I don't care, I have always loved Roy Lichtenstein.
There was so much to take in and there is so much more to write about. I only made it 1/3 of the way through The Met. I absolutely love seeing really familiar popular art, it's pretty hilarious and all the reprints never really do them justice. I think (and I know you all do too) it's so important to see things in real life. However every time I saw Picasso Bozly's voice popped into my head and said "Fuck Picasso".
Do any of you read the art blog My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses? It's kind of... overwhelmingly comprehensive??? in it's content of "modern" art. I thought of this own shiny blog especially when I read thispost.
I'm following up the first, more mainstream comix artist profile up with one that's a little more underground. A literal living hero of mine is Phoebe Gloeckner (b. 1960) and her past cannot be summarized adequately with texts and photos of her work. Her book 'Diary of a Teenage Girl' is an absolutely quintessential read for all women and anyone interested in 60s/underground/SF history. She's currently a professor at University of Michigan and I would absolutely love to be in one of her classes (where they draw Crumb panels and MAD magazine pages). Her father was an artist too although she grew up with her dysfunctional mother and younger sister. Her adolescence and young adulthood in SF, while vividly unreal and insane, set her up for a successful comix career. When she was a teenager, Crumb would come to her house and look at her sketchbooks and write comments in them. She's a freaking amazing comic artist and story teller. As a young artists, her DIRECT influences were The Bunch (Aline Kominsky Crumb) and Diane Noomin etc and she has been published in Wimmin's Comix and Weirdo among tons of other underground mags. She has a medical college background in medical illustration and does amazing anatomical drawings. All of these elements together: artistic influences as a child, her immersion in underground 60s Comix culture, her unbelievable personal experiences and her professional medical education as an artist, make her an incredible influence and her honesty makes her a powerful and real hero.
Early Work, 1976
Later work, 1994 Her semi-autobiographical character Minnie
I have been wanting to do some spotlights on comix artists. I hate the popularity of 'Graphic Novels' and there's of course so much politics revolving around this industry. But I really want to shine some light on some of the great painters. I know this stuff is a little dated but when you say "Comix Painter" the first name that comes to mind is Alex Ross. He's totally famous for his superhero stuff but I think we're all a little bit more familiar with his political work:
(He did that Obama Superman one too)
I guess the thing that stands out the most about Ross' work is that he has a really steady and prolific career in the Superhero industry and his reputation as a quality artist is flawless... is it his wealth and respectable career that allows him the political freedom to say so much in his paintings? In the male dominated world of comix, homosexuality is still "scary" and it seems so rare to see images like this in the industry. It seems like something should have "mysteriously" happened to him already but since nothing has I hope we continue to see this more "edgy" graphic art being released.
I have long been a fan on Mann's earlier work, which consisted of a highly controversial series of her children. Immediate Family was quickly labeled as "child porn" by some and "luminously beautiful" by others. Mann was unapologetic about photographing her children, who as it turns out, were doing very children like things. Being naked, getting hurt, running around, sleeping, playing. The fact that Mann chose to capture these intimate moments with her family and display them evoked questions of her intentions. Some's concerns were for the children, and others were simply outraged by the use of nude children. Regardless of her woes in the early 90's with this series, Mann has remained true to her work. Now, nearly two decades later, Immediate Family is highly regarded as a poetic and striking portrayal of the family.
In the years following Immediate Family Mann seemed to veer towards a different direction and focus on death and mortality. The question of what a "body" really is, and what happens to that "shell" we spend our lives in after we die fascinated the artist her work work began to illustrate the degradation that comes with death. One could argue that all of Mann's work seems to have an underlying aspect of mortality to them, but this theme became extremely evident when she started photographing dead things of all sorts.
I recommend that everyone see What Remains. It is a beautiful doc about what Mann is currently doing with her work. It also allows her and her children to discuss her earlier work as well as illustrate the Wet Collodion process she uses, which just blows my mind.
If she is not fully satisfied with a piece she burns it, she is quoted saying; "when spirit leaves a painting. it will forever remain imperfect. deprived of breath, dead works are set to fire outside the studio''.
I think i showed this to you a whiles back boz (& maybe janel), so check this out smog!
i've seen my fair share of elitist art docs, and this mockumentary hits the nail right on the fuckin' head. Miranda July's narration is just... amazing.
also, i think this film is really beautifully made, and even if it is RIDICULOUS, i totally see the beauty in urban graffiti removal now. go figure!
I really want to do a profile on a painter but I don't know who to pick. Kind of a case of too many to choose from. And, I am not an Art History major!!!!!!!!!!! :( It's kind of been crippling me lately. I hope you guys forgive me. Also, more participation.
In my adult life, I've never really spent any time messing around with Paint. But my recently aquired shiny laptop has the Paint program for Windows 7 is really nice and fun to use. I made like 35 "paintings" in the same amount of seconds. Sad how easy it is, actually. I really like the "oil brush". Anyway, I really want to know what your "Faux Pauxs" look like and what your experience in digital painting is.
I absolutely love this ink!!!!!!!! I've been a fan of it for many years and thought it would be a good first review. It's a really good multi-purpose medium. Not only is it GREAT for inking and ink drawings/paintings but it's really great to mix in with acrylic and watercolor paints. It comes in many many colors and varieties.There is an "FW" but the "Pearlescent" are especially nice. I think the retail on this is somewhere around $5 -- like all art supplies, totally over priced. But great results, very highly recommended. They are pocket sized. FYI: It dries hard on the palette.
Love,
Smog
P.S. I'm watching it right now and I'm going to have to give a thumbs down to Joons paintings in Benny&Joon.
