Posts Tagged ‘University of Iowa’

Artist of the moment……Phyllis Wiener

{ April 28, 2014 @ 3:51 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Phyllis Wiener was a wonderful Abstract painter born in Iowa City, Iowa in the year 1921. Wiener spent much of life in Minnesota and was widely collected. Her works are awesome as far as design for the many different ways of applying paint that she used.

It seems at the underground or first level of the painting we have stains, all edges are fused and soft. The next layer often seems to include bubbles or floating shapes. The final contains silhouettes of organic and geometric shapes that also seem to be moving. From a design aspect, Wiener’s work is just as bit as impressive as a Kandinsky.

The artist’s first show was held in Boulder, Colorado in 1941.

In this clip we view an interview with the artist that took place in 2011:

For her collegiate education Wiener studied with the famed painter Grant Wood, picture the husband and wife typical “American farm family” of the past at the University of Iowa. Wiener also attended the University of Missouri.

A heavy influence on the artist’s push towards Abstract Expressionist painting was the artist Cameron Booth.

Phyllis Wiener passed away in 2013 at the age of 91 years old.

If you are looking to find some additional works you have to check for her other married names. Her maiden last name was Zager, but she was married three times and used the last names Downs and Ames in addition to Wiener.

Price range information: Sorry none available.

What a fantastic style of abstract art!

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Artist of the moment…….Vito Acconci

{ October 18, 2013 @ 10:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Vito Acconci  is an American artist born in Bronx, New York in the year 1940. Acconci is a very versatile artist working in many mediums including sculpture, painting, and performance art. For his collegiate education Acconci attended the College of the Holy Cross located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Acconci went on to do his postgraduate studies at the University of Iowa. The artist has completed many public sized commissioned works.

The artist studied writing and poetry for his master’s degree. Acconci didn’t began to produce visual art until the very late 1960s.

For much of his work the artist uses his own body.

Price range information:  Non public sized smaller works and prints range from $3,000 to $50,000.

Acconci also has become renown for some performance art work. One such work titled Seedbed involved the artist arousing himself sexually and talking to himself whilst loudspeakers echoed his words and the viewer walked above the artist.

Acconci was one of the first artist to work with recycled and found materials. The artist has built a reputation for designing fine furniture from these materials.

In this clip from the Tate Museum we learn that the artist thinks of himself as an art doer, rather than just a visual artist per say. Like other performance artists, for him its about the process not just the end result. A worthwhile interview:

The artist was the co-founder of an architecture company that designs public buildings and various works.

Acconci has also been part of many great teaching institutions including Pratt and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The artist is based out of Brooklyn, New York.

I found out that this artist has a huge outdoor public work around 30 minutes from Denver in Arvada, Colorado.

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Artist of the moment…..Ana Mendieta

{ August 2, 2013 @ 11:34 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Ana Mendieta was born in Havana, Cuba in the year  1948. Mendieta was a performance artist also known for her photography. A famous series by the artist included replicating her silhouette in various locations.  This series is called the “earth-body” series. Mendieta also produced performance art and sculpture.

Below an example of Ana Mendieta’s work with her silhouette:

In order to escape Cuba, she and a sister were sent to the States. Mendieta was nine years old at the time.

Some of Mendieta’s themes were feminism, life, death, and her connection to the planet earth. The main series is the silhouetta series where the artist used her own body covered in mud, sand, grass, and even blood. She would then shoot photographs of these works and sold these.

In some works she even used fire as a medium and recorded the images on film.

For her collegiate education Mendieta attended the University of Iowa earning both a bachelors and master’s degree. A major influence during these times was Hans Breder. Below some works by Hans Breder.

Sadly Ana Mendieta died from a fall in 1985 from her 34th story floor apartment in New York City. Her husband was tried and acquitted of murdering his wife. The court said it was either an accident or a suicide. Mendieta was only 36 years old. Her husband was also an artist and below an example of his style, his name is Carl Andre.

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One of the last series the work’s by the artist were photo etchings of some cave sculptures the artist made in her native of Cuba.

In this clip we visit a gallery show featuring Ana Mendieta.

Price range information; Works range from $3,000 to $170,000.

Below an example of the artist working with blood. Blood was important in the performing of certain religious rituals for Mendieta.

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