6 Things I Learned About Painting From the Met's Blockbuster Matisse Show
Last week, I finally visited the Met’s stellar exhibition, “Matisse: In Search of True Painting.” The show was, as I hoped, a refreshingly engaging experience that breaks down Henri Matisse’s meticulous and academic painting process into sections, addressing recurring themes that are applicable to both modern painters and art students today. In a recent article, New York Times art critic Roberta Smith aptly called the show “one of the most thrillingly instructive exhibitions about this painter, or painting in general, that you may ever see.” She’s not wrong. Concepts like how to paint light, when to use the color black, or how long to spend on the details of a model you have limited time with are best learned from a painter who spent his lifetime asking these questions, and who was willing to share the fruits of his labor.
Brooding Cityscapes Painted with Oils by Jeremy Mann
San Francisco-based artist Jeremy Mann executes these sublime, moody cityscapes using oil paints. To create each work he relies on a wide range of techniques including surface staining, the use of solvents to wipe away paint, and the application of broad, gritty marks with an ink brayer. The resulting paintings are dark and atmospheric, urban streets seemingly drenched in rain and mystery.
Fascinating Lamps by Calabarte
Calabarte is the pseudonym of a Polish artist named Przemek Krawczynski, whose art takes on a peculiar but incredibly beautiful form: cool lamps. The name itself is a portmanteau of two words – art (obviously), and calabash, the fruit that carries his imagination. The calabash is a bottle gourd originating in India, although Calabarte gets his supply from Senegal. Due to ancient domestication and usage, the bottle gourd has an incredibly tough outer shell. In the past, the gourd’s usage was defined mostly as a water container, due to having a tough, smooth shell with an ergonomic shape for handling, and natural buoyancy on water.
Naples Sailor Paints Haze Gray Masterpiece
Better than the Mona Lisa. GAETA, ITALY – Raphael. Michelangelo.
Anamorphic Sculptures
London-based artist Jonty Hurwitz creates ‘Anamorphic Sculptures’ which only reveal themselves once facing a reflective cylinder. Hurwitz took an engineering degree in Johannesburg where he discovered the fine line between art and science. He has lived in England for many years, working in the online industry though he quietly levitated into the world of art inspired by a need to make ‘something real’. Hurwitz discovered that he could use science as an artistic paintbrush. Each of his sculptures is a study on the physics of how we perceive space and is the stroke of over 1 billion calculations and algorithms.
Fascinatingly Fanciful Art by Dan Elijah G. Fajardo
Article by Hyathiz I love my dogs, reading books, and taking great pictures with my battered but still functional digital camera. Taking great pictures with a high end camera is almost too easy, producing fantastic images with an outdated one is an accomplishment by itself. By Hyathiz on August 12, 2012, in Illustrations Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Andy Warhol, Angry Birds, art, Dan Elijah, Dan Elijah G. Fajardo, fantasy, Filipino, Juan Luna, Philippine National, Philippine National artist, space
Japanese Erotic Art Goes On View At Sotheby's In 'Beyond The Paper Screen' (NSFW PHOTOS)
If you've ever wanted to get into the sexual mindset of a 17th century Japanese artist, it's time to head to Hong Kong and feast your eyes upon a deliciously naughty exhibit of traditional erotic art. Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Kinoe no komatsu (Detail), 1814, Woodblock colour print book, 22.0 x 26.0 cm Coyly titled "Beyond the Paper Screen," the Sotheby's showcase features a collection of over 60 blush-worthy prints by recognizable artists like Katsushika Hokusai and Kitagawa Utamaro. Taken together, the works explore the Edo period of Japanese art making (roughly the period between 1603 and 1868), in which pre-Modern artists delved into their sensual psyches to portray a plethora of taboo themes from polygamy to zoophilia.
13 Disturbing Pieces of Art from History
The media is often criticized for showing violent and disturbing imagery. Movies, TV, video games, tabletop RPGs, comic books, and various other things have all gone through periods where they're blamed for exposing children to dark and unsettling things. But as these fine art examples prove, violent and disturbing imagery is nothing new.
