If you don’t know what chance music is, then I suggest that you read up on it as soon as possible. Honestly, it’s pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you don’t have time to read or have no idea what I am talking about, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

“Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word alea, meaning “dice“) is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work’s realization is left to the determination of its performer(s). The term is most often associated with procedures in which the chance element involves a relatively limited number of possibilities.” 

John Cage was a music theorist, writer, philosopher, artist, and one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was known for his experimental music and for his creation of the prepared piano (and of course several other things). One of his most famous and most controversial pieces was entitled 4’33″ (pronounced “four minutes, thirty-three seconds”). Since there is no video of him performing this piece, here is someone else playing it.

A good piece that you can see John Cage perform in is in his performance of Water Walk which was aired on television back in the day.

John Cage was such a strange individual and many people don’t understand why he was and still is such an influential composer. I think it just takes a very open mind in order to enjoy his pieces. In all honesty, I enjoy listening to his stuff on occasion and absolutely enjoy reading about him and his work. I’m pretty sure John Cage would be my perfect match.

I wanted to record some video of today’s performances but my camera on my phone was acting funny so I was only able to take some pictures. But here’s a video of someone else, just to show which piece opened and closed today’s performance. It’s entitled Suite for Toy Piano, by John Cage.

Anyways, here are some photos from the event:

At this point of the performance they started talking about moustaches and this guy (above) put on a fake moustache. After that, they all began chanting “moustache.”

Also, here’s one of my favorite art pieces at the Blanton.

Honestly, it was such an entertaining event, I wish they would do this again.

Austin, you’re weird, but I like you that way.

♥

]]> http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/john-cages-musicircus/feed/ 0 Monklin MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS musicircus MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS MUSICIRCUS http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/architects-of-art-mirazozo-luminarium/ http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/architects-of-art-mirazozo-luminarium/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:01:55 +0000 Monklin http://monklin.wordpress.com/?p=354 ]]> Earlier today my friend Vanessa and I went to the Long Center for Performing Arts to go see this thing called the Mirazozo Luminarium.

“What is the Mirazozo Luminarium?” you might ask. Good question!

The Mirazozo Luminarium is one of four air-filled structures made from this thin colored PVC (or plastic) and its design is based off of Islamic art and architecture. It is compared to an aquarium but instead of being filled with water, it’s filled with beautiful light. The structure is completely hand-glued and took four months to make each structure (correct me if I’m wrong).

Before entering the structure, you have to remove your shoes and leave your belongings at the entrance. After doing so, they would let a number of people in at the same time so the air does not escape the structure. Once you’re inside, you are allowed to roam around the maze-like structure, spin around, or even sit on the floor and just look around at all the amazing colors. And honestly, it was just a beautiful experience.

I honestly don’t know how to put my experience into words. It was just breathtaking and just absolutely serene. It felt like I was totally in a different world. (Or maybe even a space ship. Or even the inside of somebody’s mind. Or even Tron!) The colors were magnificent and the place was just filled with such positive feelings. If you ever have a chance to visit one of these luminariums, you absolutely must go. Currently there are four luminariums touring around the world so if you ever spot one, do not pass this wonderful opportunity. It’s for all ages and is even wheelchair accessible so absolutely no one is left out from this amazing experience.

If you want to know more about this project, you should visit their website at: http://www.architects-of-air.com/.

]]> http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/architects-of-art-mirazozo-luminarium/feed/ 0 Monklin mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo mirazozo http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/girl-walk-all-day/ http://monklin.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/girl-walk-all-day/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:57:53 +0000 Monklin http://monklin.wordpress.com/?p=345 ]]> If you haven’t already seen this, I am encouraging you to watch this ASAP.

Official Trailer: Girl Walk // All Day from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.

This has to be one of the most uplifting movies/series to come out on the internet in the longest time. Well, at least in my personal opinion.

Girl Walk // All Day is a 75 minutes movie set in New York City and it follows the three main characters, the Girl, the Gentleman, and the Creep. Don’t think this is just some ordinary dancing. There are quite a few surprises in here that will make you smile more than you already are, giggle out loud, and make you dance in your seat. I must commend them on their top hits mash-ups of hip-hop/rap/pop pop lyrics and pop/rock beats. You will hear familiar songs such as songs by U2, Lady Gaga, the Police, Missy Elliot, Cyndi Lauper, Basement Jaxx, Arcade Fire, and many other recognizable artists. And don’t think that there is no plot in this story because there totally is.

This seriously makes me want to dance more than anything right now.

Make sure to watch the whole series at http://girlwalkallday.com/watch-the-film.

I promise you, you definitely won’t regret it!

Hope this brightens up your day!

The impressionism paintings on the plate are: Dance in the City by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, le Foyer de la danse (the Dance Foyer at the Opera) by Edgar Degas, Les Coquelicots (Poppies Blooming) by Claude Monet, and the Night Cafe Terrace by Vincent van Gogh. 8 plates for $13.77 and my favorite find of today! I tried looking up how much they costs but couldn’t really find anything. Though I found an old post that someone sold a set of four dishes like these for $20, so I think I got a pretty good deal!

I’ve been wanting a basket to hold the fruit on the counter for several months now. It looked brand new so I decided to get it. It cost me $4.32 at Thrift Town which is not too bad. I stumbled across the owl above at Goodwill along with the magazine rack and the table & chairs below. My total for that came out to $11.85, not too bad either! I’m thinking of painting the owl but I’m not sure if I just want to do it white, black, or a different color. Also, I accidentally chipped the “ear” part of it a bit when I got back to the apartment.

I use to have this table and chairs when I was a kid and it’s still in our family today. My  niece and nephew use it to eat in the kitchen. When we moved into our new house before my niece and nephew lived with us in my hometown, we brought the table and one chair with us. We left the other one back at the old either because we used it to sit down when we were still cleaning up the whole house while we were moving or because it was somewhere lost at the time. One time we were in San Antonio thrifting, we came across one of the yellow chairs and decided to get it since we were missing the other. So finally when my momma recently sold the old house a couple of months ago, we brought the other yellow chair and ended up with 3 little yellow chairs. So today when I came across the table and chairs, I called my momma and asked her if I should buy it or just leave it. I thought she was going to say to only buy one yellow chair but she told me to get the whole thing since we always have her side of the family over and everyone has a million kids.

Normally a brand new Little Tikes set costs $54.99 (before tax) and I paid $7.97 (before tax).

Have you ever sat in one of these Little Tikes chairs? They are seriously the sturdiest chairs ever made. I believe they should totally make adult furniture out of the same material. I bet those would last forever like my old set!

Anyways, now I’m back and I’ve been lazier than ever, but at least I’m getting sleep now. School starts next Tuesday and I am unbelievably excited! Three art classes and I have Fridays off. Pretty cool, huh?

Before I left Austin, I had bought a couch but we had to wait a month before we got it. The salesperson told us that they would call us right after Christmas when my couch has arrived from the warehouse at the beginning in January. So far there hasn’t been any call and I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m not going to get my couch any time soon. Anyways, here’s a picture of the lovely couch that I ordered.

It’s such a brilliant shade of red! Those who know me really well, know that I love bold colors and how much I absolutely love the color red. I only got the couch since I thought the ottoman wasn’t too aesthetically pleasing in person.

Last Saturday, my momma and I went looking for glasses here in Austin since we could not find ones we liked back in my hometown. I liked the first pair that I tried on but continued looking around to only end up with the first pair again.

My mother ended up choosing ones from the same designer. Luckily for her they already had her lenses available at the store so she was able to pick them up the next day while I have to wait 7-14 days. Oh, well.. I’ll be patient.

While thrifting the other day with my parents at Goodwill, my mother was looking at the furniture section and called me over to see a coffee table that was for sale. It was a modern coffee table that had an artistic feel to it. It seemed pretty awesome but I didn’t think much of it. Though I did end up leaving with two bunny statues (that I’m going to spray paint white soon), a magazine rack (that I was going to paint black but decided not to in the end), and the book Canterbury Tales (because I’m a sucker for classics).

The next day while picking up my mother’s glasses, I kept think about the coffee table nonstop and how I haven’t seen any other coffee tables I liked at any of the furniture stores we’ve been too. I decided to go back to Goodwill to see if that coffee table was still for sell and luckily no one had touched it!

I found the same table online priced from $200(used) to $700(new) and I ended up paying only $43.29 for it. Even though it is chipped in two places and has a barely noticeable scratch, I still think it was such a good buy!

Now to wait for that pesky couch to be delivered so my roommate and I can finally have a living room to sit in.

Why hello there, 2012!

Oh, yeah! Did I mention that I got an iMac as a Christmas&Birthday gift? I will probably be posting some digital artwork now that I have photoshop and a large space to use.

Hope you all had an amazing year and are also looking forward to 2012 like I am.

My classes were interesting to say the least. All of my teachers were unique in their own way and had a lot to talk about certain subjects and even included their own opinions which I didn’t see as much as my past professors in my hometown. Though out of those four classes, two of them were always a delight to attend, and of course they were both about art.

My art history class was always very interesting due to the fact art is already interesting enough but also because my professor was such a unique individual. He was always energetic, optimistic, and very entertaining. Even our TA who taught our discussion class was very passionate about art history and was also very optimistic. I must say that I’m going to miss that class a lot.

But the of course, one class that I will terribly miss will be my digital art class. I seriously had the most fun and was the most stressed because of  this class. I’m glad to say that I actually learned a lot about many different programs such as Premiere,  Illustrator, and AfterEffects. I even got some artwork displayed in one of the hallways in the ART building at UT, so I’m actually very proud of that. Plus, Neal is such a cool guy so his class was very enjoyable.

I also went to Wizard World Comic Con here in Austin with my friend Javi a few weeks ago so that was kind of fun! We even got to meet some cast members from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here are a few pictures from that event:

I even made a TARDIS bag for the event!

One thing I’ve been doing a lot since I moved here to Austin is baking and actually cooking meals from scratch. No idea where  I got this inspiration to cook from but I’m glad I’m actually being productive in some way. So of course, here are a few things I’ve cooked and baked:

And I even got to make a sugar skull for Dia de los Muertos with a $1 skull mold I found at Michael’s:

I went back to my hometown last week for the Thanksgiving break and I must say that I really missed my family. Next weekend I’ll probably be back in my hometown for about five weeks then it’s back to school again.

Good night for now!

School has been pretty fantastic. My classes are actually very interesting and so are my teachers and the teaching assistants. I’ve gotten to know a few people, so that’s a good start. Homework has been moderate but at least it hasn’t been boring. For one of my assignment, I had to read the play Twelve Angry Men written by Reginald Rose. I must say it was pretty interesting, so I encourage you and highly recommend reading it.

At my university they have “landmarks” all around the campus, such as statues, paintings, etc. Well, there is a television in the ART building that plays an old but famous visual art video and every month they change it to another one. Last month’s video was called Vertical Roll by Joan Jonas and I must say that it makes me so ill. I really don’t like to talk about it very much because I have this feeling in my gut that makes me cringe every time I think about it. So here’s a link to the art piece that I found on YouTube, maybe you’ll understand why:

In the ART building there are these wooden stairs that you are allowed to sit on to watch the video. Above that area there is a speaker to listen to the video that is playing. When there’s a lot of activity going on in the building you can barely hear it, but when it’s quiet, it is quite loud. So after sitting there for an hour for your next class to start, the banging really gets to you. Anyways, they finally changed it this past week and it is so much nicer compared to Vertical Roll. This month’s video is I am a Victim of This Song by Pipilotti Rist.

The song is actually a cover of Chris Isaak’s song entitled Wicked Game and I’m assuming it is a parody of his music video. In my honest opinion, this is not one of her best works. Though one that I absolutely adore is her piece entitled, I Couldn’t Agree With You More.

I find her just absolutely stunning in this piece.

I always hear so many negative comments about her art pieces but despite my “hatred” for visual art, I’m actually attracted to her work ( and especially her later pieces that are just so visually pleasing). So with that note I shall end this post with one of her more appealing pieces.