Welcome
Thanks for stopping by Phillystine, my on-again, off-again personal blog.
phillystine@phillystine.com
Arts pick: isolation and sterility
Today’s arts pick is inspired by the 2005 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. These stretchy plastic bags transform a pair of feet into instant performance art. The dueling symbolism of this piece thrusts a tremendous amount of tension onto the viewer and leaves many questions unanswered. The plastic medium evokes the material commonly used to store waste. […]
Arts pick: what is the role of the artist?
Today’s art’s pick questions the role of the artist in our society. The symbolism–namely the palette and the sword–is straightforward and represents the subject’s uncertainty and turmoil. This figure, an artist himself, faces a difficult decision: should he use his skill to create beauty, or should he wield his talent like a sword, using it […]
Arts pick: society’s most troubling problems
Today’s arts pick is a masterpiece that represents some of society’s most troubling problems. Though constructed of material commonly associated with childhood and innocence, the piece is an abstraction of the segregation and bigotry that pervade our culture. The artist has chosen an unusual medium for this picture, one originally intended to act as a […]
Arts pick: Fringe Festival edition
This week’s arts pick highlights society’s obsession with mobility and the resulting eradication of privacy and traditional boundaries. To portray the potential devastating consequences of our absurd fixation with mobile devices, the artist uses both location and well-chosen, commonplace materials. First, consider the location. The piece is installed at the end of a long, dark […]
Arts Pick: broken vessel
This week’s arts pick depicts a tragedy of almost unimaginable magnitude. Even a literal interpretation of this piece evokes the anger and sadness that accompany the destruction of a vessel filled with valuable fluid. To experience the true pathos of this installation, however, viewers must transcend the literal and contemplate the subtext. Consider the medium: […]
Arts Pick: emptiness of pop culture
Today’s arts pick is an astoundingly brilliant commentary on the emptiness of pop culture. The ubiquitous subject is familiar to most people as a loveable kitty exploited to sell everything from school supplies to thongs. But don’t be deceived by the sweet exterior, which lacks substance and depth and merely serves to conceal the despair […]