yawn. sometimes you just feel like taking it easy. I’m working on building up my physical strength again after the winter and it’s taking a lot out of me. but I’m glad to be doing the work - it will be worth it, especially if I can paint longer!!
Archive for September, 2007
27
Sep
Slog
Bush 2007 by Jonathan Yeo (c)
The Bush Library in America commissioned Jonathan Yeo (British portraitist, very establishment, surprisingly impish face) to do George Junior, then backed out. In umbrage, Yeo then did the portrait anyway, fashioning the face of the Potus from a collage of porn mags.Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - art: Yeo’s portrait of Bush has no meaning:
This portrait is stunning, seen from afar it is new and edgy while maintaining excellent likeness and emotion. but I have to agree with the author of this article in saying Why?Why not make a political message, why not use this outstanding talent to make am key point about the administration? a stunning collaged portrait is an opportunity to examine and undermine key issues behind the subject. surely oilfields, or prisoners of war, battle incursions, bombed cities even images of Weapons of Mass Destruction or the Twin Towers or political enemies - parts that have gone into creating the Bush we all know and ****.I think that the use of Porn in this case is just a joke on bush, but for such a high profile subject and artist it strikes me that this could have been an opportunity to create an important historical artwork, a comment on the Bush administration and everything that has gone into it to be seen by future generations- a chance to educate and to do something important with an artform rather than just giving the finger to the establishment.
20
Sep
Weight Obsession
Reflection
by JennieNo this is not yet another rant about my figure and EDs. I am obsessed at the moment with gravity and weight. the way weight shifts when you move, how it can betray intention and speak volumes about the person.
In martial arts, dance and gymnastics (to name a few) you can tell an impending movement based on the way a person steps, where they put their weight and their movement frequently depends on the precision of those few subtle things. one foot angled carelessly can throw off an entire routine and in extreme cases cause damage.
In art, the concept of weight can convey the motion of the figure even when they are frozen in time. Center of gravity lends figures a sense of realism, whether they are realistic or not they are more.. believable when they have a center of gravity and distributed weight. It’s something I really wish to focus on with my figures.
18
Sep
Frustrating!!
I am going through one of those down patches. all artists have them as far as I can tell, berating themselves and vilifying their work. I have so many ideas but I seem to be incapable of putting them down at the moment. yesterday was spent in my studio turning from one work to the next and pretty much destroying them - for some reason everything I did turned to crap. It’s a fact of life that we all have these days but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. coupled with the fact that I am still recovering from a very nasty winter and am sick again I feel like a complete waste of space.
Something about spring turns our minds to the future, love and bunnies and little chickens and all that crap. it’s a human condition and while I delight in the sun and the cherry blossoms I panic as I look back over the winter and realize how little I’ve done. I feel like I am working all the time, nonstop, but I am just running on the spot - getting nowhere. I’ve created few works that I actually like this year and while I have gained confidence and shown internationally, it isn’t something that I can point to - I wasn’t there so it doesn’t feel like it happened. I work best with a goal and right now I am foundering for a lack of direction.
17
Sep
website directions
Cocoon by Jennie
I am musing over my website. the latest version of iWeb has improved some of the key issues but has changed the gallery setup quite drastically so I find myself in a difficult place. I can continue with my original gallery setup with the .htaccess lightbox mod and switch to self managing my gallery again (rather than the very simple integration with iPhoto - yes I am lazy) or I can change to the new format which is more of an ajax type with a dynamic load and a slideshow format. this seems like a very small thing to consider, and normally it wouldn’t give me a moment’s doubt, but I am unable to integrate sales information links into the new gallery type. what I have been considering for the past few weeks is adding sales options below the images that have either originals or prints available. I have received a lot of requests for sales information integrated with my pages and am still torn on whether this is the direction I wish to travel in. on one hand it offers another potential income stream and different traffic options - on the other, it could piss off commercial galleries by looking too self managed.
So I put my questions to you dear readers - would you prefer to see sales options on my website gallery pages? or, do you think it is best to leave the sales info to my blog or to separate pages on my website?
Tags: art, art sales, art world, artist, selling art
Pleiades nude by (c) Andrew DeVries
Susan Loehn said her office had not received any complaints about the nudity and she did not anticipate prosecuting DeVries any time soon.
“I love that it’s in such a public place,” she said.
Geis said she considered the possible outcry before she arranged the exhibit and consulted the Northampton Arts Commission, a city board with appointed members. The commission was enthusiastic about the sculptures, but Geis ran it by the people at her hairdresser’s just in case.
“They said, ‘It’s great! You should go for it!’” she said.
The members of the Camner family, who were visiting from out of town, also gave the exhibit their endorsement yesterday. Lisa M. Camner, a graduate student at Princeton University, called the exhibit intriguing.
“It’s a very beautiful portrayal of human forms,” she said.
Her parents, Sharon and Robert Camner, said they don’t have much public art in Tacoma, Wash., where they reside. They didn’t think the nudity in the exhibit was off-putting.
Nude statues taken in stride- MassLive.com:
It’s so easy to focus on all of the restrictions about nudes, the controversies and the censorship. while the world’s view is getting narrower it’s a breath of fresh air to read about a public sculpture exhibition where absolutely no-one minded the nudes. The article is written with an almost disbelieving air. perhaps, like me, they are pleasantly surprised.
11
Sep
Adrift
I am feeling a bit adrift in my career at the moment. I think being stuck between two artistic seasons can be quite confusing to say the least. the US season is hotting up which is great, I have a lot of calls to respond to, I’m selling online, but I want to work on exhibiting.
Without a doubt my work is better accepted in the US. my sales are better and I am receiving gallery offers all from overseas. this is wonderful, but I am facing a situation where I create paintings for an exhibition then crate them up and send them out without being able to attend my own shows. Some of you know that I have received an offer for a solo at a commercial gallery in Montreal. I’m delighted and am trying to raise the funds to ship my works and hopefully to be able to attend, but with the issues with my pension I haven’t been able to make a start.
I would love it if I could add some focus here as well, networking is easier and being able to attend shows means I can build my collector base better- but something keeps holding me back from pushing in Australia. I don’t know what it is - maybe I am just afraid of talking face to face these days.
Nude Drawing by Hitler
This echoes an age-old conundrum from the world of art. Can you value work produced by someone whose private life and acts you find appalling? Do the proclivities of those responsible for artistic or intellectual works have to be taken into account in their appreciation?
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Can the art of a paedophile be celebrated?:
I don’t know the answer to this, it’s something I’ve pondered at length over the years. This article starts with the debate over whether to ban textbooks written by a paedophile and examine other controversial works by reprehensible artists. this is an eternal question in the arts, part of what we are drawn to is the mystique and danger of these renegade artists, but when is it too much? when does it step beyond mystique to horrifying - and does the art itself change with the knowledge of the depravities that artists or capable of?
it’s been said that one of the marks of genius is unnatural sex drives, I can’t help but think of this when I consider these cases. it isn’t an excuse but I do think it might be a ..symptom, I guess. I think there is something in creative drives that can cause an instability that can easily slip over. for some artists it’s merely a depression or frustration and for others it can lead to horrible acts, violence and even murder. again, this is not an excuse for the acts that many artists have committed over the years (Hirst’s for the love of God not withstanding). Hitler was actually an accomplished artist, and Caravaggio was an accomplished murderer. I try to divorce my feelings about the artist and their lives from the works. It’s very difficult sometimes (especially with Hirst), but I think individual works need to be taken on their own merits and not upon the artist’s. critically anyway, individually I do admit to a very unartistic squeamishness.
Tags: art, art news, art world, artist, hitler, paedophilia, philosophy, politics
05
Sep
Nimoy’s Nudes
Leonard Nimoy has created a stir yet again with his controversial nude photography. his exhibition the Shekhina Project created a stir in the Jewish community with female nudes draped in traditional Jewish clothing usually worn by men. His current project, the full body project, has lead to public ponderings on whether ‘Spock’ has a fetish, but Nimoy hopes to broaden people’s understanding and acceptance of their own bodies.
In an article with the New York Times, Nimoy goes into his own discovery and growing passion for the series as well as his concerns for women everywhere feeling that they have to conform to an image advocated by the media.
These women are not hiding beneath muumuus or waving from the bottom of the Grand Canyon à la Carnie Wilson in early Wilson Phillips videos. They are fleshy and proud, celebrating their girth, reveling in it. It is, Mr. Nimoy says, a direct response to the pressure women face to conform to a Size 2.Girth and Nudity, a Pictorial Mission - New York Times:
Leonard Nimoy is a surprising advocate for size acceptance and some are wondering if, by celebrating larger women he is encouraging the obesity problem. I personally think that we should embrace ourselves and be who we are, and not feel compelled to adhere to an unrealistic goal. I think Mr Nimoy’s new works present a very honest view of these larger women, they are neither softened nor sugar coated but each photo also celebrates each woman. what do you think?
Tags: art, art news, artist, nimoy, Nude, spock, star trek, women
Grace (detail) by Jennie
another in a long line of social arts marketing webpages, redbubble is based here in Australia with a simple design ethic and a great community feel. the site has options for different types of prints, cards and t-shirts - and while I may not turn my hand to designing t-shirts I will definitely buy some! the artwork is young, edgy and all of the artists seem to be very approachable and fun. this site has fantastic design and is a lot of fun to play with - I’ve wasted many hours on it already and already received some great feedback. oh, and today, for the first time my work is featured on the home page!
