Blue White Selection

Blue white selection  is a widely used method in screening recombinants in cloning. This is based on the gene product of lac z gene. The plasmid vectors contain this gene which produces  ? galactosidase  enzyme. When a gene is inserted close to  lac z gene, the reading frame will be distorted and the gene is inactivated. So the transformed cells will not produce this enzyme and are called competent cells. After the recombination, the bacterial cells are grown in a medium containing X gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-indolyl-? D-galactopyranoside) and  IPTG (Isopropyl ? -D-1-thiogalactopyranoside). IPTG acts as the inducer for lac z gene and enhance the production of ? galactosidase. When it is produced, combines with X gal to form a blue colour complex called  5,5†²-dibromo-4,4†²-dichloro-indigo  which is insoluble. The transformed colonies will appear white in colour and non- transformed cells will appear blue in colour. This method is also called as insertional inactiv ation of lac z gene. Hybridization  techniques are widely used to identify recombinants.This is based on the ability of nucleic acids hybridize with complementary DNA. The transformed cells are transferred on to a  nitrocellulose membrane  which is subjected to cell lysis. The double stranded DNA is converted to single stranded DNA and immobilized on the membrane. Then it is treated with radiolabelled  probes  complementary to target DNA. If the desired DNA is present, the probes will be hybridized which can be detected by autoradiography. Apart from these methods,  immunochemical methods  are used to detect protein products to screen recombinants.

Htc Introduction Essay

HTC quickly emerged on the smartphone scene with the remarkable success of The Sense, one of its first models, and broke many industry sales records. People were asking, â€Å"Who is HTC? † Our research indicates that HTC’s rapid rise to success was because of innovation and technological capabilities. Even though the HTC brand was not widely recognized, its smartphones were generating interest. In our primary research, we discovered that some people owned an HTC phone but did not know that HTC was the manufacturer. Obviously, brand awareness was relatively low. For HTC to stay relevant in the hypercompetitive smartphone industry, it needs serious revamping of its marketing plan. With smartphone market penetration increasing to more than 20 percent in the past five years and reaching 46. 8 percent in Q3 2011, HTC has tremendous opportunities to establish a solid market position. After examining the market conditions and current HTC performance in the U. S. , our team proposes that HTC position itself as a technological leader by targeting consumers ages 18 to 34. This promising segment has potential sales of $2. 5 million. We analyzed the industry and examined external factors that could impact HTC’s bottom line. This analysis gave us crucial insight into the smartphone market. We also analyzed the competitive environment that includes Apple, Motorola, and RIM (Blackberry). HTC, which has a positive reputation on the merits of its technology, needs to boldly differentiate itself in the marketplace. Through market analysis, we discovered that HTC has a strong market size, market potential, and distinct target markets. We recommend that HTC take specific steps through segmenting, targeting, and positioning to execute its marketing plan. We are confident that our plan can increase HTC’s market share by 2 percent each year. By the end of 2012, our marketing objective is to reach a 24 percent market share of the smartphone industry, which equals 18. 7 million HTC customers. The plan includes recommendations and precautions at distribution channels so that HTC differentiates itself from the other brands. We developed a budget for the marketing plan and devised procedures to monitor each effort in order to reach our projected market share increase. We are confident that our marketing plan can take HTC from an emerging brand to a dominant market leader.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Solitude of Self Analysis

Solitude of Self Elizabeth Cady Stanton Solitude of Self speech addressed the equality and rights of women in the United States. She felt as though women should have the right to choose whatever path they wanted no matter what the circumstances were. Stanton illustrated that, in order for women to be considered as participating citizens of our country, the boundaries of what women can do had to be omitted. Women were entitled to the same equalities as men because throughout the darkest situations gender doesn’t change the feelings and emotional damage that an individual goes through.Stanton explained how there is no difference between men and women, humans were created with the same natural rights. The fact that men have no restrictions and can pursue whatever they wanted, puts women at a disadvantage. Men had the basic necessities to protect themselves in which women lacked. Stanton illustrates this when she says, â€Å"In fitting out an army, we give each soldier his own kn apsack, arms, powder, his blanket, cup, knife, fork and spoon.We provide alike for all their individual necessities; then each man bears his own burden. † In this quote, Stanton was making reference to how a man in the army gets equipped with the basic necessities and skills to survive; but women do not get the basic necessities in life to survive on their own. The law in our country made women to dependent on men and she just want women to be able to be independent without barriers.

Critically assess the relevance of self-esteem to achieve a Essay

Critically assess the relevance of self-esteem to achieve a consistently high performance in sport - Essay Example While this may seem easy for some, for most it is a matter of time and practice. Gaining sufficient self-esteem or self confidence normally takes months or years to develop; and this is in general compounded by achievements and fame that separates an individual from his contemporaries or peers. Although some might say that destiny or fate has something to do with having self-esteem, the actual truth is that athletes who excel in their chosen skills have a very supportive group in the person of their respective coaches and family (parents). In relation to the universal theory, self-esteem is likewise perceived from the expectancy value theory that best describes motivation or stimulus as the main result of a person’s personal principle about his or her actions and the importance they place on the consequence of such actions (Pajares, 1996). To make it simpler, the expectancy value theory regarding self-esteem is that an individual performs an action because he or she has a reas on for doing this. As such the result or outcome of the actions which an individual does is anticipated by the doer making it quite valuable and desirable. Hence the drive or motivation is a factor considered by most as the core behind why particular actions or deeds are sometime carried out. In connection to sports, athletes do their best to constantly perform to perfection or always aim to win in a game. The reason or core behind such motivation is that they will eventually achieve self-esteem by being proud of their performance since everybody who has seen them win their game or achieve a high score will praise them, making them adequately confident that they will win the next game again against their rivals or opponents. In most cases, having experiences in sports generally boosts self-esteem. These experiences often have an impact on the psychological and emotional aspects of athletes since sports does not only mean playing the game, but having social interactions with coaches, teammates, sport officials and parents (Health Promotion, 2008). Hence, self-esteem in addition to its theoretical definition is generally defined as the feeling of having self-respect and confidence. Undeniably, when one feels good about himself or herself, he or she is able to perform well and cope up with the stresses of having to win or lose after a game. Being able to deal with winning or losing in sports can have the positive effects: 1) reduced anxiety, 2) an optimistic perception of life, 3) deal with societal pressures, 4) avoid engaging in drugs, and 5) have lesser interpersonal dilemmas (Health Promotion, 2008). However, athletes or children active in sports who possess a pessimistic or negative self-esteem will usually end up engaging in drugs, have eating disorders, are bullied socially and are often depressed (Health Promotion, 2008). The coaches and parents as mentioned earlier play a vital role in the lives of individuals (children or young athletes) who are regular ly engage in sport activities. These people can help improve sports performance since they provide support and encouragement for the development of a skill and help build a positive social perception. A coach-athlete relationship requires shared respect that will aid in the development

Paragraph Task Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paragraph Task - Essay Example Junk food is very high in cholesterol, fats, and carbohydrates. â€Å"It probably comes with no surprise that larger portion sizes are associated with higher caloric intake† (Rossen and Rossen, 2012, p. 65). Body converts the excessive sugar into fat. The more the sugar intake, the more the fat stored. The second major cause of obesity is lack of physical activity. Many people today are living a sedentary lifestyle and use vehicles for traveling. Likewise, people keep servants at home rather than doing the domestic works themselves. The third main cause of obesity is lack of education. Advertisements convey information in such a complicated manner that common man cannot understand the nutritional value of the product. In addition to that, there is a lot of conflicting information about the food items, which leaves people puzzled. Obesity has many negative implications both on the individuals and the society at large. Overfeeding children grow up into overeating adults. They ca nnot do exercise. Obesity lowers self-esteem, thus causing people to seek refuge in comfort eating. Obesity causes many medical complications including heart problems, and diabetes. Most of the factors are both causes and effects of obesity. Furthermore, obesity makes people lazy. In the past, being fat was considered a sign of prosperity, but today people have to bear its cost. Avoid obesity requires a complete change in the lifestyle. People need to combine good common-sense eating with more activity. People should adopt healthy living earlier to avoid the consequences of obesity later in life. Reflection Topic Sentence I started my new paragraph with a topic sentence. While choosing and organizing the words to make my topic sentence, I had three factors in my mind; length, indication, and appeal. Firstly, I wanted to keep my topic sentence concise because wordy topic sentences are misleading and confusing whereas I wanted my topic sentence to be very to the point. Secondly, I wan ted to select such a topic sentence that would indicate what claim or argument is made in the paragraph following it. Thirdly, I wanted my topic sentence to reflect the appeal or tone of the whole paragraph so that the readers know it upfront. These three factors when considered while making the topic sentence help the readers know what to expect in the paragraph. Tenses Tenses indicate the gravity of an issue. For example, in my supporting sentences, I made used of both past and present continuous tenses to emphasize that obesity has been a health risk to the society in the past and has not subsided yet, but is rather growing in rate and effects. Most of the supporting sentences are written in present tense because the effects of obesity have always been as mentioned, are, and will continue to be as such. Grammar Appropriate selection of adjectives, comparatives, and transitive words help the writer incorporate expression in the text. In my paragraph, I used adjectives before nouns like â€Å"greasy† burgers and â€Å"fizzy† soft-drinks to reflect their images in the readers’ minds while they read, along with the feel they get while consuming them, so that they can relate to what they read. I emphasized on the gravity of consequences of obesity by using such comparatives as â€Å"more† and â€Å"very†. I reflected different phases of time in the sentences by making use of such comparatives as â€Å"earlier† and â€Å"later†. I linked the sentences to one another by using such transitive words as

American football culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American football culture - Research Paper Example Additionally, its fame also emanates from the game’s inclusion in learning institutions like colleges and even states arranging for other professional events like â€Å"world champions† (Carroll, 2003). Mainly, American football’s unique way of sporting prompts numerous fans to gather, with the intention of witnessing what they usually refer as a military encounter. This is because of its â€Å"violence† besides domination by male gender though presently females have developed an interest in it, though they normally act as cheering squads. American football compared to other games like baseball it has a fascinating history and culture besides its â€Å"violent nature†, which presently has led to its immense popularity in America (Duncan, 2004). American football origin The game initially did not have well-structured rules meant to govern players as well as enable the players to play with those from other towns (Carroll, 2003). Therefore, each town p layed using their own rules, though they maintained two sides of dozen players. The mode of play entailed clearing the ball from one’s own goal towards that of the opponent, which required much physical contact, hence use of energy. Initially, players used to play barefooted, which earned the game the name of â€Å"Football† and spread rapidly after diverse states harmonized their varying rules. Early Cultural importance of the game Football game became one of the most thrilling and essential game in the American society after its harmonization of rules. Hence, giving rise to the socialization of people where fans supporting one team developed a certain bond of friendship and belonging (Carroll, 2003). This bridged wide gaps that were their before and yielded to a more closely-knit society especially among the football fans. However, racism was still evident especially among those people who did not have much to share with other races (Crothers, 2012). Besides, the foo tball competitions also acted as an opportunity for Commercial Corporations to advertise their products, for example, vehicle manufacturers and tourists’ firms. Mainly, this was via sponsoring diverse games’ activities thus contributing to the effective planning of the matches. Educational institutions also took this advantage to advertise the prowess especially during interschool or college competitions (Crothers, 2012). Modern entertainment industry This period characterized the â€Å"golden age† in 1920s. Contrary to other earlier periods, the responsible authorities made the game’s rules more advanced and refined, which ensured increased control during the matches (Carroll, 2003). Hence, there were fewer cases of casualties than those witnessed in earlier times. This led to the aspect of professionalism especially after 1920s where players were able to use their talents to earn or supplement their living (Duncan, 2004). This was not evident in earlier times where players specifically played out of pleasure with no intention of earning anything except to win trophies for their teams or institutions (Carroll, 2003). Consequently, professionalism yielded to the modern day entertainment due to the media focusing on broadcasting all competition events (Crothers, 2012). These ranged from educational institutions to interstates’ clubs or associations competitions. Modern football specialization started after 1920 when the four Midwestern regions convened at Canton with the intention of merging their rules

The Systems Development Life Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Systems Development Life Cycle - Essay Example This involved establishing the business processes used by the company. This is necessary so that the processes are redesigned to take advantage of the modern system solutions operating characteristics. Data analysis is also quite useful in the determination of the system requirements. To accomplish this, a study on flow of information in the organization is carried out in order to come with dataflow diagrams that will be quite important in the design of the system (Somers & Nelson, 2004, P.258). Decision Analysis is meant to identify the decisions that are made by the manager. The main decisions that are made by the manager are identifiable at in individual level. Gathering of this information will help in the actual development of a system that will assist the managers to make decisions (Somers & Nelson,2004,P.259). This method is valuable when the primary objective of the system is decision support. There was also process analysis that was meant to review business processes of the company. In this stage, the processes of an organization are identifies and divides into a number of events that can either change or add data. Modification and reengineering of these processes help in improving the operations of the organization through improving service, cost reduction, quality and management information The development of an accounting information system can be successful if the process is divided into different phases or stages. The phases in the field of software development is referred to as System development life cycle(SDLC) which comprises Planning and Investigation, System Analysis,Design,Coding ,implementation, maintenance and Follow up. The planning and investigation phase needs the creation of a team to carry out an investigation on the current system and provide recommendations to a steering team. The main focus of the team is to come up with a way handing the request of

Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority Research Paper

Dunlap v. Tennessee Valley Authority - Research Paper Example Dunlap felt that the system of scoring was extremely skewed and in favor of white candidates. This discussion investigates the legal issues in the episode and the decision to credit the claim of desperate treatment and neglect the disparate impact claim. Similarly, the discussion will suggest different ways in which Tennessee Valley authority can improve their process of interview. Discussion Legal issues They include David Dunlap, who believes that the process of interviewing in the TVA is discriminating and violates the Title seven of the 1964 Civil Right Act. David feels that he suffered prejudice under both disparate treatment and impact by the interview, which was increasingly subjective. Dunlap believes that the selection criteria favored white people. The committee evaluated all the applicants during the interview, but Dunlap felt that the evaluation process lacked merit and had limited rhyme. For instance, he scored low marks on a safety question than his colleague who has ha d more than two accidents in a span of 11 years, and for Dunlap, he had no accident, (Markusen, 2003). The system of evaluation itself can lead to various legal issues, for instance, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s subjective hiring and evaluation process allowed racial discrimination against Black applicants such as Dunlap. The Court of Appeal verified the claim of disparate treatment, reversed the claim of disparate adverse and verified the award of the district court of damages and fees to David. Why the disparate impact claim failed The theory of disparate claim demands the plaintiff to show that a seemingly impartial employment practice influences one team increasingly harshly than the other and that the practice of employment is unjustified by business requirements. Under the doctrine, discriminatory testimony intent is not necessary. Even though, the district court construed that Tennessee Valley Authority process of interviewing was influenced to exclude black applic ants, the Appeals Court objected, citing inadequate statistical evidence that a protected team was negatively affected, therefore, creating a prima Facie argument. Dunlap could not support his case by just challenging the employed process in his interview; therefore, his case failed. Success of disparate treatment argument The doctrine of disparate treatment demands a plaintiff to show that the employer has favored some people against others based on their race, origin or cultural background. It also requires the plaintiff create a prima Facie condition of racial bias, the employer to demonstrate a number of legitimate nonbiased reasons for his actions and the plaintiff to show some evidence that the articulated accusation was pre-textual. In this theory, a discriminatory proof is crucial. Nevertheless, in different circumstances it may be concluded from the sole disparities in treatment. Discriminatory motive proof may be gathered from the employers’ false explanation for th e actions. To refute a prima Facie argument, a defendant should show a legal nonbiased reason for rejection of plaintiff. In Dunlap’s case, Tennessee Valley Authority demonstrated the selection medium employed during the interview of Dunlap, and indicated that Dunlap’s interview score did not put his last marks into the best ten. The challenge then turned back to Dunlap to show that the process of selection was pretext for biasness. The district court

English 251 (World Literature) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

English 251 (World Literature) - Essay Example The Bible itself is an exemplary of mixed culture as we have the Hebrew Bible, Christian Bible. The Gilgamesh is not a discourse on religion but it there are theological elements in the book. It is really difficult to trace the real origin of all the religious dictums. The three books are similar in certain spheres and differs in a many a grounds with the basic similarity of punishment. Early Muslims perceived that the Quran and the forerunner biblical texts and figures. Intertextuality is evident of the fact that each culture owes something to the other. The cross cultural influence is definitely responsible for these similarities. The cross cultural studies are a branch of literary or cultural studies dealing with the writings and the scriptures by the authors associated with more than one culture. The Great Flood in the three books brings out the issue of cross cultural influence. The Great Flood is mentioned in the religious books of the Bible, the Quran and the Gilgamesh. The basic ground of all theologies is the Almighty and is related to sin, retribution and redemption. The books also bear the message that God’s warnings should not be ignored and the judgment of the God should be done in the form of destruction to purge the world of sins. In other words, the books depict to show that the wages of sins are punishment, death and destruction. In Bible the story of the flood appears in Genesis (6:9-8:22).There are three motifs shown for this flood. It aims to show God as the judge of the whole world. He is the entity who has the supreme authority to distinguish between right and wrong. The second motif intends to say that God has made provisions for the recipients of His grace. To be explicit to receive the grace of God one must follow the path of righteousness. The third is significant for Israel. Through the flood the God judged the wicked Egyptians and brought them to the Red Sea to lie in humble

USGS Bird Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

USGS Bird Population - Essay Example Indeed, it found as far north as Alaska on the west coast as well as New England on the east coast and as far south as Mexico and the Bahamas. It is also found in eastern Canada, in Great Britain, and Ireland. Its ability to survive on a variety of diets, which include fish, amphibians and crustaceans, also indicate that the Double Crested Cormorant is a generalist. The Great Blue Heron is also a generalist/opportunistic species. This species is found not only in freshwater and saltwater habitats but also in mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges as well as along the shoreline. Indeed, it thrives in almost every part of North America, from Alaska and southern Canada in the North to Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean in the south. It is also found in South America, Greenland and England (Elliott, del Hoyo, Sargatal, & Imboden, 1992). Though the primary food of the Great Blue Heron is fish, it opportunistically feed on a variety of aquatic organisms such as shrimp, crabs, insects, rodents, amphibians, reptiles and other smaller birds. The Wood Stork is an example of a specialist given that it is found in limited habitat mainly tropical and subtropical climates of South America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is also found in subtropical climates of the United States such as in the States of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina where they live on cypress trees in marshes and swamps (Ehrlich, Dobkin, & Wheye, 1992). The Wood Stork, which is an endangered species (Ehrlich, Dobkin, & Wheye, 1992), preys on a limited variety of aquatic organisms that include fish, frogs and large insects. The America Robin is indeed a generalist that is found in almost all parts of North America, from Alaska and Canada in the North to Florida and Mexico in the south (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2011). Thus is can survive in different types of environments though its habitat is mainly woodland. It is also found in the Caribbean, Greenland, and in

Self assignment Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Self assignment - Term Paper Example result, I like to come up with new ways of solving problems, and this often calls for innovation, as such I would like to think of myself as an innovative individual. However, sometimes I tend to go overboard and end up making matter worse with my â€Å"innovation† this is because I can get distracted and in my attempt to use new ways ignore old ones which may be better and more convenient. As I grew up, I was an avid reader of books and I often tried to practice some of the ideas I learnt in real life or to improve on them. For example, in junior high school, I along with 3 of my classmates won the annual science prize for coming up with a homemade solar powered lamp and water heater made from locally available materials including old disused solar panels. This attributes can be explained by my IEI, emotional intelligence test which were rated ENTP, this means I am a creative resourceful and broad minded individual quick on his feet and I can think about a wide range of issues objectively. New ideas exited me and I do not shy away from debating on any issue, since I have no inhibitions about offering my opinion accepting criticism or even giving some. In the IIC5 test, it emerged that I am a patient and strategic individual; I can spend hours on end mulling on a problem until I come up with a solution, as a result, I believe in looking for easier ways of carrying out tasks, but I do not cut corners or ignore protocol in for the sake of quick results. This is because to me it was worth taking time and effort to get good final result than to rush over cutting corners only to come up with substandard answers. This is an approach I have tried and tested over the years more so in my studies where I prefer to strategize patiently and always have a contingency plan in case the original one does not work. Despite this, I sometimes procrastinate and self-deceive that I am being patient while in reality am just avoiding to tackle a problem head on especially when I feel

The Cinema Essay Example for Free

The Cinema Essay The movies that are being compared here are made at two different periods of time and for audience of distinct mentality. Movies are made keeping in mind the taste of audience because it is totally show business. But here two movies, one of which was made almost more than 50 years before the other are somewhat similar. The base of â€Å"Singin’ in The Rain†, made in 1952 is same as â€Å" Linda Linda Linda† which was released in 2005. Both the films are musical blockbusters and were liked by the audience at the time of release and afterwards too. If we compare both these movies we will see that the plot of old ovie is not typical and lots of Hollywood movies has been made on this plot but â€Å"Singin’ in The Rain† is remembered today because it took the cinema from silent era to talkies. Its music is being admired till date and is considered as a movie with great combination of action and humor. The film is a total entertainer with almost everything being expected from a movie. â€Å"Linda Linda Linda† came out in 2005 targeting a different audience that was young and in the modern era. The taste of this audience was completely different from that of 1950s ut this movie also proved to be successful and the base here was once again music and dance. The story of course is admirable here and the film is entertaining and technically competent. There are four girls who want to create their own rock band for the upcoming function of their school. Plot of the movie revolves round the experiences of these girls to find a singer and everything needed to make a band. Their ultimate challenge became to play a single song for the function. The movie of the 1950’s was focusing on the music of that period and that of 2005 represents the music of this era.

Should A Company Employ The Matrix Structure Commerce Essay

Should A Company Employ The Matrix Structure Commerce Essay The reason we choose the matrix organization is because we know this structure will be very important in the future. Matrix organization is the best-know application of project management, a project structure imposed on top of a functional structure. Matrix organizations evolved to capitalize on the advantages of project and matrix structure while minimizing their disadvantages. An important aspect of the matrix structure is each person work on the project and has two superiors which are project manager and functional manager. The project managers report to a top-level manager and this will help a lot in decision making. Example users of matrix structure include bank, insurance, companies, chemical manufactures and colleges. The matrix organization combines the best feature of the project and functional structure. It is flexible, yet it offers the advantages of task specialization. Matrix structure is known for its ability to facilitate high-quality and innovative solutions to difficult technical problems. The project structure also gives people a degree of freedom that enhances their development as managers. Also of note is the fact that the matrix organization offers ample opportunity for job rotation on many projects. So should a company employ the matrix structure in order to have better management? The answer is yes. Why? Because in this modern life the matrix structure will help company perform better. Matrix structure also will make the company organization become more systematic and more efficient. The matrix structure will make the company become more systematic. In matrix organization there have functional manager and product managers. The work will be divided and job can be done easily. This will bring benefit to the company and matrix organization will minimize the weakness of the company. Every employee in the company that uses the matrix structure has their own work that need to be done. So the job is divided and can be done easily and more systematic. (Andrew 1993) Functional managers are in charge of specialized resources such as production, quality control, inventories, scheduling and selling. They will know in doing they own job and the work can be done with the efficient outcome. Colleges often use matrix organization to setting up the programs, for example industry seminars and adult education. (Andrew 1993) Product managers in charge of one or more products so they have their own specific jobs to be done. Project managers usually will report to top level managers. The examples of users of matrix structure include banks, insurance companies and colleges. (Andrew 1993) For example, Champion products Inc, creating the separate marketing department. Furthermore, this allows managers and employees more familiar and specific with the market. (Andrew 1993) However, the matrix structure also brings risk for the main company. In the matrix management structure, when one company operated loss, it will influence others. The main company supports it by more money, the market budget will be decreases, and this will be relative to the development of new product. Finally, the sales and profit will be influenced. Although the matrix management structure is easy to design and appears to have advantages, it may be difficult to implement. Problems can arise over shared responsibility, the use of resources in common and the question of priorities. ( Hannagan 2002) In a matrix management company, most of the data and information are shared, and it is a risk of duplication. Some managers may be not satisfied about the salaries or the job opportunity, when other company provide better reward, those managers will leave and take many useful resource, such as some valuable employees and customers information. For the main company, the loss is more than what we can imaginable. Those problems I mentioned have existed in IBM and Shell Oil firms. In 1980s, the Shell Oil Company applied the matrix structure, and it has been influenced in sales because of communication problems. Matrix structure has those problems, nevertheless, it is also a positive impact, which allowing teams to share information across task boundaries and enabling managers and staff to share skills and experience so that increase whole teams productivity. Matrix structure will give or open more opportunities for job. The company which uses matrix structure will hire many workers or employees. This will give more opportunity job to people to get a job, and it also decrease unemployment rate in the particular country. Many projects mean needs more employees so this will give or offer the opportunity job to people. (Andrew 1993) For example, if the company like mustang or Taurus comes out with new project or models, they will need employees such as engineering to work with them. (Kinichi Williams 2003) People in particular country will get more knowledge about international management. Employees maybe will train in other country to learn more about the company objective. It will add the employees knowledge. For example, the US firm, Bow Chemical. In 1970 many firms moved away from using the matrix structure but Bow believes this structure will bring advantages and will give good performance among employees. ( Paul, aleny 1993) Moreover matrix structure will give local people in particular country to get training, improving their skills and also can learn the skill of different management from different country. Some problem about cost and communication appeared in matrix structure, Using matrix structure will need more cost and more discussion than action. Its uncountable that using matrix management structure need high cost in a short term period. When a company wants to expand business in other country, it must prepare capital for building new factory, and hiring employees. For those companies that they dont have enough money for high cost and cover the loss in the beginning is high risk. Another problem is that too much democracy can lead to not enough action ( IreLand 2007). In the company, the matrix management will use much time to discuss the procedures in producing and increasing sales. However, at the end of discussing, just bit actions can be achieved, and sometimes the important decision for major project is also missed. Furthermore, the employees lazy emotion is easily appearing in matrix structure companies. To some extent, matrix structure has encouraged power struggles. The managers have ordered their employees help him apply the power, and used had ways and methods, these influence other department managers, even though have a bad impact on the company. For example, Ford Company has a problem in finance. Because the high management cost and expenses, it decreased the profit directly. Some situations have been happened in IBM, COCA-COLA, and Toyota Company. Matrix structure will save management time. Every country has the branches that handle about the products in a particular country, so its totally will save the management time. In matrix structure managers have three main major roles. The work is divided between functional and product managers. So they have the own task to be done. Its will save time and also separates the power or balance the power between the managers. (Jerald Greenbery 1999) Functional and product managers have specific jobs to be done in this structure the employee also must report their task to their manager so it make fair and balance powers between the managers. Moreover by using matrix structure the main company easy to make decision. Besides that they easy to get feedback from other company under them and it will help to improve their product and services. TRW systems group, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Citibank is some of the company that adopts matrix structure. This will help the company in doing the decision making. (Jerald Greenbery 1999) On the other hand, the main company also easily to control the company under them and adjust the marketing strategy. In this structure every employee got they own duties and all work hard to raise the return for the company with doing their specific task. Furthermore they can respond to the changing very fast and finding the best environment. However in controlling, matrix structure maybe will cause stressful among managers. But if looking for the benefit that the company will get benefit in future, Matrix structure totally useful. (Jerald Greenbery 1999) Dow Chemical, it believes that matrix structure will improve their management when other companies stop using the structure, Bow still continue using it because he believe that matrix structure will give improvement and make him easily to control the employees. Matrix structure is a permanent organization designed to achieve specific results by using teams of specialists from different functional area in the organization. For example, Ford UK produces motor cars aimed specifically at the UK and European markets and adapts its marketing and sales techniques to the requirements of these markets. UK can be treated as a distinct market requiring clear focus on the approach to it. There are many advantages by using the matrix organizations such as focus on end product, stimulus creativity, provides challenges and improves communication and understanding (Mondy Premeaux 1992) On the contrast, matrix structure has creative the problems in communication, management cost, and responsibility. These will influence companys performance even though to be a threat for a companys development and increase companys competition. However, in a long term, if the company can improve their management and use matrix structure effectively, it will show that matrix structure is very necessary and important strategy for those companies which aim to be the most successful survivors in the competitive market. In USA, one third of most successful companies have used matrix structure, and it illustrates how the matrix structure can help companies close to the famous and success.

Influences of Technology on Contemporary Abstract Art

Influences of Technology on Contemporary Abstract Art In order to establish an informed understanding of how contemporary abstract painting is situated in the art world today, this dissertation will investigate how painting has been questioned by artists since the 1960s. It will discuss how contemporary artists have been influenced by the expanse of the technological world and how they are influenced by or reflect upon this in their paintings. Another important area of discussion will be the work of contemporary artists whose abstract paintings dont appear to have adapted to technological change and dont seem to reflect transformations in contemporary culture. These are painters who are still continuing to create paintings about paint itself and are exploring what can be done with the material alone. It is important for this dissertation to begin by defining the modernist art movement and the arrival of creative thinking that brought abstract painting into history. The theories thoughts and ideas of critic Clement Greenberg will be discussed in order to set into context the work of abstract painting. Greenberg was an influential art critique during the twentieth century, who introduced an abundance of ideas into discussion around painting from the 1930s. In particular this dissertation will address Greenbergs statements about the importance of purity and flatness in modernist painting. The dissertation will then examine how the supposed end of painting provoked discussion in the1960s, addressing how the artist Ad Reinhardt explored paintings definitions. It will also be important to assess how the advances in technology and the popularisation of image have affected painting. This will then lead into a discussion about the work of a selection of contemporary artists who have conti nued to make paintings after the medium was pushed aside by critics. What has always developed the medium of painting is not only the artists individual passion and enthusiasm to explore the vast possibilities of using paint, but also the artists interest in displaying their conceptions, thoughts and feelings visually. Artists have repeatedly attempted to push their practice to new levels, break boundaries, and depict their philosophy through the use of paint. The communication between an artist engaging with a painting and the paintings audience interpreting the artists intentions or making an interpretation of their own creates a unique language of painting. It is this language that poses questions about painting and its context within contemporary culture and history. These questions will be evaluated in this dissertation in order to establish if and how abstract painting has developed since modernism. Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) is a significant artist of both the twentieth and twenty-first centauries whose artworks have questioned the role of painting through almost five decades. His personal writings and responses in interviews are a valuable resource and a record of his artistic intentions, subject methods and his overall questioning of the medium of painting. His work is particularly interesting as it moves between abstraction and figuration and it addresses the merging of painting and technology. Richter also works with paint in an abstract nature where he uses no representational imagery to depict his thoughts. This dissertation will study the artists developing body of painting and pull out the key questions he asks about painting through painting itself and discuss them in relation to modernism and to the artwork of younger contemporary artists. The first younger Contemporary painters work that will be discussed is that of Nicholas May (b.1962. His artwork uses an experimental painterly approach with the paint material. When talking about his work the dissertation will refer to art critic James Elkin and his ideas about the language of painting, exploring what paint can do on a canvas as a material. Whilst analysing Mays work it will also relate back to Greenbergs views on modernism and the concepts that have been lost and brought forward into contemporary painting. Another contemporary artist with a similar working method to Nicholas May is the John Moores painting prize 2010 exhibitor GL Brierley. Through Comparing his work to Mays and referring to modernist concepts this dissertation hopes to achieve an understanding of how these painters works fit into the art world today. Contemporary artist Carrie Moyers work is similar to Nicholas May as it contains alchemic experimental elements, flatness of the picture plane but graphic elements suggest her influence from the digital, she studied graphic design as an M.A. influences from that but later took a painting course MFA. Her use of glitter. Feminist writings interested in female artist today. Fiona Raes painting will also be of interest. Paintings are influence from the digital, Use of Photoshop to create paintings. Discussing the questions formed by these artists creative intentions, subject methods and sources of painting will form a discussion on the status of abstract painting and the artist in society today. Looking at how abstract painting was defined during the modernist era and how it has progressed over the years to present day. The following chapter will discuss where abstract painting came from and the ideas and theories of Clement Greenberg. Chapter One: Greenbergs Theories on Modernism. Clement Greenberg sets out to define the importance of abstract art in his first manifesto written in 1936 for the magazine The Partisan Review entitled Avant-garde and the Kitsch. Here he discusses for the first time concepts behind the modernist art movement. Greenberg viewed western painting up until the early 19th century as limited. The works had become stagnated and werent moving forward, they were stuck using the same techniques and form. They used skills in perspective and chiaroscuro to form deceptive illusionistic realities on the canvas. As impressive as this was as a technical skill there then became an urge for something new, to go beyond this way of working and to challenge the material and process of painting. Greenberg described this repetition as Alexandrianism that he defined as a motionless academism in which the really important issues are left untouched because they involved debate, and in which creative activity dwindles to skill in the small details of form wit h all larger questions being decided by the standard of the old masters, therefore with this nothing new is produced.  [1]  From this Greenberg defines the cultural importance of Avant-garde culture as stated: It has become amongst the signs in the midst of the decay of our present society that we some of us have become unwilling to accept this last phase of our own culture. In seeking to go beyond Alexandrianism, a part of western bourgeois society has produced something unheard of heretofore: Avant-garde culture.  [2]   Western societies were still recovering from World War one amid the Great Depression, with Nazism rising in Germany and the beginning of World War two approaching. Western societies at this time were stuck between two wars in a depression that followed a large increase in unemployment and bankruptcy. This decay of society heavily influenced artists and their paintings during the avant-garde movement. Modernist painting opened up art to all social classes and was a revolutionary art form that created the avant-garde culture. Painting before the modernist movement had been typically aimed at the upper class and only available for the bourgeoisie to view. The bourgeoisie is the class of people who owned and still own the means of production in the country capitalist, who exploit labourers for their own capital gain. The avant-garde artists abstract paintings scandalised the bourgeoisie by not displaying things as they are. Instead paintings were progressive, moving on from traditional realist painting and chose to use innovative forms of expression.  [3]  Artists began questioning the medium of painting and started producing works that formed a language of its own. Using painting they could visualise the subconscious and depict the world around them on canvas in a way that had never been done before. Although artists were opposed to the bourgeoisie capitalist values, they relied on these people for art funding. The avant-gardes stable source of income was provided from privileged among the ruling class, from which it thought of itself to be cut off. Greenberg described this as an umbilical cord of gold that has always remained attached. (Cite art in theory pg 542) Today artists find themselves in a similar position where they are often reliant on funding from galleries and the art establishment in order to produce and promote their artwork. This can lead to the artists work being restricted by gallery guidelines or what critics, collectors and the power figures of western art deem fashionable in contemporary art. Later in Greenbergs writing Modernist Painting written in 1960 he refines his definitions and explores themes further. Greenberg promotes in this essay the purity in painting in which he explores the restrictions of the medium of painting. The idea of purity in art and painting is that the art should continually move forward to improve itself by moving away from the use of imagery like that of the Renaissance. Instead Painting should move towards the two dimensional qualities of abstract painting.  [4]   Greenberg described this change in perspective in the following statement: Realistic naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art. The limitations of the surface, the shape of the support, the properties of the pigment were treated by the old masters as negative factors that could be acknowledged only implicitly or indirectly. Under modernism these same limitations came to be regarded as positive factors, and were acknowledged openly.  [5]   By deliberately drawing attention to the natural flatness of the canvas in a work of art, the artists have created a new perspective for the viewer to look towards the painting. In modernist painting the viewer is not meant to appreciate the deception of anything but instead admire the act of painting itself. The artist is freely acknowledging the processes limitations of trying to apply visual depth to a two-dimensional surface. Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko began a serious pursuit for flatness in their painting, aiming to create an infinite space on the canvas using a flat layer of colour and shape. Focusing on the images and content of a painting according to Greenberg was a negative factor, he believed for art to be pure and have clarity the subject matter must be thrown out and the emphasis should be put on the painting instead. Where as one tends to see what is in an old master before one sees the picture itself, one sees a modernist picture as a picture first.(cite modernist painting) This he believed was the best way to see any kind of picture and that modernism imposed it as the only and necessary way. Greenberg acknowledges in his essay Modernist Painting that the art of sculpture is by its very nature a three-dimensional form. Painting However is applied to a two-dimensional surface, modernist artists were inspired by that attribute, so rather than attempting to disregard it they embraced it. (cite MP) The artist Ad Reinhart (b.1913-1967) sought to achieve the ultimate modernist painting that contained definitive purity and flatness on the canvas. He took this tendency towards abstraction and simplification in modern art to the extreme when he created his controversial black paintings during the last ten years of his life. The next chapter will discuss Reinhardts definitions of painting and his belief that he had created the last painting. The chapter will also discuss the shift of painting from the limelight to background in art culture, as advances in technology and social interest change during the 1960s. Chapter Two: The End of Painting? Abstract painting No.5 (1962) is an example of the ‘black painting style which Reinhardt is best known for. The canvas appears to have a uniformly plain blue-black surface, an art piece devoid of colour and light. Seen up close however, the carefully painted layers reveal small amounts of blue, yellow and red. These colours form an underlying grid of different coloured squares, divided by a green central horizontal and a central vertical band that resemble the simple shape of a cross. Each of these colours were mixed with black oil paint to give a matt surface quality. (ref Tate modern) In an interview with Bruce Glaser, published in 1966 Reinhart discusses his black square paintings. He believed that there can be only one painting during one time and his were the only valid ones. In this interview he explains that he was trying to make the last ever painting. He also pronounces that his paintings were not about the materials or ideas and that each work he was working on always related to what he previously created. He believed art should be expressionless, clear, quiet, dignified and timeless (cite art as art pg13) in the following statement Reinhardt explains his ideas further: The one direction in fine or abstract art today is the painting of the same one form over and over again. The only intensity and the one perfection come only from long and lonely routine preparation and attention and repetition. The one originality exists only where all artists work in the same tradition and master the same convention.  [6]  (cite Ad Reinhart Art as Art art in theory. or Reinhardt art is art page 823.) By repeating his black paintings he believed he was creating works that considered truly the ultimate modernist pure form and paintings that had been developed as far as they could possibly go. Reinhardts paintings were formalist which meant the context of the work including the reason for its creation was not necessary; the only important factor was the paintings literal form. It can be argued that Reinhardts paintings contributed to the end of modernist painting. Greenberg wrote in his essay modernist painting his acceptance that The flatness towards which Modernist painting orients itself can never be an absolute flatness.(Ref) He claimed that the instance paint touches the canvas, some depth or form has been created, therefore the canvas ceases to remain flat. He uses the artist Mondrian as an example of how a simple mark on the canvas can create a kind of optical illusion that suggests a third dimension. CG, MP (1960) pg90). S. This optically according to Rosalind Krauss: was thus an entirely abstract schematized version of a link that traditional perspective had formally established between viewer and object, but one that now transcends the real parameters of measurable, physical space to express the purely projective powers of projective level of sight. (cite Page 29) She then continues to say that the most serious issue for painting in the 1960s was not to understand its objective features, such as flatness and material surface, but its specific mode of address and to make this a source of new conventions. (Page 29.) Therefore the 1960s brought art into a situation where the concepts and ideas in a piece of art had taken precedence over the aesthetics of the object calling the end to modernism and brining art into the post-modern age. Professor Anne Ring Peter states in her essay painting spaces that The experiments of the 1960s and the 1970s had moved art into a post-medium condition (Rosalind Krauss 1999 cite pg 32 ). In which traditional arts past categories have been diminished by new interdisciplinary overlaps, and the modernist discourse on the specificity of disciplines has been over taken by the new media and their seemingly tireless potential for re adjustment, technology updating and the generation of new hybrids. Therefore painting is seen as restricted because of its simple and old fashioned materials with its thoughts being changed to the past because of its traditional origins it derives from. Pgs 123/124 CPC Paintings were now seen as dull and boring whereas the new media appeared more exciting, futuristic and popular. Peterson then states that: It is widely agreed that the cul-de-sac of painting was caused by the modernist attempt to preserve the discipline from contamination by other kinds of art and culture and restricts its activities to what the formalists regarded as its primary task: to explore the formal aspects of painting, on the theory that all painting is basically about painting. Pgs 124 CPC Through the arrival of new technology and bombardment of visual imagery this Cul-de-sac or dead end of painting placed it in the background of the art world, with more artists using new media and technology to express their ideas and perspectives through art.. Reinharts black paintings are therefore a great example of the modern paintings purism having reached an end. The following chapter will discuss Gerhards questioning of painting through his personal art practice from the beginnings of the 1960s. Chapter Three: Gerhard Richters Questioning of Painting. Gerhard Richter is a master technician and maker of painting having created both figurative and abstract artworks since the 1960s. During this time there was an upheaval in art criticism where painting was considered to have developed as far as it could go; therefore it was no longer the dominant art practice in society. Many artists were using new materials and methods to explore their ideas and perspectives of the world like performance art, body art, installation, video and conceptual but Richter chose to continue using paint. In his notes 1962 Richter sums up brilliantly where his passion for painting and creating art derives: The first impulse towards painting, or towards art in general, stems from the need to communicate, the effort to fix ones own vision, to deal with appearances (Which are alien and must be given names and meanings) without this, all work would be pointless and unjustified, like Art for Art Sake.  [7]   In this statement Richter is rejecting the modernist notion of Art for Art sake he believes that work with no meaning or purpose is pointless. Richters practice communicates his perspective of the world around him through his expression and questioning of painting. Richters work can be described as not fitting with any one genre moving between abstract and figurative or combing the two, one paintings form is a response to another. Richter believed that as soon as something turned into an ism, it ceased to be artist activity. He believed fixed categorisations of paintings do not serve matters of creativity. Restricting creative flow confines artistic practice and stops work developing. (cite384/5) His artwork therefore questions the art establishment and his painting in context with that.. It can be said that the artists personal development and exploration through painting is more important than how the figure heads of the art world decide to define it. Richter criticises the artists that are so consistent in their development, he never worked at paintings like a job. When artists were encouraged to make a consistent body of work or make a conscious progression from one area to the next Richter acted oppositional. His work progressed through his desire to try something new and fun. (cite384/5) If an artist needs money they may work towards a show, they may then produce works that fit into the guidelines of the gallery or collector. This work does not contain genuine artistic creativity and is a forced part of the artists art practice. Richters work moves away from convention and shows his personal development.. Modernist artist Ad Reinhardt believed that art work should be consistent and repetitive with one work of art leading into the next (cite art as art interview). Richter disregards Reinhardts modernist idea showing a progressive move from modernism. Before 1962 Richters artwork consisted of Representational paintings. In 1962 his art practiced moved to his first set of paintings based on photographs. This was due to the radical change in belief at the time about what art is; ‘that it has ‘nothing to do with painting, nothing to do with composition, nor with colour Photographs are and were in the 1960s seen in abundance everyday, Richter was inspired when he saw the photograph in an new light which offered him a new view, which he believed was free from all the convention he had associated with art. It had no style, no composition and no judgement. pg4 Therefore It was only natural for Richter in the aftermath of the avant-garde to abandon the world of painting objects and turn to the investigation of refined forms of perception in photography. Written in Richters statement in 1967 he talks about how â€Å"we have arrived at a point where we trust reproduced reality in the form of photograph more than we do reality itself. pg 47 This perception of the world is brought to the public by the media through the camera lends. Richters work forms a critique of how the mass media influence our thinking through the photographs in news papers, posters and advertisements. Richters collection of work atlas†¦. In an interview with Robert Storr in 2002 Richter discuses his painting Blurred table an oil painting of a table where the paint has been speared over the images disguising it. The photo for table came from an Italian design magazine called Domus. His initial approach to the photograph was to copy it realistically, but when he had finished painting it, he was dissatisfied with the result so pasted parts of it with newspaper. He was dissatisfied because there was too much paint on the canvas therefore he became less happy with it, so he over painted it. Then suddenly it acquired a quality that appealed to him and he felt it should be left that way. cite p259 This artistic development happened by chance and he learned from it then developed the medium and process to develop work further. He destroyed or over painted many pictures during this time, he wanted to draw the line from his older paintings, indicating that these earlier paintings were in the past and so he set table at the top of his work list. cite p259 Richters paintings 1965 Boy baker and girl baker were initially blurred by him to fix cracking in the painting but he got angry with it and smudged the oil paint about. Table was the first blurred painting, what provoked him to smear the image was as he describes it I painted it very realistically, and it looked so stupid. You cant paint like that, thats the problem Therefore the blurring technique started out as he describes it as either a technical emergency-cracking-or, a conceptual emergency pg382/383 His wiping away of a painting brings into question what makes a good or bad painting? Richter answers this by saying and that development in an artists practice by accident not by the convention of what is the right way to d it It is interesting that Richter felt the need to destroy his own work, what was so imperfect about the perfect picture? As a technique to give paintings an effect deliberately and also to wipe out paintings he found ugly therefore creating the painting with a status of its own. It is also interesting how obscuring the viewers vision of the piece lets them become more intrigued in the image. Through these works Richter questions the importance of colour and its effect on a painting. Richter believes that if you hang his grey paintings next to red or green the grey turns into a different colour each time, this made the paintings aesthetic when he didnt want them to be. His grey paintings intended to take the object in the photograph away from its natural colour which creates an artificial operation intending to distance the object. He believed the first artificial is taking the photograph. pg 54 Through these Photo Paintings he sets up a Post Modern dialect between Modernism and the 1970s. His expertise in the language of painting displays the fate of art in technology through his creation of photo paintings; these works combine painterly abstraction along with mechanic photography. Showing influences from modernism but also developing from it. Abstract paintings From grey to colour†¦ sep 1977 pg 94 For two years he had been working on a different idea from the grey pictures . He decided to start in a totally different direction as he felt this couldnt go on any further. on small canvases at random he put illogical colours and forms assorted. He called them ugly sketches the total antithesis to the grey paintings they are not legible, because they devoid of meaning or logic if such a thing is possible, which is an interesting question itself. This question opened up a new door into a world of his abstract paintings. From the 1970s Richter started to create his larger abstract paintings, In 1973 during an interview with Irmeline Lebeer, (pg 72 ) Richter is asked why he thinks people wont be interested in his abstract paintings. His responds to this was that this type of artwork puts him in a trap, because the public are used to seeing his realist better-known paintings. He is worried that his abstract works will look like mere scribbles to the public. 72 It is interesting that Richter challenges Greenbergs enthusiasm towards pure painting. page 93 through his abstract cage paintings These could be viewed as purist modernist style paintings purely about the flat colour and form however in a letter to Benjamin H.D. Buchloh in may 1977 Richter says that what makes me sick above all is when the describers build that up as pure painting, completely denying the value of the object. Firstly I have said pure painting -if it could ever exist- would be a crime and secondly, these pictures are valued solely and uniquely for their stupid bumptious object content. This naturally includes the effective recording of the painters blind, ferocious motor impulse, as well as the maintaining of a semblance of intelligence and historical awareness through the choice and invention of motif. page 93 t This twists the paintings that are so important to him which he says I have nothing to say and I am saying it twisting it round into we have nothing to say and we are not saying it these purist ideas are like that of Greenbergs modernism and this shows Richters progressive development in thinking since then. Richter is still practicing the painting today. Since the 1960s technology has advanced even further, we are in a time in the western world where the internet is in almost everybodys home the digital has taken over and the influence on painting has developed it further. The next chapter discussed the work of younger contemporary artists who are creating paintings in contemporary practice. Chapter Three: The Work of Younger Contemporary Artists. The artist Fiona Rae became in the public eye during the 1990s with her use of colour shape , flatness of the picture plain hybrid use of technology with paint Fiona Rae. Does her work loose something because it makes it easier to understand because of the figurative elements or is it just more pleasing to the eye and less confusing? Or maybe they add to the confusion. Or the confusion gives it more meaning? Its all in personal perspective when looking at the canvas. Greenberg purity in painting mentioned earlier. Absence of form gives s a painting more meaning. What Paint does in contemporary art above all mediums are engaged with the material and has a language of it own. The purity of painting describes of an earthly medium playing with the material ruined by technology? Artists who use Photoshop what does this do to painting? Fiona Rae. Compare to Nicholas May†¦ Digital looses the genuine experimental element tried and tested on the computer. Visually biased not a true record of thought with paint. First see it on the comp then try and replicate it. Not learn from it adjust it and edited on canvas till it is how the artist feels it should be. Maybe then the computer is the record of thought a technological one less about the material itself but about the colour and shape and that aspect of form composition. Maybe my view is biased because I personally enjoy works where you can see the application of the paint and the surface. Flat plain colour painting has been done before but so has the other, maybe more to learn from the other than the flat. The computer is the record of the thought and brings a whole new element into the paint. Does this push the medium or destroy it? Forms a new Hybrid? New is goodright? Nicholas Mays work involves stuff In the article ‘Intention, Meaning and Substance in the Phenomenology of Abstract Painting Professor of Philosophy Dale Jaquette discusses the writing of Gertrude Stein, a critique and commentator on culture in particular modern abstract painting. Stine is fascinated by the visual possibilities of oil paint applied to a surface. It is something she finds intriguingly to admire. According to Stein â€Å"The existence of the oil painting itself is the thing that draws us powerfully, whether as representation or abstract image.â€Å" Jaquette believes that paintings do have this effect to draw us in. Stine continues to say That: when we experience painting especially but not uniquely it fascinates us because it not only reveals the world as seen by the artist but, perhaps more obviously, and, in the case of abstract art more purely and essentially, because it reveals the artists mind, the artists outlook on the world and conceptual framework, history background, obsessions, preoccupations and in a personality. pg 41 para 2 People believe that there is more talent in representational painting, however representational painting is a depiction of something other than the artists themselves. Every splodge splash brush mark and controlled abstraction is the interpretation of the artist a view of their perspective trying to capture an emotive, So it does more than just representing something that exists. Does repeated exposure to abstract art wear thin? What has been interesting is no longer what was free expression has it grown old? Has the medium been pushed so far it can no longer express anything new? pg 48 What was exciting and new pushing boundaries cant anymore because we have become desensitised by the work. Fischer pg 49 What was shocking during the avant-garde cant be done now to create similar reaction. Its not revolutionary and has lost its voomft†¦ Has painting run its course? Jaquette suggests the value of abstract painting its not to illustrate†¦ pg 51 Why abstract arts are important. link to Richter†¦ What does GR say about the feeling of paint and what that does? Jacs view on Elkin/ My view on Elkin. pg 53 Its is the Art Historians and the critiques that decide what happens with painting. Elkins emphasises the role of the painter. They are entranced by the qualities of the paint and by the challenge of trying to make paint do what they want it to down when applying to the surface, in both figurative and abstract painting pg 54 para 3 This is why in contemporary day with all the other ways to express ideas they choose paint. Nicholas May link with the writing s of Elkin and Richters approach to abstracts. The fascination cant die in the individual thats why painting will live on! Nicholas May his experiment an Influences of Technology on Contemporary Abstract Art Influences of Technology on Contemporary Abstract Art In order to establish an informed understanding of how contemporary abstract painting is situated in the art world today, this dissertation will investigate how painting has been questioned by artists since the 1960s. It will discuss how contemporary artists have been influenced by the expanse of the technological world and how they are influenced by or reflect upon this in their paintings. Another important area of discussion will be the work of contemporary artists whose abstract paintings dont appear to have adapted to technological change and dont seem to reflect transformations in contemporary culture. These are painters who are still continuing to create paintings about paint itself and are exploring what can be done with the material alone. It is important for this dissertation to begin by defining the modernist art movement and the arrival of creative thinking that brought abstract painting into history. The theories thoughts and ideas of critic Clement Greenberg will be discussed in order to set into context the work of abstract painting. Greenberg was an influential art critique during the twentieth century, who introduced an abundance of ideas into discussion around painting from the 1930s. In particular this dissertation will address Greenbergs statements about the importance of purity and flatness in modernist painting. The dissertation will then examine how the supposed end of painting provoked discussion in the1960s, addressing how the artist Ad Reinhardt explored paintings definitions. It will also be important to assess how the advances in technology and the popularisation of image have affected painting. This will then lead into a discussion about the work of a selection of contemporary artists who have conti nued to make paintings after the medium was pushed aside by critics. What has always developed the medium of painting is not only the artists individual passion and enthusiasm to explore the vast possibilities of using paint, but also the artists interest in displaying their conceptions, thoughts and feelings visually. Artists have repeatedly attempted to push their practice to new levels, break boundaries, and depict their philosophy through the use of paint. The communication between an artist engaging with a painting and the paintings audience interpreting the artists intentions or making an interpretation of their own creates a unique language of painting. It is this language that poses questions about painting and its context within contemporary culture and history. These questions will be evaluated in this dissertation in order to establish if and how abstract painting has developed since modernism. Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) is a significant artist of both the twentieth and twenty-first centauries whose artworks have questioned the role of painting through almost five decades. His personal writings and responses in interviews are a valuable resource and a record of his artistic intentions, subject methods and his overall questioning of the medium of painting. His work is particularly interesting as it moves between abstraction and figuration and it addresses the merging of painting and technology. Richter also works with paint in an abstract nature where he uses no representational imagery to depict his thoughts. This dissertation will study the artists developing body of painting and pull out the key questions he asks about painting through painting itself and discuss them in relation to modernism and to the artwork of younger contemporary artists. The first younger Contemporary painters work that will be discussed is that of Nicholas May (b.1962. His artwork uses an experimental painterly approach with the paint material. When talking about his work the dissertation will refer to art critic James Elkin and his ideas about the language of painting, exploring what paint can do on a canvas as a material. Whilst analysing Mays work it will also relate back to Greenbergs views on modernism and the concepts that have been lost and brought forward into contemporary painting. Another contemporary artist with a similar working method to Nicholas May is the John Moores painting prize 2010 exhibitor GL Brierley. Through Comparing his work to Mays and referring to modernist concepts this dissertation hopes to achieve an understanding of how these painters works fit into the art world today. Contemporary artist Carrie Moyers work is similar to Nicholas May as it contains alchemic experimental elements, flatness of the picture plane but graphic elements suggest her influence from the digital, she studied graphic design as an M.A. influences from that but later took a painting course MFA. Her use of glitter. Feminist writings interested in female artist today. Fiona Raes painting will also be of interest. Paintings are influence from the digital, Use of Photoshop to create paintings. Discussing the questions formed by these artists creative intentions, subject methods and sources of painting will form a discussion on the status of abstract painting and the artist in society today. Looking at how abstract painting was defined during the modernist era and how it has progressed over the years to present day. The following chapter will discuss where abstract painting came from and the ideas and theories of Clement Greenberg. Chapter One: Greenbergs Theories on Modernism. Clement Greenberg sets out to define the importance of abstract art in his first manifesto written in 1936 for the magazine The Partisan Review entitled Avant-garde and the Kitsch. Here he discusses for the first time concepts behind the modernist art movement. Greenberg viewed western painting up until the early 19th century as limited. The works had become stagnated and werent moving forward, they were stuck using the same techniques and form. They used skills in perspective and chiaroscuro to form deceptive illusionistic realities on the canvas. As impressive as this was as a technical skill there then became an urge for something new, to go beyond this way of working and to challenge the material and process of painting. Greenberg described this repetition as Alexandrianism that he defined as a motionless academism in which the really important issues are left untouched because they involved debate, and in which creative activity dwindles to skill in the small details of form wit h all larger questions being decided by the standard of the old masters, therefore with this nothing new is produced.  [1]  From this Greenberg defines the cultural importance of Avant-garde culture as stated: It has become amongst the signs in the midst of the decay of our present society that we some of us have become unwilling to accept this last phase of our own culture. In seeking to go beyond Alexandrianism, a part of western bourgeois society has produced something unheard of heretofore: Avant-garde culture.  [2]   Western societies were still recovering from World War one amid the Great Depression, with Nazism rising in Germany and the beginning of World War two approaching. Western societies at this time were stuck between two wars in a depression that followed a large increase in unemployment and bankruptcy. This decay of society heavily influenced artists and their paintings during the avant-garde movement. Modernist painting opened up art to all social classes and was a revolutionary art form that created the avant-garde culture. Painting before the modernist movement had been typically aimed at the upper class and only available for the bourgeoisie to view. The bourgeoisie is the class of people who owned and still own the means of production in the country capitalist, who exploit labourers for their own capital gain. The avant-garde artists abstract paintings scandalised the bourgeoisie by not displaying things as they are. Instead paintings were progressive, moving on from traditional realist painting and chose to use innovative forms of expression.  [3]  Artists began questioning the medium of painting and started producing works that formed a language of its own. Using painting they could visualise the subconscious and depict the world around them on canvas in a way that had never been done before. Although artists were opposed to the bourgeoisie capitalist values, they relied on these people for art funding. The avant-gardes stable source of income was provided from privileged among the ruling class, from which it thought of itself to be cut off. Greenberg described this as an umbilical cord of gold that has always remained attached. (Cite art in theory pg 542) Today artists find themselves in a similar position where they are often reliant on funding from galleries and the art establishment in order to produce and promote their artwork. This can lead to the artists work being restricted by gallery guidelines or what critics, collectors and the power figures of western art deem fashionable in contemporary art. Later in Greenbergs writing Modernist Painting written in 1960 he refines his definitions and explores themes further. Greenberg promotes in this essay the purity in painting in which he explores the restrictions of the medium of painting. The idea of purity in art and painting is that the art should continually move forward to improve itself by moving away from the use of imagery like that of the Renaissance. Instead Painting should move towards the two dimensional qualities of abstract painting.  [4]   Greenberg described this change in perspective in the following statement: Realistic naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art. The limitations of the surface, the shape of the support, the properties of the pigment were treated by the old masters as negative factors that could be acknowledged only implicitly or indirectly. Under modernism these same limitations came to be regarded as positive factors, and were acknowledged openly.  [5]   By deliberately drawing attention to the natural flatness of the canvas in a work of art, the artists have created a new perspective for the viewer to look towards the painting. In modernist painting the viewer is not meant to appreciate the deception of anything but instead admire the act of painting itself. The artist is freely acknowledging the processes limitations of trying to apply visual depth to a two-dimensional surface. Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko began a serious pursuit for flatness in their painting, aiming to create an infinite space on the canvas using a flat layer of colour and shape. Focusing on the images and content of a painting according to Greenberg was a negative factor, he believed for art to be pure and have clarity the subject matter must be thrown out and the emphasis should be put on the painting instead. Where as one tends to see what is in an old master before one sees the picture itself, one sees a modernist picture as a picture first.(cite modernist painting) This he believed was the best way to see any kind of picture and that modernism imposed it as the only and necessary way. Greenberg acknowledges in his essay Modernist Painting that the art of sculpture is by its very nature a three-dimensional form. Painting However is applied to a two-dimensional surface, modernist artists were inspired by that attribute, so rather than attempting to disregard it they embraced it. (cite MP) The artist Ad Reinhart (b.1913-1967) sought to achieve the ultimate modernist painting that contained definitive purity and flatness on the canvas. He took this tendency towards abstraction and simplification in modern art to the extreme when he created his controversial black paintings during the last ten years of his life. The next chapter will discuss Reinhardts definitions of painting and his belief that he had created the last painting. The chapter will also discuss the shift of painting from the limelight to background in art culture, as advances in technology and social interest change during the 1960s. Chapter Two: The End of Painting? Abstract painting No.5 (1962) is an example of the ‘black painting style which Reinhardt is best known for. The canvas appears to have a uniformly plain blue-black surface, an art piece devoid of colour and light. Seen up close however, the carefully painted layers reveal small amounts of blue, yellow and red. These colours form an underlying grid of different coloured squares, divided by a green central horizontal and a central vertical band that resemble the simple shape of a cross. Each of these colours were mixed with black oil paint to give a matt surface quality. (ref Tate modern) In an interview with Bruce Glaser, published in 1966 Reinhart discusses his black square paintings. He believed that there can be only one painting during one time and his were the only valid ones. In this interview he explains that he was trying to make the last ever painting. He also pronounces that his paintings were not about the materials or ideas and that each work he was working on always related to what he previously created. He believed art should be expressionless, clear, quiet, dignified and timeless (cite art as art pg13) in the following statement Reinhardt explains his ideas further: The one direction in fine or abstract art today is the painting of the same one form over and over again. The only intensity and the one perfection come only from long and lonely routine preparation and attention and repetition. The one originality exists only where all artists work in the same tradition and master the same convention.  [6]  (cite Ad Reinhart Art as Art art in theory. or Reinhardt art is art page 823.) By repeating his black paintings he believed he was creating works that considered truly the ultimate modernist pure form and paintings that had been developed as far as they could possibly go. Reinhardts paintings were formalist which meant the context of the work including the reason for its creation was not necessary; the only important factor was the paintings literal form. It can be argued that Reinhardts paintings contributed to the end of modernist painting. Greenberg wrote in his essay modernist painting his acceptance that The flatness towards which Modernist painting orients itself can never be an absolute flatness.(Ref) He claimed that the instance paint touches the canvas, some depth or form has been created, therefore the canvas ceases to remain flat. He uses the artist Mondrian as an example of how a simple mark on the canvas can create a kind of optical illusion that suggests a third dimension. CG, MP (1960) pg90). S. This optically according to Rosalind Krauss: was thus an entirely abstract schematized version of a link that traditional perspective had formally established between viewer and object, but one that now transcends the real parameters of measurable, physical space to express the purely projective powers of projective level of sight. (cite Page 29) She then continues to say that the most serious issue for painting in the 1960s was not to understand its objective features, such as flatness and material surface, but its specific mode of address and to make this a source of new conventions. (Page 29.) Therefore the 1960s brought art into a situation where the concepts and ideas in a piece of art had taken precedence over the aesthetics of the object calling the end to modernism and brining art into the post-modern age. Professor Anne Ring Peter states in her essay painting spaces that The experiments of the 1960s and the 1970s had moved art into a post-medium condition (Rosalind Krauss 1999 cite pg 32 ). In which traditional arts past categories have been diminished by new interdisciplinary overlaps, and the modernist discourse on the specificity of disciplines has been over taken by the new media and their seemingly tireless potential for re adjustment, technology updating and the generation of new hybrids. Therefore painting is seen as restricted because of its simple and old fashioned materials with its thoughts being changed to the past because of its traditional origins it derives from. Pgs 123/124 CPC Paintings were now seen as dull and boring whereas the new media appeared more exciting, futuristic and popular. Peterson then states that: It is widely agreed that the cul-de-sac of painting was caused by the modernist attempt to preserve the discipline from contamination by other kinds of art and culture and restricts its activities to what the formalists regarded as its primary task: to explore the formal aspects of painting, on the theory that all painting is basically about painting. Pgs 124 CPC Through the arrival of new technology and bombardment of visual imagery this Cul-de-sac or dead end of painting placed it in the background of the art world, with more artists using new media and technology to express their ideas and perspectives through art.. Reinharts black paintings are therefore a great example of the modern paintings purism having reached an end. The following chapter will discuss Gerhards questioning of painting through his personal art practice from the beginnings of the 1960s. Chapter Three: Gerhard Richters Questioning of Painting. Gerhard Richter is a master technician and maker of painting having created both figurative and abstract artworks since the 1960s. During this time there was an upheaval in art criticism where painting was considered to have developed as far as it could go; therefore it was no longer the dominant art practice in society. Many artists were using new materials and methods to explore their ideas and perspectives of the world like performance art, body art, installation, video and conceptual but Richter chose to continue using paint. In his notes 1962 Richter sums up brilliantly where his passion for painting and creating art derives: The first impulse towards painting, or towards art in general, stems from the need to communicate, the effort to fix ones own vision, to deal with appearances (Which are alien and must be given names and meanings) without this, all work would be pointless and unjustified, like Art for Art Sake.  [7]   In this statement Richter is rejecting the modernist notion of Art for Art sake he believes that work with no meaning or purpose is pointless. Richters practice communicates his perspective of the world around him through his expression and questioning of painting. Richters work can be described as not fitting with any one genre moving between abstract and figurative or combing the two, one paintings form is a response to another. Richter believed that as soon as something turned into an ism, it ceased to be artist activity. He believed fixed categorisations of paintings do not serve matters of creativity. Restricting creative flow confines artistic practice and stops work developing. (cite384/5) His artwork therefore questions the art establishment and his painting in context with that.. It can be said that the artists personal development and exploration through painting is more important than how the figure heads of the art world decide to define it. Richter criticises the artists that are so consistent in their development, he never worked at paintings like a job. When artists were encouraged to make a consistent body of work or make a conscious progression from one area to the next Richter acted oppositional. His work progressed through his desire to try something new and fun. (cite384/5) If an artist needs money they may work towards a show, they may then produce works that fit into the guidelines of the gallery or collector. This work does not contain genuine artistic creativity and is a forced part of the artists art practice. Richters work moves away from convention and shows his personal development.. Modernist artist Ad Reinhardt believed that art work should be consistent and repetitive with one work of art leading into the next (cite art as art interview). Richter disregards Reinhardts modernist idea showing a progressive move from modernism. Before 1962 Richters artwork consisted of Representational paintings. In 1962 his art practiced moved to his first set of paintings based on photographs. This was due to the radical change in belief at the time about what art is; ‘that it has ‘nothing to do with painting, nothing to do with composition, nor with colour Photographs are and were in the 1960s seen in abundance everyday, Richter was inspired when he saw the photograph in an new light which offered him a new view, which he believed was free from all the convention he had associated with art. It had no style, no composition and no judgement. pg4 Therefore It was only natural for Richter in the aftermath of the avant-garde to abandon the world of painting objects and turn to the investigation of refined forms of perception in photography. Written in Richters statement in 1967 he talks about how â€Å"we have arrived at a point where we trust reproduced reality in the form of photograph more than we do reality itself. pg 47 This perception of the world is brought to the public by the media through the camera lends. Richters work forms a critique of how the mass media influence our thinking through the photographs in news papers, posters and advertisements. Richters collection of work atlas†¦. In an interview with Robert Storr in 2002 Richter discuses his painting Blurred table an oil painting of a table where the paint has been speared over the images disguising it. The photo for table came from an Italian design magazine called Domus. His initial approach to the photograph was to copy it realistically, but when he had finished painting it, he was dissatisfied with the result so pasted parts of it with newspaper. He was dissatisfied because there was too much paint on the canvas therefore he became less happy with it, so he over painted it. Then suddenly it acquired a quality that appealed to him and he felt it should be left that way. cite p259 This artistic development happened by chance and he learned from it then developed the medium and process to develop work further. He destroyed or over painted many pictures during this time, he wanted to draw the line from his older paintings, indicating that these earlier paintings were in the past and so he set table at the top of his work list. cite p259 Richters paintings 1965 Boy baker and girl baker were initially blurred by him to fix cracking in the painting but he got angry with it and smudged the oil paint about. Table was the first blurred painting, what provoked him to smear the image was as he describes it I painted it very realistically, and it looked so stupid. You cant paint like that, thats the problem Therefore the blurring technique started out as he describes it as either a technical emergency-cracking-or, a conceptual emergency pg382/383 His wiping away of a painting brings into question what makes a good or bad painting? Richter answers this by saying and that development in an artists practice by accident not by the convention of what is the right way to d it It is interesting that Richter felt the need to destroy his own work, what was so imperfect about the perfect picture? As a technique to give paintings an effect deliberately and also to wipe out paintings he found ugly therefore creating the painting with a status of its own. It is also interesting how obscuring the viewers vision of the piece lets them become more intrigued in the image. Through these works Richter questions the importance of colour and its effect on a painting. Richter believes that if you hang his grey paintings next to red or green the grey turns into a different colour each time, this made the paintings aesthetic when he didnt want them to be. His grey paintings intended to take the object in the photograph away from its natural colour which creates an artificial operation intending to distance the object. He believed the first artificial is taking the photograph. pg 54 Through these Photo Paintings he sets up a Post Modern dialect between Modernism and the 1970s. His expertise in the language of painting displays the fate of art in technology through his creation of photo paintings; these works combine painterly abstraction along with mechanic photography. Showing influences from modernism but also developing from it. Abstract paintings From grey to colour†¦ sep 1977 pg 94 For two years he had been working on a different idea from the grey pictures . He decided to start in a totally different direction as he felt this couldnt go on any further. on small canvases at random he put illogical colours and forms assorted. He called them ugly sketches the total antithesis to the grey paintings they are not legible, because they devoid of meaning or logic if such a thing is possible, which is an interesting question itself. This question opened up a new door into a world of his abstract paintings. From the 1970s Richter started to create his larger abstract paintings, In 1973 during an interview with Irmeline Lebeer, (pg 72 ) Richter is asked why he thinks people wont be interested in his abstract paintings. His responds to this was that this type of artwork puts him in a trap, because the public are used to seeing his realist better-known paintings. He is worried that his abstract works will look like mere scribbles to the public. 72 It is interesting that Richter challenges Greenbergs enthusiasm towards pure painting. page 93 through his abstract cage paintings These could be viewed as purist modernist style paintings purely about the flat colour and form however in a letter to Benjamin H.D. Buchloh in may 1977 Richter says that what makes me sick above all is when the describers build that up as pure painting, completely denying the value of the object. Firstly I have said pure painting -if it could ever exist- would be a crime and secondly, these pictures are valued solely and uniquely for their stupid bumptious object content. This naturally includes the effective recording of the painters blind, ferocious motor impulse, as well as the maintaining of a semblance of intelligence and historical awareness through the choice and invention of motif. page 93 t This twists the paintings that are so important to him which he says I have nothing to say and I am saying it twisting it round into we have nothing to say and we are not saying it these purist ideas are like that of Greenbergs modernism and this shows Richters progressive development in thinking since then. Richter is still practicing the painting today. Since the 1960s technology has advanced even further, we are in a time in the western world where the internet is in almost everybodys home the digital has taken over and the influence on painting has developed it further. The next chapter discussed the work of younger contemporary artists who are creating paintings in contemporary practice. Chapter Three: The Work of Younger Contemporary Artists. The artist Fiona Rae became in the public eye during the 1990s with her use of colour shape , flatness of the picture plain hybrid use of technology with paint Fiona Rae. Does her work loose something because it makes it easier to understand because of the figurative elements or is it just more pleasing to the eye and less confusing? Or maybe they add to the confusion. Or the confusion gives it more meaning? Its all in personal perspective when looking at the canvas. Greenberg purity in painting mentioned earlier. Absence of form gives s a painting more meaning. What Paint does in contemporary art above all mediums are engaged with the material and has a language of it own. The purity of painting describes of an earthly medium playing with the material ruined by technology? Artists who use Photoshop what does this do to painting? Fiona Rae. Compare to Nicholas May†¦ Digital looses the genuine experimental element tried and tested on the computer. Visually biased not a true record of thought with paint. First see it on the comp then try and replicate it. Not learn from it adjust it and edited on canvas till it is how the artist feels it should be. Maybe then the computer is the record of thought a technological one less about the material itself but about the colour and shape and that aspect of form composition. Maybe my view is biased because I personally enjoy works where you can see the application of the paint and the surface. Flat plain colour painting has been done before but so has the other, maybe more to learn from the other than the flat. The computer is the record of the thought and brings a whole new element into the paint. Does this push the medium or destroy it? Forms a new Hybrid? New is goodright? Nicholas Mays work involves stuff In the article ‘Intention, Meaning and Substance in the Phenomenology of Abstract Painting Professor of Philosophy Dale Jaquette discusses the writing of Gertrude Stein, a critique and commentator on culture in particular modern abstract painting. Stine is fascinated by the visual possibilities of oil paint applied to a surface. It is something she finds intriguingly to admire. According to Stein â€Å"The existence of the oil painting itself is the thing that draws us powerfully, whether as representation or abstract image.â€Å" Jaquette believes that paintings do have this effect to draw us in. Stine continues to say That: when we experience painting especially but not uniquely it fascinates us because it not only reveals the world as seen by the artist but, perhaps more obviously, and, in the case of abstract art more purely and essentially, because it reveals the artists mind, the artists outlook on the world and conceptual framework, history background, obsessions, preoccupations and in a personality. pg 41 para 2 People believe that there is more talent in representational painting, however representational painting is a depiction of something other than the artists themselves. Every splodge splash brush mark and controlled abstraction is the interpretation of the artist a view of their perspective trying to capture an emotive, So it does more than just representing something that exists. Does repeated exposure to abstract art wear thin? What has been interesting is no longer what was free expression has it grown old? Has the medium been pushed so far it can no longer express anything new? pg 48 What was exciting and new pushing boundaries cant anymore because we have become desensitised by the work. Fischer pg 49 What was shocking during the avant-garde cant be done now to create similar reaction. Its not revolutionary and has lost its voomft†¦ Has painting run its course? Jaquette suggests the value of abstract painting its not to illustrate†¦ pg 51 Why abstract arts are important. link to Richter†¦ What does GR say about the feeling of paint and what that does? Jacs view on Elkin/ My view on Elkin. pg 53 Its is the Art Historians and the critiques that decide what happens with painting. Elkins emphasises the role of the painter. They are entranced by the qualities of the paint and by the challenge of trying to make paint do what they want it to down when applying to the surface, in both figurative and abstract painting pg 54 para 3 This is why in contemporary day with all the other ways to express ideas they choose paint. Nicholas May link with the writing s of Elkin and Richters approach to abstracts. The fascination cant die in the individual thats why painting will live on! Nicholas May his experiment an