This painting is a masterclass in composition and execution. *mic drop*
Month: July 2019
Friday
This work reminds me of cuneiform writing, or perhaps calligraphy, stark ink against bright canvases. It’s a very visceral feeling in my gut when I see this painting, a feeling of solidarity.
Thursday
This multi-layered optical illusion reminds me of a flock of migrating birds. As such, rather than chaotic, I find it rather peaceful.
Wednesday
My love of all things Bauhaus-inspired stems from a deep love of modern unconventionalism and bringing a sense of shaking up the order of things that have been the same for a very long time. In this case, Albers has taken a geometric design that was similar to ones that were used often in Bauhaus textiles and has spun it around and turned it into something deeply alluring and unsettling at the same time. It is fascinating to see what the difference in print medium v. fabric medium can do to affect the feel of a design.
Tuesday
While SLAM’s edition of Monet’s Waterlilies is out on loan to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, this is the piece that is hanging in its place on loan from Kimbell. It is an important piece in its own right and is very beautiful on its own merits; the singular nature of the subject as well as the angles from which it is approached is unusual and may be unique. It is not quite impressionism, not quite realism, not quite photorealism, yet has qualities of all of those movements.
Monday
Tiles pretty. Pretty tiles. Look at the pretty tiles.
Sunday
When they decided to start reintroducing the Oceanic art (finally) after a long absence, this was one of the new pieces to go up. I squeed loudly and promptly took like a million pictures and still didn’t capture the essence of the piece. Until you’re standing face to face with Mataora with Hei Tiki, you don’t appreciate the power flowing through the piece. It is art that is suffused with ancestral power; it comes off of it in waves. Each line is like a verse of Shakespeare, weaving an intricate poetic spell in a story that we don’t quite understand. This is one of the most important contemporary pieces in the SLAM collection, and if you don’t believe it, there’s something wrong with you.
Saturday
I know I talked about Rococo yesterday about being the naughty little sister of Baroque, and, really, it was. But it’s easy to dismiss it as frivolous and pink and ruffles and giggles and all poufs and fluff and shit. It was anything but. It was the forerunner to our modern views on sexuality and how it is portrayed in the media and film. Take, for instance, this series of paintings/etchings/prints about the woman on a swing: it is an erotically charged story about a woman and her lover(s), and matters of the heart, told through the allegorical reference of, well, knowing that she’s got no underwear on under her frilly underskirts. So, there’s that. I guess I’ll leave you with that image burning into the back of your brain.
Friday
Textile art is a special kind of art: it’s rare that it survives intact for very long because fiber pigments degrade much more quickly than, say, paint pigments or fritware glazes do. For textiles to survive in this condition and age is nothing short of a miracle. Not to mention, holy shit. It’s Rococo on goddamn steroids. It took the elegance of the Baroque, turned it upside down, molested it, put a pink bow and a petticoat on it, gave it a flirtatious spank and a naughty wink, and then turned it loose on an unsuspecting public. It looks like it’s supposed to be prim and proper, but it’s not really. Look closer: there are allegorical allusions to sex and naughtiness throughout the symbols. *fans self* Okay, enough about the naughty. It really is a gorgeous piece of cloth.
Thursday
This shit is pure wizardry.
Bow before the wooden spiral.