3/27/09

Robert D'Arista, Painter

Monotype, Robert D'Arista

Robert D'Arista was a painter and professor. During his professional life, he influenced many through his teaching, painting, drawing, and prints. His legacy continues through his art, his students, and their memories.

Link Robert D'Arista Web Site
Link Teaching
Link Student Memories by Lowell Gilbertson


3/22/09

FLARE by WHITEvoid



" FLARE is a modular system to create a dynamic hull for facades or any building or wall surface. Acting like a living skin, it allows a building to express, communicate and interact with its environment (using ambient light)."

Link FLARE demo video
Link WHITEvoid Interactive Art & Design

3D Image Search, A Collaborative Project, Markus Lerner


Screen Shot

"3D Photo View is an intuitive image brower for viewzi.com.

This online application is a whole new approach to image search, allowing you to place several searchfields in a 3D space. The image results will get arranged around and between the searchfields. The engine also displays images related to several searchfields and related tags.

Commission, production and art direction by WHITEvoid.

Work
Concept & design in collaboration with WHITEvoid, Flash ActionScript 3/Papervision programming."

Link 3D Photo View Image Search
Link Viewzi Site

3/20/09

Typo de Sade - A Flash Application by Markus Lerner



"This interactive application shows an initially static quote.

As you move the mouse cursor across the lines, they start to follow the cursor movement elastically. The tactile response gives you the sensation of skin.

If you hold down the mouse button during the movement, the characters react more sensitively, grow larger and change their colour. As you release the mouse button, they wander back to their origin but deviate slightly from their genuine size and position.

In this way an attractive picture of typographic mutation is created. As a result you find typographical scars that document the effects of the interaction."

Link Typo de Sade
Link More Projects by Markus Lerner

Pochade Painting - Landscape by Antony Bridge


Antony Bridge painting the landscape of the Malvern Hills with the pochade box. How exactly does he start and develop the surface? How does his approach influence the outcome? What are the pictorial advantages of working small?

Go to his web site to look at the paintings. If you are not aware of the small scale, the paintings read as though they are much larger. How exactly does this "scale" experience influence your understanding of the work?

Link The Pochade Gallery - Antony Bridge and Carl Melegari

3/18/09

Masterpieces of the Prado in ultra high resolution on Google Earth



Another way of looking at art

"Viewing a Velasquez or a Rembrandt in a place like Spain's Prado museum is a unique experience. Now you can use Google Earth technology to navigate reproductions of the Prado's masterpieces, delving even deeper into the Prado's collection. In Google Earth, you can get close enough to examine a painter's brushstrokes or the craquelure on the varnish of a painting. The images of these works are about 14,000 million pixels, 1,400 times more detailled than the image a 10 megapixel digital camera would take. In addition, you'll be able to see a spectacular 3D reproduction of the museum."

"Experience art in a new way. Open Google Earth, check the 3D buildings layer on the bottom left panel, go to the Prado and access the masterpieces."

Link Google Earth Download

Self Portraiture - Reflection and Understanding of Self


Jan van Eyck, Self Portrait, Oil/Panel, 1433

What did a person look like before mirrors, and how did a person know what they looked like at all? Of course, someone could gaze into water, use polished metal of various colors, or highly polished wooden surfaces. Yet for centuries, "mirrors" were small, uncommon, and reflected images with different qualities compared to the mirrors we use today. Within this context, how influential are artists in helping us understand who we are?

In western art, the earliest example of a self portrait in oil on a wooden panel is attributed to Jan van Eyck, 1433. Why didn't western artists paint themselves with regularity before 1433? Is self portraiture more common to a particular region or culture, then or now? What are the historical circumstances related to the rise of self portraiture?

Link Wiki

3/17/09

The Allegory of the Cave - Plato


"An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition. It is a story of open-mindedness and the power of possibility."

"We have adapted and brought it to life by shooting thousands of high-resolution photographs of John Grigsby's wonderful clay animation. To learn more, visit http://platosallegory.com

The Cave contains strong contrasts (and problems) between passive looking and active seeing - raw information and facts contrasted by knowledge, wisdom and insight.

Link What is the Allegory of the Cave? - WiseGEEK.com

3/13/09

MIT - Ambiguous Quartet

Image Capture, Copyright 2008, Talia Konkle


"ambiguous quartet | biased horizontal | biased vertical

Perceptual Rivalry:
1) Stare at this (blinking dots) for... say 2 minutes.
2) The dots will appear to jump vertically or horizontally, and then after some time, they will probably spontaneously switch directions.

(You might also be able to see them rotating clockwise or counter clock wise)"

Link Ambiguous Quartet Demo
Link Related Research Demos by Talia Konkle

3/11/09

The Character Project - USA network

David Eustace, Highway 50, Danny Sherley, Madison, Indiana

Sponsored by the USA network, The Character Project is an "ongoing artistic initiative committed to celebrating America's characters - the interesting...people from all walks of life...USA assembled a team of 11 world class photographers during the summer of 2008 and asked them to capture the character of America."

Link The Character Project

Today Takes On: Today Show hosts paint the nude



Take a look at a video of the Today Show hosts goofing on the practice of painting and drawing at the New York Academy of Art.

Link Today Show Video
Link New York Academy of Art
Link Martin Lawrence Gallery

3/7/09

NPR, Not Just For Doctors: X-Rays as Art


Nick Veasey

"Talk of the Nation, December 5, 2008 · Nick Veasey has looked inside everything from airplanes to oranges. Veasey is an X-ray photographer and recently published a collection of his work in the book, X-Ray: See Through The World Around You. Science Friday digital producer Flora Lichtman stopped by a shoot to see the artist in action."

Link Nick Veasey Web Site
Link NPR Video

3/6/09

The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain



"Researchers will soon be able to see which patterns of brain activity underlie creativity," (Alice) Flaherty claims. By offering some powerful physiological theories for the creative process, Flaherty debunks the idea that creativity stems from psychological inspiration. A few impenetrable parts notwithstanding, she eloquently translates scientific information into layman's terms, instilling her narrative with fascinating literary and personal anecdotes and practical advice for writers. Citing skimpy evidence, scientists might take issue with Flaherty's claims. Yet Flaherty, who tries to remain impartial, expresses a deep ambivalence about the correct approach to creativity. The book, she emphasizes, is "not meant to be the final word on these complex subjects, but to spur further debate." - Bookmarks Magazine

Link Hypergraphia and Hypographia: 'Diseases' of Written Word. YouTube: Philoctetes Center, The Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination. A round-table discussion between world renowned scholars about this phenomenon.

The Unheralded Pieces of the American Puzzle


Photo: Rob Shelley/National Gallery of Art

NY Times writer, Roberta Smith, comments on the recent reopening and redesign of the displays of American Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

"These 11 paintings are among 400 works of naïve art (300 paintings, 100 drawings) that the collectors Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch gave to the National Gallery between 1935 and 1980. As a result the National Gallery may be better prepared than almost any museum on earth to bring the strands of American painting together and make their reunion stick. The institution has the prominence and the depth in both naïve painting and the traditional narrative, as the current galleries excessively demonstrate."

Permalink Full NY Times Article - The Unheralded Pieces of the American Puzzle
Link National Gallery of Art

Cezanne: Maverick, You Cast a Giant Shadow

Paul Cezanne

NY Times writer, Karen Rosenberg, comments on the exhibit, "Cezanne and Beyond," at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It continues through May 17.

' “Cézanne and Beyond,” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, refines that lineage for the 21st century. It builds on the museum’s 1996 Cézanne blockbuster, interspersing the works of 18 modern and contemporary artists among some 40 paintings and 20 drawings and watercolors by the prolific master of Aix-en-Provence.'

Permalink Full NY Times Article - Cezanne, Maverick You Cast a Giant Shadow
Link Philadelphia Museum of Art

3/1/09

Beautiful Minds: Stephen Wiltshire



Stephen Wiltshire is an autistic savant. In this YouTube, he draws a detailed aerial view of Rome from memory after a single trip in a helicopter above the city.

"...Stephen's work has...been the subject of numerous television programmes around the world...psychologist, Oliver Sacks, devoted an essay to Stephen in his book An Anthropologist On Mars (Picador 1995). Stephen is the only artistic autistic savant in the world whose work has been recorded and published since his childhood. His third book - Floating Cities (Michael Joseph, 1991) - was number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list." - Stephen Wiltshire Web Site.

Link Stephen Wiltshire Web Site