Although the meaning behind these oil paintings by Atsushi Koyama is somewhat ambiguous, it’s easy to appreciate the exactness of his paintbrush that colorfully and elegantly depicts mechanical diagrams mixed with anatomical illustrations. Born in Tokyo, Koyama holds both a BFA in art from Tama Art University and a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Tokyo University of Science, so it’s no surprise to see a confluence of both backgrounds in his artwork. You can see more paintings from the last few years on his site. More
Sara Catapano's ambiguous forms discuss the complexities of organic life within the imagined environment they are created for; in some cases, she begins with a solid block of clay, carving into and through the material, exposing and leaving only the most essential tendrils for support and structure. Other works bring to life an imagined hybrid of micro/macro organisms with geological and biological flora and fauna from land and sea. Referencing the anatomical and parasitic residents of our natural world as a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of the human condition, these bio-expressive forms are, in some ways, reactions and responses to social and personal experiences. View additional Sara Catapano sculptures at: https://boxheartgallery.com/art-artists/all-exhibiting-artists/sara-catapano/ Mini Monster: Yellow-Green with Silver Eyes Stoneware, Underglaze, Luster, Metal 6" X 3" X 3" 2020
Sara Catapano's ambiguous forms discuss the complexities of organic life within the imagined environment they are created for; in some cases, she begins with a solid block of clay, carving into and through the material, exposing and leaving only the most essential tendrils for support and structure. Other works bring to life an imagined hybrid of micro/macro organisms with geological and biological flora and fauna from land and sea. Referencing the anatomical and parasitic residents of our natural world as a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of the human condition, these bio-expressive forms are, in some ways, reactions and responses to social and personal experiences. View additional Sara Catapano sculptures at: https://boxheartgallery.com/art-artists/all-exhibiting-artists/sara-catapano/ Sara Catapano Tempt Stoneware, Luster, Flocking 9" X 6" X 4" 2018
The Freud Museum London is delighted to present an exhibition of works by Louise Bourgeois.
Goth has always been about mixing things up and adapting what you find to fit your own aesthetic.
Sara Catapano's ambiguous forms discuss the complexities of organic life within the imagined environment they are created for; in some cases, she begins with a solid block of clay, carving into and through the material, exposing and leaving only the most essential tendrils for support and structure. Other works bring to life an imagined hybrid of micro/macro organisms with geological and biological flora and fauna from land and sea. Referencing the anatomical and parasitic residents of our natural world as a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of the human condition, these bio-expressive forms are, in some ways, reactions and responses to social and personal experiences. View additional Sara Catapano sculptures at: https://boxheartgallery.com/art-artists/all-exhibiting-artists/sara-catapano/ Mini Monster: Yellow-Green with Gold Dots Stoneware, Underglaze, Luster, Metal 7" X 3" X 3" 2020
Explore Neville Trickett's 4536 photos on Flickr!
It is true that the pleasures of consumption have always been accompanied by the weight of the garbage. This can be considered a modern problem facing human beings today. The garbage is integral and almost inseparable from the basic functions of our day to day. From the moment we take a piece of paper scarf to the annual ritual of developing the gifts, we produce garbage so easily (and sometimes without knowing it). However, neither its almost infinite variety of forms or its ambiguous definition reflect the almost universal approaches that we have, all adapted to garbage management ... 17 x 25 cm 48 pages Text in English Read more
French artist Juliette Clovis produces hybrid works that merge nature, history, and myth with the female form, covering simple porcelain busts in wildlife, flora, and spikes. Her additions are either painted on or applied to mask the face, obscuring features like abnormal growths. These ambiguous females question the power that is split between humans and nature, toeing a line between being gentle and unnerving. You can see more images of Clovis’ porcelain three-dimensional forms on her Instagram and website. More
Although I am doing some work on my Carolingians I got distracted by this splendid belly-dancer by Brother Vinni. She brings my completed figures for February to a massive five! She may do duty in my nineteenth century In Her Majesty's Name world as Zairah, in her private entertainment capacity to Sir Lawrence Swann. Really, however, she will be part of my new 1920's Egypt pulp world as Sir Laurence Swann's illegitimate daughter Rania: Dancer, courtesan, assassin, mystic and spy. More about her back story here. While painting her I listened, naturally, to belly dancing music, of which I have rather a lot in my iTunes collection. This is partly because I listen to it when in Turkey (as I am likely to be again in April) and partly because my German friend, B, used to do belly dancing classes (probably still does as she is working in Istanbul at present (conveniently)). My favourite disc is this one by Ensemble Hüseyin Türkmenler, with bellydancer Nasrah Nefer on the cover. Gyrating in the Grand Hyatt I have always enjoyed the belly dancing shows in the Awtar lebanese restaurant, in the Grand Hyatt hotel, Dubai, which is where I grabbed this shot of undulating loveliness. I have also seen good displays in Istanbul, particularly at the Ciragan Palace hotel. That said, less exotically, they used to have a regular belly dancer at the Greek restaurant down the road in Esher! Dance of the Almeh (1863) by Gérôme This sort of dancing had been reported upon in the west by nineteenth century travellers and was illustrated in orientalist paintings by artists like Jean-Léon Gérôme (who painted the famous gladiator painting Pollice Verso), Nils Forsberg and Vincenzo Marinelli. Belly-dancer by Forsberg Most of these were exotic fantasies set in the harem and so they depicted dancers wearing rather less than their actual dancing contemporaries would have been seen in. Forsberg's painting more accurately depicts the dress and the fact that the dances were performed to all female audiences, until the nineteen twenties. Dance of the Bee in the Harem (detail) (1862) by Marinelli Vincenzo Marinelli's harem fantasy has his dancers undressed more in the fashion of the Brother Vinni figure. I am sure, however, that if you had your own harem, as in the Topkapi in Constaninople, you would have had your dancers undress for you so as to appreciate their terpsichorean talents all the more. Little Egypt - the sensation of the World's Fair in 1893 Actual belly dancing was first seen outside the Middle East and North Africa at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and its shocking gyrations spawned many imitators (and some arrests!). The performance by 'Little Egypt' (Fahreda Mazar Spyropoulos -a Syrian married to a Chicago-based Greek restaurant owner) at the show The Algerian Dancers of Morocco was rumoured to be so sensational it actually contributed to the financial success of the Fair, due to the crowds she drew. It is said that Mark Twain, who had a keen interest in technology, made a film of her there and that later he suffered a near-fatal heart attack watching her perform (he had a keen interest in belly-dancing too). She was later arrested for performing her dance naked at the stag party of the grandson of PT Barnum. In a strange cultural twist Hollywood started to put belly-dancing in films and Egyptian dancers copied what they saw in Hollywood's version of the dance and incorporated them into their own routines in Egypt. A very,very fictionalised account of the World's Fair shows was presented in the 1951 film, Little Egypt, starring Rhonda Fleming. Other than the fact that it is about a notorious belly-dancer (or Hootchy-Kootchy dancer as the Americans called them) at the 1893 World's Fair it bears no resemblance to actual events whatsoever. Badia Massabni What we know as belly-dancing today (a translation of the French, danse de ventre - the name given it by Napoleon's troops in Egypt) is a mixture of different folk dances from Turkey, Algeria, Egypt and Syria, melded with western forms. Its development went the opposite route of that other scandalous dance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Can-can. The Can-can began as a solo dance and evolved into a group dance while belly-dancing began as a group dance and gradually became a solo dance in the nineteen twenties. In the Middle East itself, its heyday began in the nineteen twenties, with the lifting of religious restrictions in Turkey in 1923 and the work of pioneers like Badia Massabni, a Lebanese, who introduced it to the clubs of Cairo in the late nineteen twenties. It was Massabni who introduced formal choreography and incorporated western ballet and Latin American dance elements. She also introduced, appropriately for this figure, the concept of the dancer lifting her arms above her head, something not seen in the original folk dances. It's flowering in Cairo stopped in the 1950s when restrictions were introduced to prevent too-revealing costumes and ban floor work (which remained popular in Turkey), which was considered overly lascivious. Samia Gamal in 1952 From just before this period we have an actual Egyptian belly-dancer, Samia Gamal (born Zeinab Ali Khalil Ibrahim Mahfouz) who was a protege of Massabni and was considered the Egyptian Ginger Rogers. She visited the US in 1950 and became well known as a result, even marrying an American (briefly). Rania Bossonis Dancers like this were never acceptable in Egyptian or Turkish society, even at the time. Many of the Turkish dancers were actually Roma people. The dancers in Egypt were likely to be Lebanese or Syrian. Today, the dancers you see in places like Dubai may come from Argentina or India. Noted modern dancer, Rania Bossonis, is Greek. I have borrowed her first name for my character but I also knew a fiery Egyptian lady called Rania, who I met at a reception in the British Ambassador's residence in Cairo a few years ago. We later met up in more relaxed circumstances in Geneva where she did not have to coneern herself so much with Egyptian norms of behaviour for a lady (which she very much was, however). Dancer with zils The Turkish and Egyptian styles of belly dance have some stylistic differences (the use of the finger cymbals, zils (also used in Ottoman military bands), is a Turkish practice, for example) but these days it tends to be a mish-mash of various styles and influences. Rania Al-Ghais, having been schooled in the Egyptian style. would not, therefore, sport zils. I think I have another two Brother Vinni dancers to work on so may dig another out soon!
Have you ever seen a word and read the same word upside down? This is one form of an ambigram. An ambigram (from Latin: ambi both + gram = letter) is a
Discover Weight/Wait Dark Green Urushi on Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
Over the last year, Polish designer and illustrator Janusz Jurek has been exploring different forms of generative illustration as it relates to the human form. Some of my favorites are collected into a series title Papilarnie where bundled lines that look like lightning or roadways on maps converge into 3D arms, feet, and other incomplete bodies. You can see more of his generative illustration work over on Behance. More
UCLA's Fowler Museum has organized the first solo museum show in the US for Belkis Ayón, a black Cuban artist who was a master of collography.
Ilya Shkipin has a unique and mildly spooky illustration style, which I’m almost always drawn to. In this case...
Hawaii-based artist Jacqueline Rush Lee works primarily with repurposed books to construct conceptual sculptures by stacking, sewing, and adhering the pages in unusual forms. At times the books are assembled into ambiguous or haphazard shapes that look anything like a book, while in other pieces the pages become tightly organized into identifiable objects like the petals of a flower or the design of a bowl. Lee was recently an artist-in-residence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she completed work on a new site-specific work titled Whorl. More
Although the meaning behind these oil paintings by Atsushi Koyama is somewhat ambiguous, it’s easy to appreciate the exactness of his paintbrush that colorfully and elegantly depicts mechanical diagrams mixed with anatomical illustrations. Born in Tokyo, Koyama holds both a BFA in art from Tama Art University and a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Tokyo University of Science, so it’s no surprise to see a confluence of both backgrounds in his artwork. You can see more paintings from the last few years on his site. More
Trey Abdella, While I’m Down, 2019
Set of 6 Monolith ladderback chairs by Phaedo Dimensions: W 18" x D 17" x H 39" inches Materials: white-washed oak; cushion is hand-dyed with Madder root The Monolith ladderback is the first in a line of work exploring the integration of the artist's sculptural work into classic furniture forms. The upholstered cushion is wrapped with hand-dyed canvas and is available in an assortment of colors. PHAEDO is a sculpture and design company founded by Morgan Spaulding. At once playful and restrained, somber and lively, Spaulding’s art and furniture personify the ambiguous curvatures of ethereal in-betweens: dreamstates, memories in recession, thresholds in passing. In balanced practice, Spaulding’s ornamental sculpture and functional furniture and design objects strengthen with time. Each piece exists to graft its design story with its relationship to present spaces and contexts.
Discover Weight/Wait Dark Green Urushi on Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
Adam Tan
Italian painter Omar Galliani was born in Montecchio Emilia, where he lives and works now. Omar Galliani has graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and teaches painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera. Heir of the great Italian masters of the Renaissance tradition of drawing, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Correggio, Galliani uses a special technique:
Art21 is the world’s leading source to learn directly from the artists of our time. The mission of Art21 is to educate and expand access to contemporary art through the production of documentary films, resources, and public programs.
Discover Weight/Wait Dark Green Urushi on Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
Although the meaning behind these oil paintings by Atsushi Koyama is somewhat ambiguous, it’s easy to appreciate the exactness of his paintbrush that colorfully and elegantly depicts mechanical diagrams mixed with anatomical illustrations. Born in Tokyo, Koyama holds both a BFA in art from Tama Art University and a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Tokyo University of Science, so it’s no surprise to see a confluence of both backgrounds in his artwork. You can see more paintings from the last few years on his site. More
A journey into the unknown, where abstract forms and ambiguous shapes hint at unseen worlds and hidden dimensions, inviting viewers to embark on a voyage of discovery and exploration. Highest Quality size included in download
French artist Juliette Clovis produces hybrid works that merge nature, history, and myth with the female form, covering simple porcelain busts in wildlife, flora, and spikes. Her additions are either painted on or applied to mask the face, obscuring features like abnormal growths. These ambiguous females question the power that is split between humans and nature, toeing a line between being gentle and unnerving. You can see more images of Clovis’ porcelain three-dimensional forms on her Instagram and website. More
