Tag: Claudia Fennell ’24
A Chance to Experience Beloved Art in a New Way
by John Downey '23 on March 26, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Art
A Chance to Experience Beloved Art in a New Way
The Immersive van Gogh Exhibit Delights
Claudia Fennell ’24
Acclaimed artist Vincent van Gogh only started painting at the age of 27, but he created over 900 paintings before his untimely death at the age of 37. However, van Gogh was only able to sell one of his art pieces before he died. It wasn’t until about a hundred years after he passed that his artwork started to become recognized as excellent. He is now considered one of the finest painters in history, with his specialty being impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.
Today, art lovers across the world have worked together to create new and unique ways for viewers to observe van Gogh’s fabulous paintings. One of these art lovers is Massimiliano Siccardi, who has led a team of van Gogh fanatics in creating the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit.
Siccardi began his career as a dancer, and from there, he then decided to explore the world of visual arts. Throughout his career, he has been a visual choreographer for various festivals and galas across the globe, experiences which led him to create the Immersive van Gogh Exhibit.
This exhibit, housed in museum sites ranging from 300,000 cubic feet to 500,000 cubic feet, completely surrounds the viewer with van Gogh’s paintings. Indeed, in each, the Dutch painter’s works are projected along walls and floors, fully allowing the viewer to be one with the paintings. The exhibit contains tens of thousands of frames of video and about 90 million pixels of artwork. What makes this exhibit truly unique, however, is that its paintings move in ways that highlight particular elements of each, spotlighting the important details of the works so that viewers can see them more easily. Notably, the exhibit includes some of van Gogh’s more famous paintings, such as The Starry Night (1889), Sunflowers (1888), and The Bedroom (1889).
Online, reviewers are raving about the exhibit, emphasizing how unique the experience is. One attendee exclaimed, “Absolutely amazing, we all enjoyed it. The pictures don’t do justice…glad we went in person.”
This immersive experience is available in select cities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. There are over fifteen locations in the United States, and other notable locations include Toronto, Berlin, and Beijing. Some exhibits have unfortunately sold out, but others still have tickets available for purchase with prices ranging from $40 to $60. Interestingly, in specific cities, yoga classes are offered at the site of the exhibit, creating a unique way to practice mindfulness surrounded by artwork.
At every exhibit location, COVID-19 policies are in place to ensure viewers’ safety. Circles painted on the floors help to manage social distancing between viewing parties, masks are required for entry, and the exhibit is sanitized regularly.
In allowing viewers to literally step into van Gogh’s work, this innovative art exhibit is the perfect place for van Gogh fans to see the artist’s work through new eyes and gain a newfound appreciation for it.
“What Is ‘A Record-Setting Feat’?”
by John Downey '23 on March 3, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Arts & Entertainment
“What Is ‘A Record-Setting Feat’?”
A Look at Amy Schneider’s Jeopardy! Success
Claudia Fennell ’24
Voted most likely to compete on Jeopardy! in the eighth grade by her classmates, Amy Schneider, a 43-year-old from Dayton, OH, amassed a 40-game winning streak during her recent appearances on Jeopardy!. She won her first game on the episode that aired Nov. 17, 2021, where she beat out Andrew He, who at the time had a five-day winning streak. In the 14 games that followed, Schneider only missed one “Final Jeopardy” question. Despite the incredible intelligence and kindness that Schneider showed on air, she received hate comments online for being a transgender woman. However, Schneider ignored the online trolls and continued her reign of success on the show, amassing a total prize of over $1.3 million.
On her final episode, which aired on Jan. 26, Schneider ended her winning streak with a grand total of 40 wins. This feat places her in second place for the most consecutive wins in the history of Jeopardy!. Matt Amodio previously held the second-place spot, with a grand total of a 38-game streak. Schneider was thrilled that she was able to achieve her goal of reaching the second-place spot and was hopeful about eventually winning first place, a spot currently held by Ken Jennings with a record of 74 consecutive game wins.
Towards the end of her winning streak, Schneider began to feel that the show was straining her mind and body. The life of a long-time Jeopardy!-winning contestant can be extremely taxing. The show tapes each week’s episodes—five in total—in one day, which makes for a tiring and stressful experience. Schneider reported to the New York Times that during her time on the show, she flew from her home base in Oakland, CA, to the Jeopardy! set at the start of every week. After taping the week’s episodes in one day, she would return to her hotel and “just sit and do nothing for an hour or so to give her brain a break.” In an interview she gave on the day that she finally lost her streak, she emphasized that “the fatigue of this taping was really starting to add up.”
Schneider was beat by a librarian from Chicago named Rhone Talsma. During the episode, she was performing well as usual, with a score far ahead of her competitors, until her opponents started to notice that she was choosing clues with lower price values. When “Final Jeopardy” came around, Schneider was ahead of Talsma by only $10,000, which was rare for her because she usually went into “Final Jeopardy” already certain of winning. The “Final Jeopardy” category was geography, and the prompt was to name the only nation in the English language that ends in the letter “h.” Contestants were given the hint that this nation is one of the world’s top ten most populous countries. Schneider was not able to come up with an answer to the question, whereas Talsma correctly responded with, “What is Bangladesh?” This “Final Jeopardy” question solidified Talsma’s victory, thus ending Schneider’s winning streak.
While Schneider reported that playing Jeopardy! was one of the best experiences of her life, she has also emphasized that she is glad to be rid of the stress that the show brought upon her life. She added that she was excited to return home and continue living with her fiancée, Genevieve, and their cat named Meep. Notably, on Feb. 25, Schneider took to Twitter to announce that she and Genevieve are engaged and looking forward to sharing an incredible life together.
Needless to say, the answer to the question of Schneider’s post-Jeopardy life is, “What is ‘a happy ending’?”
The Amazing Spider-Artist
by John Downey '23 on February 18, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Art
The Amazing Spider-Artist
Tomás Saraceno Combines Passions for Art, Spiders, and More in New Exhibit
Claudia Fennell ’24
Tomás Saranceno is trailblazing through the art world with his unique, futuristic art. Inspired by his passion for a need for environmental reform, his work reflects the dilapidated environment that his Berlin studio is located in. Saranceno is now gaining popularity for his public art installations, such as his transparent bubbles and enormous spider-web-like sculpture creations.
Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina in 1973, the 48-year-old artist studied architecture at Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires in the late ’90s. After finishing his undergraduate education, he went to Europe to complete his postgraduate studies at the German art school Städelschule. Once Saranceno finished his schooling, he began to undertake his goal of creating culturally relevant art.
In 2012, he bought a studio in Berlin. It was a crumbling brick building sitting on land that had been used for industrial purposes for over a hundred years, causing the property itself and the land surrounding it to become toxic. As the New York Times reports, Saranceno remembers being warned when buying his studio, “Please don’t plant apple trees near the street…people will eat an apple and be poisoned.” Surrounded by this toxic wasteland, Saranceno became inspired to create artwork that reflected his environment.
Notably, aside from creating such art, Saranceno has produced scholarly research about his two main areas of interest: spiders and solar-powered balloons. His research, combined with his interest in art, has allowed him to combine art, architecture, physics and other aspects of the natural world, and engineering to create his masterpieces.
Saranceno’s largest U.S. exhibition to date will be on display at The Shed, a New York City museum located at The Bloomberg Building on 30th Street. According to their website, “The Shed is a new cultural institution of and for the 21st century…[it] was designed to break with the traditions that separate art forms and audiences.” The museum describes Saranceno’s work as a large-scale exhibition that offers viewers a sensory experience.
Saranceno’s art installation is centered around the concept of spiderwebs and allows the viewers to partake in the experience of being one with a spiderweb. It is titled “Free the Air” and is composed of two spider-web-like creations made out of metal. The piece is suspended in a balloon,a nod to Saranceno’s other major passion aside from spiders and art.
The installation is also massive in size: its balloon has a diameter of 95 feet and fills the entirety of The Shed’s 17,000-square-foot courtyard. One of the webs lies 40 feet from the ground, and the other web lies 12 feet off the ground. The total diameter of these pieces is 48 feet.
45 people at a time are allowed to be admitted to experience the piece, and each person is allotted an eight-minute time slot to remain within it and observe it. The installation allows viewers to lie on its nets as its lights dim, which, as Saranceno explains, is intended to show viewers what the world would look like from the perspective of a spider, a creature with lackluster vision.
Needless to say, this installation offers viewers a unique experience, unlike anything they could find at other museums. Saranceno’s work will be on display at The Shed from Feb. 11 to April 17.
Cardi B Wins Libel Lawsuit
by John Downey '23 on February 10, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Arts & Entertainment
Cardi B Wins Libel Lawsuit
Rapper Opens Up About Damaging Claims
Claudia Fennell ’24
Grammy award-winning rapper Cardi B has made headlines recently for something other than her famous songs such as “WAP,” “I Like It,” and “Up.” The twenty-nine-year-old music phenomenon has won a libel lawsuit against celebrity gossip YouTuber Latasha Kebe, commonly known as Tasha K.
In 2018, Tasha K began posting videos to YouTube claiming that Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, was a former prostitute and cocaine user with herpes. Tasha even went as far as creating false gossip that Cardi B was going to pass herpes on to her baby, who Tasha K claimed was going to be born with intellectual disabilities.
Cardi B’s legal team, comprised of lawyers Lisa Fortune Moore and Sarah Matz, worked diligently to prove that all claims made about the rapper were false. In November 2021, they entered into the court the results of Cardi B’s STD test taken at a hospital in California, which were reviewed by the judge. After reviewing the results, the judge revealed in a minute order that they were “not helpful to the defendant.”
Cardi B reported that she suffered a severe decline in her mental health following the posts that were made about her online by Tasha K. She took the witness stand in her trial, explaining this to the jury. More specifically, she explained that she suffered from debilitating anxiety and depression as a result of the videos Tasha K posted about her character. Additionally, as reported in Rolling Stone, Cardi B told the jury that “severe stress caused her weight to fluctuate and led to issues in her personal relationships.” She even explained to the jury that she felt “utterly hopeless” while this defamation was occurring and further testified that she “felt extremely suicidal” during this time, according to Billboard.
The case was filed as a libel lawsuit—meaning that it concerns intentional defamation of another’s character—in 2019 after the defendant began posting a plethora of videos about the plaintiff. The case appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which is where the defendant lives. The jury presiding over the case found Tasha K guilty of slander and awarded Cardi B a grand total of over $4 million. This award included $25,000 for medical expenses and $1.3 million for legal expenses.
After the jury’s decision was read in court, Cardi B was triumphant. Eyewitnesses in the courtroom reported that she hugged her lawyers out of joy. Once the results of her trial were finalized, Cardi B made a public statement regarding her victory. She reported that Tasha K’s slander against her had been going on for over four years, so she felt victorious and extremely happy that the mess it caused would be coming to an end. Cardi B then went on to say that the public is now aware of the darkest times in her life, the times when she felt completely hopeless. She explained that the only difference between the cyberbullying in her own case and that of someone like a student in high school is that she has the resources to fight for justice in court. As reported in Rolling Stone, Cardi B exclaimed, “I had to seek justice. And not just justice for me…We collectively have to say enough is enough.” Given that the court sided with Cardi B, they evidently agreed that enough was indeed enough when it comes to damaging slander such as that of Tasha K.
In Memoriam: Betty White
by John Downey '23 on January 29, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Arts & Entertainment
In Memoriam: Betty White
The World Mourns the Loss of the Beloved Actress and Animal Rights Activist
Claudia Fennell ’24
On Dec. 31, 2021, beloved actress Betty White passed away at the age of 99, just mere weeks away from what would have been her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. According to White’s death certificate, her cause of death was a stroke that occurred six days before she passed away. A stroke occurs when blood clots form and cause damage to the brain tissue. White’s friend and agent, Jeff Witjas, told E! News that the actress died peacefully in her sleep while she was at her home in Brentwood, CA.
Despite White’s cause of death being confirmed as a stroke, some people have begun to spread theories across social media that her death was caused by the COVID-19 booster shot that she received three days before passing away. Witjas commented on these rumors as well; he stated to E! News that White died of natural causes and expressed that “her death should not be politicized—that is not the life she lived.”
White enjoyed substantial popularity throughout the entirety of her 80-year-long career.. She was even awarded the title of the female entertainer with the longest television career by Guinness World Records.
White grew up in Los Angeles and began her career in the 1940s acting on various radio shows. At this time, she also began appearing on television, in shows such as Life with Elizabeth and Hollywood on Television. Eventually, she became the host of the latter program. White also became a frequent guest on various game shows, especially Password, which was hosted by her third and final husband Allen Ludden. The couple was married for eighteen years, from 1963 until Ludden’s death in 1981. White’s agent expressed to People magazine that White did not fear death because she believed she would once again be reunited with her late husband whom she loved so dearly.
In 1973, White first appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a sitcom that earned her three Emmy Award nominations and two wins: one in 1975 and the other in 1976. White began acting in arguably her most famous television show, The Golden Girls, in 1985. The show followed the lives of four older women who lived together in Miami, with White playing one of these women, Rose Nylund. From The Golden Girls alone, White earned seven Emmy nominations and one win, which she took home in 1986. After the show ended in 1992, White made appearances on other popular programs such as That ’70s Show and Boston Legal.
In the late 2000s, White experienced a resurgence in popularity when she appeared in The Proposal, in which she played Ryan Reynolds’s character’s grandmother. In 2010, she appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Snickers that earned her even more popularity in mainstream media. One of her most famous television performances occurred in 2010, when she appeared on Saturday Night Live and became the show’s oldest host in history at the age of 88. She received an Emmy for best guest actress in a comedy series for her performance on the show.
In addition to her work on television, White was an animal rights activist her entire life. She was involved in American Humane for over 60 years and became a national ambassador for the non-profit organization. In 2012, American Humane honored White with the National Humanitarian Medal, their highest honor, for a lifetime of advocating for animal welfare. White also served as a trustee and chair for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association for over 40 years. Additionally, she was involved in other charitable organizations such as Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Endangered Wolf Center, and BraveHearts Therapeutic Riding and Educational Center.
White has truly left behind a special legacy of both caring for people by making them laugh and caring for animals in her private and professional lives.
United States Returns 248 Stolen Antiques to India
by The Cowl Editor on December 11, 2021
Art
United States Returns 248 Stolen Antiques to India
Pieces Valued at $15 Million Given Back to India by the Manhattan District Attorney
Claudia Fennell ’24
In October, law enforcement from the United States finally sent 248 stolen antique artifacts back to India ten years after the man responsible for the theft was captured. In 2011, 72-year-old American citizen Subhash Kapoor was captured by Interpol in Frankfurt, Germany before being extradited to India, where he is currently being held at Trichi Central Jail in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu for his role in the crime. He is being prosecuted not merely for stealing the 248 artifacts now being returned, but rather for a much larger-scale operation: illegally trafficking over 2,500 antiques from all over Southern Asia.
Kapoor was aided in his efforts by his family and friends. Some of his convicted accomplices include his sister, Sushma Sareen, and his ex-girlfriend, Selina Mohamed. Kapoor also received help from professional art restorers, Neil Smith from London and Richard Salmon from Brooklyn, who cleaned the pieces to remove any signs of theft. After the restoration process was completed, Kapoor worked with his associates to sell the antiques through the art gallery that he owned, named Arts of the Past and located on Madison Avenue in New York City, to collectors and museums.
Museums stretching from Hawaii to Massachusetts have begun to send the antiques they purchased from Kapoor to authorities in response to this investigation. These museums include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition to the nearly 250 pieces stolen from India, investigators also found hundreds of art pieces from other nations in Kapoor’s storage units. Authorities confiscated and returned 149 pieces to Pakistan, 33 to Afghanistan, 27 to Cambodia, and 13 to Thailand. Other pieces found in his collection were from Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka as well. Authorities have estimated that over the course of Kapoor’s career, he has stolen over $143 million in antiques across the globe. Many of the stolen pieces were taken from poverty-stricken villages that worshiped them for hundreds of years. Homeland Security agent J.P. Labbat reported to the New York Times that returning these pieces to their rightful owners is “The best part of what we do.” Among the pieces returned to India include a 12th century bronze statue of the Hindu God Shiva valued at $4 million.
The extensive amount of artwork that was stolen in this case makes it one of the largest art trafficking heists in United States history. Investigators say that regardless of the verdict Kapoor will receive in India, he will be extradited back to the United States to stand trial for a second time. Once he returns to the states, Kapoor will face multiple charges of Class B felonies, which requires state prison custody. Investigators worked on this case, named Operation Hidden Idol, for over a decade, beginning with raids of Kapoor’s storage facilities beginning in 2012 and ending in 2020. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office are now in the process of figuring out the next steps of the case, namely, extraditing Kapoor back to America.
Remembering Julie Green
by The Cowl Editor on November 18, 2021
Art
Remembering Julie Green
Artist Who Captured Inmates’ Final Meals Dies at 60
Claudia Fennell ’24
In any given year, 15 to 80 people are executed via capital punishment in the United States. It has long been a tradition around the world that a prisoner is permitted to choose what they would like to eat for their last meal before execution, and artist Julie Green took it upon herself to create beauty out of inmates’ last suppers.
Green was born on Sept. 22, 1961 in Japan to father Frederick Green, an officer in the Navy, and mother Jane Green, a homemaker and insurance underwriter. Her parents divorced when she was seven years old and she moved to Iowa with her mother. She earned her B.F.A. in 1983 at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Thirteen years later, at the same college, she earned her M.F.A.
When Green was living in Oklahoma in the 1990s, she read the paper each morning and was fascinated by stories about the executions of prisoners on death row. Green was especially intrigued about what their chosen last meals were. She thought it was odd that this information was printed in the paper. When speaking to the Smithsonian Magazine, Green described how she felt that it was “really weird information…so specific. So personal.”
She called the prison publishing the details of prisoners’ last meals and asked why they were doing so. The answer she was given was simply, “The public wants to know.” Green became compelled to paint plates memorializing these special meals, seeing an opportunity to humanize the people that were being written about. According to The New York Times, she once expressed that the inmates’ final meal requests reminded her of the meals she made for her own family.
Green was an art professor at Oregon State University when she began creating her “last supper” art pieces. She worked on them for over 20 years, until her passing on Oct. 12. In July of 1999, she crafted her first “last supper” plate. Using deep blue paint on a white plate, she painted the last supper of a man who was executed in Oklahoma. His selected supper was six tacos, six glazed doughnuts, and a Cherry Coke. When Green started this artistic journey, she planned to continue to paint until capital punishment was abolished or she created 1,000 plates, whichever happened first. This past September, she painted her 1,000th plate, which detailed a simple, singular Coca Cola bottle requested by an inmate in 1997.
Green had been suffering from ovarian cancer that had been getting progressively worse as the years went on. After the completion of her 1000th plate, she ended her life at her house in Oregon by physician-assisted suicide at the age of 60. This was made possible by Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.
Green worked hard in order to honor each lost life in a beautiful way.
Van Gogh Watercolor to be Sold at Auction
by The Cowl Editor on November 4, 2021
Art
Van Gogh Watercolor to be Sold at Auction
A Look at Wheatstacks‘ Complicated History
Claudia Fennell ’24
In 1888, famous artist Vincent van Gogh traveled to the French countryside while he was in poor health. While there, he became infatuated with the farming lands around him, which inspired him to create several watercolor paintings depicting “Meules de Blé,” or “Wheatstacks.” Some of these paintings simply show the harvested wheat itself, while others, including one particular watercolor titled Wheatstacks, include women working in the fields as well.
During this time in his art career, Van Gogh was influenced heavily by Japanese art and Wheatstacks, with graphic-like brushstrokes, is an example of how Japanese artwork inspired him. Japanese art influenced so many Western European artists that the French eventually coined the term “Japonisme” to refer to the influence Japanese art had over European artists in the late 19th century.
Wheatstacks has changed hands several times since Van Gogh created it in 1888. The painter first gave the piece to his brother, Theo, who sold it to a Jewish man named Max Meirowsky in 1913. Meirowsky held onto the piece for some time, before the chaos of World War Ⅱ forced him to flee and he gave the piece to an art dealership. Soon thereafter, it was bought by Frenchman Miriam Caroline Alexandrine de Rothschild, who also fled his home when the war broke out. When the Nazis invaded France, they looted de Rothschild’s property. The Nazis stole her art collection, including Van Gogh’s watercolor, and in 1941 they placed it in a museum titled Jeu de Paume, where they stored many of their stolen goods.
After the war, de Rothschild tried to reclaim Wheatstacks but struggled to do so. The piece eventually ended up at a gallery in New York City where it was purchased by Texas oil businessman, Edward Lochride Cox. Following Cox’s death, disputes broke out between Meirowsky, de Rothschild, and Cox’s family over who had rightful ownership over the piece. Eventually, the parties came to a settlement agreement: the profits from the piece would be divided among the three of them.
Wheatstacks has not been seen by the public since 1905 when it was on display with some of Van Gogh’s other works at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Now, the piece is being sold by the auction house Christie’s, who estimate that it could be auctioned for anywhere between $20 and 30 million. Wheatstacks is expected to break a record for the highest selling price for a paper Van Gogh work. The previous record was from his piece “La Moisson en Provence,” which sold for $14.7 million in 1997.
Nazi-looted artwork has been at the center of news headlines for the past few years, as other famous, stolen pieces from artists such as Camille Pissarro and Gari Melchers have been sold at auction for millions. It is important that these valuable works continue to be tracked down and returned to their rightful owners as well as that these rightful owners receive any proceeds from them.
The Life of a Suburban Serial Killer
by The Cowl Editor on October 28, 2021
Arts & Entertainment
The Life of a Suburban Serial Killer
You Season Three Offers Entertainment and Horror
Claudia Fennell ’24
When the first season of the popular television show You began streaming on Netflix in 2018, over 40 million people watched its ten episodes in suspense. The plot followed protagonist Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager in New York City, falling in love with one of his customers, Guinevere Beck, and beginning to stalk her. Viewers watched in discomfort as he stood outside her window at night, broke into her apartment, and committed horrible crimes against those closest to her that he perceived as standing in his way.
Yet, somehow, the audience was still rooting for him in an odd way. While he was a serial-killing stalker, he was kind to Beck when she needed it and was a father-like figure to the young boy that lived in the apartment next door to him. Chaos ensued as the season progressed, and while all the odds were against Joe, he somehow managed to evade arrest for his crimes and move to Los Angeles, a city he believes to be the antithesis of who he is, in hopes that no one will be able to find him.
A year later, in December 2019, season two began streaming on Netflix. It was watched by 54 million households and somehow involved even more twists and turns than the previous season. Joe presumes a false identity, introducing himself as Will Bettelheim to everyone he meets, and gets a job at an upscale book and grocery hybrid store called Anavrin. Joe begins to fall into his old patterns again and falls for one of his coworkers at his new job, a chef named Love Quinn. He even goes as far as to set up a telescope in his apartment so that he can watch Love in her home all day. The two eventually begin dating and Love starts to fall for him. Like in season one, he feels an overwhelming need to protect some of the people around him. He also begins stalking his teenage neighbor, who is involved with a suspicious older man, and ends up saving her from him. Despite all the negative things that Joe does, he somehow finds ways to redeem himself to the audience.
As the season progresses, viewers start to learn that Love and Joe have more in common than previously thought. Love has a dark side, just like Joe, and she ends up silencing a woman who was going to spill Joe’s secrets. When Joe realizes what she has done, he turns on Love and tries to harm her, but she exclaims that she is pregnant and Joe realizes that he cannot hurt her. The two move into a wealthy suburban area, get married, and all seems well until, in the final moments of the season, it is revealed that Joe is watching women in the neighborhood before he and Love even finish unpacking their moving truck.
Season three of You was released on Oct. 15 and has once again gripped viewers around the world. It opens with Joe and Love as new parents successfully assimilating themselves into suburban society as normal people. Love opens her own bakery and Joe gets a job at the local library. As usual, however, Joe continues to stalk other women. He also grows increasingly angry with Love when she makes the same dangerous choices when people wrong her as he does. While not all of the characters, new and old, make it out alive of season three, the producers and writers will definitely be able to create another thrilling season to captivate their audience. Netflix has confirmed that there will be another season coming soon, although its release date is still pending. Viewers can anticipate yet another installment filled with even more drama in a new location far removed from Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY alike. For those who have not seen You yet, it is a must-watch, especially during the spooky season.
Hidden Picasso Painting Found Using Artificial Intelligence
by mpalmie2 on October 21, 2021
Art
Hidden Picasso Painting Found Using Artificial Intelligence
New Technology Uncovers Century-Old Secret Beneath A Famous Work
By Claudia Fennell ’24
Even from beyond the grave, famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is finding ways to continue to amaze art lovers.
Picasso started creating his artwork at the turn of the 20th century, when modern art was becoming increasingly popular. Picasso is honored as the founder of the Cubism movement, a modern art style of painting involving figures and shapes that challenges viewers to see art in a nontraditional way. He is also famous for paintings such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, The Weeping Woman, and The Old Guitarist.
Picasso passed away in 1973 at the age of 91 and left behind a lifetime of priceless art pieces that are admired by the public in various museums. One of his works that is currently receiving significant attention is a painting from 1903 titled The Blind Man’s Meal. Recent x-ray imaging of this painting has shown a hidden figure painted underneath the blind man. The newly revealed painting is now being referred to as The Lonesome Crouching Nude.
This discovery was made possible by Oxia Palus, a company that uses modern technology to restore lost art. It was founded by George Cann and Anthony Bourached, a team of PhD candidates in machine learning from the University College London. They use x-ray imaging, digital scanning, and artificial intelligence.
In the case of the Picasso paintings, the company started out by using x-rays to reveal the figure that was painted over. Then they used image processing to find the outline before employing trained artificial intelligence to “paint in” the hidden figure in the style of Picasso. The end result was an AI-generated digital reproduction of the work that Picasso created over a century ago. This was then 3-D printed onto an AI-generated canvas, which is on display at the Deeep Ai Art Fair in Shoreditch, East London.
The revealed image is of a female nude figure that Picasso would have painted in his Blue Period, right at the beginning of his art career. This period lasted from 1901-1904 and showcased sorrowful subjects, painted mostly in the color blue. Picasso was young at this point in his life and did not have much money, so art supplies were often hard to come by. When speaking to CNN, George Cann explained, “He was poor and artist materials were expensive, so he likely painted over the former work with reluctance.” The second painting that he ended up creating on that canvas turned into one of his most famous from this time period in his life, so perhaps Picasso made the right choice.
However, his original work on that canvas has finally been exposed, revealing a beautiful figure that had been concealed for so long. Thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, there is great potential for other mysteries of historic artwork to be discovered in the near future.