Tom Christopher and Urban Art

Tom Christopher

According to Wikipedia, "Urban art is a style of art that relates to cities and city life often done by artists who live in or have a passion for city life. In that way urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or thematizing urban life style."  Tom Christopher is an expressionistic urban artist, making paintings of New York City.  He uses bright and intense colors to express emotions and dynamics of the city.  His brushstrokes are clearly seen, giving a flow and spontaneity to the painting.  Some urban artists work in public spaces creating art, while Christopher prefers the studio and gallery.  Enjoy!

Paul Cezanne and Information

Paul Cezanne, 1887

According to Kit White, "Static images deliver the information they contain instantly and can be investigated, meditated, and analyzed over an extended period of time."  Paintings are great for this extended transmittal of information over time.  At the gallery or museum, there is no time limit for viewing a painting.  With the Internet, practically any painting can be seen and printed out for further analysis.  I enjoy both the instantaneous experience of a painting and the slow reveal in other paintings.  Even some of the most simple paintings can truly be full of revelation.  Enjoy!

Jenny Holzer and Time

Jenny Holzer

According to Wikipedia, "Holzer is mostly known for her large-scale public displays that include billboard advertisements, projections on buildings and other architectural structures, as well as illuminated electronic displays. The main focus of her work is the use of words and ideas in public space. Originally utilizing street posters, LED signs became her most visible medium."  Time is a dimension.  Kit White states, "recorded media, video, film, LED word displays, and computer simulations allow for the manipulation of time and the creation of temporal illusion."  The time that a viewer is in front of an artwork, creates the experience.  Some artwork requires only seconds to create an experience, while other artwork needs a longer duration of time to express itself.  Time is in the hand of the beholder.  Enjoy!

Superflat and Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami, 2012

Superflat is a post-modern art movement founded by Takashi Murakami.  Its influence is from Japanese manga and anime.  According to Wikipedia, "Superflat is used by Murakami to refer to various flattened forms in Japanese graphic art, animation, pop culture and fine arts, as well as the "shallow emptiness of Japanese consumer culture." Superflat has been embraced by American artists, who have created a hybrid called SoFlo Superflat."  Looking at various Superflat artwork, one can say it is very colorful, with no modeling or perspective in the paintings.  The subject matter is indeed of a superficial nature, with tons of happy flowers.  Murakami's artwork is a commentary on both Japanese and American consumer culture.  Enjoy!

The Codex Seraphinianus

Luigi Serafini

Recently I picked up an interesting book from my local library.  Upon opening it, I saw drawings that were completely surreal and writing that was not understandable.  According to Wikipedia, "Codex Seraphinianus, originally published in 1981, is an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, created by the Italian artist, architect, and industrial designer Luigi Serafini during thirty months, from 1976 to 1978. The book is approximately 360 pages long (depending on edition), and written in a strange, generally unintelligible alphabet."  According to Serafini, he wanted to take the reader back to childhood when they could not read, where they would look at the pictures in a book and let their imagination run wild.  I did find myself, as I looked at the colored pencil drawings gracing most pages, making up stories to go along with the pictures.  My mind tried to make sense of the arrangement and types of pictures and the nonsense made sense to me.  Enjoy!

Cliff Nielsen and the Marvel Alterniverse

Cliff Nielsen

Just finished a Marvel One-shot comic book called Ruins.  The story is what they call a alternative universe, where superheroes are caught in a different reality then the normal superhero story.  The story was interesting, but what really struck me was the artwork by Cliff and Terese Nielsen.  This was not your everyday comic book art.  It appears that each panel was created with gouache (opaque watercolor) and chalk, black and white.  The panels are sketchy and dynamic, where the artwork seems to flow.  While I won't be reading the comic again (it wasn't that interesting), I am definitely keeping the comic book for the art on every page.  Enjoy!

Stuckism and Billy Childish

Billy Childish, 2008

A new art movement of the 21th century is called Stuckism.  The founders are Billy Childish and Charles Thomson.  According to Wikipedia, "Stuckism is an international art movement  to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art. By July 2012 the initial group of 13 British artists had expanded to 233 groups in 52 countries.  Childish and Thomson have issued several manifestos, the first one being The Stuckists, consists of 20 points starting with "Stuckism is a quest for authenticity". To produce art with spiritual value regardless of style, subject matter or medium. In another manifesto they also define themselves as anti-anti-art."  In my opinion, Billy Childish's paintings remind me of Vincent van Gogh combined with Impressionism.  Artists are trying to find a new voice for painting and this is the point of Stuckism.  Enjoy!

Joseph Beuys and Installation Art

Joseph Beuys, The Pack, 1969

Installation art can mean the arrangement of objects in an exhibition.  But more specifically, a site-specific artwork that comprises an entire ensemble of objects in the environment.  The installation artwork that I have seen can take up a whole gallery or just a corner of the gallery.  Often this type of artwork creates an environment where art is all around us, in which we move about.  Joseph Beuys was an artist that did painting, drawing, sculpture, performance art and installation art.  Joseph Beuys once stated, ""Art can be learned, though a certain talent is a prerequisite, but hard work is part of the process. Art comes from intelligence, one must have something to say, but on the other side, that of capability, one must be able to express it." Installation art is not just the juxtaposition of random objects in a space, but each object and the way it is arranged contributes to the overall meaning.  Enjoy!

A Pastel Tree

Alice Cook, A Willing Tree, 2014

My local artist's association has a exhibition going which focuses on the tree.  Trees give us so much, from oxygen to houses, and many things in between.  For this exhibit I decided to simply do a solitary oak tree in pastel.  First the sky and ground were laid in and tree drawn upon them.  Layer upon layer went into making the tree with various greens, browns and black.  Initially the tree was coming together rather representational, but the need to make it my own required some further tweaking.  Sometimes, less is more.  Enjoy!

Shout Out to William G. Tucker

William G. Tucker

All though most of my recent artwork is 2-dimensional, paintings, collage, and drawing, in the past I have done sculpture with clay.  Mine were miniature sculptures compared to the work of British sculptor William G. Tucker.  With his work, massive pieces of rock are carved with a modern flare and given form.  Sculpture is special because it occupies the same space as our bodies.  We walk around sculptures, it engages us to use physical movement to view it.  Sculpture is not always conveniently placed at eye level, like most paintings.  Sculpture makes us want to touch it, to engage more senses in experiencing it.  Enjoy!

Yarn Bombing and Fiber Art

While looking up the art category of Street art, I came across the words "Yarn Bombing."  Curiosity took over and I found images of "Yarn Bombing" in cities throughout the world.  According to Wikipedia, "Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, Kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of  knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk."  Apparently it started in Texas with a man named Bill Davenport, who tried to find creative ways to use his leftover yarn.  Now the movement is trying to reclaim and personalize outdoor public spaces.  This is a fascinating and colorful way to do fiber art.  Enjoy!

Georges Seurat and Complementary Colors

Georges Seurat, 1889

Complementary colors are opposite each other in the color wheel.  They are called complementary because the presence of a color's complement will enhance the intensity of each color.  According to Kit White, "The presence of red, for instance, will cause the retina to "seek" green in the other colors present, hereby enhancing all parts of the green spectrum."  Just placing complementary colors near each other will increase the intensity.  For centuries, artists have known that colors play off of each other.  Georges Seurat and his technique called Pointillism plays into this effect.  Pointillism, according to Wikipedia, "relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones."  The interesting thing is that looking at an artwork by Seurat close up reveals just little dots of color, it is not until we step back from the painting that the image becomes clear.  Enjoy!

Basic Principles of Color

There are three primary colors:  red, blue, and yellow.  These are the building blocks of all other colors.  The secondary colors are violet (mix blue and red), green (mix blue and yellow), and orange (mix red and yellow).  All other colors are called tertiary, because they are mixtures of a primary and a secondary color.  Pictured here is the standard color wheel,  colors across from each other are called complementary colors.  When complementary colors are mixed together they produced neutral colors, like grays and browns.  Mixing the three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, gives you black.  There are many books and videos on color theory, but the best way to learn about color mixing is doing it yourself, experimenting and having fun.  Enjoy!

Social Media Avatar as Art

My Avatar

According to Wikipedia, "In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It is an object representing the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user."  For the fun of it, I created an avatar using a free avatar generating website (see picture).  I simply typed in a word that represents my character, I went with "strong."  The "We can do it" woman came on screen with other choices.  I had the chance to modify it, but I enjoy the image so much that I only performed some cropping.  Some avatar generating websites are quite complex and they use digital photos of oneself to create an avatar.  I can see how artists can be quite creative in making their own graphical representation.  Enjoy!

An Impromptu Drawing

Alice Cook, 2014

The drawing pictured here was certainly done without previous preparation.  Several weeks ago, tired and worn out, I sat down at my drawing table and put my head down.  Opening my eyes I saw little black dots on the 18" by 24" piece of paper that my head was lying on.  Realizing that the black dots were from a marker that bled through a note I wrote earlier in the day, I sighed at the ruined paper.  Now that the paper was useless for the drawing I planned for it, I picked up a pencil and started connecting the black dots.  Soon shapes developed, I went beyond the black dots and eventually the entire paper was filled with shapes.  Upon careful examination I realized that I just accidentally created a piece of art.  With a pencil I shaded in some of the shapes and finished it off with colored pencil.  It was certainly an impromptu drawing and it was fun.  Enjoy!