Nature's not as kind as books: February 2011

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Asuka Ohsawa large drawings

Space Invaders (Panel #10), 2010. Gouache on paper.

Space Invaders (Panel #11), 2010. Gouache on paper.

Space Invaders (Panel #12), 2010. Gouache on paper.

http://richardhellergallery.com/dynamic/exhibit.asp?ExhibitID=87

The above panels make up one continuous picture. The artist recently had an exhibition of such large drawings at Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA - see link for more pics.

Toylike cuteness may be better at getting across social commentary. The precise rendering is more akin to commercial or technical illustration than to the art usually found in children's books. There's a nice balance between the menagerie of details and graphic boldness, especially of negative space. Neat stuff!

http://asukaohsawa.com/

Past and present works can be seen at the artist's website.

Nightmare of Little Red Riding Hood #1, 2008. Gouache on paper.

I must say, I do like the past works more, particularly from 2007 and 2008. But all in all, shows interesting possibilities, more perhaps than Roy Lichtenstein, Marcel Dzama, and Richard Scarry combined.

Furthermore, I like the hybridization of many things, from Chinese scroll painting to Japanese woodblock prints, from Pop Art to Superflat, from Charles Perrault to Hayao Miyazaki etc...

Gives me ideas for pictorial depictions of contemporized fables.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

art and letters

I'm not so keen on the Hannibal Lecter films, but in the second installment Hannibal (2001), I do like the segments of the letter to Clarice. It does get one thinking about the dying art of letters. Who writes letters on perhaps Amalfi stationery finished with a wax seal anymore, with calligraphy and personalized art?

(Incidentally, there's also a close connection between the historical Hannibal and Campania, where the Amalfi Coast is located.)

Of course, when it comes to art and letter writing, Vincent van Gogh is preeminent.

vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=nl

vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=161662&lang=en

There was an exhibition at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks (9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010).

vangoghmuseum.nl/download/VanGogh_bookedition_preview_EN.pdf

Available is the landmark six volumes of Vincent van Gogh - The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition (Thames & Hudson, 2009).

Many years ago, some letters of Édouard Manet with fanciful flourishes of watercolor sketches made quite an impression on me.

Another example, Victor Hugo. Btw, he was an accomplished visual artist.

aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/illustrated-letters

Consider getting this book, More Than Words: Illustrated Letters from The Smithsonian's Archives of American Art (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005) which was supplemented by an exhibition of the same name - see above link.

There are also a few books on the illustrated letters of artists and writers.

There are endless possibilities for artful letter writing, which can be formal or casual. The important thing is not to so quickly succumb to the predominant functionalism.

Otto Dix and Matthias Grünewald

Self-Portrait with Easel, 1926. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren.

leopoldhoeschmuseum.de/

One of my favorite artists, Otto Dix . He's usually categorized with German Expressionists, but there are many facets to his oeuvre. Surprisingly, he's still not widely known, nor is Neue Sachlichkeit, and perhaps he's less popular than Max Beckmann or George Grosz.

Dix was also targeted by the Nazis and in the exhibition 'Entartete Kunst.' Above exhibition photo shows War Cripples (1920), confiscated and later destroyed.

The Match Seller, 1920. Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

staatsgalerie.de/

Prague Street, 1920. Galerie der Stadt, Stuttgart.

kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/index.php?site=Home&lang=de

Skat Players, 1920. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie.

smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/home/index.php

The Salon, 1921. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Melancholie, 1930. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/index.php?site=Home&lang=de

Vanitas (Youth and Old Age), 1932. Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen.

zeppelin-museum.de/

The Seven Deadly Sins, 1933. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de/

Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Hugo Simons, 1925. Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal.

mbam.qc.ca/fr/index.html

Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden, 1926. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris.

centrepompidou.fr/

Dix excelled in portraiture, at once off-putting and compelling.

metmuseum.org/press_room/full_release.asp?prid={D5A637D5-70D5-408A-AC80-ED44F2D4B4CF}

In 2006-2007, many of Dix's works were in the exhibition 'Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s' at The Met.

There is an exhibition catalogue by the same name (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006).

neuegalerie.org/exhibitions/otto-dix

Last year, Neue Galerie in NYC had the first solo museum exhibition in North America of Dix's works.

neuegalerie.org/shops/Book%20Store/Exhibition%20Catalogues

I suggest getting the exhibition catalogue - Olaf Peters ed./Otto Dix (Prestel, 2010), available thru Neue Galerie's book store or elsewhere.

neuegalerie.org/shops/Book%20Store/Artist%20Monographs?page=2

Also available, Philipp Gutbrod/Otto Dix: The Art of Life (Hatje Cantz, 2010).

If possible, try to get this nice book, Eva Karcher/Dix (TASCHEN, 2002).

Fritz Löffler/Otto Dix: Life and Work (Holmes and Meyer, 1982) is an earlier monograph but one of the best, a very nice book. There's also Fritz Löffler/Otto Dix und der Krieg (Reclam, 1986) which is out of print.

There are other ok books on Otto Dix if ya wanna be completist.

War: Wounded Soldier (Autumn 1916, Bapaume), etching/aquatint/drypoint, 1924.

nga.gov.au/dix/

I've wondered if the cover for particularly issue #2 of Frank Miller's redefining classic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was inspired by Otto Dix. Above link to see more of Dix's Der Krieg series.

The Shootings of May Third 1808, 1814. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

museodelprado.es/

Street Fight, 1927. Destroyed.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes' Los Desastres de la Guerra was not the only inspiration for Dix.

Isenheim Alterpiece, 1512-1516. Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar/Unterlinden Museum, Colmar.

musee-unterlinden.com/isenheim-altarpiece.html

Cartoon for Metropolis, 1928. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Metropolis, 1928. Galerie der Stadt, Stuttgart.

kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/index.php?site=Home&lang=de

War Triptyph, 1929-1932. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden.

skd.museum/de/startseite/index.html

hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/10/monthly-stumblings-6-otto-dix/

In my opinion, Otto Dix is the most worthy heir of not only Goya but of Matthias Grünewald, modern or otherwise, and not only due to his triptychs. This isn't really the most original statement - see above link, not to mention Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective.

I would also recommend grabbing any book on Grünewald. Matthias Grünewald: The Drawings (Hatje Cantz, 2008) especially is on my wish list. It includes writing by the great art historian of the Northern Renaissance Max Friedländer (1867-1958).

Soon, I going to read W.G. Sebald's After Nature (Random House, 2002), part of it about Grünewald.

weimarart.blogspot.com/

And above, a pretty good informative blog on things Weimar.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Pere Borrell del Caso - Escaping Criticism

http://www.rosavilla.com/gallery_sidewalk.html

I chanced upon this pic online, a madonnaro copying Pere Borrell del Caso's 'Escaping Criticism' (1874).

Banco de Espana, Madrid/Bank of Spain, Madrid

The original.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Wendell Castle, furniture against function

Several years ago, at a museum exhibition, I chanced upon Wendell Castle's surrealist trompe l'oeil furniture from the 1970's and 1980's. I was instantly captivated. They're my favorite works by Castle if not some of the most original furniture ever crafted, so meticulous...and cunning. Why can't more "furniture" be like this?

Chair with Sport Coat, 1978.

Coat Rack with Trench Coat, 1978.

Table with Gloves and Keys, 1981.

Video with Wendell Castle's opinions on furniture and art.

Furniture by Wendell Castle (Hudson Hills Press, 1996) is available.

wendellcastle.com/

wendellcastlecollection.com/index.cfm/do/WCC.home_modern_designer_furniture

Above links for Wendell Castle's websites.

Cinderfella - the ball

Great scene from 'Cinderfella' (1960). And yeah, I think Jerry Lewis is a genius ).

Pablo Picasso is not an asshole

Nice clip from Henri-Georges Clouzot's 'The Mystery of Picasso' (1956), showing Picasso's process. I first watched it as a teenager, before I delved into automatism, and I've retained respect for Picasso's virtuosity. And no, your five year old sister can't do this.