Archive for April 24, 2013

Artist of the moment……Graffiti and street twin artists Os Gemeos

{ April 24, 2013 @ 3:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Os Gemeos are world renown street/ graffiti artists coming from Brazil. The identical twin brothers were born in the year 1974 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Their style is easily recognizable as their characters are rather tall with slender limbs and a slightly yellow color to their skin. At first they copied the graffiti are they saw coming from the streets of New York. Soon the twins were able to find their own style of painting and started to express their cultural views about Brazil.

The names of the brothers are Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo.

Below a short clip featuring the artwork of Os Gemeos.

A big break for the artists came in 1993 when they met American artist Barry McGee. McGee is best known for his cartoon characters, which to me resemble faces made by John Brack, that he paints often on bottles using gouache. The artist is also great at creating abstract patterns and designs. Since I first saw him in national art magazines for his work with bottle I have decided to include works by Barry McGee from his bottles series. Below some bottles by McGee. McGee attended the San Francisco Art Institute but was studying in Brazil. He showed them many examples of American style graffiti. McGee also taught them lettering and graffiti style techniques.

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The twins have created their art in many cities including Miami for Art Basel Miami Beach, in Heerlen located in the Netherlands. They have also produced works in Portugal, New York city , and in London, England at the Tate Modern.

In this clip we see famed street artist Blu work with the Twins on this very large project completed in Portugal for a festival.

In addition to painting the two also create sculptures and light installations.

First United States exhibition in 2003.

How graffiti and street artists differ in the world. If you have been reading the blog lately you might have seen artists  like Cool Disco Dan, who loved to tag mainly along certain subway lines. In Brazil subway systems are a great deal of pride for the community, so authorities do their best to keep them clean looking. But in the last decade with the approval and rise of graffiti and street art to gallery and main street artists, Os Gemeos and other well known graffiti artists were COMMISSIONED to paint the subway legally. Another great example of how the street movement has a full head of steam behind it!

Price range information: The twins work in many mediums the most frequent being spray paint and acrylics which range $10,000 to $125,000.

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Artist of the moment……Nuna Parr….

{ April 24, 2013 @ 1:08 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Nuna Parr is yet another of the great Inuit artist colony/ community located in Cape Dorset in the Nunavet Territory of Canada. Nuna Parr was born in 1949 in Cape Dorset. In the Inuit community it is normal to adopt children amongst families and Nuna Parr was adopted by an artist named Parr and another artist Eleeshushe. Parr lived from 1893 until 1969 and was known for his etchings and paintings. An example of Parr’s art below.

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His mother was also an artist named Eleeshushe. She like her husband Parr had a reputation for drawing and printmaking. This artist colony as I call it has its own art cooperative called the West Baffin Eskimo Collective. Over her lifetime from 1896 to 1975 Eleeshushe created more than 1,000 prints. Below an example of Eleeshushe’s artwork.

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In the clip below we see some varieties of stone used by the artist. Many of the artist just mine and find their own stone, so in essence by owning the artwork you also own a piece of the region, an actual artifact. This is the first 2 minutes of the clip. After this we visit a wonderful example of a dancing bear carved by Nuna Parr. I love the lively and animated look of the bear.

 

Nuna Parr has been carving for more than forty years.

Price range information: The artist works in very large and very small scales so prices range $2,000 to $16,000.

Of all the Inuit artist sculptors no other brings so much creativity to the table. Also the fact that he is able to work in a very large scale and his knowledge of the use of stone for the flow of  the grain and texture is used to add an artistic touch to his works.  Each stone is slightly different to the artist but might appear the same to the someone not engrossed as deeply in sculpture as Parr.

When you think of dancing bears, walruses, and seals think of the wonderful art of Nuna Parr!  Also what a great story! An artist husband and wife adopt a child who goes onto become an internationally collected and renown artist, look out Beyonce and Jay-Z, Blue has met his match in Nuna Parr!

 

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