Thomas Paine - Philosopher Work [Between 16 -18]

Thomas Paine was a British-American philosopher, political theorist and one of the founding fathers of the United States. Paine participated in both the American and French Revolutions and in what he thought would be the English Revolution. During his lifetime, Paine was a British citizen, an American citizen and a French politician. Paine wrote in a lively, enthusiastic – and common – language. His theories and philosophies about royalty, the universal rights of man and of God were so enthusiastically supported or bitterly challenged during his lifetime that his funeral was attended by only six people.

Paine, an Englishman, was invited to Philadelphia to become an American citizen at the start of the American Revolution by Benjamin Franklin. Paine wrote a pamphlet, “Common Sense”, which may be the most-read book in American history. Not all of Paine’s ideas were new, but the pamphlet was read by revolutionaries or read aloud in taverns and battlefields alike. Paine argued that monarchs were imperfect and not the natural leaders of a nation, that all men had “transnational” or universal rights, and that rights such as taking up arms or voting should not be held only by those who had money or owned property. These were revolutionary ideas and Common Sense almost forced readers and listeners to pick one side or the other. To this day, his political and religious philosophies both bind and divide the political realities of the United States and the world.

While on Paris during the beginning of the French Revolution. Paine wrote “Rights of Man”, which defended the revolution which saw the execution of the king and queen and many aristocrats. Rights of Man advocated his previous transnational rights and went further by implying that large abuses sometimes called for drastic actions, if men were to establish both personal and political freedom.

While briefly imprisoned in France, Paine wrote The Age of Reason. Paine attacked all churches of all different beliefs as being corrupt, in favour of a direct relationship between each individual man. He also wrote pamphlets to the people of England to promote their own revolution led by Napoleon Bonaparte, until realizing that Napoleon did not want to free anyone but to become the Emperor of Europe.

The popularity of his philosophies in “Common Sense” led to some of them being written into the new United States Constitution. The need and the right to overthrow oppression suited the idea that a new nation could run itself by its own government instead of a king. The idea of universal rights to be free, to vote and to own property became the foundations of the United States. However, blacks would not be given freedom until the Civil War and are still persecuted today. Women would not get the vote or freedoms until the 20th century and are still not perceived as equal in many important respects, such as careers, pay or profession. Christianity is still a driving force in American politics. Americans and most people of the world are still waiting to accept many of Thomas Paine’s rights of man

Exit Through The Gift Shop - Documentary Work

Exit Through The Gift Shop is a documentary focusing on the Street Art movement, throughout its early underground history to its massive takeover of the art world.  It’s a documentation of where the line between what is real and what might be fake blurs, as modern art and celebrity are put into play.

It’s significant that Exit is directed by Banksy, one of the most progressive – and elusive – street artists.  Banksy forces people to reassess some of their beliefs about life and society.  Using the documentary form and told from the involved life of an artist turned filmmaker, Banksy subverts the form of documentary.

The documentary focuses on selected elements of the street art movement, shifting our view to certain parts, like the social commentary and anarchy of street art, and only briefly touching on other parts, like its illegality, to change our perspective throughout.

The film starts with a short introduction by Banksy.  “The film started out as being a documentary on me, but turned toward to a much more interesting person behind the camera.” The film then proceeds with a brief history and look at the man behind the camera, Thierry Guetta. Once the audience is given the knowledge of Thierry, they have a protagonist figure to follow throughout the film. Early in the film, Thierry has an encounter with his cousin a.k.a. Space Invader, a known name in the underground street art movement. Early in the film, the illegal aspect of the movement is addressed but mainly looked at as an entertaining but unimportant aspect towards the higher ranks of the new movement.

Thierry films everything in his life:  his business, his family, walking down the street.  To create an even stronger bond between the audience and Thierry, the documentary explores the reasoning behind his obsession with filming, talking about his mother and his lost time with her due to her sudden murder. Making him become a deeper “character”, to the audience, showing his powerful drive towards filming, provides emotional depth and sympathy for Thierry.  He is obsessive.  Once Thierry adds the new trend of Street Art to his obsessions, he unknowingly captures the beginning of an entirely new trend in popular but socially significant art.  

Banksy the street artist is a god to Thierry.  Due to a turn in events, Banksy suggests Thierry should put down his camera and follow his new found interest in street art. This is the central point of the film.  Banksy the director turns the focal point of Exit from an exploration of street art or an interesting character like Thierry into an expose of what Thierry does with a sincere, socially conscious movement.  He documents Thierry Guetta’s transformation as a student of street art into a commercializer of street art.  Thierry turns himself into Mister Brainwash.

Now in my belief and opinion, Mister Brainwash is one of the biggest fakes in the art world and the largest in the street/pop art movements. Mister Brainwash takes the work of others and mass produces the concept, if not the art, by throwing random ideas at a group of paid workers.  There is nothing sincere or significant about his work, only fashion.  He used shrewd marketing and little passion to thrust himself and his new name into the spotlight to prepare for a massive art show in Los Angeles. He creates frankly copy-cat and very simple artwork, and had other artists design make and construct the idea. He had others make and add the “artistic touch”. He made works that are mockeries or copies of others’ work. With artists, including Banksy and other street artists, there is learning and progression and finding your signature over time.  Thierry – or Mr Brainwash --  skipped that rather large step to make money off of the newly-discovered street art movement.

Exit, throughout most of the documentary, follows Thierry’s intensity with sincerity.  It doesn’t question him but instead supports his journey and eventually his success.  Exit gives him legitimacy and credibility as a person and a protagonist.  The viewer has sympathy for him.

Banksy, being the director, then morphs our view from watching a sympathetic situation from a movement’s confused perspective told from through a singular person’s passion, to watching that same person blurring the line between real and possibly fake work, and possibly getting away with it.

The camera work in Exit Through The Gift Shop is unprofessional, filmed mostly on a portable camera. I believe that it came as more of an advantage to the film, it creates a less formal documentary and more of a home film with friends recording the movement they were in. Which is exactly what this film is.  

The music used in Exit Through The Gift Shop was well chosen. When used, it heavily influenced the mood and attitude towards the scene. While Thierry talks about his Mother’s death and why he films, the music becomes very simple deep and heavy. When someone is introduced with a quick burst of images and video, the music (most likely a hip hop instrumental) is added with a high tempo to capture the intensity and interest of [the artist] and their reputation, to even someone with no knowledge of the movement would feel the anticipation to learn more of this new person.

Banksy has some more “legitimate” names in the film share some more negative views of Mister Brainwash, allowing the audience to question the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the work. In the end everyone is kind of confused, since how does anyone judge when the rules are broken in an art movement based on anarchy?

“Thierry didn’t play by the rules, but really there were no rules” – Banksy


[Photo of Banksy's "ATM Girl" taken by Jack De Ferrari]

JAWS - Isolation Work

JAWS (1975) is a movie directed by Steven Spielberg which primarily uses isolation on characters and events. Spielberg uses long, wide camera angles of an open and alone ocean to add visual isolation to the characters. In the film, the main “enemy” is an enormous Great White Shark. Throughout the film the shark is seen very little and only close to the end -- or is represented by a pulsing, frightening score by John Williams. Creating an element of the unknown, Spielberg terrifies audiences with the might and ferocity of an invisible predator.

The first person to be eaten by the shark is a young woman on a midnight swim. She is cast mostly in silouette, as her character is not as important as what happens to her. She is quickly scooped up by the predator, tossed around like a ragdoll and disappears. Spielberg immediately creates a sense that death by shark is violent and immediate.

Early in the movie you learn Chief Brody is from New York City, not Amity, the village that the movie is based. He is instantly seen as an outsider, with little respect even in the position of Chief of Police. He also has a phobia of the water due to earlier events in his life. He does not fit in well on the beach-oriented island on which he resides. He is therefore isolated as a character.

Once the Shark becomes a problem for the town, Chief Brody has no respect or authority to help the situation as best he possibly can, since Amity requires tourists as much as the shark does. He only gains the courage to stand up to his isolation when he is confronted by the mother of a child devoured by the shark. He once again feels isolated by his lack of knowledge about sharks once oceanographer Matt Hooper arrives. Hooper also carries his own sense of isolation:  while he represents an institute, he is there by himself.  Brody and Hooper will be joined by Quint, a loner fisherman. For much of the movie, the animosity between these characters further drive the sense of individual isolation, even as they face an almost unseen, uncaring predator.

On Quint’s boat. Chief Brody -- representing the movie viewer -- is isolated with two more capable characters, literally from the rest of the world by his biggest fear, and with an otherworldly predator that lives in his biggest fear. Spielberg uses tight camera angles within the boat to give us a sense of claustrophobia, which emphasizes the claustrophobic isolation of man (men) against shark.  The shark seems to eat two of the characters -- although Hooper is merely hiding -- leaving Brody alone at the top of a mast on a sinking boat with a feeble rifle.  (Still, it’s a Spielberg movie:  Hooper and Brody both live!)

Even if someone doesn’t have a fear of water like Brody, Spielberg uses sound, camera angles, character isolation -- and three terrific actors -- to create a movie where the movie-goer feels a sense of aloneness and dread that follows many outside of the theatre and away from the ocean.

Other than the two other characters, I don’t know how much more isolated a character can get.

Macbeth Recontextualization - Dagger

This is my recontextualization for Macbeth. It is the hallucinated dagger Macbeth believes to see before murdering the king. I believe the dagger is a significant symbol in the play because of its place as the first of many strange events that only Macbeth himself sees. Macbeth is hallucinating a floating dagger before he has even committed to the deed of murdering the king. It is the beginning of the end of Macbeth's sanity in the play.

The Dagger is made from two main materials, Plexiglas and PVC Piping. The blade is hand cut and carved from a sheet of Plexiglas, and edged for realism. The handle is made of two different sizes of heat treated and formed PVC Pipes. The handle was then wrapped in heat treated and designed leather and the metallic parts (including the blade) were created/detailed using the prop maker's Foil Tape method. Once all parts were assembled, the dagger was finished with a "layer" of distressing over the most worn parts.

Frankenstein Recontextualization - Poster

This is a poster I have made for a recontextualization project on the book/story of Frankenstein. This poster is made more as a book cover but also part take as a part movie poster.

The poster is made as a representation of what Frankenstein's Monster was; The creation of an undead being. It was created by the merging and blending of flesh from multiple sources. That was an interesting concept to me, it was interesting on it's own without the story or context. It also could be connected to many other concepts and theories so it was a very rich idea. That is what inspired me to create this poster as a recontextualization, the raw (artistic version) of the base starting concept.

Object Description - Phone

Phone - Samsung Galaxy SIII

So my phone is something I think everyone in this day and age takes for granted. For me I can definitely believe that I take it for granted.

There are three things I see my phone as; A selection of my music. All my favourites, classics and all the new stuff that I’m listening to right now - The music I’m getting into for whatever reason. It’s also a device for a quick burst of inspiration - A way I can create art and concepts the moment creativity strikes. Also it’s a connection, its an outlet to communicate with anyone at anytime. I can talk with friends at the same time as contacting a business partner and send important emails.

When truly - That's just what I see, in reality it’s just a phone. A advanced device that also makes calls, that's become more of a tool than anything. A small computer in your pocket. Still amazing though.

1958 to 2015

1958, and now to 2014

A lot has changed in the 57 years between then and now.

We live in a world where, whether it’s sexuality or music, the borders and genres are blended and fluid. We just choose from this broad spectrum, what area we like and continue. 

We’re now more open to equality and the expression. Nothing is in black and white, everything is now on this massive spectrum of colours.

We live in more creative societies and are being driven by the right brained, creative minds. We’ve become a more individualized culture.We live in a world so connected, we can communicate with someone around the world in a matter of seconds.

But from the eyes of the teen,

There are so many people now who are fake, we now have something called the internet and social media websites. On those "websites" many teens base their importance on the number of likes or hearts they get on their phone, that's three inches from their face. Something so small in reality.

Even with that, the internet has brought us new opportunities. Someone with an interest can meet and follow other people with the same interest as you. Some can find audiences for their work in the thousands or millions. hundreds of networks to share and create, every network for a different purpose or interest.
     

With any change, there will be good and bad parts. but to sum it up, the world is now more advanced, the world has changed as well as the minds of the people who walk on it.