Weird Titles

Sources:
Mona Lisa
Great Wave Off Kanagawa
Vermeer
A View of Delft: Vermeer Then and Now. Anthony Bailey. Page 156.
Untitled
Title History and Rene Magritte
Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. Picture Titles. Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
God
Art Titles Getting Longer
Book Titles
Why not Catch 21?: The Stories Behind Titles Gary Dexter. Page 200-203. Page 62.
Reddit
Autechre
Museum Exhibition Titles
Duchamp Title Quote

Music in Order of Appearance:

Aphex Twin – Z Twig
Haircuts for Men – 実行しないと、彼らが来る
Kevin MacLeod – Samba Isobel
Coleman Hawkins – Body and Soul
Inner-Vation - Movements (1999)
Weatherscan Music – Track 20
Moseni Lotus – Yume 2kki (Jazz Arrangement)
Montage – 8_40 – Ace Combat 3 Original Soundtrack
Yume 2kki OST – The Ceiling

Outro Music:

#art #arthistory #videoessay

[The_LaughingHyena]

Glass Key is more than likely dry humor. What is more precarious than a key made out of glass? The painting is the answer, a mountain sized boulder perched on the spine of a mountain.

[purplehaze]

To be fair, "The Nightwatch" generally just rolls off the tongue a lot better than... "Militia Company of District II Under The Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq".

[jalbaugh]

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” Beautifully and terrifyingly simplistic

[davidbralha]

Goosebumps author R.L. Stine once held a contest where students could submit a title and the winner would have that title turned into a novel. The winner of the contest submitted a title nothing short of engrossing: "Dead Dogs Still Fetch". It'd a title that seems to contain an entire story within its few words. Its a title I think about often

[zebbyscoot]

I can’t for the life of me remember the artist, but I once saw a painting of a girl looking at a dinosaur skull at a museum entitled “Two Earthlings”. The painting itself was nice, but reading the title gave me a weird existential jolt. Definitely made me like it more

[_King_]

On David Bowie's 1977 album Low, he has an instrumental song titled "A new career in a new town" where he plays a harmonica throughout the song. On David Bowie's final song, on his last album Blackstar (2016) he has a song titled "I can't give everything away" that samples the harmonica on "A new career in a new town" from 39 years prior. David Bowie died 2 days after the release of his album Blackstar.

I always loved his song "A new career in a new town, " but sometimes I wondered if the meaning I got from the song was obscured by the title. Maybe the instrumental song would have a completely different meaning if not for the title? Then when I listened to Blackstar and heard the harmonica, in the context that Bowie knew he was going to die soon from cancer, it gave an even greater meaning to both songs and Bowie's thoughts on death. A new career in a new town.

Blackstar also isn't the title of Bowie's final album, its official title is ★. Just the symbol of a black star.

[JJMcCullough]

I always liked the name of the old Nickelodeon cartoon "Ahh! Real Monsters." I liked how you have to say an exclamation as part of the title when you say it out loud, which people do, but in weird ways because it's such an unusual thing to have to do. Often it's all kind of slurred together, like "when I was a kid, my favorite shows were Cat-Dog, Goof Troop, and Ahrealmonsters."

People give things impossible-to-say names all the time, like some of the music tracks you mentioned, but I like the idea of giving a children's show such an unorthodox name just because the creators would have known the name would have to be said aloud frequently, among children and on TV ("coming up next..."). It gives it an intentionality I find delightful.

[kingamiko]

"the month of the grape harvest" is probably one of my favorite titles, it seems so unrelated to the artwork but at the same time not contradictory enough that you'd think it was purposely mismatched. It has an eerie, sort of indie horror feel to it that way

[mayatung]

I think the use of titles for copyrighted art is fascinating. In 1996, James Cameron announced he wanted to make a flim called Avatar. In 2004, Nickelodeon had to rename their animated show to Avatar: The Last Airbender because Cameron owned the rights to the single word title. In 2009, when the film Avatar was finally released, it was marketed as James Cameron's Avatar to help distinguish itself. Production companies and marketers fight to establish their brand recognition with a simple common word, but at the end of the day, we still say, "oh you mean with the blue people?"

[dilo]

One of my favorite titles is John Brosio's "Two Earthlings", the painting is of a person and a skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex in what is very likely a museum, nothing conceptually out of the ordinary, but the title really hits a chord with me.

[yozthefoz]

Another one for c418 is off the first minecraft soundtrack album, the song is called "Intro" and is the last song on the albums lineup, it's also not even included within the game... c418 says the meaning is that it's the intro into the real world after quitting the game. Tonally the song is very melancholic and introspective so the meaning for me personally is also about growing up.

[viewsandrates]

A glass key is a questionable construct. If you put a glass key in a keyhole (a key's intended function is to go in a keyhole and turn the lock mechanism) it can shatter, as it is made a glass. In this scenario, the key has been precariously placed for it's function. That is, it's meant to do something, but the slightest thing can destroy it. A giant oblong boulder that is barely balanced in an unlikely and questionable way, is also precarious. Especially precarious for its presumed intended purpose, as a rock formations presumed purpose is to endure. And the ability to endure, is the very thing this that's in question for this rock formation depicted.

[omnithea]

I'm a big music fan and the title of a song can make it just that much better. I'm a sucker for cool, interesting, or just weird titles.

[Workof]

Fun fact on that matter: "The Scream" by Edward Munch translates to "Fright" in the original translation and the guy isnt even screaming, he is hearing an expressional scream of nature and is in shock. The thought that the figure is screaming comes mostly from the faulty translation.

[lingus]

Magritte is probably my favorite artist of all time. His insane reasonings for his odd titles makes me just love him more

[GabrielDeLiberatti]

Your channel is a great example. I love the name Solar Sands, it is what caught my attention at first. Doesn't need to have, or i dont need to know, the meaning, i just like that combination of words.

[FayeHunter]

"The Mountains Are Learning, and I Must Run" is a unique statement I blurted out and then I realized it sounds like a really solid title for a creepy pasta. Same for "My dad died 3 months ago, and now I have to fight him".

[clunkster]

Solar Sands doesn’t upload frequently, but when he does, it’s a blessing.

[RCAvhstape]

Solar, I appreciate the fact that you're not the kind of youtuber who cranks out a new video every week or every few days, but rather that you take the time to put together really thoughtful video essays that are always worth sitting through and often a rewatch or two. Keep up the good work, sir.

[SebastianHernandez-nqst]

One of the most haunting titles in art's history has to be the John Brosio's painting of a woman looking at the fossilized skull of a T-rex in a museum. The name of the work? "Two Earthlings".