mixedmedia's Art Appreciation Thread...NSFW, but in a beautiful way

[mixedmedia]

Oh, Bravo!! Lovely.

Thank you, little_tippler. I enjoyed that very much.

Those last two Richter abstracts are interesting...I'd love to see them close-up.

I wasn't that familiar with Munch's other works. Very evocative...I must look into him some more.

And Mucha *swoon*, I've always loved those.

Thank you so much for your contribution! Superb.

[albania]

I really like this thread. Lately I've been fascinated by this guy's work.

From wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdzis%C...Beksi%C5%84ski

Zdzisław Beksiński (24 February 1929 – 21 February 2005) was a renowned Polish painter, photographer, and fantasy artist.

He was born in the town of Sanok, in southern Poland. After studying architecture in Kraków, he returned to Sanok in 1955. Subsequent to this education, he spent several years as a construction site supervisor, which he hated. At that time, he became interested in artistic photography and photomontage, sculpture and painting. He made his sculptures of plaster, metal and wire. His photography had several themes that would also appear in his future paintings, presenting wrinkled faces, landscapes and objects with a very bumpy texture, which he attempted to emphasize (especially by manipulating lights and shadows). His photography also depicted disturbing images, such as a mutilated baby doll with its face torn off, portraits of people without faces or with their faces wrapped in bandages.

Later, he concentrated on painting. His first paintings were abstract art, but throughout the 1960s he made his surrealist inspirations more visible. In the 1970s, he entered what he himself called his "fantastic period", which lasted up to the late 1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created very disturbing images, showing a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic environment with very detailed scenes of death, decay, landscapes filled with skeletons, deformed figures and deserts. These paintings were quite detailed, painted with his trademark precision (particularly when it came to rough, bumpy surfaces). His highly-detailed drawings are often quite large, and may remind some of the works of Ernst Fuchs in their intricate, and nearly obsessive rendering. Despite the grim overtones, he claimed some of these paintings were misunderstood; in his opinion, they were rather optimistic or even humorous.

Some of his work is represented below (in no particular order) one can find more here http://www.gnosis.art.pl/iluminatorn..._beksinski.htm . I also I recommend his website it sets the perfect mood: http://www.beksinski.pl/

[mixedmedia]

I stumbled across this guy on the internet one day! Whoa! I was blown away...I saved a few of his I saw that day:







I love those 'skeleton trees.' Brilliant!

Thanks for contributing, albania!

[Tully Mars]

I know I'm going to get slammed for this- But for the most part I don't "get" art. Often I see paintings or sculptures and think "Umm, ok and this means?" Or "Um, what the hell is this suppose to be?"

Severals years ago I started seeing "Art saves lives" signs around my town in Oregon. My first thought was "I gotta meet this Art guy, he must really be special. Must be a doctor or fireman."

Ok, slam away.

[mixedmedia]

I won't slam you, babe.

Relationship to art is a very subjective thing. If you don't 'get it' then you just don't.

For my part, I relate to art the same way I do music and film. It's emotional and intimate and spiritual...all at once.

Plus, I am fascinated by artistic talent.

[little_tippler]

About the last painter shown here...wow. Surrealist with a dark edge. Very interesting.

About not getting art: surely some art provokes a reaction in you. Or are you totally indifferent to it?

"Getting" Art is something that can be developed. Hell most contemporary art has to be studied to be understood. Some of it is crap and some of it has interest. Some of it is entirely a concept and some of it is entirely related to visual form.

There are fascinating art works that merely want to make you think, even if it's about weird stuff. Get a reaction from you. Indifference is death to an artist, lol.

There are interesting art works that sadly can only be understood if you have read about the artists' intentions. I am not too fond of these though I like some.

I think an art work should be, to some degree, self-explanatory. It should elicit an emotion or small connection with the observer. And there should be some visual interest, at least to me. I don't mean it has to be beautiful, but at least it should be thought-provoking. Not that I'm saying everything else isn't art.

Nowadays, the flood gates of art have been opened in such a way that you can debate for hours on what is art, but the best way to reason it is to think, art is what artists do/make. Whatever is made with an intention to be art and then validated as such by an audience of also validated elements, is then going to be considered art, no matter what you or I think.

I think the best question I can ask someone who doesn't "get" art is, do you like art? Would you like to live without art in your life? That includes a lot of things in your life, if you think about it a little. I also would like to say, that you shouldn't be afraidto say what you think - it's not rocket science. Most art works don't have one set meaning, and if you don't get it then daft you. Not at all. It should be what you make it. It's there to hopefully make you think outside the box, to make your life a little more interesting.

You don't have to be knowledgeable about art to enjoy it or experience it. I will say though, that it can be very helpful if you take the time to learn a little about it - it only enriches the experience. As many people in the art world will tell you, taste is an acquired and ever-evolving thing. The more art I see and gain knowledge about, the better equipped I feel to understand new ideas in art. Of course, to me this is a necessity - I work in an art gallery, and am also an art graduate. To some it is not essential - life is made of such choices.

[mixedmedia]

Thank you, l_t.

I enjoyed reading that.

[jewels]

Originally Posted by Tully Mars

I know I'm going to get slammed for this- But for the most part I don't "get" art. Often I see paintings or sculptures and think "Umm, ok and this means?" Or "Um, what the hell is this suppose to be?"

You're trying too hard. It's all about what grabs you aesthetically and how or what it makes you feel. You don't have to like everything you see, but surely you've seen something that brought you pleasure, made you think or feel something?

[Tophat665]

Mucha, check. Escher, check. Nothing more to add.

[lotsofmagnets]

Originally Posted by Tully Mars

I know I'm going to get slammed for this- But for the most part I don't "get" art. Often I see paintings or sculptures and think "Umm, ok and this means?" Or "Um, what the hell is this suppose to be?"

Severals years ago I started seeing "Art saves lives" signs around my town in Oregon. My first thought was "I gotta meet this Art guy, he must really be special. Must be a doctor or fireman."

Ok, slam away.

do you listen to and enjoy music?

actually, for a large part i agree with your sentiment. just because the painter painted it, it doesn´t mean it´s amazing. i wandered through the tate modern a few months ago and there were a few brilliant pieces in a sea of what i thought was bullshit. i looked back through a few posts in this thread and from my own perspective the 1st page had a few good paintings in it but the last ones posted really do nothing for me. i´m more than a little tired of that whole "dark side" thing. i consider it little more than repetition. but that´s only my opinion. some of my faves are dali and warhol. and i´ll probably be considered a lightweight since i named 2 famous people. i´m not sure but i think this thread is only about painted art so i´ll keep it to that as there are a few photographers i do like as well. as we speak there is an oil portrait of myself being completed in ireland. i wonder if i´ll "get" it.

[mixedmedia]

I don't have a 'problem' with Dali and Warhol...but I certainly don't think they've earned the distinction of being 'unrepetitive.' The nature of an artist's vision is most often VERY repetitive.

I made it clear in the OP that ALL forms of artistic expression were acceptable. I am a photographer after all, I certainly enjoy an appreciation of the artful photograph.

This thread is not intended to put people on the defensive. Although, I find that art, and the appreciation of it, often does.

[lotsofmagnets]

that was my point. people feel or are made to feel that they are stupid when they don´t get art kind of like the joke with the ending that everyone but the victim knows. the post i was referring to seemed to think they were going to get jumped on and torn to pieces.

i like warhol as the epitome of repetition, hence the factory. the repetition was the art. i certinaly understand the whole dark art thing but my mind has put it in the "goth" category, i.e. kids who dress the same and act the same to be "different." the whole "tortured soul" thing doesn´t wash with me and the doom scenario to me is just a bit of a cheap shot aimed at looking like some sort of visionary. again, nothing more than my own opinion.

i´m digging and icelander, sigurður guðmundsson and i just looked around for a few of his photos, especially from situations but i had no luck. brilliant book and i picked it up for little more than a song

[mixedmedia]

Well, that was never my intention. I just wanted a thread that was like a 'virtual museum.' Where people could stop by and look and post something if they felt the urge.

Though, I do think you conflate your concept of the adolescent 'goth' movement with modern art and I think that's unfortunate.

I think it's best to approach a person's art with an open mind. It's when we relate our conception of another's vision with our own understanding that we so often miss the point.

[lotsofmagnets]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

Well, that was never my intention. I just wanted a thread that was like a 'virtual museum.' Where people could stop by and look and post something if they felt the urge.

i figured that. back to the art after this

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

Though, I do think you conflate your concept of the adolescent 'goth' movement with modern art and I think that's unfortunate.

i don´t think it´s unfortunate at all. obviously it´s only certain art i happen to make the connection with and i personally see the connection as valid and justified.

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

I think it's best to approach a person's art with an open mind. It's when we relate our conception of another's vision with our own understanding that we so often miss the point.

to truly approach something with an open mind wouldn´t you have to be a newborn baby? we are loaded with preconceptions from day one and they are not to box us in, in my opinion, but to equip us to deal with and interpret the world we live in. i don´t miss the point, i just don´t like certain types of art

but yes, back to the art....

[PlanG]

I quite like the following (not going to break copyright)..

http://www.ericjhellergallery.com/in...e=image;iid=66

http://www.ericjhellergallery.com/in...e=image;iid=70

http://www.ericjhellergallery.com/im...xponential.jpg




I particularly like photos of the natural world, geometric shapes and sciencey stuff (like Dark Side of the Moon's cover).

[mixedmedia]

Thank you for contributing PlanG.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7398949.stm

Lucian Freud has set a new world record...never know what to make about this kind of thing...but I think it's interesting...less interesting is that the interest in his art is probably due to the media attention given to his recent portraits of Kate Moss and Queen Elizabeth...I like the painting...can't say it's my favorite, though.

Freud work sets new world record
Benefits Supervisor Sleeping
Sue Tilley posed for Freud over a four-year period in the early 1990s

A life-sized Lucian Freud painting of a sleeping, naked woman has set a new world record price for a work by a living artist.

The 1995 portrait, titled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, sold for $33.6m (£17.2m) at Christie's in New York.

The previous record was held by Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart, which fetched $23.5m (£12.1m) last November.

The Freud work, sold at auction for the first time, shows Jobcentre supervisor Sue Tilley, now 51, asleep on a sofa.

Christie's described it as a "bold and imposing example of the stark power of Freud's realism".

Ms Tilley, nicknamed "Big Sue", was introduced to the painter, now 85, by the Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery.

She posed for Freud for four years in the early 1990s, and told BBC Radio 5 Live it was a strange feeling posing in the nude.

She said: "The first couple of times, I was a bit embarrassed but you get used to it. It's a bit weird to think that a picture of me could be worth so much money.

"You don't have to sit still the whole time. It's two or three days a week and you have breaks."

She added: "When we were painting it we didn't sit there going: 'I bet this'll be the biggest selling painting in the world'. It was just like one of his other pictures."

The previous auction record for a Freud painting was $19.3m (£9.9m), paid in November for his 1992 work IB and Her Husband.

[speshul-k]

Bravo to everyone on such a fantastic thread. Although I have been familiar with a large number of the artists being showcased here its always so wonderful to see new work and what other people appreciate too at the same time.

Thanks to Mixed for putting all of this together. Once I get some time I'll have to compile my own list.

Do you have any objections to digital art being displayed with traditional?

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by speshul-k

Bravo to everyone on such a fantastic thread. Although I have been familiar with a large number of the artists being showcased here its always so wonderful to see new work and what other people appreciate too at the same time.

Thanks to Mixed for putting all of this together. Once I get some time I'll have to compile my own list.

Do you have any objections to digital art being displayed with traditional?

None at all! Bring it on speshul-k.

[little_tippler]

This thread keeps calling to me...

I couldn't resist.

Some contemporary works I am fond of...

Daniel Rozin's Mirrors - To see the full effect, watch the video in the link



Trash Mirror

Jenny Holzer's work with signage and her truisms...this is from her series Protect me from what I want



Sarah Sze's site specific work...here are Corner Plot (in NYC) and "The Art of Losing"





Claire Morgan's beautiful and delicate work...these are Water on the Brain and Cleaving

[mixedmedia]

Haven't posted one of these in a while.

One of my favorite photographers and one who is a particular inspiration to me in my picture-taking is Eugene Atget (1856-1924). I've never known a lot about the man, other than he was one of the first 'journalistic' photographers and that he lived in France. I've always loved the immediacy of his photographs, though, and the seemingly ephemeral, unremarkable moments in time that he captured with his camera. They appear to me both hauntingly beautiful and strangely familiar - like I understand what he saw and why he stopped to take each photograph.

Here is a little bio on him from the Getty Museum website:

Eugène Atget never called himself a photographer; instead he preferred "author-producer." A private, almost reclusive man, Atget first tried his hand at painting and acting, then began to photograph vieux Paris (Old Paris) in 1898. He photographed in part to create "documents," as he called his photographs, of architecture and urban views, but he supported himself by selling these photographs to painters as studies. Atget carried a large-format view camera, an outdated, cumbersome outfit, through the streets and gardens of Paris, usually photographing around dawn; many of these areas--storefronts and public spaces in nineteenth-century Paris and Versailles--were demolished soon afterward to make way for rapid urbanization.

Though Atget was not well known during his lifetime, his visual record of a vanishing world has become an inspiration for twentieth-century photographers. American expatriate photographers Man Ray and Berenice Abbott rescued his work from obscurity just before his death. Abbott preserved his prints and negatives, and was the first person to publish and exhibit Atget's work outside of France. Many existing prints of Atget's images were, in fact, made by Abbott in the 1930s from his negatives.

And from AtgetPhotography.com:

The life and the intention of Eugene Atget are fundamentally unknown to us. A few documented facts and a handful of recollections and legends provide a scant outline of the man: He was born in Libourne, near Bordeaux, in 1857, and worked as a sailor during his youth; from the sea he turned to the stage, with no more than minor success; at forty he quit acting, and after a tentative experiment with painting Atget became a photographer, and began his true life's work.

Untill his death thirty years later he worked quietly at his calling. To a casual observer he might have seemed a typical commercial photographer of the day. He was not progressive, but worked patiently with techniques that were obsolescent when he adopted them, and very nearly anachronistic by the time of his death. He was little given to experiment in the conventional sense, and less to theorizing. He founded no movement and attracted no circle. He did however make photographs which for purity and intensity of vision have not been bettered.

Atget's work is unique on two levels. He was the maker of a great visual catalogue of the fruits of French culture, as it survived in and near Paris in the first quarter of this century. He was in addition a photographer of such authority and originality that his work remains a bench mark against which much of the most sophisticated contemporary photography measures itself. Other photographers had been concerned with describing specific facts (documentation), or with exploiting their indivisual sensibilities (self-expression). Atget enconpassed and transcended both approaches when he set himself the task of understanding and interpreting in visual terms a complex, ancient, and living tradition.

The pictures that he made in the service of this concept are seductively and deceptively simple, wholly poised, reticent, dense with experience, mysterious, and true.

Normally I would try to put these into chronological order, but Atget's vision was persistent enough that it really isn't necessary...
I put all the titles in small caps, because I am not familiar with the French language and don't want to screw anything up.


parc monceau, 1901-02


saules, 1919


femme de verries, 1922


entree des jardins, 1921


saint-cloud, 1924


saint-cloud, 1921


grand trianon, le temple de l'amour a travers les abres, 1923


verailles, cyparisse par flamen, 1902


fete du trone, 1924


boulvard de strasbourg, corsets, 1912


magasins du bon marche, 1926


boulevard saint-denis, 1926




versailles, femme et soldat, maison close, 1921


marchand de vin, 15 rue boyer, 1910


villa d'un chiffonnier, boulevard massena, 1910


remouleur, 1899


boulevard de bonne-nouvelle, 1926


le dome, boulevard montparnasse, 1925


cour de rouer, 1922


rue de ursins, 1923


avenue de segur, 1925


coin de la rue valette et pantheon, 1925


cour, 41 rue broca, 1912


au tambour, 63 quai de la tournelle, 1908




gargouille, cour de louvre, 1921


rue boutebrie, mars 1922


notre-dame, mars 1925


un coin du quai de la tournelle, 1910-11


notre-dame, 1920-21


un coin, rue de seine, 1924


pont-neuf, hiver, 1923


parc de st. cloud, 1906


shop, avenue de gobelins, 1925


rue du maure, 1923


ragpicker, 1899-1900


prostitute, paris, 1920




un coin du quai de la founelle, 5e arrondisement, 1910-11


cour, 28 rue bonaparte, 1910


joueur d’orgue (street musicians), 1899-1900

[greytone]

I really enjoy the watercolor paintings by Steve Hanks. He developed an allergy to oil based paint and somehow has learned to paint in layers with water based paints unlike anyone before him.
















He also does a great job painting children.








Here are some others.







His work always seems to give you a glimpse into a real minute in time for the subject.
-----Added 27/7/2008 at 07 : 03 : 39-----
I also like some of the realistic works by Wyland. He works in a variety of styles, from murals, to photography, to sculpture, to pen and ink.

Whale Flight is a giclee (photo on canvas with paint accents) that brings me right back to my favorite place on the planet (Maui).

[Manic_Skafe]

*Bump*

Awesome stuff in this thread.

JA One - XTC crew:

There isn't a day that passes in which I don't see this guys name. A true testament to what can be achieved when you throw caution to the wind, ingest a shitload of drugs and get creative. Seriously prolific.

JA trivia: He also starred as one of the bank robbers in Batman: The Dark Knight







Subway Window Etch:






From his fanclub:

[mixedmedia]

Fan-fucking-tastic!
I'm so glad that you posted these here, Skafe. Thank you!

And, greytone those paintings are lovely. I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge them earlier. Thank you for contributing!

little_tippler, I didn't notice that you had posted above me, doh! That photograph by Claire Morgan, the underwater one...do you know how she did that? It's really beautiful.

[little_tippler]

I think you mean the piece by Sarah Sze, above Claire Morgan's work...it's actually not an underwater shot at all. It's a hanging piece, and because it's behind glass, it looks like an underwater shot from this angle.

Have a look here, there are more shots and you can understand it better:

Sarah Sze - The Art of Losing

[Lewis]

Must be my all-time favourite thread on TFP! Thanks to everyone!

[mixedmedia]

That makes me really happy to hear you say that. I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

[fresnelly]

I came across this on Fark of all places: Portrait photo galleries by British Photographer Stephen Schofield.

I love how he is able to capture both beauty and the mundane without entirely reconciling them.

steve schofield – © 2007

[mixedmedia]

Very nice. I like those Trekkie portraits. They're kind of disarming.

Thanks for contributing, fresnelly!

[little_tippler]

Those works by Steve Hanks are awesome...can't believe it's watercolour!

I do believe we have not had Banksy yet in this thread...it's about time.

And other street art too.

Here goes:

Banksy















The next 3 were done recently in New Orleans:







More from Banksy:









And others:

Ash (French)



Dolk and Pøbel (Norwegian)









JR (French - recently had a show at the Tate Modern)

Favela Project in Rio





London



NYC based artists:

Swoon







WK Interact





Jaybo (Berlin)

[kramus]

Those Hanks watercolours are absolutely lovely.
I really liked your street art post, Little Tippler!

[mixedmedia]

fantastic, little_tippler!

Thanks for that incredible post.

[little_tippler]

Well, it's been a while since I gave this thread my attention but I think it's about time! I saw some great work by Annette Messager (French artist) in London and feel compelled to share.

This particular photo I took myself, on the sly (no pics were allowed). But I just couldn't resist, it was so amazing and intense. This work is entitled Casino. It was an installation using fabric, light and fans, which made the whole work come alive with flowing movement. The 'door' in the background led into another, inaccessible room, where there was also moving fabric and images...

this piece was made for the Venice Biennale and is one of several sections of Messager's re-interpretation of the Pinnocchio story.



I had trouble finding good photos of her work, sadly. Even so, here are some more in the show.

This piece was called inflate-deflate. It consisted of random body-like inflating-deflating fabric shapes, so there was movement too. To me, it made me think of disconnection, of fragility. I loved the work.





Here is Messager herself in the middle of one of her installations, called Dependence Independence. The work was sprinkled with photos of children pulling funny faces, interspersed with letters (forming words like jealousy, attention, promise, protection) made out of soft toy materials. All this was mixed in with long woolly threads falling from the ceiling.



This piece, called articulate, disarticulate, was made at the time of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis. It was heavy but very interesting. In it one could see soft-toy-like body and animal parts static or moving in varied ways, dragged, thrown, pulled.



This piece is called My Vows. I like how she's taken the tiny photos and made a large statement with it. In fact, this artist's use of simple, everyday materials and techniques for the most part, are part of her charm to me.



If you'd like to read a little about her work, here is Adrian Searle's take on the show I saw:
AdrianSearleinTheGuardian

[mixedmedia]

gee, i almost forgot about this thread...thank you, tippler, once again.

[thirdsun]

Franz Kline


Untitled - 1958


Cardinal - 1950


(Sorry, title unknown to me - 1950)

[seamaiden]

This is beautiful...I love it! I'd post some paintings I like if I could figure out how. Eventually, I'll get the hang of it.

[mixedmedia]

Thank you, seamaiden! I would love to have you join in.
(there is a post count max you have to meet to be able to post pics...can't remember what it is )

I was thinking about starting a new thread with thumbnails instead of all the large images, though, it's kind of unwieldy, you know? I will let you know when it is started, by then you should be able to post images.