I remember walking on the third floor C house classroom on the first day of school. As I took my seat, I was wondering what the class could possibly offer. I looked around noticed that I was one out of 30 in the class. Well, a packed classroom, I said to myself, but what else? I was in for some surprises, I knew that much. While in my seat, I kept wondering if switching from English senior CP to English Honors was the right decision. I had Mr G. freshman year, so I figured it the class would some what relatively the same as my freshman year. And before something is said, yes, I heard all the rumors from previous students about how Mr. G was a maniac when it came to the workload in his class. I figured it couldn't be that much different though. I would just move from CP to Honors. I would have the same teacher if I did decide to stick with CP anyway. So I figured, hey, why not give this a shot. So I did. And still, to this day, I'm not sure if I was the best decision in my whole high school career or my worst. It does not matter anymore, though. The class is over.
Where should I start? This class has helped me tremendously with my writing skills, and
many other writing techniques. Before I entered room C333, my writing couldn't even be called writing. I had hoped by taking Mr. G's senior honors class, my writing level would jump from meager to what I would consider satisfactory. And I believe that my writing skill had from taking this class. When I entered this class, I was someone lost to literature. I have never had the experience of writing an explication or understood words like analysis, or meaning. A year of this class had helped me achieve so much that I could not possibly imagine if I was to be put in a different class.
When I read a book before, I never looked for meaning or depth. Let alone author’s purpose. Now, that’s all I look for. My papers were plain and boring- no depth, no meaning, nothing. I had no knowledge of what a research paper was or what a critical essay was. Within one month of the class, my knowledge shifted from being lost to being secure. Thanks to this class, I probably written two essays within the first month of class and took multiply vocab quizzes. I will miss a lot when I leave room C333, but I will not miss those vocab quizzes. Even though the vocab had increased the creativeness in my writing, I dreaded the vocab. Every day when I walked into class, I dreaded being the one called up to put my sentence on the board. Fortunately, I was never called. I learned the trick of not being called, don’t look at Mr. G. My trick had helped me till the end of 2nd quarter.
I can’t believe it. This is the last assignment due for this class. Some days, I felt the workload will never end. I remember nights when I will stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning trying to finish a paper due the same day. That James Joyce critical essay was brutal. I finished the paper at 3 in the morning and two hours later I received an email stating that Mr. G would not be in class that day. I was infuriated. I stayed up all morning for nothing. And, as I find out later that the paper wouldn’t be due until days later, put me in a even more rotten mode. Those days are behind me now, though.
As I am about to finish this paper, I look back at all those memories I cherished in this class. I never had a teacher who made their classes humorous, up until this year. It’s a sad feeling knowing that I would leave this class for good and will not be coming back. But thanks to this class, I learned how to write an explication, how to conduct as research paper, and much more. Thanks to this class, I enter college with a strong hold of literature and confident in my writing.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
College Essay
I frowned as the candles flickered in front of my face. It was my birthday - but I wasn’t happy. My baby sister just learned how to walk. My parents were all over her with a bunch of kisses and hugs. She had everyone’s attention. I tried to hold back what was coming, but I couldn’t. I felt the hot tears trickle down my cheeks. What happened? It was my birthday. Wasn’t I supposed to be the center of attention? Wasn’t I supposed to be the star? It was my special day, my day to shine not hers. I looked over at my baby sister. She stole my attention, and she didn’t even know it. “Sisters”, I choked under my breath.
Growing up with three sisters around your age is quite a challenge. Especially if one is just 11 months older while the other is 11 months younger. People may view many sisters as a curse. Others view it as a blessing. I like to view it as both. The huge bonus of having sisters is the fact that they are like diaries. I confide my secrets with them, secrets I dare not tell my parents. Writing in a diary releases stress and anger, just like if I’m mad over something, I’ll run to my sisters for help. They are always there with open arms. Rarely will they turn me down, even if they are mad or short on time, they always listen.
Of course there are always downsides to everything. Having sisters is no exclusion. Waking up some days I do sometimes wish to be an only child. I often find myself wondering what it would be like too. I remember a day when I was about 10 or so, I got so mad at my sister I didn’t even want to call her my sister anymore. I wanted a blood test to be done. She was a stranger, a foreigner, an outsider. I was positive she was not my biological sister. I thought for so long about how was it possible for us to be sisters. We were so different in many aspects. When report card day came, my always sister received high honor roll while I received mostly C’s. My sister loves shopping and trying on new clothes, I absolutely abhor it. The question stuck to me like glue for quite some time. Trying to detect the answer was like trying to discover the cure for cancer – it was hard. I came to understand later that life comes with many obstacles to face; my sister was one of those obstacles.
In a family of sisters, often times I did feel flustered. While my sisters strive with successful grades, I often struggled with mine. They were the center of my parents’ attention while I lingered behind. These situations always stirred up tension. I was jealous of my sisters, I will admit that.
They achieved so much when it came to academics and sports. While my life felt unfilled. As years passed, I still often do find myself in the shadows, but I try not to let the intimidation affect me.
As time goes on, I have learned from my mistakes, and many other valuable life lessons. I learned nothing should come between my sisters and me. I was wrong for being jealous of my sisters. After all, it was my own fault I didn’t get the A+ my parent wanted or accomplish my goals. As I grow up, I have learned things come and go, but family is like glue, they will never be just a memory – sisters will always be more than that.
Growing up with three sisters around your age is quite a challenge. Especially if one is just 11 months older while the other is 11 months younger. People may view many sisters as a curse. Others view it as a blessing. I like to view it as both. The huge bonus of having sisters is the fact that they are like diaries. I confide my secrets with them, secrets I dare not tell my parents. Writing in a diary releases stress and anger, just like if I’m mad over something, I’ll run to my sisters for help. They are always there with open arms. Rarely will they turn me down, even if they are mad or short on time, they always listen.
Of course there are always downsides to everything. Having sisters is no exclusion. Waking up some days I do sometimes wish to be an only child. I often find myself wondering what it would be like too. I remember a day when I was about 10 or so, I got so mad at my sister I didn’t even want to call her my sister anymore. I wanted a blood test to be done. She was a stranger, a foreigner, an outsider. I was positive she was not my biological sister. I thought for so long about how was it possible for us to be sisters. We were so different in many aspects. When report card day came, my always sister received high honor roll while I received mostly C’s. My sister loves shopping and trying on new clothes, I absolutely abhor it. The question stuck to me like glue for quite some time. Trying to detect the answer was like trying to discover the cure for cancer – it was hard. I came to understand later that life comes with many obstacles to face; my sister was one of those obstacles.
In a family of sisters, often times I did feel flustered. While my sisters strive with successful grades, I often struggled with mine. They were the center of my parents’ attention while I lingered behind. These situations always stirred up tension. I was jealous of my sisters, I will admit that.
They achieved so much when it came to academics and sports. While my life felt unfilled. As years passed, I still often do find myself in the shadows, but I try not to let the intimidation affect me.
As time goes on, I have learned from my mistakes, and many other valuable life lessons. I learned nothing should come between my sisters and me. I was wrong for being jealous of my sisters. After all, it was my own fault I didn’t get the A+ my parent wanted or accomplish my goals. As I grow up, I have learned things come and go, but family is like glue, they will never be just a memory – sisters will always be more than that.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
James Joyce Explication
Conflicting emotions with religious valuesIn the passages on the pages 53 and 72-73 in A Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man, the author James Joyce suggests to his readers that natural emotions, such as lust and curiousness tend to override religious beliefs and morals. In the passage on page 53, Athy, a student with Stephen, goes to talk with his fellow peers about two boys, who also attended the Catholic school, that they were caught “smugging” (some type of homosexual act) (50). Joyce’s purpose for creating a passage like this one was to show his readers the powerful emotion of curiosity. The two boys, who were smugging, knew what they were doing was against the Catholic faith, but their curiousness and wondering emotions override their Catholic morals. Also, the fact that the boys were smugging inside a Catholic school bathroom is also significant. The boys believed that they could get away with the smugging because they were in a bathroom and believed nobody was able to see what they were doing, but they were wrong. The priest came and saw what they had done. I believe the interruption of the priest is significant because the boys were engrossed in their activity and then the priest comes. Just like that, the priest comes and ends everything the boys had been doing. And even if eyes weren't able to see did what they had done, god would be able see and condemn their actions, which I interrupted as one of Joyce's purpose. Furthermore, I believed that the boys knew that god's eye was on them, but the boys didn't care because they wanted to satisfy their curiosity before thinking their faith. Furthermore, the tone Joyce uses is so erupt and choppy. This tone is significant because I believe Joyce wanted to show his readers the power that the priest had. Just one glimpse of the priest sent the boys running. Joyce uses the word running (scut) because when one hears the word running, she or he interrupts it as running away from reality or from morals, life, or fear. Running also can be interrupt as running away from one's morals, which was what the two boys had done. Athy then talks to his peers about how the priest would punish the two guys who were smugging. He imagines the priest would order one of the boys to “drop his breeches” (53). He jokes around with his peers about this matter, even though it is a homosexual thought for Athy to imagine the two boys to drop their pants, which I believe is one of Joyce’s purpose. But Athy doesn’t take notice of what he is joking about; he finds the humor thinking about the boys’ punishment and doesn’t think about the punishment god might give him for thinking such thoughts. Furthermore, what is even more of a homosexual act is when Stephen imagines the preacher giving the punishments to the boys. He imagines the boys undressing themselves and wondered who would let down the trousers, the master or the boys themselves (53). Joyce’s imagery used in the text allows the reader to believe that even though Stephen is Catholic, he is capable of homosexual thoughts like these. And despite the fact that Stephen was born and raised with strict Catholic rules, Stephen is still capable of sinful thoughts, because it is only natural for a young boy to explore his sexual desires. Stephen sexual thoughts do not stop though, but continues onto the next paragraph. The word choice Joyce continues to use holds much significance. Stephen is so intrigued about how the punishment will be like that he looks at Athy’s “Knuckly inky hands” (53). Joyce goes into description of Athy’s hands to stress the innocence in Stephen. Also, the word “hands” (53) Joyce chooses to use I find interesting. “Hands” I believe usually symbolize curiosity. They are the only part of the body that has the capability to explore so much compare to other body parts. Hands are able to feel, touch, hold, and much more compare to something like the foot, just like Stephen’s mind. Concluding in why I believe Joyce choose the word he did. The other passage I choose conflicting religion and natural emotions takes place on page 73. Stephen is testing his innocence when he sees was woman that draws him in. Joyce’s use of imagery instills the reader to believe that Stephen is overcome with lust and nothing can stop him from lusting, despite his religious views. Stephen’s views on religion become rather “false and trivial” (72), after thinking about the lady he sees. Another example of how Joyce was able to captivate his readers’ mind was when Stephen had sexual temptations for the lady. Stephen mind does not automatically think of the temptation as sinful, but rather a longing he yearned for. Lust, the subject Joyce chooses to use on Stephen is interesting because lust happens to be one of the “deadly” 7 sins. And for someone young like Stephen to commit a deadly sin is lost innocence, proving that sin will sometimes override religious values or morals. Also, the word choice that Joyce chooses to use in the passage on page 73 is very meaningful. “Her fine dress and sash and long black stocking” (73), they way Joyce describes the woman Stephen is looking at is depth alone. Stephen does not just glance at the women, but he takes a longer look, noticing what she is wearing. He notices that the woman is wearing a “fine dress”, interesting word choice on Joyce’s part; because dress is usually seem as a scandalous item of clothing often wear to parties and other mature places. Joyce also uses the words “long black”, to describe the stockings the woman is wearing. Stocking is also another scandalous item of clothing. When one thinks of stockings, she or he usually think of the clear, thin, and high item of clothing extending all the way to the thighs. Stockings expose skin, and causing wandering eyes of young men like Stephen to look because it is natural to want to look. Also, the stockings were black. Black is usually sought as something evil and dark, Joyce’s hidden way of portraying the way Stephen’s mind thinks. Even though Step is not supposed to think about homosexual ideas or lustful thoughts, he can’t help himself because he is a young boy stumbling to find truth and understand life. Though Stephen was brought up with strict religious beliefs and even attended a Catholic school, learning religion does not cover his indulgence for wanting to explore sinful thoughts, despite all that he learned about his religion.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Research Paper
David Hockney is an English pop art artist born in Bradford, England in 1937 to Laura and Kenneth Hockney. (Hockney 7) He is one of those rare artists that have mastered many forms of art. He has all forms art, from photo collages to oil paintings to printmaking; he had experienced and endured it all. David Hockney had repeatedly been call and known for one of the best, if not the best British artist of his generation. (Silver, 2) Anyone who knows a clue about art will know if there is a swimming pool in a piece, the piece will most likely be Hockney’s. Growing up in Bradford, Hockney was not really concerned about what others distinguish him as. Most people thought of him as eccentric, but he didn’t care. He was just a little kid at the time. At the age of 9, since Hockney’s parents put a huge value on education and wanted all their kids to achieve in education Hockney had won a scholarship to one of the leading schools in the country. (Hockney 8) The school was known as Bradford Grammar school. While attending Bradford Grammar, Hockney had taken some art classes and enjoyed them for the most part. Here, at the school he developed a liking for art and decided he wanted to become an artist.
I was born in Bradford in 1937. At the age of eleven I’d decided in, in my mind, that I wanted to become an artist, but the meaning of the work ‘artist’ to me then was very vague- the man who made Christmas cards was an artist, the man who painted posters was an artist, the man who did lettering for posters was an artist. Anyone was an artist who in his job had to pick up a brush and paint something. (Hockney, 7)
After attending Bradford Grammar school, he transferred to Regional College of
Art so that he could further his studies in art. Hockney (Biography). In 1953, Hockney enrolled in the College of art and began experimenting with oil paints. At the College of Art, Hockney learned many things. He learned that painting was a seeing and thinking process, rather than an imitation. Abstract was Hockney’s art theme and he focused his art on personal things. The year 1959, Hockney enrolled in the Painting School of the Royal College in London, this college is where he would achieve attention nationally as an artist.
My paper will focus on how Hockney merges his life into his artwork. The media I decided was his famous Polaroid photo collages. The three pieces are going to be photo collages by David Hockney. The names of the collages are called Place Furstenberg, Paris, Pearblossom Highway and Merced River. All of these photo collages were created between the years of 1982 and 1986. I choose these pieces because they struck me in interest. In addition, these three pieces happen to be the most famous and all the pieces have quite a bit to meaning. The first piece I will focus on is called Place Furstenberg, Paris then I will switch to the piece Pearblossom Highway, and lastly the collage called Merced River.
Hockney is one of those uncommon painters who are known for more than what they achieved. He is known for who he is as a person as well. Livingstone (11). He uses his art talents to express love he feels for others. His work is not just a bunch of colors, no, they have more meaning. Hockney’s work clearly depicts his life and his love ones. Hockney photo collage medium differs from his other media because in Hockney’s photo collage he is able to express more. Life is seen in his collages while his other media does not hold the same message. Hockney photo collages are indeed of actual places and people, while his paintings and drawings are not.
David Hockney started off like most artists, unknown and not famous. Today, Hockney is considered one of if not the best British contemporary artist in the 21st century. Silver (2) He repeatedly been called on of the leading pop artist and is known for his dyed blonde hair and his glasses. When Hockney creates a Polaroid, he puts together hundreds of Polaroid images from a single scene to make large mural of photos. (Scheips).
Hockney is indeed a strange artist. He does not trust many people except for the people around him and his love ones. He does not believe an artist capability until he is able to see. Hockney once said “Any respectable art historian would never go only by an artist’s words; he would look for evidence of them in his artwork.” Hockney (7)
Hockney owes his success to many reasons; his wit and versatitly of his work are some reasons. Furthermore, Hockney’s colorful personality should credit his success. Because Hockney’s posses these traits, he was able to become recognizable to not only artists, but also the attention of people not interested in art. (Pioch) “Undoubtedly Hockney’s popularity can be attributed not simply to his visual wit and panache but also to this appeal to our own escapist instincts.” (Barrow) Hockney is surely an interesting artist. He is one of those artists that do not stick with the media he grew famous off of, instead Hockney is the type of artist that likes to explore with many different media and is the type of artist that will not just stick with one media just because a particular media had made him famous.
A lot of Hockney’s photo collages focuses on cubism. Cubism affects how Hockney creates his pieces and how he experimented with them.
The photographic experiments that Hockney has been pursuing obsessively since 1982, a rephrasing of the multiple viewpoints of cubism in the form of composite images, have so fundamentally altered his conception of the kind of information that one can convey in a picture that he has felt compelled to develop equivalent techniques in his drawing and painting his discoveries with the camera, and the theories he has developed in the advantages of a “moving focus” over the fixed one-point perspective devised in the Renaissance, have affected startling transformations in his hand-wrought images. (Livingstone, prefix)
Cubism began as an art movement in the 20th century, triggered by the artist Pablo Picasso and Georges Barque. Cubism did not only inspire visual art, but Cubism inspired music and literature as well. The first branch of cubism is known as Analytic Cubism while the second branch is known or called as Synthetic cubism. (Livingstone, prefix)
Hockney’s Polaroid photo collages are massive and well recognized. Unlike most artists, Hockney refers to his photo collages as “joiners”. (Scheips) The creation of a joiner is Hockney put together a series of photographs which he takes all at once and merges the pictures in a way to make a realistic image. (Scheips)
The photo collage Place Furstenberg, Paris was done in 1985, August 7th to the 9th. He created the piece vibrant in color with many different types of hues. All shades of green are shown in every object and are vibrantly displayed. From the trees to the buildings to the sidewalk, everything is diverse in colors. How Hockney created this photo collage was he originally had scenery which he took hundreds upon hundreds of photos which later he creates as one beautiful piece.
Hockney photocollages seem different from most artists. Hockney’s collages are large and massive while most other artists’ collages are small or tiny. The reason for Hockney’s different approach for creating a photo collage compared to other artists is perhaps because Hockney views things differently from most people. Hockney himself said “I’ve often thought about the way I see. For years, I’ve thought my eyes are funny or something. Kept thinking how much can you really see. For years, I’ve thought my eyes are funny or something. Kept thinking how much can you really see and what is it you really take in as your eyes moves about focusing.” Edekal (prefix) Concluding, Hockney’s art is made for his viewers. His drawings are designed in a special way so that they can be animated to be in the mind of the viewer. Livingstone (197)
The object that first catches your eye is the huge tree which takes up a good portion of the piece. The tree is mostly green with some tints of brown. The trunk of the tree is brown while the topper part has a darker brown shade mixed with some green. The top of the tree however, is the lightest part. The leaves of the tree carry a similar completion that the trunk has. The leaves of the tree come in all different shapes and sizes. The darker shape leaves are much larger than those with a lighter tint.
The item that least catches your eye is the little square almost in the middle of the collage which is an image of the sky. That little piece is the only visible image of the sky. What's more is that I noticed that there is another tree in the picture. The other tree is much darker than the bigger one. The trunk of the tree though, is the lightest part. The completion is a yellowish and brownish hint, surrounded by a bunch of little rocks.
Another thing that my eye caught was that there are only two cars in the whole piece of art. It’s interesting that Hockney decided to make the cars tiny. The cars colors are red and black. Which sticks out when put near the white apartments.
As a whole, the picture is very vibrant. The colors are light and sunny. When looking at the picture, the viewer feels a warm and welcoming scene. The picture, I noticed is only straight at the top of the picture. Every other side is not even. The bottom part of the picture is the roughest part of the picture compared to every other side. The picture as a whole does not look real. Only a couple of little squares can be view as real to the viewer.
I would like to add on that located in the very center of the picture is of a dark, small building. The small building is sticking to the viewer because the viewer would think the center piece of the collage will be much bigger and more eye catching than what it is now. There is an ample amount of windows. Everywhere the viewer looks, there are windows. The windows mostly occupied the top half of the picture. None are seen in the bottom half. One thing I noticed about the windows is that they all are dark. The windows are covered by shades which I find interesting because the picture as a whole is very bright and lively. That is not the same case with the windows, however. The viewer who looks at the window senses darkness and not much hope.
The picture is very diverse with every element. From shapes to hints there is diversity. The top of the picture is busy, filled with everything from apartments to windows to leaves. The bottom part of the picture is not as fortunate as the top half, though. The bottom part of the picture is indeed extremely plain. There is nothing important but the trunks of the trees.
My eye caught a lot of parallel things and doubles in the photo collage. There are two trees, which appear almost exactly alike. There are two cars and two doors included in the collage. What is parallel I noticed are the trees and the buildings. Perhaps, Hockney is trying to tell his viewer that life always comes in pairs.
Looking at the photo collage, which appears to be a square in Paris, the viewer could easily see the difference between a square in Paris compared to a square in the United States. The square is very clear and clean of garbage compared to America, where people just throw everything on the ground and litter. Hockney as a person has much more respect for European countries than America. Although Hockney believes that the landscape in America is fascinating Hockney knows the menu of a restaurant every time he pulls up into the driveway. Hockney (106) The streets, as the viewer sees do not have paper or anything other type or form of trash. This square, I believe belongs to a rather rich area in Europe. Nothing poor is visible in the picture.
The picture in addition has very earthy colors like earth brown and earth green. There is no neon, bright or dark colors, except for the shades used in the picture. There also happens to be a lot of natural colors. Like the sidewalk and the door on the very edge of the picture. One thing that struck me about this picture is why there is only one visible door. There maybe other doors but the other doors are not visible to the viewer. Why did Hockney create the picture like this? Doors symbolize freedom and hope. Windows usually symbolizes freedom but in this photo collage the windows appear to symbolizes death and loneliness. Why did Hockney make this picture the way he did? I believe that he wants to show his viewers that there are always to sides or everything. There is always a dark side and a light side. There is always a hope side and not so bright side. Like everything in life, there is always two sides of things, just like this picture. Which Hockney did a great job describing.
Hockney has concluded that we as human beings have become enslaved to the limiting way if seeing by the lens with camera made images. Hockney understands his duty as being able repelled by the surface of the photograph, and he clearly understands his duty as being to demonstrate what the eyes and the hand together can achieve in producing a more human, truthful and subjective account of reality. (Livingstone & Heymer, 7)
Pearblossom Highway is next famous descriptive photo collage by Hockney. The setting for this collage appears to be a deserted highway somewhere in the center of California. There are words on the actual highway that reads “STOP AHEAD” in bold, white letters. I believe Hockney put these words in the highway because the words symbolize life. Also, my eye noticed that there are a lot of stop signs and symbols that symbolizes stop. I can see the word stop three times on the highway and one stop sign which is bold a red. I believe Hockney is trying to stress the meaning of stop in people’s lives. Because in life, one would have to stop many times in order to succeed. This was what Hockney was trying to interrupt in his picture Pear Blossom highway.
My eye caught in the photo collage is that the bottom of the collage is filled with non lively colors. For example, like beige, gray, and black. Furthermore, there is litter everywhere and dead grass and weeds. The top of the collage however is the complete opposite; the top is filled in a very vibrant color blue. The viewer who looks at that color will feel life and happiness. In addition, the beginning of the photo is filled with litter while there is not that much litter while up the highway.
Additionally, as the highway travels up, I noticed that there is a beach at the end of the highway. If there is a beach at the end of the highway, the beach will make the collage even more meaningful. The collage is trying to say that in the beginning of life, people are unknowing of what they will do in their future or that they are lost in life. This period should happen around peoples’ teenage years or early twenties. The end of the highway symbolizes certainty and strength about one’s life. I noticed that the same theme is portrayed in the collage at the top and bottom of the collage.
Additionally, the first sign in the highway contains an arrow, a red stop sign, and a sign that reads stop ahead. This I believe is that Hockney is trying to symbolize the importance of stopping in one’s life and how important it is to stop in order to get where one wants to. Because the sign contains both the stop sign and an arrow, this is why I thought this. Moreover, another reason to back up why I believe Hockney is trying to show success in this massive photo collage is because at the top of the photo collage there is a sign that contains the date December 31, 1999. This is interesting because Hockney created this collage in April 1986, 11th to the 18th. Why would Hockney create a photo collage with a sign that contains a date that is not relevant to the date that he created the piece? It took me a while to get what the sign means, but if you study the sign carefully enough, you will notice that the sign reads, December, 31, 1999. It’s interesting that Hockney choose this date because that date is just one date before a new millennium. The year 2000 does not only symbolize a new millennium, but it could also symbolize a new century and a new decade as well. So it is very interesting that Hockney choose this date. December happens to be the last month before another year starts and the same goes for the day 31st. 31st is the last day any month could possible contain before a new month beings.
Pearblossom Highway' shows a crossroads in a very wide open space, which you only get a sense of in the western United States. . . . [The] picture was not just about a crossroads, but about us driving around. I'd had three days of driving and being the passenger. The driver and the passenger see the road in different ways. When you drive you read all the road signs, but when you're the passenger, you don't, you can decide to look where you want. And the picture dealt with that: on the right-hand side of the road it's as if you're the driver, reading traffic signs to tell you what to do and so on, and on the left-hand side it's as if you're a passenger going along the road more slowly, looking all around. So the picture is about driving without the car being in it. Thus David Hockney described the circumstances leading to the creation of this photo collage of the scenic Pearblossom Highway north of Los Angeles. His detailed collage reveals the more mundane observations of a road trip. The littered cans and bottles and the meandering line where the pavement ends and the sand begins point to the interruption of the desert landscape by the roads cutting through it and the imprint of careless travelers. (The J. Paul Getty Trust)
This quote is Hockney’s own description of what they see when they look at the collage. Hockney’s idea and theme of the collage is much different from mine. The quote though, was said before Hockney even created the collage.
When Hockney creates a collage or a different media, Hockney is able to through his pieces reflect back images of the external world and also recreate the viewer’s process of seeing so that we can invent art in a world in which we the viewer can experience the visceral reality of space and time, physical substance, change and movement. Livingstone (9)
Hockney did actually spent quite some time of his life in California. (Pioch) He had settled in California in the 80’s and has based a lot of his work off of Californian life. (Pioch) Pearblossom is a town in the Los Angeles County, which is important because when Hockney lived in America, Hockney lived in Los Angeles, California. A lot of Hockney’s work is based off of California and the simple life Californians have. (Livingstone)
Piece #3 is called Merced River, which is another massive and famous photo collage by David Hockney, of course. Merced River happens to be the first famous collage Hockney created. When looking at the piece Merced River, the first thing that catches my eye is nothing in particular. The photo collage, Merced River is based on a River in the famous Yosemite Park located right smack in the middle of the beautiful state California. Many artists come to the park to base their work off of. Merced River has inspired many paintings, pictures and photo collages by various artists.
Artists are the eyes for the other people who don’t have time to spend looking at and finding out about nature. It’s nature that you must be taught to see. As well as color. Color is the most fugitive element of a picture. Without color pictures will really be nothing more than a picture. Picture with colors has meanings and depth compared to pictures with no colors. Color present in a picture is fugitive in life and its fugitive in the physical reality of the picture. Edekal (prefix)
Merced River is a famous river located in one of the most famous park in all of America. Artists like to come to this park because of the beauty the park holds. Everything in the park is elaborate and beautiful, especially the river. The river’s water is nice and lush with a white and blue color. As the viewer can see, the river is not polluted by junk. Instead, the water is polluted by cleanliness and life. The river’s water movement is fast and rapid, which means there is a river close by.
One thing I noticed about this collage is that unlike Hockney other famous collages, like Furstenberg Place, Paris and Pearblossom Highway, is that both the pieces are arranged both in a almost perfect rectangle. Also, the other two photo collages is filled in with pictures, there are no white spaces anywhere. This piece however is quite different from the other two. This piece has quite a bit of white spaces between each photo and is not in a well known shape.
Additionally, I noticed about the picture is that the collage holds a very still, relaxing effect on the viewer. The reason I say this is because of all the natural elements the collage possesses. Earth, water, and air is all shown in the collage. One thing that struck me about this photo collage is that nobody is present in the collage. Yosemite Park is a very famous park in California, so why is nobody present? Having none present in the collage I believe is what makes the collage calm and relaxing. If the collage did have people, then I believe the calmness and relaxing effect would not be as effective to the viewer.
There are parts of the collage which are not covered, instead of pictures, there are white spaces. In every one of Hockney’s photo collages that I seen, famous or not, there are no white spaces in the collage. This collage, however, is different. Why, though? Out of all the collages, why did Hockney make this collage different?
Yosemite Park, as I said earlier, is a mark located right in the middle of California. The reason why much of Hockney’s photo collage does not contain any human beings is because during the 80s, Hockney had lost a lot of his friends to aids. Livingstone & Heymer (8 & 9) during the years of 1980s, Hockney eliminated people in his artwork because he sought after to sense aloneness in his pieces. (Livingstone & Heymer, 9). By concentrating on such descriptions, Hockney was able to shelter himself emotionally against confronting the depth of his sense of loss. (Livingstone & Heymer, 9) Hockney loss of friends clearly depicts so in his work. Although the Merced River collage appears to be smooth and calming, it also holds quite the opposite meaning. The collage holds a depressing and loneliness appearance as well. By removing people in his artwork, Hockney believed he could become more alone because he felt alone in his life with the lost of his friends.
David Hockney, the great, famous David Hockney is a well known and well respected artist. He is known for his bleach dyed blonde hair and his childish, boyish glasses. (Scheips) He is one of those rare artists that have achieved a lot within his career. David Hockney has mastered all forms of media and became quite successful. Sliver (2) David Hockney has been repeatedly called one of the best British artists of his time and has constantly been called one of the leading artists of pop art. He is famous for merging his life into his art and is one of those uncommon artists that have the ability to inspire many growing artists.
Works Cited
Barrow, Mark. “20th Century British and International Contemporary Art.” 2005. Modern British Artist. <http://www.modernbritishartists.co.uk/hockney_biog.htm>
The website is a biography of David Hockney talking about his life and how he discovered art. Also, the site describes the different techniques Hockney creates when making a piece.
Hockney, David. Pictures. Great Britain: Harry N. Abrams, 76 & 79.
The book contains all types of Hockney’s media. Pictures and sketches are both presented in this book. About half the pieces have color while the other half does not. The pieces that do contain colors are sketches while the colored pieces are pictures. There are a lot of repeated images within the book for example like curtains, houses, and pools.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
The book gives the reader a descriptive journey of Hockney’s work from the beginning of his work all the way to his most recent. The book includes medium of his photo collages and his highly stage designs for the opera.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981 and 1987.
Livingstone explores Hackney’s life and art. Hockney’s art clearly depicts his life and his love ones. There is quite an abundant of pictures containing a pool. Some pictures are vibrant in colors while others are not.
Livingstone, Marco and Heymer, Kay. Hockney’s people. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2003.
Hockney is fascinated by people. Hockney’s people give a valuable glimpse of the moment when life and art meet. Through Hockney’s artwork, the viewer is able to see that Hockney clearly loves his mother. Every type of Hockney’s artwork is expressed in this book.
Pioch, Nicolas. “Hockney, David. 2002. Webmusuem, Paris. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hockney/>
Paper contains information about how Hockney became a pop up artist. The website displays his work and goes into deeper meaning about his pop art.
Scheipps, Charlie. “Hockney Time.” The Art Set. 2004. <http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/contributors/artset/artset11_19_04.php>
Paper talks mainly about Hockney Polaroid pictures. Also, the paper includes a biography of Hockney’s life and who influences his artwork.
Silver, Kenneth E. David Hockney. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc, 1994.
Hockney is known worldwide for his colorful and classically composed images of sunshine, swimming pools and the good life of California. The book contains pictures of Hockney’s early life as an artist and all the pictures are vibrant in color.
“Pearblossom Hwy.”, 11th 18th April 1986, #2. The Getty. 1986. “The J. Paul Getty Trust.
A brief summary about Hockney’s famous photo collage called Pearblossom highway. There is a quote by Hockney himself about how he imagined the collage to be before he created it.
Works Consulted
Adam, Peter. David Hockney and His Friends. New York: The Cromwell Press, 1997.
The author leads the readers through Hockley’s artistic development. The beginning of the book shows Hockney’s early stages while the end shows Hockney’s late and advanced stages. The book shows his friends and lovers who helped his imagination.
Baggot, Brian. HOCKNEY. Italy: Chronicle Books, 1995.
This book contains artwork of posters that are very vibrant in color and large in size. Many of Hockney pieces in this book include a swimming pool and the element of water.
Clothier, Peter. HOCKNEY. Los Angeles: Abbeville Press, 1995.
Contemporary artist David Hockney is known for all types of his artwork. From his oil paintings to his photo collages, Hockney is known. Book contains all of the work Hockney does and goes into depth with the meanings of his work.
Hockney, David. 72 Drawings by David Hockney. New York: The Viking Press, 1971.
A medium of ink, pencil, and crayons are used in the pieces of this book. The book theme is the beauty of the male body and interior design. About half the pictures are colored in while the other half of the pictures are merely outlines. A great many of the pictures have a location in the title.
Hockney, David. Martha’s Vineyard and other places. New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1985.
The book mainly contains sketches of one of Hockney’s summer when he was in Martha’s Vineyard. Since the book took place in Martha’s Vineyard there are a lot of scenes that contain beaches. There are many different levels of the sketches; they range from very easy to difficult. Some sketches are simple, with just a few lines while others are deep and elaborate with intensity, depth and volume.
Lane, Jimmy. “David Hockney’s Photography.” 19 June 1998
The website talks about Hockney’s photography and how he can about the medium. Most of Hockney’s photo collages are massive and well recognized. The site also said that Hockney really started to play around with the camera in the year of 1982 up until the late 80’s.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney etchings and Lithographs. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1998.
The book contains Hockney’s illustrations. There is clearly an appreciation of the male body. About half the pieces are in color and Hockney’s illustrations are quite hard to comprehend. There is a model that Hockney uses constantly for his sketches by the name of Mo. Which I believe is or was a rather important person in Hockney’s life. The book contains a diversity of images, colors and simplicity. Surrealism is a major theme in the illustrations and Hockeny’s work is unique, diverse and eye catching.
Livingstone, Marco. Faces. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc, 1987.
The faces that Hockney drew/sketched are of his mother, father and many of his friends. There are many self portraits of him as well. All the faces carry a similar look to them; they all seem to hold some seriousness.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. “David Hockney.” 1999. Thames and Hudson. <http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hockney.html>
Site talks about Hockney’s growth as a pop artist. Though Hockney is considered one of leading pop artist, he does not consider himself a pop artist.
Melia, Paul. David Hockney You Make the Picture Paintings and Prints 1987-1995. Manchester: BMW (GB) Limited, 1996.
The book mainly contains David Hockney’s photo collages and how he creates the collages. The collages originally is a whole bunch of pictures shot mainly in one scene then developed and put together to make art.
Wolheim, Richard. “David Hockney.” Modern Painters Writers on Artists. Ed. Barbara Minton. New York: DK Publishing. 2001. 24-39
Writer Richard Wolheim is writing about artist David Hockney and his life as an artist. Wolheim writes about Hockney’s paintings and other firms of artwork.
David Hockney portraits. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. February 26, 2006- May 14, 2006.
The site contains a brief description from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston about Hockney’s life.
I was born in Bradford in 1937. At the age of eleven I’d decided in, in my mind, that I wanted to become an artist, but the meaning of the work ‘artist’ to me then was very vague- the man who made Christmas cards was an artist, the man who painted posters was an artist, the man who did lettering for posters was an artist. Anyone was an artist who in his job had to pick up a brush and paint something. (Hockney, 7)
After attending Bradford Grammar school, he transferred to Regional College of
Art so that he could further his studies in art. Hockney (Biography). In 1953, Hockney enrolled in the College of art and began experimenting with oil paints. At the College of Art, Hockney learned many things. He learned that painting was a seeing and thinking process, rather than an imitation. Abstract was Hockney’s art theme and he focused his art on personal things. The year 1959, Hockney enrolled in the Painting School of the Royal College in London, this college is where he would achieve attention nationally as an artist.
My paper will focus on how Hockney merges his life into his artwork. The media I decided was his famous Polaroid photo collages. The three pieces are going to be photo collages by David Hockney. The names of the collages are called Place Furstenberg, Paris, Pearblossom Highway and Merced River. All of these photo collages were created between the years of 1982 and 1986. I choose these pieces because they struck me in interest. In addition, these three pieces happen to be the most famous and all the pieces have quite a bit to meaning. The first piece I will focus on is called Place Furstenberg, Paris then I will switch to the piece Pearblossom Highway, and lastly the collage called Merced River.
Hockney is one of those uncommon painters who are known for more than what they achieved. He is known for who he is as a person as well. Livingstone (11). He uses his art talents to express love he feels for others. His work is not just a bunch of colors, no, they have more meaning. Hockney’s work clearly depicts his life and his love ones. Hockney photo collage medium differs from his other media because in Hockney’s photo collage he is able to express more. Life is seen in his collages while his other media does not hold the same message. Hockney photo collages are indeed of actual places and people, while his paintings and drawings are not.
David Hockney started off like most artists, unknown and not famous. Today, Hockney is considered one of if not the best British contemporary artist in the 21st century. Silver (2) He repeatedly been called on of the leading pop artist and is known for his dyed blonde hair and his glasses. When Hockney creates a Polaroid, he puts together hundreds of Polaroid images from a single scene to make large mural of photos. (Scheips).
Hockney is indeed a strange artist. He does not trust many people except for the people around him and his love ones. He does not believe an artist capability until he is able to see. Hockney once said “Any respectable art historian would never go only by an artist’s words; he would look for evidence of them in his artwork.” Hockney (7)
Hockney owes his success to many reasons; his wit and versatitly of his work are some reasons. Furthermore, Hockney’s colorful personality should credit his success. Because Hockney’s posses these traits, he was able to become recognizable to not only artists, but also the attention of people not interested in art. (Pioch) “Undoubtedly Hockney’s popularity can be attributed not simply to his visual wit and panache but also to this appeal to our own escapist instincts.” (Barrow) Hockney is surely an interesting artist. He is one of those artists that do not stick with the media he grew famous off of, instead Hockney is the type of artist that likes to explore with many different media and is the type of artist that will not just stick with one media just because a particular media had made him famous.
A lot of Hockney’s photo collages focuses on cubism. Cubism affects how Hockney creates his pieces and how he experimented with them.
The photographic experiments that Hockney has been pursuing obsessively since 1982, a rephrasing of the multiple viewpoints of cubism in the form of composite images, have so fundamentally altered his conception of the kind of information that one can convey in a picture that he has felt compelled to develop equivalent techniques in his drawing and painting his discoveries with the camera, and the theories he has developed in the advantages of a “moving focus” over the fixed one-point perspective devised in the Renaissance, have affected startling transformations in his hand-wrought images. (Livingstone, prefix)
Cubism began as an art movement in the 20th century, triggered by the artist Pablo Picasso and Georges Barque. Cubism did not only inspire visual art, but Cubism inspired music and literature as well. The first branch of cubism is known as Analytic Cubism while the second branch is known or called as Synthetic cubism. (Livingstone, prefix)
Hockney’s Polaroid photo collages are massive and well recognized. Unlike most artists, Hockney refers to his photo collages as “joiners”. (Scheips) The creation of a joiner is Hockney put together a series of photographs which he takes all at once and merges the pictures in a way to make a realistic image. (Scheips)
The photo collage Place Furstenberg, Paris was done in 1985, August 7th to the 9th. He created the piece vibrant in color with many different types of hues. All shades of green are shown in every object and are vibrantly displayed. From the trees to the buildings to the sidewalk, everything is diverse in colors. How Hockney created this photo collage was he originally had scenery which he took hundreds upon hundreds of photos which later he creates as one beautiful piece.
Hockney photocollages seem different from most artists. Hockney’s collages are large and massive while most other artists’ collages are small or tiny. The reason for Hockney’s different approach for creating a photo collage compared to other artists is perhaps because Hockney views things differently from most people. Hockney himself said “I’ve often thought about the way I see. For years, I’ve thought my eyes are funny or something. Kept thinking how much can you really see. For years, I’ve thought my eyes are funny or something. Kept thinking how much can you really see and what is it you really take in as your eyes moves about focusing.” Edekal (prefix) Concluding, Hockney’s art is made for his viewers. His drawings are designed in a special way so that they can be animated to be in the mind of the viewer. Livingstone (197)
The object that first catches your eye is the huge tree which takes up a good portion of the piece. The tree is mostly green with some tints of brown. The trunk of the tree is brown while the topper part has a darker brown shade mixed with some green. The top of the tree however, is the lightest part. The leaves of the tree carry a similar completion that the trunk has. The leaves of the tree come in all different shapes and sizes. The darker shape leaves are much larger than those with a lighter tint.
The item that least catches your eye is the little square almost in the middle of the collage which is an image of the sky. That little piece is the only visible image of the sky. What's more is that I noticed that there is another tree in the picture. The other tree is much darker than the bigger one. The trunk of the tree though, is the lightest part. The completion is a yellowish and brownish hint, surrounded by a bunch of little rocks.
Another thing that my eye caught was that there are only two cars in the whole piece of art. It’s interesting that Hockney decided to make the cars tiny. The cars colors are red and black. Which sticks out when put near the white apartments.
As a whole, the picture is very vibrant. The colors are light and sunny. When looking at the picture, the viewer feels a warm and welcoming scene. The picture, I noticed is only straight at the top of the picture. Every other side is not even. The bottom part of the picture is the roughest part of the picture compared to every other side. The picture as a whole does not look real. Only a couple of little squares can be view as real to the viewer.
I would like to add on that located in the very center of the picture is of a dark, small building. The small building is sticking to the viewer because the viewer would think the center piece of the collage will be much bigger and more eye catching than what it is now. There is an ample amount of windows. Everywhere the viewer looks, there are windows. The windows mostly occupied the top half of the picture. None are seen in the bottom half. One thing I noticed about the windows is that they all are dark. The windows are covered by shades which I find interesting because the picture as a whole is very bright and lively. That is not the same case with the windows, however. The viewer who looks at the window senses darkness and not much hope.
The picture is very diverse with every element. From shapes to hints there is diversity. The top of the picture is busy, filled with everything from apartments to windows to leaves. The bottom part of the picture is not as fortunate as the top half, though. The bottom part of the picture is indeed extremely plain. There is nothing important but the trunks of the trees.
My eye caught a lot of parallel things and doubles in the photo collage. There are two trees, which appear almost exactly alike. There are two cars and two doors included in the collage. What is parallel I noticed are the trees and the buildings. Perhaps, Hockney is trying to tell his viewer that life always comes in pairs.
Looking at the photo collage, which appears to be a square in Paris, the viewer could easily see the difference between a square in Paris compared to a square in the United States. The square is very clear and clean of garbage compared to America, where people just throw everything on the ground and litter. Hockney as a person has much more respect for European countries than America. Although Hockney believes that the landscape in America is fascinating Hockney knows the menu of a restaurant every time he pulls up into the driveway. Hockney (106) The streets, as the viewer sees do not have paper or anything other type or form of trash. This square, I believe belongs to a rather rich area in Europe. Nothing poor is visible in the picture.
The picture in addition has very earthy colors like earth brown and earth green. There is no neon, bright or dark colors, except for the shades used in the picture. There also happens to be a lot of natural colors. Like the sidewalk and the door on the very edge of the picture. One thing that struck me about this picture is why there is only one visible door. There maybe other doors but the other doors are not visible to the viewer. Why did Hockney create the picture like this? Doors symbolize freedom and hope. Windows usually symbolizes freedom but in this photo collage the windows appear to symbolizes death and loneliness. Why did Hockney make this picture the way he did? I believe that he wants to show his viewers that there are always to sides or everything. There is always a dark side and a light side. There is always a hope side and not so bright side. Like everything in life, there is always two sides of things, just like this picture. Which Hockney did a great job describing.
Hockney has concluded that we as human beings have become enslaved to the limiting way if seeing by the lens with camera made images. Hockney understands his duty as being able repelled by the surface of the photograph, and he clearly understands his duty as being to demonstrate what the eyes and the hand together can achieve in producing a more human, truthful and subjective account of reality. (Livingstone & Heymer, 7)
Pearblossom Highway is next famous descriptive photo collage by Hockney. The setting for this collage appears to be a deserted highway somewhere in the center of California. There are words on the actual highway that reads “STOP AHEAD” in bold, white letters. I believe Hockney put these words in the highway because the words symbolize life. Also, my eye noticed that there are a lot of stop signs and symbols that symbolizes stop. I can see the word stop three times on the highway and one stop sign which is bold a red. I believe Hockney is trying to stress the meaning of stop in people’s lives. Because in life, one would have to stop many times in order to succeed. This was what Hockney was trying to interrupt in his picture Pear Blossom highway.
My eye caught in the photo collage is that the bottom of the collage is filled with non lively colors. For example, like beige, gray, and black. Furthermore, there is litter everywhere and dead grass and weeds. The top of the collage however is the complete opposite; the top is filled in a very vibrant color blue. The viewer who looks at that color will feel life and happiness. In addition, the beginning of the photo is filled with litter while there is not that much litter while up the highway.
Additionally, as the highway travels up, I noticed that there is a beach at the end of the highway. If there is a beach at the end of the highway, the beach will make the collage even more meaningful. The collage is trying to say that in the beginning of life, people are unknowing of what they will do in their future or that they are lost in life. This period should happen around peoples’ teenage years or early twenties. The end of the highway symbolizes certainty and strength about one’s life. I noticed that the same theme is portrayed in the collage at the top and bottom of the collage.
Additionally, the first sign in the highway contains an arrow, a red stop sign, and a sign that reads stop ahead. This I believe is that Hockney is trying to symbolize the importance of stopping in one’s life and how important it is to stop in order to get where one wants to. Because the sign contains both the stop sign and an arrow, this is why I thought this. Moreover, another reason to back up why I believe Hockney is trying to show success in this massive photo collage is because at the top of the photo collage there is a sign that contains the date December 31, 1999. This is interesting because Hockney created this collage in April 1986, 11th to the 18th. Why would Hockney create a photo collage with a sign that contains a date that is not relevant to the date that he created the piece? It took me a while to get what the sign means, but if you study the sign carefully enough, you will notice that the sign reads, December, 31, 1999. It’s interesting that Hockney choose this date because that date is just one date before a new millennium. The year 2000 does not only symbolize a new millennium, but it could also symbolize a new century and a new decade as well. So it is very interesting that Hockney choose this date. December happens to be the last month before another year starts and the same goes for the day 31st. 31st is the last day any month could possible contain before a new month beings.
Pearblossom Highway' shows a crossroads in a very wide open space, which you only get a sense of in the western United States. . . . [The] picture was not just about a crossroads, but about us driving around. I'd had three days of driving and being the passenger. The driver and the passenger see the road in different ways. When you drive you read all the road signs, but when you're the passenger, you don't, you can decide to look where you want. And the picture dealt with that: on the right-hand side of the road it's as if you're the driver, reading traffic signs to tell you what to do and so on, and on the left-hand side it's as if you're a passenger going along the road more slowly, looking all around. So the picture is about driving without the car being in it. Thus David Hockney described the circumstances leading to the creation of this photo collage of the scenic Pearblossom Highway north of Los Angeles. His detailed collage reveals the more mundane observations of a road trip. The littered cans and bottles and the meandering line where the pavement ends and the sand begins point to the interruption of the desert landscape by the roads cutting through it and the imprint of careless travelers. (The J. Paul Getty Trust)
This quote is Hockney’s own description of what they see when they look at the collage. Hockney’s idea and theme of the collage is much different from mine. The quote though, was said before Hockney even created the collage.
When Hockney creates a collage or a different media, Hockney is able to through his pieces reflect back images of the external world and also recreate the viewer’s process of seeing so that we can invent art in a world in which we the viewer can experience the visceral reality of space and time, physical substance, change and movement. Livingstone (9)
Hockney did actually spent quite some time of his life in California. (Pioch) He had settled in California in the 80’s and has based a lot of his work off of Californian life. (Pioch) Pearblossom is a town in the Los Angeles County, which is important because when Hockney lived in America, Hockney lived in Los Angeles, California. A lot of Hockney’s work is based off of California and the simple life Californians have. (Livingstone)
Piece #3 is called Merced River, which is another massive and famous photo collage by David Hockney, of course. Merced River happens to be the first famous collage Hockney created. When looking at the piece Merced River, the first thing that catches my eye is nothing in particular. The photo collage, Merced River is based on a River in the famous Yosemite Park located right smack in the middle of the beautiful state California. Many artists come to the park to base their work off of. Merced River has inspired many paintings, pictures and photo collages by various artists.
Artists are the eyes for the other people who don’t have time to spend looking at and finding out about nature. It’s nature that you must be taught to see. As well as color. Color is the most fugitive element of a picture. Without color pictures will really be nothing more than a picture. Picture with colors has meanings and depth compared to pictures with no colors. Color present in a picture is fugitive in life and its fugitive in the physical reality of the picture. Edekal (prefix)
Merced River is a famous river located in one of the most famous park in all of America. Artists like to come to this park because of the beauty the park holds. Everything in the park is elaborate and beautiful, especially the river. The river’s water is nice and lush with a white and blue color. As the viewer can see, the river is not polluted by junk. Instead, the water is polluted by cleanliness and life. The river’s water movement is fast and rapid, which means there is a river close by.
One thing I noticed about this collage is that unlike Hockney other famous collages, like Furstenberg Place, Paris and Pearblossom Highway, is that both the pieces are arranged both in a almost perfect rectangle. Also, the other two photo collages is filled in with pictures, there are no white spaces anywhere. This piece however is quite different from the other two. This piece has quite a bit of white spaces between each photo and is not in a well known shape.
Additionally, I noticed about the picture is that the collage holds a very still, relaxing effect on the viewer. The reason I say this is because of all the natural elements the collage possesses. Earth, water, and air is all shown in the collage. One thing that struck me about this photo collage is that nobody is present in the collage. Yosemite Park is a very famous park in California, so why is nobody present? Having none present in the collage I believe is what makes the collage calm and relaxing. If the collage did have people, then I believe the calmness and relaxing effect would not be as effective to the viewer.
There are parts of the collage which are not covered, instead of pictures, there are white spaces. In every one of Hockney’s photo collages that I seen, famous or not, there are no white spaces in the collage. This collage, however, is different. Why, though? Out of all the collages, why did Hockney make this collage different?
Yosemite Park, as I said earlier, is a mark located right in the middle of California. The reason why much of Hockney’s photo collage does not contain any human beings is because during the 80s, Hockney had lost a lot of his friends to aids. Livingstone & Heymer (8 & 9) during the years of 1980s, Hockney eliminated people in his artwork because he sought after to sense aloneness in his pieces. (Livingstone & Heymer, 9). By concentrating on such descriptions, Hockney was able to shelter himself emotionally against confronting the depth of his sense of loss. (Livingstone & Heymer, 9) Hockney loss of friends clearly depicts so in his work. Although the Merced River collage appears to be smooth and calming, it also holds quite the opposite meaning. The collage holds a depressing and loneliness appearance as well. By removing people in his artwork, Hockney believed he could become more alone because he felt alone in his life with the lost of his friends.
David Hockney, the great, famous David Hockney is a well known and well respected artist. He is known for his bleach dyed blonde hair and his childish, boyish glasses. (Scheips) He is one of those rare artists that have achieved a lot within his career. David Hockney has mastered all forms of media and became quite successful. Sliver (2) David Hockney has been repeatedly called one of the best British artists of his time and has constantly been called one of the leading artists of pop art. He is famous for merging his life into his art and is one of those uncommon artists that have the ability to inspire many growing artists.
Works Cited
Barrow, Mark. “20th Century British and International Contemporary Art.” 2005. Modern British Artist. <http://www.modernbritishartists.co.uk/hockney_biog.htm>
The website is a biography of David Hockney talking about his life and how he discovered art. Also, the site describes the different techniques Hockney creates when making a piece.
Hockney, David. Pictures. Great Britain: Harry N. Abrams, 76 & 79.
The book contains all types of Hockney’s media. Pictures and sketches are both presented in this book. About half the pieces have color while the other half does not. The pieces that do contain colors are sketches while the colored pieces are pictures. There are a lot of repeated images within the book for example like curtains, houses, and pools.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
The book gives the reader a descriptive journey of Hockney’s work from the beginning of his work all the way to his most recent. The book includes medium of his photo collages and his highly stage designs for the opera.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981 and 1987.
Livingstone explores Hackney’s life and art. Hockney’s art clearly depicts his life and his love ones. There is quite an abundant of pictures containing a pool. Some pictures are vibrant in colors while others are not.
Livingstone, Marco and Heymer, Kay. Hockney’s people. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2003.
Hockney is fascinated by people. Hockney’s people give a valuable glimpse of the moment when life and art meet. Through Hockney’s artwork, the viewer is able to see that Hockney clearly loves his mother. Every type of Hockney’s artwork is expressed in this book.
Pioch, Nicolas. “Hockney, David. 2002. Webmusuem, Paris. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hockney/>
Paper contains information about how Hockney became a pop up artist. The website displays his work and goes into deeper meaning about his pop art.
Scheipps, Charlie. “Hockney Time.” The Art Set. 2004. <http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/contributors/artset/artset11_19_04.php>
Paper talks mainly about Hockney Polaroid pictures. Also, the paper includes a biography of Hockney’s life and who influences his artwork.
Silver, Kenneth E. David Hockney. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc, 1994.
Hockney is known worldwide for his colorful and classically composed images of sunshine, swimming pools and the good life of California. The book contains pictures of Hockney’s early life as an artist and all the pictures are vibrant in color.
“Pearblossom Hwy.”, 11th 18th April 1986, #2. The Getty. 1986. “The J. Paul Getty Trust.
A brief summary about Hockney’s famous photo collage called Pearblossom highway. There is a quote by Hockney himself about how he imagined the collage to be before he created it.
Works Consulted
Adam, Peter. David Hockney and His Friends. New York: The Cromwell Press, 1997.
The author leads the readers through Hockley’s artistic development. The beginning of the book shows Hockney’s early stages while the end shows Hockney’s late and advanced stages. The book shows his friends and lovers who helped his imagination.
Baggot, Brian. HOCKNEY. Italy: Chronicle Books, 1995.
This book contains artwork of posters that are very vibrant in color and large in size. Many of Hockney pieces in this book include a swimming pool and the element of water.
Clothier, Peter. HOCKNEY. Los Angeles: Abbeville Press, 1995.
Contemporary artist David Hockney is known for all types of his artwork. From his oil paintings to his photo collages, Hockney is known. Book contains all of the work Hockney does and goes into depth with the meanings of his work.
Hockney, David. 72 Drawings by David Hockney. New York: The Viking Press, 1971.
A medium of ink, pencil, and crayons are used in the pieces of this book. The book theme is the beauty of the male body and interior design. About half the pictures are colored in while the other half of the pictures are merely outlines. A great many of the pictures have a location in the title.
Hockney, David. Martha’s Vineyard and other places. New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1985.
The book mainly contains sketches of one of Hockney’s summer when he was in Martha’s Vineyard. Since the book took place in Martha’s Vineyard there are a lot of scenes that contain beaches. There are many different levels of the sketches; they range from very easy to difficult. Some sketches are simple, with just a few lines while others are deep and elaborate with intensity, depth and volume.
Lane, Jimmy. “David Hockney’s Photography.” 19 June 1998
The website talks about Hockney’s photography and how he can about the medium. Most of Hockney’s photo collages are massive and well recognized. The site also said that Hockney really started to play around with the camera in the year of 1982 up until the late 80’s.
Livingstone, Marco. David Hockney etchings and Lithographs. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1998.
The book contains Hockney’s illustrations. There is clearly an appreciation of the male body. About half the pieces are in color and Hockney’s illustrations are quite hard to comprehend. There is a model that Hockney uses constantly for his sketches by the name of Mo. Which I believe is or was a rather important person in Hockney’s life. The book contains a diversity of images, colors and simplicity. Surrealism is a major theme in the illustrations and Hockeny’s work is unique, diverse and eye catching.
Livingstone, Marco. Faces. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc, 1987.
The faces that Hockney drew/sketched are of his mother, father and many of his friends. There are many self portraits of him as well. All the faces carry a similar look to them; they all seem to hold some seriousness.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. “David Hockney.” 1999. Thames and Hudson. <http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hockney.html>
Site talks about Hockney’s growth as a pop artist. Though Hockney is considered one of leading pop artist, he does not consider himself a pop artist.
Melia, Paul. David Hockney You Make the Picture Paintings and Prints 1987-1995. Manchester: BMW (GB) Limited, 1996.
The book mainly contains David Hockney’s photo collages and how he creates the collages. The collages originally is a whole bunch of pictures shot mainly in one scene then developed and put together to make art.
Wolheim, Richard. “David Hockney.” Modern Painters Writers on Artists. Ed. Barbara Minton. New York: DK Publishing. 2001. 24-39
Writer Richard Wolheim is writing about artist David Hockney and his life as an artist. Wolheim writes about Hockney’s paintings and other firms of artwork.
David Hockney portraits. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. February 26, 2006- May 14, 2006.
The site contains a brief description from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston about Hockney’s life.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Photo Collage by David Hockney
A picture is worth a thousand words.
The photo collage that David Hockney created is vibrant in color there are all types of hues. Every object also is vibrant or diverse in colors. From the trees to the buildings to the sidewalk, everything is diverse. Hockney originally had a picture than he decided to cut it up and make it into a new creation. Which I found fasinating. I concluded that Hockney might of cut up other pictures to make this one collage. The reason for my theory is because some of the pieces in this collage does not coordinate well with the others. The photo collage is of square that I believe takes place in France or another European country. To my knowledge, I don’t believe the picture takes place in Africa or Asia. The object that first catches your eye is clearly the huge tree witch takes up a good portion of the piece. The tree is mostly green with some tints of brown. The trunk of the tree is brown while the topper part is dark brown/green. The top of the tree however, is the lightest of the whole. The leaves of the tree carry a similar completion that the trunk has. The leaves of the tree come in all different shapes and sizes. The darker shape leaves are much larger than those with a lighter tint. The thing that least catches your eye believes is the little square almost in the middle of the picture which is an image of the sky. Also, I noticed that there is another tree in the picture. The other tree is much darker than the bigger one. Everything is darker. The stem and the leaves. The trunk of the tree though, is the lightest. The completion is a yellowish/ brownish hint. Surrounded by a bunch of little rocks it seemed. Another thing that I noticed was that there are only two cars in the whole piece of art. I found this interesting because the cars are tiny, compared to the whole piece. The piece is large but the cars are small. The cars hue is red and black. Which sticks out when put near the white apartments. As a whole, the picture is very vibrant. The colors are light and sunny. When looking at the picture, the viewer feels a warm and welcoming scene. The picture, I noticed is only straight at the top of the picture. Every other side is not even or missing a piece. The bottom part of the picture is the roughest part of the picture compared to every other side. The picture as a whole does not look real. Only a couple of little squares can be telling as real to the viewer. Like some parts of the tree, the leaves could be seen as real. Also, another thing I noticed is that the very center of the picture is of a dark, small building. This struck me because I thought the center of the picture will be much bigger and more eye catching than what it is now. There is an ample amount of windows. Everywhere the viewer looks, there are windows. The windows mostly occupied the top half of the picture. None are seen in the bottom half. One thing I noticed about the windows is that they all are dark. The windows are covered by shades which I find interesting because the picture as a whole is very bright and lively. That is not the same case with the windows, however. The viewer who looks at the window senses darkness and not much hope. The picture is very diverse with every element. From shapes to hints there is diversity. The top of the picture is busy, filled with everything from apartments to windows to leaves. The bottom part of the picture is not as fortunate as the top half, though. The bottom part of the picture is indeed extremely plain. There is nothing important but the trunks of the trees. I also happened to notice that there are a lot of parallel things and doubles. There are two trees, which appear also exactly alike. There are also two cars and two doors. What is parallel I noticed are the trees and the buildings. I believe this collage was done quite a while ago. Perhaps in the 70’s or the 80’s. The reason I have this theory is because the cars appear to be those centuries and everything seems brighter. Also, the buildings seem like they were made around that time as well. I touched upon the subject earlier that I believe this picture was done in France other some other European country. The reason I believe this is because the square is very clear, compared to America, where people just throw everything on the ground and litter. The streets, as the viewer sees does not have paper or anything other type or form of trash. The street is extremely spotless with noting on it. This square, I believe belongs to a rather rich area in Europe. The reason I believe this is because everything the viewer sees can be connected to richness. There is nothing poor or tapped in the picture. Also, the picture has very earthy colors like earth brown and earth green. There are no neon colors or very dark colors, except for the shades. The also happens to be a lot of natural colors. Like the sidewalk and the door on the very edge of the picture. One thing that struck me about this picture is why there is only one visible door. There maybe other doors but the other doors are not visible to the viewer. Why did Hockney create the picture like this? Doors, to me symbolize freedom and hope. Though this picture does symbolize hope and freedom, it also does not in a way. Which obviously y in very controversy. The windows which symbolizes freedom as well are as I will say again are very dark and not welcoming. Why did Hockney make this picture the way he did? I will believe that he wants to show his viewers that there are always to sides or everything. There is always a dark side and a light side. There is always a hope side and not so bright side. Like everything in life, there is always two sides of things, just like this picture. Which Hockney did a great job describing.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Memoirs of a Geisha Journal Entry
" My father was more at ease on the sea than anywhere else. He smelled like the sea even after he bathed" (9)
"When I was six or seven, I learned something about my father I'd never known. One day I asked him, "Daddy, why are you so old? (10).
Golden's first describes Chiyo as a very blunt little girl. Chiyo is no afraid to hold back thoughts or questions when concerning her father. Like most little girls, Chiyo has many questions and have a desire to learn. Also, Golden's ability to show how calm Chiyo's father was when at sea almost describes her father to be like the sea. The sea is always smooth and peaceful. Much like Chiyo's father.
"When I was six or seven, I learned something about my father I'd never known. One day I asked him, "Daddy, why are you so old? (10).
Golden's first describes Chiyo as a very blunt little girl. Chiyo is no afraid to hold back thoughts or questions when concerning her father. Like most little girls, Chiyo has many questions and have a desire to learn. Also, Golden's ability to show how calm Chiyo's father was when at sea almost describes her father to be like the sea. The sea is always smooth and peaceful. Much like Chiyo's father.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Study Guide; Hamlet's Soliloquy
In Act 1 Scene 5, Hamlet reflects what’s life is like without his father. In the soliloquy, Shakespeare describes Hamlet as a weak and insane person. Shakespeare is able to this through use of tone, word choice, and repetition.In the first part of Hamlet’s soliloquy, I believe Hamlet’s fall to the ground because he just cannot physically stand up anymore. He looks up at the sky for a quick moment then falls shortly afterwards. Thinking about his father knocks his off of his feet and the thought also affects his breathing. Hamlet sounds like he is short of breath. Also, in the clip, Hamlet looks up towards the sky as if the sky is King Hamlet and whispers “remember thee”. It’s like Hamlet is telling his father not to forget him and he will meet up with him in heaven. “O all you host of heaven! O earth! And shall I couple hell?” (92-93). I believe the reference of heaven, earth, and hell is significant. Hamlet references to earth because he is living on earth at the very moment, but he feels like living on the earth is “hell”. Halmet wants to be in heaven with his father. When the actor Hamlet speaks from line 92-95, his eyes are closed. It’s like he can’t come to grasp reality. He can’t live without his father. He needs him in his life. “O fie, hold, hold, my heart”, the word fie, as I looked up meant disgust. I think Shakespeare uses fie to describe his uncle. Hamlet’s uncle is fie and is holding his heart. The uncle is holding Hamlet’s heart as to break it or destroy it in a physical manor. But Hamlet’s uncle did already break his heart, mentally, when he killed King Hamlet. In the middle of the soliloquy, Hamlet finally rises from the ground. As Hamlet rises, there is dark music in the background and his breathing grows harsher. His voice also becomes harsh and painful. His eyes are closed, just like the beginning of the soliloquy. His eyes also appear to grow larger. He is screaming, and his screaming is geared towards his mother, Queen Gertrude. He calls his mother a “pernicious woman”, as if she does not deserve a name. This is another sign of how Shakespeare describes Hamlet insanity. Most young boys will not call their mother a “pernicious woman.” Also, Hamlet makes a reference to Denmark. “And smile, and be a villain”, Shakespeare writes as if Hamlet ever had the chance to send his mother to Denmark, he would. And Denmark at this time is a prison, so Hamlet wanting to condemn his mother to Denmark shows his madness. At the end of the soliloquy, Hamlet’s voice is harsher than ever before and his eyes grow wider. He ends his soliloquy with “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.” It is “Aideu, aideu! Remember me.” I believe these lines are foreshadowing how Hamlet is going to kill his uncle. . “Now to my word”, this is Hamlet’s promise for his father to carry on the deed of what he told him to do. And the deed is to kill the current king. Also in the video, Hamlet recites these lines he is slowly raising his sword, as if he is practicing how to kill him. Through use of word choice, tone, and repetition, Shakespeare is able to captivate his reader’s mind to believe the insanity and weakness of Hamlet. Repetition usually is a sign of insanity and this is the main reason why I believe that Shakespeare choose to repeat many words in the soliloquy.
A Visual Explication
On page 12 of Tom Phillips' Humument, Phillips suggests that life is a path with many obstacles, challenges, and choices. The choices, obstacles, and challenges will not be easy. Phillips knows this and is able to show his viewers through use of color, word placement, and many other techniques, Phillip is able to convey his readers to look more closely at life and what it throws at us. Life is not meant to be simple, it is meant to be complicated. First looking at the picture, the viewer can clearly tell that the humument is mainly constructed of dark colors with little specs of white. I believe the dark colors that Phillips uses in the humument represented the obstacles that life throws at a person. While the little specs of light represent hope. As the viewer can see, there is much more dark colors of green then there are colors of white. I think Phillips purpose for the excessive green and the limited white was to show how many obstacles a person would have to overcome in his or her life and how much hope he or she will have while overcoming the obstacle. But the use of the color green could also have a split meaning. Green could also mean spring, renewal, or growth. There is also controversy at the top of the picture. There are two different shades of color with a slash of green between the middle. The brighter side which consists of pink, blue and white, is one side of the pathway, and path with the darker colors is another. It depends on how the viewer views the picture to choose which side he or she determines to follow. Just like with the split meaning of green, they can choose which way to perceive it. Green could be sought as an obstacle, or it could be sought as growth or renewal. Leaving the viewer to decide the meaning is also saying what choices a person can choose in life. There is never only one option; there will always be many options. A significant thing I noticed about the humument was how the words were arranged. The words as the viewer can see starts from the very tip of the left hand side then moves slowly to the right then takes a dramatic drop to the left again and finishes at the very tip of the left hand side. As the viewer can see, the words are arranged in what appears to be like a path. The arrange of words could easily be translated to how life is a path. First, people are born and have no knowledge of the world yet, they are "condemned to life" as Phillips puts it, but as a person grows older, when they are in their teenage years they understand life more, but stray away from it. Teenagers, as most people know, are probably one of if not the hardest age group to understand. Which is the second little packet of words is away from the first on the opposite side of the page and very far away from the next. Phillips purpose for this how people in the teenage age group usually tend to stray away from life. The word choice he uses clearly demonstrates what he thought “this good book looks for nobody". Replace the word book with teenager and the line makes perfect sense. Between the years of 1970 and 1975, Phillips probably created his humument gallery. This was also the time of the hippie era, liberation for teenagers and young people. Teenagers were dressing wildly and doing acts that people were just no yet use to. This is why I believe that the little set of words is so far away from the other sets. Hippies were also misunderstood for the most part; another reason why I think Phillips cast these words away as far as he did. The next set of words is on the left hand side again, where the humument began. The set words at the bottom left hand side are more dense and abundant than the previous sets of words. I believe Phillips made the lines this way was because the last set of words symbolizes adulthood. The first set of words symbolized a baby, the next set, a teenager, and the last set belongs to adults. I believe the last set of words is denser than the other pairs are because the last set of words is the path of adulthood. As an adult, people are more knowledgeable of the world and what’s around them. They challenged more obstacles than teenagers and babies. In general, they have more knowledge. It’s the road to success, they (adults), figure out their lives pretty much. Teenagers on the other hand, are just coming to grasp what life is and has yet to learn the definition of life. Another thing significant about the humument is that there is a patch of mud brown that begins in the top middle that goes down to the bottom of the page. Looking from far away, the patch of mud brown could easily be seen as a pathway. There is also what seems to appear as a door in the bottom right hand corner. The path as it appears seems to be going towards the door. Through many obstacles and challenges life throws at, the door to this humument is a person’s salvation. Also, the door is surrounded by a bunch of flowers; which symbolize life and nature. People worked hard in life to travel through this door, as Phillip tells his viewers. As the viewer can see, there are many obstacles in life to overcome. Life is never as simple as it seems. There is never just one option; there will always be many options. And it’s up to the person to decide which option would be right for him or her. Life gives people paths; and it’s up to the person to decide which path to take.
Hamlet's Soliloquy
After closely viewing all three soliloquies, I concluded that the first one, by Laurence Olivier is the best soliloquy. Through use of color effect, sound effect, scenery, and how the lines are said, this one clearly dominates the others in performance, skills, and accuracy.The clip of the soliloquy first starts off a close view of the ocean. Then Hamlet's head quickly comes into the clip. I believe showing Hamlet's head and the sea at the same time shows the connection of how Hamlet's mind process. The sea is a symbol of madness and insanity, much like Hamlet's brain. In the very beginning of the clip, the camera zooms in on Hamlet's brain. The video zooms in right to the core of the brain. There appears to be some sort of liquid in Hamlet's brain, which I interrupted it to the sea. The sea, as I say again is a good representation of how Hamlet's mind is. Hamlet believes that mind is free and powerful, but the mind as Hamlet sees it is also condemned to the body. In the beginning of the soliloquy, Hamlet recites "to die, to sleep" his voice is very faint. He appears to have grown weaker and can't hold himself up any longer and the camera zooms in on his weariness. Also, another thing I noticed is that he draws out a knife, a very small one. He takes the knife out just a little bit before saying "to die, to sleep". There is a very thick fog behind Hamlet. I think the fog symbolizes the fogginess of Hamlet's character. The fog symbolizes confusion, lost of mind, and many other things. And this is interesting because the fog appears in the whole clip, but it is mostly dense around the time when Hamlet recites these lines. Since I believe that the fog is a symbol of confusion, I believe when Hamlet recites these lines is the time when he is most confused. Also, I found it interesting that "to die, to sleep" is repeated again. The second time when the lines are repeated, the camera zooms in on Hamlet's head. The second time Hamlet recites the lines; I believe he is being more serious.Hamlet takes a fall to his elbows after he recites "perchance to dream-", I believe he falls to his elbow because dreaming for him is hopeless. What could he dream for? He lost his father; people think he is crazy, his mother betrayed his father and him to his uncle, Claudius. These lines "perchance to dream", I believe this is Hamlet's breaking point. This is the time when he realizes that he has close to nothing. Dreaming is something out of reach for Hamlet. Also, there is a sudden change of music. Before he says these lines, there is a sad type of music, after; there are sounds of waves in the background. This, I believe is symbolic. The sound of the waves brings the scene back to the very beginning of the clip, when Hamlet is looking down at the ocean and deciding whether he should jump off not. “The pangs of despis’d love” when Hamlet said this, he looks around as well. Why does he do this though? It is because he knows he has no love. Nobody loves him. The only person who did love him is gone now, and that is his father. Instead of people loving Hamlet, people think he is crazy. Nobody loves Hamlet, and this is the reason why he feels the need to look behind him when he says the word “love”.At the end of the clip, I believe Hamlet is walking towards his faith. I believe this because sad, mourning music is being played and his head is down. He slowly disappears behind the fog and slowly walks towards the cliff and down the steps, his destiny. He is not longer the center of the clip; instead, he is just a mere image. His importance is not worthy anymore. Out of a three soliloquies, Oliver’s was the best. There was a lot of accuracy in tone and scenes. Lines were not cut out and the soliloquy did not sound like a speech, unlike the others. The delivery of the lines, scene, camera effects and sound effects is what made this soliloquy triumph over the other ones.
Invisible Man Blog #3
One passage really stood out to me. “Three white men and three black horses. And, as I turned to leave, one of the horses violently tossed its head and I saw the gauntleted fist yank down (292). This passage I believed was Ellison’s hidden way of showing the white dominance in the society the protagonist lived in. “Three white men and three black horses” Obviously, the men represent the white dominance, and the black horses, represent the black people. “One of the horses violently tossed its head”, I took this as a black person rising up against society. Also, the reason why I think Ellison addressed the horse” it” brings forth how much worth a black person held in this type of society. The horse wasn’t even given a gender. “I saw the gauntleted fist yank down”. Ellison’s purpose for writing this sentence I believed was to show his readers that even if a black person has enough courage to rise above the white dominance and try to make himself/herself worthy, a white person would come crashing down on their dreams and ego. Also, another passage that caught my attention was on the last page of chapter 16. “I thought of Bledsoe and Norton. By kicking me into the dark they’d made me see the possibility of achieving something greater and more important than I’d ever dreamed. Here was a way that didn’t lead through the back door, a way not limited by black and white. If one lived long enough and worked hard enough, they could lead to the highest possible rewards. For the first time, I could glimpse the possibility of being more than a member of a race”, (308). This is the first time in the book where Ellison does not make race a big deal for the protagonist. Instead of seeing everything black and white, the protagonist now acknowledged the fact that if one really does work hard enough, he or she will succeed. It’s interesting how much the protagonist has to go through in order to trust the white race. You’d expect to see some more trust between the races at this time since they suffered through the depression and WWI together, but there is still no unity. And Ellison does a good portraying the feud between the races.
Invisble Man Blog #2
There are quite a few things I don’t like about the novel. I really didn’t like how Ellison portrays the black people during the fight in the ring. He almost describes the Africans as dogs, fighting one another for the white people’s entertainment as if that is what the African Americans are made for. There is this quote when the protagonist was chosen to fight in the ring and then blindfolded. “I wanted to see, to see more desperately than ever before.” (25). The meaning of this quote I think is that the protagonist wanted to escape, escape from all the madness. But he wasn’t able to because the blindfold was too tight. “When I raised my gloved hands to push the layers of white aside….” (25). This quote I believe is extremely significant. The protagonist “gloved hands” I believe could be interrupted as the African Americans in the time when the white people believed they were the superior race. “Push the layers of white aside...” (25) the word choice Ellison uses for this quote I found to be rather interesting. Why did he refer to the blindfold as “layers of white”? Was it because the “layers of white” refer to the white people? As if the protagonist tried to push away the mounds of white people watching him fight away.
Invisble Man Blog
Well Laurie, my first impression of the book was similar to yours. I too thought I was about a man trying to find himself within the racist society he was living in. One time I noticed about the beginning of the book is its murkiness. There aren’t many clear details to anything. There is no setting, time, and most people don’t seem to have a name. Why do you think this is, Laurie?One thing I don’t like about the book is Ellison’s style of writing. The style is very different from most authors I read and the style is hard to comprehend at times too. Like the very first page in the prologue. The protagonist first says “I” am an invisible man.” But then adds “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and I might even be said to possess a mind” (1). If he is invisible, what type of invisibly does he considers himself to hold? ‘Cause it seems so far that he is viewable to other people. Also, why did Ellison not give the protagonist a name yet? Is possible because he is black? Or maybe it’s part of his invisibly, not having a name. What I believe to think when someone isn’t given a name is that they are usually sought by other people as inferior. ‘Cause if someone doesn’t even have a name, an almost essential thing to life, what other things could they possibly have?
Precious Dreams
Here I am an old stage in life. In a powerful, demanding frame.
The air is cruel, forbidding, & drunk
On the way to escape the streetscape
I drink some vile atrocious, contaminated bacteria which hisses
And fogs to have depth and to come
In. The streets look for life, death, or me. Life
is far Death is near. Hell is close, heaven, it’s unreachable.
Tender crisp, deep illuminated night on me. I forge
Through it, them, as
My heart has been sipped on unchangeable now
10 years almost ago, the man comes close to me, swearing & telling.
Who would have thought that I’d be here, nothing
Nobody, no one to tell me that everything
Worth living for is not worth living for.
Life is not as precious as it seems.
Up in the world, far beyond the cloud, now
More than ever before?
Not that lecherous man, peering in taking off her coat
Eyes penetrating her voluminous body. Searching
& feeling in hunger. Not that annoying, petty teen, who was
Going to have to go, careening into the ocean so
To die, and to go on to heaven, imagine
So to go. Not that homeless man, who after very first meeting
I would never & never forget. Whom I visit every night and take him
Into the streets, where Hell fell on him, calling so demanded.
To love him & who will never leave me, not for fame, nor money
Nor even life itself. Which is
Only our human lot & means nothing. No, not anything.
There’s a song “ Live life to it’s fullest”, but no, I won’t do that
I am frustrated. When will I die? I live never die. I will live
To be famous, & I will never go away, & you will never escape from me
Who am always & only a person, despite this world. Spirit
Who lives only to haunt people.
I am only human, & I am in poverty, & I didn’t want my life to
Turn out like this
I came to your life to demand why you done this to me.
Why you done this to people.
Why love live your luxurious life.
Nothing will be done & I can’t depend on fate, nevertheless
I will continue to live cold, poor, and lonely. And watch
The world’s hunger and poverty only continue to grow.
The air is cruel, forbidding, & drunk
On the way to escape the streetscape
I drink some vile atrocious, contaminated bacteria which hisses
And fogs to have depth and to come
In. The streets look for life, death, or me. Life
is far Death is near. Hell is close, heaven, it’s unreachable.
Tender crisp, deep illuminated night on me. I forge
Through it, them, as
My heart has been sipped on unchangeable now
10 years almost ago, the man comes close to me, swearing & telling.
Who would have thought that I’d be here, nothing
Nobody, no one to tell me that everything
Worth living for is not worth living for.
Life is not as precious as it seems.
Up in the world, far beyond the cloud, now
More than ever before?
Not that lecherous man, peering in taking off her coat
Eyes penetrating her voluminous body. Searching
& feeling in hunger. Not that annoying, petty teen, who was
Going to have to go, careening into the ocean so
To die, and to go on to heaven, imagine
So to go. Not that homeless man, who after very first meeting
I would never & never forget. Whom I visit every night and take him
Into the streets, where Hell fell on him, calling so demanded.
To love him & who will never leave me, not for fame, nor money
Nor even life itself. Which is
Only our human lot & means nothing. No, not anything.
There’s a song “ Live life to it’s fullest”, but no, I won’t do that
I am frustrated. When will I die? I live never die. I will live
To be famous, & I will never go away, & you will never escape from me
Who am always & only a person, despite this world. Spirit
Who lives only to haunt people.
I am only human, & I am in poverty, & I didn’t want my life to
Turn out like this
I came to your life to demand why you done this to me.
Why you done this to people.
Why love live your luxurious life.
Nothing will be done & I can’t depend on fate, nevertheless
I will continue to live cold, poor, and lonely. And watch
The world’s hunger and poverty only continue to grow.
Peter Bruegel Explication
Roles in Society
In the poem Corn Harvest, by William Carlos Williams, Williams’ use of language and tone penetrates the readers’ mind to suggest the different roles, lifestyles and hardships a woman and a man endures in peasant day society. While the women do the petty, behind the scenes work, the men are handling physical, outdoors work.
In the first half of the poem, Williams describes the hardships of a working male peasant. “Relaxed / by his morning labors”(7-8). Williams used of language propose that the reaper is physically drained and relaxing is his key to happiness. “Summer!(1)” Williams’ use of an exclamation point at the end of summer describes how much the reaper enjoys this season. Summer, people sees as a happy month, and everything grows and get nutrition from. The title “The Corn Harvest” ties well into why summer is the first word of the poem. Because summer also happens to be the season when all the harvesting is done and crops are collected as well.
While men’s roles are reapers, the women hold a more relaxed job. They had “brought him [reaper] his lunch”(14). As the reader could see, the women have a much more relaxed job according to the poem. Williams hints that since women have a lesser role in society then men, they are treated less as human beings. The women are treated more along the lines of servants. Also, the women do not relax by sleeping. They relax by gossiping. “They gather gossiping/ under a tree.” Williams’ use of language suggests that the tree is the women hangout spot, a place where they get together and socialize. The women huddle under the tree to gather their thoughts and ideas and discuss the latest gossip while the men, like the reaper, share his thoughts, and gossip only among himself.
Williams, though describes the hardships a man must endures in peasant day society, uses hypocritical irony to show how lazy a man could be as well. “Young// reaper enjoying his noonday rest completely”(3-6). According to this excerpt, Williams hints to the reader that the reaper’s “noonday rest” is not just happening that day, but happens on a daily basic, suggesting to the readers that the reaper is exhausted once noonday comes. Also, the reaper, though finished his work, becomes lazy once his morning deeds are done. The reaper doesn’t sleep sitting, but instead falls asleep “sprawled”(9). As if he is too tired or lazy to get up. His morning deeds had drained him of his energy and feels that he must rest quickly. As if he doesn’t, the chance of getting to sleep will have passed by and he had not had taken it.
In the poem Corn Harvest, by William Carlos Williams, Williams’ use of language and tone penetrates the readers’ mind to suggest the different roles, lifestyles and hardships a woman and a man endures in peasant day society. While the women do the petty, behind the scenes work, the men are handling physical, outdoors work.
In the first half of the poem, Williams describes the hardships of a working male peasant. “Relaxed / by his morning labors”(7-8). Williams used of language propose that the reaper is physically drained and relaxing is his key to happiness. “Summer!(1)” Williams’ use of an exclamation point at the end of summer describes how much the reaper enjoys this season. Summer, people sees as a happy month, and everything grows and get nutrition from. The title “The Corn Harvest” ties well into why summer is the first word of the poem. Because summer also happens to be the season when all the harvesting is done and crops are collected as well.
While men’s roles are reapers, the women hold a more relaxed job. They had “brought him [reaper] his lunch”(14). As the reader could see, the women have a much more relaxed job according to the poem. Williams hints that since women have a lesser role in society then men, they are treated less as human beings. The women are treated more along the lines of servants. Also, the women do not relax by sleeping. They relax by gossiping. “They gather gossiping/ under a tree.” Williams’ use of language suggests that the tree is the women hangout spot, a place where they get together and socialize. The women huddle under the tree to gather their thoughts and ideas and discuss the latest gossip while the men, like the reaper, share his thoughts, and gossip only among himself.
Williams, though describes the hardships a man must endures in peasant day society, uses hypocritical irony to show how lazy a man could be as well. “Young// reaper enjoying his noonday rest completely”(3-6). According to this excerpt, Williams hints to the reader that the reaper’s “noonday rest” is not just happening that day, but happens on a daily basic, suggesting to the readers that the reaper is exhausted once noonday comes. Also, the reaper, though finished his work, becomes lazy once his morning deeds are done. The reaper doesn’t sleep sitting, but instead falls asleep “sprawled”(9). As if he is too tired or lazy to get up. His morning deeds had drained him of his energy and feels that he must rest quickly. As if he doesn’t, the chance of getting to sleep will have passed by and he had not had taken it.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
