Wednesday, November 30, 2011

ART: The Pop Art Movement

By Ljupcho Naumov

"Pop art is about liking things."

-Andy Warhol

This simple quote by Andy Warhol captures the essence of pop art. This artistic movement melts the boundaries between the high-art of the elite and the low-art of the masses, and introduces a form of expression that is understandable to everyone. Containing elements from mass culture, the pop movement truly made art universal.

The origins of pop art date back to the 1950s in England, in a time of optimism resulting from the post-war end of rationing. Celebrating the newly established consumer society, pop art regularly featured images known to the general public, including those from advertisements, comic strips, magazines, television and cinema. The pop art movement, like other, was a rebellion against the previously established and accepted style: abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism developed after the Second World War, and is the first American artistic movement to achieve worldwide recognition. It is primarily concerned with communicating the emotions of the artist, and it is famous for being rebellious, anarchistic, and idiosyncratic.


Examples of Abstract Expressionism

One of the first artists to flourish from the British pop art movement was Scottish sculptor and artist Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi investigated how humans can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization through imagination and fantasy. His most famous work is the collage I was a Rich Man's Plaything. It is considered to be the first work referred to under the name pop art, and the first to display the word pop.

Paolozzi’s I was a rich man’s plaything

Another noted artist from the British pop art movement is Peter Blake, an artist who made collage based paintings of movie stars and pop musicians using images from magazines, comics and advertisements. His most famous work is the album cover of the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In the States, the Pop art movement arrives in the 1960s. In America, the movement meets a much more zealous audience, an audience mesmerized by consumerism, the ideal of pop art. One of the first and maybe most eminent American pop artists is Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein, surprisingly, started his artistic career as a follower of abstract expressionism but later converted into the new, popular style. He is famous for his comic-book based works, in which he showed scenes of sentimental love or violent action.

Lichtenstein’s Girl with Ribbon, Kiss V, Drowning Girl, and Ride in the Car. The dots reflect the cheap color printing process of newspapers and comics.

The most prominent of the pop artists known to the general public is definitely painter, printmaker, and film producer, Andy Warhol. His name is synonymous with the pop art movement. He started his career as a commercial artist, drawing images for magazine illustrations and advertisements. With this exceptionally well-suited starting point, Warhol was immediately immersed into the pop art movement. The artistic works of Warhol frequently featured famous movie stars, pop singers and other similar icons. His Marilyn diptych soon became the crown of pop art.

Warhol’s Marilyn diptych and Eight Elvises. The Eight Elvises was sold for 100 million dollars.

The pop art movement changed the world of art forever. It replaced the epic with the everyday, the unique with the mass produced. It diffused the high art with the low art. Pop art proved to be likable to everyone, just as Warhol said.

For what is worth…

Ellie walked proudly and as she neared a group of people, all of who seemed to be somewhere about her age, she covered her face with a mystic smile, while giving a flirty wink and a cunning-like lift of the brow. As she sat down beside the people she addressed as friends, Ellie could deeply inhale the smoke in the air around her and she could spot cigarettes in her friends’ mouths. After taking a small sip from the vodka bottle handed over to her, she took out a cigarette of her own and pulled in the poisonous chemicals it contained inside her lungs. As she exhaled, dense clouds of smoke started coming out of her mouth and nose. Ellie was 16.

What’s the price young people have to pay nowadays in order to earn the super-high status in a high-school society? Ellie knew it wasn’t as complicated. Still, if you aim to get invited at the best parties, you have to do a little work. For starters, you change your outlook, and forget what cakes, sweets, fats and fast food looked and tasted like. You waste a whole bunch of your parents’ money on branded clothes, make-up, hairdo, perfumes, shoes, heels… You lose interest in everyone else’s interests, you grow your head too big and suck up to the queen-bee. The great struggle of strengthening your identity causes you to lose what little of it you possessed in the first place. But who cares, as long as it’s for the sake of partying. Grades, future and your own well-being are second-class things, family relations become almost no existent. Alienation’s in store for the parents, except when in need of money. And what exactly is to be paid with those money? Well, all the things that will cause people to keep inviting you to their parties, including alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, as you ruthlessly stick out the middle finger to all the warnings, pretending that the consequences won’t get to you…believing that all the enjoyment makes you unbeatable. Self-assured that mommy and daddy will take care of everything, hoping that all you’ll ever have to do it take large sips of the infinite stream of money, providing yourself with more make-up to hide the insecurity in your eyes. Loathing anyone who dares to raise his voice and claim he’s different, simply because you’ll never have the guts to do such a thing on your own. Mocking all the nerds, because unlike you they haven’t failed to select a fight-worthy goal in their lives, caring about their future, supporting and developing their intellectual skills (you know, the ones you yourself chose not to take an advantage of). Screaming that you’re daddy’s little girl no more in lack of the proof. Consciously misinterpreting the saying “that every day should be lived as if it was your last”. Striving to provoke envy in the hearts of others by playing the part of an unbreakable diva, while having nightmares if the truth beneath the surface somehow ends up exposed. Successfully erasing your personality, reproving your body to a point where it becomes unrecognizable, losing concern of what once used to be your main priority. Ensuring yourself with intangibility by satisfying the thirst for causing others misery. Intentionally attempting to grow up faster by doing things you’re mentally not really ready to do yet, which leads to acts of immorality. Refusing to realize that despite your perfect outer look, you shall always remain a scared little child in the chambers of your subconscious. But then again, you’re too young to worry right?
Twenty years later Ellie’s sitting on the floor in the corner of her gray-walled room. There’s emptiness filling her eyes and loneliness inside her heart. A single tear falls down her cheek and biting her lips she throws a piece of paper on a fair distance from her. And uncontrollable weeping follows, just as she realizes the things to come. Ellie has just been diagnosed with lung cancer.


Isidora Bojkovska

The iPhone 4S – A step into the future, or a disappointing remake?

It was Apple’s latest release, quite shortly before Steve Jobs’ death. A great fuss had been made, all the websites were writing about it – the iPhone 5. News on Yahoo, Bing, Google, and other similar internet news providers were flooded with speculations and predictions alike. Some were expecting a commercial success; others not so much. Some people seemed to be in love with the idea of the iPhone 5, and other ones saw it as just another meaningless upgrade to the iPhone, aimed at making a healthy profit for Apple.

What everyone got though, was not the iPhone 5. Instead, Apple presented the new “new revolutionary product of the future” – the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S is the completely same model as the iPhone 4. Even though it is advertised as faster and better, with a higher processing power and a “revolutionary” graphical display, is has been disputed whether any updates were present at all. While it surely is true that hardware and software advances are present within the new model, user reviews have classified it as “exactly the same as the iPhone 4”.

The big question that arises is – “Why would anyone buy this product”? Why would anyone throw away their “old” iPhone 4, even iPhone 3 or 2, for this “wonderful, state of the art” invention that comes at the slim price of just a couple of hundred dollars? The answer lies in the iPhone 4S. Siri.

Siri is a voice recognition program that has amazed even Apple haters. Upon a click-and-hold of the central button, the user can issue a command. This is where it gets interesting.

Commands are successfully recognized, and they can range from making a meeting, to sending a text message (without the user having to type it), calling someone, and making virtually any change in the settings of the phone. The user can also check the internet, Google something and the results are read out loud without even having to look at the screen. While immensely cool, this is also very helpful for people with disabilities, who can’t type or see properly (as is stated in the official commercial).

The bad sides? Having a phone which can do all of this, while it talks back and makes a bit of a conversation, is a slightly creepy idea. While humanity’s goal should be at developing technology, it might take some time before the concept of having technology execute orders much like a human, and having it talk back, is something that we might feel uncomfortable with until it integrates into our daily routine.


David Dlaka

A Dream of Form in Days of Thought

The thousand lights of night gave way to a path. She followed the path marked by the breath of ocean tide, her shape illumined by the ice of pebbles that played beneath. To what she was going, she did not know. She walked the path and she was speed. Leaves crowned the small of her head as she swayed with the branches of the invisible tree that held her stance. The leaves breathed so and she was lung; the pathway of the tide. Gliding, illumined by the faraway worlds that hovered above, she tripped on the broken branches of the tree and fell face down on the frigid pebble floor. Now the cosmos was inside her and she could reach it with the lightest touch.

A kindled track unfolded her way into the world of worlds. She glided along and reached the world of fire; the essence was corruption and rotting degradation.

Unblinking, the path took her to the world of air. It was a masked cloud of soot that stung her lung of steel. The cloud took over her mind but she turned, she saw what was pure and moved on.

The world of water awaited. She swam in pools of stardust and plunged in waves of joy. She paddled through eternal springs and played with celestial life that dwelled within.

Finally, the path took her to the world of earth. Therein were fire, air and water tenants. She reached in a daze, head tilted, with the lightest hand…

The darkest of mists descended then and swallowed the light of night. The kindled path dissolved and she fell from the inner cosmos; she slipped away, far into the abyss.

Outside, the wind whistled a tune of old. Her eyes opened, glistening, scanning the pebble floor. Rising slowly, she resumed as before, her steady foot no longer met disjointed branch.

No day or night was there; no drought or flood. Time was the stardust in her hair and life was the tidal breath that journeyed through her lung.

She was bulletproof. She was a child, and the cosmos was her.

Bisera Djundeva

Why the words Chair and Dair shouldn’t be used together (Ever.)

September 19, 2007. The beginning of everything. Well, not really; not for any ordinary person in the world. Babies were born, proposals were made; nothing new. However, in the perspective of a teenage girl, it holds an importance of a much different kind. The pilot episode of “Gossip Girl” aired. Two years later, I get hooked on the show. Fast forward another two years and I’m begging for the end. And only 40% out of boredom, without counting Chuck’s “enlightened” monologues. Taking that into account, it’s about 80%. Really, what I want to see is the ending, without having to endure any more shallowness, scheming and love triangles (squares and polygons). Dair (Dan/Blair), I can endure, but Chair (Chuck/Blair) and Serenate (Serena/Nate) have been giving me migraines for long enough. Speaking of the billion love affairs, it seems that the writers of the show have adopted the famous “Grey’s Anatomy” theory. (Any two characters that haven’t been together, should. Any two characters that have been together, should again.) Being the fanatical person that I am, I realized that one “Gossip Girl” character has covered every single boyfriend stereotype. And it’s our very own Blair Waldorf - the socialite that every girl in the world wants to look, walk, talk and, especially, dress like; or as I like to call her, the reason every teenage girl will die alone with her seventy cats.

Prince Charming

Disney’s white horses and glittering carriages are nothing in comparison with Nate Archibald. In fact, a blend of all the fairytale princes might not be as cliché as the character that is Nate. He’s handsome, rich, popular, handsome again, sweet, and of course, extremely stupid. Main occupation: sweeping girls off their feet and looking at them with his puppy-dog eyes; never mind that he’s a useless stoner in the book; in the show he’s Mr. Perfect. So who could really blame any girl who would want to wait for him forever, and ditch every other shot at love? And who could really blame any girl who would refuse to accept the reality that Nate is only a character (and mind you a pretty shallow one). Well okay, you could blame her a little, but it’s the whole series that gives us a whole new perspective on relationships. Ever since the nineteenth century females have been feeding on stories about true love and the prince that will save them. The fact that Nate Archibald reminds everyone of their prince is all the producers’ fault. Really.

The Dark Knight

It’s a tale as old as time; the beauty falls for a beast and after some arguing, he changes and they live happily ever after. But what if the beast refuses to change? Well, then we get Chuck Bass. It’s true that, as the years have passed, Chuck has matured in his own way. His love for Blair grew proportionally with his attempts to cause her physical and emotional harm. We all thought that the climax of their affection was his trading her for a hotel, but apparently he had more loving to do. His last great deed of adoration was the attempt to rape her when she chose someone else over him. Though bad boys have always had their appeal, I thought that the writers had completely destroyed Chuck and hopefully their careers. But I was wrong. More and more girls have been falling for the Bass, fantasizing of being the one who “saves him”. Since after all, who could resist a drug-using, girlfriend-selling jerk that drinks a Johnnie a day because he loves you?

The Pauper

Every story has its outsider; too smart to fit in, not smart enough to realize that he shouldn’t. And when he looks like Dan Humphrey, it’s very hard to resist falling in love with the poor martyred soul that keeps getting tangled in everyone’s wicked webs. Most closely resembling an actually wholesome character, Humphrey won my heart two minutes in. He’s deep, thoughtful and madly in love with Serena. No, wait, he was utterly in love with Vanessa, his best friend. Or was that Georgina? Olivia? I got it, it’s definitely Blair he’s desperately in love with, she’s the one he’s making tea for, while helping her save her engagement to another man. Well, at least right now. And isn’t that what every girl wants; a guy who will be prepared to suffer hearing how complicated the love triangle between her and two other guys is and still love her. Every damsel in distress needs to be rescued, who cares if the knight probably has Chronic Hero Syndrome.

Romantic novels have been ruining women’s lives since some idiot started writing them. But with “Gossip Girl” a new, more twisted version of true love and Mr. Right is beginning to form. Apparently, today’s princes are not required to show love, but to transform it into anger. Moping alone, while pushing the girl away into someone else’s hands is obviously also a great option. And, needless to say, being too stupid to do anything is the best of all alternatives. Thus, while Blair Waldorf remains the single character that hasn’t been destroyed completely, we can’t say the same for most teenage girls’ future love life. So where does her blooming love life leave us? That’s right, in a pit of popcorn, chocolate and arguing over who would be better, Chuck or Dan.

Simona Sarafinovska

Recent Sports Update

A couple of weeks ago, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers in the 107th edition of the Major League Baseball’s World Series. The first game that kicked off the World Series ended with a Cardinals victory, at a final score of 3-2. The second game ended with a Rangers victory, with a final score of 2-1 at Busch Stadium, St. Louis. Game three took place in Arlington, Texas, with an unbelievable victory to the Cardinals, with a final score of 16-7. Games four and five both took place at the Ranger’s Ballpark in Arlington, with two victories against St. Louis. The Rangers were put in the lead with their last victory at game five, putting them ahead of St. Louis with a 3-2 lead. In order for St. Louis to stay in the game, they had to win game six which would take place back at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. With a nail biting victory at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals were able to beat the Rangers with extra innings, with a final score of 10-9, in the bottom of the eleventh inning. The victory at game six allowed the Cardinals one extra shot to win the title at game seven. On October 28, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers in Busch Stadium with a final score of 6-2. This victory put the Cardinals at a total of eleven World Series championships, ranking them as the second team with the most victories after the New York Yankees. Despite the fact that the Texas Rangers had gone to the World Series, they have yet to have seen a title at Major League Baseball’s World Series.

With the completion of the World Series, people still await for the final result of the 2011 NBA lockout. The lockout began on July 1, and plans to continue throughout November. The lockout mainly occurred due to issues dividing the owners’ and players’ revenue sharing as well as the salary cap. The NBA claims to be losing $300 million a year, meaning salary cuts as well downsizing. During a time of lockout, teams cannot sign or contact players, trade players, and players cannot access NBA team facilities, trainers or staff members. All preseason games have been cancelled, costing the NBA roughly $200 million. With each month of game cancellation, players will lose a total of $350 million. With no accurate estimation as to when this lockout will finish, a few players are beginning to sign contracts with foreign countries to play in this year’s season. With the 2012 Olympics coming up, and the Olympic men’s basketball qualifying tournaments around the corner, the NBA better solve the lockout situation before it is too late. With time running short and the NBA losing money each day, the 2011 NBA lockout better end soon, before the season is cancelled and things turn ugly.

Alex Bosworth