What about art? And a note for the weekend.

So this is what I said in a comment on Reggie's Facebook status about science yesterday:

"So today my drawing class visited some local galleries in the morning. There was an interesting show of Olafur Eliasson (http://www.olafureliasson.net/works.html), of contained, darkened spaces with colored lights projecting layered silhouettes of the viewer onto the walls. The second floor contained watercolor studies for the lights, as well as a shifting projection onto a dark wall of bright colored lights coming together in different ways, studying the optical effects of staring at light and having an after-image linger in the eyes.

We all liked the show, but we weren't sure whether or not to define it as art. It felt more like a demonstration of optics in a science museum, or something. At first I was certain Eliasson was secretly a physicist.

It was better than some of the other galleries, though. One was this guy who was basically printing fractal paths onto huge canvases and calling it art. We all decided that we could do the same in Maya in a few minutes.."

So here's something to think about. What defines art? It's something I've been thinking about recently, what with talking about Malevich and Mondrian and Duchamp in our art history class. In addition, Dude and I have been having conversations that are challenging my perceptions of art, as new forms continue to appear; he takes game screenshots, in WoW for example, and some of them actually look really good. Are these considered art? As he reasons, though Blizzard may have modeled and programmed the animations and settings, they weren't there to capture these exact moments. Can this be considered a form of photography? And one of the galleries we visited today, housing a show of one of TM's painter friends, had some really great stuff, but some of my classmates were hesitant to call the paintings fine art, instead saying they were too slanted towards illustration. While, true, they hinted at stories, I quite liked them. That aspect, I feel, makes them richer. Why isn't illustration considered fine art? The paintings were beautiful.

Art: What the fuck is it?

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Lately I've been listening to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack a lot. -dork dork dork- I love this musical. It was the first to which I was exposed; my parents had the music on CD when I was little, and I listened to it all the time, although I didn't always understand what was going on. I don't know why I love it so much. Is it pure nostalgia? Is it that I like its message? Is it that I sympathize with the Phantom?

I just really love this musical. It makes me happy, and sad. It makes me want to sing.

Sometimes, when I'm alone in the apartment, I do.

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You know what's awesome? Clementines are awesome. Clementines are really really awesome. Also delicious.

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Note: I'm going to be in Maryland tomorrow, Saturday, and part of Sunday. Since I'll be at Christine's tomorrow night, I'll probably get a post up in time, and I'll definitely have one up on Sunday, because I'll be back by then. Saturday's up in the air, but I'll start writing it in a text document even if I don't end up posting. (I'll try to post. I just don't know about time and internet connection and stuff.)

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Hm, early bedtime; it's only one. Well, good night.

Olivia