"LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" AND WEIWEI'S SCULPTURE

     The concept of "MEDIA" can be far reaching. For example, mass media can be communication devices that store and deliver data, via electronic means ( film and TV).  Which brings us to the salient point of this blog: the similarities and differences between the electronic and visual arts.  This critics' references include the movie, "Lawrence of Arabia,"  and a sculpture exhibit by renown Chinese artist, Weiwei,  "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Bronze" at East Hampton, New York's LongHouse Reserve.

      First the aesthetic commonalities: film is a series of moving images containing  still imagery components, similar to the visual arts, like photography. Both electronic and visual art structures

feature composition ( arrangement of objects ), space, lighting and P-O-V, to name some, but not all, examples. These forms can establish a potent link with their environment as well, while also connecting the audience /viewers with the movie or visual art .

     Using Weiwei's work as the primary example for these elements,  first, we notice his composition of the heads demonstrating the Chinese zodiac: a dog, rabbit, dragon, monkey, to name some of the 12 animals. Each head is mounted on a stick in the ground, as if it derives organically from the earth, eternally evolving. Second, there's the sculptures' relationship  with the environment and the juxtaposition of shapes as we perceive the sculptures'  placement in the LongHouse's outdoor (Edward ) Albee Amphitheater. Walking down a narrow path through bushes and flowers  makes us aware of a linear framework that ends  at the Theater's open, large, round space: two separate areas that juxtapose linear with round, somewhat like Weiwei's round animal heads attached to the linear poles in the ground.

     Third is the viewers' attachment to the subjects themselves, namely how the characters draw us to them because they seem human, with distinct personalities:  the dragon, elaborately sculptured, who seems as powerful as our notion of him from folk lore; the scary wolf with enormous teeth; the monkey who possess less distinguishing characteristics and doesn't seem to have a personality.

     The same aesthetic aspects apply to "Lawrence of Arabia":  first, its stunning composition, especially the sun coming toward us as it fills the screen ;  second, the figures crossing the sand from a bird's- eye-view establishes an affinity with the environment; and third, our powerful bonding with the  film's characters/subjects.

     A last point about similarities between "Lawrence of Arabia" and Weiwei's exhibit returns us to another meaning of MEDIA: the materials or tools used by an artist to create  visual works of art, including, charcoal, stone or textiles ( naming a very few examples). Weiwei is an artist who is particularly known for his materials, in this case, bronze. Such a substance conveys the theme and intent of the subject matter, perhaps connoting strength and eternity.  In other cases, the artist's bicycles hanging from the ceiling and exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum,  suggests a fantasy-like other world through their filigree design.  Materiality in "Lawrence of Arabia" is also seen and felt, comparable to Weiwei's concreteness.  Often, the material relates to the senses,  like the texture of the sand and the sound of battle.

     However, the most essential characteristic uniting "Lawrence of Arabia" and Weiwei's "Circle of Animals" is the idea that they are both potently palpable: film and sculpture transmitting a feeling or atmosphere that is so intense as to seem almost tangible. Long live Media and the Visual Arts.