HA, you thought I was gonna talk about the movie. WELL, you are actually incorrect, rather, I am going to upload everything, everywhere, all at once. Especially because I was supposed to follow, like, a plan that Mrs. Clemence made but then I simply didn't. Anyway, let's get started:
Art Research
I figured I would start off by talking about my art research. Now, Mrs. Clemence was telling me about how I needed an annotated bibliography and so I pulled up one of my planning docs which turned out to be precisely what I needed. So here's that annotated bibliography. Also, sorry it's so small (I think), I didn't know how to make it any bigger.
And then this is the actual essay:
I would like you all to know, I am very happy with this essay. I personally think it's one of the favorites that I've written this year other than my connections essay for English and my essay about Alexander for Classics. I really enjoy art history and researching (I plan to study it next year) and I'm just really proud of this essay. I also just, like, really love Keith Haring so finally getting to write about him was a plus.
Ok, also, before you listen to the audio tracks, I was testing them after I uploaded my blog and I start them all the same way omg. Like, every single one starts with me saying "right" like dear GOD I didn't realized how much I said it.
Planning for the Art Board
Planning for that first idea
So top left is planning I did in 2021 that I would later use and the top right and bottom right is planning I did this year. The bottom left was a test painting I sort of did that was for the Icarus falling painting.
Some planning I did this year
Right so you may notice on the first picture that I added a note saying "check notes" and I was like "Oh, I must've added a wee thing in my notes about my board" and so I'm looking and looking for it and look at this absolute goldmine that I found:
Note: It took me so long to figure out how to upload audio tracks to blogger. I spent, like, 10 minutes figuring out the right set of coding for it and then had to fix those lines of code multiple times so shout out Mr. Carter for teaching me the bare basics of coding which meant I knew when I messed up the code and knew how to fix it. I don't know I feel like this a somewhat unceremonial way of ending my blog so bye??? I guess????
The burning of Persepolis occurred in 330 BCE and featured Alexander the Great setting fire to the palace of Xerxes - the former King of Persia who invaded Greece in 480 BCE. Although there is no concrete evidence of why Alexander did this, there are two main accounts of what occurred at the burning of Persepolis and the reasoning behind doing so; Arrian’s account which is considered the official version, and Plutarch’s which is viewed as the vulgate’s version. Arrian wrote between 140 -150 CE and was considered the most distinguished author of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. In his account of the event, he states that the reason behind Alexander burning Persepolis is propaganda and punishment. Burning the palace would be used to “...punish the Persians for the sacrilege committed in Greece in 480 BCE.” Burning the palace could also be used to “...show that the campaign to punish the Persians was over.” and would’ve pleased the Greeks. However, there are minor details that contradict this reasoning; one, Persepolis now belonged to Alexander; two, he had already begun to incorporate his policy of fusion; and finally, if he wanted to burn Persepolis, why do it three months after arriving rather than straight away? This has led many to believe that the official version is a cover for what really happened which is believed to be detailed in the vulgate version. Plutarch’s vulgate version states that the fire came at the end of a drinking party, where a greek courtesan gave a speech, encouraging a drunken Alexander to set fire to the palace as revenge for the Persians burning Athens. He states, “...Alexander happened to join his Companions in a party, at which women were present…The most notable among them was Thais, an Athenian, the mistress of Ptolemy who later became King of Egypt. As the drinking progressed Thais was inspired to make a speech which was in part a graceful compliment to Alexander, in part merely playful raillery of him… On that day, she remarked, she was being repaid for all the hardships she had experienced on their travel through Asia, reveling in the luxury of a Persian palace, but it would be even better to end the party by setting fire to the palace of Xerxes who had burnt down Athens… Her speech was received with clapping and shouting and as his Companions eagerly pressed Alexnder to do as she suggested, he gave way to their urgings…” The Macedonians hoped that this showed that Alexander “... did not intend to settle among foreigners.” however, Plutarch later states that Alexander later changed his mind and “...gave orders for the fire to be extinguished.” This shows that Alexander may have not set fire to the palace intentionally, rather, he did so while in a drunken haze. However, we cannot be sure which account is true due to the fact that there are multiple accounts of what occurred.
From this event, we can see what Alexander and his troops were like. Alexander, when drunk, was easily influenced. This isn't the only instance in which a drunk Alexander makes a rash decision. He killed Cleitus while drunk and - similar to the burning of Persepolis - something he later regrets doing. It also shows how, when he makes mistakes, he covers them up in the official record, making it seem as if what he did, he had done with purpose rather than on accident. As well as showing what Alexander was like, it also shows how the Macedonian troops were vengeful over the treatment of Greece by the Persians and were easily influenced into action. Stating that Alexander's companion "eagerly" pressured Alexander into following through with the burning shows the troops willingness to punish those who had attacked Greece as well as their aggressive nature.
Wow, welcome to my end-of-term 2/Mid-year art report blog thing. Shockingly, I have not decided to drop out yet. At the moment, I haven't got a single board completed and I have one finished painting so, at this point, it's in G-d's hands-on whether we get the ball rolling at some point.
Take it back now y'all
Right so, updates on the paintings I talked about in my last blog post. My beth el synagogue painting has made little progress (shocking, I know). This is what it looks like now:
Now for my boy Bendix Hallenstein. He is done! He is the only completed painting and for that, I think he should feel honored. This is what he looks like:
Sexy
As you can see, I've painted over his eyes and written some stuff next to him. The writing is a quote from Walter Nash the Labor Prime Minister between 1957 and 1960. The quote says "There is a major struggle adapting these people in our cultural life." which is a statement Nash made about Jewish people and why they shouldn't be accepted as immigrants into New Zealand which isn't surprising at all cause literally everyone hated Jews during this time and New Zealand was known to have turned away thousands of Jewish immigrants seeking refuge from the Holocaust as well as being one of the only countries that didn't prosecute Nazis who moved here post-WWII even though there was evidence of Nazis in the country. Now isn't that a fun fact! Below you can see the painting I finished and some planning I put into it.
As you can see, his eyes were a bit off but it was fine cause I was planning on painting over them anyway.
Right, so for my painting of the wailing wall this is how it's going:
As you can see, not too much progress there either. I do plan on drawing the destruction of the holy temple for the start of my first board but I have no clue how I'm actually gonna do that.
Also, I titled this section as history paintings so here's one that can be added to that group. I decided to take up the middle section of board 1, I'm gonna paint the red sea splitting and then also include people immigrating. I think this is where the Tame Iti influence is gonna come in. Below you can see some of my planning as well as some google keep planning.
Board lay out a sketch
A colored sketch thing and then the start of my actual painting.
At this point, I was thinking "Uh-oh Spaghetti-Os" because those mountains do not look like mountains! Mum finds the fact that I can paint people but can't paint mountains very funny. Anyway, I probably going to re-plan the mountains so that there are fewer mountains.
Another Man!
It's another painting of a man! This time, it's a Kurdish man during the mass immigration of Jewish people from the surrounding Arab countries to Israel.
At the moment I think it's looking good. My one concern is the child's face which, as you can see, I started painting the face, hated it, then painted over it, and now it looks like a demon child. And then there's also the child on the left who I don't know whether I'll include or not cause I might do some more writing and stuff but I might not do that on this painting. I don't know yet. Also, I'm slightly concerned about the jacket being too dark and blending in too much with the shirt so I might lighten it slightly.
Ok, so I had the brilliant idea of filming myself talking about my board instead of, like, spending an hour writing about it. So, here's a 30-minute video of me talking about my board. You should also note that I had just come out of the shower and filmed this, like straight away so it's a bit messy and I go on a tangent about the holocaust, the Tony awards, and probably a bunch of other things. Also, I didn't realize how weird I look in this jumper while laying on the floor. This is what I look like in the video:
Anyway, I don't remember half the things I said in this video, I kinda just blacked out while doing it, so there might be some unfinished thoughts and ideas that I talk about. Also, another really funny thing is that I didn't want my face to be the thumbnail so I used word art to make, like, a cover and it was gonna have like a title and then like a subheading. I don't know why, but when I uploaded it, you couldn't see the heading so now it just says "I am ready to drop out".
Right, so, my thoughts on my progress so far; Uh, not good. I don't think I am going to finish this in time, solely based on the fact that I don't know what I am doing for the other boards and also the fact for the past three to four weeks I have not had the motivation for school. However, hopefully, something happens and I get some ideas or something. I don't remember if I said this or not, but Mrs. Clemence said she thinks I'm on track to finish and at least I've produced more work at this point than I have done in previous years, which isn't saying much as the bar is pretty low in terms of my work output.
The League of Corinth was established by King Phillip with the purpose of keeping the peace between members and punishing Persia who had attempted to invade Greece twice. States such as Athens and Thebes joined and - in doing so - swore their loyalty to Phillip and his descendants. After Phillip’s death, Alexander became king and, therefore, the new leader of the league. This provided a great number of benefits to Alexander as it allowed him to rule a partly unified Greece who had sworn their loyalty to him, as well as allow him to pursue an invasion of Persia knowing Greece was secure. However, many Greek states hadn’t joined out of their own free will, feeling pressure from Phillip’s army, and they began to revolt against Alexander. Four significant revolts were located in Thebes, Athens, Sparta, and Aetolia, however, these revolts failed quickly with many states welcoming Alexander and apologizing for not recognizing him as their new leader. Although the league began successfully, it fell through once Alexander became king as many more continued to revolt such as the Theban revolt as well as the revolt of Agis III of Sparta, showing how when given the opportunity, states would revolt against Alexander and ally with Persia.
Although being related to one another in some way or form, there are only two twins among the 12 Olympians - Apollo and Artemis. Born from one of Zeus’s love affairs, they were born on the floating island of Delos to Leto in an effort to avoid the wrath of Hera. Despite this, she continually tried to kill the two twins. In one instance, Hera sent a python to kill the two, however, according to Stephen Fry’s book Mythos, “Zeus took the risk of incensing Hera further by secretly whispering this news to the wind, which passed it on to the infant Apollo, who in turn sent a desperate message to Hephatues, begging for the best bow and arrow his half-brother could fashion.” Apollo then slew the python with his arrows in order to protect his mother and sister. Nowadays, we would view this kill as justifiable as Apollo was protecting his family - something that would’ve been heroic not only now, but in Ancient Greece as well. However, this python was born from the earth, also known as mother Gaia. This made the python a child of Gaia meaning the python would’ve been under divine protection. Because of this, Apollo was punished by being exiled for 8 years to the Vale of Temple. This shows how in ancient Greece, organisms that were born from the Earth held importance above all else. Even if the reasoning for the killing was justified, because of how respectedGaia was to the Ancient Greeks, the reckless killing of an organism born from the Earth overshadowed any and all reasoning.
The Ancient Greeks had a clear definition of the different types of love one could experience and had minor gods for each one. While Aphrodite was considered the supreme goddess of love and beauty, she had a retinue of winged godlings under her called Erotes. Each of them had seven different types of love that they participated in ranging from Hedyelogos which focused on the language of love (i.e, fiction, cards, terms of endearment.) to Himeros, the embodiment of desperate and impetuous love. The most well-known of these gods was Eros, who Stephen Fry describes as “The strain of love after the god, or whom the god is named. The kind that gets us into most trouble. So much more than affectionate, so much less than spiritual, eros and the erotic can lead us to glory and to disgrace, to the highest pitch of happiness and the deepest pit of despair.” Unlike how modern audiences perceive Eros as a cherub, Ancient Greeks viewed him as a fully grown man who was an artist, an athlete, and a patron and protector of gay male love. He was often associated with things such as dolphins, cockerels, roses, torches, and lyres. The easiest way for many to identify Eros was by his bow and arrows with which he would shoot at people, causing them to fall in love with the first person (or animal) they see after being shot.
Fry, Stephen “Cupid and Psyche - Love Love Love” Mythos, Page 159,Penguin Books, 2018.
Intreatingly, nobody for sure knows what the Dionysiac frieze is about. There are various interpretations of the fresco including the life of Dionysus or the wedding of an upper-class girl, however, in his book Pompeii and Herculaneum Study Notes, Paul Artes states that “It most likely represents the initiation of young woman into the cult of Dionysis (Bacchus in Rome).” The frieze spans three walls and is located in the Triclinium in the Villa of the Mysteries, although possibly representing some sort of ritual, due to the Villa’s triclinium having two doors and a large door, it’s doubted that anything depicted in the fresco would’ve taken place in the room. The fresco is of 2nd style - also known as the “architectural style”. This style was identified by its heavy influence from buildings. Many frescos of this style featured architectural icons such as pillars and the frescos were meant to give the illusion of being three-dimensional. Artes states that “Later examples of the second style include more developed architectural features and landscapes. The real space of the room is made to feel bigger through views of buildings and gardens glimpsed through openings in the wall.” However, this style would only be popular between 8 BCE and 14 CE as third style - also known as ornamental style - would soon gain popularity.
Artes, Paul “Dionysiac Fireze” Pompeii and Herculaneum Study Notes, Pages 75 and 52, Bellona Books, 2007.
Recently in classics, we've just been going over some of the basics, laying the foundation for the rest of the year. This involves establishing what we know about Greek Mythology and adding to what we already know. At the moment, we've been mostly focusing on who the Titans and the Olympians are.
Titans
In regards to the Titans, I know about the story of creation and how Kronos separated his mother and father and then proceeded to castrate his father. I also know about the main Titans (Kronos, Gaia, and Uranus). This week, however, I learned about some of the lesser-known titans such as Hyperion, Phoebe, Rhea, Mnemosyne, and many others. Each of us selected a titan to learn about and made a slide about them to share with the class. Below is my one about Hyperion:
Olympians
I already know quite a bit about the Olympians due to taking Classics last year and my own personal interest. Last year I made a slide show fact file about Aphrodite so here's that:
Heroes
This term I've learnt about what makes a hero. Some of this (such as the hero's journey) were slightly redundant as I learnt most of it last year. This year, however, I did get to compare a modern hero with an ancient hero, allowing me to be able to identify key differences in how we view heroes and how the Ancient Greeks viewed heroes. Below are the differences I found between Herakles and Captain America:
I found that, typically, heroes from Ancient Greece tended to be demi-gods, they had something that made them greater than others and put them above common law. Many of them were men and typically cheated on their wives, killed without hesitation, and did terrible things. This contrasts greatly with modern heroes who can be of any gender, have strong morals, and typically lean towards being more defensive rather than offensive. These differences occur as ancient Greece valued different things from most modern societies. Nowadays, we gain honor based on how we treat and help others; in Ancient Greece, you gained honor by fighting on the battlefield and by proving your masculinity. Another difference is that heroes in Ancient Greece were also used to make examples of what could happen. End up on the wrong side of a god? You'll be cursed and suffer a terrible fate. Do something to please a god? You'll be blessed and favored by a god. All heroes suffer great fates, therefore, they are used to show what you should and shouldn't do. Modern heroes are also used as examples, however, they show how doing a great deed makes you someone. They are people that you should aspire to be.
Lawyer Paragraph - Beauty Ideals and "Perseus rescuing Andromeda"
Art discovered in Pompeii gives us insight into how beauty was perceived in Ancient Rome. Over time, beauty standards have changed and evolved, these standards are often reflected in the art of the time period. Beauty standards show us how society thought and how women were perceived during the time. An example of beauty standards being reflected in art in Pompeii is the depiction of Perseus freeing Andromeda from chains, found in the House of Dioscuri. The fresco shows the beauty standards of women in Ancient Rome through the contrasting skin tones between Andromeda and Perseus. In the fresco, we see that Andromeda’s skin is fair and lighter compared to Perseus’s strikingly darker complexion. This reflects how women - especially those of the upper-class - were expected to have fair skin. Having fairer skin during this time would have been a sign of wealth as it shows that the household was able to afford to have the women stay home in the shade where their skin wouldn’t be able to tan. This is further emphasized by having Perseus’s skin be darker showing how often he has spent in the sun. As an Ancient hero, Perseus would have been spending hours in the sun, traversing the land on his quest to kill Medusa and return with her head. His skin color is less of a marker of wealth and more used to emphasize the lighter skin tone of Andromeda. This ideal can still be seen in modern media where women have often been depicted as either white or with a lighter skin tone, reflecting how this beauty standard from the Ancient world still remains.
RIGHT, so, so far I have planned out, like, 5-ish paintings and two series and I'm working on a third. After discussing with The Council (TM), we have decided that I'm probably going to focus on the Jewish diaspora and the movement of the Jewish population. This is what I have so far:
Beth El
So, one series is going to be synagogues around the world starting with Beth-El synagogue in Christchurch. For this, I think my artist model is gonna be Gelon Concepcion on Instagram and this other guy that Miss Keene told me about (Gerhard Richter). Originally I was gonna lean heavily into the idea of painting people as ghosts and the erasure of the Jewish people but now that I'm doing more on the diaspora I'm gonna paint words and stuff I think. Originally I was gonna paint over the synagogue but I think I might include anti-semitic headlines or things that have happened within the country the synagogue is from. So far, I plan to include NZ (obviously), France, Spain, and the U.S.A. These paintings will probably be mostly on boards 2 and 3.
My sketch ideas for the synagogue painting
My first go at it, however, I didn't like it as the pov looked off so I redid it
Ah, much better. I do need to work on the brick color though.
To get the star, I had to draw the rough size on the synagogue, trace that, even out the star, draw the details, and finally, trace it back onto the painting
Eggs Bene
For another series I want to include Jewish immigrants from different countries. I'm starting off with Bendix Hallenstein (the guy who founded Hallenstein Bros.) and what I plan to do is paint a portrait of him. I'm thinking of painting over the eyes and then writing something on the white bit, but I'll have to experiment a bit with that first. You can see that idea on the top of the page from my sketchbook. I don't know if I'm gonna paint the portraits with oil paints or acrylics cause I think oil paints might make the paintings look nicer than if I were to use acrylics.
Ideas and sketches for the portrait.
Outline drawing for the painting
History
I want to possibly do a series of historical points in Jewish history but I'm not quite sure about it just yet. This would be the part when the diaspora comes in and I'd use Tame Iti as my artist model for this series. When I do figure out how to do this, I might start with the exile of the Sephardic Jews from Spain and possibly something to do with the displacement of the Jewish people after the holocaust. At the moment, one idea I have is the West wall which is a wall that remains from the temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed many times. For this series I'm thinking of including words and quotes about the event it's depicting. So for the exile of the Sephardic, I'll possibly include a poem I read in an article about the return of the Sephardic to Spain in 2015. I also might figure out how to include a quote from Mark Twain when he talks about how the survival of the Jewish people is a miracle.
Sketch idea
Overall plans for the board
I think for this year I'm gonna have a weird mix of emotions. Usually, for every board, there's a certain sort of vibe I want to emulate but this year it might be a weird mix vibe. I think the main vibe I'm gonna try and go for is to sort of commemorate the survival of the Jewish people as well as sort of celebrating it. If I do include the Mark Twain quote I'll either include it in the middle board or the end board. I don't know, I think after I figure out how to do the diaspora paintings I'll hopefully get the ball rolling or something. Fingers crossed that happens before the end of the year lol.
