Tag Archives: painting

The sun as witness to the crucifixion

Posted on Wednesday, 5 September, 2012 | Leave a comment

Visoki-Dečani-Monastery, The Crucifixion, fresco, c. 1340. Detail of sun. Image via http://www.artpromote.com

Visoki-Dečani-Monastery, The Crucifixion, fresco, c. 1340. Image via http://www.artpromote.com

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Posted in image research

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Enconchado

Posted on Wednesday, 1 August, 2012 | 2 Comments

As I have mentioned before, my curiosity continues to lead me to works of Hispanic art and particularly those works from Latin America.

This is the work of Mexican artist, Nicolás Correa. I like the relationship of the fully developed figures on the black wall surfaces defined with fine white lines. I’d love to see a work like this in person so that I could see the light shimmer off the shell fragments.

Nicolás Correa, The Wedding at Cana. Oil on canvas, encrusted with mother-of-pearl. 22-7/8″ x 29-3/4″. 1693.
From The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Posted in image research, inspiration

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Ned Gannon: Up Heave Problems

Posted on Thursday, 5 April, 2012 | 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking about Ned Gannon’s new painting all day. Ned is one of my oldest friends and what a pleasure it is to witness a childhood friend turning out to be as awesome as you imagined they would when the future seemed unlimited.

Ned beautifully renders a kind of action shot of the literal fracturing of an ecology, as if decades of degradations could be shown in an instant. What particularly strikes me about this painting is the sense of, “what next?” The deer and wolf are on the run and may yet escape but it’s certainly an open question. The fellow in orange however, has lost his gun and looks as though he will shortly fall on his ass.

Ned Gannon, Up Heave Problems, © 2012.

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Posted in activism, art hero, inspiration

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Nightwatchman’s chair

Posted on Tuesday, 27 March, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’ve always had a soft spot for uncomfortable furniture. So I was delighted to find the image of this little stool inspired by Pieter Bruegel’s Twelve Proverbs expertly crafted by “Yorkshire Stewart” His description and Bruegel’s painting are below.

Nightwatchman's chair, Yorkshire Stewart.


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Posted in craft, image research

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My how tastes have changed

Posted on Wednesday, 14 March, 2012 | Leave a comment

So pleased to see a photo by Jim Richardson as the National Geographic Photo of the Day.

I’m also pleased to see paintings of holy men and nude women on the same wall.

Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, England. Photo by Jim Richardson, National Geographic.

Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, England. Photo by Jim Richardson, National Geographic.

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Don Weddle: Ship of Fools

Posted on Thursday, 1 March, 2012 | Leave a comment
Don Weddle, Ship of Fools photo © Jim Richardson

Don Weddle, Ship of Fools
photo © Jim Richardson

I’ve had this postcard of Don Weddle’s Ship of Fools pinned to my studio wall for a couple of years. When I walked into Jim Richardson’s Small World Gallery (a wonder in and of it self) I was so pleased to find one of my favorite themes in art in the little town of Lindsborg, Kansas.

Don Weddle studied art at Bethany College, The Art Institute of Chicago, and The University of New Mexico. Don is retired from teaching high school art in Wichita and interestingly, was an early mentor to another artist whose work I admire, Tom Otterness.

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Birger Sandzén: A master among us

Posted on Wednesday, 29 February, 2012 | Leave a comment

Birger Sandzén, Willow and Cottonwood, linocut, 1931.

If you grew up in McPherson County, Kansas as I did, it is likely that Birger Sandzén was the first artist whose style you could confidently identify. His work is in all the schools and in many homes throughout central Kansas. My heart swells with hometown pride when I encounter a Sandzén’s art in major museums throughout the country. Doubtless his work (particularly the prints which I can recall trying to decipher at an early age) continue to influence my own particular artistic choices.

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You say retablo I say reredos

Posted on Thursday, 2 February, 2012 | Leave a comment
Reredos with St Francis encircled by New World saints, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reredos with St. Francis encircled by New World saints, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This can be said to be a reredos in English or perhaps a retablo in Spanish. This photo is from my Great American West vacation of 2009.

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Diego Rivera: showing vs. telling

Posted on Sunday, 29 January, 2012 | Leave a comment

From “The Painting on the Wall,” by Peter Schjeldahl in the November 28, 2012 issue of The New Yorker:

["Frozen Assets"] depicts Depression-racked New York in four tiers: skyscrapers, a homeless shelter, underground pipes, and a bank vault. It can seem a mere polemical illustration; but, given thought, it becomes a distillation of history with a carefully measured, unexhausted potency. It doesn’t tell us what to think, only what must be thought about.

Dieago Rivera, Frozen Assets, 1931.

Dieago Rivera, Frozen Assets, 1931.

(Image from WikiPaintings, and exciting new source!)

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