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Patricia Muench

9/28/08

Prof. Lecker

Recognize!

            Russell Simmons once said, “The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.” Hip hop is a culture that developed through Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and many other DJ’s. The exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution called “Recognize”, displays many of the origins from which hip hop developed because the many aspects of hip hop have not been recognized. Throughout the exhibit, the four main aspects of hip hop; graffiti, b-boying, mixing, and rapping; were greatly represented. These aspects were represented through photography, paintings, graffiti, film, poetry, and installion.

            The different photographs taken by David Scheinbaum throughout the exhibit, expressed distinct moments throughout the growth of hip hop culture. His photographs displayed the style of clothing in hip hop, the stance of hip hop performers, the setting of hip hop, and the different musical aspects of hip hop. To see the X-ecutioners was amazing because it showed the group mixing on stage. Then, their style of clothing was sportswear warm-up suits and baseball caps. This photograph really gave me a feel for the hip hop culture. Another photograph that really stood out to me was The Roots picture. I found this picture strange because I don’t normally see in the hip hop culture, someone playing the drum set. It made me recognize that hip hop really needs a percussion section too.  The photography section included some of the facts I knew about hip hop, but it also introduced me to facts I never knew.

            The large canvas paintings by Kehinde Wiley were very attracting to me. These paintings showed off the style of some of the major DJ’s, like Grandmaster Flash. The paintings were very attractive because Wiley made them look very royal and good looking. Also, the colors that Wiley used made the paintings pop out, which made them catch my eye. My favorite painting was of LL Cool J because he was dressed in white, looked classy, and yet had an attitude. This made me look at every single detail in this photo. All of the paintings mixed themes together, which was interesting. Some of the guys in the paintings, were in sportswear, but placed in a royal setting. A great example of this was the painting of Ice T because he was sitting in a king’s chair with a robe, but at the same time, had on a warm-up suit with sneakers and a baseball cap. For me, these large canvas paintings really brought out the hip-hop culture. Because they were in a more royal setting, the styles of the hip hop artists really stood out.

            Graffiti is something I normally see on a train, a street wall, or a truck. When seeing graffiti in an art museum, it made me really focus on what the graffiti was trying to express. The vivid colors that were used made the artwork within the graffiti really stand out. The one that I felt was most eye-catching was the graffiti named CON. To take two totally different themes and mix them together was amazing. The idea of cards mixed with hip hop culture art seemed odd. However, when I looked into each letter and found more artwork, it showed me that graffiti has a lot of detail to it. The kings holding a microphone and a spray can was a very cool concept that I felt would have been hard to pull off. When graffiti is on the street, I would normally ignore it. When I saw the graffiti in this exhibit, it really made me focus on every little detail that goes into painting graffiti.

            The film aspect of the exhibit was a room with a looping video of three shorts. This was my least favorite area of the exhibit because there were too many flashing lights in the video. Jefferson Pinder, the artist of this video, used many neon colors. When I watched these videos, it felt like a was in a disco ball, and the colors hurt my eyes. The concept behind the video was what I enjoyed. The story I liked the most was from the Car Wash Meditations short piece. The way I interpreted the short piece was that someone was listening to music as the world was slowing down around them. They really took in the concept that it was cool to have everything moving quickly around you, while you are moving slowly. After the car wash, then they have to go back into reality again. The background music was the part that expressed hip hop culture the most, and the music did flow smoothly with the video. I felt that the video part of the exhibit should have had more to it.

            Lastly, the poetry and the installation piece, by Nikki Giovanni and Shinique Smith, were truly pieces of art. There were so many meanings behind this part. Within the installion piece, the materials used, mostly came from items that you may have around the house or on the street. The part that really stood out was the collection of pictures that portrayed artists with unexplainable deaths. There was such a deep meaning to that, which also taught me about the hip hop culture, and how those people really affected it. To have the poem linked to the installation piece was also amazing. When the poem talked about having spray cans, and the reasons of why certain colors are chosen, it really helped me understand the situation. It’s not just about those reasons, but much more, of why people choose to make a piece of art such as this. It helped me understand the installation piece when the poem was being read to me. When something was mentioned in the poem, it made my eyes focus on the aspect mentioned. Overall, the meaning behind the installation piece and the poem came from the heart, which expressed a powerful message about hip hop.

            The Recognize Exhibit really pointed out information on the history behind hip hop. This exhibit expressed to me that hip hop is a whole culture within itself with many different aspects to it. It’s not just the mixing, the b-boying, the rapping, or the graffiti. Hip-Hop is something that started from the underground and then up. If this exhibit wasn’t put in the museum, the origins of hip hop probably would have not been recognized by the people of society. This exhibit makes you honor the message that hip hop is trying to express. 

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Patricia Muench

Prof. Saddler

10/26/08

Making it Today’s World

            Do you remember the time in school when you learned how to write an essay? Do you remember how your teacher said to read it over at least two times before you handed the assignment in? The point that your teacher was trying to make was that you do not notice certain things the first time you look at something. You have to look it over at least twice to make sure you noticed everything. This is the same concept that people should use when they go to a museum. Museums have many different pieces of art to view, which makes some people want to move around a museum fast. However, when you go to a museum, people should go through the museum twice in order to have the full experience. A perfect example of a museum that you might not notice everything the first time around while viewing it is the National Art Gallery in Washington D.C. Within the National Art Gallery and the NCLC 130 group, two main concepts that were discussed were sound levels and boundaries within the art.

            In the National Art Gallery, there are all different levels of sound. Deipeveen even says, “Then you climb the worn, grand marble staircase. Inside the galleries, the sound level drops dramatically. It is the hush of churches and libraries, and it makes you peculiarly aware of how your steps echo between the highly polished hardwood or marble floors and the high ceilings.” (Deipeveen 2). This relates to the National Art Gallery in the sense that in the west building, the east building, and the common area in between the two buildings, there are different sound levels. When going through the east building, sound changes were not that noticeable because it did not change much from the noisy common area. Sound changes were only drastically noticeable when going into the west building. This was what was noticed the first time around when viewing the museum.

            Another topic that came about while going through the museum was about the boundaries within art. Zerubavel clearly states an example of this situation by saying, “The lines we draw vary not only across cultures and historical periods but also within cultures at a given point in history.” (Zerubavel 66) This quote relates to the museum because even though the museum was separated into two main sections, within those sections were other sections. For instance, on the ground floor in the east building, there was the section of modern art. Within the modern art in that section, it was also divided by colored art and black-and-white art. This difference was fairly easy to notice when viewing this specific part of the museum. In the west building, there was mostly classical art. Even though this section was made up of classical art, there was also a division of skin color at the beginning. For example, at the entrance to the west building, there are pictures of white people, including George Washington. Then, there were also pictures and some tiny sculptures of Native Americans. These boundaries were all very noticeable the first time around when viewing the museum.

            Viewing the museum the second time around, a few other things were pointed out. The two buildings were divided up by modern art and classical art, but there was much more to it. The second time around, one concept that was pointed out was that the sound levels also relate to the theme of the museum dividing modern art from classical art. With the classical art being in the west building, the sound level was dramatically low. However, with the modern art, there was a lot more talking involved throughout those galleries. At this time around, it was noticeable that the sound level also related to that specific time period around when the art was created. In today’s society, there is much more noise and talking involved in public areas. Therefore, it would make sense that the aura around that area of art would match that time period. In the west building, it was at a very low noise level. It might have been because people were shocked at how different the works of art were, or that it just did not appeal to their taste. Whatever the case was, the sound level was low. A good explanation for this was because the entrances to each building set a statement as to how sound should be treated. In the east building, when you first walk in, you wouldn’t be able to tell that it was a museum, unless someone told you because it looked like the inside of a mall. Going into the West Building and up the stairs, you walked into a huge area with pillars and a fountain. It was such an amazing sight to see for everyone. The sound levels changed drastically going into the west building, and that might be a good explanation from the difference between their entrances.

            In boundaries within art, it explains to us a little bit about the time period that the art was from. In the west building, not only did it have paintings, but a beautiful courtyard and some sculptures too. When you think about it, that was what was important at the time. Scenery was a big part of classical art. Viewing this area a second time makes you think about the strategy behind why certain pieces of art were placed together. When classical art was made, as mentioned in the first time around, Native Americans were a major topic that was discussed among Americans. When people came over to America, Native Americans played a major role when America was first discovered. So that was why the two pictures of Native Americans were placed where they were in the museum. In the east building, including more detail in the art is a major part of modern art. For the colorful section of the ground floor, there was a lot of detail in each piece of art. One piece of art included Mickey Mouse. Another piece of art was a plane that was put into the middle of that same area. Both play major roles in society today, which obviously tells us about the time period. Another part of that section was the area of black-and-white paintings. This showed the other side of modern art and today’s society by portraying that people also should be required to put more thought into what a simple piece of art represents. The black-and-white art were just a few lines on each piece of art and that is all. Many people did not understand this, but it was because this area just required a deeper thought process, rather than a visual process. Overall, the boundaries within art gave us a deeper understanding of what society it like during the time periods in which the art was made. Also, viewing the building the second time around truly pointed out the explanation behind when any piece of art was made.

            The National Art Gallery was a great place to portray the concepts of sound levels and boundaries within art. To notice everything in this museum, it was required that you view each section of the museum at least twice. This museum truly represented what teachers try to tell us about seeing something different each time you view something. This was the way to get a deeper understanding about each piece of art. The National Art Gallery met all of the standard traditions of any museum, but also made it unique from every other museum at the same time. Going through the museum, you were definitely able to figure out the stories behind past American culture. People definitely had to attempt to notice what they would not normally notice in order to get the full experience of the National Art Gallery.

Works Cited Page

Diepeveen, Leonard, “Art Museums: Organizers of Culture, “in Diepeveen, Leonard and Timothy van Laar, Art with a Difference: Looking at Difficult and Unfamiliar Art,             McGraw Hill, 2000, pp. 1-33

Zerubavel Eviatar, “The Social Lens,” in The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life,     Chicago, 1990, pp. 61-80