Video Review: African, Asian & Indian Art.

For this weeks video review I tried to pick four videos that covered different cultures. The first video I watched was “Buddhism”. I don’t know much about Buddhism so this was educational. Some of the things I found interesting was the theory of “tanha” which states that people should extinguish all the desires that feed the ego and should be in the world but not of it. The great stupa in Sanchi, India has gateway entrances that portray the Buddha through symbolism and the three tiered design symbolizes the three levels of heaven. I thought the architecture in the monastery in Carmel, NY was beautiful.

The second video I chose was “Hinduism”. I found it interesting that Hinduism as a major religion has no founder, no profit, no institutions and do not seek converts . The stone carvings that were shown are very elaborate and I really liked the small shrines that were carved from single large boulders. But for both the videos on Buddhism and Hinduism, I thought they both were more about the religions themselves and not really focused on the art.

The third video I chose was “African Art”. This video discusses how art in the African culture is a part of daily life and is very important in traditional rituals. Since most art is created from wood and other perishable materials, most of the artworks available are less than 200 years old. African art is conceptual art that comes from the imagination of its creator, which is in contrast with traditional western art which is considered perceptual art, a reflection of the natural world. Art in Africa has great variety due to the many different cultures that exist there. This video was interesting and I felt that it was more centered around the topic of art than the first two videos.

The fourth video I chose was “Chinese Art: Treasures at the National Palace Museum”. This is a boring video. It felt more like a book with its simple focus on the works. Some of the art work was nice, I liked the curio cabinet ant the jade pendant shown in the beginning, but I quickly lost interest in this one.