Impressions †art Essay

The ballet paintings of Degas featured women in a variety of intimate moments, so to speak. It is at this point that after trying out a variety of techniques, mediums and themes that his work takes on a completely Impressionist image. Paintings done during his early years turn out to have little resemblance in terms of style and composition to the artwork he did later on. Nevertheless, certain features of Degas’ painting methods remained the same regardless of the many modifications and adaptations to this styles and mediums. For one, he always painted indoors. This remains in effect a testament to his derision at the en plein air technique of the Impressionists; he would always prefer to work in his studio instead, relying on memory or live models for his paintings. This was what he did during some of his paintings on dancers, where he would get a female ballet dancer to act as a live model in his studio. His subject too, remained the primary focus, and the landscapes and background were simply reproduced from memory or created from his imagination. In general, one can say that aspects of Degas’ work carry an element of sensuality, perhaps even hyper-sensuality, in them especially during the paintings of the nudes. It is crucial to know that understanding this is important to be able to successfully analyze, comprehend and appreciate his other works. A blatant example of one of Degas’ works that has clear elements of sensuality is Four Dancers. In this painting, Degas arouses a variety of sensual responses based on the primary visual image, to the eroticism exhibited by the female models. Degas did not only reveal his artistic and personal introversion through linear revelation but also through the use of color and light. The dancers stand in muted quite with earth tones while their outfits have small hints of brilliant color with blue or pink sashes. The stiff form of the skirt while a dancer is standing still and straight as can be witnessed in Four Dancers in the forefront dancer’s position is easily transformed into a fluid myriad of colors whenever a dancer takes movement and Degas reveals an asymmetry with color, line, and the imbalance of the two. Theatre Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus is in summary about the ‘feckless’ artistic genius of Mozart pitted against the mediocrity of Antonio Salieri whose jealousy over Mozart’s success in the play lends itself to murder. The play was an in depth exploration of Mozart as a man and not just as a genius composer; the director Kent Thompson brought Mozart’s humanity to the stage as well as accurately portraying the script composed by Shaffer. The elements of fear in failure and ebullience in joy were the true rivals in the play, and the way in which the audience relates to these characters was extraordinary. The magic, as it were, of the play was the way in which both Shaffer’s ideas and Kent’s ideas bred a new life into the classical artist Mozart; he was not only a composer by the end of the play but the audience was so engrossed in his life that he became a person to them, relatable with his life, his marriage, his children and his music. The play by Shaffer introduced to audiences a psychological background that was highlighted in Kent’s portrayal by lighting and theme background. The stages were generally a dark atmosphere which juxtaposed Mozart’s own emotional allegiance to failure, but also the lights were introduced in brilliant colors when Mozart’s psyche was enjoying a brief happiness. Kent made the lighting a major part of Shaffer’s script. Kent did a lot of spotlighting, or mood lighting in which only a few characters on stage were illuminated to show their importance. The corners and niches of darkness were the psychological equivalent to the turmoil that Mozart was going through not only in his composition powers, but also in his relationship with his mother, his wife, his rival, himself. Therefore, it was not just the use of lighting but the introduction of shadow that enabled Kent to deftly portray Mozart’s emotional being. Also, Kent incorporated into the design of the show six luxury pendant lamps above the audience members. This allowed the action and the scenery of the stage to overlap the audience so that the actions on stage would be more realistic since the audience was almost part of the play with the same scenery above their head. When the pendant lamps turned on during a palace scene or a scene calling for luxury the audience members were being incorporated into the play by the extension of the stage design into the seats. This is not the only technique Kent used in allowing the audience to become part of the actions on the stage. The way that Shaffer wrote the script, in plot, Salieri is in a wheelchair, and the action is taking place 32 years after Mozart’s, ‘assassination’. Salieri lets out a very penitent dialogue in which he asks the audience to be his confessors. In this action, both Kent and Shaffer are introducing that the suspension of disbelief does not exist at the proscenium, but at the entrance to the audience since the audience itself is asked to become characters, or confessors in the play. The life of the play, the essence that Shaffer had imagined it to be, was aptly give in Kent’s direction. The actors, the plots, the dialogue all gave Amadeus the possession of a reality given in psychological torpor by Salieri and Mozart. Not only was the costume impeccable in portraying 1781, but the props themselves gave the play an extra touch of reality in their presence on stage. The sound in the background, the classical music notes, the rendition of specific Mozart pieces added to the ambiance of the play and the inclusion of the audience members into the action on stage. The lighting however was one element that was very unique in its rendition and aided in the audience’s understanding about characters, setting, and their own inclusion in the play. The lighting was a major part of the success of the play, not only its highlighting of certain characters but in the use of shadow as well; there was a very chiaroscuro effect that Kent employed, that worked for the extra drama of the Amadeus. Dance Gina Pane was able to transform performance art to be inclusive of pain as a gateway of understanding life, and for the audience to understanding of that pain was exhibited through art. Gina Pane would, during her performances, burn her limbs and slice herself with sharp razors. During multiple performances she would take her own blood and outline her physiognomy on the plane of a mirror, at which she was peering. She would take blood from her sliced open eyelids and trace her face in the glass. By performing in this fashion Gina Pane was able to visually and metaphorically re-engineer the product of artistry in her shedding of her own blood which in turn become a dichotomy of both process and product (Hewitt 1997; 103). Thus, not only was the performance geared toward the audience but the act of bloodshed was art, thereby attributing self-mutilation as a genre in performance art. Often times this sacrifice of the performer’s blood is equated with Christ’s sacrifice for redemption of humankind, thus, the performer is acting out self-mutilation thereby cleansing the audience of their sin (Hewitt 1997; 104). The artist is using this pain and sacrifice for the importance of self expression. Gina Pane utilized this masochism in order to save the audience from the din of inexcusable art and thus she saw herself as a scapegoat that eventually rescued the audience from the cultural retardation of art from the perspective of art being disembodied and mundane because of its equaliency of being inhuman or at least no longer defined through human qualities. Gina Pane’s onstage sacrifices were a tribute to her faith in that art was not only for expression but salvation. She believed in the body, and had faith in that art through masochism was a way in which she could associate herself as an artist through recognition of the human as blood and in this was found a truth she wanted to relay to the audience (Hewitt 1997; 104). Art should not be devoid of human life and experiences and thus Gina Pane placed much importance on her shedding of blood as performance. Pane perceived the body as a vehicle, a tool of expression through pathological masochism. Thus, when Pane includes these self-mutilation acts in her work she is making a succinct statement to the audience not only of sacrifice and redemption but also in an egotistical fashion she is stating that her arms are hers to do with what she pleases. If she wants her arms to be scarred then that is how they will be and this message is delivered to the audience as control. Gina Pane’s performances are about control of the body. Music. Gangsta rap originated from the blues as well as poetry since rap in essence is poetry put to a beat just as most African American music derives itself in some form from the Deep South’s work music, so does gangsta rap originate from the hardship of the rappers’ lives, and they lived, where they lived and how they survived which is all put into the lyrics of the gangsta rap song. In gangsta rap, it is with the Blues that it is attributed to adhering to, and it is with the Blues that the cadence and lyrics gangsta rap can be found with regard to the artist and how they wrote blues as a new age rhythm in rap. In the following essay, cultural, economic, and social factors will be explored as to their impact on gangsta rap and the artist. The lyrics and the artist will be compared and contrasted and the difference between the two, will be the focus of the following pages. Also, in the music production, business will be considered, and the aesthetic aspect of production will be examined, both monetarily, and otherwise. Gangsta rap takes its cue from the Blues. The gangsta rap artist illustrates life in the hood; thus they lyrics do not propagate the problem but merely report about the problem. In this fashion gangsta rap artists are more like journalists instead of musicians as most of their lyrics are fueled from poverty stricken lives, doing drugs or selling drugs just to make money or seeing their family and friends to the same thing. All of these issues are written into the gangsta rap lyrics. As mentioned prior, the Blues was a musical form founded in the Deep South, both rooted in spirituals, and labor (Gospel Music Association). The Blues became more sophisticated as the music, and musicians moved from rural landscape to cityscape. It was within the urban environment that the Blues found its voice (Dean, 1998), as it is true that gangsta rap found its voice in the over urbanization of a culture. One of the central figureheads of gangsta rap is Tupac. His blues mixed with voice, lyrics, and the slow acceptance of depression and love in his song are reminiscent of blues, but his strict adherence to the lyrics and the politics in the lyrics made him the transcendental leader of gangsta rap. Gangsta rap is a genre of hip hop which also is heavily influenced by politics. The focus of gangsta rap and the artist was one concerned with inner-city living or ‘da hood’. Thus, the attention to gangs and gang members as part of the lyrics of gangsta rap become synonymous with this type of policy; chaos. Crime and violence are a large part of the lyrical side of gangsta rap because of its origins in the city. The artist writes what they know and it is with lyricists such as Ice-T, and 2Pac that the illusion of the nuclear family was put to waste and the creation or rather recognition of America’s streets was brought to the forefront of society. Gangsta rap is known as a realistic sound, typically associated with the angst filled lyrics of the rising rock and roll sound emerging at the same time with hip hop. Due to the eclectic influence of gangsta rap, the sound was much misinterpreted, or hard to pinpoint as a genre, and thus the inclusion of the advocacy of drugs was initiated into this musical genre. This however is not the case. Gangsta rap is anything is a narrative, and as a narrative the lyrics reflect what the artist is living or already seeing. The artist then becomes a surrogate for the rest of society in understanding life on the street and the real America. Work Cited Hewitt, Kim. Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. 1997.