Body Art

http://lhncbc.nlm.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/news_full/public/biomedical_data_visualization.jpg?itok=0UTNYN4J

Drew Berry describes art as being the creation of an image that is interesting and "other-worldly" which I beleive to be extremely accurate of much art.  Biomedical visualization and imaging animates and explains the processes going on within the body.  By showing us what we can't see with our naked eye, the scientists give the images and videos to the public with an out-of-this-world mysterious and intriguing aura.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/
Leonardo_da_Vinci-_Vitruvian_Man.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e
/e2/Kooning_woman_v.jpg

Most people have seen the image to the left because it was the beginning of  anatomically-correct artwork.  Much artwork includes parts or the whole of the human form, but in the purpose to evoke emotion in the viewer (see right). Scientific and medical imaging and artwork is to evoke the same emotion, but because it is beautifully accurate and because each human feels a part of the art in the most personal way.

In America and abroad, there are exhibits showing the insides of the human body as an art exhibition.  In the Ukraine, Mysteries of The Human Body, is one of these exhibits using a rubberization process developed around 1970 by Gunther von Hagens.  The process allows the skin and all un-treated biomatter to decay to leave the plasticized veins and organs remaining in-tact (and seemingly still alive!). 

http://abqarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Lungs-Circulatory-Gallery.jpg

Another way the body and medical-idea of the body is used for art is in movies like X-Men.  The bodies and senses shown in these types of movies are morphed and digitally contorted to create another vision of the human figure (example of aforementioned "other-worldly" feeling).

Paintings, visual imaging (with artistic alterations and colorings), and using the body itself as art are all becoming ways that artists and scientists relate to the viewer on a primal-seeming way.  Getting a connection with one's own flesh and bones on a new level is what makes this genre so compelling!

Kislov, Andriy . "Lessons In Human Anatomy." kyiv.weekly. N.p., 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://kyivweekly.com.ua/style/culture/2012/09/10/160320.html>.

http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/body-worlds-basketball-player.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi43Vr2yJqI

http://abqarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Lungs-Circulatory-Gallery.jpg

Berry, Drew. "Body Code." AMCI. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.acmi.net.au/drew_berry.htm>.

http://lhncbc.nlm.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/news_full/public/biomedical_data_visualization.jpg?itok=0UTNYN4J

http://img.portwallpaper.com/imgwal/x-men-mystique-face.jpg

iArt

This post is called iArt because the art industry has become more and more involved with technology, is it for the better or the worse? 

iRobot is a movie that is underlined by the concept of fear of mass-technology advancement.  Through the movie, Will Smith battles back against the rogue machinery and tries to re-establish power over the machines.  This underlying fear is paralleled in Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction," (however, it is much more harmless battle!).

Art and technology play with each other in numerous and different ways.  The two dance together through the use of digital art and digital presentation and editing of art.  The fear Walter Benjamin outlays is the loss of originality and uniqueness in each pice of art.  This fear, however, is widely outweighed by the positives that industrialization yields in most situations.  Wide-spread access and increased availability gives in to a world of less uniqueness but also allows for a inexpensive sharing of culture all over the world.  This culture sharing is what, in the English industrial revolution of the late 1700's and early 1800's, inspired and provoked more innovation and exploration.  Mass made and accessible art brings not a world of dull repetition, but one of progressive and inspired digital art.

Economies of Scale: Not only does art become more accessible, but the access to the products that the art is accessed on is becoming more available and cheaper.  Because of the mass production of these digital devices, mass-produced and mass-accesible art is more accepted and is able to be appreciated and shared in less-worldly homes.  The generations before this one have rallied to collect and maintain original and unique works at great prices from around the world.  Current culture now calls for the newest device to access all of the art online and most of the time, for free.   Mass-printed art works in the same way; art that can be bought at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond can either be tacky and cheap, or can bring a great (although unoriginal) piece of art into a lower-class of society.

This photo is a screenshot from my own computer that demonstrates the accessibility of even the greatest and most valued pieces of art work of man-kind.  Anyone with access to the internet can experience this art and can use it as inspiration for future pieces, for less than the cost of a trip to The Louve in Paris, France!

Like the english in the 19th century, our innovation and mass-production overcomes the innate fear of loss, and gives each household a cornucopia of artwork and inspiration that was previously only available to those who could afford the original! 

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

"Accessible Art ." Accessible Art . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://accessibleartny.com>. 

 http://runyourjewels.com/projects/2012-05-21/fullview/2012-05-21-FULL_Umer_Yahir.jpg

"70 Artists creating Art on Mobile devices | Mobile Digital Art – The Book!." Using the iPad and iPhone as Creative Tools | Mobile Digital Art – The Book!. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.iphoneart.info/70-artists-creating-art-on-mobile-devices/>.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/06/msft-surface-2-hands-rm-eng-06-18-12-01-1340094347.jpg

"Museums Online | Museum Computer Network." Museum Computer Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://www.mcn.edu/museums-online>.

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2010/05/28/1225872/511106-one-laptop-per-child.jpg

1.618

Growing up we usually start to distinguish ourselves artistically, intellectually, or athletically throughout the first few years of school.  Some people say that the right versus left side of the brain being used is the primary division between the artistic and the intellectual.  But is there truly a hard line between the two aptitudes? or is the boundary blurred a bit?

1 to 1.618 is the relationship between two lengths defined as the golden ratio.  The golden ratio is represented naturally in countless situations.  The most commonly known example is the shape and relative proportions of the concentric spirals of a shell.  Starting from the first square in the shell illustration, each following square is of the 1:1.618, or golden, ratio.

The golden ratio is significant because artists use this mathematical relationship to tie together the world of numbers and the world of art.  In the painting Mona Lisa, squares similar to those seen in the shell illustration are used to outline how DaVinci used the most natural-looking and beautiful proportions.

"For me it remains an open question whether [this work] pertains to the realm of mathematics or to that of art," M.C. Escher once said of his own artwork.  In the case of Maurits Cornelis Escher (M.C. Escher), the afore mentioned boundary is blurred through ink.  He uses geometry and the mathematical structures of tessellation to create eye-alluring mind puzzles.

Through years of conditioning, we have learned to see the worlds of art and math as distant and unrelated. However, as technology develops, we see more and more the boundary blurring.  Digital art is slowly popularizing and what is digital art if not specifying pixel size, dropping, and morphing shapes on a mathematical grid?  

Right-brainers see art as unruled expression-and maybe it feels like it with pencil in hand-but artists are intentionally and unintentionally using the rules of ratios and geometry to formulate the perfect image.  

Resources:
"Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher -- Platonic Realms MiniText." Platonic Realms Entryway. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/escher/>.

"Definition of Golden Ratio." Math is Fun - Maths Resources. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/golden-ratio.html>.

"15 Uncanny Examples of the Golden Ratio in Nature." io9 - We come from the future. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://io9.com/5985588/15-uncanny-examples-of-the-golden-ratio-in-nature>.

Obara, Samuel. "Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture." Jim Wilson's Home Page. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Emat6690/Golden%20Ratio/golden.html>.

"Verbal vs. mathematical aptitude in academics - Gene Expression | DiscoverMagazine.com." Discover Magazine Blogs. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/12/verbal-vs-mathematical-aptitude-in-academics/#.Ult2jhZcuTE>.

NorCal SoCal

By no means are there only two cultures butting heads at UCLA, but two of the many stand out to me in particular: NorCal kids, and SoCal kids.  I myself am from Northern California, which, if you haven't heard about it, is about 310miles up a drag of the road called I-5.  This drag of a road represents the in-betweeners that often identify with either the north or the south when you first meet them.  What puts them into the in-betweener category is when you say "No way! Where?" and you get something like "Forty-eight minutes south- east of Salinas."  The ones in class that boast about their roots are often those from the true north, like the San Francisco Bay Area, or those from the true south, around Newport Beach or even UCLA.  

"Hella."  Hella  is the flashing give-away a NorCar student can accidentally blurt out.  I say "accidentally" because once it has been said at UCLA, it doesn't matter what the conversation was about before, it is now about repeating the word until the Northern Californian feels shamed into moving and starts planning for his or her new life in Southern California.

"Who Runs The Golden State?" Anna Almendrala, a reporter for the Huffington Post asks provacativly.  Obviously it isn't any of the people from central California...or is it?  Isn't that where the food is grown and harvested, the electronics companies are built out of that support the over-all Californian economy?  Even knowing this, if asked, a northern or a southern Californian would always go straight to a list of rappers or stars based out of the two cultures to enforce that their end reigns.

Coffee is another, but subtler, distinguisher between the cultures of the south and the north.  When I got down to UCLA, I hastily googled where to get my go-to Peets's Carmel Freddo on campus only to read that the campus serves a foreign brand: Coffee Bean.

I am slowly finding roots down here, but.....

"The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Official Store." The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Official Store. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. 

Almendrala, Anna. "Northern California Vs. Southern California: Who Runs The Golden State?." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/northern-california-vs-southern-california_n_995414.html>.

http://s2.thisnext.com/media/230x230/I-Hella-Heart-SF-Customized-T_0F180620.jpg

"Coffee | Peet's Coffee." Peet's Coffee & Tea. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. <http://www.peets.com/coffee.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6d03gbmAzc