Working with materials in my art practice, I developed an interest towards the theories of new materialism and the study of materiality in the art. I always had questions about the material forces and impacts on human mind and bodies. Curiosity about the relationship between physical and non-physical world pushed me to the level in which I started my research on the subject of materiality. The new materialism theories brought clarity to some of my key questions in the study of materiality in my art practice. This includes learning about the relation between the binary oppositions, and the physical and non-physical world. It is through the process and production in my art practice that I learn these theories and concepts. I realize the causation The reflective film is the main materials that I try to examine its forces and potentiality in my research. The material reproduces itself and reveals its potentiality and forces by entangling the artist, spectator, and space in a simultaneous performative act of process. I think and take action to develop and bring the idea to visualization. This connects me to all source of physical and non-physical aspects, in the act of processes. The reflective film mirrors its surrounding, creating a space in which there is no beginning and end. It reflects openness referencing the state of emptiness and nothingness that gives form to infinity in quantum field theory. Space is filled with Gold reflective material, this fills the space with potentiality by creating various possible visual effects as the light projects through the material. Also, as the viewer encounters an unrealistic image of self in the reflective material and moves back and forth their images in the reflective material changes. This quality of the material and its color creates the condition of excess and possibilities by resembling the energy and potentiality of the sun, metaphorically. The flat reflective sheet mirrors the space and things within that space creating infinity. The material, space, artist and the viewer merge together and unite in one singular moment as they are in the golden space. The golden space, metaphorically also resembles the
Artists in the Modern period illustrated the existential idea of individuality through visual imagery to convey the power of man and the fallacious influence of the external world. For instance, M.C. Escher’s noteworthy piece, Hand with Reflecting Sphere, epitomizes the idea of self-derived identity. The message of the piece revolves around the idea that when searching for meaning, one should look within. Specifically, this is seen in the imagery of the reflecting sphere, for as Escher gazes into the sphere to discover his purpose, he simply sees himself. Moreover, the artistic element of depth amplifies the effect as the highlighted image is the one of the author, further illustrating how, at a primal level, the one unwavering source of meaning is the spirit of the person itself. In addition, M.C. Escher implements the aesthetic quality of contrast, by overlaying the detailed reflection on top of an unrefined background. Furthermore, this bolsters the message, as the importance of reflection is shown to be greater than the mundane outside
My goal for this paper is to give a practical critique and defense of what I have learned in my time as a Studio Art Major. During my time here I have learned that Pensacola Christian college’s definition of art “art is the organized visual expression of ideas or feelings” and the four parts of Biblosophy: cannon, communication, client, and creativity. Along with Biblosophy I have studied Dr. Frances Schaeffer 's criteria for art, seeing how the technical, and the major and minor messages in artwork. All of these principles are great but they do need to be refined.
As demonstrated in Henry David Thoreau’s passage from Economy, Wendell Berry’s from Waste, and John Kenneth Galbraith’s passage from The Dependence Effect, America’s overly advancing society thrusts ideas like materialism and the “love of buying” into the interior of every American’s mind. Even the American Dream, a fundamental notion to our nation, now unites all people of all cultures under materialism and greed. The highly capitalist American society distorts values such as the “quest for freedom” into a search for cash and the frontiers no longer exist. America’s increased production yields the increased wants of consumers and as Galbraith states, “One man’s consumption becomes his neighbor’s wish (479).” With this reckoning, the more wants satisfied, the more new ones born. Berry, on the other hand, more out rightly attacks America’s capitalist economy and the wastes it has produced when saying “The truth is that we Americans, all of us, have become a kind of human trash, living our lives in the midst of ubiquitous damned mess of which we are at once the victims and the perpetrators (485).” America’s corporate capitalism and consumerism culture undermines our well-being in that we deplete Earth's limited resources, produce excess waste, and indulge excessively in unnecessary luxuries that ultimately result in our unhappiness and financial downfall, while trapping us in an endless cycle of dependency.
Economy and materialism are concepts that come up every day in the life of Americans. Those who are not from America may think the way Americans live is strange and wasteful and they’d be right in their thinking that. Americans are consumed by consumerism and the need to buy things because there is always some new and improved version of what was purchased two weeks ago. Although it is said that Americans are too materialistic, the truth is that materialistic does not quite cover the near obsession with the latest and greatest that Americans have.
Thus, history is better understood through the struggle of different classes than in terms of race.
Andre Bazin took initiative to provide his view on perspectives of plastic and photograph in the world of arts. Bazin starts by mentioning how plastic arts attracted series of critics in the world of arts. Plastic art traces its origin centuries ago implying that this form of art perceived significant attention by artists that existed by then. Plastic arts were associated with a representational pictorial image popularly referred to as emblem. According to Bazin, plastic art can be falls under category of arts that defies realism. Plastic arts fail to create the needed impression of the ideal world. Therefore, it tends to diminish the impression of the natural world. Bazin develops the aspect of plastic art with regards to sociological and psychological perspective. This criticism stretches beyond in filming industry (Bazin and Andre 159-161).
Materialism is the tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values, is a philosophy that places a high value on objects, usually considering them to be more valuable than life experiences or relationships. Society today has become a world created by the media that seems better than real life, and people indulge in new products and experiences that promise to be better than the real thing. It has become vital to develop ways of promoting well-being, social justice and spirituality in a society that has now become one that focus’ on materialism.
This semester in kinesiology it has helped make my decision in what I want to to do in my career choice. Educating me on the human body and how the muscles work together, which is not only the study of human movement but the physical aspect but mentally as well, Kinesiology is describes the and explains daily activities, working out cardiovascularly or strength training, voluntary and involuntary movements and combining it with anatomy and physical education and psychological & sociological aspect as well giving knowledge in my future career as personal trainer, bodybuilder and biomedical engineer.
Throughout the semester we have covered many different topics during our study of contemporary American culture. We studied topics relating to our everyday lives such as, relationships, life habits, work, and school. The various readings, films, and discussions during class have helped me reflect upon my life. I would like to elaborate and focus on the aspects of this class that directly influence the way I see the world today. Before I took this course my mental image of materialism, happiness, and love were entirely different. I have been exposed to a different perception of our world today that I would have never experienced if I had not taken this course. Our course material helped me analyze how materialism affects me, and it helped me develop a more clear understanding of the meaning of love and happiness.
The use of materials to complement a design’s emotional reaction has stuck with the modernist movement. His implementation of these materials created a language that spoke poetically as you move through the structure. “Mies van der Rohe’s originality in the use of materials lay not so much in novelty as in the ideal of modernity they expressed through the rigour of their geometry, the precision of the pieces and the clarity of their assembly” (Lomholt). But one material has been one of the most important and most difficult to master: light. Mies was able to sculpt light and use it to his advantage.
In this paper, I will examine the issues of individuation and identity in Descartes’ philosophy of mind-body dualism. I will begin by addressing the framework of Cartesian dualism. Then I will examine the problems of individuation and identity as they relate to Descartes. Hopefully, after explaining Descartes’ reasoning and subsequently offering my response, I can show with some degree of confidence that the issues of individuation and identity offer a challenge to the Cartesians’ premise of mind-body dualism.
After Immanuel Kant, there was so much that went on such as the start of the Contemporary theory of science. Before all of this aroused, the big argument was idealism versus materialism. This was big because modernism had made people choose which side between the two concepts. There were a lot of disagreements between the two because a lot of people were still stuck on the concept of materialism. Materialism is the physical appearance of everything , and that everything is made out of atoms and matter instead of just being the physical appearance of the object. At this point in time Materialism was the dominant voice in science. But as time starts to go on more and more people start to turn towards the new concept of idealism, which is basically stating that instead of the physical appearance of an object is actually not made of atoms, and it is just perceived that way in our mind. For example, people who believe in Materialism would say that a cup itself is not just a solid, but it is made up of atoms and electrons. On the other hand, Idealists would say that the cup is just a solid, they wouldn’t mention anything about the atoms or electrons. Along with the disagreement between Idealism and Materialism, there were also many developments that aroused after Immanuel Kant. These developments range from non-Euclidean geometry, to several philosophers working with the quantum theory, to Werner Heisenberg discovering the uncertainty principle.
The concept of “window” is figured into the very form of cinema. Every ‘shot’ is a framed window that hints the vast reality just outside of our view. People viewing this “window” get connected to this reality, experience the happenings, feel the emotions and engrossed into a life whatever they have wished. This is the magic of cinema.
When it comes to anthropological theory the combination of several established ways of thought often result in a completely new and independent way of thinking. Cultural Materialism is one of these children theories that resulted from a coming together of social evolutionary theory, cultural ecology and Marxist materialism (Barfield). The goal of cultural materialism is to explain politics, economics, ideology and symbolic aspects of a culture with relation to the needs of that society. From a cultural materialist point of view society is indisputably shaped by the factors of production and reproduction. From this all other facets of society, such as government and religion, must be beneficial to that society’s ability to satisfy the minimum requirements to sustain themselves (Harris 1996). An example of this would be the invention and continued use of industry because it increased the ability to produce needed materials and food. One important aspect of the cultural materialistic approach is that it operates completely from the etic perspective. Marvin Harris, one of the founders of cultural materialism, believed that a holistic approach is vital to correctly analyzing culture and believed that the emic approach failed at providing a wide enough scope. Harris tried to employ the scientific method and incorporated it into his theory. The result of this is that cultural materialism focuses only on events that are observable and quantifiable and replicable (Harris 1979). Cultu...
In the memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Morrie an old man who has a terminal illness ALS in his last months teaches Mitch a man who has been half sleep all his life as Morrie would say, many life lessons, but one that really got my attention was that Money cannot buy love or happiness. Morrie would say that materialistic people think that money can buy love and happiness, but it is not true, neither of those things have a price.