Jessica Stockholder's “Color Jam,” begins a summer-long occupation of an intersection in the Loop in downtown Chicago.
By wrapping the four corners of State and Adams Streets (and parts of buildings there) in swaths of burnt orange, lime green and turquoise — think of Christo meets Hans Hofmann — she deconstructs this slice of the business-as-usual world and transforms it into a playful and imaginative realm.
via: NYT
Life was sweet for Picasso during his 10 years of romance and cohabitation with Françoise Gilot, from 1943 to 1953. Or so it would seem, judging by “Picasso and Françoise Gilot: Paris-Vallauris, 1943-1953,” a wonderful exhibition at Gagosian Gallery.
The Picasso of these years — he was in his 60s and early 70s — seems to revel in the joys of family and domesticity. Gone are the moonstruck years with Marie-Thérèse Walter and the violently conflicted ones with Dora Maar.
The crazy-old-man last act is yet to come. Looking at pictures here of his young children Claude and Paloma at play, you can imagine yourself seeing through the eyes of a loving, benevolent father — who just happens to be the most inventive artist of the 20th century.
via: NYT
The Learning to See series by Peter Jenny, recently released from Princeton Architectural Press, is a series of art books filled with elegantly simple exercises. These books are pocket-sized, perfectly fitting into your bag.
The exercises, simple and elegant – such as finding patterns in the palm of your hand or drawing what you hear – are designed precisely to make you acutely aware of the world around you, to see patterns, shapes, light and dark. These books are deceptive in their simplicity, because the mere act of drawing what you hear or deconstructing an object into its elemental shapes gives you the space to focus on perception and imagination – to hone your artist’s eye. The author puts it best:
“This little book aims to open your eyes to the incidental, to the suggestions of images in everyday objects, to the beauty in the ordinary.”
When Hokusai's The Great Wave was first issued, in about 1830, Japan's contact with the outside world was strictly regulated. It was only in 1859 when Japan, under pressure from America and other powers, opened a few of its ports that Japanese prints began to be exported to Europe. They were quickly discovered and celebrated by European and American artists like Whistler, Van Gogh and Monet. The Great Wave inspired Debussy's symphonic sketches La Mer and has become one of the most iconic images of the power of the sea.
The excellent commentary on Hokusai's "The Great Wave" can be found at:
The History of the world in 100 objects podcast
