POST 9: The Draw of 'Dead Town' - A Newsweek article (February 16, 2009)

Go there for a full version of the Newsweek article given out in class.

 

                                                                  Gabriel Hinojos

Laura Bush poses for photos with Homeboy Industries representatives, Gustavo Mojica, Herbert Corleto and Gabriel Hinojos, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 at Howard University in Washington, at the White House Conference on Helping America's Youth. I. Gabriel Hinojos is the guy that we talk in this newspaper article , he was part of a gang in L.A. and he tried to getting out of this street gang , we should explain that is a really hard situation " Getting out of a street gang in L.A. is about like getting a tattoo removed :slow paintful,scarring." . He has been at Folsom State Prison and he has got a tattoo "he got his teardrop"actually he tried to remove his tattoo "with laser surgery" to forgot this horrible past. Nowadays , Gabriel changes "became a kind poster child"who leaves behind the gang life . Actually the last sentence of the text is that he returned to jail , so he fell again in gang life. II."Ya 'stuvo" is a tattoo removal center ,it's call with a spanish slang "spanish slang for "that's enough,i'm done with that" " in this center you can remove your tattoo with laser surgery .  Some guys who were part of a gang, came and remove their tatoos like for example , Gabriel who has a teardrop "tattoed just below the eye" . I think the name of the center is really simbolical because is like to say , it's over , i don't want to be part of a gang any more and i leave my tattoos to show that i'm not part of gang, i start a new life . III. The black teardrops is a symbolic tattoo, gabriel got them just below the eye and is to know that he was part of a group , was in a prison or kill somoene " . Gabriel got his teardrop from doing time at Folsom State prison . It has been really painful to take off the teardrop . Actuallly , in my opinion , to extrat the teardrop ,is like to forget the life in the gang and don't look back again. IV. The sentence "this is the 45th visit " (line 11) imply about Gabriel hinojos that he has maybe a lot of tattoos al around his body ,since his part of the gang because ,tattoos are like a reward . It's his 45th visit in the tattoo removal center so this lead us to think that he really wants to remove all his tattoos and delete his past on his body. V. Getting out of a gang is not easy , you can see it when Gabriel says "Getting out of a street in L.A. is about lile getting a tattoo removed : slow,painful,scarring.It's a complicate situation . VI. It's not always possible , you can see it when Gabriel says "In street lore,a gang banger can never laeave a really brutal gan like Mara Salvatrucha ." also when he says "But escaping the pull of gang life is extreamly diffiult ." VII. Is feasible in the conditions that you know as Gabriel that you want to change , you go to prison , you are appologie for the crime that you have commited ,you try to forget you past ,like Gabriel , getting his tattooo removed , and became a kind person . VIII."Extremely difficult "   , Gabriel use this sentense to says that is impossible to leave a gang in the moment that you are inside a gang , you are died in a way because for the other guys of the gang you will be a looser and they will kill you because they are very brutal and they just want to kill. IX. The last three sentense explain that Gabriel changed, and became a kind person , who forgot this black past and who celebrate his achievement with the first lady Laura Bush at the White House so actually it's a big progress. But the last sentence is " afew months later , he was back to jail " so he returned in prison after all this long path , he fell again in the gang  life .  dddddng  in the aggain  X. In this photograph we saw a doctor's hand working to remove Gabriel's gang marking, it's obvious that Gabriel is painful , he grits his teeth so hard . This photograph by Justin Maxon illustrates this article ,because this article talk about Gabriel and the biggest part is about how he remove the tatttoos with laser surgery and also , in the article, he explained , how you feel when you remove your own tattoos. Well you can see the feeling in his face in the photograph.

POST 7: 'Pop Art Myths' and the 'MYTHS & HEROES' Notion

'Pop Art Myths' and the 'MYTHS & HEROES' Notion

1) The notion Myths and Heroes  focus on the main ideas which is a popular belief or story that has become associated with a person , institution , or occurrence , especially one considered to illustrate a cultural idea . Many people turn into myths because they made a mark on everyone's mind by reason of glamour, love affair, political commitment , movies, music ... and they are know finally by all the generations through the different years. We can relate the Pop art exhibition and pop art movement  with Myths and Heroes , Pop art used repeatedly famous myths like Marilyn Monroe , Mickey Mouse ...  to made art painting  but they also used object that became myths like the Campbell's Soup Cans, in pop art all the object could be art and at the same time a myth this cultural idea change the mind of people in relation to art. With the pop art movement , artists like Andy Warhol became myths  . 

Artwork by Andy Warhol, Jackie (Four Jackies) (Portraits of Mrs. 

Jacqueline 1964

2) This pop art artwork is screen printed acrylic on four canvas panels made in 1964 and each panel are 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm).

John F. Kennedy died in 1963, he was assassinated. Andy Warhol picked photographs used in media before and after this tragedy to focus on Jacqueline Kennedy ( the president's widow) . Andy Warhol used this unusual and different approach to image , using photographs of celebrities from newspaper , journal, magazines... to build up an individual's public image rather than conceiving his own artwork and his own interpretation of this American myths. This the combination of four pictures splendidly  edit and the influence of mass media covering and sharing this tragedy. This painting illustrate the notion myths and hero because Warhol focus on Jackie Kennedy who was considerate like a myth of America , her story was also like a myth , the love story with JFK is a kind a popular story , she was related with mafia , his husband was also in a love affair with another myth ( Marilyn Monroe)... The reinterpretation of Warhol shown her as a charismatic, magnetic woman and all this contribute to say that Jackie was and stay a Myths.

3) In My Opinion the Pop art movement is a kind of modern art , artists broke rules of classism but they kept using old bases of art (like painting ) .This movement took the inspiration in objects of everyday life and also in celebrities for example , and this is something I really enjoy in pop art. I also love the way of the bright colors are used it's not conventional , the reinterpretation and the emotional aspect of pop art movement are the most pleasant and that's why I really like pop art movement. 

POP ART MYTHS

POP ART MYTHS

Collage,Advertising,Comics 

(Richard Hamilton's Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) )

In this exhibition we can contemplate several collages from pop art precursors, Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton . This topic of pop art is based on Cubism and Dadaism movements. The first Lichtenstein's pop painting was Look Mickey  took from a comic book and considered also as pop version of Narcissus's myth. Andy Warhol used also Mickey Mouse as a member of mythical pantheon .

Emblems

(Campbell's Soup Cans

Andy Warhol )

Mid-20 th century, because of media , the society has been immersed with logos for consumer products ,slogans and advertising ...that were non-stop on TV and in the press . Objects were considered as specifical target for pop art. The most famous were the Campbell's soup cans from Andy Warhol but also , artists like Robert Indiana turned a series of different words like "eat""hug""err" into emblems.

Myths

 (Mao Andy Wharhol ) 
During the golden era , a lot of people achieved success and became idols for many generations . Artists like Alex Katz , Warhol ,Phillips or Vostell from different nationalities used these myths from musical culture, political life, cinema ...and changed them into art .

Portraits

(David Hockney Portraits)

The beginnig of pop art made a reinterpretation of the gender of portrait painting, the artists were able to broke up the rules and made original portraits not inspired in reality but rather precedes . In this painting there is no longer an implicit subject behind the image. However the portrait is used to make a reflection . Artists like Hockney, used Polaroids and changed the form of portrait .

Landscaps,Interiors,Still lifes

(Roy Lichtenstein, "Still Life with Palette", 1972.)

For pop art every object could become art , in the new consumer society, the object become not just a simple thing but also a thing with meaning behind . Thanks to pop art there is a reinterpretation of landscape ,interior and still lifes .Pop art become public and people see pop art in every commercial space because it's used also to sold.

Urban eroticism
(Blue Nude by Lichtenstein)
In the mid-20th there is more sexual liberty , freedom that made the spread of hedonism and eroticism in every sphere of society, the mass media the society is inundated with erotic metaphors  which were included to pop art. Automobile, and Women become objects of desire.Women turned into a sexual symbol.

History painting
Pop art ( who took part in political explicitly) used some famous historical icone like politician ( John F.Kennedy, Mao Zedong.) and  made a reinterpretation of recent and past history . Some artists like Eduardo Arroyo and Juan Genoves , used pop art to show the irony of the amnesia that afflicted them country in the Franco-era .
Art about art 

(The Bigger Splash, painted by David Hockney in California)
An important aspect of pop art was to used images about images and turned into the subject Art on art. Hockney meditated on Renaissance art , Warhol conceived new versions of Botticelli .Other artists used art on art as a strategy of political denunciation. Equipo cronica actualized Las Meninas using irony and changed it into The living room .

POST 5 MITHS AND HEROES

MITHS AND HEROES WORKSHEET