Street Art

I really enjoyed this assignment because although I have explored a lot of London, this made me more aware of my surroundings. Although I was just walking to walk, as I walked my head and eyes were always moving and examining my surroundings. It was a lot more interesting than just walking with a bunch of friends, chit chatting and not being aware of what's around you. So even though I found a ton of street art, here are a few examples of what I found.

As I was on my way to Hammersmith, I decided to stop in Kensington Gardens and walk the back paths that I hadn't walked before. Thank goodness I did that because this is where I found my favorite piece of "street art."

I just find this to be incredibly funny. I didn't even notice it at first but I turned my head and this is what I saw. It's 3 stuffed animal mice holding a plastic gun! How funny is that?! I think that this absolutely enhances the landscape and fits with the surroundings. I've walked through Hyde Park so many times and seen rodents running around and they always freak me out, just like this did. It's so creative but so suttle that you have to really be paying attention to what's around you to notice this. I don't see this doing any harm to the environment, just giving it a little something else. I see it as representing what's around us (all the stupid rodents) and maybe this "artist" put a gun with the rodents because they think that most people want the rodents dead (or at least I do).


As I continued to walk down High Street Kensington, stopping along every side street, and continuing on walking to Hammersmith, I came across this piece of "street art."

I don't necessarily think that this one fits with the landscape. Everytime I see stickers and such on pieces of land, I think it is graffiti and is ruining the beauty of the landscape. I love nature for what it is and when "unnatural" things are put there that didn't start there, it ruins the aestheticism of the surroundings. I saw this sticker in two different places as I was walking. The first three were found on High Street Kensington and the last one (light blue) was found on an Earl's Court Street Sign on the way to Hammersmith. I just think they are completely out of place and I would have preferred them if they were on a telephone booth instead.

I think this one is brilliant. I had never seen this before but I think it is so creative and absolutely fits with the landscape and the sign above. It makes the speed limit more noticeable and more "easy-going" persay. It adds some fun and creativeness to a strict rule. The only thing that I don't understand about the sign is why there is a lady bug on it. Who wants to kill a lady bug? It could off maybe had a cigarette crossed out (killing two birds with one stone there saying kill your speed and kill the smoking) or something like a peace sign showing the idea of killing bad things (like going to fast on the road) will help bring about peace. I don't know, those are just some thoughts because I'm still confused on why there would be a ladybug. But overall, I thought this street art was incredibly intriguing and very creative.

(For the pictures below) Graffiti. Who feels the need to have to put a little sticker on a beautiful street sign? I'm sure this sticker has some sort of significance and means something, but there's no way I know what that is. They could of at least put the sticker on the brick wall underneath the sign but just shouldn't of put it on the actual sign. Here are a few more examples of stickers being put on places that they shouldn't be, in my opinion.

 I think this "Kende" sticker is a little bit more acceptable. It's on a trash can that looks very old and disgusting so it's a bit more reasonable that it was put there. It's not really ruining the "beauty" of the trash can or landscape, it's really just adding to it, making the garbage bin look more like garbage.

I thought this picture was just incredible funny and kind of creative. It looks like it's two monsters put into one. One monster as being the whole body with a little head and then the funny monster on the inside with the glasses. It definitely is an imaginative drawing, but once again, can't it be placed somewhere else rather than on a street sign?

The Sound of Music

         Being in Brussels, Belgium last weekend I had to find a way to keep myself busy. After walking around the city, going to the parks, shopping and eating all the chocolate we possibly could…it was only Friday afternoon and I still had a day and a half left in Brussels. There were no big tourist attractions to see. There was no need to wake up at the crack of dawn and exhaust ourselves by 3 pm because of the rushing around to see everything. There were no places to travel around Brussels that were worth traveling to. So what were we supposed to do? Why the hell was I there? Well, unfortunately I’m still not sure why I was there. I guess it was to see my best friends and go to the most amazing concert ever…but that was only for Saturday. Why the hell was I there two days in advance? Well, I don’t know. But we figured out a way to keep ourselves busy. Go to the Musical Instrument Museum. 

            As we entered the museum we weren’t really sure what to expect. We knew they had a ton of instruments showcased but were we just supposed to walk around the museum for hours and look at instruments? Sounds boring to me since I have never been interested in music. When we entered, we were handed headphones and were told, it’s okay there are no words. We had no idea what that meant but just went with it. As we walked to the first floor and opened the doors to the first exhibit, I was in utter shock. There were over 1,500 instruments on display, each room the size of 2 Foundation House classrooms put together. It was unbelievable. I was overwhelmed but intrigued. I wanted to see what these headphones had to “say” for themselves and what all these instruments were about. There were four floors in the museum, each exhibit as small as the next, with even more instruments in each room. Each floor had a different genre of music. The first floor being Mechanical Instruments having music boxes, barrel organs, pianolas, etc. The second floor being Traditional Instruments having wind, string and percussion instruments. The third floor being Modern Orchestral Instruments and the fourth floor being Strings and Keyboards. I was fascinated.

            We put on the headphones and nothing was heard. We tried to mess with the volume and all the other buttons but still, nothing was heard. We finally realized that you had to stand right at the display case and when you did that, the most wonderful music would play in your ears. When we stood by the guitar case, we heard the most beautiful strings. When we stood by the flute/harmonic cases, we heard amazing notes. When we stood by the drum cases, we heard unbelievable beats. The music never stopped. It was such an eye-opener to hear some of the most astonishing sounds that I never thought were possible to be made. We ended up staying in the museum for three hours, every minute spent listening to such engaging and delightful music. And of course, we ended our musical adventure at the top of the museum with a lovely cup of tea and pastries while looking out at the horizon of Brussels, Belgium.  

           

National Portrait Gallery

1. Critique the logo

Does the logo relate to the architecture, galleries, and collections? 

Do you have any suggestions based upon a collection surrounding portraits?

 Although the logo looks more like just a typeface, I for some reason really like this logo. I love the font that was chosen and I also like how all three words are the same size, one not overpowering the other. I see many similarities to the museum but also some differences. The museum is very different in it's collections while this logo is very simple and straightforward. But, the museum's architecture and layout was very manageable and basically dummy-proof which is much like the logo, plain and uncomplicated. If they were to change the logo I would just like to see maybe a bit of color as well as the words not being written out in full (something like the V & A logo). Overall, I really don't have a problem with this logo even though I did have a problem with the National Gallery. 

 

2. Self portrait

Which portrait best identifies your personality, mood, time period in which you would have lived, clothing, etc... (3 - 4 sentence caption)... 

 I chose Emma, Lady Hamilton as the portrait that best identifies with me. I'm going to be honest, I'm not exactly sure why but I think the reason I was drawn to it was because i really liked the position that she was in for her portrait. She seemed to be a confident, outgoing, friendly and sociable person which are 4 qualities I see in myself. She also had some sort of headband-like accessory around her head and it reminded me of something a hippy would wear. Embarassingly enough, I have always dreamed of being a hippy and living in that generation (that is why I have colored my dress the way I have). I also put a Jewish star necklace because I am proud to be Jewish as well as a peace sign symbolizing hippies as well as wanting peace in the world since I see myself as always being the peace maker in situations. 

3. Study abroad friend

Which portrait best identifies the personality, physical attributes, mood, costuming, etc of a study abroad friend... (3 - 4 sentence caption)... 

 I chose to represent Lady Ottoline Morrell with Ally Stavis. Lady Ottoline was a society hostess and for some reason I really saw Ally being wonderful as a hostess in this way. She befriended writers and artists and liked intellectual talks. I see Ally being famous one day, making a big name for herself and being friends or acquaintances with big time writers and artists. I also of course had to add the wonderfully large sunglasses Ally wears night and day, her blackberry that she is on constantly and her awesome Marc Jacobs handbag. I don't see Ally anywhere without these 3 essential and must have objects. 

4. Study abroad friend

Which portrait best identifies the personality, physical attributes, mood, costuming, etc of a study abroad friend... (3 - 4 sentence caption)... 

 Oh Mandy. I chose Octavia Hill to represent Mandy. Octavia Hill always helped house the poor and was involved in numerous charitable activities. Mandy wants to work as a non-profit, social action person in the future so I saw a lot of similar personality traits between Octavia and Mandy. I of course had to add Mandy's sunglasses that she will wear any second the sun is out, her scarf which she has a thousand of, her watch that she never takes off even though the glass is cracked, a heart on her sleeve because she wears her heart on her sleeve, and I couldn't forget the love of zebra so I colored her shirt in a zebra pattern. 

5. Study abroad friend

Which portrait best identifies the personality, physical attributes, mood, costuming, etc of a study abroad friend... (3 - 4 sentence caption)... 

 I chose to represent Karl as John Bunyan because he was a writer and a preacher. Every time I speak with Karl he always has the most inspiring and well-thought out things to say, i'm intrigued every time. He also is very involved in spoken word and rapping so I once again saw a lot of similarities between Bunyan and Karl. Bunyan was holding a book in his portrait so I titled that book Preacher Rapper Guide because that's Karl's life. I also added Karl's huge headphones that he has on him 24/7, as well as an ipod to represent how important music is in Karl's life.

6. Study abroad friend

Which portrait best identifies the personality, physical attributes, mood, costuming, etc of a study abroad friend... (3 - 4 sentence caption)... 

 I chose to represent Sean as Sir William Turner Walton. When I saw Walton's picture I immediately thought of Sean. I just see Sean sitting outside looking over the ocean with mountains in the background smoking a pipe, drinking some brandy and writing his novels. He loves to write and also LOVES the beatles so I imagine him writing a novel on some aspect of the Beatles life when he gets out of college.