Aigul MYRZATAI
ALMATY, Jan 19
(THE GLOBE)
The exhibition of the American painter Andy Warhol organized jointly by the US State Department, the USIS representative office in Kazakhstan and the Soros-Kazakhstan Foundation. The exhibition held in the Kasteev Arts Museum arouses different reaction of the audience. Some people are admired with the exposition, another prefer to leave the hall quietly. Anyhow, Andy Warhol�s creation is the subject to discussion. We present two opinions � of an art critic and of an admirer of the high art) � on the Andy Warhol�s paintings.
The art critic: Andy Warhol is an outstanding pop-art representative. This wave appeared in the 20th century and was connected with social moments, including the flourishing of industry. The development of the conveyor industry, technical know-how affected both people�s consciousness and their style of life. The tempo of life is getting faster; human values are subjects to change.
The art also changes. The subjectivity of images and great authors� themes that are understandable only to a narrow circle of people, contradict to the public consciousness.
There is the question regarding the purpose of the art and its essence. What is art? Opinions differ. The art elitism is criticized and its availability is declared. Thus, values are changed. The art is turning to customers. In accordance with this, its form and content also change. The new art foreshortening demanded new themes, images and methods that did not have any codes to decipher which we would need to think.
The mass character of the art predetermined the new wave � pop art. The source of the latter was advertising.
Fast development of the industry after the World War II promoted the appearance of the advertisement. It became one of the main methods of the social life. From the advertising of products with the help of photos, radio and other media, later political advertisement appeared. Thus, advertisement became an integral part of the modern consciousness.
It was not by chance that Andy Warhol chose the pop art. He worked for the biggest fashion magazines as a photographer affected his creative search. When he left the advertising business he completely devoted himself to the visual art. At that moment he had worked his method � from complex things to easy ones. �Urbanization� of images of his art combines photo, cinema effects and art approaches. He uses elements of both pop art and high art. For instance, on his canvas he uses the technique of silkgraphy, when photo negative is put over a thing canvas net. Often he applies to principles of the optic art. (Some of his creations, including his famous painting with the American idol Merlyn Monroe, are done in this style.)
Warhol advertises with his painting things of our everyday life. It is what we see every day. For Warhol they are things to study. To study human nature and the environment. What Coca-Cola cans may bring? This is the cliche of the American society, as the image of the modern America is associated with this drink originated from the USA. Or what about canned food? They contain a part of the human health. A spoiled can may cause death of a man.
Warhol�s paintings contain the pure information, with the help of which he presents a number of ideas. The existence of these things means a social factor connected with the industry, business, expressed through the art language. Of course, we should not forget that Andy Warhol�s art was born in a definite society with its own values and principles. That is why for the Kazakhstani audience it may be not quite clear, as we live in a different society and we have different criteria. Anyhow, the American painter�s creations are interesting for our people.
Admirer of the art: We live in the post-industrial society, the science has become post-classic, we have entered the post-history, there is the post-modernism in the culture, etc. The post-human world! The civilization is entering the human-machine condition. The man exists, acts not as the author, but as a factor of the system. The history goes on, but the man ceased to be its subject.
The system strives to make him an element, misappropriating his peculiarities and freedom (unpredicted behavior). Usually, its struggles against the emotional aspect of life, as there are still some resistance. The global conditions of the further development of the civilization are dismantling of the man as a natural creature and his replacement with the robot. Having gone out of the museum when I saw Andy Warhol�s exposition, I could not remember any of his paintings. My consciousness had the only definite rhyme. And my heart beat with the same rhyme. No emotional derangement happened. Naked brains� They were not human brains, but of a living creature having no feelings.
In the night I awaked due to the horrible dream. An electric stool. I could not close my eyes � I again saw it. An ordinary stool. But if it is connected with electricity�
Nobody destroys the human being from outside. He denies himself for the sake of the Intellect, which may spread universally if it changes substance covers.
Even the art has become the Intellect. Emotions are not taken into consideration, but only the Intellect. Cans on the canvas are the Intellect. A pile of boxes is the Intellect. It is the Intellect system, in which there is no approach to the soul.
January 21, 1954 the first atomic submarine, the USS �Nautilus,� was launched at Groton, Connecticut.
January 21, 1976 the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
January 23, 1849 English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, New York.
January 23, 1950 the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
January 23, 1973 President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.
January 24, 1848 James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter�s Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of �49.
January 24, 1924 the Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader (however, it has since been renamed St. Petersburg).
January 24, 1978 a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through Earth�s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.
January 24, 1986 the �Voyager Two� space probe swept past Uranus, coming within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet of the solar system.
The Kasteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, and V. Eifert�s works, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Closed on Mondays
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