 |
| "Cello Bomb" Who woulda thunk? |
I'm thankful for the opportunity to research an important figure that paved a way for an important period of our art history.
 |
| Charlotte Moorman with John Lennon and Yoko Ono |
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Charlotte Moorman | The Topless Cellist
We were recently tasked with a research report project based on people found within Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Massage." Upon denial of Marilyn Monroe, I chose Charlotte Moorman solely based on the fact that she was a musician like me. Well, that and maybe this super awesome "cello bomb" that she used in an art piece once upon a time.
Charlotte Moorman was an essential player in the world of performance art born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin (shout out to Texas, yawl!!) and did postgraduate studies at The Juilliard School. She was a classically trained cellist, but made the transition into performance art during the 1960s Avant-Garde movement. Researching her history and huge involvement in the promotion of avant garde art was largely inspiring to keep doing what I do with my own art. Although she was arrested for performing semi-nude (interview video link), she kept pursuing what she loved and didn't stop for anything, even through her battle with breast cancer that eventually took her life.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to research an important figure that paved a way for an important period of our art history.
I'm thankful for the opportunity to research an important figure that paved a way for an important period of our art history.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I just want to say that I really enjoyed listening to your presentation aboutCharlotte Moorman. It really stuck with me because of all of the prep she did to get to where she was in the art world. She had the making of an amazing artists, but unlike many traditional artists, she was willing to be extremely experimental in the sense that she would do things not considered art. This is a very general idea of what experimental art is, but to see that she went to an amazing art school and ended up doing the form of art she did amazed me. It reminds me that it doesn't matter what school I go to, I can still do art. The type of art I can do might change, but either way, art is what you decide it is rather than what your college tells you it is or isn't.
ReplyDeleteBecause it has been around for a long time, classical music in its conventional form seems to be something that is less challenged in the art/music world. The phrase contemporary classical music is almost an oxymoron in that contemporary implies it is new and different while classic implies it is old and traditional. I did not who Charlotte Moorman was previously, but I found your presentation about her and the way she challenged the classical music genre to be very fascinating, especially coming from a place like Lawrence that has a fairly intense music conservatory.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad that you didn't let yourself be too discouraged by not getting to present on Marilyn. There is no glamour in the avant-garde, yet you were able to see the beauty in Charlotte Moorman's work. I would choose a cello bomb over a string of pearls any day.
ReplyDelete