Beatriz Milhazes

Another blog post from my new favourite art blog, Art, Artists and Galleries:


"Brazil artist Beatriz Milhazes is really tapping in a trend in contemporary art where graphic elements overlay abstract work in a mix and match of information. So many artists are working in this kind of mixture that I wish I was cleaver enough to give this group of art a name.Really, this work is abstract and popular graphic images. She uses images that reflect simplistic versions of Brazilian cultural images. Sometimes decorative, this style of art piles up graphic upon image of graphic with minimal elements or abstract gestures laid under or over the designs. Two artists that I have seen uses this style is Nancy Brown and Murielle White."

                                       Murielle White

                                       Metropolitain

                                       2010

                                       Oil and mixed media on canvas 

                                       44.5" x 60"           

Ben Terry

Thanks to Jumana for recommending an amazing art blog called "Art, Artists, and Galleries".  Written by Todd Camplin, who is from Texas, it highlights a nice diverse range of artists and intelligently writes about their work. Perfect source for inspirational artists for your own work!  Here I'd like to show you an artist by the name of Ben Terry that I found there.  Since we are covering of multiple self-portraits, here is an example of an artist working with that right in their art!

Here is what Todd wrote about Ben Terry:


"Ben Terry, what can I say, but a real rising star. In a world of self absorbed people, the rise of memoirs, and artists interested in self portrait, Terry jumps into this world head first, but with a skill that not only reflect the society he is in, but also with a strange sense of irony and the right amount of self-criticism that make the work more than just an easy surface reading. Here what I said at ModernDallas.net, for the "110 Degrees" show at Cohn Drennan Contemporary.

"Benjamin Terry takes a more cubist approach to his figures. His paintings play with multiple self-portrait perspectives. The paintings use a limited muted color palate that blands out any attempt to create emotional content through color. We are forced to draw our emotional response through
the self-portrait rendered figure. A risky move with a powerful payoff."

And here is Ben Terry's Artist Statement, taken from his own website:


My current work combines representational images and the chaos of ephemeral composition. I play with various thoughts and emotions that pass through my mind at any given moment. Working with memory, fantasy, dreams and time, I use multiple selves to create a narrative sequence that reflect on ideas of internal conflict, self doubt and emotional trauma. My painted figures escape the confines of naturalism. Like a memory or dream, parts of the narrative become blurred or fragmented--and the original thought is always transformed. Their evolutions, whether through multiplicity, incompleteness or obliteration, imply that my subjects are odd fragments of a half-forgotten memory.


Ben Terry's Website

Da Vinci Sketchbook Images

I found a good resource of Leonardo Da Vinci images, mostly drawings from his sketchbooks.  Check it out and get inspired!

Leonardo Da Vinci Images

Paper Art

I found this article on the diverse ways artists are using just paper to create incredible art, including sculpture and altered books!  It just goes to show that you can keep it simple and use simple materials to great effect!  Check it out:

You can find more here at the original blog post I found these at:
Eye Popping Ways Artists Use Paper

Seeing Faces: Strangers in the Mirror

Radiolab is currently my favourite podcast.  It is free and can be subscribed to in order to listen on your computer or on your iPod or your phone.  This short episode is relevant to faces and self portraits and is fascinating!  It features Chuck Close, the famous artist that paints enormous portraits.   In this episode, Chuck Close describes how he is actually "face blind", which is that he is unable to recognize and remember faces, even of people who are close to him!  Fascinating talk, have a listen!

Here is a write up from the Radiolab page.

"Oliver Sacks, the famous neuroscientist and author, can't recognize faces. Neither can Chuck Close, the great artist known for his enormous paintings of ... that's right, faces.

Oliver and Chuck--both born with the condition known as Face Blindness--have spent their lives decoding who is saying hello to them. You can sit down with either man, talk to him for an hour, and if he sees you again just fifteen minutes later, he will have no idea who you are. (Unless you have a very squeaky voice or happen to be wearing the same odd purple hat.)

In this podcast, we listen in on a conversation Robert had with Chuck and Oliver at Hunter College in New York City as part of the World Science Festival. Chuck and Oliver tell Robert what it's like to live with Face Blindness and describe two very different ways of coping with this condition, which may be more common than we think.

You can go to this page and download the episode and read more about it:

"Strangers in the Mirror" Radiolab Episode

or listen to it here:

"Hieronymus Bosch,  (c. 1450 - August 9, 1516) was an Early Netherlandish painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Many of his works depict sin and human moral failings."  If you appreciate detail, dark work, check out Bosch's intricate, twisted paintings, painted 500 or so years ago!  

Triptych of Garden of Earthly Delights (right wing) (detail 2) c. 1500

Tondal's Vision

Hieronymus Bosch

Monumental Sculpture by Janet Echelman : TED Talk

TED Talks are an amazing source of inspiration.  It features "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the World."   "TED" is short for "Technology, Engtertainment, Design".  You can find talks by innovators, inventors, artists, architects, musicians, and more.

In this video, Janet Echelman talks about her amazing massive sculpture.

From TED.com:

"Janet Echelman found her true voice as an artist when her paints went missing -- which forced her to look to an unorthodox new art material. Now she makes billowing, flowing, building-sized sculpture with a surprisingly geeky edge. A transporting 10 minutes of pure creativity."


TED Talks