Blu is a so called “street artist” who lives in Bologna, Italy. He goes by the nickname of Blu to conceal his true identity so there is not alot of information about his personal life, but he started painting in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy and started doing his street art in 1999. his work has been referred to as “epic scale murals” for they cover the entire sides of buildings. He uses cranes, ladders, and long extended paint brushes so he can reach the farthest parts of the wall. (as seen in this video)
In his art work he shows images of people or landscapes that represent troubling times in the past, like the Holocaust, Civil war, or any worldly misfortunes, but he puts them in a welcoming manner to where it wont frighten the viewer. like in This painting it represents a current struggle in Chile where big companies are building a dam named HidroAysén which threatens to destroy the Pascua and Baker Rivers and no one is doing anything about it.
Since his projects are so huge and take so much time to make he likes to make time lapse videos of his projects like this one (i think this is amazing)
Another thing he does with his art work is that he likes to make them interact with the environment around them and sometimes are a piece of the artwork (below)
Alot of his pieces are very intricate with alot of detail and you have to zoom in just to see it. which to me make the pieces of art more special because you have to stop and look at it for a while to enjoy the piece.
Other pieces:
I like all of his art work because it looks like he put alot of time and effort into the making of these megalithic paintings and they all have meaning and express these meanings very well.
Piero Manzoni was born on 13 July 1933 in Soncino, (a village in the Po Valley of Cremona).
Growing up in Milan, he spent most of his summer days at Albisola Capo (a seaside resort on the Liguria Riviera), where he and his parents would meet up with Lucio Fontana, the founder of the Spatialism avant-garde movement.
Making his debut in 1956 at the “Fiera Mercato” in the Castello Sforzesco of Soncino. The next year he went on to take part in the exposition “Movimento Arte Nucleare” at the Galleria San Fedele, Milan. in this point in time his works were…
anthropomorphic silhouettes
and canvases bearing imprints of ordinary everyday objects.
In 1958 Piero Manzoni exposed with Lucio Fontana, and Enrico Baj, the founder of the Nuclear Art. All in the same year he had begun the collaboration with two young artists, Enrico Castellani and Agostino Bonalumi. In 1959 they edited the first issue of “Azimuth”, an avant-garde magazine, and founded the art gallery Azimut, Which was run by Castellani and Piero
As time past Manzoni’s way of working became more radical. His mature works explored the possibilities and limitations of the painted surface.
Lines: single line drawings done on paper, sealed in a cardboard tube, and then signed by Manzoni
Bodies of Air: Balloon holds Manzoni’s breath
Sculpture Eggs: a simple egg signed by Manzoni’s fingerprint
Magic Bases: Pedestals people would stand on and become part of the art
But his most shocking gesture was still to come, he put up ninety cans of “Artist’s Shit” for sale for their weight in gold. Each with the net weight of thirty grams
Piero Manzoni passed away due to a fatal infection on February 6th 1963, in Milan.
I was more than just a little intrigued: “Was I promenading through a Greco-Roman gallery of marble masterpieces or perusing an ancient Chinese art studio? At the Klein Sun Gallery in the heart of New York’s Chelsea Art District, I was introduced for the first time to the flexible paper sculptures of Chinese artist Li Hongbo who utilized ancient Chinese innovations to recreate famous Western art forms. According to the press release from the Klein Sun Gallery that advertised Mr. Hongbo’s first solo U.S. exhibition from January 9 through March 22, 2014 called Tools of Study, “Li Hongbo invites viewers to experience paper and sculpture in a revolutionary and insightful new way.” I might say, If ever I wanted to touch an art exhibit, this would have been it!
Wooden Cube 1, 2012Dream, 2012
Along with other art students from Cleveland State, Mr. McLeod, and Amy Fowler, I visited the Klein Sun Gallery during Spring Break of this year. It is not surprising that this gallery would host Li Hongbo’s U.S. premier. The Klein Sun Gallery was founded by Eli Klein in 2007 and specializes in Chinese contemporary art. Their aim is to bring the “vision” of Chinese artists to the global community. This is so compatible with Li Hongbo’s philosophy of art. Some of the replicas that the artist has made are of Athena, Michelangelo and Michelangelo’s David, Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and simply “A Roman Youth.” Mr. Hongbo explained that his philosophy concerns the “fixed understanding” that people have “of what a human is. So when you transform a person, people will reconsider the nature of objects and the motivation behind the creation.” Furthermore, the artist explains: “I have given myself a rule that my work will not include religious or political themes. I have no interest in participating in typical political symbolism and brash social satire.”
Stone, 2012
Skull, 2012
Li Hongbo was born in 1974 in Jilin, China. He lives and works in Beijing, China. He holds Masters degrees in both folk and experimental art. He has worked as a book publisher, editor, and as an expert in ancient and rare books. He has spent six years compiling a book collection of more than 1,000 years of Buddhist art. He was the son of Chinese farmers, and as a boy was always intrigued by paper, which had been invented by the ancient Chinese. Chinese paper toys and lanterns truly fascinated him. Once, when the artist took apart a ‘honeysuckle’ designed party festoon or “party gourd,” he envisioned the unlimited, dynamic intricacies of paper. Then, when the sculptor was in art school, he was required to recreate the world’s masterpieces in detail. In his Klein Sun Gallery Expo he references the generic tools of art students, but the identity of man, all while giving a literal “twist” to his love of paper and the art of detail. Eli Klein calls him “the perfect paper storm.”
Each sculpted bust is made of 7,000 to 8,000 sheets of paper and weighs around 20 or 30 pounds. For the Tools of Study exhibition, he used white paper to appear as marble, pasted narrow strips together with glue into a block structure to a desired height, then cut, chiseled, and sanded each block into a sculpture that surprisingly expands like an accordion or a “slinky.” For some previous exhibitions, such as his first ever solo exhibition in Hong Kong entitled Self and for All Our Relations in Sydney, Australia, he used brown paper and paints to resemble wood. Also, in a group exhibition of twenty Chinese artists entitled Hot Pot in Brattleboro, Vermont, Mr. Hongbo’s brown “Cultured Man” weighed 150 pounds, was wrapped like a mummy, and was transported in a sarcophagus. How I would have loved to have attended the exhibition in Sydney! Li Hongbo actually crafted smaller statues so that visitors could literally touch the exhibits, stretch the paper, and return the statues to their original poses after “playing” with them.
Wood, 2012Girls, 2011
At this time, every sculpture in the Tools exhibition has been sold, ranging in price from $10,000 to $48,000. Currently, museum curators are handling personal orders for Li Hongbo that start at $60,000. This fall, Hongbo’s work is scheduled to be shown at the Dennos Museum in Michigan.
Boris Vallejo was born on January 8, 1941 in Peru, and immigrated to the United States in 1964. He is married to Julie Bell and has two children from his previous marriage to Doris Vallejo, as well as two step-sons. Julie Bell, and his step-sons, Anthony Palumbo and David Palumbo are all painters. His daughter, Maya Vallejo is a professional photographer, and his ex-wife, Doris Vallejo is an artist and a writer.
Vallejo works mostly in the Science Fiction and Erotica genres, painting them almost exclusively. He began painting at only thirteen and gained his first job as an illustrator at sixteen. After his immigration he soon gained fans from his illustrations of Tarzan:
Conan the Barbarian:
Doc Savage:
and several other fantasy characters, which led to commissions for movie posters, advertisements and artwork for many collectibles, including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards, and sculpture.
Vallejo paints a lot of erotic pictures, often using Julie Bell for a model, though he is known for using female body builders as well.
His paintings are always full of life and color, unlike most fantasy artists. Not only is he a master of his art, but he has touched both ends of the science fiction spectrum. From heroic barbarian warriors, to beautiful landscapes, and strange alien beasts he has done it all.
His preferred medium is oil paints, however he has done several graphite and pen drawings, as well.
Even in black and white his drawings come to life.
Despite his astounding paintings and magnificent drawings, Vallejo can be considered a jack of all trades, as he is also an accomplished violin player. He began playing as a child, but put this passion aside for a long time. After really getting his foot in the door with several illustration companies he began to play again and enjoys it to this day.
The first time I remember becoming completely interested in Egyptian art was in my fifth grade social studies class. We learned about art that was found in the tombs of ancient rulers of one of the worlds greatest settlements. I remember there was a picture of the golden death mask of King Tut on the front of the book, but it would take at least half the year to get to that chapter. Of course, it was the first chapter that I read. As a child, I would get very excited about learning something new. As an adult, that thrill is hard to come by. Learning is still something that I actively seek out, but rarely comes with a sense of eagerness and thrill.
The Metropolitan Museum of art showcases a massive collection of Egyptian art and artifacts. I felt like that fifth grade kid again, peering through the glass at real life mummies and imagining myself in the midst of an ancient civilization. It brought back a childlike wonder that is so easily lost in the day to day monotony of adulthood.
The difference between peering into history as an adult, instead of through childlike wonderment, is the ability appreciate the work. As an adult, you know what it must have taken to achieve such amazing feats of human creation. To see tool marks from hand tools used to carve solid granite into the human form is awe inspiring. I also could not help but to think that these were people, with human fears and beliefs. They spent much of their lives physically preparing for their own death. They were very aware of the delicate nature of our own existence. I couldn’t help but suspect that they, as a culture, must have feared death very much to go through so much in preparation for the inevitable. They believed in their Gods and afterlife with their whole being, much like the radical beliefs that exist is all the great civilizations of our time. The ancient Egyptians probably never imagined that someone such as myself would be peering through a glass box at the carved image of a king, intended to carry his soul into the afterlife (something that was never intended to be disturbed), and wondering what their lives were really like. It makes me think about the people who will be one day peering into some unforeseen future museum wondering about our civilization. What will they think of us?
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Several studio art students and their families took a trip to Atlanta to see the new exhibition, “From Picasso to Warhol”. After the museum we also went to IKEA to see examples of good but affordable design.
From the museum website, “Get to know Picasso, Matisse, Warhol, and other legendary artists who redefined the very idea of art. With more than 100 world-famous works assembled exclusively for the High from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, this exhibition features fourteen twentieth-century artists, seen together for the first time in the southeast.”
The following is my response to Jackson Pollock’s Guggenheim application/interview.
While I find Pollock’s ideas innovative and interesting, I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. I think there are different types of artist, and art certainly has a different meaning for everyone.
I do agree with Pollock’s idea of modern art. I think that it can be said for his generation, and for today’s, that modern art is the “expression of contemporary aims”. Artist today have found new means of creating work that artist of the 50’s wouldn’t have imagined. People enjoy seeing new forms of art and many artist strive to find and create these forms.
One thing I disgree with Pollock on however is the idea that “modern” artist work from within. I realize that many artist at the time did freely express emotion without subject matter, but I think there were also artist from other cultures who did this. I think it’s a bit egotistical to suggest that other cultures only worked with “subject matter outside themselves”.
I like Pollock’s idea of “new needs needing new techniques” in art form, but I also think that older art forms are still quite beautiful, and should not be thrown away by newer generations. I think good artist draw from all art forms, not just necessarily the ones currently in style.
Pollock was an innovative and extremely creative artist. I think his style of painting is beautiful. The way he uses paint so freely makes the work even more interesting, and his work has always caught my eye. However, I don’t think that work that is thought upon, or that has outside inspiration is any less beautiful. I myself prefer work that has a deeper meaning, and is influenced by means besides oneself.
Although I don’t ever see myself doing work like Pollock’s, I think his ideas and artwork were refreshing and creative for his generation. I think that is what keeps art alive in culture – the continuous change and adaptation that we as artist go through in the creative process, while still preserving great ideas of the past.
Athens Area Council for the Arts is holding an exhibition for works that are made from 70% recycled material.
There is no entry free for college students.
All entries must be mailed in and received by October 19, 2011.
Accepted works will be on display from November 3, 2011 – January 2, 2012.
All information can be reviewed in the images below.
Feel free to pick up a copy of the pamphlet from the art department.
