Truth and Madness are the same thing: 2012

Social networking is a service that offers relations through a computer database between multiple people, such examples of these sites can be Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Bebo, Skype, Msn and The Gyc. These sites require you to create your own profile, from which you can add photo's and video's, add friends and chat to each of them individually and add links to other webpages.
a lot of these sites are also a common place for business' to advertise themselves and their special offers.

A lot of these sites also cause many problems however, a prime expample can be that involving the tweeter Riley_69 and British olympic diver Tom Daley. Riley_69 abused Daley over the bronze medal he won in the diving finals, Riley was later arrested. For more information on this story visit: Tom Daley/Riley_69 story

Another story that can be used is The suicide of Amanda Todd. Amanda todd was a teenager who exposed herself on a video chat website hoping to meet new people. An individual blackmailed amanda, she was forced to move school and house, but she was followed by the photo's and blackmailing. After years of cyber bullying and suicide attempts, Amanda Todd died on october 10, 2012 after she hung herself in her home. For more information on this story visit Amanda Todd Suicide Story

If you suffer from any depression, Cyber bullying, phsycal bullying or verbal bullying, then you should call the Suicide Hotline, or you should talk to a friend or someone else you feel safe with.

Historical and cultural influences essay

In this essay, I will give an insight and overview into my chosen topic: Christianity, religion and how it has influenced art.

Christianity itself dates back thousands of years, as does the art that is included with it. Some of the earliest works I have found are by an artist named Masolino in 1338. Masolino painted a scene from the bible, in which Peter is asked for alms by a cripple, peter has no money so gives the cripple his hand, upon touch the cripple is cured. In the painting are two figures that do not tie in with the biblical story, they are there to simply represent the Florentine the atmosphere is.

The time this piece of work can be referred to as the High renaissance era, this era/movement included some of the most notable artists in history. Such artists include: Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and countless others. Most of these artists have created art works in both 2D and 3D forms, all representing something from the bible. Leonardo DaVinci painted The last supper, an iconic piece that depicts the last supper before Christ was crucified. This painting could be put down as the most well know painting from Christianity. Leonardo used a lot of detail in all of his paintings which made them almost lifelike. This is a technique and talent that few can master.

As I traced the bible and its art into the present day, I discovered a fantastic range of works that bend the bible into whole new points of view. A very good example of this is the surrealist Dali, he created a piece of art that made Jesus and the cross look like it was from another planet or a dream. This art form is widely used by artists across the globe, it shows how unreal and dream like you can take your imagination. Dali painted his piece of work “The temptation of saint Anthony” in 1946, in the painting you find Saint Anthony holding up a cross towards evil spirits, which are manifested as a horse and elephants that all bear very symbolic devices. For example, on the first elephant there is a woman cupping her breasts whilst rising from a chalice, this represents lust. On the front horse, you see its shoes are on backwards, people put shoes on backwards if they are trying to evade someone, it sends some the person in the wrong direction. This could be a reference that the horse will send the person the wrong way in life, as lust is a sin it would send the person to hell if they followed its tracks.

After this work of art, I started finding more and more modernised/surreal works by known and unknown artists. One such painting is named “The Dream Of Christopher Columbus”, the painter is unknown, but the painting shows ships, flags, men, women and children, and then a few figures of crosses flying out from the sky, although this painting only has a small biblical meaning to it, there is still the meaning that the artist had an inspiration from the bible and possibly some of the artists I have mentioned.
One of the most modern and inspiring pieces of art I have seen from our century is a painting by José Clemente Orozco, his work is called “Christ and his cross”. the painting shows Christ, stood in front of is cross holding an axe, the cross has been cut down. If you look further into the background, you will find that there is a mountain of weapons and other religious deities crumbled on the ground, this may symbolize how much war Christianity has caused, and how it has always come out as the most dominant religion. Christ has large holes in both his hands and feet, these are the hole in which he would have had the nails in the cross, although Christ did not have the nails through his hands, as the weight would have torn the nail through his hand, instead he would have had it through his wrists because it would have the bones support. The paints used in this are very rough, the colours cross over with each other which shows how modern it actually is, it is not like the paintings of DaVinci where the paints are fine and realistic, the paint is meant to look dreamlike and quite dark.

Despite most of the spoken about paintings being the most recognisable and distinctive, most of today’s art pieces are done on the computer using Photoshop and other graphic design systems. Some pieces I have collected in my research do not show exact reference to Christ or the bible, but the images themselves have hints to Christianity. Some such images are X-Ray Angel by Patrick Byers. This piece of work was made using photography and digital manipulation. The artist took a photograph of people praying in church, and then manipulated it by turning the photo into an x-ray image, he then added another x-ray image of an angel hovering above the rest of the people. Byers explains that the picture is about how angels find and protect the human they are sent too.

Another digitally inspired piece is named “As Holy As They Come”, this piece depicts a bare chested woman/angel, who is clad in armour from the waist down. The artist says that he originally photographed a fully nude woman and dressed her digitally using Photoshop. The artist may have chosen to use an angel because of its position in the bible, it is seen as a very pure and innocent creature, and he has made it so the angel is actually very seductive and imperfect.

Art can cause many problems with religion and the people who worship certain faiths. In Russia, a man organised a religiously themed art show, an despite having full support by a senior Russian orthodox official, riots still occurred by activists from Krasnodar, this even included a fake bomb threat. Many people will not think of the impact art can have on the world.

A lot of artists have used religion in there works and art shows to depict religious texts and scenes, although a lot of the time some followers of the said religion may take the images/sculptures the wrong way and start riots or protests. Another example of this may be a Moroccan artists depiction of some Islamic holy texts he used in an art show in Toulouse, France. Islamic youths in the city nearly started a riot in disgust of the use of their holy texts, the artist withdrew the pieces from the art show because of the reaction of the youths. Tensions had been high between the Islamic community and the French state when a 23 year old French - Algerian Islamist went on a killing spree in 2012, which ended with him being shot dead by French police in his apartment.

In my own opinion, the art generated in both the high renaissance and the modern day are both excellent interoperations of the bible and the stories/chapters . Although they may cause some debates between certain religions and agriculture. I think that the more modern art has been influenced by powerful artists such as DaVinci and Michelangelo. Whilst the most modern of artists have been more influenced by both the older artists and artists such as Dali and other artists from the 1900’s.
The most interesting and inspiring artists for me are Leonardo DaVinci and Salvador Dali. DaVinci because of his perfect and literal view in his paintings, he was one of little people that could both draw from his imagination and draw from observation. Dali on the other hand is one of my favoured artists because of his wild mind and ability to draw so childlike, it was unimaginable. He was able to delve deep into his subconscious and develop his wildest dreams on a canvas.
I like the idea that I use these artists as inspiration, and dali could have used DaVinci for inspiration, and DaVinci will have used another artist as inspiration, it shows how influential art is on the modern and ancient culture. Even if it is just biblical art, it is still used to influence people in religions such as Christianity, Catholics, Mormons, Jewish and other religions.
In my research you will discover that I have done a lot of research into modern day digital artists, this is because I am very interested in the digital side of art and I am very interested in how the artists edit photographic and drawn art into one picture. Most of the pictures I have researched do not look like they have biblical meaning at first glance, but after observing the picture and its name for a while, you will discover that most have small references to the bible and related stories/characters in the text.

The bible and Christianity are a very touchy yet interesting and deep subject. It has both caused many wars and disputes, but it has also brought around some of the most recognisable and brilliant artwork in the past few hundred years, and it will continue too for most of time, each artists using the last as an influence.