"Modern Urban-Expressionism"

Recently we held an informal gathering here at our school to discuss graffiti art. Controversy continues to swirl about its status as a valid art form vs. an exercise in anti-social behavior. On the heels of such discussion and the suggestion that graffiti artists try painting on canvas rather than someone else's property, here's an artist named Marcus Antonius Jansen who paints in a style he calls "Modern Urban-Expressionism".

He's recently had an exhibit of his work at Gallery XIV in Boston. Here's an example of his work (titled "Subway Housing") as well as an exerpt of the show's review in the Boston Globe:

"The show features paintings by Marcus Antonius Jansen, whose art must be measured beside his bloated self-promotion; his publicity materials say that he has founded a movement called "Modern Urban-Expressionism."
Jansen is no progenitor of a radical new vision, just another purveyor of a trend that marries street art with painterly technique and collage. Still, he is a gifted painter. There's a little Rauschenberg in his work, and moments of Rothko, peppered with the graffiti sensibilities of Barry McGee.
He makes deft use of space in his large canvases, which appear sweeping while leading the eye to tiny, charismatic details. "Subway Housing" opens into a capacious subway car. The floor shimmers in a drippy flood of pearly beiges; the walls breathe with green. Jansen scrawls graffiti over it - a jagged dancing figure, a fawn.
Jansen's gritty, Expressionistic works situate innocence against a hallucinatory backdrop of loss and threat. He may not be a new master, but his work deserves a look." - Cate McQuaid (Boston Globe, Oct. 4, 2007)

You can check out a lot more of his work at www.marcusjansen.com .

What do you think?

I'm interested in hearing how, if at all, this relates to graffiti art and what you think of this work.

Sponaneity vs. Careful Planning & Sketchbooks

As a teacher, I encourage my students to use a sketchbook and work out ideas, either in the form of sketches/drawings or writing/journaling. The sketchbook/journal is a great tool for organizing ones thoughts and ideas. There's also something to be said for working spontaneously too.

The artist, Peter Voulkos worked in a very spontaneous and intuitive way... a very physical way as well. These plates are some of the many pieces Voulkos made with an abstract expressionist sort of sensibility with clay. Here's a quote from his January, 1999 talk at the Regis Master Series, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

"When I don't know what the hell I'm doing - that's when I know I'm on the right track. People ask if I do a drawing of a big piece before I start it. I say 'If I had a drawing, I wouldn't do the piece'. Why do something if you know ahead of time what it's going to look like? I never know what the hell I'm going to do."

... Which leads to my question: how do you find yourself most effectively working in your creative process? Are you a meticulous planner? or are you someone who relies on intuition? or perhaps a combination of both?

Function and Art

This is an ancient drain covering, a huge disc, which a clever artist sculpted into the face of the sea god Oceanus. If any liar were brave enough to place their hand inside the gaping mouth of the god, the jaws were said to snap shut. It is found next to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Italy.

Bocca Della Verita or Mouth of Truth

What are your thoughts on art and the functional? Do they coexist easily? When do function and expression seem at odds with one another?

Finding Artistic Inspiration in Poetry

Many painters have used poetry (sometimes their own, sometimes other's) as a vehicle to further their painterly pursuits (this goes back to the beginning of recorded history).

Sometimes the artists simply illustrate the narrative, while others try to get a little deeper and attempt to evoke a similar emotional reaction from the viewer that the poem elicits.

For your consideration:

The opening stanza in one of Robert Herrick's(1591-1674) more famous poems,

"To the Virgins, toMake Much of Time"

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

Here are two of John William Waterhouse's paintings based on Herrick's work.

Successful? Less Successful? How come?

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May 1908

John William Waterhouse

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May 1909

John William Waterhouse

Graffiti - Old News

My dad (who just turned 83) showed me this old clipping in regards to the graffiti that's been making the news of late, as well as this blog. It appears that he and his brother (my Uncle Al) and a friend got nabbed for graffiti back in the late 1930s. He guesses this Lewiston Evening Journal clipping is likely from 1938 or 39. I guess it's a universal urge for the adolescent to make his or her mark somewhere, somehow!

Richard Shaw - the animated still life

I received a package in the mail a couple of days ago from a ceramic artist friend named Richard Shaw. Richard's a very successful artist who lives and works in Fairfax, California. I met him many years ago through my friend and former Ceramics instructor, Josh Nadel. He's been a generous and supportive friend since then. He sent me an invitation to an exhibit and a new book that features his work and an interesting interview. He's been making amazingly detailed sculptures in clay of assemblages of various common found objects. His works are skillfully created from clay and are considered trompe l'oeil masterpieces. They often take the form of animated figures made of various seemingly random parts. He also painstakenly creates ceramic still lifes. They are sentimental in nature as the objects appear to be from another time.

Here are excerpts from the interview:
"I think taking the still life and making it into a person is like breathing life into it. But there's nothing wrong with the still life because it still has the presence of somebody who arranged that stuff. "

"The phrase 'nature mort' - dead nature, is that it? That's how they refer to the still life. Well, I'm trying to do the opposite, make it alive, not dead."

check out more of Richard's work at: http://www.bquayartgallery.com/archive/shaw2007.html

Painting Kitty Kats

"Marla, the elephants, and perhaps even your own brilliant progeny may be terrific painters—but they're not artists. This is because art is not just about making things or slapping pigment on canvas; it's also a way of thinking and seeing. Marla and the elephants are primitives, not prodigies. With no understanding of the issues at stake, there's little chance that their work will push art in any meaningful new direction."

Check out this article on Slate about child "prodigies", painting cats and elephants & assorted silliness that seems to dominate mainstream art reporting. I swear, I've yet to see an article or feature outside of newspapers that dealt with painting outside of the classic, "I can't believe that unlikely creature could make art! Gorsh!"

new student work

As promised: a sampling of new student work fresh from the kiln. We'll be trying to post images of student work from time to time so that you can marvel at their accomplishment. This Ceramics project involved a surface treatment called sgrafitto. Sgrafitto is very much like scratchboard whereby a layer of underglaze or englobe is painted onto the surface of an unfired pot and incised or carved into to create the surface design.