movies and art

Lets discuss for a moment movies. Are movies art? I believe that some movies quite clearly are and some are simply appeals to entertain the masses. Let us examine Beerfest and A Clockwork Orange. Now Beerfest was a funny movie with a simple premise. Not much depth here, not much though goes in while watching this movie. Watching this type of entertainment is a very passive activity. On the other hand we have A Clockwork Orange. This movie forces you to think. Watching this move is not a passive event, you actively have to work at it. The movie posters reflect this. We have a Beerfest poster which essentially says BEER! And we have a poster for Kubrick's work. Just by looking at the poster and reading the blurb, you have to wonder, who is the young man in the picture, why s he dressed like this and why is he wielding a knife? I think that this is the greatest definition between the sophomoric (though thoroughly enjoyable) low art movies and the thought provoking high art pictures.

One of my favorite things about A Clockwork Orange is the use of music as a counterpoint to the happenings of the movie. We have a scene where Billy-Boy and his Droogs are about to rape a young woman and what is the music we have playing? A light waltz. How off putting is this? A scene of the utmost cruelty broken with a light waltz. We see this theme constantly throughout the movie where acts of violence and cruelty are offset by light classical music. I am willing to bet that after seeing this movie, you will never hear Singing in the Rain the same way again. So what are your thoughts on movies in the arts?

Food for thought

Here is a picture showing a few pieces by Jeremy Moon (as best as I can tell) hanging at the Albright Knox art gallery in Buffalo NY. I ask of you, are these pieces art? According to the Wikipedia entry,

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.

By this definition, these pieces are certainly art. My question for you is, should something like this be displayed in a gallery? And furthermore, what possible meaning could these pieces have? It seems to me that the only purpose of these pieces is to be paid. I am a cynical person, but the one in the background with the gray canvas with X's painted across it seems like something that I could do. It feels to me like an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the viewer. Like, "look at this! It is art! It means something incomprehensible now pay me!" What do you think?

Some Interests

So Chris, some of my interests are Games Workshop games, good movies (ex. A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather (I & II), etc.), and Gothic architecture. I also enjoy a good piece of art from pretty much any period except for the pieces that seem to have been painted by a 5 year old (ex. a gray canvas with red stripe, maybe it's me, but I don't think that this should be in a museum)

Artist I enjoy

So I was thinking that I would post some information about an artist that I enjoy. John Blanche. He worked a lot with Games Workshop in the fantasy world that they created illustrating concepts in an inimitable style. His drawings are both in color and black & white and have a definite dark theme to them. In this particular piece I like the contrast between the blurred background figures and the sharp definite lines of the battle sister in the foreground.