2010 FIFA World Cup: Artsy!

Art:
I am not sure how exactly Dubuffet became a pleasant companion to me, but he did. I don't even notice the time when I am with him. Dubuffet is not the first to propose that art should be clear of all accepted aesthetic conventions, but I think he is the most compelling in his proposal. He did not find art in use of beautiful color or creation of pleasing forms. Art was not for the eyes’ enjoyment. For Dubuffet “art addressed itself to the mind, and not to the eyes.”

2010 FIFA World Cup:
The sunny days of June in Austin are more vibrant due to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I am following the games as much as I can. I am always for England and then unfortunately England doesn’t come up very high, so after England is eliminated I am forced to follow other teams. To me soccer is more of a human performance than a sport. Looking at it as a performance, I generally am not for the robotic play of Germany or supreme superstar soccer culture of teams like Italy or Argentina. And let’s hope for once England will play better in its next match.

On another matter yet soccer related, I hope I am not the only one who enjoys FIFA World Cup commercial/cultural advertisements much more than other TV advertisements, Let’s say Super Bowl TV ads for example. FIFA is Artsy!

Miscellaneous:
For Persian Cultural Center newsletter, Peyk, I began a short series on the modern art movements of the twentieth century. The introduction article to the series, “Modernity & Art: Modernism,” is now available as a pdf on the English section of Peyk here. (No. 127, May & June 2010)

An Admiration for Yadda yadda nada !

Like any other advertisement, this ad has targeted those who are assumed to be the main consumers for this new SONY product – Noise Canceling Headphones. We see a young serious looking adult male who is in a plane, perhaps going for a business trip, and who is canceling the annoying noises in the plane by his SONY headphones.* My main objection is to the inaccuracy and meanness that this ad earns from just to be cool and appealing.

Inaccuracy: In any random public place, babies and mommies are not the main sources of noise (pollution or otherwise), let alone inside an airplane, where the plane’s engines make all the noise. The SONY advertisement decapitates a mommy and a baby and dehumanizes their heedless bodies with newly replaced megaphone heads. Here lets merge to the meanness part: Why a mother and a baby; couldn’t SONY beheaded two noisy adults? Couldn’t it be someone talking out loud with his cell inside airplane – which is both loud and against the airline regulations?

For you to believe that I am not going for the Romanic sentimentalism of motherhood here I give you a little personal explanation: I am not a mother, and personally I don’t want ever to become one.

Regardless of my personal choice on reproducing,** I love kids, babies and children; I admire any little growing human being, I love to see their changes, and I die to be a witness of their growing-up progress. I enjoy them and I learn a lot from them, kids. I do not like it when, in public places, people shush towards kids, role their eyes at their mothers or pass unpleasant glances towards a crying noisy kid who perhaps is having a disagreement with his/her parents. To me any sound from the baby is a voice; it is not a NOISE; to me it is talking. To me if the sound is from an older child, it is the most natural sound without which, any public place becomes a graveyard.

I believe a little bit of patience and compassion toward the younger members of the society goes a long way. After all, there was a day that we all were kids, how easy we forget!

SONY Ad for Noise Canceling Headphones, Austin, Jan. 2008

* I’ve mentioned in the previous post that this ad is cool, new and interesting.
** Personal references can be found in the inner circle of Soup & Salad and the Miracle of Cracker.

The Spices Of The Week:

1- I am reading two exciting and newly released books. The Spice Route, A History by John Keay is a well-written page-turner book that follows the steps of early travels and presents a new angle to ancient spice routes both to the East and to the West. I picked up this book merely because of my longtime interest in the history of food and cuisine and also my studies on the Silk Road. The second book is not considered a history book by many but it is a kind of history, history of Dreams; Dream I Tell You by Hélène Cixous. I have been following Cixous' writings for sometime now (here) so I am very excited. Beverley Bie Brahic translated this newly released book.

2- Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits are on view in Philadelphia Museum of Art. The occasion was Frida’s 100th birthday. Although She is not one of my favorite painters, I like some of her works and especially some of her self-portraits; her personality reflects itself boldly in her harsh forms and figures. And I don’t know why, when I see her works I immediately think of her husband, Diego Rivera! I think what Rivera accomplished in his murals and large scale figures, Frida did within her smaller canvases. The exhibition is on until May 18th 2008.

3- A bout a month ago I took a photo – here you only see a detail of it – from a billboard advertisement in the airport.

When I saw the ad, immediately I wanted to do something about it. To me, as a person who always enjoys cool, new and interesting ideas in advertisement and design this ad - that has all the above qualities - was just a dismaying display of intelligent. You may have seen this ad, if not feel free to guess what the whole picture is or what it advertises for or simply wait until tomorrow when I write about it.

A Smart Advertisement

An advertisement for Equinox Fitness Club on Boston magazine made headlines due to its so-called provocative presentation of Catholic virtues; the ad shows attractive and partially exposed nuns, curiously sketching a nude male figure standing David like. The nuns are shamelessly checking out his body rather than studying this statuesque man, and it is easy to see why this ad was offensive to some. It is written Happily Ever on the left corner of the ad.

To me the most appealing part of this smart ad is the nun that looks through the window, holding her hands to the Art Nouveau bars, watching the nude as if he is an angel sent by God. She is clearly having a spiritual moment. Of course it was by watching the local news that I got to know this ad. But now I have a personal interest in it. I ask myself what does really tickle people to take offence from such presentations of body? Besides the obvious of course… Surely most people admire Michelangelo’s David rather than taking offense in it. So what is it this time? I came to think that what really disturbs people in such occasions is that the women are being an active witnesses of the male nudity in the picture. There is a great tradition that feeds this dislike of women’s presence in male environment. The example that comes to my mind right now is that for many years women were not allowed to study anatomy and work with models in art schools. Here is a painting by Mary Bashkirtseff called The Julien Studio dated 1881*. The Julien Studio is an interesting comparison for the Equinox ad: both its apparent compositional similarities to the ad in question and also its subject matter: women students drawing a young boy posing in the corner, looking at the viewer innocently.

Happily Ever, Equinox Fitness Club Ad, 2008

Julien Studio, Mary Bashkirtseff, 1881

* An alternative way of writing Mary Bashkirtseff is Marie Bashkirtseff. She was Russian and her name is written Мария Константиновна Башкирцева in Russian. Also for Julien Studio one can use Julian. My source for the spelling of the name of the artist and her painting was Great Women Masters of Art, a book by Jordi Vigue. The painting also was referred to as Studio.

Summer’s Must-Have

I opened my mailbox and there it was. It is the third time in three weeks. I am getting Victoria Secret summer sale & specials. Though I never have bought anything from the store or their online shop I keep getting their sale magazines. So I look through it and the phrase summer’s must-have catches my eyes. And I think of what is in my list of summer's must-have: definitely not $19 – $29 bra tops.

Must-have time alone, must-have two finished scripts, must-have time with my brother in the busy streets of Tehran, must-have a summer with no regrets. Packing, washing, cleaning, worrying. All that exhaust me. I am tired of irresponsible creatures, whom I constantly come across!

Lets talk art:
I have visited the Brooklyn College M.F.A Thesis Exhibition. It was great; I liked works by Lauren Russell and Cynthia Simpson and Sandra Antonia Rodriguez-Riera. I think I am getting more and more interested in printmaking as a method. It is not only an expressive medium but also it uses its limits to its advantage; by limiting the artist both in the choice of color and the detailed design, printmaking produces powerful works of art.