Artist reopening long hidden chapter Jun 29, 2008
Fourth, that "revolutionary realism" is a carefully considered basis for creating art based on local (Indonesian) values, and not simply the blind following of the tenets of social realism ... " At ASRI, most of Sanggar Bumi Tarung's debates were with the members of another studio full of young idealists called Sanggar Bambu (Bamboo Studio), who were critical of Amrus and his colleagues' stances on art that they found limiting to creativity. However, the debate was not a local one. Many other... (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- Features)
Exhibits take on human rights struggle Jun 15, 2008
The "Liberation Art" of Semsar Siahaan, who worked intensely as both artist and human rights activists for two-and-a half decades before his death in 2005, has it roots in the social realism of artists like Djoko Pekik and Amrus Natalsya, whose works will be shown along with those of a number of artists who focus on social and political themes that are particularly relevant in the face of current events in the country. Perhaps the most interesting element of the coming Sanggar Bambu 2... (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- Features)
Beijing lays out the welcome mat Jun 7, 2008
Most interesting is a collection of 20th-century works divided by decade calligraphy and landscapes in the 1920s give way to social realism in the 1940s and recent abstract art. The Beijing Municipal Planning Exhibition Hall (9 a.m.-5 p.m.; 20 Qianmen Dong Road; 011-86-10-6702-4559) displays old and new Beijing. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
3 generations of Vietnamese artists and their memories of war May 23, 2008
As the Vietnamese fought for and gained independence in the 1950s, there was a sense of urgency to erase any colonial influences and a form of patriotic realism emerged, akin to Soviet social realism, albeit pictorially less constructivist and more romantic. In 1976, as the Communists took over the country, art became an important propaganda tool to express nationalistic sentiment. (International Herald Tribune)
Panel: Rework 'confrontational' MLK statue May 10, 2008
"It's hard for me to put my arms around" the criticism that the sculpture smacks of Social Realism, Jackson said. "When you look at something of this scale . . . things are bolder because of the scale of the project itself," he said. (MSNBC -- Race)
A bloody era of Syria's history informs a writer's banned novel Apr 12, 2008
But Khalifa insists he has no interest in social realism or didactic fiction. Political ideology infected the work of too many Arab writers in the 1960s and '70s, he said. (International Herald Tribune)
JOHN GIBBINS / Union-TribuneNew life for old art Mar 3, 2008
Though these murals were not federally commissioned, they were done in the social realism style typical of WPA-era art, featuring everyday people in local industries with muscles and long limbs and mostly unidentifiable faces, Mallios said. The WPA financed some early construction of the Montezuma Mesa campus, including SDSU's old football stadium where Cox Arena now sits, Open Air Theatre and central quad. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hero worship Feb 19, 2008
" A memorial to Constable, he says, could have trees native to Suffolk and which he painted. So what kind of statues are going up around the UK ? EDINBURGH Coming to a plinth near you The statue on the Royal Mile portrays philosopher Hume in the classical style and was unveiled on Saint Andrew's Day 1997. The city has 200 statues in its care and there is some concern about proposals to add to that tally with living people such as JK Rowling and Sean Connery. One new addition definitely coming is... (BBC News -- UK)
Timeline urged at 9/11 memorial Jan 31, 2008
The legislative proposal, he said, is the antithesis of freedom: "It's government-imposed social realism.". Rep. (AZCentral -- News)
SUNDANCE:Frozen River Jan 28, 2008
Pic reps a throwback to an earlier brand of Sundance indie film that combined personal touches, geographical specificity, feminist references and Native American social realism, though none of these factors are so foregrounded that polemics or even politics matter nearly as much as storytelling. Depiction of the interaction between working poor whites and natives in the Mohawk reservation area straddling the U.S.-Canadian border on the St. Lawrence River, and the underground transfer of illegals... (Variety)
The poet of collision Sep 29, 2007
Hammett had to fit social realism into a suffocatingly contrived form. He did it with language - densely spare exposition and multilayered dialogue. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
MFA's 'Drama and Desire' explores pleasure principle in Japan Sep 15, 2007
The Japanese sex industry may have had its hidden seamy side, but ukiyo-e is not an art of social realism. The paintings project moods of epicurean delight in all kinds of sensual and sensory experience, including the craft and aesthetics of painting itself. (Boston Globe -- Living)
China's contemporary art goes global Jun 14, 2007
Asia Times Online :: China News - China's contemporary art goes global. However, Asia still doesn't have a quality international art fair. (Asia Times Online)
* An artist finds unity in Asia May 17, 2007
It is a pretty picture and a strong image, with a stylistic nod to social realism but transformed into a personal style that marks the arrival of Gionis as a photographer. Her first major exhibition is a success overall, but occasionally fails when it deals in stereotypes. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Zeng Fanzhi: Amid change, the art of isolation May 4, 2007
SINGAPORE: Many Chinese artists have embraced American pop culture and fused it with social realism to develop their own artistic style of social and political commentaries on the fast-changing Chinese society. Among the crowd, however, Zeng Fanzhi stands out for the introspective nature of his work, which often reflects his personal life and emotions. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
* A sober allegory on the social underclass Mar 23, 2007
A hint of social realism pervades the film and takes Tsai's signature minimalist approach use of symbolism to its subject, exploring alienation among people stripped of their identity and cut off from social and cultural interaction and their struggle for survival. The film's primary setting, a rundown building abandoned during construction serves as a poetic and ideal backdrop for the narrative as it is a remnant from the Malaysian government's economic development plans in 1990s. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Rocky Balboa Feb 22, 2007
In raising Rocky from the ashes of sequel-itis and into the harsh glow of the present, Stallone has done himself, and us, a great favour by injecting the last leg of the Rocky story with a big dose of social realism. Rocky is much the same as he has always been - a big, lovable, self-deprecating lunkhead who likes a good joke. (The Age, Australia -- Entertainment)
A brutal kind of beautiful Feb 1, 2007
Veteran art consultant Barbara Guggenheim cites a school of American social realism that's very political and "very well collected here in L.A.," she says, "particularly amongst filmmakers who believe in being socially responsible storytellers." Yet it is less common, she says, for these contemporary collectors to fill their homes with these works. Though some find such work too overt or didactic, Campbell wouldn't have it any other way. (Los Angeles Times)
French drawn to Japanese comics Jan 31, 2007
"Manga's just cooler," shrugged 20-year-old medical student Victor Leloup, as he thumbed through the Japanese titles ranging from robots and space heroes to gritty social realism in a large Paris bookstore. European comics also span from moody detective fiction to fairy-filled fantasy even politics, with one best-selling title lampooning the right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy but their typical reader is still a 25 to 35-year-old male. (People's Daily Online, China)
The great contrarian Jan 20, 2007
For a writer who is most celebrated for social realism, Lessing has an almost perverse attraction to the fantastical. "She is one of the very few novelists who has refused to believe that the world is too complicated to understand," Margaret Drabble has said. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Paintings come to the fore again Jan 14, 2007
Both Wang Fenghua and Xiong Yu deal with personal values in lives and their own philosophy instead of political issues and social realism to which their predecessors obsessively devoted their works. What is more interesting, though, is how these artists, from different cultural backgrounds, share similar themes and yet expresses those into different results. (Korea Herald, Korea)
The man who understood women Dec 26, 2006
It's a throwback to the social realism of the director's 1930s work with touches of '50s extremism, and its sympathies are squarely with the working women. "Street" represents not a career summation but a possible new direction cut short, and it pointed the way toward more extreme depictions of prostitution in Japanese society like "Gate of Flesh " (1964) from the mad-dog director Seijun Suzuki. (Boston Globe)
Art history class Nov 11, 2006
This traveling exhibition of some 75 paintings, prints, drawings and a handful of small sculptures from the collection - currently on view at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis - presents a broad range of work representing the shifts and currents of art and history for the past century and a quarter: 19th-century portraiture, social realism, post-impressionist landscapes, cubist compositions, surreal satire, explosive abstract expressionism and cool pop. At times the exhibition's historical... (Cape Cod Times, MA)
'Figures' Speak Louder Than Words Sep 12, 2006
Rauch is the most prominent painter of the East German Leipzig School, a group which focuses on painting and reflects aspects of social realism. Rosenberg called Rauch's painting, 'Nebel,' "the heart of the show.". (The Daily Campus, CT)
Letters to the Editor Jul 23, 2006
American social realism from the Depression is old hat, right. Europeans know that America was almost socialist, and even the vulgar store cannot distract from that connection. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Porter opening gallery in Vicksburg Jul 17, 2006
Porter's artwork involves black and white photography, high-contrast silkscreen images, acrylic paint, color pencil and pastel and fits in the category of social realism. Friday's event includes an open house at noon that concludes with a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting, then a 6-9 p.m. gallery reception. (The Clarion-Ledger)
Brilliantly bleak Jul 9, 2006
" Davies had trouble with Dickens's insipidly sentimental heroines, finding Esther Summerson "so utterly saintly, you can't bear her". "I emphasised the things I did like: her sharp, harsh judgment and the way she sees through people, nobody's fool," he says. He brings a mischievous and dark flair to Dickens's labyrinthine tale, relishing the book's musty, tenebrous, oppressive atmosphere. "I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would," he says and you can almost hear him smacking his lips, his... (The Australian)
Skill meets candour in young subjects, while other artists losefocus Jun 27, 2006
In an instant Chernysheva's camera averts its cold, optical gaze, as if afraid to capture social realism with visible artistry. So authorless does Chernysheva's camerawork seem that I found myself unexpectedly contemplating the raw state of her subjects, unfiltered by filmic lyricism. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Late sculptor's 'Hunky' was basis for debate Jun 21, 2006
In the 1960s and '70s, when most American male artists were making content-free or ambiguous work, Jimenez tapped a different aesthetic and political tradition: the social realism of Mexican murals of the early 20th century. That influence, combined with metal-working and spray-painting skills learned in his father's El Paso, Texas, sign shop, led him to create fiberglass sculptures that celebrated Hispanic, American Indian and working-class culture, Western pioneers, firefighters (long before... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
A legacy that inspired a generation of artists Jun 7, 2006
Several of those prints are also on display in the show, and they suggest how Woodruff sought to combine the modernist techniques he had learned abroad with the concern for social realism that he found among his fellow African-American artists after his return home. Johnson was a graduate of New York's National Academy of Design who, like Woodruff, traveled to France in the 1920s, where he was strongly influenced by the vivid, "fish-bowl" optical distortions of the expressionist painter Chaim... (SunSpot.net)
Junkie time-travel film won't fly May 26, 2006
Blithely ignoring the dictates of several intermixed genres science fiction, romantic comedy, social realism Ray's script shambles off in all directions and succeeds only in reinforcing our disbelief. Neither Cody nor her boyfriend Art strike one as junkies as they come into view in the opening scenes, double-riding on a child's bicycle. (Toronto Star -- Arts)
"X-Men," "Da Vinci," Coppola Do Cannes Apr 23, 2006
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a rumination on 20th century Irish Republicans from master of British social realism. Ken Loach. (E! Online)
Urban Realist Apr 19, 2006
Ms. Gossen distinguishes between Social Realism, which is critical (think Ben Shahn), and Urban Realism, which was not critical. Adapting a Bohemian lifestyle, Ms. Snedeker moved to Greenwich Village, and from her studio window she painted street scenes that include children at play, shop fronts, an organ grinder and a monkey. (Cranbury Press, NJ)
Rare painting restored to city school district Apr 19, 2006
He could best be described as an "American scene" painter, whose earlier works followed the social realism of Thomas Hart Benton, but with more urban themes, said Mr. Berkovitz. As time went on, his work became increasingly stylized as Mr. Hilton became more influenced by modern art. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
