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pagansphinx · 3 months

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Art Movements

Art movements, "schools", artist groups, and societies do not function in the same way as they once did. There were art movements in the earlier years of contemporary art but those too have gone the way of art history. In the late 20th to 21st centuries there are no art movements to speak of, due to globalization and the sheer volume and diversity of the art world. Even Conceptual Art, which endures to this day, is more of a term or category than a movement.

Some will argue that there are lots of contemporary art movements – Minimilism, Monochrome, and Participatory Art, to name a few. True, though I see these as a club with so many members that connection and cohesiveness are impossible to achieve. That isn't to say that's bad. Again, it's due to how large, diverse, and world-wide these movements are. Everyone doesn't know everyone as they did in Impressionism or Surrealism.

An example of Monochrome Art

Robert Ryman (American, 1930-2019 • Ledger • 1982 • Enamelac paint on fibreglass, aluminium and wood • Tate Modern

l'm nostalgic about the art created before the 1950s. I like some of work done in the earlier movements of contemporary art — pop art is fun. The Fluxus Movement produced some cool stuff –à la Yoko Ono. Word Art is not my favorite, though it is unlike me to dismiss it as bad art because I've not seen much of it.

An example of Word Art

Barbara Kruger (American, b. 1945) • Untitled (Your body is a battleground) • 1989 • photographic silkscreen on vinyl

An example of Participatory Art

I "participated" in this artwork – Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.). It was colorful, interesting, and fun but also very sad. I believe it was at The Whitney in New York. It's a pile of candy in confetti colored wrappings (In other installations the colors vary). It can exist in more than one location at the same time, starting with a specific weight 175 pounds (79 kg). Participants are encouraged to take one candy and the quantity diminishes. The artist, Félix González-Torres was a gay man whose partner, Ross Laycock, died of complications of HIV/AIDS in 1991. One art critic's interpretation of the art work was "the diminishment recalls how he (the artist's partner) wasted away before dying." Félix González-Torres himself died in 1996 of HIV.

Félix González-Torres (Cuban-American, 1957-1996) • Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) • 1991

What is your favorite contemporary art movement or individual artist? Please comment. You don't have to be an expert, you just have to know what you like. I'd love to hear from you!

#art #art history #art movements #contemporary art #21st century art #word art #conceptual art #monochrome art #felix-gonzales torres #barbara kruger #robert ryman #participatory art #contemporary art movements #20th century art movements #hiv/aids #queer artist #woman artist #pagan sphinx art blog #writings about art

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jung-koook · 4 months

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I am not the one to test this week.

We can be as dramatic as we damn well please. If we want to cry every second of the day for however long we can/want. we will. If we feel like somethings been taken from us. Or we’re experiencing a loss. We are perfectly in our right to do so. If people are screaming crying and throwing up let them. If people are having panic attacks. If they’re coping really well. If people are “been through this I got this”. And If they’re not. You don’t get to decide what the appropriate response to their sadness/loss/anxiety whatever else is. When you feel connected to something. Whether you knew it’d leave or be lost or leave briefly. You will still feel that loss. And you’re entitled to that.

Everyone deals with things differently, it is true. However, in my belief, If you’re way is to go and hurt peoples feelings and being mean and minimize peoples feelings or thoughts though, or do that cause it’s not how you feel, go on the internet and see someone’s having a bad day and proceed to make it worse or be rude. I have something to tell. That is not the way. (This goes to anyone who chooses to mean instead of kind. Don’t be fooled you can be kind and still not deal with things people say or do to you. You can be kind and put people in their place. Jungkook is a perfect example of that.) Everyone deserves to be heard and seen. And wants to be heard and seen, without being told not to feel/think a certain way, or minimilized or dramatic.

If you don’t like something or something bothers you. Here’s something totally wild I know it’s controversial… you don’t have to interact or consume it, or continue to interact or consume it. you can choose to leave it alone and move on to things that actually make you happy or you want to engage and interact with. You can choose your peace and happiness. You can choose not to spend your energy there. Super wild. I know.

I think best kind of person is one who can be kind in most circumstances. Who sees someone’s having a bad day and offers even the littlest of empathy. If it’s online a nice message goes a very long way. You don’t need a reward to be kind. But knowing you didn’t contribute to make someone’s day bad. Knowing even in the briefest moment you could’ve made them feel seen at the least. And “:)” at best. Is so much better so so much better. It’s a much better feeling too.

Im sorry I made this long. It just really bugs me when people actively chose not to be kind. It’s so much easier to be kind then it is to be anything else.

THISSSSSSSSS^^^^^^ I love everything you said and I have nothing else to say other than how amazing you seem to be and I love your sassy personality, I think I want to be your best friend 🥹

#reply #anonymous

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whoredmode · 11 months

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A DUBIOUSLY ACCURATE HISTORY OF STILWATER (& STEELPORT)

So if it’s not obvious by the obnoxiously long post I’ve made talking about the musical history of Stilwater, I’m fascinated by the worldbuilding of Saints Row. And in my quest of learning more about the setting of the series, I’ve pieced together my own headcanons on the general history of the city…and its cousin, Steelport. I’ve spent the last several days going over canonical histories of both cities, primarily Stilwater as it was my original goal, and put together my own ideas of how I think the cities developed prior to the start of the games in 2006. Some of this is based on actual canon evidence, other stuff is just my own conclusions.

CANON TIMELINE

1783

Knight Plaza is founded, predating the founding of Stilwater itself

1787

Pennsylvania becomes a state

Unspecified year in the 1800s

Stilwater founded

1827

Steelport founded

1837

Michigan becomes a state

1940

Stilwater builds a new sewer system

Post-1940: An earthquake strikes Stilwater

1947

Sunset Park is built in Steelport

1970s

Vice Kings VS Los Carnales. Assumedly mid-to-late 70s into early 80s

1977: Stilwater is voted the most family-friendly city

MAPPING THINGS OUT

So it’s never exactly stated where Stilwater and Steelport are located comparatively. We know they’re in the Rust Belt, and Stilwater is expressly stated to be in Michigan. I’m inclined to say the cities are fairly close to each other (Stilwater in Michigan while Steelport is probably closer to Pennsylvania), probably several hours by car, if only because of similarities in industry, aesthetics, and even a few moments in-game. It can be fairly easily implied that the cities are within several hours driving distance of each other (my guesstimate is 7-8 hours away by car); especially given that in the beginning of SRTT they are able to land in Steelport so quickly despite assumedly not even being in the plane for more than an hour before they blow it up.

TIMING THINGS OUT

The Stilwater Church is a gothic style church, assumedly a product of the gothic revival in the mid-1800s. Given that Steelport was founded in 1827, I’d say Stilwater was founded around this time as well, potentially ~1830. It was an unused territory for several years and did not get further development until after Michigan’s statehood was granted in 1837.

I believe, given the architecture of Old Stilwater and the architecture of older buildings in Steelport, that both cities had a huge economic boom starting in the 1920s and had a period of growth and expansion. I’d say things were looking up for Stilwater going into the 1940s and 50s, but the earthquake sent the city into a really bad place economically. Worth noting that Steelport did not seem to be affected by the earthquake or tremors, which allowed it to continue to prosper while Stilwater tried to pick up its broken pieces.

Let’s go back a little into the 1800s, after Stilwater’s founding. I believe some time in the late 1830s/early 1840s, private railways were laid nearby to Stilwater, but the area itself would not get connected to the mainland of Michigan by rails until around the 1850s. Initially it was being used as a place for manufacturing, but wealthy people with railroad money saw the potential for a resort area. We’ll get into that in a moment.

Stilwater clearly had some manufacturing business as evidenced by the factories and boatyards, but I don’t think it ever reached the level of industry as Steelport did. Steelport also had the advantage of being founded a few years earlier. We know canonically that Stilwater has a steel factory and an oil refinery. I believe the steel factory is a minimill specifically, given its small size and the junkyard nearby; this means it uses scrap metal in its steel production. I’d date the mill around the 1890s but with several updates through the years until it was ultimately shut down. The oil refinery was probably built around the 1950s or 60s given its look, though it still appears to be somewhat operational? You can still see plumes coming out of the towers.

I know the Carnales own it, but I don't think they're necessarily refining oil or even using it as a cover for something; I think they’re getting profits from it and protecting it. From what I can tell the oil refinery may be the only factory still in actual operation, as the steel mill is just being used for the Carnales’ arms dealing.

So where does that leave Old Stilwater’s actual primary industry? If it’s not steel factories like Steelport, and the oil refinery didn’t come into being until around the mid-20th century, what did the city do? All throughout Stilwater there’s old, decommissioned railway tracks.

Parts of them were obviously meant for more general transportation of products, as evidenced by the tracks near the factories, but others follow the slightly newer, raised tracks of the transit system. This implies that at one point, Stilwater had a need for moving people into and out of the city. Given that the tracks also led to a nice hotel at one point (the hotel underground in SR2), there was clearly a market for people getting around to some sort of entertainment and/or hospitality.

Which leads me to my theory/headcanon/whatever that Stilwater, starting in the late 1800s and into the early 20th century, had a nice trolley park and was known mostly for its entertainment. This became its primary source of revenue.

For starters, all throughout SR2, there is talk about returning Stilwater to former glory, and tourism is obviously its most booming industry at that point in the series, so this seems to imply that it was known for tourism at one point. Stilwater itself has such a heavy emphasis on pleasure in the first two games, so it feels as if that’s always been a part of itself. Even just the fact that a record label was able to start and flourish there says that there is an entertainment scene in Stilwater and it’s a core part of its identity. Not to mention it being voted a family-friendly city in the late 70s, a point where it looked as if it might’ve started to recover from its post-earthquake troubles, further implies that there was a family-friendly image it kinda had. I think the idea of it being a trolley park in the late 1800s and into the 1900s makes a lot of sense. Stilwater itself is quite picturesque, and trolley parks began because of the rise in popularity of picnics. Families and friends went out to the nice waterside area of Stilwater, and suddenly there’s a need for more direct lines into and out of the area; next thing you know there’s new entertainment being constructed so more and more people want to come in. This all follows a pretty clear line in terms of what’s in Stilwater.

Trolley parks went out of fashion with the rise of amusement parks in the 1920s, and though Stilwater doesn’t have an amusement park, I believe Stilwater went in the direction of building venues for things like cabaret, bars, and brothels. It ended up leaning more heavily on adult entertainment, which makes sense given how it looks at the start of the series. Stilwater became synonymous with pleasure, even if it was starting to shy away from the more all-ages entertainment it had in the 19th century.

So by the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Stilwater was an extremely popular destination. It had great entertainment, beautiful hotels, and easy access to sex, drugs, and alcohol. All of this caught the attention of the Carnales, probably around the late 40s, and by the 1950s they began to have a hand in many of the institutions of Stilwater.

One thing that caught my attention was a radio ad in SR1 in which Hughes says that his parents moved to Stilwater 50 years ago (so around 1956) and that, at the time, Stilwater was still a lively place. If we’re to assume the earthquake was the beginning of the end of Stilwater, we can easily guess that the earthquake either happened later that same year, or a year afterwards. With that in mind, around 1956-57, a huge earthquake hits Stilwater, razing most of the city. The place is in shambles, both physically and economically. That said, the Carnales are still expecting things like payments for their business, but now many people are unable to comply, having lost their means of income. In turn, the Carnales became a much larger, even more intimidating presence in Stilwater all throughout the rest of the 50s and 60s.

Presumably at some point in the 1960s, a cult begins to form. People were seeking guidance and safety in the wake of such a huge natural disaster, and thus Philosotology began to take form. It stays relatively in the background for most of its life, but throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s more and more people join, especially those in places of power. I won’t get too into the development of Philosotology, as this is about the more general history of Stilwater, but I would be remiss to not mention it. The point being, by the 80s and 90s, they’re running things from behind the scenes, to the point they’re just a staple of Stilwater come modern day.

As we move through the 20th century, the progression of the canon story takes form. In the 70s, Julius Little and Benjamin King—sick of the Carnales presence in Stilwater—decide to take back the city. So throughout the 70s, the Vice Kings and the Carnales fight, with the Vice Kings ultimately coming out on top. In the late 70s and early 80s, it seems as if Stilwater might return to former glory, as the birth of Kingdom Come Records helped revitalize the arts and music scene of the city.

However, the economy of Stilwater does not recover. Generations of Stilwaterians have been hurt by decades of poverty, of negligence by those in power, and it is not the thriving coastal city it was in the early-to-mid 20th century. Obviously, these factors (and many more) contribute to how the events of the first game begin.

A QUICK TANGENT ABOUT STEELPORT

So where does Steelport fit into all of this? I mentioned it at the start, so surely I must have something to say.

Steelport was founded in 1827 in Pennsylvania. It was an industrial city, full of steel factories, and it stayed that way for many years. The city steadily grew over several decades, and around the turn of the century, a large number of people from Europe moved to Steelport for work. And it was around this time that the organized crime syndicates of Europe were beginning to take hold in Steelport.

Fast forward to the 1970s. Phillipe Loren, a high-ranking member of the Syndicate in Belgium, had ties to several of the gangs that were now in Steelport, so he goes to the city himself to see if it’s worth a US expansion. Seemingly pleased, Loren uses his status to begin doing more work with the gangs in Steelport. By the late 80s, Loren had become head of the Syndicate.

It was also around this time in the 70s that I believe Steelport began to essentially fill the hole that was left after Stilwater was destroyed by the earthquake. There was a need for places like hotels, brothels, and casinos in this area of the Rust Belt—and Steelport, being flush with cash, was able to fill that demand. In Steelport’s later years, it became more of an icon of sin and pleasure, perhaps even more than Stilwater was. It was bigger and flashier. But despite its hedonistic charm, Steelport was not exactly heading in a great direction by the 90s.

Similarly to Stilwater, it fell on hard times economically, with many areas falling into disrepair. Many of these areas are still like this even into the modern day as poverty is still a very large issue within Steelport, though as usual is not a topic of concern for those in charge. Thus, the Syndicate very easily continues to spread its control. By the 2000s, Loren and the Syndicate are running the city.

Getting a little ahead of my timeline, but worth talking about real quick: in 2011, Loren gets into contact with Maero about arms deals and potential expansion into Stilwater. At this point, Loren was already in bed with Ultor so to speak, but this was his first contact with one of the other gangs. Obviously this deal is hurt by the Saints, but that will only come back to bite them in a few years.

CONCLUSION

I wanted to write some grand conclusion about all this, but to be honest my eyes are starting to glaze over from hours of running around in the first two games, reading documents on my computer, and scribbling four pages of written notes. I read some official Michigan documents on the history of the railway system in the state. I’ve never even been. What am I going to do with this knowledge now.

Stilwater is interesting and was worth a deep dive into the potential history of the area. I used to be the teaching assistant for a class on worldbuilding in college, so this type of shit is just super fascinating to me. And Stilwater has so many bits of scattered information that I really wanted to try to piece everything together in a mostly coherent way. It’s just a setting I really love for some personal reasons, and I just thought I’d give writing its history a shot. Perhaps in some ways like a love letter to the fictional city, or maybe just as a way to fill my long weekend. Who knows.

#saints row #all this work......i’m gonna go get a drink and close my eyes for a minute lmfao #hope y'all enjoy tho! and of course like i said at the start this is all just my headcanons #so if you have your own ideas i think that's great and i'd love to hear them #please don't feel as if this is me saying this as indisputable fact bc it's not #the great thing about worldbuilding is that you can interpret things so many different ways

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