How is that Modern Art?

Last year, my friends and I had to take a class for a fine arts credit to be able to graduate.  We all decided that art would not be a good choice and musical theater would be too much work.  So we chose to take Fine Arts Survey.  Although we chose it because it was a supposed blow-off class to fulfill our FA credit, it ended up being one of our favorite classes.  One of our favorite lectures was about art and what makes art, art.  We, much like all of our peers, did not understand how some of the pictures that were on the teacher’s powerpoint were considered art.  We were all so encapsulated by a bubble because of our similar upbringings and being in Lafayette for our whole lives.  Our “gaze” was very limited because our lack of experiences outside of our normal lives.  But, being the hooligans that we were, my friends and I played the devil’s advocate and became the biggest critics and purveyors of modern photography.  While being completely sarcastic, we pictures where ever we were and made our own “modern photography” portfolio for our final project.  Fast-forwarding to college, one of my goals was to broaden my horizons. Now I actually understand and can explain to people the validity of art because of my new experiences and my new “gaze”.  Getting out of my comfort zone, my gaze is one that is more accepting and it is pretty cool how your perspective can change in a matter of a year.

Jack Hymel

Total Noise in Layers

It is incredible the amount that we attempt to do and see simultaneously. Perhaps just as startling is the amount that is done and seen before us every day, whether we seek it out or not. This image is a screenshot, taken while I was reading an Atlantic article for class. As I worked, trying to read around the numerous pop-up advertisements and embedded video ads, it struck me just how much there was going on at any one time. It seemed as though each was trying to outdo the last, importunately crying its “look at me, here, over here, look at me!” Once I noticed this, however, I began to realize that it wasn’t just the advertising vying for my attention. A navigation bar at the top of the screen asks whether you would kindly look at more, and while you’re at it, share this article with your friends. Even the browser itself seems to call out. Temporarily unattended tabs invite you to look at still more, to do still more. Only a quarter of this screen is actually devoted to the task at hand.

These ubiquitous icons and images form David Foster Wallace’s “Total Noise,” an endless barrage of things you have not yet seen but must know about. Not only is it loud and demanding, but at times it seems as though it has an alarming amount of agency over our own actions. I am reminded of James Elkins’ The Object Stares Back, in which he suggested that people need the gazes of objects in order to form themselves. While I am not entirely convinced of this idea, the way in which on-screen images command our attention is quite reminiscent of the way Elkins’ objects seemed to seek our gaze. We have an insatiable need to see, and the Internet answers it with a similar need to be seen.

-Wellington Owen

What You See Isn’t What You Get

So as we all know, America has this weird obsession with putting up decorations weeks in advance, especially now that the holiday season has come around. Last night, while waiting in line for dinner at the BLUU, I saw some of the staff taking down Fall decorations for some odd reason (Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet). The decorations were a stack of hay bales with pumpkins and scarecrows perched on top. I was disappointed that they were taking them down, but even more disappointed when they picked up the bales with ease and flipped them around, revealing that they were nothing more than crates with hay attached to the sides. This example reminded me that there are plenty of times when what we see isn’t really what’s there. Sometimes we see what we want to see because the illusion of it being real is better than knowing the falseness behind it. From the hay bales to fake backdrops on movie sets, there are many times when what we are looking at isn’t really what it is. For example, I would’ve been content without noticing the fake hay bale crates, but know that I do know, I might wonder what other decorations they put up are fake.

Michael Smart

Does the background make a big difference?

So this semester I have been to two formals. At formals, of course you have to take pictures because you are dressed up and everything. It is a big deal to take pictures. For my formal the weather was nice, so the pictures were taken with frog fountain in the background because that is the normal thing. However, for zeta’s formal the weather was gross, so the pictures had to be taken in the lobby of Shirley Hall. That picture is on the right.

I personally did not think that background make a huge difference until I looked at these pictures side by side. While the background may not be the first thing you notice, it definitely has an effect on the picture. We will eventually notice the background of the picture and the background makes a difference in the picture in general.

Craig Miller

Lets Be Game Changers

Recently, an Instagram star, Essena O’Neill, quit social media. Before this controversy, i had never heard this girls name. I have probably seen her photos floating through the internet, but she never crossed my radar. I am not an avid user of Instagram and I do not pay much attention to accounts that become famous. However, her frustrations are interesting and her story is one of bravery and self acceptance

Essena is 19. At 15 she created her account and started to gain followers. She is a beautiful girl who is thin and possess all the qualities that girls today label under “goals”. Her captions and photos had always been thought out and meticulously created to give the viewer the pleasure of seeing her at her effortlessly best. However, with the huge following and admiration from her fans, she was not happy. This month, she started to delete hundreds of photos off of her account and re-caption photos that were left

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Her theme: NOTHING IS REAL ABOUT THIS!! In each photo she describes the horrible and self-degrading process of what it took to be her on a social media platform. That so much time had been wasted on trying to be perfect for others and not her self. We have been talking a lot about social media and identity recently and this reminded me of the Tattoo article. That millennials need proof of their existence and identity and that they must claim it to the world even if it is not true. This girl has an image, yet she is desperatly trying to fight what she created because she knows it was not real. She says this:

So what is social media to you? Is it taking away the validity and true beauty of life? Is your online identity really you?

-Madison Burke