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70 Cards in this Set
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Vedic Hymns
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These texts are the earliest texts in Hinduism. They were written about 1600-1200 BCE in India, form the basis of Brahmanism, & establish several of the Hindu deities (Surya & Indra). The texts are also in the form of songs or odes to nature, & strongly reflect close relationships with nature.
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Upamishads
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2nd earliest text. This set of texts was writeen between 800-600 BCE, and is the second major set of texts in Hinduism (with the first being Vedic Hymns). The texts introduced the ideas of Samara (reincarnation), world soul, and karma (the conditions into which one is born).
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Puranas
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Latest text. This set of Hindu texts presented stories about the lives of the Hindu deities. This set of texts emerged about the same time as the Upanishads.
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Kali
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-The Hindu goddess associated with death and recreation. She is one of three of the female deities, along with Parvati/Maya and Durga.
-Her images typically include an apotropaic face (wide eyes, open mouth, large teeth, distended tongue, and wild hair), and she was a "dark goddess" (often depicted in black, gray, or dark blue). -Commonly shown with a skirt comprised of decapitated arms and a necklace of fifty skulls. The latter signify the fifty basic sounds of the Sanskrit dialect. -According to Hindu lore, Vac created the Universe through the utterance of these basic fifty sounds. -Kali is sometimes shown in association with Siva (her male deity equivalent) and many stories state that both Kali and SIva love to dance (Siva is often depicted as Siva Nataraja, Lord of Dance, in which he both destroys and recreates the universe through his dance), but that they must each caution the other to go easy so as not to totally and permanently destroy the universe. -The depiction of these two deities together is also often done in amorous ways in which their coitus creates the universe. |
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Apotrapaic Face
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-A term used to identify a kind of face used in ritual masks and on images of deities in many global cultures. The traits of an apotrapaic face are similar to those a person naturally assumes at a moment of extreme fear or surprise.
-These attributes are associated with the dramatic change that a mask frequently symbolizes and facilitates in many human rituals. The specific elements of such a face include enlarged eyes, wide open mouth, distended tongue, enlarged teeth, and disheveled hair. -Images often depicted as apotrapaic include the faces of the Hindu deity of death and rebirth (Kali), as well as the t'ao t'ieh masks on ancient Chinese bronzes, carved wooden masks over the entrances of Pacific Island cultures to ward off evil, the face of deities at the entrances of Hindu temples in Bali or the gargoyles on the roofs of European Gothic cathedrals (to ward off evil) |
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Kathak Dance
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the storyteller in Kathak dance. The dancer uses dramatic facial expressions and body gestures to tell a story.
-Performed solo -Interacts with the audience -In tune with the musician -Performed barefoot with bells around the ankle -Stories originate from the Mhabarata & ..... |
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Natyam, Nritya, Nritta
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Nritta refers to rhythmic, abstract movement of the feet and body. Nritta does not convey mood or meaning. Rather, its purpose is to showcase geometric patterns and complex rhythmic variations in space and time.
Nritya can be described as interpretive dance, where the lyrics of the song are conveyed using hand gestures (hasta mudras) and expressions (abhinaya). The dancer’s internal emotions (bhaava) create the sentiment (rasa) of the piece, which should also be felt by the audience. Natya is the dramatic element of classical Indian dance. The dancers take on the roles of characters and perform a dramatic story through music and dance. |
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Tal & Raga
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What kathak dancer had to follow in her dance as she moved to the book of the raga in a 16 beat cycle. The raga being the melody of the music. Multiple raga's depending on the time of day or occasion.
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Siva Nataraja
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Siva is one of three male deities of Hinduism, and his appearance as "Nataraja" ( aka "Lord of the Dance," which is one of his attributes.) Siva, like Kali, is associated with both destruction and recreation of the universe. He (or Kali) can both create and destroy through dance.
The image of the Siva Nataraja was very common during the Cola Period in India. These images show Siva resting on one foot, and with the other foot raised (with the sole of the foot signifying the redemption of the soul). He is shown with four arms, with each arm and hand in a position that represents a different mudra (symbolic gesture), generally representing the creative, destructive, and cyclic attributes of this deity. He was also commonly shown surrounded by a flaming nimbus which symbolized destruction through the presence of the flames and re-creation through the symbol of the eternal circle as cycle of life. |
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Mudras
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This term identifies symbolic hand, arm, foot, and leg gestures that appear on Hindu deities or as the hand gestures shown in anthropomorphic Buddha images depicted during the the Mahayana phase of Buddhism and after.
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Flaming Nimbus
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A circle of fire and it is what the Siva Nataraja is dancing within.
-Wears earrings of female & male -In a mudras stance -Standing on on top of Naritya (???) -Wearing necklace of 50 skulls |
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Butoh
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This is a Japanese art form that combines elements of theater, dance, & non-verbal story-telling. Stressing a very slow form of movement with extremely dramatic facial expressions & gestures, butoh employs low body postures reflecting close relationships with the earth as opposed to the "lifting" character of European ballet.
Butoh is a dance of the inner, dark realms, not only of the earth but of the human psyche with all its fears and obsessions as well. The constituent parts of the word butoh are "bu" and "toh." "Bu" is a term that originally meant "ballroom dancing," but also derives from a Chinese word, "ma," pertaining to the dynamic presence of all things perceived as existing in a spherical space. "Toh" connotes the awakening of the spirit or energy within the earth, and is a term that is also used to identify the initial phase in Sumo wrestling during which the athletes stomp on the ground. Hijikata was the first to institute butoh in 1959. In many ways this art form may be correlated with politically-charged Anpo Rebellion of 1960 in Japan along with the concurrent efforts to regain a personal art form that truly reflected the character and struggle of Japan, |
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Tatsumi Hijikata
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The founder of butoh dance in Japan, Hijikata performed Forbidden Colors in 1959. This homoerotic work represented a new form of creative expression in Japan at that time. It began & ended in total darkness. Many of its elements also reflected the frustration in Japan in response to the impending Anpo treaty Hijikata is especially associated with an extreme form of butoh called Ankoku Butoh.
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Hijikata Forbidden Colors
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The first work by Hijikata, which began & ended in complete darkness (& thus led to the term "Ankoku Butoh," or "dance of utter darkness"). LIke many other butoh works, Forbidden Colors had elements that shocked (A mock sexual act with a chicken) but that also reflected a powerful effort to be released from bondage.
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Obsessional Art
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This was the name for the broad art movement that occurred, in part, as a response to the Anpo Rebellion in Japan in 1960. Obsessional Art represented a distressed response to the signing of the Anpo between Japan & the US, & also was accompanied by an effort to return to indigenous images & ideas from traditional Japanese culture due to the concern that Japan might be becoming too westernized. Many of the images in this movement were outrageous due to the despair felt at the signed of the Treaty, & the new art form called butoh emerged as part of the same movement.
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Anpo Rebellion
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This rebellion occurred in Japan as a result of the signing of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty (AKA Anpo Treaty) in 1960 that continued the dependency of Japan upon the U.S. that had been established earlier as a result of WW2.
The rebellion reflected the desired on the part of artists, intellectuals, & political activists that Japan work toward a more independent economic cultural future. It also resulted in a renewed interest in traditional Japanese stories, lore, beliefs, images, & ideas that the idealists hoped would serve to contribute to a reinvigoration of indigenous vales & ideas. Butoh dance was a part of this rebellion. |
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Chinese concepts of empty and full
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Like other duality concepts in Chinese culture (yin & yang, ch'i & li, yielding & unyielding), the concept involving "empty & full" is only understood when both components are understood along with the important relationships between both.
The ultimate goal is also a matter of achieving and maintaining a balance between both elements. As such, the duality is not comprised of two elements perceived as being in conflict but as interdependent and complementary. The concept of empty and full is rooted in Taoist philosophy and is inherent to many of the other, related ideas expressed in the writings of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu (the two primary innovators of Taoism). The concept may perhaps be easiest for those unfamiliar with Chinese philosophy to understand if one uses the metaphor of the space of valley as equivalent to "empty" & the outer "vessel" materially forming the valley (the hills surrounding it) as equivalent to "full." |
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Ying & Yang
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The oldest meanings of these terms in ancient China were as "dark" and "light" sides of mountains, and no doubt represented principles in nature that could be associated with darkness and lightness as opposing elements. Both were considered to be essential, and nature was perceived as being comprised of an array of forms of balances between both principles.
These meanings later acquired the further connotations stressing "yielding" (yin) & "unyielding" (yang) principles respectively. These meanings probably involved influence from the Confucian contributions to the I-Ching in which yin & yang played principle roles. Even later, a further Confucian influence resulted in the same duality evolving to represent "female" & "male" attributes (or "principles") in people, culture & nature. Again, nature was defined as being comprised of a panorama of differing forms of balance between these two elements, as is perceived in the sixty-four hexagrams of the I-Ching. |
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Taoism
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-Chinese religion by Lao-tzu & Chuang Tzu.
-The basic meaning of Tao is the "way," which is a personal path one must find through individual introspection and mediation. -Not based so much upon a set creed or behavioral code as is common of most other religions. -The beliefs stated in the Tao Te Ching are more a set of philosophical statements about reality, the spiritual dimensions of the "vital breath" in all things & the necessity for harmony & a tranquil perspective in all matters. -Often considered more of a philosophy than a religion due to these traits (as well as the fact that deities are not stressed as supreme role models in the ways that they are in other religions). -Opposed to confucianism, which stresses and even regulates one's social and outer conduct in the outer world, as opposed to the inner world and inner truths primarily addressed through Taoist texts and practices. |
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Confucianism
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One of the world's major religions, this belief system emerged during the sixth century BCE in China & was the major competing religion with Taoism. Its major exponent was Confucius, whose writing stressed discipline, personal responsibility, & orderly outward conduct in the World. By contrast, Taoism stressed meditation, individual search, & inner experience.
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Lao-Tzu
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(Tao Te Ching)
Lao-tzu & Chuang-tzu are the main contributors to the early evolution of literature & ideas of Taoism in China. Lao-tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching, a text that institutes many of the beliefs of this religion. Some would argue that Taoism is a way of life and philosophy more than a religion because it doesn't stress the role of deities or formalized doctrines when compared to other world religions. |
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I-Ching
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-The name is literally translated as "Book of Changes" or "Classic of Changes." The origin of the I-Ching is rooted in far older uses of chance systems when divining the appropriate decisions during the course of one's life.
-There are both Taoist and Confucian influences on the I-Ching. The strong references to gender (in connection to yin and yang) were derived from Confucian influences. The book is comprised of 64 chapters, with these chapters each being under the heading of one of the hexagrams that collectively represent every possible combination of broken and continuous lines that can be created by rearranging these two types of lines. -Each hexagram represent a different possible "answer" to one's questions. The broken lines represent "yielding" (yin) forces, while the continuous lines signify "unyielding" (yang) forces. The 64 hexagrams, in turn, are comprised of 8 "houses," that are often interpreted as the equivalent of a "family." When all 6 lines are continuous, they represent the "father," & when all six lines are broken, they represent the "mother," In addition to the two parents, there are houses for the 3 sons & 3 daughters. The use of the I-Ching does not represent simplistic "yes/no" kinds of answers, but rather forces the questioners to "get outside" the subjective limits of their normally interiorized and, therefore, highly subjective ways of answering difficult questions in order to reconsider the question and its possible implications in entirely new ways. This method is also related to the use of oracles when asking major questions in ancient Greece. |
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Yielding and Unyielding Principles
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These principles were associated with yin & yang & evolved in Chinese culture after the earliest meanings of "light" & "dark" sides of mountain, but before the Confucian gender association of female (yin) & male (yang) principles. The yielding principle was associated with the broken lines in the hexagrams in the I-Ching, an the unyielding principle was associated with the unbroken lines.
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Role of Chance in I-Ching
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The I-Ching employs a chance system for arriving at the particular hexagram chapter that is "selected" as the "answer" to one's question.
The throwing of yarrow sticks or Chinese coins are among the common systems for arriving at these chance answers. While the method for arriving at the chapter stresses chance, the systematic arrangement within each chapter, between the chapters taken as a whole, & in the arrangement of information within each, are all extremely logical & structural in character. |
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Ch'i
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-Represents the vital breath & life force within all things.
This term identifies the life force within all living things & is addressed in Chinese philosophy, arts, & medicine. Ch'i is defined as the "vital breath." In Chinese medicine the ch'i of any living organism is an internal & systemic condition throughout the body. In a healthy organism, this system is characterized by a balance which, if thrown into a state of imbalance, causes illness. The concept of ch'i is characterized by an interconnectedness of all parts of the organism. In contract, western cultural medicine tends to define illness "locally," & treat it according to visible symptoms at the locations where these symptoms appear as external manifestations. In Chinese medicine the treatment of a given illness typically requires intervention at locations other than where the visible symptoms are situated. Has traits equivalent to "yin" & yang" Ch'i can be captured in Chinese artistry through ever changing & dynamic brush strokes in art & calligraphy Acupunture - Uses pressure points that corresponds to other locations on or in the body |
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Li
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Order binding all material things together & inner essence of things.
While the concept of ch'i is at least moderately familiar to many people outside of Eastern cultures, li is not. Li was an idea that was formulated later in Chinese history than ch'i, & resulted when it was realized that the ideas of "vital breath" & "life force" represented by ch'i did not account for all of the essential characteristics of all things, both within themselves & also between things. To account for this, the concept of li was devised to designated the "inner essence" of things & also the "order" that binds all material things together as a broad system of interrelationships. |
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Chinese Ritual Bronzes
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The ritual bronzes were cast bronze vessels created during China's early periods of the Xia, Shang, & Chou dynasties. These ritual bronzes were used in ritual meals that were intended to establish links with the spirit of ancestors. Based upon the importance of this role, the appearance of dots & spirals on many of these vessels probably symbolize the "presence" of ancestors through the dots as "eyes" and spirals as symbols of continuous between ancestors over epochal periods of time. There were several forms of these vessels, with each shape corresponding to a function (pouring, heating, storage, eating, drinking). Most have tripod legs, and were cast from bronze. Bronze was extremely rare in ancient China (most were imported); therefore, very few such vessels were produced making them rare and used mainly by those in power. Those produced during the Xia period were extremely simple and employed the piece-mold casting process. Beginning in the Shang period the vessels were cast using the lost wax casting process which allowed for more intricacy of imagery, a single casting (rather than in stages) and more sculptural (3-D) images. During times of war the vessels could be recast as weapons of war, then again recast in vessel form after the conflict was resolved.
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T'ao-t'ieh Mask
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This term identified the dragon head image commonly found on the surface of many ancient Chinese ritual bronzes.
The t'ao-t'ieh mask had at least four possible meanings: (1) A shaman-istic mask symbolizing the link between heaven and earth (2) a "split" image of a dragon's face (3) an apotropaic face (that is, a face representing an expression commonly assumed at a moment of extreme change or uncertainty, and that is common in many global cultures (4) a decorative image. These mask images were common during the Xia and Shang dynasties, but disappear during the Chu period. The dragon has also historically been associated in China with creation of the cosmos and with good luck. It is also notable that the lines comprising the t'ao-t'ieh mask images are typically in spiral form, and that these spiral images eventually disengage from the mask entirely in many examples during the Shang dynasty, and may thus be associated with the ancestors that individuals were attempting to "contact" through the ancestral ritual meals that the bronze vessels were employed for throughout the Shang and Chou dynasties. |
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Lost Wax Casting Process
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This method of bronze casting was developed in China about 1600 BCE during the Shang dynasty. This process was the second stage in the development of bronze casting techniques (the first was the "piecemold" casting process common during the Xia dynasty). While the piece-mold method required several casting stages, the use of a single, complete image of the desired final work in wax in the lost was process allowed greater complexity, greater 3-D, greater unity of image, and quicker execution.
The stages in the lost wax casting process include: (1) forming the images as one desires it to appear at the end of the process in wax media. (2) The encasement of the wax image in wet clay (or plaster), resulting in a mold. (3) The air drying (hardening) of the clay. (4) Melting bronze and the pouring of the molten bronze onto the wax, which then melts the wax, allowing it to escape through passageways on the bottom of the piece, with the molten bronze replacing the wax inside the mold. (5) Cooling of the bronze (6) Breaking off the outer clay mold surrounding the bronze image, which has now duplicated the image that was originally in wax. The development of casting processes is one of the most significant technological developments in history, and has served as the basis for many of the most fundamental forms of production and reproduction of images and objects up to the present in global cultures. Almost all utilitarian designs are today reproduced using similar processes (the basic shapes of telephones, automobiles, and other objects), even though the final material used might be plastic, metal, or other media, rather than bronze. The Greeks also employed lost wax casting, as did many other cultures during their "bronze age" |
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Chinese Landscaping Painting
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The images of landscape paintings in China are almost the opposite in character to those produced in Western culture. While those in Western culture were depicted using Euclidean space as their basis, those in China were expressed using very different principles. Instead of using linear perspective in an imaginary box-like (Euclidean) space as was common in the West, Chinese landscapes are characterized by the "bringing" the distant mountains up close so that they appear to "float" over the mountains that are close. The images of objects in these works (mountains, rivers, etc.) tend to be expressed in a way so that they appear to dematerialize, thus creating a continuum between the objects and the open spaces surrounding them. This dynamic interplay between the material and non-material is typical of Chinese art, and the open areas were considered as essential as the objects. Furthermore, the mountains symbolized the character of yang (the "unyielding principle") while the water, clouds, and open areas signified yin (the "yielding princple")
Chinese landscape painting are characterized by their emphasis upon dynamic and ever-changing brush strokes to express ch'i, or inner life force ("vital breath") of all things depicted in the paintings, as opposed to the tendency for artists in the west to emphasize the fleeting surface appearance of mountains or other objects by solidly "filling in" their images and rendering them as more unchanging entities. While Chinese landscapes stress the dynamics of change, the landscapes of Western culture are relatively fixed (one might even call them "frozen moments"). Finally, Chinese landscapes emphasize the role of peoplewithin them as secondary (as extensions of nature) when compared to the primary roles of people in western landscape paintings (in which people nature). |
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Ankoku Butoh
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The form of Japanese butoh dance that is associated with it founder Hijikata's first butoh dance piece of 1959 called Forbidden Colors, which began and ended in complete darkness. The darkness is generally associated with the extremes of the subjective, inner realm of human experience, and also with anxiety.
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Calligraphy
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Designates he art of writing in East Asian Cultures.
Calligraphy is an art form that one may spend an entire lifetime learning. Calligraphy characters have more of a visual association with the objects and events they describe. In its earliest form, Chinese calligraphy began as a pictographic language (based on the objects it identified), and then evolved into an ideographic language which combined two or more pictorgraphs that resulted in a third meaning. A third phase in the development of calligraphy involved the development of pictophonetic calligraphic images that combined phonetic references and pictographic elements. Most Chinese characters are comprised of pictophonetic, although the phonetic reference is long outdated due to evolution's in spoken language. Calligraphy is also notable for its stress upon the writing of the characters so that the white space of the background itself is dynamically a part of the resultant character, and the shaping of a character required close attention to this aspect. |
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Pictograph
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Pictographic characters are the first form of Chinese calligraphic characters to appear in the evolution of written words in China. Pictographic characters are formulated as images that are like or derive from the appearance of the objects the characters portray. The character for "mountain," for example, is in form of a mountain, and the character for "house" is in the form of house. The two later stages of types of characters that appear after pictographic ones are ideographic and pictophonetic characters. The earliest form of most languages pictographic. While western languages have lost their connection with the objects in nature that they describe by becoming purely abstract and phonetic, the written language of China retains this connection.
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Pictophonetic
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This term refers to the third stage in the development of Chinese calligraphy as a language. The first two stages were pictographic and ideographic. Pictographic characters are the elements of both of the earlier forms (characters derived from the appearance of objects and combining of the two such characters that results in a third meaning) with a mark the indicated pronunciation (phonetics). Over the centuries, however, the spoken (phonetic languages of China have evolved and therefore the phonetic marks in pictophonetic characters are no longer used.
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Ideographic
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In the development of Chinese calligraphy the introduction of a character that was an ideograph followed the earliest form of characters, which were pictographic. An ideograph was formed by combining two or more pictographs (images of objects) which resulted in a third element which was an idea. An example would be the combining of characters for "water drops" with "the color of nature" to create the character for "clarity" (ch'ing). Such meanings are those that are associated with the objects. Abstract ideas could not be produced this way, and such ideas were visualized through the introduction of a pictophonteic system that came even later in evolution of calligraphy.
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Mestizo art and Culture
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Mestizo is term used to identify individuals, cultures, and images that combine two (or more) culture sources, such as European and Mexican. The art of Frida Kahlo is said to be Mestizo in that she combined images from her European heritage with those from her Indian heritage.
These two sources combined into one art form. Also, the Mexican traditions for ex-voto and ofrenda images are additional examples of mestizo art. Similarly, many of the high altars of the Christian churches of Mexico have images created by the indigenous artists who constructed them that are rooted in Aztec as well as European origins. |
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Dia de los Muertos
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Mexican festival where its origins combines influences from both Aztec and European (Christian) sources. The festival involves at least two months of preparation, and there are separate days of the festival that are used to recognize the souls of children and adults.
In Aztec culture, it was held that the souls of those who have died were resurrected each year. This belief is one of the many examples of beliefs in the earthly resurrection of souls in global cultures. The festival spans Oct 31st thru Nov 2nd. The main day for adult souls (Dia de los Muertos) is Nov 2nd, and All Saints Day is Nov 1st. Children's day is sometimes Nov 8. Those who died in accidents are frequently remembered on Nov 28th. Generally, feasts are held at cemeteries on Oct 31st and Nov 1st. The cemetery feasts are both for the families of those who have passed away and also for the souls of the departed. Candles are lit on each grave site and marigold flowers are sprinkled on the ground as guides and pathways for the souls when they return to earth. |
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Frida Kahlo
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Kahlo was among the first artists to emphasize a documentary approach toward expressions in which images are drawn directly from her life were stressed, and this documentary approach became popular with future artists. Kahlo's work was notable for its integration from both her Mexican/Indian and European/Jewish heritages, which resulted in a "mestizo" art.
Additional influences upon her work included the ex-votos, retablos, ofrendas, images of the Dia de los Muertos, traditional folk arts of Mexico (ex. skeletons) and the images created by her husband Diego Rivera. Frida's work is also significant as being one of the first women of the 20th entury to receive major recognition in the arts, and because the subject matter clearly reflects her unique experience as a woman. |
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Ex-voto
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These are among the indigenous cultural influences upon the work of Frida Kahlo. These art works are examples of "mestizo" are (images produced in Mexican culture that combine elements derived from two or more cultures), are small paintings usually on tin that typically depict miraculous experiences of people in Mexico.
The imagery is very personal saint who is attributed with fulfillment of the miracle. Such works were commonly commissioned by the poor people of Mexico over the past 200 years, and were usually painted by untrained artists who specialized in this kind of expression. The works were often placed in the patron's church as a commemoration to the event and the saint. The latter use is the basis of the word "ex-voto," which signifies that the work is offered as a votive to the chosen saint. -Typically for a painting of a deity on wood paneling, with writing talking about the life of the deceased. |
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Retablo
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Retablos are small paintings made in Mexico, usually painted on tin, the depict the image of Christian saints, Christ and the Holy Family. Each community, as well as each family and even each individual, has its own favorite saint. The most popular of these themes in Mexico was the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was an image of the Virgin Mother of Christ who was reputed to have reappeared in Mexico.
The retablos represent a form of mestizo art (an art form that combines elements from European and indigenous Mexican origins). These works were commissioned by individuals. Some were hung in churches; others were used as images in altars in homes. They were generally painted in a primitive manner. The small size, personal character, and attention to details was of extreme interest to Frida Kahlo, who was very influenced by these images in the development of her own art. |
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Ofrenda
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This is the term to identify the personal altars devoted to loved ones who have passed away in Mexican culture. Ofrendas are often built for the festival period of Dia de los Muertos, and typically included marigold flowers (which the spirit of the dead are believed to be capable of locating, thus finding their "home"), photographs of the deceased, other objects associated with deceased, and food for the soul of the departed when it returns to the earth once each year.
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Hybrids in Chicano Art and Culture
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-Yuxtaposicion: juxtapositions of Chicano and Mainstream cultural elements. The elements are difficult to synthesize in rational ways due to the rapid nature of cultural assimilation occurring today.
-Transicion: This kind of hybrid stresses movement across cultures and value systems, and often reflects a trans-culturalism, or merging of cultural sensibilities. -Nuevo Milenio: This manifestation borrows elements from Mexican or Chicano sources, and combines these with elements drawn from mainstream sources. The end product represents an expression that is greater than the sum of its parts. |
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Enrique Chagoya
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His work is notable for its hybridization of materials and imagery drawn from a broad range of cultural sources, including his own upbringing in Mexico, ancient Meso-American codices (picture books), contemporary comics and pop imagery, contemporary social events, and European art forms.
The artist tends to recombine these images in a manner that results in potent commentaries on the contemporary world. Examples include When Paradise Arrived and Untitled (Road Map). Chagoya's work is also notable as an example of "border crossing," that is, works that reflect the present, changing demographics and conditions of world cultures resulting from migration. Chagoya uses the term "reverse anthropology" to identify his proposition that historical events would be dramatically different if the roles of the invader and invaded, or perpetrator and victim, were reversed. He uses the example of the peoples of Meso-America hypothetically invading and taking over Europe. He employs this term as a way for people to better understand and appreciate the experiences of those who have been victimized thru loss of their cultures and loss of control over their own destinies. Works: Untitled (Road Map), When Paradise Arrived, An American Primitive in Paris |
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Metaphors in Chagoya's art
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-Mickey Mouse finger flicking Chicano girl
-Alice in Wonderland on flamingo -Apache helicopter -The multitude of consumer items in "An American Primitive in Paris" - Cell phone , skull, needle, soccer, all inside of man representing Jesus |
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Prop 187
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Restricts access to public services
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Prop 209
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Ends Affirmative action
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Prop 227
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Ends bilingual education
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When Paradise arrived
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-Micky Mouse hand to flick the young girl
-Micky's hand says "english only" -Girl shows her fear by showing her heart -The girls hand is in the mudras form -Girl has the glow similar to the Virgin Mary |
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"Untitled" (Road map)
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-Referencing war in Iraq showing the apache helicopter
-Alice and wonderland is shown and she is holding off the apache with the do-do bird -The apache appears to have God on their side, showing two different Jesus's, one more current, and the original version |
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An America Primitive in Paris
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-By Enrique Chagoya while he was in Paris working on a creative grant.
-The work contains hybridized images from several sources including Mayan codices, pop imagery, & European art history. -The images are drawn from past and present. -Contain 12 panels produced in an accordion (folding) method common in Mayan codices. -Panels are meant to be read from right to left. -Made using the same amate paper (fig bark) that was used by the Mayans. -The piece includes images from Monet, who is shown floating on his back, and is in a position similar to a female creation deity sometimes called Tlaltecutli found in Meso-American cultural tradition. -Similar to the female deity, Monet is shown with his belly opened, exposing gifts to the peoples of the earth. In this case the gifts are both from Mexican and European cultures -Gifts: soccer ball, cigarettes, a painters palate, in-line skate) -A scene derived from the Mayan Codex Borgia is shown -Features a retablo - |
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Codex
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This term is used to identify a major book art form that appeared in ancient Meso-American cultures (Mayan, Aztec, Mixtec cultures). The works stressed the combination of visual images, texts, mythology, & mathematics within single art forms. The primary emphasis was upon visual images as the vehicle of narrative stories. The stories illustrated the beliefs, myths, & scientific understanding of the early cultures of the Americas. Codices were read from right to left, rather than left to right. The pages were folded in an accordion-like structure, so that the sequence of pages was actually continuous & represented one unified surface, even though folded into a compact format.
The3 Christian priests who came with the conquistadors to the New World over 500 years ago destroyed most of the Meso-American codices. One of the few remaining examples is the Codex Borgia. The contemporary artists Chagoya employs the codex art form in many of his works. Some of these he created in collaboration with the noted Bay Area author Gomez-Pena with written narratives by Gomez-Pena and illustrations by Chagoya. Chagoya also draws heavily upon the images and layout that one finds in the ancient codices in a large proportion of his other works done alone, and he combines (hybridizes) these elements with more contemporary images and methodologies. |
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Codex Borgia
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-This book is one of the few remaining examples of the original codices created by artists within ancient Meso-American cultures.
-It is a compendium of Mayan beliefs, history, science, & mythology. -The pages are designed in a folded, accordion style and thus present a continuous narrative to be read from right to left |
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Ken Botto
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-SF native
-His work is in photographic form, & created by recording with a camera small environments that he has constructed through a process that he often refers to as "urban archeology." -The phase refers to his method of reclaiming commonly found objects that are typically discarded in modern society, and redeploying them in various combinations when constructing his small environments which he then photographs. -As such, these works are related to the collages and assemblages create by artists of the early 20th century, with the difference that Botto's works are recombined into small environments that are then photographed, rather than being sculptures. -Botto frequently employs his work to comment upon the violence or decay in the modern world. Works: Fort Winnebago, Seance |
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Urban Archeology
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This phase was created by Ken Botto to identify his process of digging through the detritus (debris and artifacts) of pop culture in pursuit of images that he then transplants into his hybridized small environments that comment upon the decay, destructiveness, and hypocrisies in modern society, such as with Fort Winnebago.
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Fort Winnebago
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-Photographic work by Ken Botto serves as an example of his Urban Archeology series.
-This series stressed the use of found objects that the artist dredges from the detritus of modern society & recombines into new environments that comment upon the decay, contradictions, & destructiveness in the broader society. -As such, the work may be considered a micro-world running parallel to the ordinary world. The work features a small girl jump-roping in her driveway, with a suburban home behind her, & Winnebago camper parked in front. A WW2 German tank forebodingly sits in a vacant lot next to the house, with its gun aimed toward the street. The work seems to comment upon the complacency engendered by suburban life, despite a surrounding world dominated by strife, decay hypocrisy, and violence. |
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Jessica Walker
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Walker is a SF artist. Her works comment upon her experience as a woman & as a person in contemporary society. Her work Olympia is a takeoff on the long tradition of the theme of the reclining female nude.
-Historically, this theme has commonly been depicted by male artists, with well-known examples by Giorgione, Titian, and Manet. The interpretation of this theme by men tends to depict the female body as an object of one's gaze rather than as a real person. Walker radically altered this tradition by clothing the figure of the woman, fragmenting it in a cubist-like manner, and, most important, transforming it into digitally interactive image with which the audience can participate in changes in its appearance. |
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Olympia
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-The Olympia is a common theme in the history of Western art. It commonly features a reclining nude woman derived from the "Venus" figures of antiquity. The long history of this kind of images mirrors the dominance of male artists within Western cultural practice. Jessica Walker has taken an alternative approach toward this traditional theme in art in her own version of the Olympia.
Giorgone, Titan, Manet, Walker |
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The New Salon des Refuses (Original)
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The original Salon des Refuses occurred in France in 1863. It was an art exhibition comprised of paintings that had been rejected by the French Academy due to their unusual degree of realism & new ("modern") methods for expressing images.
-The works in the Salon also stressed ordinary subject matter as it existed in normal life, while the academy preferred more detached subjects, such as those selected from mythology, portraits of royalty, & religious or historical themes. -The New Salon des Refuses refers to contemporary works of art that recycle materials that have been discarded, & thus might be considered to be "refuse." This kind of art might be called "eco-art" such as those by Goggin (Samson or Defenestration & Mildred Howard's Salty Peanuts. |
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Seance
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This is a photographic work by Ken Botto, in which two figures are shown next to a table upon which a shimmering flame is shown rising upward. The two figures appear transfixed by their perception of the dancing flame. On the left is a Danny O'Day ventriliquist's figure, and on the right is a constructed figure with a skull for a head, reminiscent of the vanitas in the European still life tradition. The work addresses the assumption of human roles by inanimate objects, since the figures shown are made of a skull, wood, and other inanimate materials.
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Brian Goggin
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-Defenestration means to throw out the window.
-This installation piece is projected on an old tenement building & is meant to demonstrate how the tenets were later thrown out. This unique sculptural work, created by Brian Goggin, is located as part in a presently unoccupied building at the corner of 6th & Howard streets in SF. -The work reverses the way we normally think of the "content" within an architectural space. While we normally expect furniture to be located within rooms on the inside of a building, Goggin challenges this expectation by attaching chairs, pianos lamps, couches, etc. to the outside of the building so that one sees them encrusting the walls on the outside when passing by. -Historic parallels may be found in the Gothic cathedrals of Europe in which the supports normally contained with a wall were relocated to the outside of the building as "flying buttresses" |
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Eco-art
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This form of contemporary art employs the recycling of materials that one might normally discard. To artists who work in this manner are Brian Goggin (Defenestration) and Mildred Howard (Salty Peanuts). Another example would be the hybridized sculputure created by artists at the albany Bulb ( a bulb-shaped penisula near Albany, California) originally a garbage dump, where artists now live and perpetually recombine the various discarded materials from the past into 3-D works of art.
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Three main deities
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(Male/female)
-Brahma/Maya: -Visnu/Durga: -Siva/Kali: Kali had a long tongue, necklace of heads that represents the sounds of sanskrit, apotropaic face. |
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Vanita
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Dutch and Spanish paintings. A vanita is typically a still life painting that includes a human skull, which is meant to symbolize the presence of impending death, but it is presented in the midst of an assortment of partly eaten food, as if caught in mid-meal.
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Blind Leading the Blind
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Jimmy Nelson 1950's & 60's ventriloquist doll featured in the Blind Leading the Blind photo by Ken Botto.
This was Botto's way of presenting reality. The piece contains a cake that is really a fireworks box with various types of shrapnel sticking out of it, one of them being a bottle Coke with an American flag wrapped around it. |
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Urban Nightmare series
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A collection by Ken Botto meant to emphasize the stress upon urban & cultural decay & the decadence caused by extreme materialism in consumer society.
Works included: Red Shoe, |
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Mildred Howard
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-Mildred Howard "salty peanuts" - Made up of saxophones & cleft notes below & above the saxophones
-"6639" - Made up of bottles in the shape of a house -"Line of fire" - Installation piece, cardboard replicas of her cousin who was in WW 1 with each replica that have targets on each of their backs as blacks were often caught in friendly fire. |
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Miniaturized
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Laurie Simmons:
-Incorporated Barbie Dolls in a miniature form -Botto was said to have adopted Simmons work as his own David Levinthal: -Uses shallow depth of field in taking his pictures. -His subject was typically army figurines |
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Kazuo Ono
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Butoh dancer
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Colors of Deities
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Red:
-Indicates both sensuality & purity. Very significant & used in many important occasions. Saffron: -the most sacred color -Represents fire and impurities which are burnt by fire Green: -Festive color -Represents life, happiness, and nature -Symbolizing peace -Stabilizes the mind Yellow: -Color of knowledge and learning -Symbolizes happiness, peace, meditation, competence and mental development -Yellow clothes are worn and yellow food is eaten at Spring festivals. -Single girls wear yellow to attract a mate and keep evil spirits away White: -Symbolizes a bit of everything -Represents purity, peace, and knowledge -White is worn in mourning Blue: -Given to the deity who has qualities of bravery, manliness, determination, and stable mind/character. |
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Manet, Titian, & Giorgione's Olympia
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Manet "Olympia" 1865:
-Rejected by the salon de refuses -Showing a prostitute (flower in the hair) -Has cat in background signifying a "free spirit" opposed to a dogs who show loyalty Titian "Venus Urbino" 1538: -Has maid in background signifying motherhood -Dog in background signifying loyalty to the husband & family Giorgione "Venus" 1510: -He died before painting could be finished -Dull color |
