Saturday, October 31, 2009

What Ancient Philosphy Type Are You

I am a lover of philosphy. This morning the 'School of Life' one of the Blogs on my list had this fun little quiz to play,'What Philosophy Type Are You'
You can play here

It says that I live by the philosophy Stoicism lead by guru Zeno Citium.

My results:

Your recommended philosophy-guru is ZENO OF CITIUM.

Key fact: He taught in a stoa, the Athenian supermarket, and hence founded the school of philosophy called Stoicism.

Must have: An interest in everyday life, for it is there that you learn life's big lessons.

Key promise: An ability to face anything, no matter how disastrous.

Key peril: To be "stoical" is to turn your back on passion.

Most likely to say: "If you have integrity, no-one can harm you."

Least likely to say: "Forget prudence! It won't help you anyway."


Video talking about Stoicism




I can see similarities in Stoicism and the Pop Art Movement, both thinking and commenting on the everyday. I wonder what the Zeno of Citium would have thought about Pop Art.

Pop Art Art Movement

With the term first appearing in Britain in the early 1950s, "Pop Art" refers to different artists' interest in the images of mass media, advertising, comics and consumer products. In many respects it was influenced by the consumer boom that followed the end of the Second World War, and greatly coincided with the youth and pop music phenomenon of the 50s and 60s. It played a large role in the fashionable "swinging London" image and became a major innovative art movement of the twentieth century.

Acting as a reaction to abstract expressionism, Pop Art emphasised the kitschy elements of popular culture to downgrade the elitist art culture and the seriousness that surrounded it. It marked a return to sharp paintwork and representational art and glorified unappreciated objects and ordinary business. In doing so, it aimed to make art more meaningful for everyday people and came to target a broad audience. Although it gained many supporters for the way it was easy to comprehend, critics saw pop art as vulgar, sensational and without merit. Along with Minimalism, Pop Art is regarded to be the last modern art movement.

Pop Art made its way to the United States in the 1960s with the help of groundbreakers Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Roy Lichtenstein became a household name for the way he used stencil-like dots, thick lines, bold colours, and thought bubbles to represent the comic book style and used the grand scale of billboards to display his work.