Cornelia Parker: PsychoBarn

Can't wait to see the Cornelia Parker's Psychobarn, which is now on the roof of the Met.
Parker built the frame of a house that is: homage to the wholesome American icon of the red barn + nod to the twisted Bates house in Psycho / Hopper's House by the Railroad.


Cornelia Parker's Transitional Object (Psychobarn)


Hopper's House by the Railroad, 1925


Bates' House, Hitchcock's Psycho, 1960

Francis Alys: Fabiola

"Created by the internationally acclaimed artist Francis Alÿs, Fabiola is an installation of over 300 portraits of a fourth-century Christian saint collected by the artist from flea markets and antique shops throughout Europe and the Americas. These seemingly identical portraits, including paintings, embroideries and miniatures are all copies of a lost original of Fabiola by the French nineteenth-century painter, Jean-Jacques Henner." (from: The National Portrait Gallery)

James Nasmyth, the Man Obsessed with the Moon

"In his book, 'The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite', he was hoping to demonstrate that the surface of the moon had formed as its molten body shrank and gradually cooled and shrivelled, just the way human skin wrinkles with age."

"...the shrunken hand on the other side is that of Mr. Nasmyth, photographed by himself. It exhibits a thoroughly mechanical hand, as well as the hand of a delicate manipulator illustrating that remarkable expression in the book of Job that 'in the hand of all the sons of men God places marks, that all the sons of men may know their own works'.

Mary Heilmann: Looking at Pictures

I went to see the Mary Heilmann exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery today. I loved the vibrant, playful colors, a sense of a certain measured carefree quality in her work.
I liked this quote from the Guardian's review of the exhibit:

"Paint drips accidentally, like when you get a bit of sauce on your nice clean shirt when you’re enjoying a meal too much. Entire paintings go over the edge and round the sides of the canvas stretcher, like those cartoon characters who run over a cliff and don’t fall until they recognise the drop below. It is good to sidle up to Heilmann’s paintings, to see what’s going on around the side, as much as it is to confront them head on....
Heilmann’s paintings aren’t the best in the world, but they don’t need to be. To me, they seem to contain a lot of happiness and pleasure in the act of looking. The human details and imperfections count. A hand and an all-too-human brain made them."

The Feel of a Place

Love these architectural sketches by sunga park:

more here.

(via)

The New Novel / Winslow Homer / 1877

Gwen John

Lately, I've been transfixed by the portraits and the quiet interiors of Gwen John.

Gustave Courbet, Self Portrait, 1845

 

Self-Portrait

These self-portraits by famous authors are rather interesting!

 

Sylvia Plath, 1951

 

Henry Miller, 1946

 

e.e. cummings, 1939

 

Flannery O'Connor 1953

See more here.

 

Rules to Follow, to Break

Wise advice from artist and educator Sister Corita Kent for a class she taught at Immaculate Heart College in 1967-1968. Hand-written by Lisa Congdon.

(via)

Toulouse-Lautrec in Bed

I fell in love with Toulouse-Lautrec not through his famous Moulin Rouge posters, but through these intimate, wonderfully scribbly paintings of couples in bed.

Forty Two Kids

 George Wesley Bellows, 1907

Marcos Chin

I fell in love with Marcos Chin's art on the train this weekend.
This piece is called the Grand Central Catwalk.
Don't you love how the architectural details are mimicked in the costumes of the characters?

His work is definitely worth checking out. Click here to see more.

Noir

I came across these wonderful illustrations from French artist Nicolas Delort.
Love their film noir / gothic quality.

Maurice Sendak + Terry Gross

Christoph Neimann was so moved when he heard Maurice Sendak's 2011 interview with NPR Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he wanted to illustrate the last five minutes. Sweet. Made me tear up.

Las Meninas / Picasso

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to visit the The Picasso Black and White exhibit at the Guggenheim The collection was varied and vast and showed how Picasso used blacks, whites, and the grays in between throughout his career.

"Claiming that color weakens, Pablo Picasso purged it from his work in order to highlight the formal structure and autonomy of form inherent in his art."

Picasso was so free in his art. That's what hit me as I stood there.
My favorite piece was his revamp of Velazquez's Las Meninas, which I vaguely knew about but was astounded to see it in person.

Why does that black caped silhouette haunt me so?

 

Things That Can Fly: Clouds in Rooms

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde has figured out how to create a white cloud in the middle of a room by carefully regulating humidity, temperature, and light.
Once the conditions are perfect, he uses a fog machine to create the cloud. How cool is that?

See more of his work here.

Things That Can Fly: Helium Balloon Bridge

 

Check out this wonderful bridge designed by French artist Olivier Grossetête designed for the Tatton Park Biennial in NW England - this year it was themed around the idea of flight.

Air is what keeps this bridge up– or to be exact, three enormous helium balloons, and though visitors aren't allowed to walk across the bridge (it's more of an art installation), it would theoretically be able to hold the weight of a person.

(image via)

Nigel Cox

I like the quiet elegance and lonely quality of the paintings of Nigel Cox.

 

 (via of paper and things)

Fantastic Postcards

I am in love with the postcards from Inkognito.

Especially the ones by Michael Sowa

And Quint Buchholz

Aren't they wonderful?