Module 12 - Video Review

Another week of videos and options to supplement our textbook.  This week I chose one on Andy Warhol, partly because he was an American artist and also because we had an extra assignment having to do with him and this was a great opportunity to gain more incite on him.  The second was more of the title the drew me in, The Power of Art, it caught my attention and had to be picked.

The Power of Art: Rothko
I really liked this video.  I was having some issues streaming it from the schools proxy server and was getting some skipping but I still did not care.  The whole video revolves around an American Artist Mark Rothko.  Rothko's story was told but not in a biography style.  The focus was centered around his pieces the were meant to be for the Four Season in the Seagram's corporate building in Manhattan.  I really like how the story was presented and how we saw the progression of Rothko's style shape based on life experience as well as past artist.  I think this quote sums up what Rothko was always aiming for:

"When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors. No critics. No money. Yet it was a golden age, for we all had nothing to lose and a vision to gain. Today it is not quite the same. It is a time of tons of verbiage, activity, consumption. Which condition is better for the world at large, I will not venture to discuss, but I do know that many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow. We must all hope we find them."

This man had an experience with every piece he created and he wanted the world to feel it.  He did not want his pieces to be loved and made to be beautiful, he wanted them to bring forth the emotion that they presented to him when he was painting them.  Some people found his meaning and he mentioned it in the video, "The people that break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I communicate those basic emotions."  Behold the power of art.  Since art means something different to every viewer, interpretation can vary from the artists intended portrayal.  Rothko wanted desperately for this to not happen to his pieces and he showed it.

I think this video really added to how I view art from an emotional aspect.  I have felt the presence of art and I have tried to feel what the artist was attempting to deliver but until I saw this video I do not think I ever tried to make a personal and emotional attachment to a piece for me.  I was have always tried to interpret from the artist perspective.

Mark Rothko, Rothko Chapel (1971). Houston, Texas

Andy Warhol: Images of an Image
This was basically a breakdown of how Andy came to fame and sought to keep it.  The video actually seemed to make Andy a narcissist and oddly they actually mentioned it in the video when Andy Warhol started to commit himself to self portraits.  What did seem to come to the main theme of Andy Warhol was that he was an artist in the business for making money and he knew what to give the people to get them to keep buying.  This seems to make his efforts into silk screening almost a natural course since it allowed for mass production on a new level.  I learned more details about Andy Warhol than I expected for the short film and after watching it I actually felt that he was less of an influential artist because of how he approached his pieces.  Not discounting any of his work but the feeling somehow seemed removed from his pieces.  He seemed to make pieces that would ensure fame and fortune and nothing more and the bits about him on the video only reinforced that.  There was a heavy focus no his piece the Ten Lizes:

This piece exploded his reputation even more after the Marylin head shots that he spread all over.  What was odd was the timing of it all.  He almost seemed to try and do it to capitalize on her potential death due to being ill overseas while shooting a movie.  It worked for him before, screening a famous celebrity icon after an untimely demise.  I learned mostly about Andy Warhol's life style from this video and not so much as to any actual meaning from his pieces.  It almost felt as if the intent was simply to please the masses in order to obtain wealth and fame.  The video was by no means bad, just disappointing to hear about a famous American artist that was in it for the capitalist gains more than anything else.