My favorite "Traditional" Artist

The Papal Palace, Avignon, oil on canvas, 1900, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The Papal Palace, Avignon, oil on canvas, 1900, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Venice, The Pink Cloud

La Voie Verte

I have always loved the work of Paul Signac. I don't know exactly what it is about them, but I find the way the paintings were produced to be very interesting. The way basic, vibrant, colors in saturated dots can combine to form these images fascinates me. I also love the story of how a lot of them were produced. Signac loved sailing so he would take his boat out and sail all over the Mediterranean to paint boats and harbors. I think his commitment to his work had to be huge to do that. I never thought I could find paintings of boats and water to be so cool. I think that the thing I love the most about them is that he traveled all over with nothing but his little boat and his paints. It must have been strange for the people shipping goods around the sea to see a guy just floating around and painting!

Exploded Flowers

Fong Qi Wei - Exploded Flowers (2011)

This project is very intriguing! I like how perfectly dissembled these flowers are. it is weird to see them arranged in an almost mechanical way, considering they are considered to be such natural organic forms. It kind of taken a natural and sporadically arranged object and arranging it as if it were an organisational mechanical object. The arrangement of the petals of the flowers are crucial to the meaning of these images. I also have observed how the images relate to their title. They take on a "explosion" effect because of the way the artist arranged the petals based on their scale, as well as the radial arrangement that guides the eye out of the centralized focal point.

Typewriter Art!!!

Okay, I am generally quite professional in these posts but wow ok there are people in this world that are so creative that we should all just quit. Okay so look at this drawing and these paintings:

                  Keira Rathbone- Drawing                     Tyree Callahan-Painter

   

These two astounding ladies work in a medium not typically used in drawing or painting- typewriters. The result is awesome! As a graphic design major, I get pretty excited when someone finds a fun way to use letters. Keira just just that. Her typewriter is not adapted as far as I have read. She simply works with the symbols in front of her to create the textures. To make darker values, she will make the kerning really close together, and for lighter parts, she presses space a lot and puts the symbols and letters further apart.

Tyree's paintings are created with an old Underwood typewriter with paint soaked sponges placed over the pieces of metal that usually would press the letters. they take on a beautifully blended impressionist style look. I love how hazy and unclear they are. They have a pleasant sense of ambiguity to them.

this is the most excited I have been over something in a while. (I want one!)

The Mirror Wolf

Mirror Wolf by Arran Gregory

I found this sculpture particularly striking for a variety of reasons. I really appreciate how the wolf is constructed out of geometric planar pieces to represent an organic form. The way the light is reflected off the sculpture in the exhibition space is very pleasing to the eye. I think constructing the animal out of these materials alters the meaning in a way that would not have been possible had the artist hadn't used such a reflective surface. I also really appreciate the modern look that this construction method lends to the form. This is actually a part of a magnificent series, which can be viewed at the link above.

If Fire Were Water- Micah Goulart

Micah Goulart

These photos are fantastic manipulations that depict water in place of fire. As images, these photographic manipulations are quite hard to get your mind around. It's really interesting how Micah was able to manipulate the water to flow in the same way as fire burns, or at least appear to. The contrast between what is expected to be the subject matter and what is actually there is very observable, and creates a tension in the mind. I think replacing the subject matter completely changes the meaning of the image, considering that water is often associated with healing, cooling, and nourishment, while fire is generally representitive of destruction, fuel, or heat.

The Paintings of Leonid Afremov

The Loneliness of Autumn

Night Reflections

Farewell Party

These palette knife paintings are very beautiful  I really appreciate how these scenes are portrayed so realistically with such a surreal color scheme. All the over saturated hues blend together to show the paths of light very well. There is a quite observable influence of the Impressionist movement in Leonid's work. Impressionism is a way of painting where the artist does not physically blend the paint on the canvas. Instead, they uses dots or spots of color and when you view the image from far away all the dots come together in a phenomena referred to as "optical blending." I also appreciate how the simple shapes in these paintings come together to create more complex forms. I liked this style so much when I first saw it that i ended up making the background of this blog one of this artist's paintings.

The mind-bending sculptures of Jonty Hurwirtz

Rejuvenation

2008 | Copper and Chrome

Kiss of Chytrid

2009-2010 | Resin, Powder and Steel

      These sculptures really caught my eye one day when I was browsing online. I love how the artist distorted reality and let the truth be held in the reflection on the metal cylinder. I can imagine how Jonty figured out how to perfectly distort the forms to reflect the way they do. If you look at the reflections, they are incredibly detailed and accurate. It can also be appreciated the the artist was able to stay from typical tradition sculpture while still being able to use his skills. After the success of Rejuvenation, the second sculpture of the frog (Kiss of Chytrid) was used to make more of a statement. Jonty decided to use his mind boggling sculpture style to draw attention to an endangered species of animal. Many different species of frogs (over 200!) are being affected by a fungus called Chytrid. The artist comments on his website, "The impact of the Chytrid on Frog is a lesson for us. It is a reminder that we are part of a planet teeming yet interconnected life forms. Life is a feedback system."