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For my second blog on the art of Non-Western culture, I chose to once again delve into the world of music. Only this time, I decided to look at the music of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars. I first heard of them two summers ago when they came to my town to play a show. The music was amazing to say the least. But even better then the music was the underlying story.

Two weeks before the band played, the arts council in town had a film showing of a documentary on these amazing people. The story is simply incredible. These people fled from the country of Sierra Leone to nearby Guinea during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Many lost friends and family members to the atrocities of the war. The story is a tough one to listen to, but one that needs to be told. The band itself formed in a refugee camp, thus the name.

They play traditional African music and then throw in some contemporary styles to the mix. They have a band member who even raps. They play some traditional African instruments as well as some of the more mainstream ones. The band still tours the United States and has a small following. They were very proud to be able to say they did a song with Aerosmith about a week before they came to Alaska. They are a fun band that I highly recommend checking out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_All_Stars

For my exhibit I chose the theme of the Lowbrow art movement. I found this style very interesting, mostly because of how weird it really is. It originated in the late 1970′s in the Los Angeles area. The origins in the art come from the underground comic world, the punk movement and a variety of other cultures. It is also known as Pop Surrealism. The name came from Robert Williams. He came up with the name when he was to have his pictures published in a book. He called it Lowbrow because no art institutions would actually recognize it as art. He didn’t really like the name, but it stuck. Williams himself refers to it as “cartoon-tainted abstract surrealism”. It is very strange art, mixing many different styles. The origins are actually traced to the early 20th century with the Dada movement and American Regionalism. I definitely agree that these two movements helped create this one, but I would also include the Pop Art movement as an influence.

The two artists I have chosen are Robert Williams and Gary Panter. Williams, as I mentioned earlier, could be considered the creator of this movement.  The first picture here is Irene Interfacing with an Astrodynamic Epiphany. It’s a strange picture, but you can see the heavy influences from the comic book world and the abstract movements. This is a common theme in the art from this movement. Some of the other art that is done by Williams is Symbiotic Mediocrity which to me is a commentary on 20th century life and the laziness that is taking over. An interesting feature of this painting is that the screen on the television pointed towards us is essentially the same image that we see. And finally we get to Pansy Gatherers at Myrtlewood Dale. This one reminds me a lot of Irene in Williams use of outer space as a theme. To me both of these look at us as humans in relation to the time and space we live in and question what we know about them. This definitely ties in with the abstract theme. To see the Dada movement I think you have to take it as these paintings have a childish feature, as opposed to the simplicity of Dada. There’s something about them that feels more like childish art then fine art, which is one of the criticisms of this movement.

The artist I chose is Gary Panter. He was born in Durant, Oklahoma and is one of the big names in the Lowbrow movement. His art is a bit different then Williams’ art, but I still found it very interesting. This first one on the left is called Man is Sinful (1988). I feel that in this piece you can really see the Dada influence through the use of colors and shapes. There seems to be a calculated randomness to it. The next piece is Door Jam (2009). And it also exemplifies the Dada movement with the use of colors. As opposed to Man is Sinful, however, this piece features brighter colors that give off a much happier feel. I feel this is a much better example of how Lowbrow has been influenced by Dada because this piece just feels much more childish then the previous. The next piece is Last Glare (2010). It is my favorite of the three and gives off more of a Pop Art feel, which has influenced the Lowbrow movement. It feels more three dimensional then the others because of the way it is drawn with the lines coming towards you then leading away from you.

The Lowbrow movement is an excellent example in my eyes of what the Dada are movement has really turned into. This style is considered by many to not be fine art despite the widespread use of it. I find it very intriguing. I myself haven’t quite made up my mind on how I feel about it, but I do think it’s interesting and I definitely consider it art.

SOURCES

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://artisena.com/files/image/news/2008/07/16/1216240143robert-williams-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://artisena.com/node/29140&h=468&w=364&sz=114&tbnid=zG1aZHOoyfUtVM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRobert%2BWilliams&hl=en&usg=__6F3si_ogefRaP6KsMs4j0JPMSh0=&sa=X&ei=6l8_TI2xHJPQsAPYj7j2CA&ved=0CDQQ9QEwBQ

http://garypanter.com/site/index.php?/work/painting/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Panter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)#Origin_of_the_term_.22lowbrow.22

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(artist)

http://www.robtwilliamsstudio.com/

Impressionism is an art-form that I have really enjoyed. I have always been fond of works of art that had come out of this era and of this style. I like the use of the brush strokes in the works,as well as the use of lighting. The piece that really caught my eye was Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (created in 1872 in Paris). This piece is so full of light and has an amazing composition. I also love the simplicity.

However, I must say that when compared to Romantic era painting I am less inclined to enjoy it. I loved that detail in Thomas Cole’s View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (1836, Northampton, Massachusetts).The painting seems more like a photograph. I also greatly enjoyed the transition from dark to light, a technique that I find to be a very powerful tool in art. Cole’s work just absolutely blew me away, and in turn made the work of the Impressionists not as impressive when compared.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression,_soleil_levant

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_60839_1%26url%3d

The piece of art I have chosen is The Seven Deadly Sins by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch was from a small town in Holland and lived from 1450-1516. Bosch was known as a very bizarre man who mostly painted pictures that dealt with hell. His paintings were imitated throughout the 16th century, and by Pieter Bruegel in particular.

This painting depicts the Seven Deadly Sins. In the middle is the eye of God, and it is surrounded in the circle by the sins. This gives the feeling that no sin will ever go unnoticed, a tribute to the omnipresence of God. In each corner of this piece is one of the “Four Last Things”, which are from medieval spiritual books. The four things are: Deathbed, the Last Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. The four themes are commonly used in many of Bosch’s works.

I really liked this work of art because it is so interestingly put together. I love the idea of the sins being around the eye because of the idea that God sees everything. The overall layout of this painting was very aesthetically pleasing to me. I liked the different scenes that each depicted something different, a different sin. I also loved the use of color. The contrast of the bright circle with the black background really made your eye focus on what Bosch wanted you to see.

This painting is definitely a dark painting. It deals with the subject of Sin and Hell which generally aren’t favorite topics. However the background of Bosch makes this painting more interesting to me. He is such an eccentric character and it’s interesting to get a glimpse into the mind of a man such as him.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/7sins/