MusingsI came across this video on Thoughts on Art and Teaching and although it is geared towards the benefit of arts in Great Britain, I imagine that those of us in the U.S. enjoy similar dividends via our arts as well.
BTW, there is some coarse language, sorry kids.
You can never disseminate enough info about the benefits of the arts in my opinion. Enjoy.
I came across a great article by Matt Ballou about Nerdrum, his followers, the nature of Nerdrum’s kitsch, and the interplay of all three. Be sure to check it out!
Another week, another painting. This time a portrait of the Green Man. He is generally considered a spirit of the woods and is particularly common in European lore. Link to the painting.
I ran across an old anonymous poem about him:
I am born on May Morning – by sticks, bells, and ribbons I am the sap – in the dark root
I am the dancer – with his six fools
I am the tump – behind the old church
I am the lost soul – under the misericord
I am the oak – against the starsI am the face – that peers through the leaves
I am the fear – in a child’ s mind
I am the demon – on the roof-bossI am killed in October – and laid on church altars
I am the guiser – on the bright bonfire
I am the old grain – sown with the seed
I am the flame – in the pumpkin ‘ s grin
I am the spirit – in the kern-baby’s bosom
Andy Hope 1930
Andreas Hofer aka “Andy Hope 1930,” is currently exhibiting his work in New York. I came across this artist’s work on another blog but couldn’t re-blog it because it’s on another platform so I thought I would make the effort to write a regular post about his work despite having 4 stitches in my left middle finger–good times.
Images from Hauser & Wirth
I’ve never encountered Hope 1930’s work before now and I was intrigued by the minimalist dimension of the work within this exhibition. Although this exhibit does include some beautiful minimalist work (which I can handle in measured doses), this is, I pleasantly discovered, largely atypical of his oeuvre.
He is, as evident by much of his work, a beneficiary of Polke who I blogged about here. Hope 1930 employs numerous media in an often incongruous manner juxtaposing images of the past with the present in seemingly nonsensical ways.
Employing artistic methodologies that can trace their origins to Duchamp, he brings disparate elements together which, if considered separately, have no discernible relationship to each other. As such, his work continues the Post-Modern dialogue by utilizing and melding together elements of pop culture, historical artistic imagery, modernism, and national history which forces the viewer to construe possible interpretations.
His work escapes easy classification and although this may be off-putting for the casual art viewer, I think that this his work provides an important contribution within a contemporary art scene that all too often applauds not the content of the artwork but the personality of the artist. His work says as much, if not more, about who we are within an emerging global community dominated by image saturation, mass consumerism, and the reconciliation of cross-cultural encounters as it does about Andy Hope 1930, the artist.
For more information, please see the following:
I’ve been thinking about the creative process lately and how it can be plagued with inertia. Creating can be frustrating, difficult, painful, and leave the creator in a very vulnerable position. Greater investment in one’s work leads to greater potential for a painful rejection if the work is not accepted or grossly misunderstood. All of these things boiling in the cauldron can make inaction seem like a more desirable state-of-being.
So, I wanted to provide some points about the creative process that will hopefully help us (me) continue rolling that rock up the hill. The points apply mostly to visual artists but anyone who creates can benefit from the following:
The World Tree Moments after Odin Hung Himself
I read Neil Gaiman’s book, American Gods, recently and I was intrigued by his reference to Odin and the myth in which he hung himself from the world tree for nine days as, essentially, a sacrifice to himself.
Ancient cultural practices with regard to sacrifice, particularly human sacrifice, are a macabre interest in that the prevalence of such occurrences were more than I would have suspected. The notion that the death of one can increase the potency or virility of the larger group is fascinating in that the logic of it with regard to our modern perspective seems unnecessarily absurd and brutal. Yet, within the confines of a particular ancient culture, the practice made perfect sense much as our modern-day ethos seems a perfectly comfortable way in which we view the workings of the natural world.
The new painting is available here: link to painting
The Story Teller, watercolor on paper, 5"x7"
I have another painting available now on Etsy: right here
Otherwise, all is quiet.
There seems to be a tremendous amount of attention on the Middle East and Islam as of late with many news stories revolving around the “ground zero” mosque, Koran burning, Iran, the upcoming arms sale to Saudi Arabia, etc, etc.
Untitled by Egyptian artist, Amal Kenawy
With all of the above in mind, I wanted to highlight the works of artists who are from the Middle East and I found that tracking some down is a somewhat difficult task as there isn’t a lot of coverage here in the West. However, I was pleasantly surprised by an article in The Guardian which highlights the work of several contemporary artists who are from the Middle East. The link and the source of the imagery can be found here: Guardian article
Champions by Iranian painter Behrang Samadzadegan
As one might imagine, some of the central themes revolve around consumerism, the interface between the West and the Middle East, stereotypes, perception (in the broadest sense of the word), and so forth. I may pick a couple of the pieces and analyze them in a later post but for now, I’ll leave it at this. Be sure to check out The Guardian’s article.
The Ifrit's Dream
Despite my previous post in which I whined about not being able to create, I posted a new painting onto Etsy. You can find it at Etsy, here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/56619231/the-ifrits-dream
I scour the web and pick only the good stuff off the brush.
Musings 