Play-Play

So last term's theme was "Play", and it seems my mind is still stuck on the beauty and conformity idea. After doing a photo shoot with my younger sister again (who, mind you, was 12 years old at the time) I edited her photos and turned one into a magazine cover and the other into a magazine spread. My tonal drawing was also based on a photo of her. 

This piece was more focused on 'fake' girls, rather than mainstream girls. 

The Marilyn Delusion

Marilyn Monroe in all her contrived glory

I have decided to confess one of my festering pet peeves, at the peril of losing a few friends, and irritating a lot of teenage girls who think they have an idol: Black and white blockmounted pictures of Marilyn Monroe.

Let me clarify, I actually like Marilyn Monroe (or Norma Jean Mortensen, as she was unglamorously christened), I just don't like that people are hanging her on their walls. I like her because I think she made poignant and insightful comments on society and the nature of fame (she took a literature course at a California college, and was married to the author of The Crucible, so I refuse to believe she is an idiot), and because I will admit that I am fascinated by the charm that earned her fame and turned her into a posthumous household name, the charm that I detected after watching one of her movies and clips of her interviews and shows on the internet. I have sympathy for her because of the early death of her mother, the estrangement of her father, her claims of being raped, and her harsh upbringing in orphanages and foster homes.

I will admit that her contrivement deeply unsettles me, though. These are pictures from one of her first photoshoots.
                

Norma Jean Mortensen

Monroe's first photo shoot

            

This is what ticks me off: girls seem to like Marilyn Monroe for the sole reason that she was pretty. I have asked people many times why Monroe appeals to them. Answers have included: "I prefer her to some these movie stars we have today" "She was just beautiful" or "Um... I don't know. She looks vintage?". I believe if Monroe were our contemporary we would probably feel the same towards her as we do to Kim Kardashian, or Lindsay Lohan.

Monroe was addicted to drugs, and eventually died of an overdose. She was the stereotypical blonde, despite being a natural brunette. Her regrowth bleaching was impeccable (I will admit). Men fawned over her. She was Hollywood's sex symbol. She had no qualms about removing her clothes, and did many nude photo shoots. She helped pioneer the blonde "bimbo" stereotype that girls both despise and aspire to today. She was involved in several affairs (notably with president JFK and his brother), and was married three times. Toward the end of her career, her conduct on set became unproffessional. She forgot her lines, arrived late, and made life painful for everyone with her "diva" behaviour. She was unfortunately type-casted in the role of the beautiful blonde idiot. She slept around to get roles in movies.

She was by no means a role model. I like Marilyn Monroe.

It does not annoy me that people look up to her. What annoys me are their reasons why.

Dreams and other Oddities

So I theme for this term was "The Unconscious Mind: Dreams and Other Oddities". I had quite a lot of fun with this one (though of course not as much fun as last term), and learnt a few new tricks in Photoshop.

I'll be heading off tomorrow to traipse some thrift stores in search of appropriate frames, but for now, here are the pictures as is. 

They were inspired by a dream I had once where I woke up one morning and my family had spontaneously turned into animals. I guess, though, that they also represent peoples' unconscious animal instincts, as civil as we consider ourselves to be.

A) KZNSA Gallery

This gallery was established 108 years ago, and is now the premier contemporary art gallery in Durban, and the province. However, a lot of young people don't pay it much attention.

Recently, an exhibition was held by local Durban artist, alias "Skullboy", called You&Me: A Series of First Times (formerly called Cherry Poppin'). Last year, Skullboy collected people's accounts of how they lost their virginity by placing forms and drop boxes in bathrooms and clubs, targeting the alternative crowd most likely to frequent them. Then he made art about it. I thought it was pretty dang awesome.

Its purpose is described as such: "The aim of this exercise is two-fold. Firstly, to capture a glimpse into the reality of the state and practice of sex in our modern day society. Secondly, to create a healthy dialogue about sex in reality without the baggage of religion, media, television and moral decorum. Through the accounts of others and the re-telling of our own stories, we realise the similarities between us and our peers. Through this communal discussion, we destroy the unrealistic expectations of sex set by society and ourselves and strip such a significant event of any shame, pressure or sense of failure and accept the event for what it was, whether good or bad."

Here are some pictures from the opening (courtesy of KZNSA)

A closer look (click to enlarge)

 
               

Check out You&Me's tumblr page:  http://youandmeproject.tumblr.com/
And Skullboy's blog: http://houseofskullboy.tumblr.com

The Secret Guide to Alternative Durban

For a lot of young people in Durban, their scope of Durban mainly includes what advertisers want people to think Durban is like - sun, sea and surf, I guess. And recently I've gotten tired of people telling me "There's nothing cool to do in Durban anymore". 

So the purpose of these next few posts is to document a few of the more alternative places and things you can do in Durban - and hopefully expose an alternative underbelly of Durban that some people might never have known about before. I will attempt to (with help from some friends) document my favorite second-hand shops, book stores, flea markets, coffee shops, cafes, art galleries and music halls. 

N.B: the name of this post was stolen from something Zoetica Ebb is doing at Zoetica's Biorequiem 

Music you don't hear on the Radio

About a year or two back, I wrote an article for the school newspaper called "Music you don't hear on the Radio". I recently found it again, and laughed. It listed bands such as Florence and the Machine, Band of Skulls, and Muse.
             
I'm not sure if the obnoxious grade 9 version of me just didn't have any idea what alternative music was, or if the bands I listened to at that time really WEREN'T on the radio yet. I like to believe the latter. It makes me sound less lame.

Anyway, things have changed since then, and as the first post of my made-over blog, I present you with the revised version of Music you don't hear on the Radio, or Things I like Listening to, but East Coast Radio Doesn't.

1) I discovered The Sir Walrus Band by accident. Scarlet Hill, another amazing local band, was playing at a Durban hang-out called LIVE. I came for the main act, but fell in love with the opening one. Sir Walrus is one of the best instrumental bands I've ever heard. With the magnificent Sebastian Goldswain on guitar, Jonathan Judge on sax, Brian Stone on drums and Ruben Thomas on bass, they easily combine swing, groove, funk and rock. Find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/thesirwalrusband

The Sir Walrus Band

2) I also found the next band, 7th Son by accident, at another LIVE performance. I haven't really listened to enough of their music to form a proper judgment, but they too have a sax player, and a trumpet, which instantly brings up their coolness level. They also have a hell of a lot of energy, if the drummer is anything to go by - his shirt was off by the second song.

More photos of 7th Son can be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/LiveTheVenue

3) Staying with the local theme, a friend made me a CD recently, and one of the best things on it was Mr Cat and the Jackal, who are described as "experimental acoustic folk". If you're into strange, these guys are for you. Look for "The Devil Always wants to Dance" and "The Rain came Pouring" if you're willing to give them a try.



Photo of Mr Cat and the Jackal found at http://onesheet.com/mrcatandthejackal/

4) The Shins are a four-peice American indie band, but they aren't extremely obscure anymore. In fact, since Kristen Stewart announced them as one of her favorites, they seem to have earned a place in the "Archetypal Indie" gallery. Nevertheless, their albums Wincing the Night Away and Chutes Too Narrow include some of my favourite indie music.

The Shins

5) These guys are a little old school, and by no means obscure, but they had to show up here because A) they are one of my favourite bands and B) besides Smells like Teen Spirit, I've never heard Nirvana on the radio. Made up of legends Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. They exploded onto the Seattle scene in the 1990's and sparked the grunge revolution, but only released three albums before Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

Grunge legends Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana

Continuum

When I started with this blog, I didn't really expect much to come of it. 1000 page views (views have now reached almost 7000) was a far off dream I didn't even consider to be within my reach, but since this blog started the response has been overwhelming, not just from people that I know and my friends from Facebook, but strangers from overseas and people I've never met.

So I've decided, now that I find myself on this unexpected platform, that I will continue with this blog of mine. Not only with my art, but also with things I'm passionate about, namely conformity and fighting against it. 

The new subtitle, rather than being Beauty and Conformity, will now be Courage or Conformity, based on this lovely quote by Rollo May. 

"The opposition of courage in our society is not cowardice... It is conformity."