Constructing a Revolution essays

Constructing a Revolution essays A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE AND THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION The Russian Avant Garde began in Russia in about 1915 It was the year that Malevich revealed his Suprematist compositions that reduced painting to total abstraction. and rid the pictures of any reference whatsoever to the visual world. He is credited with being the first artist to do this; that is, forsake the visual world for a world of pure feeling and sensation. This was the first movement originated by Russians and the birth of several other Avant Garde movements. Probably the most popular piece at his 1915 exhibition was BLACK SQUARE (real name suprematist composition. Its basically a black square on a slightly larger white square that forms a border around it. It was hung in the exhibition in the way an icon would be hung in a peasants home; ie top corner of the room. Malevich saw Suprematism as representing a yearning for space, an impulse to break free from the globe of the earth. It a spirit, a spirituality that went beyond anything before it. Among Malevichs students and contemporaries were such names as El Lissitzsky, Alexsandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin who were, of course, to lead the Constructivist movement which started in the same year as Malevichs exhibition. Tatlin had returned from studying art in Paris in 1913 where he had seen a series of relief constructions by Picasso. Tatlin became very interested in form and message rather than representation and so he himself made a series of constructions. They were in the same vein as Picasso, but they were framed within a space and jutted out of the picture plane into the space of the observer. They created a lot of interest and he coined the term Constructivism. Tatlin and Malevich, who had been friends up until this point started to be competitors over art ideology and this continued for a long time after the Bolsh...

A Reminder About Crowdfunding

A Reminder About Crowdfunding Most emails I receive from readers about finding funds, request sources of grants. Grants to pay them to write, travel, or research. Most of the time, these are first-time book creators, calling from the great sea of the unpublished. And each time I have to tell them that unless they have other skills, experience, or notoriety about the subject matter, nobody wants to issue a grant to a novice to write. Remember, the grant provider needs to sparkle from your success, and ride on your coattails. They dont just write checks for the fun of it. Then I suggest crowdfunding as an alternative. Why? 1) Crowdfunding teaches you how to promote yourself. 2) Crowdfunding teaches you how to build a platform. 3) Crowdfunding teaches you how to develop a following. 4) Crowdfunding teaches you how to budget. 5) Crowdfunding teaches you entrepreneurialship. Where can you find crowdfunding? Start here: 10 Crowdfunding Platforms for Writers    As a matter of fact, you can see a very simple crowdfunding campaign And take a look at a more complicated campaign at Kickstarter.com where Crystal Sully wants to publish The Untamed Beastiary: A Field Guide to Marvelous Monsters. She has 780 pledges with a week to go. She requested $7,535, and the pledges to date amount to $47,625. And there are every size, shape, and subject to learn from in visiting these crowdfunding sites. Look under publishing. See what makes for a successful campaign. Find fund projects to support. I adore perusing crowdfunding sites and aiding others. I might not give each one more than $10, but Ive aided a writers creative endeavor.   Its a great way to give back AND learn how to manage a campaign of your own.