Courtship Behaviour

 In Biology class, we have been covering the topic of animal response and behaviour as to how they got their food resources and how their characteristics give them benefits that allow them to survive and mate. One of the behaviours we have learnt in class is how animals behave when looking for a mate. They also have a behaviour called courtship. Courtship is described as mate-selection rituals, this behaviour may involve animals doing many complicated things, such as dancing, touching, vocalisations, visual displays of bright colours, size or fighting prowess or via pheromones. Every courtships behaviours are different for each individual even if they are same species. The males are usually the one who are performing this ritual and females are the one that selects or rejects the male individual. 

One of the known samples of courtship in animals is the courtship behaviour of peacocks. To find a potential mate, a peacock would unravel their tail feathers in a certain way to show off their bright and distinctive colour to a peahen. This behaviour is an example of displaying their beauty. But their distinctive colour also has a meaning to it, if the peahen has selected the peacock due to its colour, it suggests that this specific peacock has the best fitness, hence why they are selected. Also, females consider their physical features to ensure that their mate is fit so that they could have a high chance of survival. And also they can have important consequences for the reproductive success and overall fitness of individuals within a population. 

The Fairness/ Justice Approach

 In Health class, we have started off our new topic and it's about ethical issues and how we approach this. In the past few days, we have been learning about all the approaches. One of the approaches is about fairness/justice approach.

The Fairness (or Justice) Approach 

The principle states: ‘Treat people the same unless there are morally relevant differences between them.’

• Focuses on how fairly or unfairly our actions distribute benefits and burdens among the members of a group. 

• Fairness requires consistency in the way people are treated. 

• The principle states: "Treat people the same unless there are morally relevant differences between them." 

And today in class, we have made a hero named 'Koro'. This hero represents the jury, because as we all know the jury is the one that judges the people equally in the court. They look at the evidence and reasoning of both people present in the court fairly. Their decision does not have any biases. They are the ones that make sure that laws are being followed. The goal of the jury is to render an impartial decision based on the facts and the law provided by the judge. The jury’s job is to serve justice by rendering a fair, impartial verdict on the proceedings.

Potato Tools

 In level 3 Biology class, we tried to recreate some of the stone tools that were made and used by our early ancient hominids. Instead of recreating it using an actual stone, we have used four potatoes and a knife to chop or curve the shape that we desire for each tool culture - Oldowan, Aucheulean, Moustreian, and Upper Paleolithic. 

According to scientists, it is believed that the appearance of the stone tools occurs approximately during the middle of climate change in Africa. The climate was changing and it becoming drier and colder, causing the environment of hominids to change, from having lots of trees to savannah. Because of the changes in the climate and the habitat, they become more exposed to others becoming prey. These tools that were hominids made would have provided them with an adaptive advantage, particularly in getting food sources. 

As we can see in the stone tools that were made starting from Oldowan tools to Acheuean tools to Mousterian tools and lastly to Upper Paleolithic tools, we can see development and how the quality of the tools increases. This means that as the quality of the tools increases, the number of blows that the hominids did to get to the tools that they require also increases. Also, this means that since the quality of the tools is getting better as the hominids progress, they use the tools to require food resources. And because the tools are getting better early hominids were able to obtain food with better nutrients, hence, allowing them to get enough nutrients for their brains. Getting enough energy for the brain is very essential for brain development and function. If the brain were able to function, it means that it would have the ability to get better food and a higher chance of hunting in a collective group.

Klara and The Sun post reading review

 Task:

Locate 3-5 new vocabulary words in the articles and define them.
- ludicrous: amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity.
- mysophobia: an extreme fear of germs.

- benevolent: well-meaning and kindly; having a desire to do good

According to the articles, what important themes/ideas does Klara and the Sun raise? Answer in complete sentences, with accompanying explanations as necessary (think of who your audience is)

 

After reading the article from The Guardian, the important themes/ideas that Klara and the Sun raised is the significance of love. What love could make a person do, the things that we can do just for the sake of our loved ones. The article talked about how "two different types of love: one that is selfish, overprotective and anxious, and one that is generous, open and benevolent." This statement are talking about how Josie's mother planned to use Klara(AF) and made her like Josie by implanting the 

if Josie did not survive her illness.

Locate another article about Klara and the Sun and record something new that you learned after reading it. Link the article in your post. 

The article from The Atlantic somewhat talked about how an artificial(AI/AF) perceives the world differently compared to some humans. As in this book Klara, the AF is very hopeful and believes that Josie would survive her illness and live for a long time. On the other hand, Chrissie,  Josie's mother almost gives up on her. 

To be honest, while reading Klara and the Sun I did not fully understand what the book is about because I was not in the class when they started the book. But after reading some articles about the book I have learnt that Klara is powered by solar or the Sun. Therefore, this made me understand why she is talking to the Sun for it to cure Josie. 

Connection Blog post (DRAFT)

 What connections can you draw so far between Klara and the Sun and Blade Runner 2049? For example, themes/ideas, characters, relationships, style, etc.?

The connection that I can see between Klara and the Sun and Blade Runner 2049 is the discrimination that was going on in the texts. For example, in Blade Runner 2049, bio-engineered replicants like K/Joe are viewed differently because of their social status. How the humans think negatively of them because replicants have more opportunities because how replicants are genetically edited to be higher than others. While in Klara and the Sun, lifted people like Josie are also discriminated against by not lifted people because of the genetically edited, because of how they also have more opportunities. Another discrimination that we understand in the book was that some Artificial Friends like Klara are also poorly treated by humans, thinking they are just robots that are made to follow orders.

In both texts, we saw how the characters developed an emotional attachment to others, for example, the relationship between K and Joi, also K and Deckard, and the relationship between Klara and Josie. In the relationship between K and Joi, we have seen romantic feelings - the love of K for Joi and Joi's love for K. Also, in Klara and the Sun, we have also seen how Josie loves her best friend Klara. And just like in the ending quoted "love is not about what inside the person but it's about other people's love".

Another connection between both texts is the environment the character was living in. For instance, in Klara and the Sun, the place that they live in is polluted. Breathing the air is unbearable, it gives off negative effects on the character. As we also hear how Klara hates and fears the "cooting machine" because of how they spew out pollution that entirely blocks the sun's rays. In Blade Runner 2049, we have also seen a mess and polluted, dirty industrialized environment. The air is full of dirt and emission. 

• Has your understanding of what it means to be human/have personhood changed since studying these texts? How so?

After studying the two texts, my view about personhood did not change because I believe that personhood is about being aware of yourself and your surroundings. And how much a person can do things for the sake of others. For example, in Klara and the Sun, Klara showed her personhood by sacrificing her special liquid to the Sun, so that Sun would help Josie get better. Sacrificing yourself was also seen in the Blade Runner 2049, remember how K sacrifice himself for the relationship and well-being of Deckard and Anna.

BONUS QUESTION!

• What does the film Gattaca suggest is a positive defining characteristic of humanity? (Think about our guy Vincent.) How about a negative defining characteristic of humanity? Super extra bonus: Do we see parallels in Klara or BR2049?

The only positive characteristic of humanity that I observe from the Gattaca, is how eager and persistent a person can be if they put their mind to it and their dream.

Osmosis Experiment

In Biology Science, we did an osmosis experiment where we put an equal amount of solute in 3 different beakers. In the 2 different beakers, we put different solutes- salt and sugar.  In the other beaker, we didn't put any solute, it was just plain water. Water is the solvent in this experiment, meaning the solute(salt and sugar) is being dissolved in the water creating a solution. 

Osmosis: Water movement across the seme-permeable membrane. From high concentration to low concentration

Hypothesis: The solution can be Isotonic(met equilibrium), Hypotonic(low concentration solute), and Hypertonic(high concentration solute). 

For the gummy bear in just water, I think the gummy bear will expand in size and volume due to being hypertonic compared to just normal water. Meaning the water will enter the gummy bear. 

The gummy bear in the salt solution will shrivel in size and volume because of hypotonicity, the water will leave. This is also because there are three-tablespoon scoops of salt and there is also only 50ml of water. 

While the gummy bear is in the sugar solution, I think it will increase in size and volume mass. The sugar solution will enter the gummy bear as there are more sugar molecules in the gummy bear than in the water. 
Despite the fact that I think that they are isotonic compared to sugar water. I still think there would be changes in the gummy bear.

Results:

After one day of gummy bears being soaked in the solution, I have seen that my hypothesis matches the outcome of our experiment. 

Normal Water - The gummy bear in just water increases in size and mass the most. The colour of the gummy also wears off, it almost becomes transparent. It is also very easy to break once you applied pressure on it. This is because the gummy bear is hypertonic to water. 

Salt solution - Meanwhile, the gummy in salt solution decrease in size and mass. It also becomes firm and hard, even when pressure is applied. There were also little bubbles around the gummy bears when it was soaked in the solution. This is because the gummy bear is hypotonic to water. As the water solution is more concentrated than the gummy.

Sugar Solution - The gummy bear in the sugar solution has also increased in size and mass but is not as big as the gummy bear in the regular water. The gummy bear is less fragile compared to the gummy in water, but it is also almost transparent despite still having colour. The reason why it slightly increases in size and mass is there is still more sugar molecule in the gummy bear compared to the sugar solution.

Result 

SEXXY Paragraph Writing Practice

Statement: Dennis Villeneuve uses low key lighting together with the colour green, blue and black in the scene where K comes home to his apartment to portray some ideas about the film. 

Evidence: For example, when K was walking towards the building apartment, we see low key lighting and the light is coming from the billboard advertising that is on both sides of his apartment building. During the scene of K coming home and essentially throughout the scene, the lights are quite dim and dull. The colour that is coming from the lights are harsh white with blue and green and there is also a wide area in the building apartment where the colour is black. 

Explanation of the director’s purpose: Dennis Villeneuve effectively chooses this specific lighting to portray a negative mood and how dangerous society has become due to the obsession with technology. Also, it gives us an idea about how K and other blade runners are viewed in their society. As they are viewed as no more than bio-engineer humans and looked down upon and treated like they do not deserve rights or protection. These aspects also reflects what K is feeling inside and his lack of experience. 

Explanation of effect on the audience: With the use of these two aspects, audiences were able to feel the darker feelings and emotions of K through the lowkey lighting and colour. Especially, by combining these aspects together, we were able to understand the danger, cold and harshness of the environment they live in. This is important because of these aspects we are the one who feels the discrimination K is receiving despite K being a replicant who does not have any ‘emotions'. As he is just a slave that has no consciousness and cannot think for himself, love someone, experience things as even his memory is just a memory that is implanted in him. 

Link: However, as the movie continuous, we were able to notice that despite K being a replicant, he is aware that he retires and hunt down rogue replicant, we saw in K’s eye that he somehow slightly felt guilty of retiring those replicants but he has no choice as he is a slave. Combining the low key lighting with the colours blue and green is very important because it gives us a depressed mood about K and society. 

Text 3 Unfamilliar Text

 Text 3: The Cellist of Sarajevo

Define 3 words you do not know

- Besiege((of a place) surrounded by armed forces aiming to capture it or force surrender.)

- Mortar (a short smooth-bore gun for firing shells (technically called bombs) at high angles.)

- Inviolable (never to be broken, infringed, or dishonoured)

Identify 3 examples of emotive language (words or phrases that evoke some kind of emotion in the reader)

- "The visible world exploded" - this basically means the place called Sarajevo is destroyed when they are sieged by the military.

- "He would very much like to feel his father's hand on his shoulder again." this phrase made me think that the cellist is longing for his father's lover.

- "The promise of a happy life seemed almost inviolable". this made me think that because of what happened to Sarajevo the cellists thought that their life would just end there.

What is the tone of the excerpt (author’s attitude towards what he is writing about) and what mood does this suggest (overall feeling of the text)?

The mood that this text is giving me off is the sad mood, the way the author was telling the story of the cellist who ould play in the middle of the conflict made me emotional. Especially when the author was telling us that "the war will go around him as he sits in the small crater left at the mortar's point of impact."

Identify an example of imagery from the passage (when something is described in vivid detail, making it easy to imagine) and explain its effect on the reader. How effective do you find it?

"This visible world exploded", I could imagine that Sarajevo was besieged and was really destroyed.

Personal reflections

After reading I was amazed at the cellist as he was really courageous and brave during those hard times. I also believe that the cellist even honoured the people who died by playing the cello.

Art Update

For Art, I have finished my portfolio and this is the explanation of my artwork. My kaupapa is about water pollution and emission.

This is the first artwork in my panel 1 portfolio. Basically, this is like an introduction, the factory represents the idea of emission and a dirty water/sea represent the idea of water pollution. And also the man is like throwing a fishnet and it's shaped into a skull to emphasise the meaning that sea creatures are in danger.

The size A5 painting is the view of the factory from the small mountain. I intentionally paint the smoke in the shape of the whale to present the connection of the effect of the emission. As more CO2 is absorbed into the ocean, it lowers the pH balance of the water, causing it to be more acidic.  

I am happy with how it ended up, but while doing this I was not thinking of the size of the paper, which ended up being a size A5.

The first artwork connects with the paintings below. These paintings below are the common species that we would see in the social media that have fishnets around their body, therefore, for this series of sea creatures, I want to call this series "Preso" meaning trapped in Portugues. Even though this series is a bit far from my artist model artworks, as the patterns are in front of the subject, I decided to use the colours blue(background) and black(fishnet) as her most colour palette for environment or nature is aqua/sea colour pallet. 

Below the preso series is the series which I called "óleo" meaning oil. For this series, the black paint represents the oil spill that is from the chemical factory from the digital painting. The technique that I used for the first one is paint splatter and as for the middle painting, I put some black paint and then stamped it onto the painting to create a unique texture. The artwork on the right is a picture of a plastic that I moulded into the shape of jellyfish and then I edit it and put a picture of jellyfish. From my research, I found some artworks of my artist model that has dripping black paint, and this is where the idea of black paint came from. I just decided to have different types of patterns or shapes.

This is where panel 2 starts at. This artwork may look like it's based on Tracey Tawhiao as I added a paper, but the point of the paper is to represent rubbish. I have also seen the artwork of Sofia Minson that has a pattern of triangles and the pattern of my artwork is based on her. 

As for this series, I used photography(the first one), printmaking(second) and lastly I did digital artwork and then I tried to make an oil spill, using black paint with some water. This series starts off with water, as you can see it is clean water but then in the artwork below it becomes a drop of clean water mixed with oil, then it, later on, becomes a thick drop of oil. As for the last artwork, I have decided to put a vignette.

Putting them as a series or connecting them was not part of my plan, but then I see some connection between the three artwork, which make me decide to just put them together.

I would say that this artwork can be linked with the artwork above.

It may not be obvious but the empty Pepsi can is a picture taken by me then I edited it and put a tail of a fish to make it look like a fish is hiding behind the Pepsi can or make it look like the Pepsi can is a fish. I also added to put a group of redfish that can be seen in the artwork below.

This artwork is still linked with emission and water pollution. As you can see it is a mask that is usually used and found in factories. The glass of the mask is acting as a fish tank, that's why there's fish and the colour of the water is a bit dark. 

I decided to add some vignette effects by using a black water flow. I also tried to add some vignettes as Sofia Minson mostly used//add vignette on her landscape/environment artwork.

Lastly, this is the final A3 size digital artwork in panel 2. I would say that this is the conclusion of my portfolio. In this artwork, I decided to draw a shore that is full of rubbish and dumped fishing gear and dead fish/ dolphins.  I have also decided to put the factory that is seen on the first panel. 

Art 1.2 Art + Portfolio Art

In Art, my kaupapa is about water pollution and emission. As for my panel board 1, I mainly used acrylic paint. And so far, I have managed to finish the first board and now I am focusing on my second board. On the other hand, for 1.2 Art internals,  I was able to produce 3 dry media on A3 paper, proof sheet and I am using the artworks from my portfolio for the wet media.

Why? 

I have decided to draw, paint and take a picture of the following objects as my kaupapa is about water pollution and emission. Even though water pollution emission is a common subject matter for art, I have decided on this kaupapa as I thought that it's better if my kaupapa is something I have a deep knowledge of. Other than that, I also wanted to know more about this topic as water pollution and emission is still a problem to other countries outside New Zealand. And think about the effect of stray rubbish and emission has on the sea creatures.

All these drawings and pictures are referred from all the objects I could see during the time I was doing this. 

.The first drawing is a sketch of the bottom or base of a plastic bottle. I have used 5 different types of sketching. 

The techniques that I used are: 

- Finger blending
- Cross-hatching
- Scribble
- Hatching

- 3s

The second drawing is an empty cup(left) and a crashed can. In this drawing, the light is coming from the back which makes the shadow casting in front. The very dark shaded is the shadow of the can and the less dark is the surface the object was in.

This is the last dry medium that I sketch. Just like the tin can(right) above, this plastic bottle is also crashed. In this case, the light is coming from the bottom right or I should say from the front-right side of the object, which makes the shadow cast on its left-rear side. Personally, out of all the 3 dry media, this is my least favourite, as the shadow looked awkward and the dark shaded part in the plastic bottle looked off. 

As for this proof sheet, I have decided to take a picture of the unclean plastic water cup when I was painting. This picture is about the different perspectives/sides of the cup. I have used studio light, natural light and a monochrome effect of the camera. 

Wet media and brief explanation and meaning behind the artwork:

This is the first artwork on panel board 1. 

The first artwork on the folio board is digital artwork. The picture is about a fisherman throwing a fishnet in the sea during sunset. As for the fishnet, I deliberately made it look like a skull to indicate the meaning of danger to the species. The chemical factory is also reflected in the water. 

                       Panel 1                                                            Panel 2

So far this is all the artwork I have done. The first panel, it's mostly acrylic painting while the second panel, it mostly consists of digital painting. 

Panel Two Plan

This past few weeks I have been thinking about what's my panel two going to look like. For now, I have decided that this is the layout of my panel two.

Pathos, Ethos, and Logos

Pathos, Ethos and Logos are the rhetorical strategies that are used in persuasive writing and to persuade the audience. Each technique has a different meaning and purpose. However, in order to convince them, Pathos, Logos, and Ethos are very important in persuasive arguments. 

What is Pathos? 
Pathos is a Greek word meaning emotions. Just like the meaning, pathos is used to persuade and appeal to the emotions or feelings of the readers/audiences. The speaker communicates with the listeners and affects their feelings. There are many ways to appeal to the audiences' emotions, it could be with cute animals, by telling inspirational stories and personal experiences or anecdotes. Also, we normally hear and see this form of writing in courtrooms or in politicians' addresses as well as advertisements. An example of this was seen and heard in the famous speech of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr called I Have a Dream. "But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chain of discrimination"

In this speech of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, he uses strong words and emphasis how the Negros are still not treated as equal individuals. He also showed the audience his desire for wanting his people to have their rights and future for everyone.

I have also decided to write my own sentence that has pathos. 

"We all make mistakes in our lives, but that does not mean that it's the end of our lives." 

This example emphasizes the thought of not giving up despite the wrongdoing we've done in our lives.

 

What is Ethos?

Ethos is a persuasive technique that emphasises the speaker's trustworthiness and authority to the listeners. Ethos is used to appeal to the audiences' ethnic responsibilities. This is normally seen or heard in advertisements or political addresses. The speaker only used credible and reliable sources in order to convince the audience. An example of ethos is heard in the commencement speech of Steve Jobs. 

"I never graduate from college, truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to college graduation."

In this speech, Jobs was trying to say that despite the situation of not graduating college himself he was able to reach his dream. Therefore, this made the audience doubted his achievement. However, the message of the speech and Jobs' objective was to persuade the students to find their passion.

What is Logos?

Logos is one of the persuasive strategies that convince the audience using logic or reasons. This is important as this is also used to back up your idea or claims. To use logos, it needs statistics, facts, and graphs. An example of Logos is this famous speech by Sojourner Truth, "Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman!' Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them." This is an example of logos as Sojourner Truth uses a reasonable argument about why women should be treated the same as men. This is supported and backed up by the bible.

1.) What are we doing?

We are learning about the three rhetorical strategies: pathos, logos, and ethos by finding their definition.

2.) Why are we doing it?

So we know where and how to use and write a sentence that uses these three strategies for our upcoming persuasive writing.

3.)What question do I have? 

I currently don't have any questions about these three strategies.

Educational or Enjoyable School Trip?

From my perspective, school outings should be educational and at the same time enjoyable. That is because school outings should have a purpose, for example, they should learn new things and experience something outside the school. Sometimes, we can never learn or know and answer the students' curiosity without exploring things outside the school. In addition, if the trip is just for education why not stay at school and seat for hours looking at the TV screen. Also, while learning new things students can make memories with their peers and no doubt this will be a fun experience for the students. The students deserve to earn something and relieve their stress from school works or assessments.

To Relieve Pressure and Stress

To relieve some stress and pressure from schoolwork, I would give myself an hour of leisure reading. This will help me to take my mind off from too much worrying about my assessment and the credits I need to get before the study leave. After giving myself an hour of free time I would study for 2 hours and every 20 minutes, I would take off my mind from studying for 10 minutes. Along with an hour of leisure reading, I would try to get enough sleep (8-10 hours) so I won't feel tired at school. For example, I will sleep at 9:30pm and wake up at 6:30 am. Doing this will also make my mind clearer and function well in class.

Also, If I'm under pressure or stress I like to talk to my friends or family to share my thoughts, feeling, and what is happening to me. By doing this will somehow make me feel relieved and the heavy feeling will be lifted up from my shoulders. 

AS 90913 v4 internal assessment 4 credits - Literacy || Blog Post 5

What connections can you make between the two Artists Kaupapa and uses of the grid?

Tracey Tawhiao and Sofia Minson both use grids but Minson's gridding is not visible in her work, unlike Tawhiao. Sofia and Tracey both use patterns to express their ideas. Patterns are also seen in both of the work of the two artists. As for their kaupapa, both their artworks has a touch of Maori culture, they also use patterns and in their pieces. Sofia mostly used an earth tones palette and Tracey sometimes use this type of colour for her works, but most of Tracey's work consists of vibrant colour. 

This si an example of Sofia Minson's artwork.

In this artwork, you can see Minson uses grids but it's not pronounced as Tawhiao but we can still see it, especially when seeing different shades of blue. At the bottom of the artwork, we could see dark blue and as it goes up it becomes lighter and lighter. The triangle patterns also help us to see the horizontal lines. 

This an example of Tracey Tawhiao's artwork

In Tracey's artwork, she painted it on newspaper and she uses the grids of the newspaper to separate parts of her work.

Series and Sequence (ART)

 In art, we have been planning and thinking about our folios. Our teacher gave us a task that helps us with our folio. She gave us an excellent portfolio where we had to label the things that make it relate to the folio as a whole. 

Goals

My goals in ESOL this term are:

- To succeed in the upcoming internal assessment.

- I wish to accomplish all the internal assessment this year. 

Rinko Kawauchi Photography

In Art, we have been doing work that involves a camera. We have chosen a model artist, and I chose Rinko Kawauchi. After scrolling through all her work, I tried to replicate her photography style and edit it in Photoshop. Since I couldn't imitate her work, I tried to apply two or more styles of her work and edit it.

Rinko Kawauchi's style in photography is usually zoomed in or has a highlighted part in her photography. A serene, poetic style and depicting ordinary life characterises Kawauchi's work.

These are the picture that I took and edited.
After taking photos around the school, I edit them in Photoshop. Most of the pictures that I edit are focused on blue and white. I only adjust few things to exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, white and black. I have also adjusted the clarity to 100%.

Film Aspects

In English, we are now doing the next topic which is Film/Visual Language Study. To help us improve our knowledge about film text before we look deeply at our topic and before we watch a film, Mr Aitken gives us a task where we have to look into 4-6 different film aspects and show our understanding through DLO. I decide to do five-film aspects and I choose Over-the-shoulder, colour, POV, insert shot and tone. 

What and how are we learning?

WALT: Analyse how film aspects OTS, colour, POV, insert shot and tone shows meaning.
Success Criteria: I can explain why and how over-the-shoulder, colour, POV, insert shot and tone are used to show meaning in film. 
Why are we learning it?
The purpose of learning the film aspect is to improve our knowledge about the film aspect. It also to understand the purpose of the director and why he/she uses it in the film.

How did it go?

While doing this research, I've learned more about the film aspect that I didn't know before. 

Link

Tracey Tawhiao Subversion AS 90913 v4 internal assessment 4 credits - Literacy (Blog Post 4)

 Surrealist subversion; read or listen and watch.

Locate one artwork
- Quick Thumbnail label everything.

Original Artwork

 Name: Mystery and Melancholy of a Street 

 Artist: Giorgio De Chiro

 Genre: Modernist urban landscape.

 Movement: Metaphysical painting.

Thumbnail

 

Describe the Artwork

The artwork comprises two buildings and a girl running with a hoop. The girl with the hoop looks like running towards the shadow of a large man with a stick or a spear in his right hand. The light is coming from behind the right building and illuminating the arcades on the left. In the dark area, we appear to see an open horsebox. This artwork of De Chirico is a set of parallel lines. 

Explain how subversion is demonstrated in this artwork's subject matter. 

The predecessor of the Surrealist movement, Giorgio de Chirico, intentionally subverted fictive spaces, typically city squares bordered by arcades or brick walls, to create an enigmatic experience and refute reality. The artist became interested in the notion of the eternal return and re-enactment of the myth after reading the German philosophers, particularly Friedrich Nietzsche. It was French poet Guillaume Apollinaire who first called de Chirico’s work ‘metaphysical’, from where the Metaphysical Art movement originated, with Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà as its leaders. - Statement from Gallery Intell

Explain subversion is demonstrated in space and paint applications used by De Chirico.

Subversion is showed by spacing out within the objects and show a vanishing point. We see the vanishing point in the left building as the end of the building is fading away from the further away it goes from us. We can also see a colour contrast. The building on the right has a shade of black, the street and so the sunlight illuminates the architecture on the left side. 

In the painting, it has a girl with a hoop and a figure of a man and few materials (two buildings and a horse-box). The lack of interest in the materials in this painting is probably the point he is trying to highlight and the colour of his choice for this artwork is the idea he is trying to convey.

 What similarities can you list between Tawhiao and De Chirico's artwork?

- Tracey and De Chirico are both subversive artists. 

- The two artists both use grids, but De Chirico's artwork is less noticeable. 

- They both use a subject that will emphasise their artwork.