Posts Tagged ‘tate modern’

Artist of the moment…..Photographer Santiago Sierra

{ August 24, 2013 @ 10:18 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Santiago Sierra is a photographer born in Madrid, Spain in the year 1966. He is renown for conceptual and installation art. For these works he likes to point out the dangers and the results of the super charged capitalism taking place in the poorer countries of the world. This can be taking advantage of immigrant labor or those people just hovering at the poverty level to the immigrants and young women involved in the sex industry.  One image in the gallery is a collection of 100 beggars. Sierra likes to make the viewer more aware of where they stand on the economic ladder.

A great example of how he might refer to race is the image in the gallery of the men arranged from lightest to darkest color of skin. The men are also lined up as to who might be the best laborer to purchase.

The artist has also done audio mixing somewhat similar to Christian Maclay. The artist took the 27 members of the European Union and played each national anthem at the same time continuously. The other side of the record included the national song of the European Union members playing backwards and regularly at the same time continuously.

Some examples of his conceptual ideas include creating a gas chamber inside a former synagogue located in Berlin, Germany.

price range information: Most works priced between $10,000 and $30,000.

Based out of Madrid, Spain.

A link to the website of Santiago Sierra:

http://www.santiago-sierra.com/index_1024.php

In addition to his photography the artist also organizes installation and performance art. Watch this clip from the Tate modern as Sierra arranges for homeless people to stand with their backs to the audience for one hour. Very original concepts in both photography and performance art. Sierra is always trying to get the viewer to look beyond what they might normally see in the economic food chain that he considers capitalism:

 

D

Artist of the moment…..Olafur Eliasson

{ August 14, 2013 @ 3:36 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Olafur Eliasson is a multimedia artist born in Denmark, Copenhagen in the year 1967. Though he has done sculpture work , photography, and prints Eliasson is best known for his installation works involving with light and sometimes involving water and air. For his artistic education attended the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

price range information: The artist is very prolific as far as output, his mediums include photography, glass, steel, ink, oils, and metals. Photographs start at $5,000. Other mediums start at $10,000 and go to the low six figures. Eliasson has broken the $1.0 million dollar mark at auction with a work titled the fivefold eye selling for $1.23 million. Below some images of this work.

Part of the 2003 Venice Biennale.

As an artist my favorite works are those that include multiple shadows of one figure. They are reminiscent to me of the multi image works of Elvis Presley made by Andy Warhol.

A wonderful interview with the artist. This captures what I can’t through the gallery. You must actually see the light reflecting from the various mirrors or aluminum sheets used by the artist to get a true feeling for his work.

Has a studio in Berlin, Germany.

Sometimes works with as many as 30 people on certain light installation projects.

The works receiving the most critical attention of Eliasson’s would be the Weather Project. This was an installation done at London’s Tate Modern Museum in 2003. This was a great show for the artist and attracted over 2 million viewers! A large hall was emptied and inside humidifiers were placed that displaced a mixture of sugar and water that filled the air. The top of the hall was a large mirror and people could see themselves. As a result many laid on the floor to take part in the installation. Many viewers came back to the exhibit multiple times.

And here we go to London’s Tate Modern to visit the Weather Project.

A work that generated a large number of negative and positive remarks was titled the New York City Waterfalls. This project of Eliasson was to set up man made waterfalls and set up lights and illuminate the waterfalls when darkness came and throughout the night. The project was to cost around $15 million dollars.

In this clip we visit the installation New York City Waterfalls. Cool stuff!

And as a fan of the Art Car series by BMW, we visit a car made by Eliasson.

Since Thomas Kinkade has passed, we have the new “painter” of light!

D

Artist of the moment……Brendan Jamison…the sugar cube artist

{ June 15, 2013 @ 10:02 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Brendan Jamison is an internationally acclaimed sculptor that doesn’t use bronze or even patinas for that matter, he uses sugar cubes to build his wonderfully impressive sculptures. Jamison was born in 1980 and hails from Belfast, Ireland. He began working with sugar cubes in 2004. In addition to sugar cubes that he has become famous for, he also has worked with bronze,wood, and wool. Jamison now lists sugar as his favorite medium!

I hope you watch the video clips to get a better impression for his unique style, but some examples of the number of sugar cubes used is amazing for some works. The Tate Modern used slightly more than 71,000 cubes and a giant sugar tower created for the Arts Council of North Ireland used more than 250,000 sugar cubes! Its the largest sugar sculpture in the world!

In this clip we see the artist standing in front of 10 Downing Street with his own interpretation of the famous landmark. The White House would be an ideal candidate for a similar project!

BrendanJamisonSugarcubesculptureat10DowningStreeton10February2012image1small_003

In this clip we see a fantastic sculpture by Jamison depicting the Tate Modern Museum! Very unique!

In this clip we view the bodies resting place as art. The location where sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate was made into his signature sugar cube art using over 27,000 sugar cubes!

In this clip we visit the artist studio in Belfast, Ireland and listen to a brief interview.

A link to the artist’s own personal website.

http://www.brendanjamison.com/

Price range information: Sorry none available.

What a great idea for his medium! As a type one diabetic I know I couldn’t work sugar, but his results with his chosen medium are fantastic!

D

Artist of the moment….Sir Terry Frost…Anthony Frost….Lucas Frost….

{ January 14, 2013 @ 12:16 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Terry Frost was born in Britain in the year 1915. He was best known for his brightly colored abstract works. Frost served his country in the second world war. He was captured and was a prisoner of war. Whilst in prison he met a fellow captive named Adrian Heath. Heath went on to become a famous abstract artist as well. Below is an example of his Adrian’s Heath’s artistic style. Its easy to see the influence the teacher had on his pupil.

artwork_images_159979_748841_adrian-heath

Below is a clip showing some artwork of Sir Terry Frost at the Tate Modern Musuem of Art in London, England.

When I saw this image below I figured it was a Rex Ray collage and acrylic piece. Ray is my favorite contemporary artist who concentrates on shape and color. If you are in Denver you may see a work of his at the Vance Kirkland Museum. He uses a mixture of paint, collage, and usually seals his work with resin. Very modern feel to his artwork. Here is a Sir Terry Frost painting.

frost33

And a photograph of Sir Terry Frost.

frost

And below is wonderful example of Rex Ray’s bright and colorful style. His use of colors and shapes always make me feel relaxed and happy!

rexray

Both artists even have a similar palette of colors!  What wonderful abstract works by both artists! Color,shape, and texture give the viewers eye so much to take in.

Since Sir Terry Frost also worked with stained glass and that reminds me of John LaFarge. LaFarge was a wonderful American Impressionist that worked in watercolors and oils and also conquered the medium of stained glass. My favorite stained glass works by the artist are usually floral works, but I love the abstraction and color of this peacock so its my favorite of LaFarge’s stained glass works.

La-Farge-glass-Peacocks-and-Peonies-HR

And Terry Pauls work is very modern and this one is titled THE QUAY. For me I can see a female figure in the piece.

frost12

Terry Frost passed away in 2003 at the age of 88 years old.

Price range information:  The artist was very prolific and worked in many mediums. Lithographs range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Oils range from $2,000 to $20,000. Collage works range from $2,000 to $10,000. Watercolor and gouache pieces range $1,000 to $5,000.

Frost was elected a Royal Academician in 1992.

He was given knighthood in 2000.

I enjoy his work for the happy, bold, and bright colors used by the artist.

Save the best facts for last! We have another multi generation artistic family! The artist got married in 1945 and had five kids. Two went on to become professional artists. Below is a work by Anthony Frost (born in 1951.)

artwork_images_134_647251_anthony-frost

The other son who became an artist is named Luke. In this clip we see a picture by his father Terry at 1:43 into the clip. At 5:28 into the clip we meet Terry’s son Luke who is an artist in residence. Very artistic family who all have a bright color palette with simple organic and geometric shapes.

And an example of Luke Frost’s work.

lukefrost

Artist of the moment….Sandra Blow….

{ January 8, 2013 @ 2:59 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Sandra Blow was born in London, England in 1925.  Her family raised fruit in the city of Kent, England. Blow came to be known for her wonderful abstact works.

A clip of the artist’s studio located in Britain.

Blow studied at the Saint Martin’s School of Art from 1941 to 1946. Blow then studied in Rome, Italy at the Academy of Art. While in Italy Blow also found about the abstract artist Alberto Burri. Burri was a strong influence and lived a colorful life. He earned a medical degree and was involved in World War Two as a medical doctor. After  his group was caught he was sent to live in an internment camp in Gainesville, Texas. It was here that he took up painting.

Burri ended up loving abstract painting and developed his own technique of adding elements to push the painting into a three dimensional sculpture more or less. He started making abstract collages using materials such as tar, pumice, charred wood, and burned plastic. Here is an example of Alberto Burri and his style of abstract art. Burri was a great inspiration for Robert Rauschenberg.

Its important to see which artists inspired future artists! Its great to see Alberto Burri and his many works that push color and texture to the limit, and then see other artists like Sandy Blow who were inspired by the works and went on to create their own wonderful visions.

Here is an exerpt from a show featuring Alberto Burri at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Look at the many textures he has created!

Here is a wonderful painting by Burri. Burri reminds me of modern day artist Rex Ray with this design.

artwork_images_761_698951_alberto-burri

Blow was part of the teaching faculty at the Royal College of Art in London, England for fourteen years starting in 1961.

As an artist the most important theme in her works was balance. Another important idea to the artist was that of proportion. Blow often worked very large in scale and used found materials such as saw dust, old canvas, plaster, and torn paper.

Price range information: The artist loved to try new mediums and experimented with many over her lifetime.  Acrylics can be found from $500 to $33,000. Collage works range from $1000 to $3000. Watercolors range from $650 to $25,000. Oils range from $3,000 to $90,000.

Blow was a leader in the abstract movement that took place in the United Kingdom in the 1950s.

The artist is part of the Tate Modern collection.

Blow passed away in 2006.