The art market has many traditions and ways that people do things that might not easy to grasp if you are just getting into it. Two of the most important are the certificate of authenticity and provenance. These two factors are extremely important to the price of an artwork and the buyer's ability to resell later at the same (or, hopefully, higher) value. These two concepts are essential oar on oneand for anyone going to navigate the art market, yet many people aren’t sure what they are. And even if they know what these concepts are, they still might not understand why they are so important. In the article below, we’ll explain exactly what these two terms mean and why they are important to the art market — and why you should take them seriously when buying art yourself. What is a Certificate of Authenticity? A certificate of authenticity is a document that offers proof of proper attribution to the Artist who created the artwork. It has typically been a piece of paper with the information on the artwork and its unique attributes, the Artists details, and signed by the Artist or a competent authority who has apprised the work before. When you buy a work of art, a certificate of authenticity is almost always provided. If not, be sure to ask for one. This little slip of paper might not seem like much, but it can mean the difference between having a work of art that nobody trusts is originally attributed to the artist, and one that offers you the right value when you resell. Without a valid certificate, it becomes hard for the art market to easily identify the creators details. If a fraudulent painting is convincing enough, most experts won’t be able to tell which painting is an original and which is a replica. That can be dangerous for the art market, because it relies on the unique value of the original for much of its price tags. Similar to artwork the certificate also can be easily copied or recreated, one of the reasons why in recent years sellers have begun to add holograms and other difficult to duplicate features to their certificates and linking back to their original. With a certificate of authenticity, you have a vital piece of evidence that the painting you own is the real deal, not a forgery. That leads us to our next term. What is the Provenance of an Artwork? As with so much nomenclature in the artworld, provenance is a word that comes from French. Provenir means “to come from,” and that’s exactly what it means. Provenance shows the history of people and institutions that have owned a work of art throught its life term. The evidence that makes up the provenance of a work can be varied. Provenance can be made up using: Certificate of authenticity Receipt from the artist Receipt from the original gallery sale Auction records and sale reciepts Restoration details and reciepts Appraisal from an expert in the era When you want to preserve the provenance of an artwork you buy, always give preference to the written word. Someone just telling you that a painting is the real deal is not enough to prove that it is a genuine original created by the Artist of interest. The provenance of some artworks is better established than others, and it’s always a good thing to factor in when you are purchasing a work of art. You don’t want to pay the price of an original only to later find you have a forgery. Why do These Matter? As we can see, certificates of authenticity are closely linked to provenance. Those certificates often make up a good deal of an artwork’s provenance. Together, they speak to one of the most important features of a work on the art market: originality. But why is originality so important? The art market has a difficult job. It has to figure out a way to price and move pieces that have a highly subjective value. But one of the main ways that people have agreed to value art is on originality. Sure, part of that originality is in how original the ideas or techniques being employed are. But a more important form of originality is in the object itself: is this the original or is it a copy? But establishing if something is a copy can be hard. As we mentioned earlier, a really good forger can even trick the experts. And if you also have good forgeries of documents to establish provenance, then you have a big problem on your hands. In general, provenance and certificates of authenticity are ways that offer some level of protection from purchasing a forgery. By understanding them, you have a much better chance of getting valuable work for yourself that might turn out to be a good investment one day. Read our quick guide on how to secure your art in today’s digital economy.

RTISTIQ TEAM

20 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

Believe it or not, Millennial pink is a color. Still hard to pinpoint the exact shade of pink, it is sometimes described as "dusty pink", "quartz pink" or "peach pink". Clear thing is that it has become the statement color of a generation. Since being announced as PANTONE color of the year in 2016, this pastel color has grown to become one of the most loved shades in fashion, design, or art. If for Gen Z (Millennials) pink is hip, strong, and androgynous, if you think about but the recent appropriation by feminists around the world as a powerful, socio-political mark, through the “pussyhats”, this pastel color has a long history of shifts in cultural significance and symbolistic. Pompadour Rose In the West, pink first became fashionable in the mid 18th century, when European aristocrats, men and women equally, wore powdery color garments as a symbol of luxury and social class. Madame de Pompadour, the official mistress of Louis XV, loved the color so much that, in 1757, French porcelain manufacturer Sèvres had to create a line of porcelain decorated with an exquisite new shade of pink and named it after her, Rose Pompadour. A Sèvres 'Rose Pompadour'-ground vase and stand circa 1758 Madame de Pompadour (1759) by François Boucher Mass-produced Pink For the following century, Pink continued to be worn by both men and women, as well by children regardless of gender. The meaning of pink took a turn inl the mid 19th century when the feminization of pink begun. Pink became an expression of delicacy at the same time with men in the Western world transitioning towards wearing mostly dark, sober colors. At around the same time, Pink developed the first erotic connotation, suggesting the color of flushed skin. Lingerie in shades of pink became increasingly common. The industrial revolution making the mass-produced goods widely available meant a shift from sophistication to vulgar. Pink went from luxury to working-class. As seen in the interior depicted by post-impressionist artists at the beginning of teh 20th century, the color pink was well adopted by the mainstream. A pink corset from the 1880s credit: FIT Museum La Chambre Rose (The Pink Bedroom) 1910, Edouard Vuillard The Pink Studio During the 20th century pink’s cultural significance underwent further shifts, especially in art. Its exotic appearance made it a perfect choice for Matisse and other fauvists who were refusing to accept that color must reflect the real world, as seen in his painting The Pink Studio which in reality had no pink walls. The Pink Studio (1911), Henri Matisse Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in Pink In the male-dominated world of Dadaists, Surrealism and American Abstract Expressionism, pink was of no interest for artists. The same attitude towards this color was reflected by the wider society. By the 1950s, pink had become more gender-coded than ever, thanks to postwar advertising, especially in America. Pink was used as a symbol of hyper-femininity and gender-based roles in society, creating the stereotype: "pink for girls, blue for boys". Merlyn Monroe, the embodiment of the the 1950s idea of femininity, soft-spoken, erotic but short-lived, as a flower, is often remembered for her pink gown from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Pink goes Pop By the 1960s, pink was flourishing within pop culture. The dresses were pink, the bathrooms were bubblegum pink. Even the most tragic event of the decade, the assassination of JFK, had a touch of pink. On that day the first lady Jackie Kennedy, a fashion icon, was wearing a raspberry pink suit designed by Chanel. As a translation of mainstream culture into high art, pink found its way back into art through Pop Art. Through the art of Andy Warhol, David Hockney and even minimalist artists, such as Dan Flavin pink resurged in art during the 60s’. Pinkout of a Corner (1963), Dan Flavin MarilynMonroe (1967), Andy Warhol Pink with a Punk Attitude Over the past decades, the degree of association between femininity and pink has both grown and shrunk. In the ’80s the gender identification through color was made from birth, in the ‘90s and early 2000s, toy-store aisles that featured toys for girls became exclusively pink. But a the same time, pink was reclaimed by gay rights activists since the ‘70s. Furthermore, since the rise to the cultural dominance of girl bands (Spice Girls) and female punk-rock leading figures (Gwen Stefani’s fuchsia pink hair) in the ’90s and 2000s, pink has been reclaimed as a symbol of feminine power and strength. Restaurant designed in 2014 by India Mahdavi Pink and the Millennials Once a color statement for all things feminine, pink is now widely accepted as an almost gender-neutral color, due to the popularity of Millennial Pink, a dusty, subtle shade, which became ubiquitous in the 2010s. Used in fashion, design, architecture, and art, it became the go-to color for a generation willing to accept differences and embrace weaknesses. The Millenials that grew up with social media and instantaneous exchange of information are whilling to openly speak about formally considered taboo subjects, such as mental health or gender identity. Their approch to life is softer, as a toned-down shade of pink. Their addoption of pink (Millennial Pink) came as a reaction against the stereotypes associated with pink. View from Wes Anderson’s cult movie The Grand Hotel Budapest (2014) Having said all this, let’s not forget that the meaning of any color is a cultural construct, it’s the society that is giving meaning to colors. As the years will pass by, the meaning of Pink might shift again and again. If I got your attention and we sparked your interest in Pink, check our curated collection of contemporary art: Millennial Pink and Other Pastels. Author: Floarea Baenziger

FLOAREA BAENZIGER

17 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

Dan Arcus in his studio Dan Arcus is a Brussels-based contemporary artist. Having studied in Cluj, Romania, he draws inspiration not only from cinema and books but as well from news and social media. In his elaborate compositions he often depicts historical subjects taking part in imaginary scenes. His work invites the viewer to question reality. 1. Where do you live right now? I live in an apartment in Brussels, Belgium, and my studio is downstairs. 2. Where do you look for inspiration? My inspiration comes from a great variety of sources: cinema and books, television but also news, social media, and online archives. My concepts are generated by processing all the information I access. Very often it comes as a subtle irony or prediction of the outcomes of the ridiculous, the absurd, the ignorance, and the arrogance of our society. DAN ARCUS, Figure Study AV 3. How do you see the role of figuration in contemporary art? Since the "liberation" of the art market facilitated by the online, many of the aesthetic or conceptual codes have been adjusted to a more inclusive selection of artists, more accessible to the general public, and less interested in the complexity of the artistic process or pretentious conceptual explorations. For any market, the role of the public is essential. Most people receive an aesthetic education from nature, quotidian images, cinema, television, and maybe a brief encounter with very famous old masters during school years. Therefore, the emotional impact of an artwork depends, in many cases, on the viewers’ ability to interpret an image through the familiar aesthetic codes that they are familiar with. “Figuration” in contemporary art takes many forms and develops on different levels of accurate representation of the surrounding reality, hence the ability to provoke an emotional response, a debate, or a review, through content that is familiar to a larger part of society. Due to this principle, a higher interest in figurative art is generated, therefore a higher demand for it. On the other hand, the same wide market continues to appreciate and choose abstract art for its decorative role of an interior and for the neutrality of the conceptual or symbolic interpretations of that image. In many cases, abstract art becomes the "safe" choice. Figurative art facilitates the communication of philosophical ideas, making them accessible to a large part of society, and can be a very powerful tool for information dissemination. The role of figuration in contemporary art is not very different from what it used to be in the past. It continues to inform, educate, stimulate emotions, and to question. It also generates technological development and the exploration of artistic processes or the science behind them. It remains essential in the basic training of any professional artist. DAN ARCUS, Ritualic gestures I, II and V 4. How would you describe the relationship between art and society? Is society reflected in art? First of all, art is for society! In any shape, art is made for people and its ultimate purpose should be considered in relation to society. (I exclude the artistic manifestations of other species since I don't think it is relevant here). Last year has brought to the public’s attention the concept of "essential occupations". When the majority declares art as unessential and easy to discard in case of an ultimate survival test for humanity, they ignore the fact that artists are part of the creation of almost everything man-made. Can anyone imagine a society without music, literature, cinema, television, fashion, design, architecture, etc?! Can anyone imagine how the screen of a smartphone would look without the design team to shape the product, the user interface, and so on? How about surviving through the pandemic without Netflix? :P Joke aside, probably no species need art to survive, but humanity does! So art and society are so strongly intertwined that separating one from another would be like separating the structure of a building from the building itself. The building would collapse and the structure, even if it still stands, would lose its purpose. DAN ARCUS, The Evaluators, detail 5. How do you choose the topics of your artistic explorations? My artistic exploration develops in two directions - the psychological impact of the image and the technical means to achieve an emotional response. The topics I choose are usually related to my perception of contemporary society and the increasingly finer line between what reality is and what we are told it is. We are experiencing in recent years unprecedented uncertainty over what is real and what is fabricated and ultimately what is good or wrong. Many of us feel the need to escape the pressure, to navigate and discern through the jungle of information. The topics I choose are either related to observing the society’s reaction to this phenomenon or create a refuge in an alternate reality with possible metaphorical interpretations that would invite contemplation or meditation. 6. How relevant is your heritage for your art? I cannot determine precisely how much my Romanian heritage has influenced my artistic production or if it plays an essential role. Of course, much of who I am today was formed during the years I grew up, through the education I received in Romania. I probably include unconsciously in the artistic process aspects of my culture but in my work, I’m not determined by any cultural, ethnic, or geographical boundaries. I like to believe that I am first a citizen of planet Earth, then of Europe, and only then of Romania and Belgium. So my cultural heritage is probably as important as this order suggests. DAN ARCUS Fish Tank 7. What is your main medium? Are you looking to explore other media in the future? I work mainly in oil and pastel but I do a lot of experimentation with inks, pencils, acrylics, etc. I am enhancing my digital skills in order to develop relevant media. I am as well flirting with 3D software so I could explore 3D printing and sculpture. 8. Any thoughts on social media and art? Social media is a reality. Whether some dispute it and others embrace it, everybody should agree that it is a powerful tool of information dissemination. That being said, I cannot think of a better contemporary channel for increasing visibility for art. 9. What else we should know about you? Even though I am not that much in touch with the fashion world anymore, from time to time I like to take on different projects that give me a reason to put myself up to date with the latest pulse of this domain, and of course, it is always very nice to see people wearing something I’ve created. Discover more art by Dan Arcus by checking his profile on RtistiQ.

RtistiQ

15 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

After months-long waiting and the 2020 cancellation, the Met Gala is about to take place on Monday, September 13. The high-profile event is a fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Under her decades-long patronage of the fashion editor-in-chief of Vogue USA, Anna Wintour has transformed this social and charitable event into the “Fashion’s biggest night out”. Each year it attracts larger crowds and an impressive list of A-class celebrities among the guests and co-hosts. The Costume Institute will host its first two-part exhibition, on the theme of American fashion, during 2021 and 2022. Part one, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” will open in the Anna Wintour Costume Center on September 18, 2021, and will remain on display when “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” opens on May 5, 2022, in the period rooms of the American Wing. Both shows will run through September 5, 2022. Rihanna wearing a spectacular gown created by the Chinese designer Guo Pei at Met Gala 2015 The biggest names in Hollywood are set to descend upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a breathtaking red-carpet parade of avant-garde ensembles celebrating fashion as a form of art. On this occasion, we are looking back at the permanent exchange of ideas, concepts, and inspiration between designers and artists. Elsa Schiaparelli The Lobster Dress designed by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1937 in collaboration with Salvador Dali A 2017 reedition of Schiappirelli’s design One of the most avant-gardist fashion designers, who remains a rich source of inspiration even today, is Elsa Schiaparelli. She had a keen interest in Dadaism and Surrealism and was part of the social circle of Francis Picabia and Man Ray. Besides being credited with creating the first sweater with a surrealist trompe l’oeil image of a bow, the first newspaper print (repurposed by Jean Paul Gaultier for his couture debut and now considered a staple look of the 90s after being worn by the fictional character Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO TV series Sex and the City) and the first wrap dress (later revisited and adopted by the American designer Diane von Fürstenberg in the 1970s), she is well known for her many collaborations with some of the most innovative artists from the 1930s and ’40s. The Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti cast in bronze one-of-a-kind buttons for Schiappirelli’s coats. Man Ray often asked her to model for his photographs. Meret Oppenheim designed a fur bracelet in 1936 for Schiaparelli’s winter collection, the piece was the precursor to the artist’s iconic surrealist fur-covered teacup. An evening coat embroidered in a pattern that reads simultaneously as a vase and two confronting was a product of her collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Perhaps her most famous collaboration was with the surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dali. In 1935 the duo designed a perfume bottle shaped like a telephone dial, in 1937 the Shoe hat was inspired by a photograph of Dalì with his wife’s slipper on his head. Often considered scandalous, as the artists themselves and the female figures that wore dresses (Wallis Simpson were the Lobster Dress on her honeymoon), Schiaparelli’s couture creations stood the test of time. The House of Schiaparelli decided to reedit the infamous Lobster dress for the Spring 2017 season. Schiaparelli's collaborations with Dada and Surrealist artists resulted in some of the most renowned works of twentieth-century haute couture Dior Fall/winter 2020/2021 collection, Le Mythe Dior inspired by surrealist female artists Maria Grazia Chiuri Another couturier whose creativity has been shaped by feminist art is the head designer of Dior, the Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri. In 2020 Chiuri commission Judi Chicago, the subversive feminist artist, to create a set-cum-art installation for the iconic couture house’s spring runway show at the Musée Rodin in Paris. More recently, for the fall/winter 2020/2021 collection (Le Mythe Dior), during the difficult times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the designer created a fairytale world populated by nymphs and naiads, Venus, Narcissus, a faun and inspired by the less-known Surrealist artists and muses: Lee Miller, Dora Maar, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington, and Jacqueline Lamba. “Surrealist images manage to make visible what is in itself invisible,” Chiuri said of the collection in a statement. “I’m interested in mystery and magic, which are also a way of exorcising uncertainty about the future.” Yves Saint Laurent The Mondrian Dress design by Yves Saint Laurent in 1965 Piet Mondrian Composition C (No.III) with Red, Yellow and Blue No other moment in the history of fashion captured the public’s imagination better than the Mondrian dress designed by the French designer Yves Saint Laurent in the 1960s. This period coincided with the women’s liberation movement when women started wearing mini-skirts and loose-fitting dresses that placed fewer constraints on the body. Saint Laurent realized that the planarity of the A dress, very fashionable at that time, was an ideal field for color blocks. He demonstrated a great skill of dressmaking, setting each block of jersey to create the resemblance with the Mondrian paintings and at the same time to accommodate the curves of the female body in the grid of seams. Yves Saint Laurent went on to create haute couture outfits inspired by other artists such as Van Gogh and Picasso, but his Mondrian dress remains until today one of the most recognizable designs and at the same time a cultural symbol of the 60s. Few designers can claim such a profound influence on the way women dress as Yves Saint Laurent. The pieces he pioneered – the man’s tuxedo, cut for a woman’s body, the safari jacket, the trench coat – are now so congruous with women’s wardrobes that they seem like they have been there forever. The marriage between art and fashion is more stable than ever. As recent as 2020, Moschino’s Creative Director Jeremy Scott took inspiration from famous painters in his Spring/Summer 2020 collection with models appearing to have stepped straight out of a Picasso’s cubist masterpieces. Pierpaolo Piccioli, the creative director of the Italian house Valentino envisioned for his most recent collection a dialogue with more than 15 emerging artists and established artists—including names like Luca Coser, Jamie Nares, Wu Rui, and Malte Zenses. Discover more artworks by emerging and established artists in our curated collections.

RtistiQ

13 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

Purple. One of the most dynamic and impressive colors in the visible light spectrum, it continues to exude power and prestige. In many cultures, this hue has been used to identify a monarch. And that connection continues to the present day. Combining the cool presence of blue with the robust charisma of red, purple is one of the most enigmatic colors. It seems electric at times, at other times serene. It merges the strengths of both cool and warm colors, standing as an entity unto itself. To understand why purple has such a pull on us, we need to understand its long history — social, political, and artistic. The Early History of Making Purplerait of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (circa 1780) by Fyodor Rokotov Part of the appeal and mystique of this color throughout the past few millennia has been the extreme difficulty we’ve had producing it. The first millennia BC saw one purple pigment emerge, but it came at a high price. (While manganese was used in the neolithic to make purple, it would not be common again until the modern era.) While today you can purchase purple paint for a few dollars at any craft store, it used to be an expensive and daunting task. One of the first ways we created it was through the murex shellfish. This creature could be used to produce a pigment called purpura, also known as Tyrian purple But hundreds of thousands of murex were required to make even a small amount, limiting its use to the richest and most powerful people in society. One famous lover of Tyrian purple was none other than Julius Caesar. And he got a taste for it while visiting Cleopatra’s palace. Caesar wasn’t satisfied with having a lot of purple, he made it illegal for anyone else to wear it. Nero would later become even more committed, making it a capital offense, meaning death for anyone who dared to wear the great leader’s favorite color. While Rome eventually fell, the status it gave purple survived. For European kings, this was the color to show your regal status. Even the Catholic Church used purple for the robes of bishops. But as it so often does, technology eventually came in to democratize access to purple. But while the economics of the color changed, it nevertheless continued its hold on the imagination. Purple for the Masses The Artist’sGarden at Giverny (1900) by Claude Monet It was the precocious William Henry Perkiin who created the first synthetic purple pigment in 1856 — he was only a teenager at the time. While working with coal tar as a potential cure for malaria, he couldn’t help but notice the purple patina the material gave his instruments. What once was a color reserved for the elite of society could be created with this inexpensive base. Soon after this pigment was discovered — creating what the inventor called mauve — a new generation of artists were seeking to capture natural light on their canvases. Called the Impressionists, this group fell in love with purple, and for the first time it was relatively easy to acquire it. They used it so much that they were accused of “violettomania” by art critics. With high demand meeting high supply, purple was everywhere. As the Impressionists came and went, new waves of artists continued to experiment with purple artworks. Some of the greatest names in 20th century art made extensive use of the color — none other than Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon, and Georgia O’Keeffe make up only a few of the masters transfixed by purple. Pop art picked up the color as well, finding its exuberance and, at times, tackiness a perfect choice for their works. In the 80s, industrial and graphic designers used the color frequently, especially the Memphis school which came to define the look of the era. Purple Today It is interesting to scroll through the visual culture today and see just how much the design of the 80s and 90s is being referenced. Those references often include heavy use of one color: purple. It seems that purple, more than any color, has left an indelible stamp on us. From its origins as a rare commodity, the exclusive hue of the emperor, to its status as the color du jour of fine art, to its ubiquitous presence in pop culture — purple has kept us captivated. As we move further into the 21st century, there is no doubt that we will make use of purple, but in what new ways? Only time will tell. Looking for a purple artworks for your living room? Browse now on RtistiQ a curated collection of artworks that celebrates the meaning of Purple.

RTISTIQ TEAM

10 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are certainly popular, and in the last year they have dominated art news headlines with tales of extravagant price tags. It’s a lot of heat and excitement, but just because NFTs are selling for a lot of money, does that really mean that they are good for the art marketplace? After all, there are plenty of items that sell at traditional auction houses for tens of millions of dollars, but very few artists and art lovers actually see any benefit from that kind of wealth being thrown around. But NFTs are different. They could very well reshape the way we think about buying and selling art, and they are overturning age-old expectations — in many ways for the better. Let’s look at some of the ways that NFTs are benefiting the art market. Greater Control for the Artists In the art market as we’ve known it, gallerists and art dealers have a lot of power. Their expertise and connections give them the ability to find buyers for artwork, and they can be especially helpful for artists just starting to break into higher prices. So what’s the problem with this system? Artists themselves rarely have the time to become experts in the art market or make the connections they need to move their art. That puts them at a power disadvantage. Even worse? There is almost a cultural stigma against artists diving into the pedestrian world of commerce. But NFTs allow certain new conditions for sales, conditions that artists can build into an NFT of their work. For instance, you can make an NFT of a digital work of art and guarantee that every time it is resold, the artist gets 10% of the price. What’s better, artists have access to the bidding information and the entire provenance of their work. That means they can see everyone who bought their artwork and how much they paid. This single change will revolutionize the artworld by leaps and bounds, helping artists to get more of the money their work generates. Greater Access for Art Lovers on Marketplaces On the other side of the coin are the art lovers. Many people want to buy art , but if you aren’t well connected, it can be hard to have access to everything that’s actually available out there. Of course, gallerists and auction houses and art dealers want to meet with and encourage every single art buyer. But the reality is that there is an emphasis on big time art buyers in the current art market. After all, if you are an art dealer with limited resources, are you going to focus on the tycoon you know who spends millions on art each year , or the middle income art lover just now wanting to buy? With NFTs, marketplaces are wide open. Auctions are available to everyone, and little if any information is reserved for a select few. This is letting more people leap into the world of art buying. That combined with the empowerment of artists means a lot more direct buying and selling of art. NFTs Are Changing When we think of NFTs in the artworld today, we predominantly think of auctions for blocks in a blockchain that are linked to digital files — like JPGs, MPEGs, GIFs, and so on. This has caused many to scratch their heads because when you purchase NFT arts for sale, you aren’t the only person with access to the art work. Anyone can still copy and share these files infinitely. But here is the thing: NFTs aren’t done evolving, not by a long shot. Remember when we talked about artists being able to use NFTs to get 10% of all future sales of their art? That’s what is called a smart contract. These are critical elements of NFTs, giving people the ability to have contract clauses automatically fulfilled when certain terms are met. And since NFTs copy the provenance of an artwork in a safe and secure way, they take the burden of provenance off of both the artist and the art buyer. Put these two things together, and you can see how NFTs won’t just become interlinked with the digital art market. They can also become critical features of the physical art market. As NFTs grow and change, we will see the art market shifting along with them. We are standing at the precipice of a major development in the art world. NFTs are going to be a core piece of this change.

RtistiQ

03 Sep 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

With the excitement of the Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 still fresh in our memory and the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 just around the corner, Japan is still on our minds. Unfortunately, we were not able to cheer live for our favorite athletes or to get lost in translation on Tokyo’s vibrant streets, but nothing stops us from discovering more about the unique Japanese history, culture, and art. Because of its long isolation as an island nation, Japan’s history overflows with one-of-a-kind perspectives and unique cultural forms. That independent streak makes Japanese art an always exciting realm of new experiences and fresh ideas. Over the 20th century, Japanese artists also began leading the pop art blend of mainstream fare with a critical artistic lens, while often embedding a rich mixture of themes and nods to historical legacy. Despite Japan’s incredible cultural output, many people around the world are not nearly as familiar with artists from the nation as they should be. Below, we’ve put together a list of five Japanese artists you should know. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and it’s in no particular order. This is a quick stroll through Japanese visual art, something to get you started on your own journey of discovery. 1. Mariko Mori Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami Mariko Mori (1967) is an artist known for work in many fields, including: sculpture, digital art, and photography. Her oeuvre is filled with futuristic visions embedded with a profound influence from Japanese history. Her work plays with imaginative worlds and space-age forms, and the end result is always ethereal and mysterious. Some of Mori’s pieces are particularly sweeping in scope. Primal Rhythm saw her place sculptures in a bay, standing above the water in haunting silence. One, Sun Pillar, is a transparent sculpture that juts out of a large rock. Beside it in the water is Moon Stone, an orb that changes its color depending on the tide. While the shapes and material appear futuristic, they collaborate with the natural environment. It’s both beautiful and poignant, and it gives us an opportunity to rethink the way we interact with the world around us. Mori’s profile has steadily risen since the 1990s, and for good reason. She continues to explore new methods while staying true to the conceptual depth and attention to form that have made her work an integral part of contemporary art. 2. Yuko Mohri Copyright Yuko Mohri Yuko Mohri (1980) is an installation artist who recombines items from our day-to-day life into what she calls “ecosystems.” These installations often seem perilously balanced. Mohri includes sound and narrative as well, often telling stories through Rube Goldberg-like contraptions. In Moré Moré (Leaky), the artist made visual riffs on the use of buckets and plastic to catch leaking rain water that she saw in a subway station. Many of her pieces focus on the relationship between the human built world and the natural world. But the work is never overly ponderous. Often, the installations create a sense of fun. 3. Takashi Murakami Copyright Takashi Murakami Takashi Murakami (1962) is one of the most controversial artists in the contemporary scene. His anime-influenced sculpture and design have become the center of massive debates in the art world. Plus, his forays into commercial work have made him more popular than ever among fashionistas while angering art world purists. Murakami describes his style as “superflat,” a term he also used for postwar Japanese culture as a whole. Aesthetically, the term refers to Japan’s legacy of 2D art with little use of perspective. But societally, it points to the reduction of class influence on Japan. Today, Murakami asserts, the differences between high and low culture have flattened out into a single plane. Murakami has done everything from an anime-character sculpture show at Versaille, album covers for the likes of Kanye West, and hypebeast fashion crossover designs with Supreme. His flower motif is world famous, appearing on Louis Vuitton bags and jewelry worn by hip hop artists. It’s become a kind of calling card for the rebel. Today, he devotes a large amount of his time cultivating the careers of young Japanese artists while still making art that destroys our notion of high and low culture. 4. Yoshitomo Nara Courtesy Wikipedia Yoshitomo Nara (1959) is a sculptor and painter who creates images of childhood with an unsettling undercurrent of horror. His subject matter is very consistent, but it is through this steady stream of similar images that he’s been able to communicate so effectively. His characters, children with cartoonishly large eyes, are often engaged in naughty behavior, a rebelliousness that matches the artist’s own. Nara constantly subverts the nostalgia of childhood while still evoking it. The effect is a strange blend of the cute and concerning. Nara is closely associated with another member of this list, Murakami, as both a contemporary and as a fellow traveller in the superflat school. But while Murakami is in a pitched battle between the high and low, Nara is much more focused on the expression of genuine human emotion. In 2020, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art held a retrospective of Nara’s work spanning 36 years. The major event has helped boost his recognition outside of Japan. A well-earned honor 5. Yasumasa Mormura Copyright Yasumasa Mormura Yasumasa Mormura(1951) is a master of parody and humorous counterfeiting. But while many of his pieces are great fun, his career has an undercurrent of serious critique at its heart. Mormura’s pieces appropriate the great works of Western art and other iconic images, inserting his own photography into them. The works are strangely shocking. We are so used to the Mona Lisa, we feel at home within its frame. And then to see it changed into a self portrait of Mormura himself turns everything on its head. It’s a confrontation with the dominance of Western culture throughout the world. It subverts not only our expectation of a given painting, but our expectation of Western art as the source of all great masterpieces. In this way, Mormura is something of a punk rock artist. His themes of identity and imperialism are incredibly relevant to our times. That is why, late in his career, Mormura is still able to command attention for his important work. Asian art is more popular than ever, and collecting them is a fascinating hobby that can enrich your life through beauty, culture and education. Learn why you should start collecting Asian Art today.

RtistiQ

26 Aug 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time. It calls to the world to act together in an unprecedented way, with dire stakes. As we move further into the 21st century, awareness for environmental issues will only become more pressing. We want to highlight the work that environmental artists are doing in bringing these issues to the front of the global conversation. Their work takes the discipline of making art on climate change and turns it to public advocacy, a form of artistic environmental activism. Along the way, these environmental artists have not only made statements that are timely and necessary — they’ve also made great art! 1. Wheatfield, a Confrontation (1982), Agnes Denes Copyright Agnes Denes It’s worth beginning at the beginning. Agnes Denes is renowned as one of the originators of the modern environmental art movement. Her work routinely highlights humanity’s impact on the ecosystems that we rely on and have a responsibility to steward. Wheatfield, a Confrontation is possibly her most notable piece. Here, she took control of two acres in the Battery Park Landfill in downtownManhattan. She worked tirelessly to produce a field of golden wheat amid the refuse. The outcome struck many different notes at once. It highlighted the extreme land values of Manhattan that drove the elimination of green spaces, the industrial agricultural system that makes an overabundance of food while leaving so many hungry, and waste. The amazing images of the New York skyline rising out of golden fields of wheat are especially gripping. We can’t help but be drawn to these strange views that upend our expectations. While the field no longer exists, these images continue to carry on the work of the original. View other 5 Famous Art Pieces Inspired by Nature 5 Famous Art Pieces Inspired by Nature 2. Ice Watch (2014, 2015, 2018), Olafur Eliasson The Ice Watch series is a great achievement from artist Olafur Eliasson. This art has brought one of the most critical effects of climate change to the centers of Europe, no longer letting us off the hook for the destruction we are causing far away from the cities where we live and work. In each of these pieces (the installation appeared in Copenhagen, Paris, and London), Eliasson brought enormous ice blocks into the city center. It must be remembered, these blocks are massive. Some weighing as much as 5 tonnes. These blocks of ice were then allowed to melt. These pieces brought the melting of far away glaciers into visceral reality. It is so easy for us to keep our distance from this dire process. But Eliasson does not allow us to stay blissfully ignorant of what we are doing. These installations became popular spots for selfies. People seemed drawn to these enormous objects. That natural charisma helped carry the deeper message to a public that has to reckon with climate change before it’s too late. 3. Support (2017), Lorenzo Quinn Courtesy LifeGate Lorenzo Quinn made a big impact with his installation Support. Here, enormous hands reach up out of the famous Venetian waterways, appearing to hold up the neartby Ca’ Sagredo Hotel. It immediately appeared in images around the global press. The work highlights the predictions that by 2100, Venice will be completely underwater. But while many environmental artists work with more direct representation, this surrealist piece made a deep impact in its own way. The piece is shocking. There is something about it that reminds us of the truly apocalyptic outcomes of our apathy towards climate change. And the way that it interacted with that most Venetian of landmarks — the Grand Canal — brought it in direct dialogue with the city’s self image. 4. Washed Up (2010-2015), Alejandro Durán Copyright Alejandro Durán Alejandro Durán’s series of installations takes for its materials the debris that washes up endlessly on the shores of Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Toothbrushes, water bottles, tires, ice trays, and every other thing you can imagine someone has thrown away — it likely exists in one of Durán’s installations. He combines the trash and often paints them, installing them in the Mexican landscape in oddly beautiful combinations. The many outcomes show the breadth of the artist’s imagination, not to mention the overabundance of trash that fills our oceans. These installations confront the way we treat our oceans. And the continued iterations only help to underline just how endless the waste in our global economy really is.

RtistiQ

26 Aug 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

Nature has long been a muse for great artists RtistiQ Blog | 5 Famous Nature-Inspired Art Pieces || "Blog" Let’s look at some of the best artists to ever try and capture the beauty and majesty of the natural world. That’s why we decided to put together a list of 10 famous nature artists who celebrate nature in their paintings. Some of the names on the list you’ve heard of, but there are probably a few that will be new to you. Plus, we made sure to put in a little something for everyone. 1.Vincent van Gogh There is maybe no painter more famous than Vincent van Gogh. And while he pioneered on many fronts, his landscapes are some of his most transcendent works. Through his experimental brush strokes, he made the land appear as it really is — alive. In his life, van Gogh created an enormous wealth of paintings. There were years when he completed almost one a day. The sheer volume of landscape masterpieces in his oeuvre sets him apart. 2. Claude Monet Above all, Claude Monet was fascinated by light. And his daring Impressionist style captured the light obsessively over his career. His landscapes do this particularly well. He would sometimes set out multiple canvases and paint a scene through different times of day, showing the interaction between the sun and the land. Consider his Haystacks series, where the artist captured the same scene 25 times. These haystacks were painted at every time of day, in every season, and under all kinds of weather. 3. Hokusai Hokusai’s prints are among the most treasured artworks in the world. He produced a great deal in his life, beginning with urban images that were popular at the time. These ukiyo-e woodblock prints often portrayed celebrities and scenes from so-called pleasure districts. But then, the artist began incorporating more and more of the natural world. Today, his greatest pieces (like the famous The Great Wave off Kanagawa from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji) remain some of the most reverent works of art dedicated to the environment. 4. Georgia O’Keeffe Copyright Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia O’Keeffe merged a modern aesthetic with the desire to capture the essence of nature. The results are among the greatest works of the 20th century. Her technique highlighted the way that mountains and flowers mimic the human body. She also made bold use of color. While she took cues from nature, her palette explores many new surprising hues. The overall effect is timeless. Combined with her tender handling of the subject matter, O’Keeffe solidified herself as a master of painting. 5. Ansel Adams Copyright Ansel Adams Armed with only a camera and a tripod, Ansel Adams made photography history by taking shots of America’s great national parks. His famous love affair with Yosemite is now the stuff of legend. Work like Monolith, the Face of Half-Dome helped photography find itself as an art, whereas before it was considered a strictly documentarian form. Adams could express the full scope of a natural scene, with all its grandeur and private, intimate details. And for this reason, he is known as the father of landscape photography. 6. Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson is not just an artist who paint nature, he uses natural materials to create it, too. For instance, his New York City Waterfalls installations created human built waterfalls. These structures brought towering 100 foot features into the skyline. In other pieces, Eliasson directly advocates for the environment. In his Ice Watch series In other pieces,Eliasson directly advocates for the environment. In his Ice Watch series Art That Raises Awareness for Environmental Issues the artist installed massive blocks of ice in Copenhagen, Paris, and London. As time went on, the ice melted, bringingthe reality of our melting glaciers into the heart of global cities that are leading contributors to climate change. 7. Walter de Maria Courtesy artappreciation101.wordpress.com Walter de Maria helped solidify land art as a form that could be viable in the 20th and 21st centuries. Over his life, he created many haunting works. In The Lightning Field, de Maria set up an enormous grid of 400 steel poles. While these poles very rarely attracted lightning, they did transform the wide open New Mexico landscape into a haunting scene. De Maria frequently used the land as his canvas. And as he did so, he brought our attention to the land, which is to say our home. These works have only increased in poignancy as the environmental crisis deepens. 8. David Hockney Copyright David Hockney It might seem surprising to have a famous British pop artist on our list, but David Hockney’s plein air landscapes are some of the best works in his career. Many of these were created later in life, like Bigger Trees Near Warter which was completed in 2007. That painting also stands as Hockney’s largest at a whopping 460 cm x 1220 cm. The landscape is an interesting late in life turn for the artist, but one that shows the indelible influence it has on us, even as our culture is consumed by the digital. 9. Peter Doig Copyright Peter Doig Peter Doig is among the most celebrated living artists of our time. He is renowned for foregoing the overly conceptual approach of his contemporaries and instead emphasizing creativity and conveying a sense of awe in the natural world. Many of his works are landscapes that often play off of photography. And he has also put his hand to creating cityscapes that amplify the strangeness of built environments. 10. Shara Hughes Copyright Shara Hughes Shara Hughes paints many kinds of scenes, but perhaps her most bombastic pieces are her landscapes. These works are excessive, lively, and maximalist. Her mastery over multiple techniques allow her somewhat abstracted approach to retain a high level of complexity. One can’t help but feel a certain joy when looking at a nature painting by Hughes. Her ability to reconnect us with that feeling of nature’s bounty continues to impress us. Inspired by nature paintings by famous artists? Check out RtistiQ’s nature art paintings from globally renowned artists. Browse through a variety of artworks that has been handpicked for your office and home walls!

RtistiQ

26 Aug 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE

As we’ve covered, nature is a tremendous inspiration to artists As we’ve covered, nature is a tremendous inspiration to artists 10 Famous Nature Artists and their work and what happens when something inspires artists? You get a lot of paintings. The subject matter of nature might be the most celebrated by artists around the world. This nature-based artwork leaves us no shortage of famous paintings to enjoy, and as the environment becomes an ever more important issue, this work is more important than ever. To highlight this long relationship between the artist and the environment, we’ve assembled a tour of 5 famous art piecesinspired by nature. And what happens when something inspires artists? You get a lot of paintings. The subject matter of nature might be the most celebrated by artists around the world. This nature-based artwork leaves us no shortage of famous paintings to enjoy, and as the environment becomes an ever more important issue, this work is more important than ever. To highlight this long relationship between the artist and the environment, we’ve assembled a tour of 5 famous art pieces inspired by nature. 1. The Oxbow (1836), Thomas Cole Thomas Cole founded the Hudson River School, one of the most formative groups in American painting. It’s members worshipped the naturally abundant beauty of the Hudson Valley. And one of the best of these is The Oxbow. It shows the Connecticut River Valley as a storm rolls off into the distance. The titular bend in the river, the foreground that frames the scene, and the drama of the rain all combine to create a masterpiece. Some commentators have noted that the painting highlights the arrival of civilization, glimpsed by the cultivated fields in the distance. Today, the Hudson Valley is covered in buildings and cut through by roads. Maybe Cole could see what was coming. 2. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818), Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich was one of the greatest of the German Romantics. His landscapes can celebrate nature, and just as often, they evoke a spookiness that still sends shivers down our spines. But this piece does something else. It stirs us, calls us to action. The wanderer stands in the center of the canvas, his back to us, looking down into the mists that roam the mountains. It’s a stunning natural image and one of the greatest in art. Its power remains more than 200 years after it was painted, and the mark it left on our visual culture cannot be overstated. To this day, the painting appears on numerous album and book covers. 3. Spiral Jetty (1970), Robert Smithson .Not satisfied with just being inspired by nature, the imminent sculptor Robert Smithson chose to collaborate with it for this legendary piece. Made out of basalt rocks, salt crystals, and mud, the enormous feature pushes out into the Great Salt Lake. The space has a haunting aura about it, like a monument from some civilization long past. It’s become a pilgrimage for art lovers for that special quality: you have to see it in person to really get it. In 1999, the Dia Art Foundation took over as the owner of the work, taking on the immense responsibility of maintenance. It’s no easy feat. While Smithson is no longer with us, his unique collaboration with the environment remains. READ: Check out 4 Artworks That Raise Awareness for Environmental Issues 4. Water Lilies (1898), Claude Monet Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series includes several pieces worthy of a spot on this list. But since there are over 250 of them, we had to pick one. But the entire series is worth looking through. These paintings examine Monet’s garden, a place of refuge and inspiration for the artist. By focusing on the water lilies, Monet focuses on the fine details available to all of us willing to take a closer look. While many artists choose to explore the natural world through big, bold landscapes, these paintings are intimate. Monet observes so thoroughly and evokes what he sees through beautiful color. 5. Red Canna (1919), Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia O’Keeffe’s early painting Red Canna reveals all of the features that would go on to define the master’s oeuvre. But it also retains that youthful flair that makes it such an exciting work. At first it seems simple, but once you begin to examine the bold color choices, the strength of the work reveals itself.There are multiple pairs of complementary colors, and a striking mixture of diagonal lines and the vertical jut of the flower itself. As she often did, O’Keeffe explores the similarity between the shapes of plants and the human body. This brings an eerie quality to the painting, making a flower all too familiar with ourselves. Nature and Art These 5 nature art paintings are only the tip of the iceberg. There really is no end to gorgeous art inspired by nature. Hopefully, this list can get you started on your own journey of discovery in this wide and wild field.

RtistiQ

20 Aug 2021

5 min to read

SAVE

SHARE