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