4/28/09

The Rothko Generator Project



Rothko Generator Project
authors: Maya Kalogera and CSDVU

Rothko generator - # untitled till infinity is software/installation which deals with the proliferation, overload and recycling of electronic pictorial waste, incorporating it into CG images based on Rothko's work.

Artist Statement

As internet is full of boring banners, pornography, dull images, etc., I decided to make an automatic image generator which will make "Rothko's paintings" where pixels will be substituted with the images from the internet. I like his paintings particularly and it is a challenge to make computer generated paintings visually based on Rothko's work from late 50's and early 60's, which will achieve high level of "authenticity" due to its use of texture, hue alterations and oblong shape modifications so characteristic for his work at that period.

Beside that intention, this project lies within my interest in collecting datas from the Internet and using that informations to create a completely different visual outcome. In this project, those two streams, infinitely CG images and collected profane net pictures, amalgamate themselves in very appropriate way.

Maya Kalogera


4/26/09

Henri Matisse: Letter to Henry Clifford


In 1948, Henri Matisse wrote a letter to Henry Clifford expressing concerns about how young painters might perceive his upcoming exhibit. Write your response to his letter.

Link Project Arts

4/24/09

George W. Adams - Art Conservator


© The Washington Post

"A self-trained engineer with a deep appreciation for art, Mr. Adams looked at the wall beneath the plaster and found deteriorating masonry in numerous areas. He designed a system to test the strength of the mortar and walls and to detect and digitally map defects without damaging the art, which is painted directly on the mortar, in the age-old style of frescoes. Then he invented a system to inject material that would shore up the walls...

...In 1988, he turned to conservation of fine art, forming a company with his wife. Together, they restored the Jules Guerin murals in the Lincoln Memorial, the Works Progress Administration paintings at the Departments of Justice and Interior, and murals at Fisk University in Nashville, for which they won a National Trust for Historic Preservation Award. " - Patricia Sullivan, Washington Post, April 12, 2009

Link Washington Post Article
Link Wiki, Fresco

4/23/09

Jack Cardiff, Cinematographer



Jack Cardiff

' Martin Scorsese once described Jack Cardiff, 94, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer who died April 22 in his native England, as being able to "paint with the camera."

"Years ago," he told a reporter, "when I was working with Powell and Pressburger, or Hitchcock, Huston, King Vidor, we'd prepare a scene and they'd say: 'Jack, get an effect of poverty here, or joy or happiness here. I don't know how you'll do it, but that's what I want.'

"Directors today have been to film schools," he added. "They've taken on a whole lot of knowledge about labs, lighting and film stock. It's never happened to me, but they'll say: 'I want the new Fuji, or the new Kodak, try to get three-quarters back light on this scene.' They'll tell a cameraman the sort of lighting they want, which is pretty horrifying in a way."

Jack Cardiff won an Oscar for "Black Narcissus" and an honorary Oscar as "one of the greatest visual artists ever to work in film." '

- Adam Bernstein, The Washington Post, April 23, 2009

Link IMDb, Filmography
Link Jack Cardiff website

4/19/09

Make Your Own Morandi

Giorgio Morandi

"The Phillips Collection and DCist.com present Make Your Own Morandi , a Flickr photo contest!

Create a still life out of the objects around your house inspired by the paintings of Giorgio Morandi. Photograph your arrangement and post up to three images to this group by May 1 for a chance to win. Be sure to tag them phillipscollection and dcist. Design, photographic quality, and relationship to Morandi's work are the basic criteria that judges will use in selecting finalists.

The Prizes

The three finalists will receive a year-long membership to The Phillips Collection. The first-place winner will also receive:
-Dedicated DCist.com post featuring his/her winning photo
-Gift valued at $100 from Apartment Zero
-Morandi: Master of Modern Still Life exhibition catalogue "

Link Contest
Link DCist
Link The Phillips Collection

4/12/09

The Pritzker Prize, 2009 - Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor

"(The Pritzker Prize), which is awarded each year to a living architect for significant achievement, was established by the Pritzker family of Chicago through their Hyatt Foundation in 1979. Often referred to as “architecture’s Nobel” and “the profession’s highest honor,” it is granted annually.

The award consists of $100,000 (US) and a bronze medallion. The award is conferred on the laureate at a ceremony held at an architecturally significant site throughout the world."

Link The Pritzker Prize
Link Wiki - Peter Zumthor
Link Slideshow, NYTimes

4/11/09

Rembrandt, The Three Crosses, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Three Crosses, Rembrandt, 1653, Third State

"Rembrandt's greatest and most dramatic print is the Three Crosses, a work which has all the power of a painting. It shows the deepest point of Christ's suffering: the moment of his death on the cross at Golgotha. Massive beams of light slice through the darkness that the Gospels relate descended on the entire country. The light focuses on Christ, the two murderers who were crucified beside him and the crowd round about. Rembrandt made several versions of this print. This is an impression of the third state."

Link Comments and Analysis, Rijksmuseum

Philip Craig - Time Lapse, Large Oil Painting


4/8/09

Brice Marden, Painter



Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938), is an American artist, generally described as Minimalist, although his work defies specific categorization. He is represented by the Matthew Marks Gallery... (He received) his BFA from the Boston University, School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1961...and earned his MFA from the Yale School of Art and Architecture (1963) - Wikipedia, April '09

Link Video of Brice Marden discussing his painting series, Cold Mountain, at artbabble.org
Link Wiki

4/6/09

Eyes On Art


The purpose of the Eyes on Art Quiz is to have fun testing yourself on how well you know classic artworks and artists. You can read a more complete description of the ideas behind this activity if you like.

Link Eyes On Art Quiz

4/5/09

Pop Art Quiz - NYTimes Interactive



A test devised by Jeremy Wolfe of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School demonstrates a phenomenon known as change blindness: the frequent inability of our visual system to detect alterations to something in plain view. Try it.

4/3/09

Bonnard: Drawing Color, Painting Light by Graham Nickson

Bonnard, The French Window, Oil on Canvas, 1932

'Human monocular and bifocal vision is very different to the action of the camera lens. In fact, Bonnard’s paintings get much more complex spatially when he gives up using the camera around 1920, and relies more and more on his drawings as the wellspring for his ideas and images. Bonnard states: “The lens records unnecessary lights and shadows, (whereas) the artist’s eye adds human value to objects.”'

"By committing facts to a small paper rectangle, rather than to a medium canvas as others have done, he was able to successfully use multiple, yet subtle, viewpoint shifts and adjustments by moving his head slightly and keeping his periphery in reserve whilst tackling the centers of his vision. He avoids, however, the fish-eye lens distortion by using a conceptual “imaginary grid” held somewhere in the area of entry into the nearest space into the painting or drawing."

Link Full Text, Artcritical.com
Link Artcritical.com