by Bob Martin | Jun 4, 2010 | Art, Drawing
The masters of functional art, architects create structures that live on into the future. With the preservation of drawings and photograph taken throughout the building and completion of the project, the “Mystery of the Pyramids” is avoided. What is still a mystery for me is how an Architects’ brain is able to straddle the lines between pure creativity and engineering. Even with training, schooling etc, it is still not easy.
Chicago (when the weather is mild), is a great place to see amazing architecture in part because the streets are so wide you can stand back and see an entire structure. The Art Institute of Chicago beginning June 19th 2010 will be presenting “Looking after Louis Sullivan: Photographs, Drawings, and Fragments”. Sullivan’s influence can be seen in building structure in many major cities and in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was greatly impacted by Sullivan.
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by Bob Martin | Jun 3, 2010 | Art, Movies
As mediums and technology change so does art. Technology gives us tools that help us view the world in ways that were not possible before. There has always been art movements about going back to some past and painting or sculpting like the “old Masters”, except we want to keep our lights, heaters and tubes of paint.
The movie “Picasso and Braque go to the Movies” looks back at a brief period of time when the advent of Motion Pictures may have added the finishing touch to the “invention” Cubism. I think of Cubism as a re-interpretation of what was already there to be seen. Looking at Picasso’s African Period, Cézanne’s Still Lifes and Braque’s and Matisse Fauvist style, wedded to the flickering lights of silent movies and Cubism doesn’t seem so radical, even for 1900’s.
It has taken 100 years for cinema to feel the breath on its neck of a new medium and technology that also opens the door to how we exhibit paintings, listen to music or read. The IPad and devices like it that will follow evolved from our own creativity.
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by Sandy | May 31, 2010 | Art, Blogroll, Culture, Exhibits, Museums
The Atlanta High Museum of Art presents, “Transitions: Contemporary South African Works on Paper”
The exhibit consists of “13 works by eight artists and will explore how works of art can act as visual narratives and testimonials. In particular, these works will focus on the remarkable changes in the political and social landscapes in South Africa from 1974 during the height of Apartheid to 2002, two years before a decade of democracy was widely celebrated. “
High Museum of Art Atlanta – until June 10, 2010
1280 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA
(Images: “Bus Ride”, Kay Hassan)
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by Sandy | May 28, 2010 | Art, Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
As part of their major “An American Season” exhibition this summer, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents:
“The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture”
Charles M. “Charlie” Russell (1864-1926), was a painter and sculptor. “Self-taught, Russell began to paint early in his career as a cowboy. Later on, as a full-time artist, he provided inspiration to Hollywood´s first filmmakers… With first-hand knowledge of cowboys and outlaws, trappers and hunters, Native Americans, and Western wildlife and wilderness, Russell presents an unparalleled view of a bygone American culture, rich in authentic detail and infused with personal passion.”
Charles M. Russell – June 6 to August 29, 2010
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / MFAH, 1001 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX
by Sandy | May 26, 2010 | Art, Artist, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
The Art Institute of Chicago has an exhibit called “Four Followers of Caravaggio”. The display highlights 4 artists that were inspired by the paintings of artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1571-1610, who is acknowledged for “his revolutionary style and for his unconventional process of painting directly from live models”.
“The special loan of Orazio Gentileschi’s The Lute Player from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC enables us to show how four other painters in early 17th-century Rome assimilated his style in their own distinct ways. The Lute Player joins three other Caravaggesque paintings from the Art Institute’s collection by Giovanni Baglione, Bartolomeo Manfredi, and Cecco del Caravaggio.”
“Four Followers Of Caravaggio” – until May 31, 2010
AIC, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
(Images:“Judith Beheading Holofernes”, 1598, M. Caravaggio and “The Lute Player”, Orazio Gentileschi , 1612)
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by Bob Martin | May 25, 2010 | Art, Exhibits, Museums, Photograhy
For all the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights an exhibit of photograph at the International Center of
Where Every Boy Can Dream of Being President-National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution
Photography, New York. The 1950’s, 1960’s and 70’s the struggle for equality in the United States had a face(s) that was visible daily. No longer buried inside of monthly magazines, Life, Look and others, despair, unrest and bigotry was being dramatically witnessed. Witnessed not just in the South but across the country, particularly in the Northeast which harbored a subtle form of racism which now was being disclosed. Even in cities like New York, in order to get a taxicab it was necessary for an African American sneak up on a cab and jump into the backseat, because most cab drivers would turn on the on their “off duty” lights once they saw you.
Today when I hear people say “We want Our Country Back” or “Stop Obama” I sense the same bigotry of fifty years ago. For those who want to go back to something, see this exhibit and then think about it. This is no longer or was it ever the America depicted in the illustration on the left. “Keep it Free” suggests just the opposite for Women and People of Color.
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by Bob Martin | May 23, 2010 | Art, Exhibits
Brother and Sister by Claerwen James
The Flowers Gallery exhibit this month features the paintings of Claerwen James. James’ paintings are mostly of non-sweet and unsmiling children (some of her I think). They remind me paintings by Balthus, less sinister but similar.
I think that young people are serious most of the time and that smiling and laughter is their way of masking their awkwardness. Besides what better way to avoid being asked “Are you alright?”
Painting by Balthus
by Bob Martin | May 19, 2010 | Art, Photograhy
It is sobering to know that nothing ever lasts or at least in the same form. The photographs of Detroit by Andrew Moore are witness to a dying city and culture. Both music and cars have moved on to some other pasture, leaving crumbling buildings and people who have no where to go.
There are movies being made in Detroit now in part I am sure because it is a facade, a Hollywood lot out on location.
The Akron Art Museum will exhibiting “Detroit Disassembled: Photographs by Andrew Moore June 5, 2010 – October 10, 2010 ” an accounting of pre-transformation as we can be certain that Detroit and others cities like them will create a new identity and new industry before long.
by Sandy | May 19, 2010 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
“Impressionist Paris: City of Light” at the Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco continues to celebrates 19th century Paris, June 5 to September 26, 2010. 
“Visitors to the exhibition are transported to Impressionist Paris as represented in over 150 prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, and illustrated books from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and several distinguished private collections. The exhibition is on view at the Legion of Honor concurrent with “Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay” at the de Young Museum.”
Legion of Honor – Lincoln Park
34th Avenue & Clement Street, San Francisco, CA
de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA
(Image: “Eiffel Tower”, 1889, Georges Seurat (French, 1859–1891)
by Sandy | May 18, 2010 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
“Indigenismo: Ancient Roots in Mexican Art”
Beginning June 16, 2010, the Newark Museum celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, (1910 – 1920) with an exhibition highlighting “Indigenismo” (Indianism) – “a cultural movement that arose after the Revolution spawned by artists and writers exploring their national heritage, and proudly including their ancient Mesoamerican past. Artists participating in this movement studied and used indigenous imagery and concepts in order to express their social messages to the public. Indigenismo was the impetus responsible for many of Mexico’s great works of art – whether painted on walls or printed on paper – and part of a legacy that continues up to the present.“
Some of the artists included are: Rufino Tamayo, Gunther Gerzso, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Diego Rivera, Carlos Merida, Martín Ramirez, Judithe Hernández, and Flor Garduño.
“Indigenismo: Ancient Roots in Mexican Art”*6/16 – 8/9/10
The Newark Museum, 49 Washington Street, Newark, NJ
(Image: “La Niña de los Abanicos”, 1913, Diego Rivera)
Chicago (when the weather is mild), is a great place to see amazing architecture in part because the streets are so wide you can stand back and see an entire structure. The Art Institute of Chicago beginning June 19th 2010 will be presenting “Looking after Louis Sullivan: Photographs, Drawings, and Fragments”. Sullivan’s influence can be seen in building structure in many major cities and in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was greatly impacted by Sullivan.
