Rauschenberg at Gemini

Robert Rauscheberg's 1967 Lithograph print "Booster" was the first of several things. It was the largest hand made lithographic print of it's time, requring two lithographic stones, one after another, at the Gemini studio in LA. It was also the first print to juxtapose silk screening with lithography. What started as an experiment ended up as a turning point for both the artist and Gemini.

"Booster" 1967 

Are there any artists left today who are breaking ground on new ways to paint, print, sculpt, or anything? Is there anything left undone? Of course the art world underwent change in the past 50 years, since artists like Rauschenberg were around doing never-before-attempted experiments, but I wonder if there are still materials, techniques, or tools that have yet to be unveiled. I guess it's not all that likely...

It's hard not to find something you like in an exhibit like "Rauschenberg at Gemini" (currently showing at the Philbrook museum in Tulsa). The artist did so much and in a countless variety of materials and tools. There is cardboard, textile, traditional prints, prints on polyurethane sculptures, prints onto clear vinyl curtains and draperies. This is an artist who was not interested in maintaining a consistent theme or style, nor did he seem to care to much about public reception...

What did he care about? The potential within ordinary materials. He didn't believe in confining art to paint, clay and canvas. He embraced a range of ordinary items and incorporated them freely into his work, saying "I've always been more attracted to familiar or ordinary things because I find them a lot more mysterious." And, really, what do we know about the possibilities of rope, cardboard or metals to become art work? Nothing, unless we try...

"You begin with the possibilites of the material." - Robert Rauscheberg

It is so deliciously affirming to have a world-renowned artist like Rauschenberg advocating all of the most valuable things I have learned from Reggio Emilia, the things I try to impart to children when I teach art, and what I believe most deeply when I observe and create art myself. 

Kveta Pacovska

It's funny how some great artists slip through the cracks in the art world. Perhaps because she works mainly in children's book illustration, or because her books are more prevalent in European shops and libraries, Kveta Pacovska is not a household name in the U.S... but she should be! 

The Czech born artist/illustrator has won the Hans Christian Anderson prize, the most prestigious in the world of children's books, and it's no wonder. Her illustrations are bright and lively, colorful and just abstract enough to lend themselves to great imagination. Here are some samples:

How much would you pay?

To see Damien Hirst's diamond-studded skull entitled, 'For the love of God'? Valued at around 100 million dollars?

Ten euros!- perhaps Hirst is trying to make some money off of the Memento Mori after buying it back for his gallery when it did not sell at its release in 2007.

If you're not near Florence, or you don't have 10 euros in your pocket, here's a picture:

Meredith Allen's trash photos

Although Meredith Allen is of course not the first artist to make trash her subject, I really like some of the commentary on her photographs below.

" Allen photographs through clear recycling garbage bags she finds on the sidewalk. These seductive images function on various levels. As beautiful abstractions, intriguing glimpses into the glamour of rubbish and the function of photography to recycle our experience towards a heightened appreciation of our daily lives. " - Edward Thorp Gallery


A "heightened appreciation of our daily lives": how much better our lives could be if we were to appreciate art and beauty in the every day. It seems ironic that things like trash and plastics would be at the forefront of this new 'recycled' art movement. Maybe it is becoming a more and more prevalent medium because it is so ubiquitous itself...and free...  

Hubert Blanz

This German photographer has some very interesting surreal photographs.  In one series, he depicts an Escher-like amalgamation of building walls into improbable but beautiful designs, in another he uses aerial views of highways to produce a complex tangle of lines and shapes. I think my favorite has to be his series of "maps" made of circuit boards. Very convincing:) Have a look:

If you like any of this, check out his website for more. 

Bernard Pras

To have the time and the vision to put together pieces like these with found art is incredible! It just makes me want to dumpster dive and hoard. The world is full of useless trash that can be converted into beautiful works of art! And it's all free!

Also- notice how many of his pieces have an almost imperceptible depth to them- many objects sit a few feet or more back from the rest of the image. The artist must have kept his visual frame on a tripod or some fixed spot or he could have very easily lost track of where things should go...

Check out more of his stuff here: http://www.bernardpras.fr/  There's a great version of Picasso's Guernica.

Nina Katchadourian

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/maps/worldmap.php

Another hidden map-series by well-known artist, Nina Katchadourian. She is known for these compositions of book titles:

 I think her map compositions are less well-known, but fascinating and very innovative. It seems like such a simple change, one of the first things you think about when considering rearranging the world- but Katchadourian makes it visible and accessible. It really is a whole new way of looking at things. Take a look: 

Katchadourian has this to say about her process: 

I made this map in college in response to an assignment, and it marks the beginning of my work with maps. Using a blade, I took apart a paper map, moving pieces over to a large piece of paper which I watercolored the same blue as the ocean in the original map. Gradually, the world was reconfigured. I often reconstructed words using presstype in places where the names of countries had gotten truncated. There were switches based on historical or geopological factors (Western Europe inserted into West Africa); others were based on formal correspondences or quirks of the map itself. Australia and Alaska had the same green border color, for example, and fit perfectly together due to the distortion of scale that occurs towards the poles.

I love this one- what's the Midwest good for anyway? Just kidding, I'm an Oklahoman, after all...

Jules de Balincourt

I did not until recently really take a closer look at the painting on the cover of Katharine Harmon's "The Map as Art". I've been toying with the idea of doing a map of the U.S. and I finally really took notice of this painting:

I have been, throughout this process of studying and painting maps, struggled to justify creating 'representations' of the world map. I feel like I have to over-emphasize the aesthetic qualities of the boundaries and the shapes, otherwise why wouldn't I just have made it accurate, or to scale? Frankly, besides being tedious, I think it would be a boring image to create. We are all aware of what an accurate projection of a map looks like- I want to take the image and appreciate it for it's visual qualities, rather than always it's symbolic or political qualities. I think De Balincourt achieves that, in that his works are visually stunning- however he does accrue some criticism and question as to their ultimate meaning. 

Megan Ratner praises De Balincourt's colors:  

De Balincourt’s Crayola-by-way-of-Vegas palette (created by taping off sections, spray-painting or stencilling, scraping and scratching) flaunt protean surfaces, highlighting a mastery of colour and shape. He thrives on detail, embedding his compositions with partially obscured figures and objects, the game-board proportions evocative of Lego and electric train sets.

She ends with a bit of a scathing criticism of the artist's stated purpose:

Simply making reference to survival, or showing ‘us’ and ‘them’ as a questionable construct, is hardly startling. Such repeated literalness keeps De Balincourt’s work bobbing well above the sinister depths he seeks to plumb. The question as to whether his ideas will catch up with his sophisticated process remains open.

Robert Mars makes a stab at the artist's contextual reasons for stylizing maps:

 De Balincourt uses American maps reinvented for his own comical New World Order. States are represented by bright planes of color but without any real context. His maps have political intention and commentary. Some of the maps act as graphs for imaginary data of financial and political party affiliation. In the end, his visual sense is perfect. His color palette and compositions add to his story.

Here are some more of his maps: 

I don't know why he flipped China on it's eastern border, but it sure had me confused the first time I looked at it. 


I feel like I've stumbled across someone who has already done what I was setting out to do to a degree. It's a funny feeling. Affirming in one way, disappointing in another.  It might be less of a thrill for me now. De Balincourt's work is simply beautiful; his pallet and shapes. I can use this as an aspiration of sorts.

Barbie doll therapy

Who knew building a miniature city with Barbie doll alter-egos of people in one's real life could be such great therapy!

After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs "Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark's homemade therapy is deemed "art", forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he's avoided since the attack.

It's lucky that Mark took such great photos, though, or he might have never been found.

Check out his website and the documentary if you can find it, it's very interesting.

disappearing Chinese man!

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Liu-Bolin-Disappearing-Act-Part-Pepsi-part-Coca-Cola-and-part-cement-floor-Bolin-stands/ss/events/en/020311liubolin/im:/ydownload/20110203/photos_net_web_en/1296771211/#photoViewer=/ydownload/20110203/photos_net_web_en/1296771211


hat tip to Jerry Martin!

Just realized the above link is not working at the moment... try this one: http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/08/02/chinese-artist-shows-disappear/

Swampy

When asked how he chooses where to create his art, Swampy replied:

A lot of it is looking for the place where my painting will live a long, peaceful existence. I try to paint places where it won’t ruin someone’s day, but sometimes when the spot is too beautiful, you have to weigh your options.

Teamwurrk

How could it ruin your day?

Check him out in the New York Times this week.

Mike Perry's got it

Recently I have been trying to draw stacked boxes- maybe in an effort to develop it into some more cubist shapes and designs that I might use in a painting series.

Enter Mike Perry-

wallpaper

what does it say?

poketo wallet

Not along the same lines as cubes and stacked boxes, but a serious hold on geometric design. The wallet is my favorite (strangely)- very Paul Klee (pronounced "Clay").

Do these guys know each other?

Photographer Audrey Heller and street artist Slinkachu have got a pretty similar thing going on....

So similar, in fact, that I'm not sure if I could tell their stuff apart...the difference, though, is in the setting.


Here's a sample of Heller's photos- Figures with backdrops of every-day objects resulting in playfully ironic images.

From her website: “There is something very familiar about the image of being tiny in a giant environment, and something inspiring, as well as humorous, about seeing such serious and industrious workers and explorers take on the daunting tasks that they face.”

Now,  here's Slinkachu:

Slinkachu sticks to scenes from the city- sometimes gritty sometimes banal- images that we associate with city life, ironically captured in miniature. 


I totally dig his blog, too- I wonder if he has trouble picking out a spot for his little dudes....or if they get stolen...