David Maisel: Library of Dust

New York City based artist David Maisel brings our attention to ethics and aesthetics in a most sublime way. His most recent project titled Library of Dust is a series of photographs of unclaimed and forgotten copper canisters containing the cremated remains of patients from a state-run psychiatric hospital. The science behind these eery though beautifully aged canisters lies in the copper, as it goes through chemical transformation due to prolonged contact with it’s contents. The outcome is striking enough, but it’s possible that the pull between matter and spirit is what makes this series so fervent. What we’re dealing with here is a conflict of sorts. We have these colorful, blooming canisters almost calling for our visual attention; however, time was ever necessary in the process of this chemical transformation, some urns having sat unclaimed by family since 1883. Thus to the surface also rises themes of neglect, remiss, and more impatiently, our own mortality. Maisel comments on the library in which these are canisters are numbered from 01 to 5,118: “Imagine the many separate fates that led these thousands of individuals to this room. What combination of choice and chance, of illness, of representation and misrepresentation, an infinite number of slippages multiplied more than three thousand times over, circumscribes this room, this library.” The artist also poses the question: is it possible that some form of spirit lives on?

Erté (Romain de Tirtoff 1892-1990) (by Ludiko)

Grenadier Art Show, September 22, 2012

This free photo collage made with Smilebox

'The Hummingbird', 16x20" acrylic on canvas board

Framed Painting/Art Cards

Framed Painting $450.00 USD Greeting Cards, pkg. 8, $15.00 USD Postcards, pkg. 10, $12.00 USD

New paintings by David Tomlin

'Susan's Magnolia', 8x10" acrylic on canvas 

Framed Painting/Art Cards

Framed Painting $200.00 USD Greeting Cards, pkg 8, $15.00 USD Postcards, pkg 10, $12.00 USD

'Islington United Church', 14x18" oil on canvas

Framed Painting/Art Cards

Framed Painting $400.00 USD Greeting Cards, pkg. 8, $15.00 USD Postcards, pkg. 10, $12.00 USD

'Life is Fragile and Beautiful-Monarch Butterfly', 8x10" acrylic  on canvas board

Framed Painting/Art Cards

Framed Painting $200.00 USD Greeting Cards, pkg 8, $15.00 USD Postcards, pkg 10, $12.00 USD

'Life is Fragile and Beautiful-Frittilary Butterfly', 8x10" acrylic on canvas board

Framed Painting/Art Cards

Framed Painting $200.00 USD Greeting Cards, pkg 8, $15.00 USD Postcards, pkg 10, $12.00 USD

How crazy/cool is this painting of Audrey Hepburn? Artist Craig Alan painted tiny little figures to create this gorgeous portrait of the icon.

Suzanne Opton, Soldier/Many Wars (Decode, 2011)

Opton asks soldiers returning from war to pose with their head lying sideways, and in that simple gesture, much is revealed. “We are inured to pictures of war,” she says. “I’d see these young guys with all this gear representing the United States, and you really have no idea who they are,” Opton says. “I wanted to strip all that away and look at them like I would look at my own son.”

Paul McGuire

”My work uses a digital process whose algorithm is similar to the same ones that govern natural phenomena, so my images evoke many natural patterns: smoke, fire, water, land. These natural forms often resonate with the viewer’s own life experience, and people usually connect with a particular image over others, in their own unique way. Some pieces are truly random generations, which I modify by adjusting the internal color and shape transforms; others are seeded from photographs to introduce patterns or a target color palette. Finally, I produce the images on canvas, tile, or glass in extremely high resolution, which provides new levels of discovery to the viewer, even over time.”

Vincent van Gogh, la Berceuse

Vincent van Gogh, Field with Poppies

Giuseppe Bazzani - The Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Pavane, 1954

From the National Gallery of Canada: Jean Paul Riopelle was one of the most ambitious artists of the group “Les Automatistes”. The artist applied paint directly to the surface of the canvas using a palette knife, blending each mark in a free, abstract and automatic gesture. Space is created by the relationships of colours as they intersect or lay in close proximity to each other. This creates an animated surface, with some colours receding and some dancing forward. This monumental triptych was first exhibited in Canada in 1963 as part of the artist’s retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada, and its title refers to a Spanish dance that originated in the 16th century. The dance incorporates a stately and processional rhythm, which is captured in the energy and movement of this painting.

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Untitled, 1953

From the National Gallery of Canada: Inspired by his admiration for Claude Monet’s waterlily paintings, Riopelle, by spray painting the colours, captures the water’s properties of transparency and infinite depth as well as its shimmering surface. India ink, applied in daubs and dripping lines, replicates the effect of the waterlilies which float on the surface and whose tendrils penetrate the liquid colour. This drawing is an important new direction in the artist’s work which will lead him to his masterworks such as “Pavane” 1954.

Animals in the Womb

They may grow to be very different beasts, but these breathtaking images reveal how surprisingly similar the beginning of life can be for the animal kingdom. Captured using revolutionary four-dimensional imaging technology and anatomically accurate models, scientists have managed to shed light on the world of mammals inside the womb. As diverse a bunch as they are - elephant, dog, dolphin and penguin are all shown united by their similar stages of development. Scientists captured the images for a National Geographic Documentary called ‘Animals in the Womb’. The images were also used on a Channel 4 documentary ‘Animals in the Womb’ which aired in 2009. They were created by using a combination of ultrasound scans, computer graphics and small cameras -as well as some carefully created models- to document the animals’ development from conception to birth, and give an unparalleled glimpse into a world that few of us would ever expect to see. [via dailymail.co.uk]

R.I.P Neil Armstrong

judy garland quote

Lee Kyu-Hak creates mixed-media paintings by wrapping small wooden wedges with colored newsprint that mimic the brushstrokes of famous artists.

Guerra de la Paz

Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall), 2005 by Bill Viola

The sacred space

Greetings!

Recently, Eveleen Power of Dungarvan, Waterford, Eire, wrote, "I now have two art studios--one next to our home and a new one in town with nine other artists. How lucky I am. But I don't know whether to bring my really good easel into the new one or leave it in the old one. I can't decide which studio to have what medium in. My home studio has a sink so I'm thinking of just keeping that for watercolours, acrylics and water based mediums. Should the other one just be for oils? What would be some advice in this situation?"

Thanks, Eveleen. Dividing media between studios is not a bad idea. In one you might wear your watercolour hat and in the other your oily one. But it's not the "really good easel," or even the isolating of media from one space to the other that will make your work greater. It's what you bring on the commute.

State of mind is all-important. The British painter David Hockney said, "People have asked me, 'Isn't it boring in Bridlington, a little isolated seaside town?' And I say, 'Not for us. We think it's very exciting, because it is in my studio and it is in my house.'" The home studio need not be either big or fancy. "Small rooms," said Leonardo da Vinci, "set the mind in the right path; large ones cause it to go astray." Many significant artists treat the home studio as a secondary venue. "A studio," said Joaquin Sorolla, "is a good place to smoke your pipe." That said, the studio need only be a sacred place where work and imagination gently collude. "A space," said Rainer Maria Rilke, "for the spirit to breathe."

My observation of folks who decide to hang out with others (I've never tried it) is that they end up with social venues where interpersonal aggravation sets in, interest flags and quality becomes intermittent. There may be exceptions, of course, and it's certainly something that might be tolerated once a year or so. But it's a great loss not to work down at the bottom of the garden with the fairies.

Best regards,
Robert

PS: "The only thing that makes one an artist is making art. And that requires the precise opposite of hanging out; a deeply lonely and unglamorous task of tolerating oneself long enough to push something out." (David Rakoff)

Esoterica: My best advice is to teach yourself to work pretty well anywhere. The mere act of making this decision builds your capacity for growth. In the heady days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, sweet-spots appear like volunteers in a rambling garden. You can do it on a beach, on a heath, in a park, in a car or boat or on a friend's patio while he's trying to be a banker. Your home studio may be a pretty important place--the center of your universe--but the world is loaded up with other sacred spots. "Capto omnes" (Gennius - 36BC) "Grab them all."