Brooklyn street art

Brooklyn street art

A real piece of art, that is what street art looks like. But not everybody thinks so, because it isn’t art that you expect in a museum. It is real street art. It is hipster art! The term street art can include traditional graffiti artwork, sculpture, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheat pasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, flash mobbing, LED art, mosaic, murals and street installations. Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

Street art can be shown on any way, not only abstract. Using paper, paint, old paintings, street signs, etc. These pictures(the 'televox' and the traffic light) show that the artist not only uses paint but also already existing things.

Another way to make a nice piece of art is using other ones art.  Painting over painting over painting creates a nice mixture of different artists and different art pieces.

LED Art is form of light art constructed from light-emitting diodes. Many artists that use LEDs are guerilla artists, incorporating LEDs to produce temporary pieces in public places. LEDs are very inexpensive to purchase and have become a new way to make street art. LEDs are, among others, used in installation art, sculptural pieces and interactive artworks.

And of course you have a mixture of different styles. This done by using two or more street art styles. Like shown in the picture.  

A good movie of showing different street art styles is the following one:

Artists have challenged art by situating it in non-art contexts. ‘Street’ artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment with its own language. They attempt to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes in ways that are informed by esthetic values without being imprisoned by them. John Fekner defines street art as “all art on the street that’s not graffiti.” 

To have a good impression on the  real life street art and to be up to date by real street artists have a look at this blog:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/

Contemporary Issues Terminology

Definitions:

Adversary (ial)

An enemy. Someone you play against, or you resist is your adversary. In political issues your adversary, also called opponent, is the political group your against to.

Ideology               

A way of thinking of that characterizes an individual person, a group or a culture. You can recognize people from their way of thinking which their ideology is.

Advocate 

When someone is judged, there is an advocate who will help the judged person. An advocate is someonethatadvocatesthe cause of another before a tribunalor judicial court.

Inappropriate

Not acceptable/not used in that context. ~ When you behave really stupid and you break a window, your parents will say it is an inappropriate behavior. ~ When you make a test about something and you fill in a totally different answer than the question, your answer is inappropriate.

Agenda

An ideological idea for a political meeting or something. An idea to discuss about.

Independent

Showing a desire for freedom. When you’re independent there is no one who decides what you have to do. Your free, your independent.

Substantiate

To establish by proof or competent evidence  

Appropriate

To take or make use of without authority or right. This means that you do something but it is not allowed by the government, it is not appropriate.  

Influence

The influence is that you do something because someone else did it. In a political way this could be that you e.g. move to a city because you’re influenced by a political group. This means that the group made you move.

Tolerant

People who are tolerant, are people that accept more things than people who are not tolerant.

Essay:

According to the agenda of the African-Americans during the Harlem renaissance, the African-Americans were as important as the white people, therefore a lot of African-Americans moved into Harlem. This had a big influence on the city view, there were more black people in New York as before, people started to look differently al the view. The African-Americans became more independent as before, this happened because of the New Negro movement and they got their own place to life, together with every other African-American. Although the African-Americans were very happy with this movement, there were also people who find it inappropriate, they really didn’t like the movement and didn’t agreed with it at all. These people were seen as adversarial people of the African-American people who moved into Harlem during the New-Negro movement. 

Hurtig & Seaman's new burlesque theater A.K. Apollo

Unlike black literature and art, black musical theater
was already well-known by the 1900’s.  Black theater used elements of minstrelsy when creating their shows to gain large audience. Initially black musicals dealt with only a few topics, which were the return to Africa movement, their concerns with the relationship between white society and themselves, and gambling.  Many shows also included “swindles perpetuated by fast-talking dandies,” which usually involved money, property, and oil strikes.  They later began to explore topics involving rent party scenes, prohibition, stardom on Broadway, and the new black image.  Until the 1930’s, most black musicals were only attended by black audiences and considered the “needs” of whites to be a secondary goal.  While many black musicals were performed in New York in the 1920’s, nearly all of them were only performed in Harlem, where few whites attended.  Shuffle Along (1921) brought black theater to Broadway and sparked a new interest for black art among the white community.

In 1914, a new building was constructed on 125th Street in Harlem. Named “Hurtig and Seaman’s New Burlesque Theater,” the theatre opened with one now quite ironic rule — no African-Americans were allowed in the audience. A couple of decades later, things had changed. Ralph Cooper, Sr. decided to do a live version of his popular radio program “Amateur Night Hour” at what was now known as 125 Street Apollo. The program was a hit, and one of its earliest winners was a special 17-year-old girl named Ella Fitzgerald. (She won $25.) The next year, the theater’s headliners would become musical legends: Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday.  The Apollo is now synonymous with music in Harlem, and no wonder. Just look at some of the many entertainers who’ve performed live at the Apollo: Louis Armstrong • Sarah Vaughn • Moms Mabley • Redd Foxx • James Brown • Sam Cooke • Diana Ross & The Supremes • Patti LaBelle • Dionne Warwick • Aretha Franklin • Michael Jackson • Jimi Hendrix • Gladys Knight & The Pips • Marvin Gaye • Luther Vandross • Stevie Wonder • Ben E. King • Mariah Carey • The Isley Brothers. Apollo really became a famous theatre. Not only for white people, but also for the black.

Sources I used to be able to make this post:

http://afamstud.intrasun.tcnj.edu/harlemrenaissance/messmer2/

http://www.greatamericanthings.net/americana/americana-the-apollo-theater/

We’re all the same or we’re different and have our own culture and tradition

In this blog I’m going to give a reflective comment on two poems/strategies. Yet Do I Marvel from Countee Cullen and The White House from Claude McKay.

Yet Do I Marvel – Countee Cullen I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirrors Him must someday die, Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus To struggle up a never-ending stair. Inscrutable His ways are, and immune To catechism by a mind too strewn With petty cares to slightly understand What awful brain compels His awful hand. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

The first poem has a kind of hidden anger in it, like in the first sentence; “I doubt not God is good. The strategy of the writer is defiantly “We are all the same”. The writer wants that people from another culture (African-Americans) can have the reputation as the white ones. During the tough history, he wants to keep his head up high;” To struggle up a never-ending stair”. He wants to tell us that other cultures are different and in that way not good. Some deep-meaning words and names are used in the descriptions of his believing. In his poem, it shows that he is a wise man with a lot of knowledge. He also probably has a high level of manipulating by using language. The writer wants to show that he has a great ability and knowledge in many aspects that the other white writers never could come up with.

The White House – Claude McKay Your door is shut against my tightened face, And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent. The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet, A chafing savage, down the decent street; And passion rends my vitals as I pass, Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass. Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour, Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw, And find in it the superhuman power To hold me to the letter of your law! Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate.

The second poem has also a bit of anger in it, but here it isn’t hidden:” Your door is shut against my tightened face”; here the writer clearly shows the anger. The strategy of the writer is definitely:”We are different and have our own culture and tradition”. The “main character” has a fight with someone and the writer clearly shows that in the poem. He shows that there are differences between the two people who have a fight.The poem is written in easier language as the one from Countee Cullen.  The structures of the sentences are simple. It is easier to find the meaning of the sentence when you compare it to the “Yet Do I Marvel” poem.

Both poems show an idea how to look to different people; I prefer the one from Countee Cullen, which is that we are all the same. Actually we are all the same but we do look different. We’re all people and we all have to life on the same earth. We have to share it and it doesn’t make sense if we start huge fights like in the poem of Claude McKay. As a conclusion we can say:”It is better to all be the same”!

The Harlem Renaissance and Joséphine Baker

This  blog is part of: http://harlemitetohipster.blogspot.com/

Harlem Renaissance

It was a cultural thing, in the way of the renaissance. You can say it was a cultural renaissance which was during the 1920s and the 1930s. It was commonly known as the New Negro Movement, it was named after that by Alain Locke. The cultural renaissance was located in Harlem, a neighborhood of New York City. Many people from all over the world like French speaking black writers an African and Caribbean colonies that lived in Paris during the renaissance. The renaissance became famous of a group of African American writers who produced a sizable body of literature in the four prominent genres, which are Poetry, fiction, drama and essay.

There are many discussions going on between historians about the time the Harlem Renaissance started and when it ended. They think the renaissance lasted from 1919 until somewhere in the middle of 1930. Although the renaissance ended many of the renaissance ideas lived on for a much longer time. Common themes in the New Negro Movement are : alienation, marginality, the use of folk material, the use of the blues tradition, the problems of writing for an elite audience.

Joséphine Baker

Biographical Information:

Joséphine Baker is born on June 3th in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, she died on April 12 in 1975. For the not very smart people she became 69 years old. Joséphine Baker's mother was Carrie McDonald and her father was Eddie Carson. Arthur Martin was her stepfather. Her siblings were Richard, Margaret and Willie Mae. Joséphine's first husband was Willie Wells; her second husband was Willie Baker; her third husband was Jean Lion; and, her fourth husband was orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. Her twelve adopted children were: Akio (male), Janot (male), Luis (male), Jari (male), Jean-Claude (male), Moise (male), Brahim (male), Marianne (female), Koffi (male), Mara (male), Noel (male), Stellina (female). Joséphine's last marriage was to American Artist Robert Brady

Baker was an American dancer, singer and actress. She became famous in her adopted homeland France. Famous nicknames that were given to Joséphine Baker are; “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl” and the “Créole Goddess”.
Joséphine was the first female African American to be famous in a major motion picture, to perform in an American concert hall and to become a world-famous entertaining person.
She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II, and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre.

Major Works:

Joséphine Baker became famous with entertaining, like singing. In addition to being a musical star, Baker also starred in three films which found success only in Europe: the silent film Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934) and Princesse Tam Tam (1935). She also starred in Fausse Alerte (English title: The French Way) in 1940. At this time she also scored her most successful song, "J'ai deux amours" (1931). Other songs of her were The times they are a changing and Bye bye blackbird.

 Joséphine Baker J'ai deux amour

My opinion on one of Joséphine Bakers piece:

I’ll like to reflect on her most famous song J'ai deux amour. It is a very nice song, although it sounds old but for these days it was very modern. It is a very classical song, with a very nice sound. Her voice is soft but on the same way her voice is very sharp which is a very nice combination in her songs. She is singing in French, so she knows more than one language which is a point of knowing in the Harlem Renaissance. She shows that women actually can do more, especially African American women. Because in those days it wasn’t usual that African American people had that kind of fame, although men had. She was the first female African American who made herself so famous, it was a big step for the African American women. She was a good model for the other female African Americans.