March 22, 2012

POP! A Brief Bio on the Iconic Andy Warhol

by Lindsay Shapka in Artists, Art, Art History

Mao Zedong, circa 1972             Andy Warhol

Beginning in the 1950s, artists influenced by Utopian American ads, Hollywood icons, pop music, comic books, and science fiction, started creating images that anyone walking down the street could recognize and declaring it art.

The public loved it, and with that, Pop Art was born!

Marilyn Monroe, circa 1962             Andy Warhol The artist only began to paint Monroe after her death and — staying true to the Pop Art philosophy — was only interested in portraying Marilyn THE STAR, not Marilyn th… — *Marilyn Monroe, circa 1962 Andy Warhol*
The artist only began to paint Monroe after her death and — staying true to the Pop Art philosophy — was only interested in portraying Marilyn THE STAR, not Marilyn the person.

Though he wasn’t the founder of this movement, the work of Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is indisputably the most widely recognized art from this period. Warhol officially began his foray into the art world in 1960 when he made the choice to leave a career as a commercial illustrator and devote all his energy to art.

Though he started off painting, he made a quick switch and settled into the assembly line technique of silk-screening photo images on canvas. This technique allowed him to mass produce art, making it more available to purchase, and making him more money.

Mao Zedong (detail behind portrait), circa 1972                Andy Warhol — *Mao Zedong (detail behind portrait), circa 1972 Andy Warhol*

His portraits of Mao Zedong were a glamorization of the infamous communist ruler’s official portrait. A portrait that was used on billboards, brochures and books giving it the same iconic and pop presence in China as a Campbell Soup ad had in America at the time. It is speculated that Warhol chose to paint Mao because — according to LIFE Magazine — in 1972 he was declared the most famous person in the world.

These portraits are a departure from his other famous works because they are hand painted making each one unique compared to his other highly repetitive works (see Marilyn Monroe above).

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March 15, 2012

When Modern Art Is Packing Tape In The Shape of A Streetlight

by Lindsay Shapka in Artists, Art

There’s a quote that comes to mind when looking at this work by Igor Eskinja, an artist from Croatia: "Modern Art = I could do that + Yeah, but you didn't."

Modernism, as an art movement, originated in the early 20th century in tandem with momentous changes in politics, economics, and science. The developments in art and culture were a way of exploring new possibilities of expression, especially abstraction, in a rapidly changing world.

This work, titled Liberare Le Menti Occupare Gli Spazi is made from cheap packing tape and is applied directly to the wall of the gallery. Echoing the fleeting, fast-moving quality of the modern world, Eskinja creates his art using ephemeral materials applied directly to gallery surfaces.

This work is destroyed after each exhibit and the artist himself often doesn’t even create the art but sends measurements and instructions for the curators to do the installation themselves.

I often find myself shaking my head when walking into a gallery with a show like this and asking myself who it was that decided packing tape, tape gun still attached, on the wall was art.

I could do that… a small child could do that!

But I guess what it comes down to is that fact that I didn’t do it, Igor Eskinja did, and somebody, somewhere thought that it mattered.

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March 6, 2012

Reads For The Road: "The War of Art — Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" by Steven Pressfield

by Lindsay Shapka in Book List, Art, Artists

“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance”

— from "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" by Steven Pressfield

I have always avoided (like the plague) anything that could be considered a ‘self-help’ book, but The War of Art came into my life exactly when I needed it (thanks Scott!). It gave me the motivation to get off my butt, stop making excuses and realize that the only person preventing me from doing what I REALLY wanted to do, was me.

In his book, Steven Pressfield calls procrastination and all other forces preventing you from exploring your inner potential (aka, getting off your butt and doing that creative thing you keep dreaming about doing) "Resistance".

According to Pressfield:

“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us way, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

— from page 7

The book goes on to further define this term and gives straightforward, logical tools to combat Resistance that are meant to help readers feel empowered and turn their dreams into reality.

This book is not geared only to those who are creatively inclined, however, if there is anything that you have ever wanted, but just keep putting off (tighter abs perhaps?), this book is worth the read.

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March 1, 2012

Profile of Canadian Abstract Landscape Artist Ted Godwin

by Lindsay Shapka in Artists, Art

Ted Godwin, a Canadian painter, rose to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the Regina Five (1958-1968). The Five were a group of abstract painters, living and working in Regina, Saskatchewan, whose work was comparable to that being created in the New York art scene at the time.

In the mid-1970s, Godwin moved away from pure abstraction to more representative painting focused on landscape. His inspiration came from the expansive prairies, vast mountains and untouched scenery of Canada.

*Miz Beaver's Cafeteria and Mr. Brook Trout's Playground #6, 1980*

Despite the switch to a more representative technique, many of Godwin’s paintings look like abstract paintings in disguise.

For example, the pattern, brushwork and whimsical composition of Miz Beaver’s Cafeteria and Mr. Brook Trout’s Playground #6 (above) give an abstract feel to the work. True landscapes are also usually characterized by having expansive, wide-views with clear sky-horizon-ground layouts. The perspective of this work, being so low to the ground, only adds to the abstract feel.

Other paintings by Godwin can be found in major public collections across Canada and the United Kingdom.

He has also published a handful of books, where he recognizes emerging artist’s need for a place that they can devote to making ‘art and only art.'

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February 1, 2012

Painted Pixels: Modern Art by South Korean Artist Sea Hoon

by Lindsay Shapka in Art, Travel, Artists

One by Sea Hoon            Insa Art Centre, Seoul — *One by Sea Hoon Insa Art Centre, Seoul*

Jeoung, Sea Hoon, an amazing artist from South Korea, paints in a remarkable style called pointillism. Pointillism is a term that was derived in the 1880s to ridicule the artists who were using the new technique at the time (Seurat, Van Gogh and Pissarro to name a few).

It describes a specific style of brushwork that involves small, distinct dots of pure color applied in patterns to form an image.

ellow by Sea Hoon            Insa Art Centre, Seoul — *ellow by Sea Hoon Insa Art Centre, Seoul*

Resembling modern day pixels on a computer screen, this technique relies on the viewer’s ability to blend the spots together in their mind in order to see a fuller range of tones.

This way of applying paint is in sharp contrast to the more traditional method of blending pigments with fluid brushstrokes and, even today, there are few artists that use this technique.

Sea Hoon uses pointillism masterfully, creating works that are vibrant, alive, full of energy, and look like painted pixels.

Blue by Sea Hoon            Insa Art Centre, Seoul — *Blue by Sea Hoon Insa Art Centre, Seoul*

Art History: The Birth of the Impressionist Revolution In Paris

by Lindsay Shapka in Art History, Art, Artists

In April of 1874, a group of 30 French artists (including Degas, Monet, and Renoir) agreed not to submit anything to the annual Salon exhibition and to create their own exhibit together in Paris.

In France at the time, the French Academy had complete control over the display of art and artistic standards and until 1874 the Salon had been the only place to show art that would garner any respect or influence.

The French Academy had strict standards on what was considered ‘art’ and rejected works that weren’t done in classical or approved styles (portraits of famous historical figures, biblical stories etc...). The work of artists like Degas, Monet and Renoir had been rejected by the Salon numerous times because, to them, it looked unfinished and haphazard.

The exhibition outside of the Salon, called the Corporation of Artists Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc., was a declaration of independence from the academy and was the beginning of the end of the Salon’s hold over the French art world.

At this first exhibition, a writer from a comic journal took the title of one of Monet’s paintings, Impression, Sunrise (1873) and dubbed the entire exhibition “impressionist”. The artists were thrilled with the label because it represented how they captured an instantaneous impression of a scene from nature in their art.

At that moment, Impressionism was born, and Monet, Degas, and Renoir would go down in history as famous art revolutionaries.