Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2018 i Artists Magazine

The days of summer arrive like a love ballad, with an upbeat tempo symbolizing the quickening of life and the joy of existence. Much artistic expression—be it painting, music or dance—mimics nature’s rhythms to reawaken us to this wonder and beauty. In this issue we explore a range of artists and artistic movements and techniques that foreground this impulse to capture the essence of life’s sublime, ever-shifting harmonies. We learn about the avant-garde art happenings of the 1960s (page 52) and how action painter Jackson Pollock became famous using compositional techniques he picked up from figurative muralist Thomas Hart Benton (page 74). Contemporary painter Fran O’Neill picks up where Pollock left off with equally ambitious gestural works (page 58). Conversely, Jasper Johns built his early paintings with gesture-free encaustics and…

india has fascinated me for half a lifetime, and one recent summer, I journeyed across the globe to attend the legendary festival of Rathayatra, one of the most important events in the Hindu calendar. The largest Rathayatra celebration occurs in the city of Puri, located on India’s eastern coast in the state of Odisha, about 250 miles southwest of Kolkata. The trip posed significant challenges in the form of stifling heat and crushing crowds, but it was well worth any discomfort to see this unique celebration. Hindus account for roughly 80 percent of India’s population of more than 1.3 billion, and on the occasion of my visit, they all seemed to have thronged this normally sleepy town on the Bay of Bengal. The gist of the centuries-old ceremony is that…

any fine artist who is also a musician will attest that the worlds of painting and music share a wealth of commonalities. Two dialects of one language, these separate art forms have long influenced and borrowed from each other, and their interchangeable terminologies— composition, color, chromatic scale, tonality and rhythm, to name a few—reveal just how familial their connection is. Beyond theory-related terms, however, visual art and music also share the ability to convey mood, movement and emotion, thereby eliciting a strong visceral response from the viewer. What’s more, just as musicians and vocalists know when they’re in tune, so, too, can visual artists sense when they’ve hit a harmonious “chord,” and the composition and color sing. “If I could make musicians of you all, you would thereby profit as…

Imagery Improvisation 27 (right) features three iterations of two figures embracing, surrounded by serpentine shapes. Describe an image that holds a particularly emotional meaning for you. Music Does your image evoke a particular piece of music? Describe it here, then listen to it as you work. Let yourself respond to the sound. Rhythm Kandinsky painted Composition VI while chanting the word uberflut (“flood” or “deluge”), basing his strokes on the sound of the word. List some of your favorite words or phrases. Try repeating them and letting their sound, rather than meaning, influence the rhythm of your piece. VISUAL HARMONY In Concerning the Spiritual in Art , Kandinsky wrote that music is the best teacher of all the arts, due to the fact that it has…

When we see a trend developing, we say “it’s in the air,” as if ethereal influxes travel on the wind with the sole motive of inspiring a cultural response. Time seems to be the only missing ingredient needed to push the drift from outré to popular. As a rule, artists are the first to pick up on the underlying currents intent on shaping cultural production—a creative phenomenon evinced by cross-disciplinary stylistic movements throughout history. Fin de siècle Symbolists, for example, seduced by the sublime and omnipotent attributes of nature, produced a cadre of like-minded painters, poets, musicians and dramatists whose work addressed the anxieties of a populace fearful of a world whose social order was changing at an alarming rate. Among this group, the painter and draftsman Thomas Wilmer Dewing…

TANYA COOPER “ACTS OF ART” Tanya Cooper is an Australian illustrator with a love for bright colours, HB pencils, faux woodgrain and knitted cardigans. As someone who tends not to take life too seriously, Tanya brings a lighthearted approach to her work, trying to inject a bit of fun and wit wherever possible. To see more of her work, visit tanyacooper.net. C.J. KENT BUSINESS OF ART: “A SITE BETTER” C.J. Kent came to love art while sitting in her aunt’s watercolor studio in the wilds of Nevada, which led to her work with artists from New Mexico to New York. Raised abroad but now settled in New York City, she received a Ph.D. at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She writes about art, literature, business…

“William Bouguereau [1825–1905]. His technique is perfect, but tastes have changed, and his subject matter is a lightning rod for controversy and is considered saccharine. In our culture, any artist who goes too quickly for beauty, painting an idealized view of the human figure, would be seen as inauthentic.” JULIETTE ARISTIDES ARTIST “NORMAN ROCKWELL [1894–1978]. I THINK PEOPLE OVERLOOK THE SOCIAL NARRATIVES AND DEEPER MEANING IN HIS WORK DUE TO THE CONFINES OF HIS PROFESSION AS AN ILLUSTRATOR.” MARIO ROBINSON ARTIST “Andrew Wyeth.” WENDY SHALEN ARTIST “Andrew Wyeth [1917–2009]. When his series ‘The Helga Pictures’ was exhibited in 1987, there was an enormous amount of publicity surrounding the relationship between the artist and the model. I found it ironic that many writers and critics in the art world criticized the…

Don’t Stop at One Use two or more identical brushes when painting. They’ll let you continue your work with the same types of brushstrokes. Also, you won’t have to rinse your brush every time you change colors—and your color mixtures will stay pure on the brush. Eye Catcher Losing a favorite brush is the worst! If you paint outdoors, pack brushes with bright handles or wrap the ends in neon tape so that you can see them easily and from afar. Shower Buddy Skip the shampoo—but you can definitely use hair conditioner every once in a while on your natural-bristle brushes if they feel dry and brittle. Just rinse well. Go natural with your brush cleaner. Homemade Brush Cleaner Looking for alternatives to cleaning solvents? Use this mixture of household…

1 In The Kiss, Gustav Klimt painted the faces and bodies of the figures representationally, but the robes and floral field are abstract. Create an artwork that combines representational and abstract elements. 2 Depict a series of faces. Make the first face realistic, but try different abstraction techniques with the subsequent faces. Experiment with shapes, colors, perspective and the arrangement of features. 3 Translate a piece of music into a painting. Do this with color, line, form or other design elements—but don't include objects, people or musical notation. 4 Now try depicting a scent or flavor. Again, avoid representational elements. 5 An expressionistic style conveys emotions or subjective responses rather than objective reality. Choose a subject—such as an event, a person or a scene—and depict your feelings about that subject…

The park ranger on Governors Island was understandably confused when a few dozen of us, all complete strangers, approached her for a high five with no apparent prompting or coordination—only a voice in our headphones that she couldn’t hear. She slapped back, smiling. The applause began as soon as our dance in the store was done. None of the customers seemed to be in on the game, as we had been instructed to pick up an article of clothing, take it for a little waltz through the store as though we were at a dance, and then put it back. Once again, a voice in our ears had told us to do it. Such voice-in-the-head episodes might very well belong in a sequel to the movie A Beautiful Mind or…

AT FIRST GLANCE, Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) and Jackson Pollock (1912–56) make an odd pair. Benton, the sophisticated son of a U.S. congressman from Missouri, attended private schools and spent his young adulthood wearing black capes while studying art in Paris. Pollock, the poor son of an alcoholic drifter, never graduated from high school and worked at a road camp before heading to New York to become an artist. Benton became famous in the 1930s for his paintings of ordinary American life—and he once dismissed Pollock’s “paint-spilling innovations” as “absurdities.” Pollock was the chief figure of the modernist movement Abstract Expressionism—and he once disparaged the work of Benton by saying “he had come face-to-face with Michelangelo and lost.” Yet the bond of friendship between these two men not only deepened their…

California AESTHETICS OF HIP-HOP OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA 510-318-8400 • MUSEUMCA.ORG THROUGH AUGUST 12 More than just a genre of music, hip-hop is often conceived of as a way of life. “Respect: Hip-Hop Style & Wisdom” examines hip-hop’s far-reaching influence. The exhibition includes photography, video installations, dance and fashion in order to explore the ways in which the social movement facilitates activism, entrepreneurship and self-expression. With help and participation from numerous members of the hip-hop community, “Respect” offers a fresh take on the evolution of a global movement, with a particular focus on the influences of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area on hip-hop culture. Colorado JEFFREY GIBSON: LIKE A HAMMER DENVER ART MUSEUM COLORADO • 720-865-5000 DENVERARTMUSEUM.ORG THROUGH AUGUST 12 “Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer,” at the Denver…

Quilted Meditations BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART • BALTIMORE • ARTBMA.ORG THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2 A series of thought-provoking and visually enrapturing quilts can currently be seen in “Stephen Towns: Rumination and a Reckoning” at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Towns’ quilts explore American history, seeking especially to portray the stories and perspectives of women and people of color and to confront and understand slavery and its legacy. Sewn from lush, deeply colorful textiles, the quilts draw us into a unique world rooted in historical realities yet suggestive of dreams or distant remembrances. Cecilia Wichmann, the exhibition’s curator, says that Towns’ quilts “propose an alternative mode for narrating the complexities of American history—one that is at once more cosmic and infinitely more humane.” The centerpiece of the exhibition is Birth of a…

LEARNING, LIKE MAKING ART, is challenging and requires our full concentration. Unfortunately, life’s endless distractions have a tendency to pull us away from the creative work that we love. When this happens, workshops and other classes offering intensive, focused learning can be invaluable. In these settings, you learn your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. You also receive close guidance from knowledgeable instructors, and you get to exchange ideas with fellow students. For all these reasons, we encourage you to consider the following workshops and educational opportunities. You’ll come away a new you—an artist who is more committed and engaged with the creative journey. Workshops ALABAMA Huntsville Museum of Art 8/16-8/18/18, HUNTSVILLE. Keith Andry, Strong Design & Bold Strokes in Watercolor. 10/18-10/21/18, HUNTSVILLE. David Shevlino, Alla Prima Clothed Figure & Portrait…

the relationship between music and art is a long and storied one—the two disciplines have influenced each other in ways obvious and subtle for more than a century. Painters such as Wassily Kandinsky sought to emulate music’s effortless evocation of subtle, almost unnameable emotions, resulting in a new, totally abstract form of painting. Ready to break the silence in your studio? We’ve got you covered. Need a thought-provoking melody to help you come up with your next idea? How about an energetic tune to keep you focused—or something peaceful for sitting back and admiring your work? Assemble the perfect studio playlist from our suggestions below, many of them offered by our readers on Facebook. MEDITATIVE MELODIES Cultivate focus and plan your project. Sugar Water by Cibo Matto (suggested by Kate…

“All art constantly aspires to the condition of music” —Walter Pater My compositional process is to make a mark (a movement or gesture in paint), then to look and respond with another colorful movement. At some point, this rhythm of working picks up to a pace that feels automatic, spontaneous and intuitive. This “flow” is the state I seek while painting—and hope to share in some way with the viewer. MOLLY HERMAN earned her B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, and her M.F.A. from the School of Visual Art, in Manhattan. She’s a professor of painting and color theory at Parsons School of Design, also in Manhattan, where she has taught since 2000. Herman has exhibited her paintings in numerous national and international venues. Amy Simon Fine Art, in…

Jasper Johns (1930–) is one of the most challenging, influential and original artists of his generation. This spring, the Broad Museum, in Los Angeles, gathers together works from all the phases of his career for the major exhibition “Something Resembling Truth.” It provides a unique opportunity to consider the entire range of the artist’s achievements, from his Pop-era icons of targets and flags to his later, more introspective autobiographical paintings. Johns began his career with a resounding splash when his 1958 New York debut at the Leo Castelli Gallery catapulted him to the fore of the American art scene. The show sold out, with several of the paintings going to the Museum of Modern Art. The following year Time magazine would hail him as “the brand-new darling of the art…