A Day's Journey Through Art

  Author’s Relation and Note Before creating this post, I knew nothing about thangka paintings. Upon discovering it, I was captivated by its nuances and elaborate style. Thangka paintings are an extensive subject in themselves, riddled with symbolism and a deep understanding of the Buddhist religion. There are also a great number of schools and styles within thangka paintings, each providing an insight into the different branches found within the religion and its regional variations. I tried my very best to research not only thangka paintings but also Buddhism to create a cohesive and accurate blog post. The works are selected to portray various types of thangka paintings and aspects of Buddhism. In terms of the source and exact origin of each work, the vast majority of painters are not credited due to the separation of the person from worldly objects, and the art is created to serve as a religious tool. This tradition is still alive: today, thangka paintings have evolved with West...

Consumer Culture In the mid-20th century, art was directly impacted by commercialism and consumer culture. Art became accessible to almost anyone in the form of creation or consumption due to mass production. Companies used it to advertise and convince people that they needed more. Since the beginning of human life, we have survived just off the necessities. As time passed and technologies developed, we started to spend time creating and found ourselves wanting more. By the 20th century, advancements in all aspects of the world and the rise of credit/installment plans brought forth the age of consumerism. With economic prosperity and mass production, people worldwide started to purchase products beyond the necessities. Fueled by our desire to consume, our wants became our needs. ( Higgs ) Andy Warhol Background and Influences Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a multimedia artist known as one of the leading artists in the Pop Art movement. In the 1950s, he started his career in art as a comme...

The Great Depression The Great Depression is said to have started when the stock market crashed in October 1929, but there were many factors leading up to one of the darkest decades in American history. Advancements in technology led to an uptick in industrial-made products which were advertised and promoted sparking a new sense of consumerism. To take part, many Americans were using installment buying, also known as credit, to fund their new lifestyles. Installment buying was also used to buy shares in the stock market, enabling anyone to purchase stock on loan and make money fast. On the other side of things, the agricultural sector of the United States was suffering as well. Due to the increase in demand for food during World War I, farmers expanded their farms and needed machinery to manage them. Most had to use credit to purchase these machines but ultimately lost their farms due to little to no profits. The Dust Bowl greatly contributed to the Great Depression as well, ravishing ...