The Art Thread

[Twitchmonkey]

Well, it's here, if anyone is interested.

Let's try to keep this out of the realm of film and music, as I think threads exist for both already. Pretty much anything related to art is relevant: Where you think it's going, what you like and dislike about different periods, works that you particularly enjoy, and especially anything that you made yourself.

I'll start. I work in airbrush, pen, and digital. My favorite styles to view and work in are pop surrealism and fantasy work. I don't particularly care for viewing or working in abstract or scenery work. Here is a selection of the sort of thing I admire:

[greedy]

the last piece left me speechless

[Twitchmonkey]

Dali is the epitome of technical skill and creative genius. There is some criticism of him because supposedly later on in his life he stopped developing and sort of cashed in on his image, but you have to be impressed by his mastery of surrealism.

[thepretender]

A friend on MySpace sent me this link and I was fascinated by his stuff...
Naoto Hattori
what do you think???
www.wwwcomcom.com/home.html

[Omnipotent]

Scott Mutter is illmatic...

www.photographymuseum.com/mutter/scottmutterNewGallery.html

[Twitchmonkey]

Both of those artists look very much like the sort of style I'm into. I'm not big on photography usually, but I can make exceptions.

[thepretender]

When I was 16 I was in love with Sulamith Wolfing stuff...

www.midnight-muse.com/3wulfing.htm
the colors in the picture of the girl with the butterfly were just so calming...
I think her version of Madonna and Child would make a great postage stamp for christmas...

and I really like the artwork of Susan Jeffers and for some reason I think I have posted this link before...
Her artwork for Robert Frost's Poem is lovely...
Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening
but mostly I love her cuz the way she makes McDuff look...

Click on each book to see a page

www.susanjeffers-art.com/booklistframeset.html

I esp like
the Thumbelina page
the Wild Swans page
the Midnight Farm page
I remember thinking Zoe would like
My Pony...
I love the way Susan draws animals and esp horses....

[Twitchmonkey]

Lovely. Some of it is a little rough for me, Not sharp enough linework, I guess. It is calming though, and I admire anyone that can work in watercolor, which many of these appear to be.

[twinkle]

Pat Steir is one of my favorite contemporary artists.
(originally thought she was much younger because her work strikes as quite "fresh"; goes to show my own prejudice and how the work can get more "youthful" as the artist matures).
her paintings put me in the Zen zone.

www.artnet.com/artist/16078/pat-steir.html

[twinkle]

Kurt Schwitters continues to be an inspiration, both for his far-ranging work and for his sense of humor and his joy in the commonplace. he transformed "trash" into objects of beauty. he wrote, he sang, he painted, he built, he was chased by NAZIs.
i couldn't find any one site to properly bring all those elements together so here are a few.

kurtschwitters.org/index.html

homepage.ntlworld.com/davepalmer/cutandpaste/schwitters.html

collagegallery.com/schwitters_retro.htm

www.spa.ex.ac.uk/drama/dada/page14.html

[thepretender]

I love Schwitter's Collages...

I had never heard of him before...

Another person I had never heard of was Mark Rothko If you go here and click on the arrows you can see more of his prints...

www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/myths8.shtm
I know people who absolutely adore him and I like some of his work but some of it doesn't reach me at all and it could be because apparently in person you can see the different directions of the paint...
I have never seen one of his in person.

I do love the song that was written about him...
Dar Williams
Mark Rothko
The blue it speaks so full
It's like the beauty one can barely stand
Or too much things dropped in your hand
And there's a green like the peace
In your heart sometimes
Painted underneath the sheets of ashy snow
And there's a blue like where the urban angels go, very bright
Now the Calder mobile tips a biomorphic sphere
Then it swings its dangling pieces
round to other paintings here

Your behavior is so male
It's like you can't explain yourself to me
I think I'll ask Renoir to tea
For his flowers are as real as they are all the time
And the sunlight sets the furniture aglow
It's a pleasant time as far as people go, how far do they go?
Well his roses are perfect and his words have no wings
I know what he can give me and I like to know these things

I met her at the funeral
She said I don't know what he meant to me
I just know he affected me
An effect not unlike his art,
I believe

The service starts and we are in the know
He had so much to say but more to show, and ain't that true of life?
So we weep for a person who lived at great cost
Yet we barely knew his powers till we sensed that we had lost

A friend and I in a museum room
She says, "Look at Mark Rothko's side
Did you know about his suicide?
Some folks were born with a foot in the grave, but not me, of course"
And she smiles as if to say we're in the know
Then she names a coffee place where we can go, uptown
Now the painting is desperate, but the crowds wash away
In a world of kind pedestrians who've seen enough today

[twinkle]

[img src="http://www.borofsky.com/public/walkingtothesky[nyc]/walkingtothesky[nyc]a00y.jpg"]

[twinkle]

[img src="http://www.borofsky.com/public/ballerinaclown[venice]/ballerinaclown[venice]a01.jpg"]

[twinkle]

^the previous 2 images are sculptures by Jonathan Borofsky.
the first is "Walking To The Sky"; the second is "Ballerina Clown".
more can be found at
Borofsky.com

to see a decidedly un-grandiose yet extraordinarily touching proposal for a World Trade Center Memorial, check out #36 in the following link
borofsky.com/public.htm

[Twitchmonkey]

Those are pretty interesting. Remember you can post more than one image per post, Twinkle.