What single work of art speaks to you?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Depending on how I'm feeling when I Look at this image I either see a sleepy town protected by the stars or I can see a vengeful God sending the stars down to demolish the town.
http://www.exclusivefilms.com/images/kent-state-shooting.jpg
The picture of the Kent State University shooting in 1970. This picture reminds me of how unfair and violent people are. Some of these students were shot and killed while protesting the Vietnam War. It didn't matter who was shot at. All that mattered to the people shooting at them was that they got their point across. And the thing is, they never did.
My most recent discover was a video "Armed" by Devon Grundy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_g21wl48AY&feature=related
I JUST discovered this artist when I was visiting some galleries in Toronto. The artist is a Frence woman named Laurence Nerbonne and I find her work so awesome and inspiring!
http://www.thompsonlandry.com/artists/a_nerbonne.html
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai, 1832
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpg
@sjcstidham I just read that one recently. I think I may use it as a sermon illustration sometime :)
Plaza After the Rain by Paul Cornoyer
http://www.slu.edu/classes/llewelk2/tableaux.html
http://www.heenan.net/woodman/new-york/new-york-05.shtml
Francesca Woodman will always be my favorite
BIRTHDAY, by Marc Chagall, has always been an image I treasure. To me it represents the floating, happy, mindless feeling of new love.
I'm sorry if I will make anyone sad.
I have a clip and a picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ
http://image02.webshots.com/2/2/76/39/44427639RkZclI_ph.jpg
Anatomical Drawings by Leonardo Davinci. Through these I discovered the important connection between art and science.
My pick is very simple: "Pic Island" by Lawren Harris. http://www.mcmichael.com/collection/seven/harris.cfm It captures the landscape of the Canadian Shield. But also, the island is alone yet strong, forsaken yet blessed. It was the painting that first connected me to art.
@darthzaphod WTG, Sister! That's exactly my choice. There's just endless images to study and interpret.
http://www.richardhellergallery.com/dynamic/artwork_detail.asp?ArtworkID=1028
Jacob Magraw-Mickelson's The Branch.
I think he captures the depth and beauty of sadness, without it appearing to dark. I also feel a sense of complexity when I look at his work. It reminds me that we are all connected and so complex.
Mine would be Jackson Pollock's One, No. 31.
No other work of art I've seen has made me feel so many emotions at the same time. Love every stroke, every drip, every color. In it I see the beauty in chaos. Strangely it makes me feel like home.
Roops. Link. Here y'go.
http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Hieronymus_Bosch/earthly_delights.jpeg
Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'
It hangs in my kitchen, so I see it everyday, and yet everyday I find something new and exciting to look at.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's parable "The Minister's Black Veil"... it speaks to humanity on issues of religion, tolerance, humanity and so much more...
@G33kyG1rl i can only imagine how inspiring and gorgeous it must have been seeing it in person.. Guernica is another painting that makes my hairs rise... Art that resonates like that is amazing..
To me, a simple poem I read in school... Desiderata
http://www.lordtonymackenzie.com/desiderata.html
Picasso's "Frugal Repast:
http://media.independent.com/img/photos/2008/09/09/1941.2.jpg
this piece has always sat in my soul as a comment of love and survival.
So many to choose from - I'm sure my answer will change tomorrow but the first thing that comes to mind is Prague's Famous Clock...
http://www.horology-stuff.com/clocks/famous/prague.html
And yes, I know it is a clock but it is also art with a fascinating story!
Natives claim that when the mechanical figures were created, town officials had the clockmaker blinded so that he would never duplicate his masterpiece.
In vengeance, the blind man climbed the tower and stopped his creation. The clock remained silent for more than fifty years. Centuries later, during dreary decades of communist domination, the legend of the blinded clockmaker became a Metaphor for thwarted creativity.
This experience in Spain floored me so much that I wrote about it here:
http://www.zefrank.com/bulletin_new/showthread.php?t=10244
A few years ago we were visiting family in Chico, Ca. and while there Ben took me to a well known house in the neighborhood. The man who lives in the house has painted every surface, inside and out, with pointilism art. It was so overwhelmingly wonderful that I stood in the man's living room and cried. This man had spent years surrounding himself with the art that he loves, he spent every day engaging in his passion and it was wonderful.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030268&id=1316196835&l=a662ebb2a8
Actually, it's a triptych--I love Hieronymous Bosch, and I've based many stories on his "Garden of Earthly Delights". View Hell here: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/delightr.jpg
Van Gogh's At Eternity's gate, or as it is sometimes called, Man with Head in Hands
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Graphic/1945/Old-Man-with-his-Head-in-his-Hands-(At-Eternity's-Gate).html
There is nothing controversial about this work, it is very powerful to me however. It shows us a man sitting in a worn out chair with his head in hands and the posture of his body simply communicates his impending sense of unworthiness. I love it because it reminds me that humility is what truly makes one beautiful.
so far all the "works of art" mentioned here are paintings or photographs......
my answer to the question would have to be Led Zeppelin I. the record, not the album cover.
Gerhard Richter's Betty:
http://mwcapacity.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/gerhard-richter-betty/
it transcends the boundary of painting and photography..
it's a 'portrait' but we cannot see the face of the person.
Verdi's Macbeth opera poster. Absolutely sublime.
http://www.pigasus-shop.de/images/product_images/info_images/1952_0.jpg
@emilieesders I didn't see that you already wrote about this! I totally agree.
One of my favorite works is The Fountain, by Duchamp. When my professor first showed this work in class, there was basically a riot. People mocked it, rejected it as art. It infuriated some people, to most it was just a urinal, and for a conservative Christian school, it was a little offensive. Perhaps it was just the close-minded view of my fellow students that propelled me to really consider this work beyond it's initial surface view. And what I saw was truly amazing-- true, it was just a urinal. But who had ever had such an extensive conversation about "just a urinal"? Our class argued for at least 45 minutes, to the point where some people, infuriated at what they considered a waste of class time, unable and unwilling to see anything but a simple urinal, left. It made me think: this object has infuriated some, it has caused others offense. But overall, it has caused us to consider it. And in that consideration, I began to see a truly great work of art. I had never thought about such an ordinary object before, from so many points of view. It was marvelous, and liberating, to begin to see past a simple object, and understand the significance of something so unremarkable. From that day on, I have been pushed to see things beyond that flat, two dimensional initial judgement. And to me, that is the greatest work of art--one that stretches the limits, that forces you from your comfort zone and causes you to see outside the box, and in doing that, see a little of yourself.
And for another post: Kazimir Malevich-- Airplane Landing. Spirituality with primary colors and simple shapes.
Edouard Manet's Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass)
http://www.londonfoodfilmfiesta.co.uk/Artmai~1/images~2/manet-dejeunersurl%27herbe-large.jpg
A nude female surrounded by clothed men sparked controversy when it was revealed. The figure of the woman herself is mysterious, with her gaze and position of her body.
most definitely marcel duchamp's fountain:
http://www.marcelduchamp.org/symposium/images/fountain.jpg
single handedly turned the art world on its head.
tipping point for nearly every artwork made post WWI and into the twenty-first century. impetus for the kind of stuff that most people can't make any sense of.
his whole body of work did this in one way or another but the fountain is by far the most iconic.
Winslow Homer's ........Gulf Stream
http://masterworksartgallery.com/Winslow-Homer/Winslow-Homer-The-Gulf-Stream-.html
quiet desperation. she knows the way out, but can't take it...
http://fractalontology.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/philmusart-dali-figure-1.jpg
I saw the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. It made me stand still and cry.
@Crapscallion My son just adores that bear. Every time we're in downtown Denver we have to stop and see it.
I'm going to go off the grid and say the Big Blue Bear at the Colorado Convention Center. It speaks to my magination and totally makes me feel like a kid again!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pov_steve/288684305/sizes/l/
For a while now, I am been thoroughly intrigues by the works of Andy Warhol. I think that as a body of work, everything have seen of his thus far finds me at the right time and says something to me that I can't quite quote. His soup cans, for example, found me at a time when I needed something I could relate to on a personal level as well as discuss on an academic level. Once I'd seen them, I couldn't not see them everywhere I was. It was as though my awareness was heightened. The things I saw around me might have been common or mundane but when Warhol grabbed those things, he made them art. Does that mean that the cans of Campbell's condensed soup I currently possess are art?
< http://www.artfagcity.com/wordpress_core/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/campbells_soup_cans_moma_reduced_80.jpg >
Next, I found Warhol's 'A La Reserche Du Shoe Perdu' when I was writing a one act play. I was looking for something that could reflect and project my hero/heroine and I did. The play is about an artist who is struggling to figure out what his masterpiece will be. When a mysterious delivery arrives at his apartment [a block of granite] he sets out to find his subject. When he finds her, it turns out she's ill. She's been brainwashed into thinking she's got to be a certain size, look a certain way. [Doesn't exactly help when he tells her that once he takes away from the block, he can't put it back - with regards to her weight]. Anyhow! Warhol's Lost Shoes collection fit her perfectly, and when the shoe fits...
< http://newimg.org/image/wa484.jpg >
You can lead a shoe [woman] to water but you can't make it drink [eat].
< http://www.woodwardgallery.net/misc/warhol-anyoneforshoes.JPG >
Anyone for shoes?
< http://www.tfaoi.com/cm/4cm/4cm611.jpg >
My shoe is your shoe.
Well, I think we can tell that I'm a Magritte fan. Although Les Amants (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/R306su02/Sumr02syll/magritte_les%20amants.jpg) is my favorite, Clairvoyance (http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/311.jpg) speaks to me on a whole different level.
The artist is seeing/painting not what exists, but what CAN exist in the future. [Cue chills.]
first time I saw the sunflowers by van gogh, I stood for so long in one spot my foot fell asleep. it was alive.
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sa=1&q=van+gogh+sunflowers&aq=2&oq=van+go
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hick0247/engl1501w/1200-9001the-birth-of-venus-c-1485-posters.jpg
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. It defines Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, with imperfections, and it really speaks to me.
The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck. Every time I'm in London I go to the National Gallery just to see this one painting. One friend thought it was boring and asked why I loved it so much. She always needs a good answer and that day I realized that I wasn't going to give her one. It's all about the emotion I feel when I see it. It brings me peace in its beauty. No REASON. Just that simple. Sometimes that's all it needs to be.
Aaah!! I cant choose one!!!
Ok Ill narrow it down though...
Most amazing photography: Jan Sudek
http://www.saudekfilm.com/images/home.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K3bCiEipx7E/RtgXbuAxDfI/AAAAAAAAACE/dZLMsqWTOu8/s320/saudek+2.jpg
Something about it is very real, yet mystical, and grotesque yet amzingingly captivating about all his work..
Love it all...
Just chose two I particularly enjoyed...
My favourite sculpture of all time: The Winged Nike of Samothrace/Winged Victory
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/images3/nike_samothrace.jpg
When I saw it at the Lourve I literally stood in front of it for a full half hour....
Changed my world in a way...
Its just extremely sensual, real, and yet intangilble all at once... No real words express...
Is it ok to post our own artwork here? I'm an art student and sometimes my teacher gives us drawings/sketches of old masters to try to copy. It's really inspiring to not only LOOK at their artwork, but actually feel the process - which can be pretty grueling if it takes a long time.
http://melaniey.deviantart.com/art/Raphael-copy-124641501
http://www.fredweaver.com/throne/throneessay.html
this is amazing.. a life's work!
http://www.thetearsofthings.net/archives/Etant_donnes-1-1946-66.jpg
Etant Donnes, by Duchamp. The photo there is just the first bit of the art work. It's not until you step around a corner and peep into a crack of a rustic wood door that you get to see the rest of the tableau inside. I just like it because it takes you by surprise and reminds you that you'll never know until look for yourself.
For me, it is the work of the Guadalajaran artist Hector Najera. I first saw his painting in a Holiday Inn lobby in 1999, and over the years purchased 2 for my very own.
http://najera.com.mx/index_i.htm
I think it's cracqueleur texture caught me first, and then the startling impact of reds. And then the paintings came clear, showing Mayan motifs of people, angels, fish, trees. It looked like the Maya meets Muerte, everything looked skeletal. I've known of great painting, 'The Scream', 'The Kiss', 'Le Demoiselles D'Avignon', but Hector's paintings speak to me.
I've always liked this etching by Fred Berger entitled The Laughing Jesus. Rather than the dour, contemplative image we often see, I think this one actually captures the humanity of the man, the dignity, the joy of life. http://tinyurl.com/6agsxc
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-magazine-rollingstone-yoko,0,2157538.photo
On one level, I love this image for the vulnerability it evokes. On another, I love it for the mystical fact that five hours after this impromptu shot was taken, John Lennon was dead, and Yoko Ono would never again be in his embrace.
It's a stark representation, for me, of love and of the idea of fleeting.
I love the scope of John Martin's "The Bard"
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=24772
The story apparently follows that this was the last of the bards allowed to perform in - I think - England. Rather than let himself be arrested (for no doubt being way more awesome than those court-entertainer SQUARES) he threw himself into the river.
If nothing else, this is my favourite painting of a b.a.m.f. He is the inspiration to every punk rocker in history, whether they know it or not.
http://tinyurl.com/nptcoo
Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, by Georges de la Tour. I discovered it in an art history class, and after looking at hundreds of paintings over the course of a semester this is the one hat stuck with me the most. I wasn't sure why, but I think it's how genuinely lost in thought the girl looks. Regardless, it never fails to move me, and it's my favorite piece of art.
@Iwan2ctheworld I had the good fortune of seeing that painting at Österreichische Galerie Belvedere along with some other Klimt paintings. Good stuff.
One of my favorite works of art is Seurat's "La Parade," which can be seen here:
http://www.georgesseurat.org/La-Parade-1888.html
Seurat's amazing attention to detail and revolutionary perfection of the pointillist technique has allowed us a whole new way of seeing. You can get lost in the details of the paintings.
http://www.cosmicwind.net/800/Cmwl/VisionVoices2/PrimaveraBotticelli.jpg
I love this painting with every fiber of my being. Why? I'm not exactly sure.
Ever since I was a just a little guy I've loved this painting.
http://www.abcgallery.com/M/magritte/magritte51.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kiss_(Klimt_painting)
this painting always gives me shivers...
I don't know how controversial this is, but it definitely inspired me. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this, but I can try to describe this as best as I can. My friend's brother, Jeremy Mumenthaler, did this painting in high school, and had it published in the school's literary magazine. It inspired me so much to "be all that I could be" and really give life a chance. It has a girl with straight red hair and glasses looking up, and it's like she is blinded by this light coming out of nowhere. On the other side of the light is a clock. Like I said, I wish I had the picture and I can't describe it perfectly, but it's something that has been seared into my brain and has inspired me.
I am now and I well always be a surrealist. This is a painting by Greg (Craola) Simkins.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wtusinski/3253063132/sizes/o/
Greg is the best surrealist alive today and he is a 34 year old father and christian. you can see more of his work at this site http://www.imscared.com/gallery/
This is one of my favorites. Its called Man of Peace by Leonard Baskin.
http://www.hofstra.edu/Community/museum/museum_exhibition_baskin.html
I looks as if the man is removing all things unpeaceful, maybe sin, from himself and will not atlast be at peace. I love it.
One of my favorite works of art is Theologue by Alex Grey:
http://www.alexgrey.com/theologue.html
I'm not sure exactly why, but maybe that's the reason I like it so much. I try not to think about it and just enjoy it.
DISCUSSION TOOLSET
I like art that can speak to anyone. Not just myself.
Beksinski doesn't speak, he shouts at the top of his lungs.
Take a gander at this piece:
http://www.gnosis.art.pl/iluminatornia/sztuka_o_inspiracji/zdzislaw_beksinski/zdzislaw_beksinski_1980_3.htm
This painting right here is all kinds of epic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caspar_David_Friedrich_032.jpg