LC 14

Let me be the first to say, it’s not that bad…The museum is actually great, my boyfriend and I went today and we loved it.

I admired a lot of the work- like one of the floors had pieces of religious art, both Christian and Buddhist, and it showed some connections between them. That was Abraham’s favorite part. The intricate detailing of the tapestries, the paintings, the sculptures, etc. was unbelievable.  

My favorite part, however, was the more contemporary art on the 4th floor (definitely check it out). One artist ( I think his name was Atta Kim) carved an ice sculpture of Buddha meditating. He used ice to reflect man’s desire for immortality, and how its so “unattainable.” The artist took several pictures of the ice sculpture as it melted into water and vapor, as it presented existance through non-existance. I don’t explain the idea very well, but it was veryy abstract, and it got me thinking about my own existance, and how non-permanent it is. It kind of got me thinking about how to make the msot of my existance too, like to live each day as if its my last.

Another work by Atta Kim was a group of pictures of Times Square. The artist took about 10,000 pictures of the city and superimposed each picture onto the other. When looking at the picture, you see buildings and you see the sky, but when you look at the traffic or when you look at the people, they are all a blur. The artist did this to show how quickly things change, how nothing is ever permanent, even in an area as well-established as times Square.

At first I was a bit uncomfortable thinking about the theme these two works illustrated. It bothered me that everyone in the pictures became a blur, and how Buddha was melting, almost as if to say that no one has any effect on the world around them. But as I analyzed them more, my perception of these two works changed and I gained a different understanding of the concept the artist was trying to protray.

The common theme between these two works of art really struck me as a deep concept that I don’t fully understand, but its one that I can relate to.  The portrait of Times Square made me see the instability in one’s life, and how you cannot escape it. The ice sculpture personified man’s hunger for immortality and the impossibility to obtain it. Things are constantly fluctuating and changing, and one that dwells on the past will just get left behind. What I took from these portraits is that you need to look ahead and keep going and make the most out of everything.

I learned that I don’t know much about other cultures; all of the religious artwork was new and foreign to me, but I found it very interesting. I like opening up to new ideas and new cultures, that part excited me a lot. But I was most affected by the artwork I wrote about. Overall, I think I got a better understanding of Atta Kim’s perspective of life, and I will take that with me.

HERE’S LIVING PROOF!

The career workshop was okay nothing to exciting , everything there that was shown is common knowledge, hopefully some of the louder kids that day may benefit from that even though they probably weren’t paying attention. What i did like is that they told us of the career center and the job opportunities that are offered through our school. I definitely will take advantage of the starr career search program if there an opportunity to get ahead in life don’t see why not take it. In the future tho i believe they should include something other than the basics, remember we are in Baruch if we don’t know simple stuff like that we shouldn’t have been accepted, i recommend a more advanced info seminar perhaps listing what types of companies are interested in what types of students based on majors ,gpas, and classes taken , something we don’t know that will spark interest. Maybe even like a tree branching out the different possibilities Baruch has to offer. anyways stefan out.

The panel was interesting i might not have been able to hear very well from where we where but the panel members including Charles where all talking bout overcoming obstacles in their lives. When i look at Charles N Li i did not expect that he went through all that as a child and young adult. Like he does not give off the aura of a man who went through hell, he seems very chipper almost giddy when he speaks which i think is a good thing that after all of that he is not broken. They tried to tell us stories in which they overcame serious and difficult situation yet still came out successful. I believe they are trying to instill in the students a mentality that no matter what you n pull through.