Claire Denarie depicts quiet moments: serene portraits; a tranquil woodland path; a woman lounging on a chair. From Pink Elephants to Charlie Chaplin’s and Coco Chanels. However, the colors are more intense than in reality, while the compositions are so tightly framed that they become dynamic, and the portrait subjects never reveal all to the viewer. Soffietti’s figures have secrets and hint at an interior world within the picture frame. It is her wonderfully palpable painting style and bold color choice that makes the 2D picture world seem more real than our very own. Get up close and personal with Claire Danerie. Tell us a little bit about your background and why you chose to be an artist? I didn’t choose to be an artist, I always painted as a need. Rationally, I studied law to give myself a chance in the world. Too many starving artists around to even entertain the thought of becoming one... yet, insidiously, painting crawled back into my life uncontrollably. I paint because I was put on earth to create, I think, and my four children are the living testimony of my craving for creativity. I waffle with my hands all day long, hiding and secretly hoping someone will get my message in a bottle. Your artworks always give the viewers a feeling of stories unfolding right in front of their eyes. How important is sharing an experience or memory in your creative process? Of course, paintings are part of a story. They have a beginning and an end and they initiate and finish beyond the canvas. They are the reflection of a thought, a deed, the memory of an event which took place in a far, far away land, buried deep inside. Again, I create hoping someone will understand the meaning of the vision but ultimately, it makes little difference as the process is unconditional; I shall paint whether viewers like it or not because it is beyond me. Of course, I crave recognition and I need acknowledgement (nobody likes talking to themselves) but I don't really need validation. I paint in the hope I will give someone joy but I also understand that my work doesn't have to speak to everybody and it's okay. The communion is instant and everlasting. The world has just become a better place. My culture also naturally greatly impacts the way I paint. I'm inevitably a product of my upbringing. I am fundamentally an impressionist at heart. What lingers and stays like a good wine long after the sip, is what I'm after. The message is delivered to the senses, the heart and soul are vibrating in communion. Tell us about the textures in your paintings. Le Chant De La Cigale, 2020, Acrylic on canvas Growing Love, 2021, Acrylic on canvas No matter the subject, I build a landscape, a "skin" with an average of 9 coats. Zoom in on any of my paintings and you'll understand. All my works have veins or scars running between the canvas and their subjects . What you call texture is for me a living organism which is paramount to the finished entity. Texture gives life. This is where I spend a great deal of time: the life support of the painting. For a skin to be strong and healthy, I need the natural fiber (100% Cotton Duck or linen stretched preferably on a large canvas). Then, the elasticity is given by the oil or the Acrylics. The alchemy is provided with the addition of ingredients such as oil pastels, dry chalks, ink or any medium that seems appropriate at the time. I have no shame, nor pride and I never feel the urge to justify the purity of my sources. Who are your biggest influencers? The French impressionists are a significant influence due to my childhood. Colours are everything to me (after texture). Colours give me goosebumps, they make my heart sing and trigger all my senses. A sad day becomes joyful just at the thought of colours. My pulse goes through the roof at the simple glance of a Gaugin. Lautrec is strength. Vlaminck, contrasts, Matisse, simplicity. Derain, joy. Picasso, the absence of boundaries, Van Gogh all the above reunited, plus vulnerability. I am also very much a fauvist at heart because of their use of colours. This fabulous movement survived from 1904 to 1908 before it got engulfed by new fashionable trends. The fauvists linked directly colours to impressions and they remain formidable in my book. How has your practice changed over time? Form used to matter, I wanted people to laugh out of an excess of despair and my subjects were grotesque. I was trying to depict human nature and that's all that mattered. With time, I became more demanding (with myself), less tolerant too. The mission became: progress, be better, search for honesty, don't settle, you can do better. My subjects changed, they became less amusing but more profound. The metamorphosis slowly took place and the real journey began. I was a painter for the long run. How do you set yourself apart from other artists within your space? Simple. I don’t compare. Everyone has been placed on this earth to create and do what they need to do. I rave and recognise how incredible artists around me are. I am also very much aware that it is the alchemy of all these qualities together that make an artist and we all have our forte. Personally, I only hope that no one paints like me, for better or for worse. Sartre once said, "I am the king of the perception of my world."

RtistiQ

27 Oct 2021

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The still life painting has remained one of the most popular exercises for artists. It can be extremely helpful in developing young talent, as well as keeping old masters sharp. But despite its use as a tool for teaching and practice, some have created still lifes that have gone on to take their place in the pantheon of great paintings. The genre formed in the late 16th century, drawing on practices in ancient Greece and the Middle Ages. The basic formula is for the artist to arrange inanimate objects and paint from direct observation. It is so basic, so fundamental, and yet it remains a popular genre. Once we begin to look through some of the best known still lifes in art history, we can begin to see why. With multiple types of still lifes that exist today, this genre gives us new insight into the textures and colors that fill our everyday lives. It is, in some ways, a celebration of human vision and a call to engage with your surroundings more fully. Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings are some of the most beloved of his entire oeuvre. Made up of two distinct series of paintings (the first painted in Paris and the second in Arles), this work from the second series is perhaps the most popular of all. The burning yellow is defined with judicious use of blue, and the bodies of the sunflowers seem alive. Van Gogh painted them for his friend Paul Gauguin. And the joy of that friendship can be felt in the canvas itself. Still Life with Fruit (1605-1610) by Caravaggio Caravaggio delivers us a sumptuous feast for the eyes. Made up of melons and an assortment of delicious fruit, these colorful bodies emerge from the dark in a small shaft of light — characteristic of the artist. While many commentators have speculated on the Renaissance-era symbolism of the fruit, we don’t really need to understand it to appreciate the painting. His ability to capture the fruit in such spectacular detail is more than enough. Violin and Candlestick (1910) by Georges Braque Braque is well known as one of the founders of Cubism, and here he applies that style to the still life. It’s an interesting combination: taking the latest breakthrough in visual arts and applying it to one of the most classic genres in painting. The objects in the still life are all given multiple points of view shown on the same surface, an impossibility for the naked eye but not the painter. Note his muted use of color as well. Vase of Flowers (1660) by Jan Davidsz. de Heem De Heem, a major name in both Dutch and Flemish Baroque painting, gives us one of the greatest depictions of flowers in all of art history. Here, the colors absolutely delight us as they come out of the dark background — note the similarity in lighting to his contemporary Caravaggio above. This painting shows what a true master can do with a still life. Note how all the fine details are expertly navigated, the wealth of visual information completely absorbed and rendered. Still Life with Skull (1898) by Paul Cezanne Cezanne is well known for his use of color, and he uses those trademark techniques to great effect in this still life. Painted late in his career, this shows a genius who has learned how to give us only what we need, no more and no less. There is no excess and no lack. The composition itself is striking. The skull is set off by ripe fruit, fruit we expect will all too soon begin to rot. This memento mori not only brings us in confrontation with our own mortality, it also reminds us that while we are here, there are things to be enjoyed, like a ripe pear. The Ray (1728) by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin This work does what a still life rarely can — bring a sense of horror. Of course, it in part does this by cheating the rules a bit. Notice the cat at the left side of the painting! Rule bending aside, this is a great work by Chardin who excelled in still lifes for much of his career. The strange objects and the hissing animal come together to give us a sense that all is not right. While the still life genre makes it difficult to tell much of a story, Chardin gives us the emotion of a narrative all the same.

RtistiQ

21 Oct 2021

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Banksy’s artwork “Love is in the Bin” went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London on Thursday, selling for a whooping £16m (before buyer premium) - high above its £4-6m estimated price. The event, taking place during Frieze London, grabbed not only the art world’s attention but also the wider public was heavily captivated by this event. It was one of those rare art occasions making headlines around the globe. The artwork was put on auction only three years after being sold for £1m by the same auction house in 2018 and being reinvented into a new art piece. As Alex Branczik, chairman of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby’s Asia said: “It is almost three years to the day since one of the most ingenious moments of performance art this century made auction history. Banksy is no stranger to making headlines and this latest chapter in his story has captured imaginations across the world – we can only begin to guess what might come next.” As the auctioneer admitted, the big release came minutes after the hammer went down. Everyone was expecting for this artwork to put on a new show, perhaps the shredder to finish its job or, in an act à la David Copperfield, the canvas to vanish completely. None of those things happened. The sale was the show, a havely marketed event judging by the media coverage and public interest. The auction house even displayed their own flag half shredded outside their headquarter building in London. The Contemporary Art Evening Sale made all art lovers keep their breath for the 10 minutes long battle between the 9 eagger bidders. The price of £18.5m (including buyer's premium) paid by the Asian collector (according to The Art Newspaper) establishes a new record for the British artist. A sale that can only be described as a memorable evening not only for the 2018 buyer but also for the rest of us watching it. Cheers to the happy collector who proved to have a good eye for art investments or at least a lucky star. Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin'' doesn't make it to top 10 most expensive artworks ever sold on auction, topped by $450.3 m paided by a Middle Eastern collector for presumably Leonardo Davinci’s masterpiece Salvator Mundi (there are many disagreements among scholar) in 2017. It pales even in comparison with the highest transaction of the year, the NFT artwork by Beeple sold for $69.3 m at Christie’s. What makes the sale a “historical” event is the fact that its value has appreciated 18 times over the course of three years. According to the Art Basel and UBS annual report, the art market shrank by 22% in 2020, down from $64.4 billion in sales in 2019 to $50.1 billion last year. Nevertheless, with the in-person events resuming in most Western countries, a fresh breath of air is infused by new capital. In a global economy defined by high volatility and facing inflation, the Banksy sale indicates an increasing interest in art as an investment-class asset, competing with stocks, real estate, digital currencies and precious metals. Photo credits: Wikipedia The Story of a Girl with a Balloon Formerly known as “Girl with a Balloon” (allegedly created in 2016) now renamed “Love is in the Bin” (2018) became one of the most iconic artworks arguably of the begging of the 21st century after an unexpected but carefully planned intervention took place as the final hammer fell in the Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby’s in 2018. Just minutes after the proud collector, a mysterious German national, began sipping her victorious champagne, the alarm went off and the artwork went through the shredder concealed within the heavy frame. Under the horrified eyes of the audience, the stenciled canvas remained hanging half-way through. As with any other part of our contemporary, sometimes twisted, society, “any publicity is good publicity”. The event gained a lot of attention and debates on how it should be interpreted - Is this a painting? Is it an installation? Is it a performance? or is it 1m worth of trash. The anonymous buyer commented: “When the hammer came down last week and the work was shredded, I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realise that I would end up with my own piece of art history”. Sotheby's representatives added "it’s the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction." What was initially planned as a Banksy trademark anti-establishment statement, that would have Marcel Duchamp laugh out loud, ended as one of the most desired artworks among the rich and powerful collectors. Banksy, apparently surprised by the partial failure of his stunt, was the first to play the game and grant a certificate of authenticity through his authentication body, Pest Control, and gave it a new title “Love is in the Bin”. The artpiece has been on permanent loan to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Museum in Germany since March 2019 until the recent resale. The artwork depicting a young girl reaching out for a heart-shaped balloon was initially stenciled on a wall in London’s West Bank in 2002. Due to its popularity it has been reproduced many times since. What makes this graffiti so eye-catching is the universality of its message and the simplicity of its visual language - the black and white silhouette of a child and the red heart-shaped balloon. It could be interpreted as a loss of innocence or the opposite, as a proof of hope. Both interpretations are valid, the duality evokes the viewer’s multiple views on hope. Who is Banksy? We simply don’t know. Despite his popularity, he managed to conceal his identity. From an outlaw kid spraying the walls of Bristol in the 90s, he has become one of the most followed contemporary artists. He is now part of the street-art hall of fame together with Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat. Banksy’s superstar status was first acknowledged by Time magazine in 2010. The graffiti artist, painter, sculpture, activist, filmmaker and provocateur made it to the world’s 100 most influential people list of that year, in the select company of Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Lady Gaga. After experimenting with different graffiti styles which almost got him arrested, he realised that he had to reduce in half the time to complete his art. Interested in the political and social nature of street art, he soon understood that the simplicity of a stencil would be the perfect medium to spread his message. At around the same time he came up with the signature tag Banksy. His interventions popped up on walls in different cities around the world, from London to Los Angeles and Israel, where he painted a series of images on the West Bank’s concrete wall, part of the barrier built to keep away the suicide bombers. Through his characters, rats, apes, childrens, kissing police officers and hooligans throwing flowers, he is propagating a message of peace, freedom and hope but also a protest against excessive authority. Next, he took on the art institutions with his prankster performance art. There, he installed his own artworks side by side masterpieces. An image of the Mona Lisa plastered with a smiley-face sticker was placed in the Louvre and in New York he attached to a wall in the Metropolitan Museum of Art a small portrait of a woman wearing a gas mask. In 2010 he produced a movie giving some insights into the creation of street art and called it Exit Through The Gift Shop. It brought him an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary category. Photo credits: Wikipedia His guerrilla art events constantly gather huge crowds and controversy. His LA show “Barely Legal”, from September 2006, had as the main exhibit a live elephant, the message: “There’s an elephant in the room...20 billion people live below the poverty line.” Banksy’s other major project, Dismaland, a “fun” park located in the British seaside resort Somerset and open to the public for five weeks in the summer of 2015 was a pop-up art exhibition in the form of an apocalyptic theme park. The Disney-like dystopian park was a group exhibition featuring 58 artists and intended as an anti-consumerism statement. Hiding behind his mysterious identity, and through humor and straight-forward social and political statements, Banksy managed to build a very powerful character. An artist who, despite his popularity, remains in control of his narratives. With the recent art market record, which will surely fire new debates, his place in the history of art of this century has been cemented. Check more graffiti and street inspired art in our curated collection. Art 1: Jumping Jill Flash, 2021, mixed media on canvas, DB de Waterman Art 2: Bump in the Road, 2021, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, Tim Fawcett References 1. Adam, G. Banksy world record as shredded work sells to Asian collector for £18.6m at Sotheby's, The Art Newspaper; 2. Badshah, N. Banksy sets auction record with £18.5m sale of shredded painting, The Guardian; 3. Ellsworth-Jones, W. The Story Behind Banksy, Smithsonian Magazine; 4. Harris, G. Banksy’s £1m self-destructing painting goes back to auction—and could sell for six times the price, The Art Newspaper; 5. Jobson, C. Welcome to Dismaland: A First Look at Banksy’s New Art Exhibition Housed Inside a Dystopian Theme Park, COLOSSAL; 6. Dr. McAndrew, C. Global Art MArket Report, Art Basel x UBS; 7. Solimano A. The Art Market at Times of Economic Turbulence and High Inequality, International Center for Globalization and Development; 8. Banksy's Love is in the Bin sells for record £16m, BBC. Author: Floarea Baenziger

RtistiQ

15 Oct 2021

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Dean O’Callaghan is an Australian artist and educator. After decades of juggling between the two careers, he is now a full-time artist. His very well defined minimalist geometric abstract style has brought him a well-deserved recognition. His art has been part of numerous exhibits in Australia and are now part of private collections. Get to know Dean and find out what are his current projects and plans. 1. Where do you live? I live and work from my studio in Moora, a rural Western Australian town around 187km north of the city of Perth. 2. Tell us a bit about you and your artistic career? I Studied Fine Arts and I took an Education Degree course at Curtin University of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Education with distinction in 1990. In 1983, I became a member of the Western Australian Contemporary Art Society and from 1987 to 1988, was elected president of the Society. During this time, I participated in many mixed exhibitions at various galleries in Perth and Fremantle. I have held three pivotal solo exhibitions in 1995, 99 and 2019. I lectured part time in visual arts in Technical and Further Education Colleges in Western Australia. Art by Georgia O’Keeffe,Alexander Rodchenko and Patrick Wilson 3. What are the biggest sources of your inspiration? I’m inspired by modern and contemporary architecture found in New York, Singapore, Melbourne, and Perth. I love Georgia O’Keeffe’s cityscapes paintings, the New York-based artist Gary Petersen and I follow Californian artist Patrick Wilson. I admire the work of Russian artists and photographers such as El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko and Arkady Sjaichet. Another constant source of inspiration are the rural landscapes of Western Australia. 4. Is there a single work, a project that is pivotal in your career? Solo exhibition in 2019 was a pivotal moment in the development of my minimalist style. 5. Could you please describe your creative process? I like to work through a process of exploring ideas using digital drawing tools. From there I transfer my design to canvas using a grid method. I mask up the canvas and apply an underpainting for each hue using a brush and follow up with final applications of color using either spray or brush techniques. By using this underpainting and spray technique, I feel that I have the option to allow subtle color variations to come through. It also provides a strong base for any final spray application. Once I have my areas of color completed, I apply line work which provides another dimension to my work. 6. What is behind the pictorial language of geometric abstraction? With my work based on architectural forms, I was looking to simplify, and to minimize the forms down to their basic shapes. Building facades, windows etc. were all treated in flat areas of colors and I became particularly interested in the Deconstructive architecture style developed in the 1980’s. With the work I produced based on rural landscapes, the geometric shapes and color were directly influenced by the shapes of fields, the color of various crops over a growing season, and road networks crisscrossing the landscape. From the beginning of 2021, I decided to take out diagonal lines and shapes and use only vertical and horizontal lines and shapes. I felt a sense of calm contemplation coming through my paintings and I became interested in using tonal variations and lines to create depth within my paintings. Enter Stage Left, 2021, Acrylic on canvas Summer Nights, 2021, Acrylic on canvas 7. In addition to being an artist you are an art educator, what advice would you give to a young artist? Having lectured in visual arts for many years, my advice to young artists is to be true to yourself. Although it is important to take influences from other artists, contemporary as well as historically, always aim to explore ways you can bring this into your own experiences and cultural heritage. Contemporary art is not about a style. It is more about what the concept is and how you use techniques and media to communicate your concept. 8. What are you working on right now? I continue to work on my paintings based on abstract minimalist forms. While I have been fortunate to have work shown on platforms such as RtistiQ, I am looking forward to an opportunity to exhibit my work in either a Singapore or European art gallery in 2022-23. 9. How did the pandemic affect your creative process? I am very fortunate to be living and working in Western Australia which has been on the most part, free from Covid 19 lockdowns. Recently my paintings have developed a Covid 19 theme but mostly, my creativity continues as normal. However, travelling internationally or indeed within Australia has led to a couple of cancelations to prominent art fairs. Arrival, 2020, Acrylic on canvas Outward Bound, 2020, Acrylic on canvas 10. Any thoughts on social media and art? Social media has provided an excellent way to get feedback from people from around the world. It’s also a way to get noticed and develop networking opportunities with galleries and art fair directors. 11. What else should we know about you? I have undertaken collaborative work with the Moora Indigenous community with the most recent being a mural at the town speedway. Learn more about the project here. Discover more art by Dean O’Callaghan by checking his profile on RtistiQ.

RtistiQ

13 Oct 2021

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Geometry is, to some degree, the basis of all painting. Artists use the basic shapes to construct a different world. By combining them in ever more elaborate ways, incredibly complex images can arise. That’s the way that geometry was used in art for thousands of years. But as modern art began to emerge, artists started using basic geometry in an abstract way. Thus the term Geometric Abstraction was developed. Rather than making art that represented real life with these fundamental shapes, artists went directly to the shapes themselves. What they found as they began doing this was a rich, mostly untold history of geometric abstraction. Cultures native to the American Southwest had been employing this style going back countless generations. Muslim cultures, given Islam’s ban on representative images, had their own tradition. And the list goes on, including yantra designs in India and Aboriginal art in Australia. Drawing from these traditions and striking out paths on their own, many artists began exploring abstract geometric art, and the results speak for themselves. Geometry art, with its emphasis on geometric shapes in art, opens up new dimensions of artistic expression. From intricate patterns to minimalist designs, artists explore the inherent beauty of geometric shapes and their interconnections. By manipulating lines, angles, and forms, geometric art stimulates visual perception and invites contemplation. Let’s look through the five of the most famous artists in the field. Piet Mondrian Composition No. 10 (1942) by Piet Mondrian Piet Mondrian (1872 to 1944) was born in the Netherlands. But his career went far afield of his homeland. Over his lifetime, he helped create abstract art. His work gradually moved from the representational to the purely abstract, giving us a clear view into the development of his thinking and style. His most popular geometric abstract art paintings contain large amounts of white space, intersected by straight lines, with some fields of primary color. That style became synonymous not only with the artist but with the growing field of modern art itself. These paintings are sophisticated, direct, and show a radical break with Western art. They remain some of the most iconic paintings of the 20th — or any — century. Wassily Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles (1913) by Wassily Kandinsky Like Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky (1866 to 1944) helped invent abstract art as we know it today. And like his contemporary, his career began as a representational artist — though he continued to push the boundaries until finally taking the leap into pure abstraction. Kandinsky’s influence is felt both from the art he created and for the theoretical works that he wrote. He helped clarify our thinking on just what geometric abstraction art is and how it works, as well as answer why we should paint in this style at all. Music had a major effect on him. Since it is purely abstract, he borrowed terms from music to describe his work and painting in general. He also imbued his art with profound spiritual feeling. Sonia Delaunay Rhythme (1938) by Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (1885 to 1979) was a force to be reckoned with. She co-founded Orphism — an art movement that combined the exuberant color of Fauvism with the visual abstraction of Cubism, all while pushing both into new frontiers past any representation. Her work is also notable for its scope. She was a painter first, but took the ideas she discovered in her studio and applied them to a wide range of practical items, like clothing and furniture. She even famously decorated a Mantra M530A sports car. Today, Delaunay’s paintings are considered high level classics in the field of geometric abstraction. Barnett Newman Onement 1 (1948) by Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (1905 to 1970) is one of the most controversial artists of the 20th century. Not because of the content of his paintings, but because of how confrontationally content-less his paintings were. He started developing surrealism paintings before landing on his devastatingly simple style. His canvases often contain just two colors, with one large field interrupted by a single stripe (consider Onement 1 pictured above). His work Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III was famously attacked by Gerard Jan van Bladeren, who stabbed it with a knife in 1986. After its $400,000 restoration, van Bladeren returned in 1997 to stab it again. He couldn’t find the painting, so he chose to deface Newman’s Cathedra instead. Kazimir Malevich Suprematism (1915) by Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Malevich (1879 to 1935) was a Russian artist whose career was not entirely in abstract art, though he gave us some of the most striking pieces in the field. He founded the school of Suprematism with his 1915 manifesto on the subject. His new art movement was based on simple shapes painted in few colors. This laid the groundwork for geometric abstraction. His suprematist paintings are daring in their simplicity, dramatic in their composition. This work goes to show that using the barest of essential elements, an artist can still make us think and, most importantly, feel. Conclusion Abstract art has captivated the world with its unconventional beauty and the boundless creativity it offers. Over the years, numerous abstract artists have risen to fame, leaving an indelible mark on the art world. Their famous abstract artwork continues to inspire and challenge perceptions of what art can be. One prominent aspect of abstract art is the incorporation of geometric elements. Geometric abstract art explores the use of precise shapes, lines, and compositions to convey emotions and ideas. The interplay of geometric forms creates a visually captivating experience, showcasing the artist's mastery of balance, symmetry, and spatial relationships. Famous abstract artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kazimir Malevich are celebrated for their contributions to geometric abstraction. Their bold geometric paintings and compositions have become iconic representations of the movement, pushing boundaries and defying traditional artistic norms. Passionate about Geometric Abstraction? Discover a handpicked selection of contemporary geometric abstract art and explore their visual language, hidden meanings and analogies.

RtistiQ

12 Oct 2021

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Surrealism painting is an amazing genre. It stormed the art world in the early 20th century, upending our notions of what could be painted and what the source of an artwork could be. Using the bizarre imagery from dreams, surrealists set the stage for a new force in all the visual arts — from painting to film, from literature to even music. The style revolutionized how we create. As with any groundbreaking movement, women made up a large portion of the best and most popular surrealist artists. Unfortunately, most people with a casual understanding of the field only know about Salvador Dali. Let’s set things right and celebrate some amazing women surrealists from around the world. Kay Sage Tomorrow is Never (1955) by Kay Sage The American Kay Sage’s (1898 to 1963) work falls on the dark side of the surrealist realm. Her pieces are brooding, desolate, and strange in the way that nightmare landscapes are strange. In other words, her work is incredible. Her paintings frequently make use of architectural motifs, often in a state of decay. She often used landscapes to define a large space, with dreary cloud cover to create an atmosphere of dread. While she was relatively well known during her lifetime, she never quite reached the heights that her work deserves. There is some renewal of interest in her today, and we hope that it continues. Her contribution to the surrealist movement should never be forgotten. Leonora Carrington The Giantess (1947) by Leonora Carrington Leonora Carrington (1917 to 2011) was born in the UK, though her later life in Mexico has made her legacy split by the Atlantic Ocean. Carrington was a prolific painter whose career marched on across seven decades. Over that time, her output included painting, sculpture, and writing. Many of her paintings draw from mythology, with an eerie starkness that brings a certain tinge of terror to her canvases. The contemporary art market has moved Carrington paintings for huge sums of money, like the $1.5 million price that The Giantess (pictured above) garnered in 2009. While in Mexico, she not only thrived as an artist but also as a political activist, helping to found the women’s liberation movement there in the 70s. JeeYoung Lee Love Seek (2014) by JeeYoung Lee JeeYoung Lee (born 1983) is an artist from South Korea. Her work is a contemporary play on surrealist imagery. Her process usually involves creating elaborate sets in her studio. She then photographs these dreamscapes, usually using herself as the model. Lee’s work is captivating and freeing to witness. The bizarre merges with the candy colored to create a trademark style. It’s also refreshing to see what artists can do by combining surrealism with photography. By bringing in reality through the camera, the effect of the strangeness is all the more poignant. While still fairly young, Lee has already achieved a high level of notoriety and exhibited internationally. Her name will no doubt continue to rise in the art world, as she has so much more time to produce great surrealist art. Portia Zvavahera Arising From the Unknown (2019) by Portia Zvavahera Portia Zvavahera (born 1985) was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she lives today. Her work takes some influence from her homeland, and her imagery is often taken from her dreams — a cornerstone of surrealism. Zvavahera’s brushwork and printmaking are brought together on canvases that express deeply human challenges, all while reveling in otherworldly settings. Her use of bold colors and striking composition wring out a great level of emotion in her work. Her paintings are widely celebrated around the world. She appears in international shows, in both solo and group exhibitions, and she has emerged as one of the most important contemporary voices in the art world. Remedios Varo Useless Science or the Alchemist (1955) by Remedios Varo Remedios Varo (1908 to 1963) was born in Spain, though her career took her across the world. She participated in the first wave of surrealism, helping to lay the groundwork for all the generations to come. While her painting is forward thinking in some respects, she took a great deal of influence from Renaissance art. Many of her paintings are highly allegorical, balanced in composition, and painted with many techniques borrowed from Renaissance masters. This gives her work a high level of continuity with the history of European art, despite her surrealist content. By the time of her death in the early 60s, Varo’s influence had spread far and wide. Her 1971 retrospective in Mexico City drew larger crowds than a similar event for Diego Rivera. That level of popularity is well deserved, as she left behind a stunning legacy of artwork. Passionate about Surrealism? Discover our curated collection of Surrealism paintings. This collection is perfect for art lovers who are looking to decorate their homes/offices.

RtistiQ

08 Oct 2021

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We3’ve talked about the lasting appeal of black and white photography even discussed great painters who’ve turned to a black and white palette to create masterpieces. Now, it’s time to return to color. Because while there is certainly a place for monochromatic art, there is simply no denying the power of color. It is one of the most important tools in the artist’s toolkit. When we see rich colors in paintings, we have a surge of emotion, physical sensations, and a million little associations we’ve made with the color over our lives come rushing back. Getting Color Right Before learning how to use color in art, getting the color right is an important first step. For much of its history, Western art has tried to achieve realism through color, capturing it on the canvas through ever more advanced techniques. Nevertheless, there were still things artists could do with color to surprise and inform viewers. For instance, Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675) subtly used complementary and near-complementary colors to generate visualinterest (see above). And many, many artists would reach for certain colors for their symbolic meaning. Still, color was mostly limited to parodying real life. It wasn’t until the 19th century that things began to get more exciting for color. Monet Paints Light Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, facing left (1886) by Claude Monet Led by the likes of Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), the Impressionists tried to grasp how things actually looked in the moment. Monet in particular was fascinated by the way that time of day radically changed the true colors he was seeing. Monet was onto something, we now know that the visual cortex in the brain is capable of rapidly adjusting to light conditions, despite the actual color signals coming into the eye. He also used color theory extensively, making sure to bring complimentary colors together — pairs like purple and yellow, red and green, blue and orange. These colors set off each other, making both more intense. Still, this was all realistic in a sense. It was done to bring about a more human reality into painting. It would take a new wave of artists to go one step further. Matisse and Escaping Color Realism Woman with a Hat (1905) by Henri Matisse Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) was an unparalleled forward thinker in art. Along with Picasso, he completely upended tradition’s centuries-long stranglehold on Western art. His experimental use of color is, to this day, his most long lasting achievement. He helped form Fauvism, a movement that broke the convention of using color realistically. Instead, he went for bright, bold colors — using them to create visual interest and aesthetic beauty, rather than strictly mimic reality. Fauvism only lasted a little over a decade, but the implications were enormous. They would go on to shake the foundations of the art world and help usher in modern art. Abstraction and Color No. 61(Rust and Blue) (1953) by Mark Rothko : Copyright Mark Rothko Fauvism pushed artists to be more creative and freer on their canvases than ever before, and later movements would use this new impulse to their full advantage. Abstract art moves away from representation entirely. In the early 20th century, artists began to experiment with this style. Some made less representational paintings of real objects, while others went off to paint entirely abstract compositions. And many cared deeply about color. Painters like Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) even worked through the spiritual importance of color, embedding his works with emotionally poignant hues. By the mid-century, Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko (Orange & Yellow Mark Rothko) (1903 – 1970) got rid of any pretense of a scene, building extremely simple compositions out of blocks of color. While controversial even to this day, his work studied the essence and character of colors, and examined how the simplest of contexts can change the underlying feeling. Since the Abstract Expressionists, contemporary art has gone on to continue where they left off. We are still seeing new approaches, new ideas, and new relationships between the artist and their palette. The history of art can never be understood without grasping that most fundamental of elements: color. Passionate about colors? Discover our curated art collection related to colors below. 1. Purple & Wine Artworks 2. Orange& Yellow Artworks Artworks exploring Cold Colors 3. Artworks exploring Cold Colors

RtistiQ

29 Sep 2021

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We’ve talked about the power of black and white photography in a previous article, now it is time to dive into great black and white artworks made without a camera. The following artists have created masterpieces using only two colors. We see in their work a heightened sense of composition and the ability to communicate just as much (if not more) with a limited palette. M.C. Escher Ascending and Descending (1960) by M.C. Escher Copyright M.C. Escher The Black & White artwork of M.C. Escher continues to delight us today, teasing our minds with fascinating, mathematically inspired pieces. His work playfully explores themes like tessellation, impossible objects, and the concept of infinity. Surprisingly, Escher wasn’t a mathematician by training. Instead, he absorbed the ideas as an artist, giving them life in the studio through an artistic, rather than a mathematical, process. His most popular works (like Hand with Reflecting Sphere [1935], Drawing Hands [1948], and Tower of Babel [1928] to name only a few) have gone on to be published extensively, making his work some of the most seen and beloved in our time. Kazimir Malevich, Black Square (1915) Black Square (1915) by Kazimir Malevich Malevich lived on the bleeding edge of the art world, both as an artist and critic. When he completed Black Square in 1915, he dragged the art world out into the avant garde with him. This achievement is simply a white background with a black square painted on it, a devastatingly simple composition. Hailed (and hated) at the time for bringing art back to the “zero point of painting,” it continues to be controversial to this day. Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937) Guernica (1937) by Pablo Picasso Copyright Pablo Picasso Picasso’s massive masterpiece Guernica was painted to lament and commemorate the bombing of the eponymous city on April 26, 1937. It was during the Spanish Civil War, and the Basque town was bombed by both German Nazi and Italian Fascist forces to support the fascistcause there. To express the depths of sadness, Picasso eliminated color — a bold choice. But taking away color did not take away any of the painting’s power, in fact, the black & white artworks highlighted the severity of destruction and the despair of the event. Bridget Riley and Op Art Movement in Squares (1961) by Bridget Riley Copyright Bridget Riley Bridget Riley is one of the most accomplished names in Op Art — a style that creates visual art using optical illusions. While Riley has plenty of color work, her most popular pieces are often in black and white (like Movement in Squares [1961], pictured above). When you see these monochromatic patterns, the eye often is tricked into visualizing movement and even color. Robert Longo Longo has had a long and productive career in many mediums, but his black and white drawings — often working off of photographs — have made up his most important output. He reached prominence through his Men in the Cities series, depicting men and women in business attire caught in contorted poses. One cannot decide if these people are lost in a dance, being shot, or suffering convulsions. By sticking with black and white, the images have the sense of being objective, clinical. The series has gone on to be recognized as one of the most important of a generation. READ: How Artists use colors in their work. Jackson Pollock There might be no bigger name in abstract art than Jackson Pollock. His kinetic process of flinging paint onto canvases has ignited the delight and imagination of millions of art lovers. While he often used color, many of his compositions were purely in black and white (like the aptly named Black and White (Number 6) [1951]). These show all the forceful energy of his work, which is his calling card, while peeling away color. Franz Kline Painting Number 2 (1954) by Franz Kline Copyright Franz Kline One of the luminaries of mid-century abstract expressionism, Kline grew to popularity with only two colors: black and white. His striking compositions are now famous, with his style becoming iconic, even beyond the name of the painter himself. The story goes that Kline landed on his style because of some friendly advice from fellow artist Willem de Kooning, who told him to break a creative lull by drawing on his studio wall using a projector. That led Kline to pursue large, abstract art. Victor Vasarely Like Bridget Riley on this list, Victor Vasarely was a pioneer in the Op Art movement. And like RIley, his work often only uses black and white to achieve its effects. In pieces like Supernovae (1961), he is able to create dimensionality and movement without color, relying on small adjustments to a repeating grid to produce optical illusions in the human eye. Black and White Wall Art When we think of black and white, we almost always think in terms of fine art photography. But this list, far from complete, shows just how much other visual artists have been able to accomplish when they bring things back to these two fundamental forces of light and dark. Discover our curated collection of Black & White Artworks today.

RtistiQ

29 Sep 2021

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Technology changes the way we make art. It always has, always will. As new pigments have become available, painters begin to use those new colors see our article on purple for a great example Photography, more than perhaps any other medium, is connected to progress in the underlying technology. After all, it wasn’t even possible to photograph anything until 1822, when the first photoetching was achieved. Since that time, new innovations created the ability for people to photograph on film, and it took about 100 years for that process to become fast and convenient enough for photographers to set out easily to take pictures. Even still, almost all of these photos were in black and white (also called monochrome), able only to capture the intensity of a light source. Even though color photography could technically be done by the mid 19th century, it was much more expensive and difficult. Through the 20th century, many of the technical limitations with color photography were overcome. Eventually, everyone with a few extra dollars could be a color photographer. For journalists and most at-home family documentarians, color was embraced as soon as it was feasible. But what do we see in fine art photography? The persistence of black and white photography themes. What was once a technical necessity, a choice forced on the photographer by the realities of their medium, is now a choice. And photographers continue to make the choice to shoot in black and white, and in large numbers. Let’s examine why artists still work in this style, and what we as art lovers gain from that decision. Taking Focus Probably the most persistent reason that photographers choose black and white over color is the way it changes their perspective and allows them to focus on fewer elements. Without color, compositions take on new dimensions. Darkness versus light becomes the central way that these photographs achieve texture and form. It’s that classic line that you hear for advice in any creative field: limitations are good for discovery. By taking color away, photographers can focus on fewer elements, leading to surprising images that wouldn’t land with the same force if color was involved. What that means is that photographers open up their work to a much wider range of subjects. By simplifying what they can present, they can actually present more. The Classic Feel Nostalgia is important, and that’s why the connotations around black and white photography are so powerful. When we take black and white photographs, we aren’t just capturing an image, we are creating a work of art. These photographs carry with them more than the scene they present, they carry an aesthetic that means something in and of itself. Black and white photographs appear serious, serene, and timeless. It can lend even the most contemporary scene (like someone scrolling on their smartphone) the air of all that fine art photography that came before. It is a visual bridge, lending heft and gravitas to the subject matter. That alone can be an interesting choice. By recontextualizing moments with black and white, we can hold them up and analyze them as crucial parts of the human condition. Go Toward the Light As we mentioned, black and white photography limits the elements you can focus on. The most crucial element of that is light. And nothing quite captures light in as pure a way as black and white photography. Without color, our eyes can easily make sense of how light is interacting with the world. Often, color adds in detail that actually obscures what light is doing. You have to have a well trained eye to see how light is actually bouncing around a scene when it is in full color. But black and white photography simplifies this, allowing the viewer to see effortlessly the living reality of light. That single feature of black and white photography has given us some of our most cherished images of the last century, and it will no doubt create more as we move into the future. The Future of Black and White Photography We live in an era where everyone has a smartphone capable of taking a seemingly infinite amount of photos instantly. They can be full color or black and white, and you can switch between with a tap of the screen. They can be morphed, adjusted, and augmented instantaneously — no more long hours in the dark room. What we see is that, despite these options, people are still drawn to the simplicity and narrative power of black and white. With so many options, people are still compelled to reach for this classic look. It seems that no matter what technological progress we make, black and white photography is here to stay. While it was created by accident out of the technical limits of a certain time, it has proven to be an important artform all its own. Passionate about Black & White photography themes? Discover timeless Black & White Artworks on RtistiQ.

RtistiQ

29 Sep 2021

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As the painter Mark Rothko used orange and yellow in his mature work, our artists today continue to use these warm colors moving the viewer’s perception of a luminescence to a place of mystical insight. It is through such bold color interactions that the spiritual essence of our contemporary artists is revealed. The result, for the viewer, can be an unbounded sense of awareness-even a kind of theology presenting itself... Rothko was insistent that his art was filled with content and brimming with love ideas. Still, he tried to remove all evidence of himself in the creative process. The layering of many thin washes helped to give his paintings a lightness and brightness as if they are glowing from within. In both instances the inner life of the painter opens itself up to alchemical magic and a mystery of theological proportions. Then, one is opened to the existential questions at the base of the human condition. It is here that Rothko’s sleight of hand brings the viewer closer to their own inherent desires for a benevolent meaning behind the things of this world. The ultimate aesthetic journey is offered to us through the possibility of the intricacies of Rothko’s color. Here we experience how art helps us as a balm, a salve onto the flesh of our souls. When tracing the mature work of Mark Rothko, back to the beginnings of his first imagery, one is able to uncover a truly seminal surrealistic vocabulary. The buried bodies of mythological creatures, stacked and organized in mystical tomb-like organization have alway fascinated lovers of Abstract Expressionism. Jackson Pollock’s, surrealistic imagery of human creatures, seem to me to have piggy-backed their way into modern art by way of the early ‘buried’ figures of Rothko. It has been written that these buried stacks of mythical bodies represent dying and dead ancestors in the artist’s family. A post-WWII consideration of such a spiritual journey by members of Rothko’s kin reveal the concrete tribulations experienced by the artist and the always threatening and gaping existential maw in the life of such a devoutly serious artist. From my own contemplation of Rothko’s “Orange and Yellow”, I think of the continual paradox in science that theoretically pulses me into the hearsay world of quantum mechanics. We “blink into and out of existence” say the scientists when contemplating matters of meta-reality—time and space. In his own way Rothko was affirming, in his most momentous works, the same metaphysical paradoxes of our greatest scientists. Both as sanctuary and quiet disruption, the art of Rothko teaches the art lover to travel in humanity’s psychological states. As we age in our search for our greatest humanity, death and transcendence simply resolve into an Inevitability we have always sensed might be true. “The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them,” said the artist. An intellectual among the painters of his time, he was well versed in the Greek Tragedies, especially Aeschylus, and later in Shakespeare. Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy was an early and important influence. In his art, Rothko both affirms religious reality and takes it away. As one Anglican vicar told the Times of London a few years ago when the Tate Modern mounted an exhibition of Rothko’s late work, “For me the paintings are the tablets of stone of Mount Sinai, but with the commandments lost. They are icons of the absence of God.” Rothko would speak of the subject matter of his paintings as “the human drama”, especially that part of the drama involving death. All art, he said, “deals with the intimations of mortality.” We can certainly see this in “Orange and Yellow.” Still, in spite of the threat of death, all art dissolves in the immensity of a truly benevolent spirit. Inspired by Mark Rothko? Discover our curated collection of artworks that incorporates Orange and Yellow. Experience the illusion of these warm colors emanating light from within.

RtistiQ

23 Sep 2021

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