Stuck In Customs – Again…

Posted on 13/08/2010 by SharpArt

Being Stuck in Customs is not such a bad thing, really. Especially when there is a new product being released – their HDR  (High Dynamic Range ) tutorial DVD containing over 6 hours of instructional workshops specially edited to teach anyone of any skill level how to create amazing images with HDR.

Continue reading →

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Rugby as Pop Art

Posted on 05/08/2010 by SharpArt

Pop Art by Aaron Tomlinson. Photo / Simon BakerKiwi artist Aaron Tomlinson struck upon the idea of popular rugby players – particularly Dan Carter and Richie McCraw – as icons that would benefit from a Pop Art overhaul. He talks candidly to the local New Zealand Herald about his thoughts and what was fun about this idea. There has to be fun in Pop Art doesn’t there!

I like that way he links popularist images and icons and moves the ideas on to what is important, today.

You can catch the video here.

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Pop Art – a Presidential Gift

Posted on 26/07/2010 by SharpArt

Much comment has been made about the appropriateness of gifts between state leaders. Poor president Obama’s department got it so wrong with the lovely Mr Brown, that the sequel was being scrutinised with much interest. And low, it was modern art that won out.Ed Ruscha by Gary Regester

I’m quite pleased about that. There’s always the risk that someone will play it safe with an older, classic  piece by a more established name and then the ‘gift with value’ card will have  been seen to be played. (a bit like Mr Brown’s very politically correct Victorian timbers from an anti-slavery ship, pen holder). But dealing the modern art card is definitely more peppy, risky and shows a good deal of faith in the value of modern artists. Obama gave Cameron a signed colour lithograph by American artist Ed Ruscha, one of leaders of the Pop art movement. Continue reading →

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Stuck In Customs

Posted on 25/07/2010 by SharpArt

Just spent thStuck In Customse morning devouring articles from this site. Was blown away by the dynamic header and the amount of valuable desktop space it took up. Trey Ratcliff is heavily into HDR or High Dynamic Range photography. How to create that memory of a scene the way you remember it and yet your photographs so often disappoint after. As Mr. Ratcliff says in his tutorial…

“Cameras, by their basic-machine-nature, are very good at capturing “images”, lines, shadows, shapes — but they are not good at capturing a scene the way the mind remembers and maps it. When you are actually there on the scene, your eye travels back and forth, letting in more light in some areas, less light in others, and you create a “patchwork-quilt” of the scene. Furthermore, you will tie in many emotions and feelings into the imagery as well, and those get associated right there beside the scene. Now, you will find that as you explore the HDR process, that photos can start to evoke those deep memories and emotions in a more tangible way. It’s really a wonderful way of “tricking” your brain into experiencing much more than a normal photograph.”

Click here to visit Stuck In Customs. 4th on Lake Austin Trey Ratcliff

Trey has range of cameras he recommends for this sort of work. He’s a bit of a Nikon man. He starts with  the Canon G11 and then works up through an increasingly more expensive but beautiful selection of Nikons, ending with the model he uses. If you want to see the full article and why he likes them, click here. The cameras  themselves can be seen below if you fancy buying one.

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Caravaggio and Camera Obscura

Posted on 24/07/2010 by SharpArt

CaravaggioArtistic genius Caravaggio, used a primitive form of photography to help create his masterpieces, said two art experts, Susan Grundy and Roberta Lapucci.  Their research at a workshop in Florence, revealed that Caravaggio probably converted his entire studio into a camera obscura in order to project images onto his canvas. The painter then used his own compound made of mercury, salt and Venetian ceruse, a popular lead-based cosmetic skin-lightener, in order to temporarily ”fix” the images on the canvas. This produced a short-lived, fluorescent image, similar to a photograph, which he was then able to convert into a permanent sketch that formed the basis of the eventual painting. Continue reading →

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Roy Lichtenstein at Museum Ludwig

Posted on 07/07/2010 by SharpArt

Conversation by Roy LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein – Kunst als Motiv (Art as Motive) is a collection of about a hundred pieces which reflect his interpretation of other great modern pieces with a Lichtenstein twist. He uses his flat palate of bold colours and outlines and his now famous cartoon shadings with benday dots and blobs to break up the images and create his own slant on masters such as Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Mondrian and Dalí.
This exhibition at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne runs from 2nd July until 3rd October 2010.

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‘Silver Liz’ Pop Art Print goes for £6m

Posted on 03/07/2010 by SharpArt

Silver LizThe painting by Andy Warhol call ‘Silver Liz’ was recently sold for £6,762,150. The painting hasn’t been in the public eye for over 20 years and caused quite a stir at its recent auction at Christie’s in London. It probably won’t be seen for another 20 years as it was sold to an anonymous bidder.

Painted in 1963, it shows one of Warhol’s favourite female icons of that time, Elizabeth Taylor after she had suffered from a major illness. He was fascinated not only by the glamour of Taylor, Marylin Monroe and Jacky Kennedy but how that was juxtaposed with loss and death. He painted Monroe after her death and Kennedy after her husband’s assassination. There were only two paintings in the series where Warhol added violet to her eyes, a personal touch, which has no doubt added to the interest in this particular piece. She did have violet coloured eyes, something that would not have been seen in her earlier black and white films, but with colour and her recently starring in Cleopatra, this would have added to her allure and appeal.

This painting celebrates this film icon using silk screen over sprayed silver background – the shallowness of the painted image completely changed the genre of portraiture. And this series encapsulates all of Warhol’s ideas about fame and celebrity and the symbol of feminine beauty.

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Female Pop Art Artists

Posted on 28/06/2010 by SharpArt

Ampersand IV by Chryssa 1965Seductive Subversion -  the name of the exhibition at the University of the Arts earlier on this year, shows a different, less commercial side to Pop Art – mainly because it’s all produced by women. These pieces are observant, pithy and quirky, and were  overlooked at the time because of their glamorous male peacock counterparts. This exhibition wishes to redress this imbalance and celebrate a wider definition of the Pop Art Movement.

It was the first exhibition of female Pop Art and is now to be seen, I believe, at Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, although I can’t see it on their web site as yet.

This Times Square inspired ‘Ampersand IV’, is a stylized neon ampersand in a Plexiglas cube by Chryssa, one of the first artists to utilize neon in her work in 1965. Continue reading →

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Banksy Prints Stolen

Posted on 27/06/2010 by SharpArt

Banksy Museum pieceIf you’ve got a copy of Banksy’s book, Wall and Piece, you will have seen several examples of Banksy’s art being surreptitiously placed on the walls of famous galleries and museums.

This example, ‘Early Man Goes To Market’  appeared in The British Museum in 2005 and wasn’t noticed until Banksy announced it on his site. All credit to the Museum staff in recognising man’s base need for making marks andhoping the largest possible audience will see them. It is now in their permanent collection.

I’m sure this drew a wry smile from the artist him self.

I wonder if the recent reversal of fortunes of Banksy’s work from Art Republic did the same. Probably did. Two limited edition framed prints worth £16000 were stolen by a man and woman from the shop in central London. And this is not the first time this has happened from the same company. Apparently, 10 prints were stolen from  the same company, only in Brighton. Tut, tut, Art Republic – very clumsy. Continue reading →

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Encaustic Painting

Posted on 25/06/2010 by SharpArt

Fayum Lady 100ADPeter Sinai-600ADHad never heard of this! A very old and intermittently re-found technique which uses bees wax and pigments to paint or model paint with. The bees wax has to be heated so it can be manipulated. It seems it was first used for Egyptian mummies – but looking at the style of these paintings – with a more Romanesque style.

People near

Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts

will be able to see demonstrations of this strange technique at their Arts Festival this weekend.

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