I attended the Rashaad Newman talk
where he talked about many of his pieces from Herald, to The Conductor,
and Five, as well as many more. For me personally, I can appreciate his work,
but it is not necessarily for me. I
enjoyed how much research and cultural significance he had in his work. He really took the time to fully understand
the significance and history of the subjects he was referencing.
My favorite piece he talked about
was Five. It was a series of
performance pieces incorporating Vogue dance and used it to make works of
art. It has been performed in many cities including Hong Kong, Miami, and Boston. Vogue dance he described as a dance that is
composed of five elements, hand
performance, catwalk, duckwalk, floor performance, and dips & drops. Vogue dance originated in the gay Harlem
Ballroom scene. Newsome described the
dance as not a performance on gender, but a performance on identity. In a society and culture that is becoming more accepting the idea of identity in general is more interesting than gender. The movements are quite interesting and for
someone who is not familiar with the dance it is quite captivating to
watch. After researching the dance he found
five dancers who were proficient in each of the elements of the dance. He then used a camera to track their body
movements as they danced and the result is beautiful. I enjoyed the idea of the progression of the
piece to these final prints that traced the movements of the dancers. It was well thought out and beautiful. Newsome's work combines video, performance, music, and technology to make pieces that appeal to many of the senses.
Newsome also made a statement during his presentation
that I related to. He said, “When you
are given a gift and it becomes part of the work it is then put back into
reality.” I related to this statement as
I think all artists should. Our ideas
and stories are like gifts and when we incorporate them into our work they in
turn become a new vehicle that can affect the reality in which we live. It was also interesting for me to hear this because although I was not completely enthralled by his work it made me realize that as artists we are not all that different. We think the same way, seeing the gifts we are given and needing to share them with the world. It made me realize that we are not all that different. The presentation overall was very enlightening.
1 comment:
I agree with you. I also really enjoyed Five. I think it successfully integrated voguing, music/composition, drawing, and programing/technology. What really impressed me was the way the piece tracked time and an experience. The drawings become an essence of that indiviudals movements, which I thought was an incredible use of collaboration. I am eager to see this technology develop and see how it continues to not only play out in his work, but other artists as well.
I like the quote you mentioned near the end. That also caught my attention during the presentation. I would agree that as artists, visually, musically, or technologic, we all do have stories, or emotions we want to portray through our work. I think it is important for us to remember there is always a reason we produce the work we do, even if we might not realize it at the time. Our work might be our understanding of a story, or questioning of an event/culture/etc. As artists, we all want to express ourselves, and even if we don't appreciate the work, we can appreciate the time and ethic.
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