29 posts tagged “art”
I havent done one of these in a while ... so lets share some fabulous art!
First of all, a big bag of Kudos to Doze Green for making the cover of Juxtapoz. He does a lot of live painting to hip-hop and electronic music. He composes the work based upon the music that he is hearing, and does this all on the stage. Personally, I have never been much of a fan of his work ... but I am an fan of his method.
Grats Doze
Up next, some views of Marion Bolognesi:
Lets start with Judy. This piece sets the overall stylistic introduction for Marions work that I am showing here. I particularly like it because of the color usage. And I am always fond of interesting uses of negative space. And eyes happen to be one of my favorite subjects. Its amazing how much emotion you can convey with so little of the face.
This is an amazing piece. I especially like the placement of the cross - it reminds me a lot of Catholicism, and Ash Wednesday. And I think that the choice of Red for the Cross is particularly astute. Especially with the bleeding feel of the color coming down the face and canvas.
There is something magically enticing about this piece. In my mind, it eviscerates the idea of The Phantom of the Opera from way back in my memories. There is something inherently intriguing about the use of faces and masks and skulls and demony little shapes, when combined with Marions signature style.
Next up, Jason Rudolph Pena:
Penas caricature style is wonderful. Not too exaggerated, not too understated. Not too imbalanced in the areas that he stylizes. I am including this particular piece becauses its fun - it makes me think of Brownamazon from the pictures posted in Brown Glamazon. :)
I adore this piece. Minimal color pallete. Focus on the eyes. Big lips. And he even includes some delicious hair. The accent of the red spots is fabulous, and makes me wonder "Why are the spots there? What is the story?"
It also happens to remind me of someone I dated. :/
My big problem with Pena isnt his art. Its the fact that he chose to watermark all of his images right in the middle of the piece. Thats a pretty pompous thing to do. Grrr. I understand the desire to minimize ripping off things. But there are a lot of talented, acclaimed artists out there who dont watermark their images in the middle. Its very tacky and suspicious behavior. Big THUMBS DOWN. Get over yourself, jerkface.
However, Pena did somewhat make up for it by sharing this cool video of the process:
And Finally ... a Super Bonus! One of the artists mentioned musical influences. Since I happen to own the album (and adore it), I will share a particularly compelling piece from it too:
Here is some electronicky type stuff that I want. In no particular order.
I think a 9x12 would work. Although Im not sure. With all the extra plastic on the edge, might as well get a 12x19 and have less wasted space. Have wanted to mess with a tablet for years and years and years.
Sony TV for Living Room and Sony TV for Bedroom
and
Dont really need either. I get by on my ghetto TV setup. A stupid tube in the living room. And then hauling my 20" monitor from my compy to my bedroom to watch movies. But both of these would be nice some day.
Im not sure that I want the d80 definitely. Something in that class of digital cameras though. I already have a point and shoot. But I would like to kick up the photographic possibilities a notch.
A Digital Piano / Midi Controller
Sure, the CP300 is a much better setup. And the p70 is about as bare bones as you can get. But I dont really know how to play piano. So I dont think I could personally justify the $2k price tag on the 300. But the $600 tag on the 30 is much more reasonable.
Be nice to have the midi control so that I can experiment with a lot of extra instrumentation.
Ya. So thats about $5k worth of stuff right there. Heh. However, I think it would all last me a very long time. But ... Im probably just gonna have to wait to start buying any of this stuff. For a little bit at least. But I have already been waiting so long. Its not that big of a deal anymore.
Im not a *huge* fan of abstract art. Mostly because it is too ... well... abstract.
I generally like art that is at most, only slightly abstract. It doesnt have to be photorealistic. In fact, a good comprehensive style goes a long way for me. (aka - construct a believable and consistent world for me, and I will probably forgive anything you dont do *realistically*).
But occasionally, extra abstraction lights up my brainwaves.
Here is an example or two.
From Reed Danziger:
One of the things I like about #10 is that it really does give me the sense of an explosion. Of particles. Of some random in the organized method of things.
The best part about #13 is how it clearly shows the raw *power* of selective color useage. Since so much of it is based in greyscale, the blue undertone in all 3 middle bursts is intensely pronounced. And the subtle gradient across patters leads into the deep red at the bottom very nicely. Your eye gets there and wonders why this section didnt just *jump* out at you. And you become novelly confused as you amble back into the rest of the piece. Its very ... good use of eye movement. Amazing.
And something a bit more obscure...
Dennis Brady from Brady Fractals :
Fractals are amazing. They have always intrgued me to no end, due to their inherent mathmatical and artistic nature. Being interested in both growing up, made me fall instantly in love with fractals from the first time I saw them. There is something so ... je ne sais quoi about it all.
But even better was the story behind Dennis Brady's work.
I met him and chatted with him at a local show in the University District. He was quite a nice conversational fellow. And I asked him some questions about his stuff.
He lit up like a fiery sky when he talked about it. You could hear how passionate he was about math. And you could *feel* his discovery about how he found fractals to be the missing link betwen his beloved math world, and the artist inside of him that coveted the act of creation. The way he spoke about it all just mesmerized me.
His work is not pure fractals. He actually generates a lot of the fractal patterns with formulas. Then he puts the generated output together in a photoshop-like program. This is where his art side gets to speak. He layers, edits, tweaks, and speaks through a mashed up language of fractals.
I love it.
This is also why I own Little Red Feet and Snowy Ridge.
But it was so hard to choose those over some of the others shown here.
Hope you enjoy. And if you do, stop by the websites and show the artists some lovin :)
I like to celebrate things that I find beautiful. Or inspiring.
And I definitely like to put the word out there about artists. So lets combine the two, yet again!
First. A piece by Jeff Soto:
I saw this piece first. So I had to check out his other stuff. It turns out, that I wasnt really compelled by anything else he has done. But this one *really* spoke to me. Ya, sometimes I am hit and miss with a given artist.
Second, some work from Alex Pardee :
I really enjoy some of the fluidity of Pardee's work. And he envisions colorful and psychotic environments to tease your eye. Biggest problem? His website sucks for navigation. The thumbnails are too small to really tell what picture they are referring to. And the fullsizes are too big. He needs to redesign (as do many other artists). Its a pain.
Next up, Kurt Halsey:
I am enthralled with his simplification and style. How well he conveys emotion and circumstance, with so little. And I am in love with Kissing Snippet. It amazes me.
I will note, that these are not the official titles of the pieces. I didnt see any titles. And Kissing Snippet is actually just part of some larger scrapbook type image.
Finally. Lets look at Gabriel Moreno:
His is all digital work. But still, the detail and layering and complication of the pieces is just amazing. I happen to really enjoy his style. One of my favorite aspects of all of this work is the enjoyment I find in the use of Blank Space. And his selective use of color. Very cool.
My favorite of his is probably Hard & Happy. But I love them all for different reasons.
One of the things that I have noticed about art that really gets me going, is that it has a certain set of stylistic elements. And in general, it is very different from much of what I do. However, I feel like I aspire to have more of the qualities found in the works that I enjoy.
One of the biggest things that I would like more of is the fluid style of curves and shapes that are seen in a lot of the work I like. I definitely want to work more with negative space. I would also like to really look into the "Deconstructivist Materials" feel to a lot of these artists.
Something to work for, I guess.
:) Art is good.
Here is my latest creation:
One day I will figure out how to light art pieces correctly, and then I wont have extra yellow tones in my stuff. Here, it unpinks a lot of her face, and skews some of the other colors too. Hopefully, you will get the gist of the piece anyway. (Sorry)
Enjoy!
There is *something* about the chemicals in my skin (oils, acids, pheromones). Something a bit .. different. Always has been. And whatever it is, there are definitely pros and cons. Mostly feedback and interpretation, from across the years, to follow here...
The pros:
- Usually have a very attractive scent to the opposite sex. (sometimes even straight dudes comment)
- Usually liked by dogs and cats
- Can blend art materials with my hands like nobody's business. Seriously.
- Even when callused, my skin is fairly soft.
The cons:
- Certain pigments in clothes do not get along with my chemicals.
- Sometimes *overly* liked by dogs and cats
- Can blend art materials with my hands like nobody's business.
- Put a stamp on me, and that sucker *isnt* going away for awhile (usually at least 3-4 days of showering)
- Guitar strings do not superficially last long with me.
- I cannot become a thief.
This is on my mind because I am *trying* to finally finish this marker piece I am working on. But I have to take it super slow because any time I touch it, a bit of it comes off on my hands. (this is *not* just because I am a messy-magnet artist) Since I am in the finalized detail stage, I dont really wanna mess up anything.
So, between having to learn How to *technically* draw, and how to *technically* use any medium; I also have to learn proper ordering for the piece so that it works well with my "handicap".
And right now it means work for about 10 minutes, and then put away for about 24 hours. Yep, that is basically Line-Line-Line Done.
Meh.
Im looking for some makeup supply help here.
I dont know the official name of it. But I would call it something like "Spongey Tipped Brush Type Thinger for Eye Shadowing". Does that make sense at all?
I went to Fred Meyer (please do not kill me, I know this isnt a place to buy makeup). And I spent at least 20 minutes looking for one of these things. They were in uber packs with brushes. They were in packs with eye shadow. But it took me forever to find any standalones. I got something called an "Eye Line Smudger" and a "Replacement Shadow Applicator" (former for brushlike part, latter for spoungey head part). But I am sure there has to be better options out there.
It doesnt *have* to be top quality Mac type stuff.
Got any ideas as to the *best* place to find a nice selection?
Basically, I am using this for an art project I am working on. Blending sticks are too rough. My finger isnt precise enough. And blending markers put too much of the blending medium on the surface. So I was hoping to take said spongey thing, put some of the blending solution on it, and work in the markering with some precision. Brushlike handle really help because it feels more natural and controllable.
They used to have stuff like this at the Art Supply stores I go to. But apparently they are no longer carrying these items. So I gots to get creative about the solution.
If you can give any input, I would really appreciate it. And so would all the stay-at-home moms who were staring at the impish guy perusing all up and down the makeup section, looking quizzicalled.
Thanks in advance!
Last Saturday.
Im getting on 520 to return to Seattle. In my mind pops a powerful image by Shepard Fairey. Moments later my car syncs with my mental engine.
Im in 3rd gear, 6000rpms @ 70mph. Gaining.
I pass people as I make the transition across to the left lane.
Shift with force in 4th, to the pulse of the music.
80.
85.
90.
95.
And here is when my mind composed a post.
It was simply entitled:
Rebel and Rise Above!: The American Youth Should Be Fucking Pissed.
Ya. Take it from there. Thats how I felt.
And as far as Im concerned, the music and the art are lovers to be.
Since I dutifully forgot to give props a while back when I found him ...
This piece by Mako Katsuta has been my desktop background for about a year now:
I have always had a fascination with what artists can do with black and white. And women - always women. My favorite subject matter :)
Dear Juxtapose -
Have I told you lately, how I <3 U?
You are the only magazine for me. Just seeing you in the store makes me melt.
Thanks for being you.
- Me
Art Art Art ... people!
Since I am taking a break from the day, I am going to send a Saturday shout out to newly found art that I am totally digging.
First up: Joshua Petker
Its jarring. Its attractive. Slightly disturbing. And yet you still look at her face and want to know her story. The expression begs me to talk to Bloody Mary. What is going on in there?!
I must know.
Second: Ian Francis
I am totally digging this guy's subject work. And his delivery. This piece specifically spoke to me, and I *needed* to share. Mostly because it instantly took my mind's breath away. And pulled me in an all too familiar direction. Basically, it goes like this:
Alternative todays - if it coulda been. Hopeful tomorrows, when they will be.
Remember when I said that the universe would simultaneously implode and explode? Yes, it would look like this. Wild see of colors. Rambunctuous do of things.
The death star collapses, and we watch. Thinking and connecting the tiniest dots of the minds that only two peas can pod out. Wait. What? Oh yes ... it is *all* fantabulous.
Put away your worries in purple.
Yup. Love it.
Third: Gregory Euclide
*swoon*
This guy could possibly be my new favorite artist whose subject isnt women or music. I love all of his work - but this was the first that I saw. I cant even elaborate further than the fact that
I am drooling.
