Me and the Devil

found a video that reminded me vaguely of "glass jaw"

http://bettertastethansorry.com/2010/01/gil-scott-heron-me-and-the-devil/

post 4

Last class we watched Michael O'Reilly's "Glass Jaw" and Matthew Barney's "Order" from his "Cremaster" series. Both very different in their execution but still are able to give some type of catharsis. O'Reilly's film we see a light at the end of the tunnel after being barraged both mentally and physically by the outside world. In Barney's mythological "Order" we see a completion of some type of trial, yet we don't know for what purpose it was put into place and what the signicance of it was.

Despite their incredible budget variations (Barney was able to close down the Hirshorn while O'Reilly used a pixel vision camera found from a thrift store) both artists were able to achieve their vision. Compromise, something I once acknowledged but little else, is in fact one of the greatest opponents to artists and their creativity. To me, compromise is the outside world which limits and regulates your creative aspiration. However, it is a necessary aspect of the process and as these two artists can declare, that compromise sometimes does not negate creativity but rather gives it more substance.

post 3

Okay...so "being" is a bit much for a theme. I'm thinking to narrow down this theme into legacy, more specifically, what we as people leave behind. I just read an article by Benjamin from his book "Illuminations" and he stated, quite truthfully, that no one is poor enough to not leave anything behind when they die.

post 2

I've decided. I think. The theme is "being" and all that it entails.

post 1

The documentary "Man Ray: Prophet of the Avante Garde" puts into perspective truly how far an unwavering focus and the occasional serendipity can lead a human life. He took himself and his work rather seriously, but when questioned from outsiders looking in Man Ray, ingeniously, was able to convey through his work a varied spectrum of emotions. I think his genius lay in the fact that he could make fun of himself as well as the world he found himself prescribed to. Like any life, no matter how successful, I found it comforting to see that even Man Ray thought he had fallen short of the reputation he felt he deserved in his life time.

His extraordinary photos and objects are immediately brought to mind when I think of Man Ray. The fact that his first love was with painting, yet it brought him the least notoriety, brings him down to a much more human level in my eyes. Uncompromising in the face of culture yet ever malleable to his vision, Man Ray perpetuated an extremely beautiful version of what it is to live life your way which is an occurrence all too rare in today's society.