Viewing entries in
"art"

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Jacques de la Villeglé









The art of turning something we see everyday into art. I remember on a trip to Prague there were amazing band posters all over the streets and I tore them down to save them. I have no idea where they are now, but I wish now I could find them and plaster them to something just for the sake of living on.

the idea of second life
reinterpretation
composition
ripping deconstruction to make something complete, constructed

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Iconography






Religion, Christianity, Faith, Iconography, thoughts run through my head these days. Here is my own brute effort, plus a couple of images from a visit to the Musée Jacquemart André

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So much Research!






...Just the beginning, as one good image always leads to several more- and some images, even if they are good, are just not quite right. So refining the idea through images is a extensive project. but one of the best parts of the creative process!

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Landon Metz

still at the beginning of his career, Landon Metz has developed a style that draws you in with a narrative of shapes. His colors appear in forms that look uncontrolled, but the composition as a whole is sensitive and just right. 
It is not easy to know when to stop, or hold back. Metz does. Some of bolder colors are less harmonious to me in comparison to the more washed out tones, but it is all a mater of the evolution of the work. And nice to see more than one dimension to the artists' exploration.
Here is a selection, you'll see his body of work on his website


 some older work (2010)

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Helen Frankenthaler





 This amazing artist, Helen Frankenthaler, is someone i stumbled across in a magnum photo archive of the art scene of the 1950s and 1960s. Amazing images, including one of her in her studio looking down over a huge piece that lay on the floor- trying to get a little perspective, it seems. Wish we could do the same with our lives. Climb up on a ladder and say 'hey, maybe i should extend the yellow to just about there...'

For more follow the link to this great blog post with an extensive collection of her work and living/work spaces

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Akseli Gallen-Kallela

this amazing artwork by Askeli Gallen-Kallela, all done around the end of the 19th century, are unlike anything I've seen as a body of work. And I'm always thrilled to discover a new artist who was not covered in any of many art history classes. While it is a current exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay that brought him under my radar, I have not yet gone to see the pieces in person.






The settings, the subject matter, the compositions, all are unique and show a distinctive way the artist saw the world. It is the part of art that cannot be taught, but is instinctive. I am grateful for a new source of inspiration in mood, color, and atmosphere. I hope you enjoy.

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blue portraits

the shapes and brushstrokes and blueness of these paintings. I have been doing prep sketches for my paintings in preparation for the spring collection that I'll present in September of this year. I'm finding these colors are  good start.



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painting process

From start to finish 

the idea is a photographic documentation of the process of a painting from start to finish to then be displayed, sequentially, in limited edition prints along with the finished painting at the end of the series. 
(this ended up being painted over months later, but it was a good trial run)








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buffalo painting

a new work in progress, the buffalo, inspired by the cowgirl, has now inspired the cactus painting that will be proceeded by ocean paintings...so, to be continued

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Ernst Haeckel




Mixing art and Science can be a beautiful thing:
From Art Forms of Nature  by Ernst Haeekel released at the turn of the 20th century- These illustrations are based off of Haeckel's notes and sketches, and hugely influenced the science of documenting species, and also the artists of the era- namely the art nouveau movement. Nature is capable of the most simple, and the most complex of phenomenons- and all art can do is try to recreate the same kind of harmony that nature produces by instinct and grand design.
see the whole work here (in German)
Images via Wikipedia

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And from quite the other end of the art spectrum: this weekend in Belgium (Brussels and Antwerp) there was plenty of inspiration- mostly conceptual- enough to exhaust you- and continue to exhaust from the long trails of thought still meandering...
To the end that I don't know what to do with them- do they translate to fashion? In very conceptual ways definitely; but in a more understated voice it's a less obvious solution. So is it a fine art response? In some kind of photo project or series of paintings?

I think that part of the reason I was (am?) so exhausted is from all the notes I scribbled during my visits. Can I read the words now? Maybe enough to grasp the thought that would have been so fleeting if I had not documented it in the moment.* It makes me feel safer. Like I don't have to run home and produce an artwork of my reaction before I forget what I saw (I already can't remember what I saw in Brussels...24 hours ago..!) But I can put the notebook back in my purse, and then filed on my shelf when it's filled, and read through it in the future and be RE-inspired. Or maybe the mental filing is all I need- the critical information accessible to be triggered by some new visual/musical/tactile stimuli. Well who knows...For now, about some of the art:

That's right!! Jeff Wall! At the museum of contemporary art in Brussels, the Jeff Wall exhibit was a compilation of his work, mixed among the work of other artists (painters, filmmakers, sculptors, photographers) that influence(d) his photography. So much more insightful than a solo retrospective, in my opinion, these clues into the artist's process are really so crucial to the understanding of their work. A couple things I noted:

*I want to site an observation on the great effort it takes in moments of inspiration that are ruled by the right brain, the telescopic perspective side, make it hugely difficult to accomplish the simple task of picking up the pencil and jotting down the note. That left brain activity, the organizational microscopic perspective side, seems trivial in this moment of clarity. but how often do we forget those things we wanted to remember because we neglected to respond to that demand of the left brain. I'm looking for the exact passage from Colin Wilson's Starseekers where he puts it much more concisely and eloquently.

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John James Audubon

the book Birds of North America is one of his life's achievements. And throughout his ornithological career documenting known and unknown species, he aimed to capture them in their natural environments. I love depictions of animals whose purpose is to serve science just as much as they are artistic contributions. What I love about JJ Audubon's is the attitude he injects into the subjects. More like characters personified than wild animals. Also the dreamy water color landscape backdrops.
white headed eagle from Birds of America by John James Audubon London: 1827-38
 
white Heron
barn owl 1860

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Old Research

I was recently going through some old research files. Every once in a while a folder goes unorganized for quite a while. As in these cases, I don't really remember any more where I got the images or what I was looking for when I found them. Here are some that I held on to because I find they still have some kind of relevance...
Robert Frank
Woman dressed as angel, circa 1918 via corbis

Edward Curtis
The Angel of Mons Valse Score Cover by Paul Paree, 1914
Golden Eagle Wing by Niall Benvie circa 1990
From Numéro 82 by Camilla Akrans
 
an editorial page that I got from the much missed website (HFGL)
Pati Smith by Lynn Goldsmith 1977 via corbis
unknown

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