EMANCIPATE youself

Kelis had grown into an artist that I am admiring more and more day by day. Her growth is phenomenal. Her latest CD, Flesh Tone, is my current obsession. How this CD didn't blow up, I'll never know. This is Kelis at her best. She has her warrior marks and it shows. She's not only a Woman now, she's a Mother and the Creator of her own destiny. Music like this is rare. I, for one, am glad that she tapped inside of her soul to come back to the creative entity that she has always been. Bravo, Kelis. I bow down to your glory.

after the STORM

There's something about sadness that is so intrinsic to the nature of music. It transcends everything: race, borders, age, religion, and beliefs. When done right, it is one word: BEAUTIFUL. This is what Corinne Bailey Rae does for me. She makes me realize it's alright to be sad, hurt, disappointed, and most of all HUMAN. Instead of falling apart from what I can only assume to be a very painful era in her life, Rae uses her talent to pick apart her emotions and hang them out to dry where every single one of us can see them. It's a brave thing to do if you ask me. Aptly entitled The Sea, Rae reminds me that pain happens to the best of us and it's okay to be vulnerable. I am in love with the agony and the progression towards acceptance. Therapy. Remedies. Growth. I see, feel, and hear it all and I can't stop listening. Corinne Bailey Rae is on REWIND this week. Music never felt so good.

the MUSIC in my head

My CDs are my lifeline. They help me work, make decisions, write, read, and complete damn near everthing I do in a day's time. I'd be lying if  I said silence was beautiful. So, without further ado, here are my 5 top Artists of the month. I have yet to go a day without listening to a song from each. I go through drastic musical states so next week I may be enamored with the Blues, Sawgrass, or Rock; anything is possible.

1.

My Dame

2.

My Rebel

3.

My Ego

4.

My Rockers

5.

My Crooner



Every once in a while I'll throw in La Bella Mafia by The Notorious Kim or Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj just to remind me that I am a bad ass Black female. I give them both their due rights and eras. It also depends on whether I am in the mood to be observed or if I choose to be the observer... GREAT art does have that type of power you know! You just have to harness every ounce of it and tune in!

the CHAINS that bind

I think the poster says a thousands words all at once. The metaphor is that our hearts are often bound in chains, never our souls. When one inch is pulled too far in one direction, we lose all sensibility. Another grasp pulls the same chains tighter, causing a lifetime of misery. Who hasn't felt it? Who has never felt the blues deep down in their souls? Written by me for Denecia Alicia, "The blues ain't nothing but a good man feeling bad," now we all know that's just what it must feel like. Black Snake Moan (2006), is my proof. Directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) and  produced by John Singleton, this film utilizes actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Christini Ricca, and Justin Timberlake to make it all worth watching and remembering.

Brewer likes to play with stereotypes and eventually unveils them in his narrative. It's his argument towards society, forcing viewers to actually look at the ideologies ground deep within their hearts. The realistic believability of it all is set in Southern Macon. The White female (Ricci), permissive or not, is never safe in the hands of a White male. She is especially not safe in the company of a Black male (Jackson and many more) because it is supposedly the nature of the negro to desire, devour, and deflower her amongst all other races of women. Although he chains her, he believes it is for the benefit of Ricci. One thing haunts Jackson, his loss of Rose to his brother and the abortion of his only child. The only thing that he wants from the White, petite, sexual, and sick Ricci is for her to "get yo' shit together and live your life."

Ricci is remininsecnt of millions of girls who have used their sexuality to define themselves. Women like her have been abused as children by people they've trusted and at many times their mothers are their biggest enemies. Her past often reminds me of some of Sonia Sanchez's poetry, espescially in its essence to expertly speak of the addict who sells her most precious child to a man just so she can have her high, whatever it may be. So I feel Ricci's character as well because she deals with her demons on a daily basis. This film deals with the fears we take in deep at night as we try to filter out what's wrong from what's right. There are a dozen lessons we could learn here but the ultimate one is not to let our past hurts define or create who we can become.

Besides the melodramatic; the editing, camera angeles, and lighting all work together to make profound statements. My favorite scene is when the camera is completely tilted over, blue filter, and Ricci is naked, completely oblivious to everything around her. I'm sure that scene happens at least 100 times (or more) every weekend across the USA. I'd love to show this film to a group of teenagers and get their responses and ask them to help make movies about their lives, leaving nothing out. These types of stories need to be told, over and over again. And the moral of the story: it only takes one person to stand up and tell you that you are worthwhile even if the world tells you that you something completely different. Tomorrow I'm going to look for a chain belt! I think millions of females could benefit from one.  

SEEING is believing

Seeing High & Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture

Patricia Johnston. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2006

One of the challenges facing art education today is the ever growing push towards the incorporation of a visual studies curriculum in K-12 classrooms. Seeing High & Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture explores the separation of art mediums as well as their historical roles as a vehicle for social change. Through an array of essays by various authors, Seeing High & Low attempts to examine visual culture as it relates to American art genres. Advocates for a Visual Culture Art Education curriculum could use this collaborative project as further evidence that art, in its truest form, can be used to represent a plethora of cultural philosophies, iconic imagery, and contemporary ideals.

In her introduction, Art History Professor Patricia Johnston argues that the separation of art into contexts of “high” and “low” have historically been used by art museums, art schools, and art historians to reinforce the dominant positions of elitism and modernism. These contexts divide society by class, race, sex, and religion. Seeing High & Low reviews the instabilities of these ideologies by focusing on famous works of art, their historical importance, and their implications on popular genre conventions. The authors systematically accomplish their goals by illustrating how popular culture influences art movements as well as its ability to confront historical and contemporary political tensions.     

            The fifteen contributing authors are a combined group of university professors, art historians, and creative directors. Their analytical approaches are used to construct correlations between art genres and social values. Most notable, and used in this review, are essays by Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Jeffrey Belnap, Melissa Dabakis, and Katharine Martinez. Each author evaluates the imagery used in various mediums to addresses social and cultural issues. Their conclusions substantiate art’s ability to cultivate dialogue, create representation, and promote self awareness. These arguments are equivalent with the aspirations of VCAE advocates. This review will briefly examine the essays of the above mentioned authors.

Lee Blaszczyk persuasively examines the reciprocal relationship that occurs between art and commercialism in “The Color of Modernism: Georgia O’Keeffe, Cheney Brothers, and the Relationship between Art and Industry in the 1920’s”. Blaszczyk argues that in 1926 the colorful and feminine work of Georgia O’Keeffe’s was successfully used by the Cheney brothers to invigorate their failing silk profits. Not only did this strategy set the Cheney brothers apart from their competitors, it also raised public awareness and recognition of O’Keeffe as a female artist; an accomplishment that would set the trend for art and commercial industry in the years to come. In this essay, Blaszczyk’s research analyzes art's ability to move fluidly from the context of fine art to popular culture.

Similar to Blaszczyk, Jeffrey Belnap examines the tradition of Mexican muralists in his essay, “Caricaturing the Gringo Tourist: Diego Rivera’s Folkloric and Touristic Mexico and Miguel Covarrubias’s Sunday Afternoon in Xochimilco”. Most notably, Belnap points out the subtle ways in which muralists called attention to the effects of U.S. capitalism on Mexican culture. Belnap critically reviews lesser known works by Rivera and Covarrubias to call attention to the differences between the viewer and those being viewed. The murals explore the nature of resistance towards the U.S. and Mexico’s ruling class as well as politicize social inequalities experienced in Mexico and abroad. Belnap’s essay reinforces the link between representation and culture in art as well as its ability to educate others globally.

In “Ain’t I A Woman? Anne Witney, Edmonia Lewis, and the Iconography of Emancipation,” Melissa Dabakis examines the plight of female artists who would not conform to Western aesthetics in the 19^th century. This essay discusses the negation of sculpture that fell outside of the canon of high art. Unprecedented in the art world, Whitney and Lewis attempted to create images that redefined their race as well as question the institution of slavery. Dabakis concludes that the lack of representation hindered the success and acceptance of sculpture that did not reinforce Western stereotypical images. Just as VCAE calls attention to the need for varied forms of otherness and representation in art education, so does Dabakis.

Katharine Martinez contributes “At Home with Mona Lisa: Consumers and Commercial Visual Culture, 1880-1920”. Martinez contends that for most people at the end of the 19^th century, visual culture was still a relatively new experience, despite the widening availability of lithographs and chromolithographs that had begun earlier in the century.[1] She critically examines the desire of upper class patrons to “enlighten” and “educate” the lower masses with fine art in hopes that it would improve their impoverished lives. The same argument continues today regarding the introduction of visual culture in art education.

In conclusion, Seeing High & Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture is a collection of essays that examine the effects of popular culture on fine art. These essays provide convincing theories because they cover various art genres and are written as an exploration of representation and identity. I believe Johnston has successfully incorporated different voices, viewpoints, and art authorities into a compilation that reflects the changing trends surrounding the current state of art education. The lines between high and low art have blurred into a combination of popular culture in Postmodernism. This book is evidence that there is no longer one concise voice on what should and should not be considered art. It encourages educators to engage their students with their culture, historical legacies, and the world around them in a way that only art can do in the 21^st century. 

Reviewed by Angela Singletary, Art Graduate Student, University of Florida.

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[1] Martinez, Katharine. “At Home With Mona Lisa: Consumers and Commercial Culture, 1880-1920,” 160-176.

the remake of a CLASSIC

I finally got a chance to view Tyler Perry's film For Colored Girls (2010) and I must say that I wasn't surprised. I didn't think Perry could do justice to Ntozake Shange's original play. I'm pressed for time so this won't be a long drawn out analysis because Perry did bring a whole new audience to Shange's work and at least attempted to showcase the complexities of black womanhood. I'll commend him for that but his adaptation lacked depth and although he tried to incorporate Shange's poetry into the film, it often seemed outdated and awkward. The lighting was too dark, there were too many stories for the time allotted, and he used filming techniques made famous by other directors. As usual, he stereotyped all of the characters and the only 'whole' person in the entire cast (Hill Harper) got the least amount of screen play. The multiple close ups only made me focus on facial expressions that didn't seem authentic: Janet Jackson's crying only out of one eye and Kimberly Elise being broken one too many times. It seemed like a juxtaposition of all of Perry's films with Shange's poems sprinkled on top. Do I think this story could have been told on film? YES! Do I think Tyler Perry did an adequate job? NO! It pales in comparison to Jasmine Guy's stage production of the play. He should stick to comedy. In my opinion, that's what he does best.



mind GAMES

I didn't see many films over the holidays but I did get a chance to finally see Guy Ritchie's Revolver (2005). Staring Jason Statham (as Mr. Green), Revolver is a gangster styled film that has more twists and turns than Lombard Street does in San Francisco. Don't get me wrong, I loved it although it got pretty bad reviews from the critics, I found it quite impressive. I love films that make me question everything, including my expectations, and Ritchie delivered. Revolver is a philosophical piece of work that portrays the ego as the ultimate enemy. It's a cautionary tale, one that reminds us to question our motives and expectations least we end up fighting ourselves over and over again.

Ritchie's camerawork caught my attention right from the beginning. Most memorable were his upward angles from the floor and the use of a handheld camera, each adding to the intensity of the action. I thought rotating the camera reinforced the circular pattern of the storyline. There was so much information thrown out all at once that one could easily get sidetracked and confused. An example of this was the introduction of Lord John (Tom Wu) and Lily Walker (Francesca Annis). I never figured out their importance but I assumed they were used to add texture and credence to the work as a gangster film.

Ritchie's editing is eye catching as well. He introduces animation during the fight between Lord John and Macha's (Ray Liotta) crew. There are rewind sequences that reinforce a circular event, casting everything back to Mr. Green. His voice-over throughout the film leads to the belief that we are caught inside of his head, in the middle of a story, right in the midst of the intense action. We are on the mission as well and we never know more than he does. The mixture of dark and dramatic opera and techno that accompanies each theme has a way of also framing the story as an emotional roller coaster. We go up, we go down, and we are never sure of what's around the next corner.

I could go on and on about Revolver and Ritchie's use of filtered lighting, his mise-en-scenes and the costumes. Let's face it, I was blown away and I don't normally love action films but this one exceeded all my expectations. I thought the quotes at the beginning were a nice touch because they set up the storyline. However, the interviews at the end of the film dispelled how faulty the intro quotes and our expectations as viewers really are. We were set up and like most people who want to believe there is an enemy - we fell for it: hook, line, and sinker.

My favorite quote: "The greatest con, that he ever pulled...was making you believe...that he is you". -Avi