Posts Tagged ‘sculpture’
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
For the first time Abu Dhabi, audiences will have a first-hand look at the tremendous effort that goes into creating sculptures, which are among the most ancient artistic techniques.
 Lotus by Japan's Masahiro Hasegawa who will be participating at Adiss. The Abu Dhabi International Sculpture Symposium (Adiss), which begins on Thursday and runs until April 7, will feature the works of 17 world-renowned contemporary artists, who will be residing in Abu Dhabi for the duration of the symposium.
The six-week event has been organised by Zayed University in collaboration with Salwa Zeidan Gallery.
The finished works will then go on public display all over Abu Dhabi city. By adding 17 monumental pieces to the city, the initiative will elevate public awareness of art in general.
“The objective of the symposium is to initiate artistic and cultural co-operation between artists of different backgrounds, and promote the UAE as a new meeting place for artistic and cultural creativity. In its inaugural run, Adiss will open its doors to the world under the theme of “Bridging Societies through the Language of Art” and will bring together 17 sculptors from around the world to reveal their creativity on site from the heart of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” said Dr Sulaiman Al Jassim, Vice-President of Zayed University.
Abeer Al Mutawa, Community Services Advisor of Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, said the initiative was in line with the body’s main strategy of affirming Abu Dhabi’s position as a truly modern city and boost the Emirate’s ambitions of building a global reputation as a top destination for the arts.
Salwa Zeidan, Director of the Selwa Zeidan Gallery, said the idea has been in development for over two years now.
“The aim here is to have Adiss take on the form of a performing art event, an open sculpture studio involving participation of both artists and the public. Art is for everybody, not only for connoisseurs and art critics,” she said at an event to launch the symposium.
“When we first made the announcement, we received an overwhelming response of more than 400 applicants from different corners of the globe. We then carefully reviewed every single entry and shortlisted a number of them based on their background and medium. Once we narrowed the numbers down, we asked each artist to submit 3 designs of sculptures that could complement the city of Abu Dhabi,” she said, explaining how the artists were selected. “The artistic concept of the submitted works ranged from abstract ideas to semi-realistic designs mainly aimed at complementing the beautiful city of Abu Dhabi, its history, and its culture.
“We also wanted to give one emerging artists who shows promising talent a chance and selected Husam Chaya from Lebanon to take part in Adiss 2010 and intend to introduce a new artist every year.”
Artists of the world participating in this first edition of Adiss and who will bring together their collective talents to create a most active and dynamic event are Billy Lee from the United Kingdom, Caroline Ramersdorfer from Austria, Ehab El Laban from Eqypt, Fabrizio Dieci from Italy, Gheorghi Filin and Petre Petrov from Bulgaria, Gregor Kregar from Slovenia, Hassan Sharif from the UAE, Hwang Seoung-Woo from Korea, Jo Kley from Germany, Jon Barlow Hudson from the US, John Gogaberishvili from Republic of Georgia, Juanjo Novella from Spain, Konstantin Dimopoulos from Australia, Masahiro Hasegawa and Yoshin Ogata from Japan.
Another area of focus is the lecture programme and workshops, which aim to advance the cultural dialogue between Abu Dhabi and the rest of the world. Topics being discussed include public art, its history and how it fits into Abu Dhabi; art in the urban scene; and art and the environment. All the sessions will take place at the Zayed University auditorium.
Source: Emirates Business
Tags: Adu Dhabi, arThou, arTists, performance arT, sculptors, sculpture
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Thursday, February 18th, 2010
 Ants Invade Colombian Congress in Unique Art Display Hundreds of large black- and brown-colored fiberglass ants covered the facade, columns and windows of the Colombian Congress building in an unusual sculpture by artist Rafael Gomezbarros, who told Efe that the work symbolizes human migration.
With his work depicting an invasion of the ants, which “represent immigration, globalization and displacement, I’m trying to force a reflection on what we experience and see on a daily basis, and also to raise awareness about our monuments,” Gomezbarros said.
A total of 1,300 ants, each measuring 95 centimeters (just over three feet) in length, were mounted on the facade of the legislative headquarters.
Gomezbarros made the figures using a special resin and fiberglass and has dubbed his creation “Casatomada” (House Occupied).
The sculptor explained that the work is not political in nature, since the exhibit “does not go beyond artistic expression, and in a sense is more social than political because it seeks to call attention to monuments.”
The unique work will be mounted at the Congress building through March 26 and then two days later will be installed at the Los Heroes (Heroes) monument, located at a major intersection on the north side of the Colombian capital.
The 37-year-old Gomezbarros, who studied plastic arts in Bogota, said that in June “Casatomada” will be taken out of the country and be exhibited in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany.
The sculptor told Efe that one of his dreams is for his work to “invade” Madrid’s Puerta de Alcala and other monuments in the Spanish capital.
He added, however, that before he can export his creation he will need to find one or more international firms to help him transport the fiberglass insects and display them at monuments in different parts of the world.
Source: Latin American Herald Tribune
Tags: ant arT, arT form, arThou, Casatomada, Colombian Congress, fiberglass ants, Rafael Gomezbarros, sculptor, sculpture, unusual arT, unusual sculpture
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Monday, February 15th, 2010
At its most creative and inspired, philanthropy can alter lives, or even a society. That is the message of “A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund,” a thoughtful show at the Montclair Art Museum.
 “Harriet Tubman,” a 1931 oil painting by Aaron Douglas. The Rosenwald Fund was a philanthropic organization created in 1917 by the Chicago businessman Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), who made a fortune as the part owner, president and chief executive of Sears, Roebuck & Company. His philanthropy supported the building of more than 5,000 schools for black students in the South and gave stipends to hundreds of black artists, writers, teachers and scholars.
The current exhibition, which originated last year at the Spertus Museum in Chicago, presents around 60 paintings, sculptures, photographs and works on paper by 22 Rosenwald fellows, who included such notable artists as Gordon Parks, Jacob Lawrence and Elizabeth Catlett. Most, but not all, of the artists are black; the program also offered fellowships to white Southerners with an interest in and concern for race relations.
 “I Have Special Reservations,” a linoleum cut from the Negro Woman series done in 1946 and 1947 by Elizabeth Catlett. The art on view dates from roughly the late 1920s to the late 1940s, a period when the fund was active as a grant-making body under the leadership of Edwin Rogers Embree. Mr. Rosenwald, whose philanthropy was influenced by Emil G. Hirsch, a Chicago rabbi, and Booker T. Washington, believed that charities should devote their entire resources to addressing an immediate cause. The fund was devised to spend itself out of existence within 25 years of his death, and it officially closed in 1948.
The show is arranged mostly according to the order in which artists received fellowships, beginning with Augusta Savage, a talented but not particularly well known sculptor, teacher and activist associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was the first visual artist to get a fellowship, which enabled her to study in Europe. “Gamin” (circa 1929), a realistic, painted plaster portrait of a black street child, was produced shortly before she left for France.
 “Slow Down Freight Train,” which Rose Piper completed in 1947 while on a Julius Rosenwald Fund fellowship in 1946. Many of the artists in this show broach social themes in their work. Charles Alston made evocative pictures of farm life and poverty in the South, like “Farm Boy,” showing here, an affecting portrait done in 1941, during his fellowship. It is painted in a realistic style that owes much to the work of the regionalist artists John Steuart Curry and Thomas Hart Benton.
“Farm Boy” won a purchase prize at the first annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and Prints by Negro Artists of America at Atlanta University in 1942. It is one of the better paintings in the show, along with “Harriet Tubman” (1931), an expansive, sensual mural painted in a flat, simplified style by Aaron Douglas, who got a fellowship in 1937 to travel in the South and in Haiti. The work shows Tubman, the antislavery activist, breaking the shackles of bondage.
Though “Harriet Tubman” predates the fellowship period, it was commissioned by Mr. Rosenwald’s son-in-law, Alfred K. Stern, according to the exhibition catalog, which cites an article in the N.A.A.C.P. magazine The Crisis. Insofar as the mural emphasizes heroes and heroines of black history, it is also typical of a lot of work in this exhibition. Several linoleum cuts from the Negro Woman series by Ms. Catlett depict extraordinary women like Tubman and Phillis Wheatley, one of the first black poets to be published in America.
 “The Drapemaker,” which Haywood Bill Rivers painted in 1947 during his fellowship. Lamar Baker and Robert Gwathmey were two Southern white artists who received fellowships, in 1942 and 1944, respectively. Though neither was very talented, in my opinion, they shared an awareness of and sensitivity toward the cultural and historical roots of the black experience in America; Mr. Gwathmey painted images of black musicians in a style borrowed from Picasso, while Mr. Baker, a painter and printmaker, often dealt with the legacy of slavery.
Three early photographs by Mr. Parks, including perhaps his most famous image, “American Gothic, Washington D.C.” (1942), produced during the year of his fellowship, attest to the importance of Mr. Rosenwald’s bold and creative philanthropy. Produced when the artist was unknown, it shows a black cleaning woman posed before an American flag with a broom and a mop.
There are other interesting things here worth lingering over, including half a dozen Jacob Lawrence prints and some modernist works by Ronald Joseph and Charles Sebree.
Not all these artists went on to have successful careers, but that seems beside the point. Their work promoted new images of black Americans and challenged accepted, often racist notions of black creativity.
“A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund,” Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Avenue, Montclair, through July 25. Information: (973) 746-5555 or montclairartmuseum.org.
By Benjamin Genoccio
Source: New York Times
Tags: arT, arT Events, arT exhibition, arT history, arThou, black arTists, Montclair Art Museum, painting, sculpture
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Thursday, November 26th, 2009
1. Get an art calendar and hang it in your home. Make a point to spend time at least once a month discussing what you see in the artwork. Each month you will have a new reminder and a new art print.
2. Take a field trip to an art museum, an art gallery, or even an artist’s studio. Remember that visual art includes pottery, sculpting, drawing, architecture, and printmaking. Don’t limit yourself to paintings. Look in your yellow pages to see what options you have locally.
 Take a field trip 3. Choose a favorite children’s book illustrator. Look through as many of his books as possible. Have your child talk about what makes his style unique. (It may be helpful to compare or contrast his work with another illustrator). Then let your child copy his style as he illustrates his own story.
4. Find art that matches the period of history you’re studying. Look for paintings that reflect the historical events in your curriculum, for example art of the American Revolution.
 Find arT 5. Stop and appreciate art when you see it no matter where you are. Is there a unique sculpture at the community center? Is there a reproduction of a famous painting hanging in the mall? Take time to pause and discuss it with your children. For discussion starters, try this PDF.
Tags: arT, arThou, arTist, arTwork, drawings, museums, paintingss, pottery, sculpture, unique arT
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Friday, July 24th, 2009
Beijing artists and gallery owners say the economic downturn will improve quality.
BEIJING — Fabien Fryns, who runs the F2 gallery in Caochangdi village on the outskirts of Beijing, does not look like a man who is worried about the financial crisis.
“The middle has dropped out of the market,” said Fryns, discretely smoking a cigar in the gallery’s voluminous interior garden, “but the top and the bottom are both strong.”
What is “the middle”? Pieces from $30,000 to $500,000, according to Fryns.
Compared to the stock market, or nearly any other place one can put one’s money these days, Chinese contemporary art still looks like a very good investment. Recent art auctions in Hong Kong have registered sales at the high end of their estimates, even though the targets the auction houses are setting for themselves are less ambitious today than previous years.
The owners of some of the best Beijing galleries said the shakeout promises to be a positive development for dealers, but also for artists. No one likes a bubble and there was growing concern that easy riches were destroying creativity by encouraging Chinese artists to go after major sales, rather than the real thing.
Li Xianting, the former editor of the magazine China Fine Arts who is considered the spiritual father of the contemporary art movement, said media hype transformed many artists into “money celebrities” and produced a twisted form of art.
Pan Xing Lei, a sculptor and painter who recently returned to Beijing from New York, said the financial crisis would weed out less serious artists.
“The artists who are serious can take this time to reflect and to develop their ideas,” he said. “The others will go back to their villages, or do something else.”
The craze over contemporary Chinese art began to trigger serious waves on the international art scene in 2005, after the auction house Sotheby’s established an Asian contemporary art department and began buying up works. Many of the artists were reacting to the Tiananmen Square massacre and grappling with the wrenching changes in Chinese society, a fact that made them especially interesting as an emerging China began to make its influence felt in other domains.
“The relationship was becoming difficult because many of the artists were spoiled,” Fryns said. “The scene in the last few years was crazy. You were given an hour to decide if you wanted to buy a piece.”
In March 2006, an auction that was expected to bring in $6 million raised $13 million. In 2007, a single painting, “Executioner,” by Yue Minjun, famous for his cynical-realist political pop caricatures of himself with a frozen smile, went for $5.9 million, up from the $32,200 the original owner had paid a decade earlier.
With results like that, China’s own millionaires, many of them newly minted, began buying art mostly as investment.
“None of them had time to study what it was that was making contemporary art so successful,” Fryns said, “so they bought the pieces that were going for the highest prices.”
A sprawling gallery complex known as 798, which occupies a former military factory complex, became the third most popular tourist destination in Beijing. By the time it had succeeded, however, the more exclusive galleries and many of the more serious artists had already moved to more remote art villages, including Songzhuan and Caochangdi, where F2 is located.
Brian Wallace, who runs the Red Gate Gallery in an ancient guard tower on a remnant of the city’s original Ming wall, noted that 798 seems to be evolving from gallery space to retail space. But Wallace had no doubt that China will continue to inject enormous creativity and professionalism into the contemporary art scene.
“Art is a career path in China,” Wallace said. “It is like being a doctor or a lawyer.”
The recession’s impact on real estate speculation connected to art may be a different story. Beijing’s dazzling Today Art Museum, the city’s first independent museum focusing on contemporary art, will probably succeed. But a flashy nearby gallery complex known as 22 Art Plaza International, which had intended to capitalize on the museum’s attraction, stands largely empty.
Fryns said F2 and other leading galleries prefer the more remote location at Caochangdi, because the space is reasonable, and there is a lot of it. A collector who has flown to Beijing, ready to spend a million dollars or more on a painting, has no difficulty finding the location.
“We don’t get the drop-in crowd, the casual passers-by, the young couple with cameras, but that is not what we’re looking for,” Fryns said.
And Fryns is convinced that in the long term, the best art will continue to hold its value. “There is very little quality material coming on the market today,” he said. “People are holding on to what they have. There are a lot of newly wealthy Chinese billionaires. Once they have bought everything else, a certain number will turn to contemporary art. They will want to collect the best work that is Chinese, and there is a limited supply of that.”
By William Dowell – GlobalPost
Source: www.globalpost.com
Tags: arT, arT gallery, arThou, Beijing arTists, Chinese arT, paintings, sculpture
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