A Voyage to South America: Andean Art in the Spanish Empire

      The Chicago Art Institute is displaying an exhibited entitled “A Voyage to South America: Andean Art in the Spanish Empire”. In this never before seen exhibit are given visitors a chance to explorer art works of the artists and patrons who lived in this Spanish-governed Andes through 17^th and 19^th centuries.  This collection of art depicts the painting “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira with Female Donor”. This painting was created for a Spanish colonist, who wanted the painting for his own private chapel. Later the Spanish colonist transformed his chapel into a barn, and the image was seriously damaged by rain and sun light. The image was repainted years later by an unidentified artist, active in Cuzco, Peru. I think this artist was proud of his work and could have been poor and painted this picture to get money to take care of his or her family.

The painting, “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira with Female Donor”, shows the Virgin Mary standing with a glowing halo floating around her. In the painting, you see the Virgin Mary is covered with a white veil over her hair. Next, you will notice the Virgin Mary staring down at baby Jesus while holding a rosary in between her fingers. When looking to her right, you will notice a figure of Saint Anthony of Padua, holding a flower in one hand and a little angel on a pillow. Also, over on the Virgin Mary left you have Saint Andrew holding a bible in one hand and a cross in the other hand and a glowing halo. Within the painting you see beautiful colorful flower, singing birds, and what look like moving trees. Finally, you see a woman standing off to the far left of Saint Andrew praying and looking very much out of place.

The praying woman has on a fancy-looking black dress, with a heavy laced cuffs around the neck and sleeves of her dress. The lady in black has fancy jewelry on, such as a white pearl bracelet, earrings, and necklaces. The lady looked to be praying to the Virgin Mary about something that could be worrying her.  This painting looked to be a non-realism painting. If you look at all the people in the picture, their faces seem to have funny shapes, more round then oval, and their necks look pudgy. In the painting everyone seem to have toes and fingers that are resemble to look more shaped then most painting. When looking at the lady in black, one sees lines in her finger and a 3D shadow in the background.

I tried comparing a painting from the next gallery, but the closes painting I come across was “El Greco the Assumption of the Virgin”. It was the first major Spanish commissioned painting of the church. El Grecos painting resembles “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinqura with Female Donor”.   In El Greco you have the Virgin Mary look as if she’s being pulled to Heaven.  There you have a circle of saints turning toward each other looking in amazement and confusion. Above, you have angels expressing their joy. Although both painting has some important values in the Spanish Catholic Church the painting has similar shapes and lighting in the painting. Mary is there standing in the middle with saints on both side. You see Mary s flying on a half moon. There you have the sun rising over the cloud and down under you have what look like a coffin of Mary soul rising from the ground looking down upon the people. In conclusion, both painting has the Virgin Mary looking to be at peace.

Amir's Shameful Identity

In Ayad Akhtar’s “Disgraced” tell the story of Amir Kapoor (Bernard White), a Pakistan-American lawyer, who distancing himself from his Muslim religious cultural upbringing. When Amir and his wife Emily (Nisi Sturgis), a white artist who’s influenced by Islamic imagery, host a dinner party, what starts out as a friendly conversation soon escalates into something far more damaging. All “Hell breaks loose” and these four friends friendship turns into a disastrous nightmare of unexpected violence and betrayal.

 First of all, this lovely couple is sitting in their gorgeous upscale apartment in New York with high ceiling windows, hardwood floors, a luscious sofa, dining table and a portrait of an Islamic geometry patterning tiled painting hanging over the mantle.  Emily is sketching her husband portrait and telling him what inspired her into painting this portrait. Emily goes onto say the painting of Diego Velazquez reminds her of Amir. In Emily sketch it reveals an unexpected sensitivity part of Amir identity. Amir was born Pakistan descent and his religious faith was Muslim, and he made the personal and complicated decision to separate himself from the religious and cultural back ground that he was raised in.

Meanwhile, his nephew Abe, whose name is Hussein Malik (Behzad Dabu), is agitated about the arrest of an imam (Islam leader), who is arrested and imprisoned over trumped-up charges of helping a terrorist group. When Amir appears in court in support of the imam, he makes a comment about the trail. Amir’s name is mention in the newspaper and his partners suspect him of Islamic sympathies. These kinds of suspicion eventually lead to an investigation, and his partners believe that he’s a terrorist (and the truth about his background?).

Next, Emily’s friend Isaac (J. Anthony Crane) who of Jewish descent, comes by to invite Emily to show her paintings at his art gallery. Isaac notices a portrait of an Islamic geometry patterning tiled painting hanging over the mantle. Isaac, says that the painting is a beautiful piece of art work and asked Emily what inspired her into Islam artwork and playfully accuses Emily of being of Orientalism, stating that he’s forgotten she was married to a brown husband. Although Emily is not Muslim, she argues that racism should not play a factor in people lives, and  People are too wrapped up in the optics, “we’ve forgotten to look at things for what they really are” (Emily’s line).

Finally, Amir starts to drink and brags about his high paying job down at the firm. Amir explain how he works hard for the client’s down at the firm. There you can see Amir wearing an expensive suit and a crisp white shirt and stating how he paid $600 dollars for the shirt.  At one point Amir unleashes his anger about religion, politics, and racial comments. Amir’s emotions begin to spiral out of control at the dinner party as the night starts to progresses. He tells Isaac that what happen on 9/11 made him feel good inside when he saw the twin towers coming down.  At this point, Amir starts to show his true colors and his emotional demons begin to come out. He tells how he stands in line at the airport security check point and let them search him. Isaac is so upset he starts to argue that Amir is a racist and he’s just a terrorist and an animal.

The audience is shocked at Amir’s actions when he calls his black coworker Jory (Zakiya Young) the “N” word after she reveals that he’s not getting partner with the firm. Jory tells Amir that none of the other partner trust him Amir. Amir shows so much hatred when he suspects that the husband of his co-worker is having an affair with his wife. He’s starts fighting Emily and hitting her in the face and showing the audience that ok and that his behavior is what he was taught from others at home. No matter what people may think in every race and in every person we all have some degree of being Amir living inside of us.

Timeline

Born: Oct 28, 1970 Staten Island, New York

2005: The War Within starring Ayad Akhtar was released on September 30, 2005.

2006: Independent Spirit Awards starring Ayad Akhtar was released on March 04, 2006.

2008: FCU: Fact Checkers Unit starring Ayad Akhtar was released on January 01, 2008.

2011: In 2011 he played Neel Kashkari in the HBO film Too Big to Fail.

2012: His first novel, American Dervish, was published by Little Brown Publishing in January 2012 to positive reviews from critics.

2013: Ayad Akhtar was awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013.

 

A Perfect Illusion of a Fun Fantasy

As I walked through the Art Institute, I notice a painting from the Early American Impressionist called Lotus Lilies by an artist name Charles Courtney Curran, 1888. Curran is best known for his oil canvases that depicted beautiful young women and children in a pleasant settings on lovely summer afternoons. Lotus Lilies is one of Curran's favorite painting that shows his new wife and her cousin seated on a rowboat, near a creek at the family cottage in Ohio. In this painting you will see Curran’s wife, Grace, holding a bouquet of water lilies in her lap, just as she did on their wedding day.

            When I first saw this painting, it really caught my attention.  I notice how Curran painting reflects a perfect illusion of a fun fantasy, almost like you can climb in this painting and enjoy the nice, summer breeze, while help pick lilies. When look at this painting, you will wonder if this painting real or fake. Take, for instance, when looking at the bold, bright colors in the yellow lilies and the brilliant lighting that reflects off the greenish-blue stems, they almost looked animated, like an image from a 3D Disney cartoon. After standing there and staring, I really paying attention to the rich stroke of the brush capturing an amazing textured of the swift moving clouds and sunlight across the sky on the canvas. In this painting it looks as if the wind was blowing the trees. This painting symbolize a lay back atmosphere in the countryside.

Next, you will see how the field of lotus and lilies are spread far back in the lake with a mass of velvety greenish-blue leaves going far back to the tress. The leaves in the lake remind you of frogs sitting on a lily pad. However, when looking at this painting, it gives you a romantic feeling. If you really stare more closely, you will see the strong facial features of these two women. Both women chins and noses are curved perfectly. They have rosy red cheeks small lip lines. This is a realism painting from the Early Impressionist of the French Impressionist era. While looking at both women they are wearing elegant Victorian dresses with sunflower hats on their head. Grace's dress look green or a dusty green color. I wonder if green was her favorite color. There is a large green umbrella behind the ladies, as if it blocking the summer from their face.  

Grace look very shy and shows little emotional affectionate in this painting. You kinds of wonder was she really happy here. Finally, when looking at Grace and her cousin dress all in white, you do wonder if maybe Curran and Grace were having a private wedding ceremony on the lake. Wait a minute; if you really pay close attention, far back, maybe 50 feet away from Grace and her cousin, you will see another couple in the back of them. This couple look as if they are doing the same thing, or could be Curran holding a mirror up and painting their reflection in the background, or there is just another couple there.

1861 Charles Courtney Curran was born in Hartford, Kentucky
1880 Attends Cincinnati School of Design
1881 Attends National Academy of Design in New York
1886 Study art under Walter Satterlee in New York

1887 Earns first exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1888 Marries Grace Winthrop Wickham of Norwalk, Ohio
1889 Travels to Paris to attend Academy Julian, Paris with Benjamin Constant,
         Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, and Henri Lucien Doucette
1903 Spends summers painting and teaching at the Cragsmoor Art Colony, New York
1904 Begins teaching at the National Academy of Design Pratt Institute Art School,
         Brooklyn, New York and Cooper Union, New York
1936 Travels to Peking, China; Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Yugoslavia
1942 Pass away November 9 in New York City

Macbeth by William Shakespeare: An Inspiring Dream performed by CPS

On Saturday morning I had a chance to attend a play “Macbeth”, written by William Shakespeare, at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. This was a  performance done by the Chicago Public School (CPS) students and teachers. Macbeth tells the story of two brave Scottish general Macbeth and Banquo, who receive a prophecy from three sinister witches. These three “weird sisters” tell Macbeth that he will become king of Scotland, but it would be Banquo who will father Scotland’s futures kings. After both men leaves the witches, they start having visions of wearing the crown and becoming King of Scotland.

In this short classic, Shakespeare tell the story of one man's plans of ambition, revenge and paranoia that spirals out of control. When Macbeth and Banquo run into the three witches, one of the witches predicts that Macbeth will become king of Scotland and Banquo son will be king. Macbeth start to fantasize and wonders if this statement is true and what will happen if he was king. He soon share this good news with his wife, Lady Macbeth. Next, you have Lady Macbeth consumed with courage and concocting a plan to help Macbeth kill the king. Power and revenge lead both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth committing an evil act and leading into destruction and death.

Macbeth was an outstanding performance done by the Chicago Public School (CPS) student and teachers. The student performances was outstanding when transitioning quickly from scene to scene. You can see the cast member has an ever-moving urgency when entering and exit on the stage. The cast member's costumes was blended very beautifully. The enthralling pace of the beating drums and flashing lights made the scene  feel more eerie and scary.  While looking at the cast fighting dangerously, you will see a great deal of swords being swung and the actors engaging in some painful looking fight done by choreography Matt Hawkins. At one point, when a student named Casey Pitts was performing Macbeth, you saw two ladies speaking his thoughts out loud in Spanish. I even notice that some of the student had two characters to perform. The cast member delivered their lines with such great passionate and perfection.

I found Macbeth to be well preformed and very entertaining. After the performance, the cast member and audiences were able to engage in conversation about their performances and personal experience with Macbeth. Many of the cast members were asked who their favorite character was and what their favorite line was. The student was able to add their own talent to the play. They add a crying scene when the nurse and maid watched a young Lady Macbeth go insane. You also saw Macbeth thoughts being spoken in Spanish. There also a little comic relief in this dark tale, right when the king was murder.

In conclusion, the CPS and CTS main challenge in presenting Shakespeare’s plays was to help the younger audience embrace and understanding the connections between themselves and the characters of committing such an evil act. First, take a look at how Macbeth thoughts led him to believe he was being crowned King honestly. Next, you see Macbeth hire someone to kill his good friend Banquo two children so they wouldn’t be crown king. This shows how many of the characters action and consequence make you think of evil violence that is happening every day in many of our communities. I really like the fact that CPS and CST have this program in some school. This give them a chance to look at learning as being exciting and fun, while accomplish an inspiring dream.