Felix Candela

Who is Felix Candela? The 3 attributes associated with him are: Engineer, Builder and Structural Artist. Structural engineers have been artist though. Any structure in its own is an art form, the Eifel tower for example, certain towers, bridges are all other sorts of art. Hanz Isler and Felix Candela are the pioneer of the thin sell structural art movement. Who is Candela? He was a student of architecture in Madrid. While he was there, he went on his own to study shells in the school’s library. He got into so much; he got a scholarship to Germany. Unfortunately as soon as he was getting to enroll the war started and, he never got the chance to go to college. He got caught, sent to concentration camp and exiled to Mexico where he had a huge impact with his construction style. The design of Candela’s construction art is hyperbolic and parabolic shaped with 1 ½ inch thick. A shell could be thin but still very strong and the living monuments he had built and are still standing are proof of that. With the umbrella structure at the base he makes a group of workers and himself stand up on it to test it. Amazingly enough the calculations are always right because visiting Mexico we can see Folded umbrellas design on the subways, the redefine gothic at the Milagrosa church, the restaurant Los Manantiales in Xolocho where he created the saddle shapes from the straight line. The Chapel Lomas de Cuernavaca which is considered as the biggest saddle in the world. Last but not least is the Bacardi rum factory where Candela got the idea from the Saint Louis airport but refined the version. It’s a sustainable structure with minimal instrument, and energy saver as well which is perfect. Felix Candela is truly a great man and I couldn’t agree more about the three attributes: Engineer, Builder and Structural Artist.

BLIND ART

This is the end of the semester and this is the part where students are supposed to make a presentation about someone or a group that we can relate to the class. It’s been a informative journey and frankly I learned a lot and even became fan’s of some of artist the students presented. Artist such as Eduardo Cat who uses Bio Art to express himself, Pamela Z who’s special on her own with her performance style and her Butoh posse, Theo Jansen who I encourage people who are not familiar with him to look because he is a little god on his own, Mark Thorpe who’s a robot creator and a superb “Dadaist”, Mr Extreme sexual Haute Couture: Valter Van Beirendonck, John Cage, Pionner of chance music, Sterlac who I think is half-man& half-machine and my favorite Esref Armagan. The presentation on Esref Armagan was a complete surprise for me because I had never heard of him before. People who are not familiar with him, he is a blind painter. The process on how he goes about his paintings is: he feels the object first, draws basic lines after , then applies color. It is still a mystery because nobody knows how a blind man can figure out what color the objects are or they look like more importantly. He is a skilled individual who developed his own style of drawing and he is without a doubt more skilled than the average human being.

Experimental Music

I think music is one of the most versatile styles of art. My preferences vary from dance, electronica, hip-hop, rap, R&B, pop, rock just to name a few. Lately in the art and technology class students have been touching on this new style called Experimental Music and some of the artist part of this movement. One of the artists who got introduced to us was John Cage. Interestingly enough, he is a composer, pianist, philosopher, writer, printmaker and most importantly inventor of his own style of music. With a ready-made state of mind, he goes and cut and paste random sounds. He says “since music is an experience, music is suppose to be some type of conversation you haven’t done before.” His music has been labeled controversial just like many other famous artists. John Cage takes a different path and eliminates harmony which in my opinion is the second most important thing in music, after rhythm. His focus is mainly percussion and invents the prepared piano which I have to admit is ingenious. The prepared piano features screws, bolts, spoons, clothespins, aspirin boxes, a doll's arm, strips of felt, rubber, plastic, and leather. But he doesn’t stop there, what he is best known for is his composition of 4’33” where the pianist spends four minutes and thirty three seconds without playing note. He is quite audacious but which great artist isn’t?

Brave New World

There’s this new book I’ve been reading for my art and technology class called Brave New World, and for a book published in the 1930’s, the author’s imagination was very fertile. The detailed explanations of the factory-like process used by Huxley to create the clones, the social class system established and Ford idolizing are just a few examples for his creativeness. The social class is divided into five groups: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons. It is based on a pyramid system with the Alphas as the superior groups with better physic and intellectual capacity and Epsilons the inferiors in every sense of the term. The are several main characters but the three that interest me the most so far are Lenina Crowne, Henry Foster and Bernard Marx part of the Alpha caste. Lenina is an object of desire and has many lovers, she’s very promiscuous. She tries to follow the rules of the Conditioning Center as much as possible. She consumes vast amount of soma, which is their drug to solve any problem. She is attached to Henry and attracted to Bernard which is unlike the society’s norm. She is unable to relate to both of them as well. Bernard Marx is the rebel of the group, he hates his unusual frail appearance as an Alpha. Unlike other’s he doesn’t like to take soma, his behavior is anti-social, private and he likes to be lonely. He is jealous of others, says he feels imprisoned and acts very fake to fit in. Unlike the others he is not interested into having sex with no strings attached. Henry Foster is the perfect Alpha and Bernard’s rival. Henry is all for free sex and even offers to share Lenina with a co-worker. He thinks their world is perfect and satisfied with the class system. Basically Henry to me is the reminder of scientific control going on. So far, the book exceeded my expectation and even though I’m still in early chapters I’d recommend it.

Art Propaganda

I feel like art through propaganda is the most creative way to publish your message. After Tuesday’s presentation about John Heartfield, I felt like he was a revolutionary. He used the dada movement as medium to show his objection about the war, the vice and political leader Adolf Hitler. His work, as we learned, influenced many artists such as Shepard Fairey or Andy Warhol. His art got through many generations, proving he accomplished a strong movement. He dedicated his career protesting against Hitler and the Nazi regime with his photomontage originality. He put together pictures from newspapers for example, assembled them to express his discontent with the German army. It is an ingenious way of expressionism as the artist sends hints and it’s up the viewer to interpret the art work. It demanded a lot of courage going up against the most powerful regime at the time. If his underground movement was discovered or if people had decided to turn their back on him, he would have been murdered without hesitation. His work is dark and gray with suggestive message, probably with the swastika in the background, if not exposing Hitler directly. At the end of day, Heartfield proved Hitler and his army’s intention were no secret and he showcased it very well.

Multiplicityyyy

Cloning is a sensitive subject. Everybody got their own opinion about it but I’m for it with conditions. Humans have come a long way technologically and we broke many barriers to be experimenting cloning. I believe scientifically, humans are the smartest creatures and our capabilities are endless. I’m all for cloning but when it comes to human cloning; I think it should stop there. It is not to be messed with, why? It’s creating humans without souls and it is bound to create major problems in the future, for example identity crisis. This is creating another breed, and in the future we will encounter issues such as “not being a full human”. Human clones to me are robot looking humans. Our society is not ready for the cloning of its own kind because it comes with the fear that certain lines should not be crosses. When Humans starts playing God, it always backfires and Frankenstein is a perfect example. I know animal and plant cloning has already been done and is still going on and it doesn’t faze me. If this is the easy way and sure way to feed the world and there are no repercussions, I’m ok with it. Ironically, even though I’m against human cloning, I’m for vital organs of humans to be cloned. This system can serve as backups and save many lives. Again when you clone parts such as the kidney, the heart, etc, people don’t have to be on waiting list anymore and it will eliminate many possible deaths.

Doll Affiliation

I believe the story of the men with dolls is the most interesting subject we’ve seen in our class so far. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life. However, I think it is alarming that there are more than 4000 dolls that have been partnered so far. I am not judging the people who own the dolls, but I believe nothing can compare to the companionship of another human being. I think it starts to get a little bizarre when these people start thinking they are in love with the doll. From there, it goes beyond the sexual phase and the person might have some psychological issues because when there is no reaction or response from the doll they are expressing themselves to, isn’t it like loving a dead person? I think the love for a doll should go as far as loving any material thing, like a car for example. Then again, I can understand if someone is scared to get hurt or rejected by another human. Having a doll is a solution for men with low self-esteem and in dying need of companionship. I am going to predict that most men with dolls are virgins because when they do not feel the need for real sex anymore and the pressure of delivering a good performance is off their back. I think having a doll has its pros and cons. They are a life saver for men with low self esteem because they can have a “relationship” where they make the rules and since the dolls are customized to their likings that’s a plus. Of course there is the damage control factor, no STD’s, no pregnancies. On the other hand I think having a doll is taking away from their social life, relations with human beings like themselves. If ever one of them would find a human as a companion, they wouldn’t know how to act; the comfort of the dolls has given them an easy alternative to developing the social aspect of their lives. Since humans are supposed to learn from one another, having a doll is clearly an escape from reality.

Virtual Life Vs. Real Life

Virtual reality (VR) is a tricky place to live in. In one of our discussions, we had to discuss the difference between creating a virtual personage and our real life? My opinion is simple, in VR you can get away with almost anything. You are somewhat in control because you have the power to create. People pose different then what they really are all the time. Which brings to another point; in VR you can pose as what you wished to be and nobody can judge you, or even discover the truth for that matter; meaning no real world repercussion. Females can pose as males and vice versa, you can put somebody else’s picture to attract people, even some screen names will attract some views and friend requests from other VR participant. At the same time, people forget to disassociate VR and real life. "To catch a predator" is a show in which sexual predators are identified and detained on national television for contacting people below the age of consent over the internet for sexual pleasure.
However, the World Wide Web is not only a field for the predators, you also have the ability to interact freely with people all over the world, you get to create alter egos, make friends and play games just to name a few options. You get to be social and be part of a community, if we take the example of Sims online. It allows you to meet people who have the same interests as you. Its convenience is in the fact that interacting with people can evoke emotions and depression occurs as well as low self-esteem and that in the virtual neighborhood you wish to be in, you can do so safely behind your computer screen. You get to meet new friends, basically a get together every time you log on. In conclusion, the main difference between VR and Real life is the sense of freedom and control that is provided by a certain invisibility.

False Impressions

Breaking down Frankenstein in class in class we identified multiple themes for the book. With themes such as noble savage, fate and isolation, I could not stop relating the Frankenstein’s creature and the movie “Elephant man”. They were both are different cases; the creature was Frankenstein’s creation. He was assembled it with different body parts of criminals, thieves, rapist to summarize the rejects of society. But the elephant was cursed from birth; he was deformed by a tumor that made him resemble to an elephant. Both subjects were different cases of misfortune and they shared many similarities. They were both tragically deformed but charming individuals if you get to know them. The society considered them as “freaks” and they received a reaction of repulse when they were seen at first. The most notable similarity that they shared must have been acceptance. The creature and the Elephant man wanted to be accepted by society for more than their looks. It’s human nature to judge people on their appearances, people need to start opening up and stop judging people on first impressions.

Robot Takeover

Last week, we were discussing in class whether or not robots will inherit the earth.

Will robots take the place of Humans? I don’t think so. People with a creative imagination might think of a scenario where robots will be out of control and starts kill us all. But it is simply impossible for all the robots to plot an evil plan. I strongly believe they will take our manual jobs but to takeover and rule the world is impossible. The one thing that will give humans power over robots is creativity and conscious. Malfunctions happens all the time but we always end up fixing them. Movies and stories make people believe robots will start a revolution and kill the human race. We do rely on machines too much which might become a handicap for us in the future. But we are the maker, creator and robots are made to obey our orders. That’s what they are “programmed” for, it’s a super tool created by us, for us. At the end of the day, robots don’t have a conscious and they are not going to suddenly have a change of heart and decide to enslave and destroy all the humans.

What is true beauty?

During our last class as we were analyzing The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne a lot of thoughts crossed my mind; from why are we so obsessed with perfection? What is really beautiful since they say beauty is in the eye of a beholder meaning different people find different things beautiful. Countless examples will prove this idiom right. In Haiti they believe thick women are beautiful but in America the skinnier the better. Why do we make such a big deal when Celebrities gain weight? Are they supposed to represent what true beauty means? Anyways back to the Birth-Mark, while decoding the text, it suddenly reminded me of Enrique Iglesias. The Birth-Mark was Georgiana’s trademark and for Enrique Iglesias, the mole. Someone said in the class: Imperfection makes us who we are, our identity. If you feel you need to make some ramification to yourself to “conform”, I don’t believe you have any character. I don’t judge people who undergo surgery but in my opinion their cheating themselves. They are taking an easy way out to gain confidence or self-esteem instead of exploiting other attractive traits they might have.

Kid Art?

After my first class of Art & Technology, the only thing that stuck into my head was this artist named Pollock. To be quite honest, I’ve never of him but his paintings looked familiar. For some reason on that same day I was browsing the channels and I ended on a documentary called: “my kid could paint that”. I strongly recommend anyone reading this blog to watch it. Released in 2007, it’s about this four year old girl named Marla Olmestead who has an unbelievable talent to create abstract paintings coincidently just like Pollock. Believe me dear readers I’m not an art expert but trust me the little girls is a genius. Her paintings are not intricate, but they grabbed me. And this is what I believe art is supposed to do: create a reaction, evoke a feeling. The way she coordinates the colors and the shapes creates an effect where you are just drown by it and confused because you know it’s a four year old girl who painted this. Anyways look for yourself there’s a link to her website www.marlaolmstead.com, she’s 6 years old now and a VIP in the modern art world.