Henri Silberman

Henri Silberman is a photographer, who was born in Paris but grew up in Brooklyn. He has been fascinated with photography since he bought his first camera at age 16.

I looked at some of his work and it really gets my attention. Most of his work is in black and white, with a few colour pictures. I've always been a huge fan of black and white photography, because the contrast is so much clearer, and I think you can actually what's going on in the picture better without colours.

Silberman takes his photos at such perfect timing, it feels like I could walk into them because everything would be moving perfectly. Even though the pictures are still, it still feels like they are moving.

"Spring Swan" By Henri Silberman



I love how everything in the photos are bold, and there is high contrast. It gives me something to look at, to think about and that's why I like his work.

"Trees and Shadows" by Henri Silberman

You should check out his website, the link to which I've attached in the beginning of the post! I'll blog again in a few days.

Avatar

Hey guys!

So I was finally dragged to the movies yesterday to watch Avatar. I was a little sceptic at first, because really, another movie about aliens? But it has been at the top of the box office for some time now, so it was obviously something people enjoyed.

You can read the summary here.

And what I'm about to write contains spoilers, so only read what comes next if you've already watched it or if you don't really care.

It really got me thinking when I came out though. One of the main themes was that humans will do anything for money. They drove over the Na'vi's sacred trees just so they can get access to the valuable material there.

Humans destroyed the Na'vi's homes and even killed some of them. People are driven by greed. I love that so many people acknowledge that and raise awareness of it.

Filmmakers sneakily put in the message that humans are destroying the Earth, and in Avatar, they showed that humans were going to destroy Pandora, (the Na'vi's planet) too. It made me think that there are people that care about our planet, and they are smart enough to make people think about it in a movie.

Seeing that, and remembering other movies I have seen that convey similar messages, I want to communicate messages like that through my art.

I think I'm going to try and work like that now. New projects I start, I think are going to have to do with that; I really want to make a difference.

Anyways, that's all for this week, I'll post again in a few days.

Roshni

El Anatsui

I found out recently that I am a very privileged student, because I get my artwork displayed at the ROM, along with the world renowned artist El Anatsui. And because of that I'm going to share some information about him.

Anatsui is a sculpter, born in 1944 in Anyako, Ghana, and was taught at the College of Art, University of Science. He has been working as a professor at a Nigerian University for about thirty years.

Much of Anatsui's work is based on traditional Ghanaian beliefs. The mediums he uses change a lot; once it was clay, mixed normally with manganese. After, he made wall panels with wood strips placed next to each other; he cut and burned designs into them.

Some of the themes of his work are destruction and reconstitution, as mentioned before, he likes to base things off traditional Ghanaian and African beliefs and cultures.

Most recently, he has taken hard, ugly metal liquor bottle caps taken from garbage and turned them into something beautiful and flowing. He wants to get rid of metal's usual stereotype of hard, rigid, stiff, rusty material, and let people see that it can be soft, and it can be beautiful. Some also resemble African cloths.


His artwork has focused on a wide range of social, historical and political issues. The art can have many meanings. A historical example is that European traders used liquor bottles as currency when they wanted slaves, and the liquor was usually a product of slave labour. Anatsui's artwork reminds people of this.

Anatsui's work is extraordinary to me, especially his metal cloths. They jump out at me and they look so delicate and soft to touch. He makes me think that metal doesn't always have to be a hard, heavy, ugly brick. It looks almost delicate, like it would tear if anyone were to touch it, and I never would have thought of metal in that way before I saw his work.

I am ecstatic that I am going to be working with such a talented artist at the ROM, and I know it's going to be an experience I'll never forget.


Works Cited:

"Brahim El Anatsui." African Success. 14 Jul 2007. African Success, Web. 15 Feb 2010


Worth, Alexi. "A Thousand Bottles." The New York Times. 02 Feb 2009. The New York Times, Web. 15 Feb 2010.

Krut, David. "El Anatsui New York." October Gallery. October Gallery, Web. 15 Feb 2010. .

Hello All

Hi everyone! I'm Roshni Patel, and I'm a year 2 CyberArts student. This is my first entry, and I'll be posting alot. As time goes I'll work on the blog frequently, posting graphics, pictures, artwork and such. I hope you like your visit!