Discus Thrower - Discobolus

(Discus thrower - Discobolus)

Discobolus is an famous Greek sculpture that was sculpted by Myron in about 460-450 BC. This sculpture is sculpted in bronze because Myron is expert in bronze sculpture and it records how discus throwing develop in the ancient time and the moment of a discus thrower who is going to throw out the discus.

 This sculpture shows a nude young man, an athlete - discus thrower. The muscle of the athlete can be seen very clearly to express the potential energy of the athlete. The young athlete turns his head toward the discus hold by his right hand. His right hand is stretch to his back and it is about 30 degree to the level of his shoulder. His left hand is bends and touches his right knee and his body is facing to the side. The left leg is bends to the back about 90 degree while the right leg is slightly bend as it support the weight of the body. Therefore this sculpture shows asymmetry balance where the weight is on the right side.

The young man is always nude when engage to in sports and religion performance because they feel that it is proud to show their healthy and perfect body during the ancient time. 

In my opinion, this sculpture by Myron is fantastic. It looks real and give me a feeling that the sculpture is going to throw out the discus. This sculpture doesn't look like other sculpture that just standing and look so rigid. It has a different posture and its hand and leg are bending which created the zigzag implied line on the body to make it looks more active. Besides, it is not an easy job to capture the moment that an athlete is moving because they don't have any camera at that time and they need to remember every details on the athlete to sculpt the sculpture. During the ancient time maybe the technique and tools are also not so advance like now but Myron had sculpted this realistic sculpture and I really impress with his skill.


image retrieved from http://www.juggle.com/discobolus

Greek/ Egypt culture in Malaysia (new)

This 2 are the pictures that i take at SS2, is an example of kitsch, drawn from the Greek architecture. From the column's design, it looks like the corinthian order but not exactly the same design as the original. The original design is decorated with some acanthus leaves and scrolls but it doesn't look like that. It looks not so complicated and elegant and look more like a copy from the original design. Maybe the designer changed a little of the design from the original and add in some different element to make it looks different, maybe some of our local culture. However, this 2 big columns really make that house looks magnificent but not that suitable with the house.

This is another picture take in SS2, a doric order column, drawn from Greek architecture. This column looks very simple and nothing special with its design and the shaft is fluted. This one is also a kitsch. The column doesn't have any feature, just another copy from the original.

This picture is taken in front of the shop in SS2, an interesting kitsch example. Like the previous example, it shows a column, but not a supporting column of a house, its just like a decoration and a pot of plant is put at the top. This is a doric order column, also drawn from the Greek architecture. This column is painted in black colour, not like the usual one that we see is always painted in white. I think the shop owner put this just for decoration because this column is totally unrelated with the stuff they selling.

This pictures was taken in Section 14, a bungalow in the residential area. This bungalow really looks great with the columns. The whole bungalow is painted in white colour, give me a feeling of classic Greek architecture. The columns are doric order and fluted on the shaft, drawn from Greek architecture. It should be another example of kitsch.

This bungalow is just next to the bungalow above, having similar design but different with the roof. The column is also in doric order, drawn from the Greek architecture and it is a kitsch too. This bungalow give me a feeling like the previous one but it looks nicer with this kind of roof. The design of the roof just like the temple in ancient Greek architecture, Greece Athens Acropolis and it looks wonderful!

(Greece Athens Acropolis)

image retrieved from http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-1746966/stock-photo-greece-athens-acropolis.html

What is kitsch?

Kitsch is the inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style by imitating others and create a new one. Kitsch can be anything, a people, an object and etc. From ancient time until now, there are a lot of example of kitsch, but  is that kitsch really a bad thing? For me, not really, it can be something special too.

Is Malaysian culture now kitsch culture?
There are 3 main culture in Malaysia, they are Malay culture, Chinese culture and Indian Culture. Most of our culture is come from another country like the Chinese culture is come from China. Although the Chinese culture is from China but they are not exactly the same. Malaysian Chinese culture mostly is affected by the Malay culture and Indian culture, more or less 3 of them are actually affected by each other because Malaysia is one of the most successful racial integration countries, 3 races are living peacefully together. Therefore i don't think Malaysian culture now is kitsch culture because we have our own feature and different with the original culture but not totally separated from it. We have some culture that belong to ourselves that the original do not have.

retrieved image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/artchen1/3215200036/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Liberty Leading the People

(Liberty Leading the People)

Liberty Leading the People is an artwork by Eugene Delacroix in 1830. This painting is painted to commemorate     their triumph in the July Revolution of 1830.

In this painting, Liberty is dominance object because she is at the right middle of the painting, coloured in high key value that attract our attention to look at her. We can see that the corpses beneath her and the fighters that follow her, almost all of them are painted in low key value like black colour. Besides, Chiaroscuro also applied on the human figures to create the 3D value to make the human figures look realistic.

In the painting, a tricolour flag is holding in Liberty's right hand. The 3 colour of the flag represented a meaning by each of them; red represented fraternity, white represented equality and blue represented liberty. Furthermore, the cap that Liberty wearing is the liberty cap which represented pursuit of freedom. Lastly, there is also another tricolour flag at the top of the tallest building which is Notre Dame de Paris. From these clue, we can feel their desperate for the freedom because of the tyranny of Charles X. In the end, they succeeded and Charles X was toppled.

In my opinion, this painting is amazing. The size of the canvas is 260cm x 325cm, even bigger and taller than anyone of us therefore it is not an easy work to paint on it. It shows us the situation of July Revolution of 1830, although the Liberty in the painting is not really exist, but she represent a kind of spirit that leading all the French people to union together and pursuit for their freedom. Furthermore, from the research it says that the man in top hat is Eugene Delacroix himself but he is not involve in the war at that time, maybe he has the willingness and determination to help but due to some reason he cant that's why he painted himself in this painting to remedy his regret. This painting overall is really impressed me for the detail in the painting and the skills and technique that Delacroix implied in it.

retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_People
http://ezinearticles.com/?Critical-Analysis:-Liberty-Leading-The-People,-A-Painting-By-Delacroix&id=423142
http://republicancommunist.org/blog/tag/liberty-leading-the-people/
http://archivesofkhazad-dum.blogspot.com/2011/05/ferdinand-victor-eugene-delacroix.html(image)

Mayan pyramid and Egypt pyramid

The Mayan pyramid is located in Mexico and Guatemala. The pyramid were built about 3000 years ago and without any uses of metal tools. The Maya people have their own way to construct the pyramid, unlike the Egypt pyramid, their pyramid do not have round edge and complex in its architectural. Somehow, some similarity applied on both pyramid like a lot of chamber inside the pyramid, their basic shape and etc.

As the Egypt pyramid, it was constructed much more longer before than the Mayan pyramid, it was built at about 2630BCE-2611BCE. Compare to the Mayan pyramid, the pyramid in Egypt is taller and bigger in size. It is functioned as the grave of the Pharaoh, some of them have a sphinx as the guardian of the pyramid. However, the Mayan pyramid has different function and purpose to build the pyramid which is for the use of holding sacrificial rituals, landmark, and also a reminder that the gods were ever present.


In my opinion, no matter whose pyramid is bigger or taller, what we have to focus on these pyramid is the significance and importance why the ancients people construct them. Neither the dead people nor the pyramid can talk, so none of us can clearly understand their effort, the only way is to do more research about it to have a better understanding.

Images retrieved from
http://chaalaram.blogspot.com/2010/11/9.html
http://millopunyablog.blogspot.com/2010/11/10-most-mysterious-destination-on-earth.html

Greek/ classical of Egyption culture in Malaysia

 A building in Kuala Lumpur. It uses the relief design techniques on the surface of the building, like what the  ancient Egyptian and the Greek done before.  Furthermore, we can see that the relief not only on the surface of the wall but also the pillar as well. The building looks old but with the relief on it, it looks more classic, not only a normal old building.

This is a building in Penang. The pillars of the building consist of the culture from Greece. From my opinion, I think that the pillars look similar with the building "Greece Athens Acropolis". The structure of the pillars are from narrow till the end of it then slowly become wider, not shape like a normal straight pillar. These pillars make the building looks more gorgeous and solemn too.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Building in Kuala Lumpur. Like the picture above, the pillars in this building give me the feeling of Greece culture. They uses these pillars instead of the normal one to make it looks more classical and its well functioned to support the building.

This is the Sunway Pyramid in Petaling Jaya. We can clearly see that it has the structure of the pyramid and also the sphinx in front of it. This sphinx is different with the Egypt one, instead of a human face, this sphinx is with a lion face. This structure abstract people's attention easily and make it easier to find it. Now it also became a landmark in Petaling Jaya.

Thsi is the KL railway station. From the outlook of the building, it is hard to imagine that this is a railway station. The railway station looks classic and gorgeous, with the use of those pillars and the unique design. There are a lot of pillars in the building, with different sizes. At the top of the building, there still have something look like a tower, made by the pillars to support the spire. This design is excellent.

The Hall of Bulls

( The Hall of Bulls )

Lascaux, which contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) art. These paintings are about 17,300 years old until now. The drawings in Lascaux were done with charcoal from the fire and some of the colours were made by mixing something like animal fat as a medium. Many flat stones also have been discovered that used as a palettes for mixing colours. From the picture above, we can see that it's really a great work from our prehistoric artists.

( The red-brown colour is the mixing of animal fat )

( Most of the paintings are drawn with charcoal )

These drawings in Lascaux are so expertly rendered. In our opinion, prehistoric art should not have this kind of skill, but after we discovered these paintings in Lascaux, definitely we will change the old opinion toward them. We can see that they have the same level of skill as anyone ever has.

Until now, people still cant understand and confirm the reason why the prehistoric artist painted these drawings. Whatever the motivation, these paintings are vital for us and our generation as a reference. Through the painting, we guess the prehistoric artist's mind and get idea from it or learn from them.

Lascaux was realised that the paintings were in danger of being damaged by the atmosphere changes caused by visitors. As a vital product from the prehistoric artists, we should try our best to protect it so that the future generation can still appreciate it.

In my opinion, this is really a hard work for the prehistoric artist. During that time, they don't have enough skill and material to draw these painting and they try to use the natural material to create those colour tone, unbelievable that they knew how to make it during that time. Furthermore, the images of bulls and horses look real, just like what we can draw now, can't imagine that their drawing skill not even lose to people nowadays. Besides, it is not easy to draw such a big painting on the wall and the cave is so dark and they don't have any light at that time therefore the prehistoric artist are really excellent.