Saturday, April 17

One must imagine Sisyphus happy - Albert Camus



The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus
I found this .gif animation at a very interesting site I came across. I have already posted about the Myth of Sisyphus here. Just a reminder. Click at the link below the image to read Camus's text.



Friday, April 16

Joan Miró's Guernica

click to enlarge
Still Life with Old Shoe was painted during the Spanish civil war and was consider by Joan Miró himself as one of his most important works. His biographer Jacques Dupin called the painting "Mirós's Guernica" thou there is no influence whatsoever of Picasso's work that is also dated 1937. This is a good comparison of the two that I found at this site:
"The Spanish Civil War broke out in July, 1936, and by November of that year, Miro was in France, where he would live in exile with his family until 1940. Initially without a studio, he stopped planning large groups of paintings in advance, as though reluctant to pursue any projects requiring long-term stability. (However, he had left a large number of unfinished works behind in Barcelona.) In January, 1937, he decided to move in a completely new direction and began work on a painting, "Still Life with Old Shoe, " often called his " Guernica" (in reference to Pablo Picasso's famous painting protesting the bombing of that Basque town). Although "Still Life with Old Shoe" manifests Miro's new need to grapple with material reality--for the first time in years, he worked from a model, a still life set up on a table before him--it is far from the historical and political reality of Picasso's painting. Where Picasso was concerned with a specific time and place, Miro's "Still Life with Old Shoe," and indeed all of his work, is pointedly ahistorical. Through the psychedelic colors and ominous forms of this painting, Miro found the universal aspect of the particular, creating a haunting landscape of devastation from the humble components of a still-life arrangement." (emphasis mine)

Tuesday, April 13

Reflexions at soap bubbles by Mila Zinkova

I have been searching for soap bubbles today and found so many amazing things that it was difficult to decide what to post. I just came across with this page that has a lot of amazing soap bubbles images and took these two photographies of Mila Zinkova that captures the reflections of the Golden Gate Bridge, right picture, and a cloud at the left one. No photoshop!

Monday, April 12

1984 -the other side of the coin according to Shepard Faery






















I just came across with this silkscreen on metal by Shepard Faery at this site and it caught my attention because it is a reverse of George Orwell's "Big Brother is Watching you".
Peace and Love are Watching Over You
(Click the image to enlarge)


Update: May, 01, 1011
I was aware that Shepard was being accused of plagiarism but I didn't pay attention.
I just found a great article here by Jason explaining everything. Not only plagiarism but appropriation of images that are part of the culture, those who are in public domain.
I will write a post about it. But visit the Justtheseeds by Jason if you want to be informed now.  

Saturday, April 10

Long Distance Information by Bill Woodrow

In 1983 the British Council exhibited "Transformations - New Sculpture from Britain" at the São Paulo Biennal showing the sculptures of six artists. Bill Woodrow was chosen and "Long Distance Information, 1983" was one of his works. He has a diverse oeuvre and you can search at this site his many periods even though the photographies online sometimes are not very good. In the eighties he did several works by cutting the shape of an object from a metal structure and transforming the two-dimensional projection into three dimensional objects. Long Distance Information was the title of a popular song by Chuck Berry which celebrated the possibility of talking to a child by telephone across a continent and Woodrow draw from an old car bonnet the shapes of a photographic camera, walkie-talkies and a bullet. What these objects have in common are speed if you will - even the bullet which is faster than a knife for instance if you intend to kill. It is very difficult and sometimes unfair to attribute meaning to the work of some artists. But I cannot help thinking that Woodrow predicted cell phones. :) I am sorry Bill. But what really strikes me the most in the work of this period is this ability to make the illusion that the object was taken from the metal shape. I think it is amazing.

Friday, April 9

Funny Italian accent misunderstandings

I have stop blogging for a while but I will come back. I hope you have some fun watching this video.