Street Art

1)      I found this piece of art near the Spitalfields Market in Shoreditch. From far away I thought it was just another example poster-like piece of street art reproduced from Kinkos. As I moved closer this “reproduced” street art was actually a carving into the wall. Somebody must have taken hours or even days to chisel away at the concrete wall. I feel that this graffiti enhanced the landscape of this area and resembles something that should be in an art gallery despite being surrounded by vandalistic graffiti. The expression in the man’s face and eyes provoked my thought as to what the artist inspiration was and if this symbolizes something.

2)      I also found this piece near the Spitalfields Market in Shoreditch. Again, this piece of street art did not diminish the landscape; rather it enhanced the feeling of public art in the area. In fact this was right across the street from the chiseled piece of art. I was really fascinated by the intricate detail and optical illusion effect of the winking woman, butterfly, and British flag. It all depends on how you look at the piece as which figure comes into the foreground. I’m not sure the meaning of the street art but the artist is sure brilliant in his/her illusionistic technique of painting.

3)      I found this piece of street art on the Portobello Road. I think this is my favorite example of street art because clearly doesn’t diminish the landscape and more or less just made me laugh. If this was not done high above a garage I feel this wouldn’t have had the same effect. Also, if the phrase “made you look” wasn’t done in scrabble letters it wouldn’t be as funny.

4)      This piece of graffiti was on Brick Lane in London’s east side. Again, I would not classify this as diminishing the streetscape because I expected vandalistic graffiti here. Although, I would not classify it as street art either. This work seems to be disjointed but yet also has an element of beauty. Overall I think this is a wall that has been worked on by many artists which could be the cause of its disjointedness and therefore exudes little beauty and more notions of vandalism.                    

Museum experience over spring break

I spent my spring break touring Italy with my sister. While we had many adventures and witnessed strange encounters with fellow tourists, the most memorable was at The Academia Gallery in Florence, Italy. Upon arrival our first stop was The David by Michelangelo and as we admired the work of the sixteenth century artists we couldn’t help notice a group of Asian tourists. One of them in particular, I shall call “the rebel” was pacing the around the magnificent sculpture. Undoubtedly I noticed this fellow tourist by his intense interest and I certainly couldn’t miss the oversized backpack and large camera because he kept cutting me off. After admiring and pondering the David my sister and I exited toward the plaster casts by Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni and on our way out we heard a woman shouting. The woman was a museum security worker yelling (in Italian) at the rebel. He had taken a picture of The David when there were clear signs “no photography”. She took his camera, turned it off, and gave it back to him. Looking confused he grabbed it and proceeded to walk in our direction. After walking a few feet he turned the camera back on. The security woman briskly walked up to him again spoke in Italian and turned his camera off. I shamelessly found this quite amusing until the rebel followed my sister and me into the next gallery. This is where then I started to feel like a criminal since the security guard followed the rebel and she then watched all visitors like a hawk.

After spring break when visiting Brighton, England with my fellow study abroad mates we encountered a similar experience to that at the British Museum. Through our privilege of having Britt as our tour guide, she set up a tour of the Royal Pavilion. About 15 minutes into the tour we reached the royal kitchen. In here our tour guide explained cooking in the seventeenth century. This is where I first noticed the Wisconsin imposters. Interestingly these imposters were not even close to our scholarly age of twenty, they were a middle aged married couple. Indeed they even tried to pretend like they were not listening into our guided tour. They had bought the hand held audio guide and occasionally held it up to their ear but clearly were listening to the tiny lady in the black dress that was our tour guide. I glared at them but even the dirtiest looks didn’t phase them or they didn’t even notice me. I admire Steven Driscoll Hixson for his courage to confront the imposter at the British Museum because I most certainly could not face these elders. Thankfully when we got to the music room the guide kindly suggested those with audio guides go to another area within this particular room. Another victory against Wisconsin imposters. Wisconsin scholars-2, Wisconsin imposters-0!  

The National Portrait Gallery

1)      Logo

Once again like the National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery uses a very simplistic brand that suggests this museum is simplistic and lacking dimension. The sans serif typeface and perfect dimensions of the each word is plain and lacks excitement. Although I can envision the logic behind each word to fit into a perfect square; due to the mimicking of a portrait/frame. I think the logo is over simplified for the contents of the museum and the National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery building’s architecture. The portraits from each period are exclusive and the National Gallery building itself is grand with large doorways and impressive domes. Personally I feel this is not reflected in the logo. Generally, the logo works for the gallery despite its simplicity. Indeed the logo should be more intricate to fit with the collections but I do not think I could design anything better.

1)      Self-Portrait

Princess Jamie was born in 1589 to a Tudor aristocrat family of southern England. Unlike other Princesses of the time she enjoyed learning about science, medicine, and humanities. She devoted her life to becoming a scholar of medicine and therefore never married to become Queen.

2)      Karl Iglesias

Karl Iglesias born 1989 is a poet, rapper, and composer. Originally from Puerto Rican descent his poetry stems from growing up in Milwaukee, WI. As a result of his love for music he never leaves the apartment with his ipod or a fashionable hat or scarf.

3)      Lauryn Besasie

Lauryn Besasie born in 1989 is of Italian descent. Her heritage is clear from the amount of garlic in her cooking, which always draws a crowd lining up to try some. She wishes to live in the 18^th century because of all the fabulous dresses and hats. She also is a lacto-ovo vegetarian and has a love for all animals but especially dogs like the Maltese pictured in her portrait.

4)      Ethan Krupp

Ethan Krupp born in 1990 to Jewish American parents is an artist and scholar. Some of his works include papers completed at the University if Wisconsin-Madison. He is an intellectual with many facets but his secret lifelong dream is to be Harry Potter. Maybe that has something to do with the glasses?  

      

5)      Sara Waller

Sara Waller born in 1990 to Jewish American parents is a scholar in child development. Although she is first and foremost the princess to her parents, she was quite the rebel as a child. Her long lashes and curly locks make her an icon of her time.