KNOW|YOUR|ART

MARLENE DUMAS | “Suikerspook” | 1996 With no more...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:50:25 -0400

MARLENE DUMAS | “Suikerspook” | 1996

With no more than a splash of running ink, Dumas conjures up this being on a sheet of paper: a long-legged woman straining at the limits of her self-made cage. Ensnared in confines of her own making, she considers us thoughtfully. Her gaze is hollow and dark, her body no more than a pose. Dumas never lets her guard down to the plastic perfection of the world of advertising and fashion. Averse to anything resembling a universal ideal of beauty, she believes that every woman is able to invent her own identity. [x]

DONALD JUDD | “Untitled” (Six Boxes) | 1974 In the...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:34:00 -0400

DONALD JUDD | “Untitled” (Six Boxes) | 1974

In the early 1960’s, Donald Judd switched from painting to sculpture and started to develop an interest in architecture. Judd challenged the artistic convention of originality by using industrial processes and materials—such as steel, concrete, and plywood—to create large, hollow Minimalist sculptures, mostly in the form of boxes, which he arranged in repeated simple geometric forms. [x]

Judd saw the beauty inherent in raw, controversial industrial materials and challenged the conventional art establishment norm of what mediums were acceptable in sculpture in the 60’s and 70’s. He paved the way for many other future industrial and architectural sculptors.

“It takes a great deal of time and thought to install work carefully. This should not always be thrown away. Most art is fragile and some should be placed and never moved again. Somewhere a portion of contemporary art has to exist as an example of what the art and its context were meant to be. Somewhere, just as the platinum iridium meter guarantees the tape measure, a strict measure must exist for the art of this time and place.” —Donald Judd [x]

MICHAEL HEIZER | “City” | 1972-Present “You just don’t get it,...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:08:37 -0400

MICHAEL HEIZER | “City” | 1972-Present

“You just don’t get it, do you? This is a czarist nation, a fascist state. They control everything. They tap my phone. They’ll do anything to stop me. We’re the front lines, man, fleas fighting a giant.” —Michael Heizer [x]

At eighty feet high, a quarter of a mile wide, and one and a quarter miles long, the sculpture “City” is roughly the scale of the national mall in Washington, D.C., making the artwork, located in Garden Valley, Nevada, one of the largest sculptures ever created. The sculpture is so large that when the energy department did a survey flyover of the area, they mistook it for a military project.

Begun in 1972 by artist Michael Heizer, this “earthwork” is made entirely of dirt, rocks, and concrete, constructed with heavy machinery. Heizer is renowned for his large-scale sculptures and earth art, and produces works that cannot fit into a conventional museum setting, except in photographs.

Earthworks and other unsellable “land art” like this were a reaction to the commercialization of art in the 1960s. Heizer came up with the idea for “City” in 1970, when he was in the Yucatan studying the serpent motif in the ball court at Chichen Itza. He was 24. His work is quickly recognized as the archetype of what people were beginning to call Land Art.

It made a huge impact.

In his words, City “is based on an awareness that we live in a nuclear era. We’re probably living at the end of civilization.” [x]

GUSTAV KLIMT | Adele Bloch-Bauer I | 1907

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 03:25:27 -0400

GUSTAV KLIMT | Adele Bloch-Bauer I | 1907

JAMES ENSOR | ”The Seven Deadly Sins Dominated by Death” | 1904

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 03:21:18 -0400

JAMES ENSOR | ”The Seven Deadly Sins Dominated by Death” | 1904

EDVARD MUNCH | ”Madonna” | 1895 Born in Scandinavia,...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:53:00 -0400

EDVARD MUNCH | ”Madonna” | 1895

Born in Scandinavia, a region known for long periods of cold and darkness, Edvard Munch shared the Symbolist mentality of artists and writers from that locale and throughout Europe in the 1890’s. He rejected the Impressionist practice of studying effects of light on the external world and instead looked inward to explore themes of love and jealousy, loneliness and anxiety, and sickness and death. His personal history, with the premature loss of his mother and an older sister, as well as complex and unsatisfactory entanglements with women, provided him with a constant source of artistic motifs. [x]

“The femme fatale reflects a gender confusion as women break out of the domestic confines of the home and move more into the workforce after the Industrial Revolution. Fears of a breakdown on the homefront in terms of the family unit lead to fears of women’s newfound freedom and especially fears of an unleashed female sexuality. The femme fatale reflects those cultural fears. This Madonna is a fully sexualized woman—once again an example of nature eroticized rather than spiritualized. This was during the age of Freud and the discovery of the unconscious and the sexual drives that lurk in all of us, such as Eros and Thanatos—Freud’s coupling of sexuality and death urges.” [x]

FRANCISCO GOYA Y LUCIENTES | “The Sleep Of Reason Produces...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:44:49 -0400

FRANCISCO GOYA Y LUCIENTES | “The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters” | 1798

Although Goya is not a contemporary artist, this is one of the most important prints in the history of European art. This particular print from an 80 print series “typically appears in art history textbooks and depicts the artist with his head cradled, face down in his arms, resting on a table with his drawing tools around him. Owls, bats and monsters swarm over him, while a wide-eyed cat is on the floor next to him. According to a bit of late-18th-century iconography, owls represented folly; bats stood for ignorance; cats were signs of witchcraft—one can easily see how Goya’s image captures confusion in an age of flux. Is he celebrating Enlightenment reason, or Romantic irrationality? Does he believe in the individual’s ability to act, or is he telling us to duck and cover and come back when the coast is clear?” [x]

Goya wrote on one of the preparatory drawings for this print, “The author is dreaming. His only intention is to banish harmful superstition and to perpetuate with this work of fancy the sound testimony of Truth.”

darksilenceinsuburbia: Leilani Bustamante. Opening this...

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:41:42 -0500

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Leilani Bustamante.

Opening this Saturday, March 10th from 6-10 PM is a new group show entitled Wayward Fairy Tales. Curated by Jeff Felker and Glenn Arthur, this show will feature work by Jason Levesque, Leilani Bustamante, Chelsea Greene, Glenn Arthur, Kelly Castillo, Ahren Hertel, Aunia Kahn, and Jeff Felker. Each artist will be presenting their rendition of classic fairy tales. We’re all used to the “happily ever after” ideal, but this show will set out to prove that “beautiful tragedies” can be just as amazing. This exhibition runs until April 7th, so if you can’t be there for the reception make sure to stop by when you can. (by josh)

Modern Eden Gallery

http://www.leilanibustamante.com/

LUCIEN FREUD |“Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” |...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:39:53 -0500

LUCIEN FREUD |“Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” | 1992

Lucian Freud became the most expensive living artistat auction in 2008 with this painting. The large naked woman painted on a couch is called “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” and sold for $33.6 million. The sitter is named Sue Tilley and she sat for Freud over a four year period.

The artist held the title of “Most Expensive Living Painter” until his death on July 20th, 2011. Freud’s paintings are very unique; each masterpiece portraying in elegant form the gritty aspects of everyday life—his everyday life. Freud’s paintings are stunning snapshots of life. [x]

JANINE ANTONI | “Rawhide” | 2000 “…I was...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:15:00 -0500

JANINE ANTONI | “Rawhide” | 2000

“…I was doing work that was about process, about the meaning of the making, trying to have a love-hate relationship with the object. I always feel safer if I can bring the viewer back to the making of it. I try to do that in a lot of different ways, by residue, by touch, by these processes that are basic to all of our lives… that people might relate to in terms of process… everyday activities—bathing, eating, etc. But there are times when the best way to keep people in that place, which for me is so alive and pertinent, is to show the process or the making.” —Janine Antoni [x]

JAMES JEAN | “Pauline” | 2012 “In the study of the particular I...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:02:00 -0500

JAMES JEAN | “Pauline” | 2012

“In the study of the particular I seek a glimpse of the universal… the interplay of shapes colour and light fascinate and delight me and result in realism, fantasy and abstraction in my work. My hope and belief is that each viewer will find a new perspective on the world we all share and find it enlightening personally.” —James Jean [x]

JAMES JEAN | “Bows” | 2011

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:00:00 -0500

JAMES JEAN | “Bows” | 2011

GÜNTER BRUS | “Selbstbemalung/Selbstverstümmelung” | 1965 “This...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:07:00 -0500

GÜNTER BRUS | “Selbstbemalung/Selbstverstümmelung” | 1965

“This is a reminder of how an artist with such elementary tools (paint, the body, and a dramatic capacity) can supersede his own identity and iconography and can demonstrate, consciously or unconsciously, a new pathway for the next generations of artists and intellectuals to come. In preparing for this exhibition, I have come to view Günter Brus today not just as a great performance or body artist, or a pioneering Actionist, but also as one of the great political artists and one of the prophets of twenty-first century art.” —Osvaldo Romberg [x]

NICOLA SAMORI | “Point Of Entry: L’Abietto...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:43:00 -0500

NICOLA SAMORI | “Point Of Entry: L’Abietto Venerabile” | 2011

“Based in Italy, Nicola Samorì creates darkly haunted portraits featuring characters that appear to belong to another century. The visceral oil paintings resonates with the ‘Neo-Baroque’ movement, which incorporates the intense and realistic style of the Baroque period within a modern, psychological context. While the figures echo historical reference points, their faces are often obscured beneath masks of chaotic, fluid paint application, suggesting a deeper exploration of identity.” [x]

MARINA ABRAMOVIC | “Rhythm 0” | 1974 To test the...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:59:00 -0500

MARINA ABRAMOVIC | “Rhythm 0” | 1974

To test the limits of the relationship between performer and audience, Abramović developed one of her most challenging (and best-known) performances. She assigned a passive role to herself, with the public being the force which would act on her.

Abramović had placed upon a table 72 objects that people were allowed to use (a sign informed them) in any way that they chose. Some of these were objects that could give pleasure, while others could be wielded to inflict pain, or to harm her. Among them were a rose, a feather, honey, a whip, scissors, a scalpel, a gun and a single bullet. For six hours the artist allowed the audience members to manipulate her body and actions.

Initially, members of the audience reacted with caution and modesty, but as time passed (and the artist remained impassive) people began to act more aggressively. As Abramović described it later:

“What I learned was that… if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.” … “I felt really violated: they cut up my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the audience. Everyone ran away, to escape an actual confrontation.” [x]

MORRIS LOUIS | “Number 182” | 1961 From the Phillips...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:55:00 -0500

MORRIS LOUIS | “Number 182” | 1961

From the Phillips Collection:

“In Number 182, the eye rests for a brief moment on the raw sienna stripe, but is quickly drawn to the adjacent orange stripe, which vies for dominance. The image is set off-center, to the right, and the shared contour of the two colors actually marks the center of the canvas. The sienna occupies the center of the pillar. These two colors are nearly identical in value, thus optically appearing on the same plane, and both stand out from their respective adjacent yellow stripes. The orange and sienna bands are flanked by different shades of greens and blues, dividing the column into three sections, separated by yellow. While the right side is rendered flat due to the hues being close in value, the left side reveals intensely bright colors that emerge and react with each other.

Because Louis painted in solitude, little is recorded of his working methods. After his death his studio was studied for clues. It appears that he poured thinned acrylic pigment down the raw canvas, which was suspended from a high wooden stretcher. It is possible that he folded and draped the canvas fabric in order to carefully control the flow of the pigment. The color would soak into the unsized and unprimed canvas, producing a stained effect; in essence, canvas and paint bonded to become one entity.” [x]

Franz Kline | “Untitled” | 1957 Abstract expressionist painter...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:51:00 -0500

Franz Kline | “Untitled” | 1957

Abstract expressionist painter Franz Kline’s paintings possess a gestural energy that engage the viewer in a physical relationship with the piece. Working primarily in blac and white, it was not about Kline expressing his emotions through the painting, but enrapturing the viewer with the spontaneity and power of the brushstrokes. [x]

“There are moments or periods when it would be wonderful to plan something and do it and have the thing only do what you planned to do. And then, there are other times when the destruction of those planned things becomes interesting to you. So then, it becomes a question of destroying -–of destroying the planned forms; it’s like an escape, it’s something to do, something to begin the situation. You, yourself, don’t decide, but if you want to paint, you have to find out some way to start this thing off, whether it is painting it out or putting it in…” —Franz Kline

GÜNTER BRUS | ”SELF PAINTING I” | 1964 Günter Brus was the...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:32:00 -0500

GÜNTER BRUS | ”SELF PAINTING I” | 1964

Günter Brus was the co-founder of “Viennese Actionism,” together with Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. His aggressively presented actionism intentionally disregarded conventions and taboos with the intent of shocking the viewer.

His actions generally used black and white body-painting and the materials he liked to use were razor blades, nails, scissors and saws. He developed a technique of black lines to be symbolic for separation: “A hint of the vulnerability of the body and an analytical symbol.” [x]

GÜNTER BRUS | “AUTOMUTILACIÓN III” | 1965 “Art is...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:23:00 -0500

GÜNTER BRUS | “AUTOMUTILACIÓN III” | 1965

“Art is beautiful but it is hard, like a religion without a purpose.” —Gunter Brus.

A series of actions called “Mutilation” or “Selbstverstümmelung” showed the artist cutting his own body up and doing other types of harm to it. [x]

RONG RONG | “EAST VILLAGE, BEIJING, NO.81” | 1994 In the East...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:21:00 -0500

RONG RONG | “EAST VILLAGE, BEIJING, NO.81” | 1994

In the East Village, Rong Rong became popular for his photographs of other artists and their work. This photograph documents performance artist Zhu Ming in action. [x]