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Archive for the “Art” Category
Official Website | Documentation Video Ryan McGinley is an unabashed voyeur, focusing his camera on the raw and personal lives of his friends in snapshots. Cupid Playing with a Butterfly
The pose, the almost suave charm of the face, the delicate fingers, the refined treatment of the hair: everything expresses sensitivity, reserve, and grace. The sculptor has achieved a subtle balance between nature and the ideal, inherited from the 18th century.
Cupid is portrayed as a naked, unarmed adolescent whose sole attributes are his short wings. He seems to be engrossed in an innocent pastime. His amusement is not as harmless as it seems, though; the butterfly allowing itself to be seduced by his rose symbolizes the soul, Psyche in Greek. Imprisoned by Cupid, the soul soon experiences love’s torments rather than its pleasures. The graceful bas-relief friezes on the base develop the theme: if the butterfly tastes the juice of a basket of flowers, it is pinned down by chubby little cupids, one of whom enslaves it by harnessing it to his chariot. But the soul finally triumphs thanks to the bees: infuriated by the arrows shot at their hive, they swarm all over the cheeky imps. These scenes are inspired by the Idylls of Theocritus (3rd century BC), the most famous Greek poet of the Alexandrian era, and the delicateness of the carving expresses all their bucolic charm. [Louvre] Neapolitan Fisherboy Playing with a Tortoise
Rudes great success dates from 1833, when he received the cross of the Legion of Honour for his statue of a Neapolitan Fisher Boy playing with a Tortoise (now in the Louvre), which also procured for him the important commission for all the sculptural frieze ornament and one group on the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. [Source: Wikipedia]
I felt in love with neoclassical sculputures when I saw this boy in Paris on a school trip. I was 14 and too young (I guess) to get excited about paintings but these plastic boys got my attention immediately. I stood there in front of this boy with mixed feelings… his face, his look was so natural… it was kinda spooky in a good, a wonderful way. On the other hand I felt a bit guilty cause I thought everybody who’s seeing me standing there had to think I’m just looking at his dick xD
This cheerful boy, playing with a tortoise held captive by a reed, caused heated controversy at the Salon of 1833. For the first time, an artist had sculpted a lifesize marble of a picturesque figure, an anecdotal subject. It marked a complete break with classical ideology, whereby genre scenes were considered to be unworthy of statuary art, especially in a medium as noble as marble. Rude’s theme and style also contradicted classical canons. Although reminiscent of antique sculpture, the work was imbued with an unprecedented feeling of freedom and freshness. The boy is naked like the heroes of mythology, but his body is not idealized and his hearty laugh reveals his teeth, a real breach of good taste. The tradition of representing children at play did exist in Hellenistic sculpture, but Rude emphasized the popular, lively aspect of his depiction. The child seated on a net is a young fisher boy, whose bonnet and scapular (the devotional object around his neck) show that he is from Naples. His attitude is carefree and his entire face - crinkled eyes, dimples, open mouth - is laughing. [Louvre]
James Browning Wyeth (1946-present) is a contemporary American realist painter. He was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, son of Andrew Wyeth and grandson of N.C. Wyeth. He is artistic heir to the Brandywine Tradition, painters who worked in the rural Brandywine River area of Delaware and Pennsylvania, portraying its people, animals, and landscape. More… It seems like everyone who paints adolescent boys lives in Berlin - here is another one: Sacrevoir was born in Berlin in 1964 and studied mathematics and visual arts. He works in Berlin as an independent painter and graphic artist.
A post about Norbert Bisky was planned since this blog started beacuse he is one of the few modern artists I like. Due to his interview with the German magazin "Spiegel" some other blogs showed some of his paintings recently… so let’s keep this short and spicy.
Norbert Bisky was born 1970 in Leipzig (where I live ^^) and is now based in Berlin. He is - like his brother - gay and well, if you study the details of his paintings you could come to some conclusions ;) His work is - how I see it - some strange offspring of the socialist realism and at the same time a parody of propaganda art in any way since is uses a mix of communist and nazi elements, mix them up and do all this weird stuff with them xD
Once upon a time. A quiet dusk awaits, patiently, for the boy. I wonder. I wonder what he cleanses himself from. I wonder. I wonder if one night he won’t return. I wonder. I wonder if I can resist following. His silent steps. All the way to the Abyss. Anthony Goicolea’s entire body of work can be described as a fictional autobiography. Similar to artist Gregory Crewdson, Goicolea creates elaborate mises en scènes, painstakingly produced for each work, resulting in moody, sinister stages where his characters interact and create undefined stories. His videos, as well as his photographs, always depict groups of boys engaging in games, or rather, in ambiguous activities: one boy pinning another to a bed and spitting in his face; boys wearing hoods and running scared in a forest; boys cleaning a pool full of floating bodies; a boy obsessively biting his nails; school boys mischievously posing as if in a class photograph; and uniformed boys eating gluttonously around a table. These are among the many examples of boyhood behavior captured by this artist since 1996 in photographs and videos, and most recently, also in installations and drawings.
Upon closer notice, the viewer realizes the boys depicted in these unusual actions are all the same, and in real life, the artist. Goicolea’s youthful looks have been described by many as “uncanny”. Although the artist was born in 1971, with makeup and costume he oftentimes passes for a teenager. This physical trait serves the artist as a tool in an exploration of boyhood themes and behavior. Goicolea draws less from his cultural heritage, than from gender identity and sexuality issues, especially the ambiguous period of a pre-pubescent and adolescent male and the complex rites of passage in the search for identity, self-esteem and a sense of self.
Inspiration: Kollio | Text: Cubiná | Video: Goicolea | Music: Sigur Rós |
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