samuelnakkan-blog

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Reference List

-          Andrew C 2005, Songs and circumstances, web blog post, 22 september

http://songsandcircumstances.blogspot.com.au/2005/09/dire-straits-money-for-nothing.html

-          Bloom, H 1997, The anxiety of influence: a theory of poetry, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Ofxord.

-          Barker, C 2012, ‘Issues of subjectivity and identity’, in Cultural studies: theory and practice, 3rd edn, Sage Publications, London, pp. 218-223.

-          Brooks, P 2001, Troubling confessions: speaking guilt in law and literature, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

-          Bryant, T 2015, ‘The Difinitive History of every Slipknot Mask’, web blog post, 5 October 2015

http://teamrock.com/feature/2015-10-05/the-definitive-history-of-every-slipknot-mask

-          Charland, W 2010, ‘African American Youth and the Artist’s Identity: Cultural Models and Aspirational Foreclosure’, Studies in Art Education, vol. 51, no. 2, p.118

-          Dali 1929, ‘The Great Masturbator’, painting

-          Hall, S, Held, D, Hubert, D, Thompson, K 1996, Modernity: an introduction to modern

-          Howes, D 2005, ‘Skinscapes: embodiment, culture, and environment’, in C Classen (ed.), The book of touch, Berg, New York, pp. 27-39.

-          Mansfield, N 2000, ‘Freud and the split subject’, in Subjectivity: theories of the self from Freud to Haraway, New York University Press, New York, pp. 25-37.

-          Knopfler 1985, ‘Money for Nothing’, Brothers in Arms

-          Rubin E, 2006, “The Great Masturbator In Retrospect: Salvador Dalí at the Philadelphia Museum of Art", NY Arts

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The idea of subjectivity focus’ on a person and the circumstances that we are subject to in order to become that person (Barker 2012, p.220). The process’ that create us as people are found within the culture in which we are surrounded by, this can be reflected by the various unique aspects of our lifestyle (Barker 2012, p.220). Majority of Hip Hop group “N.W.A’s” lyrical content is directly related to the surroundings they grew up in and continued to exist in whilst creating music. A large proportion of the lyrics found in their song ”Straight Outta Compton” explicitly describe gang related activity that took place within the areas in which they were raised.

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Essentialism: Typically in our western cultures we follow the idea our identity can be found as a tangible object. It can be said the every person has an ‘essence’ that is personal to an individual (barker 2012, p.221). The notion that a person’s identity is not restricted by ones pre disposed cultural and social identities forms the foundation of essentialism (barker 2012, p.221). Pixies explore essentialism through their track “Where is my Mind” in attempt to discover a tangible version of self. The repetitious hook of “Where is my Mind” clearly establishes the search of the songwriters identity(Pixies 1988).

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The unconscious is the area of our mind which wavers in and out of our conscious mind even though they may be a constant in our mind (Mansfield 2000, p.27). Although our unconscious is not a regular part of our thinking, the sudden realisation of our unconscious thoughts can be abrupt regardless the positive or negative emotions associated with the thought (Mansfield 2000, p.27).British rock band Dire Straits explore the unconscious mind through their song ‘Money for Nothing’. According to Anderson’s blog post (2005), singer Mark Knopfler formed the lyrics from the repetitious day to day sayings of delivery workers of a department store he worked at including the lyrics “Money for nothing, chicks for free” (Knopfler, 1985).

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Over determination follows the concept that seemingly insignificant and trivial ideas or actions can be turned into something greatly significant (Mansfield 2000, p.29). Freudian theory would suggest that even habitual and unconscious aspects of our life such as biting our finger nails, impatience or twirling our hair have much larger meaning in our lives (Mansfield 2000, p.29). Examples of this can be found through interpretation of Salvador Dali’s work “The Great Masturbator” (Dali 1929) as he explores his conflicting thoughts towards sexual intercourse. In Dali’s younger years, his father subjected him to a series of photographs depicting diseased sexual organs as a means of education, Dali believed these images continued his negative attitude towards sexuality in his adulthood (Rubin 2006).

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The idea of sensory knowledge suggests that the physical body can be accredited with a level of intelligence and thought process. An example of this is seen in the Cashinahua people of Eastern Peru who believed their skin was able to feel its way through the jungle to hunt (Howes 2005, p.27).In music artists often associate their senses and feelings with decision making. Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei regularly uses the senses to add dimension to his pieces particularly in his installation “Sunflower Seeds” (Ai Wei Wei 2010). This particular installation allowed the audience to physically interact with the work providing them with a deeper connection to the work.

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Creative influence for an artist is both a means of stimulus but also an incentive for creative practice that would not be achievable without it. Creative influence requires two artists, one to innovate and another to interpret into their own work (Bloom 1997, p.30). Creative influence can help an artist in shaping their own creative identity and assist in the creation of their work. The song “I Wanna Be Yours” by British rock band Arctic Monkeys was directly influenced by John Cooper Clarke’s poem of the same name. Whilst the instrumentals of the track were created by the band, the entire song’s lyrics were taken from the fore mentioned poem.

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Authenticity is the ability to have an admission of truth about one’s self (Brooks 2001, p. 9). As an artist, authenticity is found by disregarding outside social pressures in the pursuit of pure unaffected artistic expression (Mansfield 2000, p.18). The ability to produce authentic work can often be the most crucial element of practice. An example of authenticity can be found through Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven”, as he explores his vulnerability after the death of his son. The lyrics “Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven” show his authentic admission of fear as a creative song writer (Clapton, 1992)

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Creative identity involves a culmination of an artist’s thought process and cultural surroundings which eventually become reflected in an artist’s work (Hatfield et al 2006, p. 43; Taylor 2007, p. 5). An artist often finds their creative identity by consuming the world around them and representing it in various forms through their work (Charland 2010, p. 118). Cultural influences have a large impact on many artists, particularly that of Jean-Michel Basquiat. His work “Irony of the Negro policeman”(Basquiat 1981), was a bold criticism of African Americans who chose to be police officers which he believed to be an example of their control by the white majority in America.

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An individual with a fractured identities one who may have considered themselves to have a centered stable identity however may begin to find that they have multiple contrasting identities (Hall 1996, p.598).  A person can wield different identities at various times often leading our mind in several contrasting directions (Hall 1992, p.277).Musicians will regularly use their appearance to as a part of their identity that aids their success, however Heavy metal band “Slipknot” use masks to obscure their appearance and subsequently their identities. Band’s singer Corey Taylor chose to wear his mask to contradict the standards of the materialistic music industry and allow the band’s music and performances to become emphasized (Bryant 2015)

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Social identity is the identity in which that has already been curated for us by the world that pre-existed us before we were conceived into it (Barker 2012, p.220, p.222). Even the characteristics that define our individuality such as language or cultural practices are still concepts that were created society before we experienced them ourselves (Barker 2012, p.222). Kendrick Lamar highlights his social identity regularly in his work shown in the song YAH. “I'm a Israelite, don't call me Black no mo', That word is only a colour, it ain't facts no mo'” (Lamar, 2017, verse 2, lines 8-9). Lamar places emphasis on his heritage to associate himself with a particular social identity.