Archive for July 31, 2013

Artist of the moment….Ormand Gigli

{ July 31, 2013 @ 4:59 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Ormand Gigli is a world renown American photographer born in New York city in the year 1925.

price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $50,000.

Gigli became famous on the national scene after his celebrity images of stars from the 1950s like Sophia Loren.

He work was in magazines Life, Time, Paris Match, and Saturday Evening Post.

A link to the website of Ormond Gigli.

http://www.ormondgigli.com/

The artist also shot images of Broadway stars.

His famous image Girls in the Windows won several international photography awards. Its by far the most recognized image taken by the artist. The story behind the image is that the building was located behind the artist’s studio and was going to be demolished. Gigli then had a vision of what he wanted from the photograph. The next day he shot the image and the day after that the building was demolished. The piece involved directing 43 women how to pose!

Most of his works are taken around New York City.

Gigli is perhaps best known for one image, ” Girls in Windows.” In this clip we revisit this image. Ormond himself appears at 48 seconds into the clip.

During the 1970s and 1980s Gigli focused on using his photography for commercial advertising. He found great success in this endeavor.

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Artist of the moment……Crochet Street Artist Olek also known as Agata Oleksiak

{ July 31, 2013 @ 1:14 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Olek was born in Ruda Slaska, Poland and is renown for what can be called “crochet graffiti.” Using bold color choices that in the end make her work a bit on the Pop Art side, Olek is renown for covering objects with her camouflage style crochet.  Olek hand crochets all her fabric so she works on a smaller scale than Christo and Jeanne- Claude.

For her collegiate education Olek atteneded Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.

Installed her work over the famous wall street bull in 2010.

Has done performance art at the Whitney Museum of Art.

Has sold work to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Olek first started to use crochet in her artwork beginning in 2003.

If I were to compare her work to another artist it would be the wonderful husband and wife team,Christo and Jean Claude. The couple was renown for wrapping items as large as giant buildings. Below an example of the couple’s “wrapping” style which for the most part used fabric to cover subjects. Christo started his career by covering furniture and oil drums, after he met his future wife the couple decided to tackle bigger subjects.

christo

And here a quick clip to review some other artworks by the couple. The couple and Olek have a remarkably similar style.

In this awesome clip we visit an interior of a room that has been covered with the art of Olek.

And in this clip we visit a taxi covered by Olek.

And here we have a collaboration with a rickshaw caddy.

Artist of the moment…Johnny Kataluk

{ July 31, 2013 @ 4:27 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Johnny Kataluk is another master Inuit carver born in the Arctic Quebec region of Canada in the 1937. Kataluk is a very prolific and some favorite subjects include birds, shamans, and bears.

price range information: Works range from $500 to $4,000.

The artist moved to the Cape Harbour, Nunavet Territory, Canada as a young child. Its a collection of Inuit peoples from all over the region. In the original camp at this location in 1902, most of the inhabitants died brought on by disease by whalers that came from Europe. It has since been rebuilt and has artists like you find in Baffin Island or Cape Dorset, but the area is less commercialized and many great artists are still relatively unknown, so time to get them some more attention!

Kataluk has been working as an artist for more than four decades.

Johnny Kataluk enjoys working with soapstone, limestone, and whalebone.

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Artist of the moment….Photographer Daido Moriyama

{ July 31, 2013 @ 1:55 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Daido Moriyama is contemporary photographer born in Ikeda, Osaka, Japan in the year 1938. His work focuses on the cultural changes that have taken place over his lifetime in Japanese culture. His work features a high contrast of light and dark and usually a fun shape like the curve of a leg with knitting or the silhouette of a mannequin.

For his artistic education Moriyama attended the Takeji Iwamiya studio in Osaka, Japan where he studied photography.

Below a great montage of photographs by Moriyama. I enjoy the grainy result of his black and white photographs.

The location of many of the images shot by Moriyama is in Tokyo, Japan.

In this clip the artist talks about some of his more erotic works shot in the streets of Tokyo, Japan. And a short bio, another great film clip from the Tate.

price range information: Works range from $1,000 to $51,000.

In this clip we revisit a 1974 idea for a show. The idea that photography or a silkscreen is to be created on the spot, what a unique idea for a photography exhibition. This idea was recreated for one day in 2012 at the Tate Modern. Moriyama tells us the goals of this show and its recreation.

Daido Moriyama currently lives and works out of Tokyo, Japan.

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Artist of the moment ……Sculptor Henry Moore

{ July 31, 2013 @ 1:06 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Henry Moore was a British artist born in  Castleford, Yorkshire, England in the year 1896.  Moore was renown for working with the figure and in particular the mother and child genre. His father was an engineer in a mine but loved literature and the arts and exposed the artist and his seven other siblings to explore the arts. Moore was responsible for bringing modern sculpture to England much the same way Rodin brought modern sculpture to France.

Moore is best known for his work with the female figure. Rather than depict the entire form, Moore always leaves some space void or empty.

In this clip we see many of Henry Moore very large public sized outdoor works. Things to notice are the mother and child theme and the remarkable skill of the artist to depict drapery.  When Moore was offered these very large sized commissions, Moore was able to make a substantial amount of money but lived frugally and saved most of his money to start an art foundation called the Henry Moore Foundation.

His favorite medium used were bronze and marble.

Moore joined the Army, but was injured in a gas attack. As he later told people the war passed in a romantic haze of him wanting to be the hero. After leaving the army Moore went to Leeds College of Art. Moore also studied at the Royal College of Art.

price range information: The artist has prints starting around $1,000. In June a bronze sold at auction for $5.8 million dollars.

Moore was also part of the teaching faculty at the Royal College of Art and later the Chelsea School of Art.

In this clip we view a show in Ontario with an interview with a curator.

Winner of International Sculpture Prize at the 1948 Venice Biennale.

Henry Moore passed away in 1986 at the age of 88 years of age.

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