Zevs, Street Art

Zevs, Liquidated McDonalds

Zevs is a French street artist who frequently addresses issues of consumerism and corporate advertising.  His street art communicates his concern of the “highly overt visual and violent projection of contemporary visual culture”.  In his series called Visual Attacks, Zevs works directly with the billboards and signs prevalent in the cities.  Using red spray paint he attempts to destroy the corporate images by spraying a spot of red paint dripping from the forehead or eyes of the model.  Once again, this very public work challenges the viewer to question the inundation of advertising in our daily lives.  His other series called Liquidated Logos, he attempts to confront the corporate trademarks that pepper our landscape.  In this work, he has paint dripping from these trademarks, thereby attacking their “brand identity”.   Corporate identity and advertising is called into question and challenged with his art.  Enjoy!

Shout Out to Jessica Grundy

Jessica Grundy

I was recently at a comic convention and while I was looking at all the art and comic books in Artist Alley, I stumbled across Jessica Grundy's table.  Her artwork instantly spoke to me and I paid five dollars for a small (2" x 3") print mounted on wood, of a little girl in a vineyard.  The next day at the comic con, I went back to her table and bought a 10" x 10" print mounted on wood, for a bit more money.  But in my opinion it was worth it.  In her artwork she captures the innocence of childhood, which most of us lose.  Her composition and design of the pictures are excellent and she uses the digital medium well.  I will be looking forward to seeing Grundy at future comic cons.  Enjoy!

After Rembrandt With Printmaking

Alice Cook, After Rembrandt, 2014

Alice Cook,
After Rembrandt #4

I recently did some drypoint printmaking of a self-portrait done by Rembrandt.  He etched the picture into a copper plate using acid.  Since I do not have the facilities to work with acid in my studio, I decided to do the picture in drypoint.  Drypoint is done using a sharp needle, the image is scratched into a copper plate using the needle.  When this is completed the plate in inked, wiped and sent through my small printing press.  I did a total of five prints of the plate (see picture).  The first print was light due to the fact that it was wiped too much and I didn't have enough pressure on it with the press.  With the following four prints, I increased the pressure and was not as vigorous with the wiping off of the ink from the plate.  Number four and five are my favorite, for I carefully chose how I wanted to wipe the ink off, leaving more ink on the plate.  The close up picture is of print number four.  Enjoy!

Continuous and Discontinuous Space

Albert Bierstadt, 1868

Traditional paintings, such as by Albert Bierstadt (see picture), depict a continuous space.  There is a flow to the picture.  The eye gently goes from the animals in the foreground, to the water in the middle ground, to the misty mountains in the background.  An illusion of continuous space and depth is created using atmospheric perspective.  Bierstadt was brilliant with this and his landscapes are monumental.  Forty years later we have a painting done by Picasso, where space is discontinuous, fragmented and geometric.  The eye does not gently flow through this painting, but tends to dart around, not knowing where to land.  Picasso did this intentionally, to see the world in a different way.  This is Cubism and it is a breakthrough in the way of seeing.  Enjoy!



Pablo Picasso, 1909

Edgar Degas and Photography

Edgar Degas

According to Kit White, "The camera, with its viewfinder that samples a portion of the world, changed our relationship to the frame...Painters, such as Degas, allowed the frame to cut into figures and objects, implying that part of the subject lay outside of the view of the image.  This was a radical change from the centered image of traditional painting where the space inside the frame was a metaphor for the world.  Now, we see the edges of pictures as being vital and compositionally active, not dormant and arbitrary."  I once heard an art teacher tell a student that you don't want the image touching the border of the picture, in his words it created "confusion."  If cutting the image off at the border is good enough for Degas, it's good enough for me.  Enjoy!

Digital art vs. Traditional art

Digital art has come a long way.  Years back one could tell if an artwork was created digitally, due to the flatness, artificial color and generic rendering.  Nowadays I often mistake a digital artwork with a traditional artwork.  Kit White states, "that hand rendered space (traditional art) can be more convincingly illusionistic compared to digital space."  I would have to disagree with this statement.  Even the picture posted here is quite illusionistic, creating depth and perspective.  The color palette available to these artists is incredible.  Is one better than the other?  No.  Do I prefer one to another?  Yes, that's because I am a traditional artist, so I am biased.  Like I've said, there is room for all kinds of art in the artworld, but leave arrogance at the door.  Enjoy!

Shout out to Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Richard Serra chooses to work in steel and allows it to rust and transform.  His artwork is larger than life, where you can walk along or enter into his sculptures (see picture).  According to Kit White, "In all good work, the image and its medium are inseparable...The material and the image should be one.  A Serra sculpture is the steel that makes it.  And it finds its identity both as steel and sculpture without conflict.  Your medium should be an expression of your image, and your image should arise from its medium."  For me, at times I am only trying to master a medium, and it is the process that is more important than the resulting image.  While at other times, I choose the medium based on how I want the image to look.  Each medium is unique and will give certain effects, so choose wisely.  Enjoy!

Rembrandt and Etching

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait, 1630

While I have never done etching, which uses acid, I do look forward to one day learning this medium.  I have done drypoint, which involves taking a needle and scratching directly into the copper plate.  According to Gary Schwartz, in his book The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt, "The basic idea behind etching is fairly simple:  the etcher covers a copper plate with an acid-resistant ground, traces his/her design in the ground with a needle and exposes the plate to acid.  Wherever the ground has been scratched away, the acid will bite semi-circular grooves in the copper.  If the plate is then cleaned, inked in the grooves, cleaned again and run through the press with a sheet of paper, the ink will be pressed out of the grooves onto the paper."  Enjoy!


Rembrandt, 1653