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

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

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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Man Uses His Own Blood as an Art Medium

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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