Tag: art

Today from our partners at Art Practical, we bring you Chris Cobb’s essay on counterculture, money, and the annual Burning Man festival. Cobb wonders: “…what if successful tech companies—the ones whose leaders have bought into the Burning Man/Black Rock value of art that ‘connect[s] community members in creation, curiosity, and wonderment’—decided to allocate one or two percent of their investment income to cultivating the arts in the Bay?” This article was originally published on July 9, 2014.

Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, and David Shulman. Raygun Gothic Rocketship, 2010; installation at Pier 14, San Francisco. Courtesy of Black Rock Arts Foundation. Photo: David Yu.

1. The Decline of Bohemia

It’s hard to say something new about how the Bay Area art establishment is falling apart. Everybody already knows that rents are skyrocketing, artists and musicians are fleeing, and a four-year art degree now costs a quarter of a million dollars. Even prominent curators are being forced to relocate because of evictions and real-estate speculation. It’s enough to make any sane person wonder if the struggle is worth it. So, retreading acknowledged, it still might benefit artists to take a fresh look at what has brought the city’s cultural life to this moment, and where we can go from here.

Can I quote Bob Dylan?

“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief
“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”

The harsh truth is that things are changing rapidly, which has resulted in a collective sense of confusion and helplessness. It reminds me of a scene in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz, where an imprisoned artist finds out he won’t be allowed to paint ever again and so he uses an axe to chop off his own fingers. This profound act of self-destruction dramatizes the collective plight of the prisoners, making them realize that if they don’t get off the island, they too will have whatever makes them unique taken away or crushed. Each inmate is left to consider his own disheartening future.

Read the full article here.

SOURCE: DAILY SERVING - Read entire story here.

Born on August 5, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, George Clair Tooker Jr. grew up in suburban Bellport, Long Island and took painting lessons from a family friend as a child.  Tooker  graduated from Harvard University in 1942 where he studied English Literature and continued to pursue his interest in art.

Tooker was discharged from officer training school in the U.S. Marines during World War II due to illness brought on by stress. In 1943, he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York and studied under leading social realist painters Reginald Marsh and Kenneth Hayes Miller.  Tooker was introduced to the medium of egg tempera by painter Paul Cadmus, with whom he spent six months together traveling and studying art in Italy and France in 1949. In 1949, Tooker also met painter William Christopher, who became his lifelong companion.

In 1950, Tooker began to earn both recognition and income from his art and in 1953, the Whitney Museum bought his best-known painting, The Subway. Further recognition followed, beginning with a solo exhibition at a New York gallery in 1951; followed by four  more solo shows and numerous group exhibitions.

“Working on wood panels or Masonite board, Tooker painstakingly built luminous matte surfaces, inch by square inch; soft, powdery colors complemented the rounded forms and fabrics of the paintings.” His early work depicted social and public issues, and stresses the loneliness and alienation of modern urban existence. In the 1970s, the Tooker began to explore more personal states of being expressed in symbolic imagery, often drawn from the bible, mythology, and classic literature.

Tooker’s works have been associated with the Magic Realism and Social Realism movements but he resisted attempts to define his works as such. “I am after reality — painting impressed on the mind so hard that it recurs as a dream,” he said, “but I am not after dreams as such, or fantasy.”

In 1960, Tooker and Christopher moved to Vermont, where they had a weekend home. Tooker taught at the Art Students League between 1965 and 1968, and they spent winters on the Mediterranean coast of Spain as Christopher’s health declined. Tooker returned to Vermont, in 1973 after Christopher’s death.

“In the 1970s, the Tooker began to explore more personal states of being expressed in symbolic imagery, often drawn from the bible, mythology, and classic literature. Tooker, though greatly respected, remained apart from the modernist trends that dominated American art for much of the second half of the twentieth century.”

In 2007, Tooker was awarded the National Medal of Arts – the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government.

George Tooker died on March 27, 2011 at his home in Hartland, Vermont.  He was 90 years old.

Sources: New York Times, Terra Foundation
Post inspired by David Platt

SOURCE: Daily Art Fixx - Art Blog: Modern Art, Art History, Painting, Illustration, Photography, Sculpture - Read entire story here.

Not only is George Dubinsky’s newest collection made of wood, it’s also inspired by the way trees grow and celebrates wood as a natural, living organism.

The co-founder of Edgewood Made, Dubinsky takes a page from the book of trees, especially the way knots subtly alter the structure of wood. Even the construction of the furniture mimics the way the wood grows through the use of coopering. Pairing craftsmanship and Danish modern design, this collection of furniture thoroughly embodies the essence of wood.

SOURCE: Design Milk » Art - Read entire story here.

Two Berlin-based artists said they were behind the raising of white flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge last month, and discussed their reasons.

SOURCE: NYT > Arts - Read entire story here.

Just because it’s a parking structure, doesn’t mean it has to be boring and unappreciated. Large plain expanses like that make the perfect canvas for murals and wall sculptures and Rob Ley of Urbana Studio went with the latter and designed May/September, an interactive art project that transformed the exterior of the new Eskenazi Hospital parking deck in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Using approximately 7,000 panels, in 18 different sizes/angles that range in size from 300mm tall x 600mm long to 300mm tall x 1m long, the result is a massive, interactive element for the city’s residents to enjoy.

They chose to keep the sculpture parts immobile, as a kinetic approach would require maintenance over the years. Besides, most people viewing the sculpture would be walking, riding their bicycles, or in a car driving by, therefore seeing how it changes depending on where they’re viewing it from. When standing to one side of the wall, you’ll spot the golden yellow panels. Move to the other side to gradually see the deep blue panels come to life.

The color and transparency shifts as you change your vantage point, giving the viewer a sense that the piece is actually changing. Depending on the angle of each panel, you get the illusion that different hues were used and not just one color.

Photos by Serge Hoeltschi.

SOURCE: Design Milk » Art - Read entire story here.