Madama Butterfly

 Pjotr Sapegin's Madama Butterfly is an animated short film about a woman and a sailor. At first I thought the film was very bizarre but as it progressed the story line drew me and I really began to enjoy the video. In the video the woman and the sailor copulate and while the sailor is away the woman gives birth to a baby girl. It struck me as odd that she did not disconnect the umbilical cord right away, but she later uses at as a way to turn herself into kite. She does this so she can see her lovers ship come to port. When the ship finally does come to port she stands on top of hill and waits for him to come off. He does not come off the first night and instead stays on the ship were it the viewer can hear a party of sorts and women laughing. The next the sailor comes off the boat in fancy white car with another woman and several children. He walks over to first woman and leans in to kiss her but instead takes the child from her and walks away; As they are about to leave he "cuts the cord" places the child in the car and drives off. This sends the first woman into a deep depression were she runs off the set or away from the world. It is in this time that she re awakens or re invents her self and comes back again as the same beautiful woman that she was before. 
This all very similar to what happens with a butterfly in its life cycle, at first it is an ugly caterpillar. It then enters its cocoon and isolates itself from the world and emerges as a beautiful butterfly. It is my opinion that the artist wanted to convey the emotion of hope with this video. This is done by eluding to the butterfly's life cycle where the caterpillar goes from ugly to pretty and is "re born anew." I think that the artist wanted to tell women that they are all beautiful and that no matter what happens they can always pick themselves up and start over. 

Raul Cuero Video Comments

Raul Cuero is an amazing individual and is another great rags to riches story. Cuero grew up in Buenaventura, Columbia as a child he was extremely impoverished and was raised by his parents and later by his grandmother. Cuero was able to go to college through a basketball scholarship, he was also one of the number one players on the Columbia national team. In the video Cuero talks about how he used creativity and critical thinking to help improve his situation. From a very young age Cuero knew that he had leave where he was from all around him was despair and poverty. He knew there was a bigger picture to be seen but he also knew that he couldn't see it just yet. Through creative thinking he was able to identify what needed to be done in order for him to see the bigger picture and become a part of it. He also discusses that people's thoughts are largely shaped by what others tell them. He goes on to add that sometimes you need to stop and think about what you are told. You need to asses if it is true or untrue because your thoughts and attitudes are based off what you hear from other people. He is in a sense telling viewers that they need extrapolate their own meaning and understanding of the world.
Cuero's concept of self teaching or "awareness" is very important and it should be applied by all of us. If someone tells you that something works one way they aren't necessarily wrong but at the same time they aren't right. If you can find a more efficient or easy way to complete task or solve a problem then you should do it. Furthermore you should try and question everything that you hear, see, or do. By questioning pre existing concepts you open yourself up to creating new concepts and ideas. The constant questioning concept can be applied to everyday life. When you wake up in the morning maybe you can think of a better route to class or a quicker way to get ready for the day. Cuero's idea of questioning the status quo is certainly not shared by him alone, all great inventors, thinkers, writers, any great person behaves in the same way. They question things and think before they act and that is what separates them from the average person.

Juan Carlos Delgado

Juan Carlos Delgado is a colombian artist who creates art in multiple mediums and also uses multiple different materials in each of his individual works. For me the sculptures are his most striking works, in particular the piece titled Caballo, sin titulo. This translates directly to Horse, Without Title or Horse Untitled. It is a stunning sculpture of a horse with its front right leg up. More importantly the horse's head lacks detail there is no nose, eyes, or mouth. Given the title of the piece one can assume this was done on purpose without a face the horse lacks an identity. In addition to this the horse is glowing white and looks very similar to ice. With the raised leg, lack of facial detail, and "ice like" construction of the sculpture; It appears to me that the artist wanted to convey a sense of calm, cool, and independent with this piece. Multimedia is defined as using more than one medium of expression or communication.Given this definition Delgado's work can be classified as multimedia because he creates art using several different mediums. For example the sculpture of the horse conveys its message through the use sculpture and light. Delgado also uses photographs and paintings to convey his message. Given these details and defention of multimedia Delgado can infact be defined as a multimedia artist.