Artsology | An arts blog | Art musings, found art, news, and other art-related items of interest

Installation art at the Dentist’s office

admin_arts — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:20:28 +0000

Our family went out for a Mother’s Day dinner in Montclair last night, and as we were walking down the street towards the restaurant, I noticed this dentist’s office with some swirling colors in the front window underneath his light sign (below left). Not being sure what it was but still curious, I took a closer look to see that he had allowed a “4 year old artist” to create an abstract painting on the glass. I like it – a little public art before going in to get flossed and cleaned!

The worst and best things at the Art Fair

admin_arts — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:43:44 +0000

Yesterday was the annual Art and Eco Fair in Glen Ridge, NJ … and a quick stroll through the booths quickly established the unfortunate selection of vendors: when you see booth after booth with things like “tiki bar” signs (below left), football license plate lamps (below right), and jewelry, body soaps, and other such things, you wonder why is this even called an “art” fair? There were a few legitimate artists showing their paintings and sculpture, but they were in the minority. Maybe it should be re-named the “arts, crafts, and eco” fair instead?

But I’m happy to report that after meandering past the booths, the best part of the show came up: the display of art works by Glen Ridge students … I was very impressed with the quality, skill and imagination of these young artists! Below are a few examples of the great student art … hats off to the Glen Ridge art teachers and their students! We’re not going to list artist names due to privacy issues, but definitely wanted to show some examples of the creative art being made by the students.

A few more Art World Scandals

admin_arts — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:00:08 +0000

In our last post, we discussed the recent Mark Zuckerberg “Hoodiegate” incident, and the inspiration it gave us to find some art world scandals. This post augments that with a few more art world scandals, including Marcel Duchamp’s readymade “Fountain,” as well as Robert Rauschenberg’s brash act of erasing a Willem De Kooning drawing:

Mark Zuckerberg “Hoodiegate” gets us to consider some art world scandals

admin_arts — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:37:40 +0000

I read an article the other day that described Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Wall Street to meet with potential investors in advance of an eventual IPO of the company’s stock. What caused a ruckus with the press was the fact that he appeared wearing a hoodie (as opposed to a business suit), which some labeled as defiant and others labeled as immature, while others defended it as his “trademark look,” just like Steve Jobs and his black mock turtlenecks. At any rate, it seemed like such a big deal that it quickly became known as “Hoodiegate,” which of course is a play on “Watergate,” the political scandal that took place during Richard Nixon’s presidency.

I thought the idea of giving this event a name such as “Hoodiegate” and making a big deal out of it was a bit absurd. But then it got me thinking, what kind of art world scandals have there been, and what names would they have? I’ve come up with a few ideas below:

Animal musicians?

admin_arts — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:48:11 +0000

Here’s a novel concept … do you think that animals have any interest in music? I certainly never would have thought so, although Theo the Art Dog has been known to bark and howl while Lil’ Groove is practicing his saxophone.

But this video shows some evidence to the contrary: it appears that the Smithsonian’s National Zoo has a 36-year-old Asian elephant named Shanthi, who will play a harmonica on her own. See for yourself on this video:

Twice daily rainbows for your viewing pleasure

admin_arts — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:22:43 +0000

Talk about ambitious … here’s an artist who has decided to control a natural phenomena and create his own real rainbows as art. What??! Read on for the details, my friends. The artist, Michael Jones McKean, is a working artist represented by Horton Gallery in New York City and Gentili Apri in Berlin, Germany. He is also an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University where he has taught in the Sculpture and Extended Media Department since 2006. Here’s his plan: this summer, at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, McKean is going to present a public art work titled The Rainbow: Certain Principles of Light and Shapes Between Forms. During the run of the show, he will create a rainbow over the Bemis Center twice per day with clear sun, for 20 minutes each. And how is he going to manage this?

Throughout the project cycle, collected and recaptured stormwater will be filtered and stored in six above-ground, 10,500 gallon water tanks. Within the gallery, a custom designed 60-horsepower pump supplies pressurized water to nine nozzles mounted to the 20,000 square foot roof of the Bemis Center. At timed intervals, in the morning and early evening, a dense water-wall will be projected above the building in which a rainbow will emerge. Based on atmospheric conditions, vantage point, available sunlight and the changing angle of the sun in the sky, each rainbow will have a singular character and quality. Depending on the position of the sun, one could see the rainbow from a thousand feet away or seemingly touch it with your hand.

For more information on this public art work, check out the Bemis Center’s website here. Also check out what McKean’s Rainbow Project website here, and if you really want to get the nitty-gritty, you can inspect the technical specifications diagram here.

See the artist create the album cover while the band plays on

admin_arts — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:37:02 +0000

I was just tipped off to a new (to me) band called Clockwork Radio, who just released a new video for their upcoming EP, titled Ubuntu. The video shows the Italian artist Silvia Pelissero painting what is to be the album cover with watercolor paint, but it is speeded up so that you see the whole painting completed during the 5 minute length of the song (titled B L D P). Having painted with watercolor for years, I find it fascinating to see someone else’s style and approach as well as being able to see a painting completed in such a short time. Check it out for yourself below.

While Clockwork Radio is new to me, they’ve been around since 2007 and are now based in Manchester, UK. What I think is really interesting is that the band consists of two Welshmen, two Mancunians and an Egyptian, and their music explores genres as varied as Flamenco, Afro-beat, Electronica, Rock, Folk, Disco and Funk. The artist, Silvia Pelissero, who also goes by the moniker Agnes Cecile, studied at Liceo Artistico Giorgio De Chirico in Rome and works in a variety of mediums including watercolour, oil, acrylic, varnish, and digital paintings.

Learn more about Clockwork Radio at their website, and more on Silvia Pelissero at her deviantART page.

Santa Claus, Snooki, and Larry Bird?

admin_arts — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:15:11 +0000

What do Santa Claus, Snooki and Larry Bird have in common? Or for that matter, how about P. Diddy, R. Crumb, and Batman? Why, they’ve all autographed baseballs and were presented as art at the 2012 Armory Show in New York City. Actually, these “signed” baseballs are the work of L.A. artist Eric Yahnker. The New York Times wrote of these items that “Mr. Yahnker is working hard to stay ahead of the curve of ridiculousness in contemporary life.” Perhaps it’s just a spin on Marcell Duchamps “Fountain,” which was a urinal with the signed name “R. Mutt.” But wil art history look back on Yahnker’s baseballs with the same reverence?

Doesn’t Honest Abe deserve better than this?

admin_arts — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:52:15 +0000

I’m not sure why any motel owner would name his business after a former president, in this case Abraham Lincoln. The connection between being President of the United States and having an inexpensive place to sleep doesn’t make much sense to me. But here’s the abandoned Lincoln Motel, located in East Orange, NJ.

Invasion of the pink lacrosse sticks

admin_arts — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:39:19 +0000

Here in Glen Ridge, NJ, over the past few days there have been numerous sightings of pink lacrosse sticks stuck in the front yard of homes around town. Is it jock installation art? A play on pink flamingos? My guess is that it’s some sort of fundraiser for the Glen Ridge lacrosse program, but it does create some interesting visuals across town.

Here’s three more sightings from around town: