The lustful notion that arise from Balthus’ art is a treasure. It evokes Nabokov’s Lolita and I already see in my mind the hordes attempting a lynch at the artist. Well, too late. Balthus is already dead for a few years (not too many, actually). However, his forever young art lives on. It seems that the spirit of rebellion against conventions is what gives his art its forever fresh vibe.
Links:
Wikipedia article
In the 70s’ feminine quest for independent identity, many regarded marriage and family as enslaving and looked up at new roles and working careers outside their house for liberation. In her series of paintings titled “Mom’s friends” and based on 70’s photos of her mother and her mother’s friends, Kimberly Brooks explores the issues of womanhood and feminine identity. In the portraits of women and nude series, the artist touches the subject of the feminine role by reflecting on the traditional, contemporary and nostalgic attitudes.
Links:
Official website
Kimberly Brooks on Taylor De Cordoba gallery
Duncan Hannah might have been born in Minneapolis in 1952, but he is really fixated to pre-war England. There’s quite a bit of charm in the false naivety that grasped the world in the days before World War II. Once the world believed that biggest horror already occurred in World War I, it could bask in the condolence that the worst is already known. Today this all looks foolish and childish, but at the same time it’s full of sweetness and charm.
Links:
Artist’s gallery at the James Graham & Sons Gallery
Wanderlust exhibition at the James Graham & Sons Gallery
Review at ArtCritical
Tatiana Struchkova’s profiles entwine the magical with the realistic and throw the spectator with a splash into a daze. Although her work invite a realistic look, one can’t avoid an uneasy feeling of fantasy, which give Tatiana’s works an extra depth and charge them with their meaning.
Links:
Andreeva Gallery
Bohemia Galleries
Ar2Go (more images)
At her best Cecily Brown breaches a hole in her abstract nature and manages to sneak through it lust and passion. It’s mighty hard to portray powerful lust and passion in abstract painting. Of course, abstract expressionist was always about these feelings and always tried to portray them with the most vigor. However, when the painter is in passion, much is often lost in his mumble. Brown, through suggestive figuratism, has managed to overcome this and the result is a lustful and touching creation.
Links:
Wikipedia article
Art @ Saatchi Gallery
Artnet profile
Some more works
And even more
In her photographic work, Carla van de Puttelaar wants to emphasize personality, vulnerability and intimate eroticism, as well as distance and, sometimes, alienation.
Her nudes draw heavily on the use of close up effects and the use, or deliberate non-use, of focus. Moles can be seen clearly, as well as more temporal marks, such as bruises or the imprint of underwear in the skin. They enhance the intimacy of the picture, loading it with tension. Distance is being created first and foremost by the use of color. Often, the skin will have a porcelain glance, delicate, fragile. Color also creates a sculptural feel, elaborated by the light and framing of the compositions.
Links:
Official website
In a group of 30 paintings, Roger Shimomura’s exhibition, “Minidoka on My Mind,” will explore the artist’s family’s internment during World War II, including some works suggesting his personal memories. The show’s title refers to Camp Minidoka in Hunt, Idaho where he and his family were detained from the spring of 1942 until the summer of 1944. Previous work by Shimomura, has examined the relationship of Japanese Americans to the larger cultural context of the United States. In particular, here, Shimomura explores the racial conflicts of the 1940s war years and the unjust imprisonment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, 60% of whom were U.S. citizens. He says that these “images are scraped from the linings of my mind—not necessarily what I remembered specifically, but what I respond with when I think of Camp Minidoka…”
Links:
Roger Shimomura | Stereotypes and Admonitions | Greg Kucera Gallery | Seattle
Roger Shimomura at Greg Kucera Gallery | Seattle
In the dense visual stimulation of classic visual art, one can find an abundance of symbolism. Every object placed there carried an iconographic meaning, all together building a rich visual world deep with meaning. Marc Burckhardt adopts from this world the symbolism and serves it distilled, cold, shaken but not stirred and mainly pure.
Links:
Official website
Marc’s art related blog
The essence of a work of art is hard to capture and almost impossible to reproduce. However, when one is successful at doing so, it can turn out to be a real treat that sheds new light on the original piece. Kattaca tried to capture the essence in Klimt’s work, take it forward in time and reproduce it in another medium - photography. This project of his provide a new refreshing insight into Klimt’s work.
Links:
Gustav Klimt
Kattaca
Project’s page with full credits list
Just filling the space and time with some lovely paintings by Pascal Möhlmann. He takes upon objects and people in a wonderful way. Often it’s hard to tell what is object and what’s a human being in his works, as in life.
Links:
Official website
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