum of Modern Art, I was expecting to see many paintings and pieces that I was familiar with so I decided to make things a bit more interesting by exploring the unknown. I read a bit into Frida’s life and was shocked to find out that her path to artwork was far from ordinary. She had experienced a tragic accident on a bus in 1925 that led to her beginning her journey of artistry leading to her world famous works that explore her own creative mind.  That crash left Frida with many injuries including a broken spine which caused her to be bedridden for months on end where she spent a lot of time finding ideas for her art. Learning about Frida’s story to me was inspiring to see the resilience of a woman who turned her life around despite the many challenges she faced.

Moving into the piece that I chose, Frida is seen pictured with a monkey who she kept as a pet. To me, this was interesting to see and certainly not an ordinary self portrait that you would see in any typical gallery. In addition, Frida is seen with a unibrow  and a light mustache which was unique to her image and spoke volumes about the strong sense of self that Frida possessed. During that time, this kind of a look was frowned upon and did not meet the beauty standards of a woman. However, Frida had the strength and courage to defy beauty standards and go against social norms which is what I admire about her as an artist. Moreover, when looking at this piece, onlookers have to stop and reflect and contemplate on the piece and really break it down to fully understand the meaning behind this self-portrait. On the other hand, the mass reproduction of this art as 884-piece puzzle in the gift shop removes that sense of viewership and rather turns the piece into a playful image for leisurely purposes.

With the art being reproduced as a puzzle, it takes away from the original art and now changes the focus onto Frida as a marketable figure rather than her original artistry. In addition, when seeing a crocheted doll version of Frida Kahlo being sold at $42.99, it now becomes a matter of profitable business and loses the original intended purpose of the art. The puzzles and dolls of Frida market her to children and turn her into a playful icon as opposed to an artist who faced struggles and overcame difficulties to contribute to her creative expression. Furthermore, by altering the self-portrait of Frida along with her other works into puzzles and dolls, it takes away from the meaning of Frida’s work by introducing Frida as a marketing tool rather than as an individual artist with creative talent.

Relating back to what we had spoken about in class when it comes to the mass production of certain pieces and whether or not they lose their meaning, I believe that a piece does lose a part of its meaning when mass produced. The reason for this being that when I had initially walked through the Phillip Johnson Gallery and viewed Frida Kahlo’s pieces, I was intrigued and really took the time to find the meaning behind her work and do my own research on how she came to be as a creative. However, when visiting the gift shop, I could see that people would walk by and look at these mass produced pieces with a consumerist view. People would take a look at a puzzle or doll and look at the price and move to the next item. Simply put, the experience in the gift shop showed me that the original meaning of the work was reduced to a marketing strategy. Alternatively, different adaptations outside of a gift shop setting such as the ones that were shown in class may have a different outcomes such as, Andy Warhol with the Marilyn Monroe pop art screen prints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos connect to Alice’s community because they represent her living space and where most of her work was done. These photographs effectively capture how the rest of the community and townspeople viewed Alice because of the values of Victorian people at this time who placed immense emphasis on appearance.  The people at this time made sure to uphold their outward appearance in order to maintain the status quo and appear as though they are upper class. Furthermore, Alice’s estate is in relatively good condition with a well kept property and positive outlook for the townspeople/ community in the area.

In regards to what the photos mean to me vs. what they mean to Alice when taking them may be different. I view the photos as Alice being a very well off individual due to size of her estate and the means needed to maintain such a large house with a location right next to the beach and waterfront. In addition, the gates outside of the house tell me that Alice is a person who values her privacy which could be a result of some of her work that is very personal to her in many ways. Alice was a very eccentric woman who pushed social norms in the Victorian Era and challenged many of the ideas surrounding women at this time. On the other hand. Alice may have viewed these photos differently or the same depending on her perspective. Alice may have taken these photos of her estate and gate as a way to capture the home that she grew up in and to keep it as a sentimental piece as her childhood home. Alternatively, Alice may have taken these photos to show people outside of her area when she traveled where she grew up and her origins or just to simply keep it as a memory for wherever the future may take her.

Overall, the visit to Alice Austen’s house was a great learning experience that taught me a lot about some of the history behind the LGBTQ and gave me insight into some preservation sites in Staten Island. This was a new experience for me because I do not frequently visit this area of NYC and found it very informative to learn more about some of the artichectual history in the city.

 

The two pieces that I chose were from the Egyptian Art Exhibit on the second floor of the Metropolitan Museum. I have always been particularly interested in ancient Egypt and knowing more about how they were such an advanced civilization. Seeing these works of art gave me a bit of insight on some of their customs and traditions that governed their lives. The Sarcophagus of Payuhor caught my eye due to the sheer amount of detail and precision that had gone into the craftsmanship. Upon seeing this work of art, I took a couple of minutes to really stop and appreciate the inscriptions said to contain magical formulas for reunifying the spirit with the body after death. This unique way of thinking really challenged my preexisting ideas of art by broadening my definition of what art really is. I feel as though many of us, myself included, look at art as a visual experience of oil or paint on a canvas but when I took a closer look at some of these pieces, I took a deep dive into the culture, creativity, and beliefs of a civilization.

The second piece titled An Astronomical Ceiling was very fascinating to me to read about and explore the concept of Astronomy through this piece. I found it interesting how the Ancient Egyptians were such a complex and advanced civilization that found meaning in things that the average person today would not even think twice about. The suns, stars, and planets being seen as divine manifestations really explores the Ancient Egyptian belief of life after death which is another thing that I found very interesting.  Relating back to New York City, we have such a diverse population of people coming from many different walks of life with strong belief systems and forms of public expression. People display their beliefs and values all across the city in forms of art murals, graffiti, stickers, spray paint, etc. I believe that in New York City almost everyone has a story to share and that is similar to the Ancient Egyptians where they too have their own unique forms of expression where they put their beliefs on display for the world to see in the form of pyramids, sarcophagi, inscriptions, etc.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this first assignment visiting the metropolitan museum because it really gave me an opportunity to learn more about not only the Ancient Egyptians but also take a look at the Arms & Armor exhibit, the Japanese art, Roman Art, and many more. I look forward to more of these assignments and to exploring more of what Art in New York City has to offer.