Lecture9, Richard Orjis

This Tuesday, we had a very interesting lecture with a great photographor who also a lecturer in our school. Richard Orjis had a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Auckland University of Technology and also had a Master degree of Fine Arts in Elam school of Fine Arts,University of Auckland. His photographs are dominate by black background. The colour of black gives people the feeling of death, mysterious, contemplative, heavy and tainted etc. In the colour plate, black has all the colours but become invisitble and black sucks all the colours unlike the white colour pushes the subject forward. This point reflects Richard’s interest which is to make images that something can’t really see and talking about something is not talking about. And he also interested in life and death. Not only by using the black background to express the feeling but also using the flowers and candles.

In earlier of his career, he was an artist of photograph. Latter, he worked for a magazine. That was a big shift from art to a more commercial world. So what is the relationship between ‘High Culture’ and ‘Popular Culture’? For my understanding of popular culture, it means habitude, high fashion clothing design, food, entertainment and various bases of lifeway. Things on television, magazines and shopping mall etc. “High Culture’ is the opposite of popular culture. Only small amount of people appreciate these cultures and entertainment. Such as classical music, fine art etc. The so-called ‘Popular Culture’ just a temporary thing. Any culture is the beginning of ‘Popular Culture’. It comes from time, practice and experience of the public. It ultimately tend towards ‘High Culture’ and away from the public. ‘High Culture’ become no more than a thing which is getting unfit to the reality and away from people’s living patterns and style bit by bit. Like some old painting, they are just the portrayal of some situation at that time. As yet these paintings become valuable. From ‘Popular Culture’ to ‘High Culture’, from ‘High Culture’ to wither away. However, this is a kind of metabolism in the society. So ‘Popular Culture’ and ‘High Culture’ can not be saperate entirely. High Culture is kept from people and society’s practice and experience. In other words, Popular Culture is searching for the ‘High Culture’.

How does art operate in relation to these forms of expression? Popular art is like a mass-produce, created by a mass of media such as T-shirts and magazines etc. High art like paintings, there are no mass-produce. They are only one which is the original. It worths much more value of price and be cherished more than popular art.

In my opinion, the value of the art is not depends the price but on our personal favor. A more cheaper bracelet could be valued for me than a more expensive one because of my personal favor.