Snowfall and Butterflies for Anna Heimkreiter

A snowfall of air balloons surprises Anna

Autumn showers the forest with ash 

At dusk the doves are drawn to Anna like "The Birds"

One year the migrating flock takes Anna with them

Lepidopterology begins to dominate her curriculum 

An aura of chalk curiously bursts 

Friends clamor for Anna everywhere 

Photographs by Anna Heimkreiter.  Captions are mine.

We Become Abstract in "Embrace"

Take away our context, and we become abstract. Take away our words, and we speak with our body. Bring in music, dance and film, and we have art intersections.

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Embrace (2012) is a 2D motion graphics work that combines live action video of a dance performance with graphic effects to demonstrate an artist’s journey towards creative ecstasy. By using a visually rich multi-planar space in tandem with three distinct color palettes, Pearsall reveals the difficult and time-consuming creative struggles that are a necessary component of the artistic process. 

A film by Ashley Rae Pearsall 

Performed by Megan E. Martinez
Additional Cinematography by John Mattiuzzi
Additional Editing by Stephanie Andreou
Music by Valtteri Kujala 

School of Visual Arts MFA Computer Art Thesis Project 2012

Reference:  Embrace:  Short Film.

Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham, one of the greatest creative forces in American dance.

A Brief History of Sex and the Video Music Awards

In Camille Paglia: Miley, Go Back to School, the well-known social critic takes a scathing, albeit academic, shot at this recent effort from Miley Cyrus:

It was nasty performance, indeed.

But the real scandal was how atrocious Cyrus’ performance was in artistic terms. She was clumsy, flat-footed and cringingly unsexy, an effect heightened by her manic grin. 

How could American pop have gotten this bad?

Maybe since Britney Spears, at the same annual event - MTV Video Music Awards - in 2000:

Most of the media backlash focused on Cyrus’ crass opportunism, which stole the show from Lady Gaga, normally no slouch in the foot-stamping look-at-me department.

Did Paglia just mention L.Gags?

Young performers will probably never equal or surpass the genuine shocks delivered by the young Madonna, as when she sensually rolled around in a lacy wedding dress and thumped her chest with the mic while singing “Like a Virgin” at the first MTV awards show in 1984. Her influence was massive and profound, on a global scale.

Here's the virginal trendsetter herself, wearing said-wedding dress:

Plus, one of her unwitting protégé, who has a stalker clearly keen on doing it to her from the rear:

The Cyrus fiasco, however, is symptomatic of the still heavy influence of Madonna, who sprang to world fame in the 1980s with sophisticated videos that were suffused with a daring European art-film eroticism and that were arguably among the best artworks of the decade. Madonna’s provocations were smolderingly sexy because she had a good Catholic girl’s keen sense of transgression. Subversion requires limits to violate.

But more important, Madonna, a trained modern dancer, was originally inspired by work of tremendous quality — above all, Marlene Dietrich’s glamorous movie roles as a bisexual blond dominatrix and Bob Fosse’s stunningly forceful strip-club choreography for the 1972 film Cabaret, set in decadent Weimar-era Berlin. Today’s aspiring singers, teethed on frenetically edited small-screen videos, rarely have direct contact with those superb precursors and are simply aping feeble imitations of Madonna at 10th remove.

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Pop is suffering from the same malady as the art world, which is stuck on the tired old rubric that shock automatically confers value. But those once powerful avant-garde gestures have lost their relevance in our diffuse and technology-saturated era, when there is no longer an ossified high-culture establishment to rebel against. On the contrary, the fine arts are alarmingly distant or marginal to most young people today.

That may be true, about fine arts, that is.  But I can hear the vast hordes retorting "Who cares?"  I can hear the up-to-the-second figure - 7,804,894 - tattooing this on their collective forehead "It's viral, sweetheart!"  Virality doesn't discriminate between extraordinarily good and extraordinarily bad, just as long as it's extraordinary.

Sadly, whether we like it or not - and it's clearly not, for a greater number - Miley Cyrus' nasty effort was extraordinary.

Mathematics and Art of Jason Thielke

"I Had a Vision"

What I see is geometry and trigonometry, as if to deconstruct the essence of who, or what, we are, and thereby glimpse the equations and graphs that are that essence.

The She

Geometry, as if to mechanize the essence of who, or what, we are.

Season of Bliss

With a hint of cartography here, as if to fracture the very mapping of ourselves, in the midst of bliss.

Comatose

It is art, after all. So art can, at any time, re-assert itself, and lyricize our essence once again, muting that mathematics.

"Thought of You" as Art Intersections

The creative team behind "Thought of You"

"Grave of the Fireflies" proved that you could endow animation film with tenderness, endearment and tragedy.  "Thought of You" is that, and more, and as dance and music, along with film, make for a true art intersection.

Discovering the Music Videos of Miu Sakamoto

Turn around, look at what you see
In her face the mirror of your dreams
Make believe I'm everywhere
Given in the lines, written on the pages
Is the answer to a never ending story

Just discovered Miu Sakamoto. I like her music, I like her videos.  (I posted these videos, in this sequence, on August 10th, on Google+.)

More from Miu Sakamoto. Here, playful and whimsical.

Flower Studies of Sam Stapleton

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Stripped of their color, these flower studies immediately lose their conventionality.  They're borderline abstract.  Their gracefulness is borne by lines, shape and texture.  Immersed further, they may be alien characters in the film "A.I."

Music Videos that Haunt Us

This music video seems to suggest that love, or specifically looking for love, can be a horrific crash.

Can vengeance ever be justified? This music video says, yes, it can be. Therein lies a dark moral dilemma.

Love has gone terribly awry for this couple. This music video says that guilt or shame can be destructive.

The Music in Michael Aaron Williams

The superb paintings of Michael Aaron Williams.  The music I hear.

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Awa Dance Festival of Tokushima

My friend Hirai Mamoru posted this on Google+ - Awa Odori 2013:

Awa Odori is the most famous and largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year.

I commented, What a wonderful dance and festival, Hirai! I loved reading about its history and the fact that it's become such a big celebration, wow. I didn't see very much difference in how the men and women dance, as both took some exuberant and dainty steps. Because of the nature of celebration, this is not a dance you'd see on stage, right, Hirai? 

Thank you, my friend! +Ron Villejo :) Yes, that's right. It's a local dance of Tokushima.

The dancers also chant hayashi kotoba call and response patterns such as "Yattosa, yattosa", "Hayaccha yaccha", "Erai yaccha, erai yaccha", and "Yoi, yoi, yoi, yoi". These calls have no semantic meaning but help to encourage the dancers.

Reference:  Awa Dance Festival

I just discovered this dance festival - Awa Odori - the most famous and the largest in Japan, from my friend +Hirai Mamoru. It goes back to the 16th century, and it attract thousands of dancers and over a million visitors through the streets of Tokushima. I love the dancing, costumes and chants!

Variations on the Celebrated Pachelbel Canon

I first heard of this timeless classic from a poem by John Ashbery, and promptly bought an album of Pachelbel's music.  (It was in the late 1970s, well before the advent of iTunes and YouTube.)  This performance by Voices of Music is easily my favorite.  Their arrangement was meticulous, and strove to be as authentic to 17th century Baroque music as possible:

Performed on original instruments by San Francisco Early Music Ensemble Voices of Music. Featuring Katherine Kyme, Carla Moore & Cynthia Freivogel, baroque violin; Tanya Tomkins, baroque cello, Hanneke van Proosdij, baroque organ; David Tayler, theorbo. 

About the performance: the canon is played using not only the instruments but also the bowing techniques from the time of Pachelbel. As you can see from the video, especially if you look at the high definition version, the string instruments are not only baroque, but they are in baroque setup: this means that the strings, fingerboard, bridge and other parts of the violin appear just as they did in Pachelbel's time. No metal hardware such as chinrests, clamps or fine tuners are used on the violins, allowing the violins to vibrate freely. A good example of baroque bowing can be seen in the extended passage of repeated notes: the musicians play these notes on one bow - the shorter & lighter baroque bow - to created a gliding effect. The players also hold the bow very differently which affects the balance and touch. Both the style and the amount of vibrato are based on baroque treatises which describe the methods for playing, bowing & articulation in the late 17th century. The narrow, shimmering vibrato blends with the baroque organ. The organ used is made entirely of wood, based on German baroque instruments, and the pipes are voiced to provide a smooth accompaniment to the strings, instead of a more soloistic sound. The large bass lute, or theorbo, provides a complement to the organ not only in the texture of the chords but also the long strings which occasionally sound the bass notes an octave lower. The continuo players play supporting chords and voices to the canon, carefully avoiding parallels and doublings of the parts. 

Another feature of the video is the subtle differences in not only the sound and color of the instruments, but also the different techniques of the players. All three are playing baroque violins with baroque bows, yet each person has her own distinct sound and bowing style—each bow has a different shape and balance. If you look at paintings of 17th century players you will see that they are all different, because that individuality of sound and technique was highly valued. This allows the players and the listeners to hear and appreciate the "Voices of Music."

Many comments refer to the pitch. D Major is a key, not a pitch; this piece is in D Major at A=415.3 Hz. We chose a baroque pitch and temperament from the time of Pachelbel.

This sister and brother performance has no where near the maturity, polish and richness as that of Voices in Music.  But theirs is genuine and personal, and is a favorite of mine.  

The Piano Guys perform with skill, passion and humor, plus terrific music videography.  Here, they poke fun at staid renditions at weddings, and turn sleepy into jazzy canon, instead.

These videos have garnered 4.9, 4.0 and 5.5 million views, respectively, and are evidently the favorites of scores of YouTubers, too.

An a capella arrangement of the popular piece, by Kevin McSheffrey. This has been one of the biggest challenges for us as a quartet, it's a very difficult arrangement and we decided against recording it last year. However, we didn't want to be "defeated" by any arrangement, so we pulled it together with a couple rehearsals this summer for you!

One, purely a capella.  Another, entirely of wind, tenor and bass recorders.  Yet another, simply Flamenco guitar, entirely solo.  I love musicians who work at being unique and aren't cowed by difficulty pieces.

Awesome Dance of the "Step Up" Film Series

I was looking up Megan Boone, the pretty star of the upcoming TV series "Blacklist," and saw that she was in "Step Up Revolution."  I've seen trailers and scenes of "Step Up," "Step Up 2: The Streets," and "Step Up 3D."  But nothing, yet, of this latest incarnation of the awesome film series.

I was happy to find full-length uploads of these movies, except for "Revolution," when I looked further into it.  Hopefully neither YouTube nor the YouTuber will pull these out.

"Step Up 3D... born from a boom box"

By the way, the boom box that narrator zooms-in on, at the beginning, is a Panasonic that I have as well.

"Step Up Revolution" (2012) is probably too recent of a film to be allowed in full on YouTube.  But here's the super-awesome final dance.  I love the cops doing the robot dance, after stuffing a doughnut into the suited dude's mouth.  Hey, there's Megan Boone, too!

Step Up (film series)

The cold hard numbers tell a story of profit, indeed.

Art of the Couple

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I Hope We All Dance!

@Inspire_Us @Igor_Vasiliadis Definitely. I hope we all dance :) https://t.co/3UcN1NkKpr

— Dr. Ron Art (@DrRonArt) August 14, 2013

Rock Classics Rock!

Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple.  The song is a true recounting of the horrendous lengths the band had to go to, in order to record their Machine Head album.  The title refers to the burning down of the Montreux Casino, after "some stupid" shot a flare gun to the rattan ceiling.  The complex was by Lake Geneva, Switzerland.  

Taking Care of Business, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.  B.T.O., as the band name is said by radio DJs.  Lyricist Randy Bachman sardonically lauds the life of a rock star over that of an employee who slaves at his or her job from 9 AM to 5 PM.  "We love to work at nothing all day" is a great refrain.  

Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf.  While lyricist Mars Bonfire refers to "heavy metal thunder," the song itself is definitely not of the heavy metal genre.  To me, it's just a rousing, kickass piece that helped to define the late 1960s.  

Imagining the Lives of Women

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Behind the painting is where she tears the veneer of her life.

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The street mural is the mirror she checks her hair on.

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How much more sinister Queen Ravenna is.

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Charlize Theron is the evil Queen Ravenna, in "Snow White and the Huntsman."  

Art of the Cover with "The Sound of Music"

From the "Sound of Music," Connie Fisher sings "The Lonely Goatherd." She shows wonderful aplomb dancing it on a staircase and performing it in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber, too!

Note: The YouTube title is incorrect.

Lauren Hoffman sings the tender "Edelweiss." A white flower in the Alps, edelweiss is a metaphor for the beauty, endurance and purity of Austria and its people, in the encroaching darkness of Nazi Germany.

Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte, known as Pomplamoose, reharmonize "My Favorite Things" in a jazzy new melody. In the film, Maria sings this song for the von Trapp children, to make them feel better when they're scared or upset.

Deft Convergence of Arts in Dubstep

Fabian Esteban MaCed posted an album - Dubstep ( Researched by FaBEsT #10) - in the Art & Dance page on Facebook.  The dance itself looks awesome, hip, at once graceful and athletic.  But the photography and illustration were equally terrific, which makes for a deft convergence of multiple arts that I love.

Dubstep /ˈdʌbstɛp/ is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London, England. It emerged in the late 1990s as a development within a lineage of related styles such as 2-step garage, broken beat, drum and bass, jungle, dub and reggae. In the UK the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s. The music generally features syncopated drum and percussion patterns with bass lines that contain prominent sub bass frequencies.

 

When Visual Art is a Moral Dilemma

We have an ability to refashion reality, and present ourselves in a better light.  We can alter images of ourselves, manipulate them into something other than who we are, and yet present them as if it were in fact who we are.  In other words, we have an ability to create art.




Even a seemingly innocuous thing as thumbing through an Elle magazine is, as the editing of this video suggests, an activity of the sort we saw in "Matrix":  that is, a space and time warp.  "Matrix" is a reality fabricated by computers, and high-technology is the means with which we experience that reality.




Lest we think that men are exempt from such moral dilemma in visual art, enter:  this:

A male version of the "Evolution" video presented by Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. explanation goes until approx. the one minute mark and video starts.

This was my thesis project - it allows the public to see the actual manipulation that goes into advertising images of men. The images we see everyday around us are not what they appear.

Finally, in the vein of an archaeological dig or forensics analysis, this reloaded version takes us from the billboard finish and walks us backwards to the model's beginning.  Intriguing.  Not only do we know better where her looks came from, but also we gain ideas on undoing such fabricated reality.

Film Couples Dance a Memorable Dance

Donna is waiting patiently, albeit unhappily, for her less-than-attentive fiance.  Through Charlie, Frank spots her sitting all by her lonesome in the restaurant.  What ensues is one of the most romantic dances in film.  

I believe it was Tim Rice who wrote the lyrics to this song.  It's a brilliant, albeit scathing, political commentary on Eva Peron, put to poetry, music and dance.  Which makes it even more brilliant. 

[Che:] Tell me before I waltz out of your life
Before turning my back on the past
Forgive my impertinent behavior
But how long do you think this pantomime can last?
Tell me before I ride off in the sunset
There's one thing I never got clear
How can you claim you're our savior
When those who oppose you are stepped on,
Or cut up, or simply disappear?

[Eva:] Tell me before you get onto your bus
Before joining the forgotten brigade
How can one person like me, say,
Alter the time-honored way the game is played?
Tell me before you get onto your high horse
Just what you expect me to do
I don't care what the bourgeoisie say
I'm not in business for them
But to give all my descamisados
A magical moment or two

[Che and Eva:] There is evil, ever around
Fundamental system of government
Quite incidental 

[Eva:] So what are my chances of honest advances?
I'd say low
Better to win by admitting my sin
Than to lose with a halo 

[Che:] Tell me before I seek worthier pastures
And thereby restore self-esteem
How can you be so short-sighted
To look never further than this week or next week
To have no impossible dream? 

[Eva:] Allow me to help you slink off to the sidelines
And mark your adieu with three cheers
But first tell me who'd be delighted
If I said I'd take on the world's greatest problems
From war to pollution, no hope of solution
Even if I lived for one hundred years 

[Che and Eva:] There is evil, ever around
Fundamental system of government
Quite incidental 

[Eva:] So go, if you're able, to somewhere unstable
And stay there
Whip up your hate in some tottering state
But not here, dear
Is that clear, dear? 

[Eva:] Oh what I'd give for a hundred years
But the physical interferes
Every day more, O my Creator
What is the good of the strongest heart
In a body that's falling apart?
A serious flaw, I hope You know that

The dramatic tension of "Saturday Night Fever" is set aside, and Tony and Stephanie simply enjoy their sweet dance in rehearsal.  

what is ¿art intersections?

This is my broader vision and aim for Art Intersections:

Musical Gems of Talented YouTubers

You sometimes have to scour its library or wade through video after video, but YouTube is actually rife with gems.  Sometimes, too, serendipity helps us find gems in just moments of effort.

"Voices Carry" was a 1985 pop hit that I hadn't listen to, in ages, until a friend on Google+ posted it.  Then, it was soon thereafter that I discovered Lauren Hoffman's cover.  Her video hasn't garnered the viewership it deserves, but hers is a very tender, heartfelt rendition that I love.  With just her voice and guitar, she translates a music production into a genuine effort.

  

Noah Guthrie's "Sexy and I Know It" and Mike Tompkins' "Rolling in the Deep" aren't at all lame regurgitation of their originals.  Rather, they showcase their musical talent by putting their own stamp, so to speak, on the originals.  No wonder, then, that their videos have raked in 19 and 13 millions views, respectively.

Portraits of Lillian Bassman

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Lillian Bassman kept photographing well into her 90s. Imagine that.

Rollieflex, in tow:  What do you see now?

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Lillian Bassman has eyes on you. She harbors humor behind her expressionless face. 

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Lillian Bassman, looking very Karl Lagerfeld. Fashionable, in her own right.

A Reminiscent Stroll of Songs I Loved

This song bucked the Disco trend in the late 1970s, as it was jazzy and it told a story, instead of just repeating a refrain endlessly.  Yet, it was a hit in that era, too, because you could dance to it.

Robin Ojay shared this video on Google+, and it became, for me, a reminiscent stroll of songs I loved in that era.

Dance Does it in Andrew Lloyd Webber

It was a royal birthday celebration indeed.  Andrew Lloyd Webber turned 50 years old, and this lavish 1998 production amounted to a live greatest hits album at the Royal Albert Hall.  Certain dance numbers were, to me, as memorable as the music itself.

"Whistle Down the Wind" did better as a concept album, featuring music pieces like that of pop star Bonnie Tyler, than it did in its 1996 debut production in Washington DC.   

The 1996 film adaptation of the stage musical "Evita" did well in the box office, with Antonio Banderas as the enigmatic Che.  His character is best understood, I think, as a Chorus woven into the story itself.  

"Starlight Express" tells the story of a toy train set that comes to life, hence the stage performance on roller skates.  Ray Shell was among the cast members, since its 1984 debut in London.  

Romancing Anne Hathaway

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