Cirque du Soleil

A song from Cirque du Soleil provided the rhythm for the Canadian synchronized swimming team to compete at the Olympics this year.  The talented musical artists of Cirque du Soleil typically perform live during their spectacular shows and I have been fortunate enough to see (and hear) two acts.   I went to see La Nouba many years ago in Orlando and caught Corteo in Barcelona last winter.  Both were simply spectacular!  Words cannot describe the sheer amount of creativity, coordination, and vision it must take to construct a Cirque du Soleil show. 

I recently read an article in El País that explains the origin of the Jean Rabasse’s initial inspiration for Corteo’s set design: an art exhibition at Canada’s National Gallery titled “The Great Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown.”  The way that many artists are able to recapitulate, spark, and refashion previous works of art is wonderful.  Whether it is providing a familiar beat for Olympic athletes or igniting an innovative idea in an individual, art has the ability to stimulate and engender our creative capacities.  For this reason, art is a tremendously valuable commodity that has the ability to impact our daily lives and the communities in which we live.

For a preview of Corteo-

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/corteo/default.aspx

Ruth Abrams

Today, Yeshiva University Museum in New York will celebrate the opening of their Ruth Abrams retrospective "Microcosms."  When the female artist passed away in the late eighties, The New York Times pronounced Abrams as an artist and “woman unfairly neglected in a macho era.”  Working in the shadows of iconic Abstract Expressionists like Pollock, The Huffington Post describes the woman’s work as “largely overlooked in her own time, and nearly forgotten after.”  Now through January 6, 2013, Abrams’ first solo exhibition will shed light on this often-overshadowed female painter and demonstrate her work as worldly and worthy of recognition.

Yeshiva University Museum Opening Information-

http://yumuseum.tumblr.com/RuthAbrams

The Huffington Post Article on Abrams-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/ruth-abrams-overlooked-je_n_1760689.html?1344537956&utm_hp_ref=arts&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008#slide=1354875

A Sunday Afternoon

My boss recently told me that his favorite work of art is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.  This epitomic pointillist painting is a highlight of The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.  As an undergraduate student, my professor explained that Seurat appropriated contemporary scientific knowledge about color and perception.  The artist learned that the observation and sensitivity of color depends on the surrounding environment.  As a painter, this idea provoked Seurat to explore the possibility to create the effect of certain colors, without actually using that particular color.  For example, if you stare at the red circle then quickly hold a white piece of paper over your computer screen, you will see red’s complimentary color in the form of a green circle.  A Sunday Afternoon exemplifies Seurat’s experimentation with color perception in his application of adjacent complimentary colors, ultimately creating his characteristically bright figures.

The Art Institute of Chicago-

http://www.artic.edu/

Visual Art at the Olympics

Did you know that the Olympics used to award medals to artists?  Walter Winans’ An American Trotter won gold in the sculpture category at the 1912 games in Stockholm.  Artists involving athletics in their work were invited to compete for the first four decades of the Modern Olympics.  Today, the fine arts continue to play a less competitive role at the games as part of the Cultural Olympiad.  For example, visitors can see many of the faces that made the London games possible at the National Portrait Gallery.  I think the visual arts are an important component of the games because they can communicate to a vast audience, regardless of their nation, ethnicity, or religion.

Thanks to Ally Walton for sending me this interesting article-

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-the-Olympics-Gave-Out-Medals-for-Art-163705106.html

Cultural Olympiad-

http://www.london2012.com/about-us/cultural-olympiad/

Pollock and Kandinsky

In a previous post, I wrote about Kandinsky’s emphasis on the “inner necessity” to construct excellent compositions.  He articulated that this force is the most important component that propels the creation of artistic forms.  The American Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock discussed a similar sentiment nearly forty years later.  “The method of painting is the natural growth out of a need.  I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.”  The legendary American artist unquestionably shares Kandinsky’s opinion on the nature of good art, although Picasso and Miró were the artists that Pollock admired the most! 

For the trailer of the 2000 Sony production Pollock-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0xiovbDML0

Famous Fauns

A faun is a mythological creature with an extensive history in visual culture.  Half-human and half-deer, fauns embody the spirit of the forest and the animals that inhabit it.   In art, representation of this hybrid mammal is manifold.  For example, the most extravagant ancient home discovered in Pompeii exhibited a bronze statue of a dancing faun in the atrium.  Appropriately, archeologist now referred to the site as Casa del Fauno.  The home also included many more impressive works of art like the Alexander Mosaic, a remarkable rendition of the Greek battle of Issus in 333 BCE. 

Another famous faun is named after its first documented owner, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.  The antique original is on display at the Glyptothek Museum in Germany (above) and often attracts much attention for its erotic aesthetic.  The Louvre in Paris has an 18^th century replication of the Barberini Faun.

Thousands of years after the Greeks first depicted their fascination with fauns, we continue to imagine and re-imagine these mythological beings.  C.S. Lewis created The Chronicles of Narnia including the beloved faun character, Mr. Tumnus.  Guillermno del Toro also employed the faun in his film El Laberinto del Fauno.  This magical movie intertwines history and fantasy, where the faun entices the young Ophelia into an alternate reality.

A scene from El Laberinto del Fauno-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVLZz0Sj-ko&feature=related

Glyptothek Museum-

http://www.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de/glyptothek/

Death and Taxes

It would be a felony to sell Robert Rauschenberg’s 1959 work titled Canyon because it contains a dead bald eagle, a species that is now under federal protection.  However, the I.R.S. expects the owners to pay $29.2 million in estate taxes for inheriting the work!  “At the moment, tax experts note that the I.R.S.’s stance puts the heirs in a bind: If they don’t pay, they would be guilty of violating federal tax laws, but if they try to sell Canyon to zero-out their bill, they could go to jail for violating eagle protection laws.” (Patricia Cohen, New York Times) 

New York Times full story-

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/arts/design/a-catch-22-of-art-and-taxes-starring-a-stuffed-eagle.html?ref=design

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation-

http://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/

Futurism

The founders of Futurism were violent, reckless, and misogynistic.  The 1909 artistic movement they created in Italy condemned public institutions for learning:

Museums, cemeteries! Truly identical in their sinister juxtaposition of bodies that do not know each other. Public dormitories where you sleep side by side forever with beings you hate or do not know. Reciprocal ferocity of the painters and sculptors who murder each other in the same museum with blows of line and color. (F.T. Martinetti, “The Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism”)

The Futurists’ called for a new form of art, an art that would not seek to reproduce reality.  Their work “…is only creation!”  Creations such as F.T. Martinetti’s drawing Vive la France and Umberto Boccioni’s sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (above) are consistent with the Futurist agenda.  For example, Boccioni’s figure is infused with atmospheric elements, a key component the artist outlines in his “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture.”  Unique Forms of Continuity in Space exemplifies the Futurist theory that “the environment must be part of the plastic block which is a world in itself with its own laws.”  Futurist creations are quite interesting, despite their aggressive and pugnacious approach to art theory.  I find it ironic, and slightly satisfying, that much of their work wound up in the museums that they abhorred!  

An English translation of the Futurist Manifesto-

http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/T4PM/futurist-manifesto.html

Trees

I have only ever seen photographs of Piet Mondrian’s The Red Tree.  While this Dutch artist is most famous for his red, yellow, and blue grid compositions, I wanted to share this very lovely work that I hope to see in the Netherlands sometime soon.  Another Dutch artist less known for his tree paintings is Vincent van Gogh.  His painting The Starry Night is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but I think van Gogh’s trees are equally interesting and absolutely beautiful.  The link below allows you to see individual brush strokes on some of van Gogh’s tree paintings.  This is a great feature that a lot of museums are starting to share, still there is nothing like seeing a work of art in person!

van Gogh Museum’s excellent zoom features (click show enlargement)-

http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=4564&collection=1282&lang=en

Mondrian restoration project at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag-

http://www.gemeentemuseum.nl/index.php?id=036871

Fenway Photo Project

The Museum of Fine Arts and Fenway Photo Project announced the winners of their creative contest today.  Participants were asked to submit original photographs to commemorate Fenway Park’s centennial celebration.  Congratulations to the six winners, whose work is now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts through October 3, 2012.  My personal favorites are Barbara J. Ross’s 1976 action shot of Carleton Fisk making the tag and Bart Blumberg’s 2009 image Ted’s Red Seat.  I especially love the cone-shaped head gear that the base runner at second is sporting in Ross’s photo, and the way that Blumberg expresses his enthusiasm to help tell the Red Sox tale at Fenway for future generations!

As a silly side note, I have included a painting I made for my brother in 2007.  This Christmas gift was quite the commodity in the Jenkins household for about six months.  My younger brother was caught attempting to steal the Sox painting on several occasions, yet his efforts suddenly ceased when Manny left to play for the Dogers the following summer.  Due to Ramirez’s recent retirement, I am willing to wager that my older brother has since invested in a state-of-the-art security system to prevent art thieving siblings from entering his home.

Museum of Fine Arts and Fenway Photo Project-

http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/grandstand-gallery

Granada

This city in the south of Spain is remarkably beautiful, as the poet Francisco de Icaza expresses, “…there is nothing in life like the pain of being blind in Granada.”  The remarkable history of Granada amplifies the city’s spectacular sights.  During the middle of the fourteenth century, Arab leaders built the Alhambra, an extraordinary fortress overlooking the city.  For centuries, visitors have marveled at the architectural intricacies of this landmark.  The original Islamic décor is unprecedented in the history of Western art, and is a visual testament to the sophistication of the Al-Andalus society.  The art and architecture of this Iberian civilization contributes to the poet’s praise of Granada.

Museum of the Alhambra-

http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/index.php/Museo-de-la-Alhambra/68+M5d637b1e38d/0/

I highly recommend Mariam Rosser-Owen’s recently published book Islamic Arts from Spain

Wassily Kandinsky

One hundred years ago, Wassily Kandinsky wrote “On the Problem of Form,” a foundational essay on abstraction in art.  Defending his non-objective compositions, Kandinsky theorized that the most virtuous aesthetics stem from an artist’s ability to visually express themselves:

… it is not the most important that the form is personal, national, or has style; whether or not it is in accordance with the major contemporary movements; whether or not it is related to many or few other forms; whether or not it stands completely by itself: but rather the most important thing in the question of form is whether or not the form has grown out of the inner necessity.

Throughout the early 20^th century, it is evident that Kandinsky relied heavily on color to create his own visual language.  Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstract art and an advocate for a new aesthetic, founded on the principle of freedom in artistic expression.

Above are two of my personal favorites: Panel for Edwin R. Campbell No. 3 and Black Lines (see links for Kandinsky in the MoMA and Guggenheim collections.) 

MoMA-

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A2981%7CA%3AAR%3AE%3A1&page_number=&template_id=6&sort_order=1

Guggenheim-

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/artist/k/?search=Vasily%20Kandinsky

The Open Window

One extraordinary thing about The Open Window is its discretely disguised similarity with Cubist works of art.  Hernri Matisse is famous for his Fauvist compositions, a style generally recognized as the antithesis to Cubism.  At first, there is no clear connection between this bright, cheerful painting and an archetypal Cubist work with a neutral-toned conglomeration of geometric shapes.  However, the assimilation of interior and exterior space in The Open Window is conceptually the same as Cubist passages that work to fuse mass and void.  Both Matisse and the Cubists deny the beholder a tangible sense of foreground and background.  Note the lack of aerial perspective in Matisse’s canvas, which pushes what would be the vanishing point into the foreground.  Now the boats and French doors begin to compete for attention in this canvas.   The playful technique of exhibiting an unnatural space essentially establishes the work of art as an entity unto itself, no longer a mere representation of reality.  Matisse and the Cubists took different routes to arrive at semi-abstraction.  In retrospect, they open the same door (or window) for their followers to create and advocate for a wholly abstract art.

Miró and a Catalan avant-garde

Arc-Voltaic was published in 1918.  The magazine consists of: this cover page featuring Joan Miró’s illustration, three poems in Catalan, an essay printed in French and Italian, a Vibrationist drawing, and concludes with a poem in Castilian.  The avant-garde poets and artists collaborating on the only edition of Arc-Voltaic were working against the restrictive aesthetic agenda of Noucentisme movement, which championed a Classical Mediterranean style.  However, the Arc-Voltaic artists’ relationship to the cultural movement is complex. 

The Catalan avant-garde was not seeking a complete, radical rupture from Noucentisme, because part of its philosophy was attractive to artists included in the magazine like Miró and Joaquín Torres-Garcia.  The female nude in Miró’s cover illustration exemplifies this tension.  Stylistically, it breaks with Noucentisme’s emphasis on classicism, ideal proportions, harmony, order, and balance; but the subject matter resonates with the nationalist agenda of the movement, in its attempt to give shape to an essential Catalan community that is akin to ancient Greco-Roman civilizations.

For more on Noucentisme-

http://www.mnac.es/colleccio/col_modern.jsp?ambit=83&lan=003

Fundació Joan Miró-

http://www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/index.php?idioma=2

Email me for more on Arc-Voltaic.  For excellent academic studies on Miró, I recommend works by Robin Greeley and Robert Lubar.

The Elgin Marbles Debate

The 2012 London Olympic athletes and spectators will have the opportunity to see the most prominent art of the ancient civilization for which the games originated.  But will the British Museum continue to boast this collection for future generations of visitors?  The ongoing debate about where the Acropolis pediment sculptures belong is attracting activist attention, once again.  In 2009, a year after I took this photo of the Acropolis from Athens’s modern Olympic Stadium, the Greeks built a New Acropolis Museum.  This ambitious project was designed to prepare a secure space for the pediment sculptures (also known as the Elgin Marbles.)  Despite the new museum and popular opinion that the British Museum should return the art to the Greeks, the marbles remain in London.  

The issue is more complex than simply a question of ownership.  It would be nice for the work to be returned to Greece.  However, the British Museum has been maintaining the marbles for a very long time and transporting them would be dangerous.  This is an ethical debate where it may seem easy to side with the Greek cause.  But the works are foundational in the history of Western culture, and it would be devastating if they were damaged during a risky move.

Recent BBC article on the Elgin Marbles issue-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18522165

New Acropolis Museum Opening Video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaGdJrbOKes

Speedy Sightseeing

L’Arc de Triomf is the first of many monuments along Barcelona’s half marathon route.  As I jogged to the starting line of my first international road race in February, I knew the Arc would be the first of many spectacular sights along the course.  Within the first four miles, runners can catch a glimpse of the Christopher Columbus Monument, the slopes of Montjüic, and Plaça de Catalunya.  Barcelona’s stunning art and architectural elements are seemingly endless and the Mitja Marató route is an excellent way to witness many of the city’s outdoor treasures.  My favorite are the final few miles, which run parallel to the beach, where runners can catch a view of the sparking Mediterranean Sea on a sunny day!

Some fun footage of the event-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKtYxhpj8Pg&feature=player_embedded#!

Mitja Marató Barcelona official site-

http://www.mitjabarcelona.com/

For another fabulous way to swiftly see sights in Barcelona-

http://www.runningtoursbarcelona.com/

Haskell Collection

My jaw literally dropped when I first walked into the Haskell building this spring.  Having just moved to Jacksonville, I was not familiar with Mr. Haskell’s tremendous collection of modern art or his contribution to the arts community.  His collection is simply stunning and includes works from: Hans Hofmann, Franz Kiline, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Robert Rauschenberg.  Mr. Haskell graciously invited me to explore the works that adorn the walls of his company building.  I am grateful to have had this unforeseen opportunity, as I thought I was simply doing some business in a regular building that day.  As it turns out, I walked right into a modern art lover’s dream, a real gem in Jacksonville!

For more on Mr. Haskell-

http://www.thehaskellco.com/en/Company/Executive_Team/Board_of_Directors/Preston_Haskell/

Guggenheim Bilbao

In 2009, I was studying Spanish at Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain.  The campus is just across the river from Frank Gehry’s incredibly impressive architectural achievement, The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.  The three most memorable works I saw that spring were: Richard Serra’s gigantic sculptures including The Matter of Time (above), Jim Dime’s Three Red Spanish Venuses (above), and a film titled Zidane, a 21st century portrait by Douglas Gordan and Philippe Parenno (see link below.)

Serra’s structures enable visitors to explore and weave themselves through the artwork.  The art becomes more dynamic, as its effect on beholders can change, depending on where they position their bodies and the movements they decide to make.  Visitors create individual experiences as they forge a path around these steel sheets, while spectators often watch from above.

A scene from Zidane, a 21st century portrait-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuT4Msm6s5w&feature=related

Guggenheim Bilbao-

http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao/

Die Brücke

Die Brücke was a group of artists initially collaborating in Dresden, Germany.  Erich Heckel was one of the first members, and Emil Nolde joined the group in 1905 (Heckel’s Glassy Day and Nolde’s The Prophet above.)  Sharing similar philosophies on art and the fundamental compulsion to manipulate matter, Die Brücke sought to rekindle the simplicity and direct nature of “primitive” works of art. 

“Primitive people begin making things with their fingers, with material in their hands.  Their work expresses the pleasure of making.  What we enjoy, probably, is the intense and often grotesque expression of energy, of life.” (Emil Nolde, Jahre der Kämpfe)

Die Brücke Museum in Berlin-

http://www.bruecke-museum.de/bridge.htm

Antoni Tàpies

In A Personal Memoir: fragments for an autobiography, Antoni Tàpies wrote that he was an artist seeking to “…help human understanding, to give a testimonial for democracy, to help people advance towards freedom, to help people see the truth, to work for a more just world, ever more beautiful.” (355)  Tàpies was an incredibly insightful and provocative Catalan artist, whose work addressed issues beyond the realm of the plastic arts.  He played a critical role in continuing the tradition of excellence in Spanish visual culture, just as Picasso and Miró had done before him. 

Last February, Tàpies passed away at the age of eighty-eight.  He was truly a talented artist, a conscientious Catalan citizen, and a forward-thinking individual.  Tàpies was one of the last great artists to witness the atrocities of The Spanish Civil War, and his death signifies a new era of art in Iberia.  The future generations of artists in Spain will also face trying times, as the current economic and unemployment crisis continues to escalate.  They would be wise to remember Tàpies’ laudable philosophy:

…with an ardent sense of what is ours and of the respect due to it, wants to recover and seek to perpetuate that ancestral song that invites the whole world to make the Catalan spirit its own, to become “Catalanist.” Because for him this means, simply, keeping eternally alive that essential drive, in both love and war, in favor of humanism, democracy and freedom…. (Tàpies In Perspective, 226)

For more on Antoni Tàpies-

 http://www.fundaciotapies.org/site/spip.php?rubrique64

Memphis Art Exhibition

As a junior at Rhodes College, I created a contemporary art exhibition in Memphis.  “Splash: Works on Paper 2001-2009” showcased a range of Anne Davey’s semi-abstract paintings and drawings.  I enjoyed this project because it gave me an opportunity to work with a fantastic artist, while learning how to organize and promote art events.  I am looking forward to developing similar shows in the future, which work to promote contemporary art and cultivate creative communities. 

For more on Rhodes students’ exhibitions-

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/apr/24/the-other-side-of-art-world/

Voice of the People

This spring, I volunteered at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida.  I worked with fourth grade students in an amazing program called Voice of the People.  This project enables youngsters to engage with works of art, while learning how to articulate their observations and opinions. 

Each semester, museum educators invite students into the museum, where they have the opportunity to explore the current exhibitions.  In the following weeks, the educators visit the schools to help the students collaborate in small groups.  They discuss what they saw in the museum, write about their thoughts, and finally create a script about an individual piece.  After recording their voices, the students bring their families to the museum to showcase their audio recording alongside the works of art. 

The recordings are available to future museum visitors, which is a fantastic way to educate the public with a dynamic, enjoyable audio accompaniment!

For more on the Voice of the People program-           

http://www.mocajacksonville.org/voice/

Music!

Amazing things happens everyday, you simply have to be at the right place at the right time…

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=GBaHPND2QJg&feature=youtu.be

.... hopefully, you are savvy enough to recognize them as art!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Lang leve de Cobra

Yesterday, I was talking art with a Dutch cyclist who was on a trip from Florida to Maine.  He asked if I was familiar with the artist Karel Appel (1921-2006).  I knew the name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t seem to figure out why.  Thanks to a quick Google image search, I recognized a few of the Dutch painter’s colorful canvases.  His work remind me of Joan Miró’s more mature pieces.  Appel was part of the 1948 avant-garde movement Cobra, which the Dutch public vehemently criticized at the time, causing him to work abroad for many years.  There is now a Karel Appel Foundation and a museum dedicated to keeping the Cobra spirit alive.  

“The Cobra Movement stands for creative freedom and experimentation, passion and vitality, and social engagement.” Lang leve de Cobra!

Karel Appel Foundation-

http://www.karelappelfoundation.com/index.cfm/site/KarelAppel/pageid/587D151F-9A80-1B27-83DD7080A23F80D0/index.cfm

Cobra Museum in the Netherlands-

http://www.cobra-museum.nl/en/home.html