Reaction to documentary, Style Wars

Style Wars is a film from the 80's that explores the world of graffiti. Examples of questions that were answered are, what is graffiti all about? What is the local community's reaction? And who participates in this practice? According to the film, tagging or bombing is a way of getting your name out in the world. Either you adopt your own name, or someone gives you one and then you take it and make something with it. Kids found the need to take their names, personalize and stylize them, and post them where the rest of the world would find and learn these names. The kids who graffitied in the film were all teenagers who appeared to live in low-income areas in New York City. As graffiti is illegal, for some artists it is about being angry with the system for living in poverty; however, the film did not attach this intention with tagging. In fact, the kids were even willing to work with authorities by attempting to legalize graffiti. They wanted to provide the community with art for free. Their offer was rejected.

Today, their is a huge movement for eco art, or the art of engaging and interacting with communities to encourage awareness of the environment. It appears that the graffiti kids from the 80's were a part of this movement whether they were aware of this or not. They worked together to spread art throughout their community, and in a way, represented their generation. These artists interacted with the white collar workers who took the subway to work by showing them another side by New York City. The fact that these artists were writing their names shows that they just wanted to make themselves known to the rest of the world, and become a part of the world. They may not have unified the white and blue collars within the urban community, but these kids did get people with different backgrounds to recognize each other. While graffiti is sometimes done out of anger, this film portrayed it as a way for kids to rebel while still attempting to join the world by getting their names known.

Response to "Father's Day '99" on This American Life

This hour-long dialogue about the father-child relationship talked about various examples in which the father and child attempt to protect the other from occurrences in life. In the first story, a father goes to great lengths to retrace his steps to find his son's beloved bear that was thrown away. The trials this father went through to spare his son from losing his bear demonstrated a father's need to protect their child. The second story was about a father who was losing his memory. The sons attempted to help their father through his illness by quizzing him about their names and professions. This story was more about the turn the father-son relationship might take as time continues on. The third story was an interview with a father and daughter. In an attempt to protect his daughter from discovering that fictional characters are not real, he lied to his daughter. Still, there relationship remained quite close.

While exploring father-child relationships can be touching, I found this third story particularly disturbing. Parents are supposed to teach their children about he world and how to cope with their feelings, not shield them from it. Lying to children does not change the truth, the best thing a parent can do for their child is expose them to the world and prepare them to deal with reality. If most parents adopt the policy of protecting their children rather than helping them face disappointment, then I seriously fear for the future.

I saw...

Stack plates like floors; I enjoy the comparison.

"buy me" or angry mob?

Parks: public spaces as grounds for the cultivation of equality?

^This is a photo of Faythe Levine.

Visiting Artist: Faythe Levine of "Handmade Nation"

On March 8, 2010, Faythe Levine visited Syracuse University to share her experience as an artist with students and the general public. Levine wrote a book called "Handmade Nation" only to later take the initiative of turning her book into an independent film. The film involved revealing the Indie Craft Community through a series of interviews with various people located throughout the United States. Levine ended up traveling to 15 cities to conduct 80 interviews. Though "Handmade Nation" was completely independent, the film took the country by storm. Levine reflected back on some crucial steps she had to take to make her project a success. She emphasized that the craft community is centralized online, so making accounts on different websites played a necessary role in publicizing her work.

Among the interviews in "Handmade Nation" were people who practiced all sorts of crafts and played different roles in the community. Some organizations that were represented were "The Little Friends of Printmaking," "Sublime Stitching," "Super Crafty" and "buyolympia.com." The film captured a culture of people who valued the "Do It Yourself" mentality and freedom through craft. In the film, one person said, don't allow people to "feed you your culture." The Indie Craft Community is very much about finding your own identity through the cultivation of creativity and ideas. The fact that this film was independent only further corresponded with the idea of "D.I.Y." When asked about her next project, Faythe Levine responded that she is currently working on a documentary about sign painting. It is people like Faythe Levine that keep the craft community thriving, and it is our job -as people who have a place in our hearts for such a community- to support our fellow crafters.

Daina Mattis

I apologize that I was unable to rotate this image of a painting however, at least it is up. The artist, Daina Mattis has recently displayed her work in the building of Shaffer at Syracuse University. From looking at this painting it seems that it was done with watercolor and pencil on large sheets of paper. The subjects are of a girl and a guy, the former in pink and the latter in blue. The female figure is seated and only the top half of her is defined with color while the rest of her is outlined in pencil. The male is emphasized by his blue jeans and sneaker -a.k.a. the lower half of his body. The girl is shown in profile, looking up at him as his outlined head looks back down at her. Both figures are placed differently and opposite parts of their bodies are emphasized still, they are each touching their shoes. Perhaps this has some significance about their similarities, what their journey together might entail, and gender roles. Nevertheless, this painting as a sweet emotion running through it, one of kind fascination. That only the figures have color seems to show that the setting is unimportant. Together with the lock gazes and turned heads, the viewer almost feels left out of their emotions. The connection between the two subjects appears to be strong, leaving the rest of the world behind.

Guy Carlo

Guy Carlo is a photographer whose work is currently being displayed in Shaffer at Syracuse University. This piece is of a pink cut-out goat nailed to a wall. While the wood background seems natural, the industrial-looking pink goat seems to mock nature. The nail is put in place of the eye. This could be a metaphor for "pinning" down nature and making it owned by humans. The eye might represent our point of view as people who consume things that are reminiscent of nature. This photograph shows the relationship between the natural and the industrialized realms by connecting the subject to the background with a sharp object. For our mass-produced objects to exist, we must harm nature, the background and foundation of our existence.