Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock Essay
Perhaps the two greatest rebels in the history of modern art were Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock. To a great extent, they knocked what was considered traditional art for a veritable loop with their new and unique approach to what was considered â€Å"good arts.†Granted, neither artist was the first to rock the traditional method of presenting â€Å"Gods and Kings†as the centerpiece of the artist’s canvas. Dadaism, Impressionism and a host of other styles of art had been slowly, but surely chipping away at the traditional mores of art for many decades. But, it was Pollock with abstract expressionism and, to a greater degree, Warhol with pop art that truly blew away many of the common conventional themes of the art world and attracting widespread public attention as mega star artists.            Now, some of the more trite critics will look at Pollock’s abstractions and Warhol’s elevation of the mundane as something â€Å"Anyone can do†or, worse, â€Å"I can do that†, but as previously stated such criticism is ridiculously trite and based on a surface value (or non-existent) understanding of the work and legacy of these masters. For Pollock and Jackson, art was far more than simply putting paint to canvas. Yes, their work was visually appealing (again, Warhol’s work was more appealing, however, on a national level), but this appeal was not limited to merely how good the painting looked. No, there was a unique psychology that captured the pulse of public sentiment that drove the popularity of these paintings. In other words, the paintings touched a raw nerve in their audience because the artist’s had a unique ability to firmly place their finger on the cultural pulse of a society and it was this that made them so popular.            Of course, in order to understand how they were able to place their finger on the pulse of a nation it is also critical to understand what was motivating them, how they achieved their psychological response in their audience, why the audience was so open to receiving such a psychological response, and what was the dominant cultural themes in society at the time that made their work so wildly popular. Much of this will be examined in this essay and from this a clearer understanding of the work and influence of Pollock and Warhol will b derived.            Regarding the ways the careers of Pollock and Warhol went against the standard perceptions of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, it would be safe to say that neither Pollock nor Warhol was looking to impress an audience of art critics or maintain their popularity in certain social circles as much as they were looking to take their work directly to an audience and knock the art world for a loop. In other words, they did not seek to be members of an established club of conventional wisdom or taste as much as they were looking to completely re-establish the means and methods of how art was perceived and what goals art functioned. In Pollock’s case, abstract expressionism was designed more as an understanding of the chaotic nature of the human psyche. For Warhol, pop art was an understanding of the consumer and entertainment driven culture and both rejected the elitism that was so very common in art critic and fan circles.            Regarding consumer culture, the work of Warhol is much easier to decipher on the surface than Pollock’s work. As the legend goes, when Warhol was asked to paint the things that mattered most to him he painted Campbell Soup cans because he ate Campbell’s soup every day. Later, this would expand into the painting of a variety of celebrities and pop cultural icons that were at the heart of commercial entertainment consumerism. To a great degree, Warhol was savagely mocking the former notion that the subject of the artist’s brush need to be gods and kings from antiquity. Instead, Warhol pointed out that modern gods and kings come from the world of entertainment and that they are rooted in commercialism.            For Pollock, the connection is more subtle although his bizarre painting style would assume to be anything but. On Pollock’s canvas, there is present the images of chaos and a decided lack of clarity. (Hence, the painting were abstract) As such, there is not so much a direct attack or presentation of consumerism in a positive or negative light as much as it is an â€Å"attack†on the psyche of the individual who has become a walking ball of confusion thanks to media inspired messages of consumerism. In other words, you can not separate the parts from the whole and in the case of Pollock you can not separate the confused mind from the random images that perpetually bombard it.            Regarding the relationship between disaster and mass culture, it would seem that Warhol did not really have such an alarmist view of pop culture. In fact, he was more celebratory and embracing of it. Yes, there can be a cynical notion put forth that Warhol may have felt that people were belittling themselves and not living up to their full potential by being overly reliant on a love of consumerism and popular entertainment and this, of course, can lead to a weakening of the mid; but, overall, Warhol did not seem to paint his images as a cautionary tale although it is understandable that some may feel it this way. After all, if a person felt that popular culture and entertainment were the central focus of a declining culture then Warhol’s painting would be representative of alarm bells going off.            Regarding how contemporary politics affected the careers of both artists this is somewhat of a difficult question to answer because neither Warhol nor Pollock were known for being expository in terms of the means and methods in which they developed their art. Of course, Warhol had produced paintings of John F. Kennedy, but such painting was far more focused on lauding the celebrity nature of Kennedy’s depiction as opposed to an endorsement of his politics. Pollock was seemingly a humanist in his psychological approach to invoking emotion and did not seem to endorse any politic motivations. Whether or not this made them popular with the public is a somewhat moot point because the public was more interested in the â€Å"hipness†of their work as opposed to any sincere attempt to decipher meaning.            In terms of criticizing pop culture the answer would be Pollock by default as Warhol celebrated consumerism. Pollock’s material was far more cerebral and this would seemingly go hand in hand with a rejection of trite consumerism although such an ideology was probably not Pollock’s governing motivation. Again, it is hard to prescribe motives to visionaries mainly because it is difficult to understand where there are coming from since they are the origination point of and ideology and not a tool of it. As such, understanding them takes on a unique level of difficulty.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
This is a lab report on Aluminum Detection essays
This is a lab report on Aluminum Detection essays Objective: To detect the presence of aluminum by testing both a deodorant Materials and Methods/Procedures: A boiling water bath was prepared in a 600 ml beaker, and four test tubes were cleaned, dried, and labeled with a China marker. 0.25 g of Antiperspirant (Arid XX) was weighed with one sheet of clean weighing paper and placed in Tube #2, while 0.25 g of Deodorant (Speed Stick) was weighed with another sheet of weighing paper and placed in Tube #3. Tube #1 (the Positive control tube) had a pinch of aluminum salt placed in it, while nothing was placed in Tube #4. 4 ml of distilled water was added to each tube, followed by 1 ml of 6M hydrochloric acid. The contents of each tube were mixed thoroughly with a stirring rod, and the four tubes were placed in the boiling water bath for 5 minutes. The tubes were removed from the water, allowed to cool to room temperature and then had 2 drops of Aluminum reagent added to each tube, and color changes noted. Each tube then had 6M ammonium hydroxide added until a basic pH was reached. When the basic pH was reached, the tubes were Results: The color change noted after the addition of Aluminum reagent was peach in test tube #1, light-pink in test tube#2, pink in test tube #3 and peach in test tube #4. After the 6M ammonium hydroxide was added, the color change was pink for test tube #1, light purple for test tube #2, light pink for test tube #3, and very light orange for test tube #4. The Antiperspirant did contain aluminum because it had the gelatinous cherry- red precipitate, while the Deodorant did not contain aluminum since it did not have the gelatinous cherry-red precipitate. Test tubes #1 and #4 were necessary to observe what the presence of aluminum looked like in the experiment. The Antiperspirant was different because it had aluminum as an ...
Monday, October 21, 2019
How to Read and Write Binary Numbers
How to Read and Write Binary Numbers When you learn most types of computer programming, you touch upon the subject of binary numbers. The binary number system plays an important role in how information is stored on computers because computers only understand numbers - specifically, base 2 numbers. The binary number system is a base 2 system that uses only the numerals 0 and 1 to represent off and on in a computers electrical system. The two binary digits 0 and 1 are used in combination to communicate text and computer processor instructions. Although the concept of binary numbers is simple once explained, reading and writing binary is not clear at first. To understand binary numbers, which use a base 2 system, first look at the more familiar system of base 10 numbers. Writing in Base 10 Take the three-digit number 345, for example. The farthest right number, 5, represents the 1s column, and there are 5 ones. The next number from the right, the 4, represents the 10s column. Interpret the number 4 in the 10s column as 40. The third column, which contains the 3, represents the 100s column. Many people know base 10 through education and years of exposure to numbers. The Base 2 System Binary works in a similar way. Each column represents a value. When one column is filled, move to the next column. In a base 10 system, each column needs to reach 10 before moving to the next column. Any column can have a value of 0 through 9, but once the count goes beyond that, add a column. In base 2 or binary, each column can contain only 0 or 1 before moving to the next column. In base 2, each column represents a value that is double the previous value. The values of positions, starting on the right, are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and so on. The number one is represented as 1 in both base ten and binary, so lets move on to the number two. In base ten, it is represented with a 2. However, in binary, there can be only a 0 or a 1 before moving on to the next column. As a result, the number 2 is written as 10 in binary. It requires a 1 in the 2s column and 0 in the 1s column. Take a look at the number three. Obviously, in base 10 it is written as 3. In base two, it is written as 11, indicating a 1 in the 2s column and a 1 in the 1s column. This becomes 21 3. Binary Number Column Values When you know how binary works, reading it is simply a matter of doing some simple math. For example: 1001: Since we know the value each of these slots represents, then we know this number represents 8 0 0 1. In base 10, this would be the number 9. 11011: Calculate what this is in base 10 by adding the value of each position. In this case, this becomes 16 8 0 2 1. This is the number 27 in base 10. Numbers at Work in a Computer So, what does all this mean to the computer? The computer interprets combinations of binary numbers as text or instructions. For example, each lowercase and uppercase letter of the alphabet is assigned a different binary code. Each is also assigned a decimal representation of that code, called an ASCII code. For example, the lowercase a is assigned the binary number 01100001. It is also represented by the ASCII code 097. If you do the math on the binary number, youll see it equals 97 in base 10.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Mohs Scale of Hardness - Identify Rocks Minerals
Mohs Scale of Hardness - Identify Rocks Minerals There are many systems used to measure hardness, which is defined several different ways. Gemstones and other minerals are ranked according to their Mohs hardness. Mohs hardness refers to a materials ability to resist abrasion or scratching. Note that a hard gem or mineral is not automatically tough or durable. About the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness The Mohs (Mohs) scale of hardness is the most common method used to rank gemstones and minerals according to hardness. Devised by German mineralogist Friedrich Moh in 1812, this scale grades minerals on a scale from 1 (very soft) to 10 (very hard). Because the Mohs scale is a relative scale, the difference between the hardness of a diamond and that of a ruby is much greater than the difference in hardness between calcite and gypsum. As an example, diamond (10) is about 4-5 times harder than corundum (9), which is about 2 times harder than topaz (8). Individual samples of a mineral may have slightly different Mohs ratings, but they will be near the same value. Half-numbers are used for in-between hardness ratings. How to Use the Mohs Scale A mineral with a given hardness rating will scratch other minerals of the same hardness and all samples with lower hardness ratings. As an example, if you can scratch a sample with a fingernail, you know its hardness is less than 2.5. If you can scratch a sample with a steel file, but not with a fingernail, you know its hardness is between 2.5 and 7.5. Gems are examples of minerals. Gold, silver, and platinum are all relatively soft, with Mohs ratings between 2.5-4. Since gems can scratch each other and their settings, each piece of gemstone jewelry should be wrapped separately in silk or paper. Also, be wary of commercial cleaners, as they may contain abrasives that could damage jewelry. There are a few common household items on the basic Mohs scale to give you an idea of how hard gems and minerals really are and for use in testing hardness yourself. Mohs Scale of Hardness Hardness Example 10 diamond 9 corundum (ruby, sapphire) 8 beryl (emerald, aquamarine) 7.5 garnet 6.5-7.5 steel file 7.0 quartz (amethyst, citrine, agate) 6 feldspar (spectrolite) 5.5-6.5 most glass 5 apatite 4 fluorite 3 calcite, a penny 2.5 fingernail 2 gypsum 1 talc
Saturday, October 19, 2019
What factors influenced the evolution of Nazi racial policy from Essay
What factors influenced the evolution of Nazi racial policy from 1933-1939 - Essay Example The racial policies of Nazi targeted peoples, specifically the Jews, as well as the Gypsies, handicapped and homosexual people. The Nazi racial policy consisted of two components: eugenics and racial extermination. The Nazis therefore attempted to keep their â€Å"race†free from illnesses and abnormalities (eugenics) and keep Aryan race sealed to other †inferior†races. The eugenics factor saw the Nazis initiate a forced sterilization of hereditary ill and performed euthanasia (emergency killings) to nearly 200,000 physically and mentally disabled Germans. The other component of the racial policy, racial extermination, was initiated so as to persecute and suppress all non-Aryans, starting with the Jews. However, the gypsies were also incorporated in this melancholic form of â€Å"apartheid†. The belief was that non-Aryans created danger against the German blood as well as the German Volksgemeinschaft (‘people’s community’). The policy also included laws of racial expulsion: the Jews were compelled to emigrate. The fact that this policy was so much successful in Austria in 1938 saw it introduced inside Germany under the motto: Germany for Germans! The eventual leader of the party, Adolf Hitler, was appointed the Chancellor of Germany, in 19933, by President Paul von Hindenburg. Hitler quickly established a totalitarian regime referred to as the Third Reich, and under this the party gained nearly unlimited power. Nazi philosophy emphasized the racial purity of German people. It persecuted those it viewed as either enemies or Lebensunwertes Leben, meaning "life unworthy of life". This consisted the Jews, Roma, Arabs, Slavs, Africans and h77omosexuals together with Jehovahs Witnesses, the physically and/ or mentally disabled, socialists as well as communists. To execute these beliefs, this party and German state that it
Friday, October 18, 2019
Reflection Aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Reflection Aging - Essay Example A person who does not go through these stages is considered to be experiencing abnormal aging (OConnor, 1994). . According to Birren & Schaie (2001), normal aging does not involve necessarily becoming senile. Senile can be said to be weaknesses or a disease as one grows old. However, becoming senile is not normal aging. It depends on factors such as food, heredity, social support, mental abilities among others. Normal aging therefore brings about changes in eyesight, taste, smell, brain, heart, body fat, touch and smell among others. Nevertheless, it does not bring any diseases. The physiological change that concerns me the most is the diminished eyesight. The changes in eyesight lead to the loss of the ability to judge depth when objects are near or far. The peripheral vision also decreases leading to blurred vision and even blindness at very advanced ages. Moreover, decreased eyesight leads to decreased clarity of colours. Loss of the eyesight is more worrying than any other changes as it leads to not being able to see clearly or even walk without help. Albert, M. L., Connor, L. T., & Obler, L. K. (2000). Neurobehavior of language and cognition: Studies of normal aging and brain damage: honoring Martin L. Albert. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic
How did American Missionaries Fare in China Essay
How did American Missionaries Fare in China - Essay Example AMERICAN MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES IN CHINA: The missionary activities in china had started from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The British missionaries were the first to enter the land in 1807. It was not until 1860s when the first American mission set foot in china. The basic reason of any missionary was to inculcate the idea of Christianity in the minds of the people. The missionaries who went to china were generally Protestants. Thus, the ideology of the protestant Christians began spreading in china in the early nineteenth century by the British missions, and in the late nineteenth century by the American missions. The missions of preaching Christianity were a sub category of the greater mission of America. The greater mission was to become the East Asian power and the missionary activities acted as a gateway for further Americans to show their presence in East Asia. For example, by the end of the nineteenth century, America had a direct control in countries like Philippin es and an indirect control in many other East Asian countries. The missions could also be classified under the heading of American Imperialism. This term states that America at getting an influence of its culture and economy in other countries. The missionary activities could have been a gateway for this greater aim. ... Although these people had already interacted with the American missionaries and their families in china, but they experienced a cultural shock when they experienced the lives of the Americans at first hand. Moreover, Chinese workers also had to face the problem of racism which made them realize the difference in both the communities. OPEN DOOR POLICY When America was emerging as an economic power in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, it was able to negotiate terms with the rest of the powers. Open door policy stated that all the countries could trade with china given that these countries do not harm the culture and the traditions of china as an influence of the trade. The success of this policy shows the influence and power that America had in the region, thus clearly indicating to the success of the missionary voyages. U.S. AND CHINA ALLIANCE IN THE WWII The effects of the American involvement in china were that during the Second World War, china allied itself with the western forces. This gave the allies a great advantage in terms of strategic location. Japan, who was the part of the axis states, now could be threatened from its very neighbor. The reasons for chines alignment with the allies are many in number, but one fundamental reason was the continuous involvement of America in china. Chinese could turn to America for help when japan showed aggression in 1937. STILWELL AND AMERICAN MILITARY IMPERIALISM: Perhaps the most impactful policy of American Imperialism in China was through American intervention in Chinese army for getting a military edge in the Asian region more specifically the CBI (Chinese Burma Indian Theater). For this they chose no other man than their trump card Joseph
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