Tag Archives: New York

Foreign Landscapes Inspire Creativity

What comes to mind when thinking of foreign landscapes? Are these far off countries? Or different planets? Do they only exist in fantasy fiction? Or are they birthed from Hollywood magic?

Wherever these landscapes originate, one fact is constant: foreign landscapes inspire creativity. At the heart of art is a cry of curiosity — a desire to explore what lies beyond the world as we understand it. This is why natural disasters, everyday home supplies, and destructible objects are bringing about some of the most creative art pieces to date.

Natural Disasters

Foriegn Landscapes Inspire Art Forces of nature often leave tragic sites in their trails but even in the most horrendous of circumstances, art can be found. Take for instance the landscape created from the Superstorm Sandy that hit New York in 2012.

In a parking lot in Queens, NY, 18 piles of sand reaching 30 feet tall were collected. After days of wind and rain, the sand dunes looked like ancient pyramids. Photographs of this site portray the art nature left behind.

Everyday Home Supplies

Repurposing home supplies to create art is increasing in popularity. With social media sites allowing people to share DIY projects, home improvement stores are no longer for fix-it materials only. Artists strive to incorporate three-dimensional shapes to liven up colors and concepts.

At the core of their purpose is a landscape worth replicating. It serves as a “touchstone” for the artist and inspires a piece of art that tells its story.

Destructible Objects

Foriegn Landscapes Inspire Art 1 Artistic landscapes broaden the imagination and evoke emotions in all who get to experience them. At the annual Burning Man festival, a landscape of art installations is built. Every Labor Day weekend in a Nevada desert (USA), a “pop-up town” is created by festival attendees. This community contributes art that represents a blending of the divine and the idealistic. The entire festival is devoted to encouraging people to see life beyond their perspective.

Art at the heart is about making the objective world a little easier to understand. Landscapes inspire ideas that are as visually stimulating and tangible as the landscape itself. It answers the curiosity of artists and evokes curiosity in observers.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Art at the Heart:

Lovers of Literature Get Lost in 250,000-Book Maze

Colors Change What is Beautiful

Art Therapy Treats more than the Heart

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Turrell does it right with Light Creates Space, Color, Perception and Art

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The unique art of James Turrell infuses space with light. The artist makes entire rooms, museums, and even craters his canvases by transforming large areas into viewing experiences that manipulate how observers perceive their environments when natural and artificial lights alternate.

Turrell has been experimenting with light since 1966. He seems to be fascinated by the way light impacts how an individual understands space, perception, and even color. In relation, the American artist says this about the miraculous correlation:

“We teach the color wheel, but we really should speak about the light frequencies of each eye, and then the context of vision in which they reach the eye, because that’s how we perceive.”

This post explores James Turrell’s approach to art by briefly exploring how light manipulates space, how light changes perception, and the necessary relationship between light and art. At the conclusion, there are resources to inspire further exploration into this intricate subject.

Light Manipulates Space

Most people understand that light affects the way we see color and perceive the world around us. But is it comprehensible that light can manipulate space regardless of physical material? Turrell sets out to prove that a limited and definite space can be created without manmade parameters, like those set up with wood beams, steel rods, or concrete. This is because light itself creates space. When light stops so does vision. And when vision stops, so do the confines of a space. Turrell calls this, “using the eyes to penetrate the space.”

Light Changes Perception

This offers a little help in grasping how the absence or presence of light changes our perception of space. To further explain, Turrell points up. He says this earthly phenomenon is best understood by looking up to the atmosphere we experience every day.

In the light of the sun, it is impossible to see stars. However, as the sun goes down, an individual’s penetration of vision goes out, and the stars become evident again. Stars, which are constant in placement, are only visible lights when our eyes are able to perceive them as such. This can only happen when sunlight is mostly absent from our view.

Light and Art: A Relationship

Artists have always looked at the world with curious fascination and longing to use light as a means of creating space. This is why, when artists began using lights, shading, and perspective within paintings, the world marveled at how lifelike the images became. The reality is, like Turrell, artist have always seen what does not exist because they have brilliance all their own.

James Turrell’s first exhibition in a New York museum, Guggenheim , since 1980, opens June 21 through September 25, 2013. James Turrell is also in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles County Museum until April 6, 2014.

To read more about the effects of life on art, follow the works and study of James Turrell. Here are some helpful links to begin this exploration:

If you enjoyed this Segmation blog post, you are sure to love:

-The Importance of Color Vision and Art

https://segmation.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/paint-by-number-color-vision-effects-art-appreciation/

– Are Your Colors What They Seem to be?

https://segmation.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/are-your-colors-what-they-seem-to-be/

– The Benefits of Making Art Outside

https://segmation.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/the-benefits-of-making-art-outside/

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Man Uses His Own Blood as an Art Medium

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Many people would assume that an artist would use mediums such as paints, chalks, and charcoals to create pieces of art with. Without a doubt, these mediums are judged by most to be harmless. But when does an artist cross the line into using art mediums that might be considered inappropriate? This is the question some are asking Vincent Castiglia, an artist whose art medium is drawn from his own body.

Vincent Castiglia, an artist from New York, uses his blood as paint. He has been using this highly unique, watercolor-like medium for about a decade, and as a result has experienced success in his career as an artist. Castiglia commented that he purposely began using blood as paint, though in the beginning he merely “dabbed” it onto his drawings (made of pen and ink). Later he progressed to using blood to create whole paintings with.

How much blood does it take to craft just one painting? Castiglia said a 7-foot painting requires a potential 30 vials of blood. Reportedly, the out-of-the-box artist will take only “15 vials of blood at one time” from himself – he made the point that this amount of blood is smaller than the quantity in a blood bank donation.

Castiglia’s work is drawing attention from the media as well as from the art world. His paintings are popular and sell for up to $26,000. Part of the high cost of the pieces is attributed to the time it takes to complete them (some paintings take Castiglia months to finish).

When do you know that an artist has taken their desire for a creative art medium too far? When they begin to potentially harm theirself in the pursuit of creating innovative art? Some would say yes, this is going to far. Others would think pushing the limits to such a degree is good for an artist and shows a great amount of dedication to art itself. Everyone will no doubt have their own strong opinion on this point. There is one thing that cannot be argued about Vincent Castiglia’s artwork: It is literally a part of him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/08/vincent-castiglia-artist-blood_n_1948333.html

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The Life and Work of Abstract Expressionist Artist Helen Frankenthaler

“Mountains and Sea”

Frankenthaler initially caught the attention of many due to her unique style of pouring thinned paint onto canvas from coffee cans. The process is commonly known as “soak- staining.”

Jackson Pollock’s “drip- painting” method was the inspiration for Frankenthaler’s style. She is known for being a little more deliberate that Pollock with her pouring style.

“One of her most well known paintings is “Mountains and Sea.” This painting demonstrates the similarities between soak staining and watercolor. Both styles share a certain lightness and pliancy.

Frankenthaler’s style of abstract expressionism worked to propel the world of art in new and interesting directions. The 1950’s and 1960’s Color Field Movement was largely influenced by this stain technique.

Frankenthaler is also known for her graceful public presence. For the most part, she was able to avoid the limelight. However, when the situation arose she proved competent and capable in expressing herself.

While serving as a presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts, Frankenthaler had the opportunity to advise the National Endowment for the Arts. She had strong beliefs about the relationship between government and art. She felt that the government should be given no opportunity to interfere with art or employ censorship.

As a presidential appointee, she worried about the National Endowment for the Arts and their grant giving process. It was important to Frankenthaler that the NEA not give grants based on their collective likes or dislikes of individuals or styles. She feared that government grants promoted censorship and government interference.

Frankenthaler confidently spoke about her opinions and as a result was able to help shape ideas and practices where art and government were concerned.

She will continue to be remembered as a phenomenal abstract painter, a trailblazer of abstract Expressionism, and a creative woman who lived a beautiful life.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-1227-frankenthaler.jpg-20111227,0,832427.photo