Friday, September 30, 2011

Tour Eiffel


This isn't the real eiffel tower! :O I fooled you guys. :3 I think this is really cool. Also how the woman is just standing there on the sidewalk, derpin. I assume whomever the artist was, he took photoshop or some other type of image-altering program, and just had at it! :O Let us review this wonderful contemporary artwork and the elements/principles contained with it. <--- lol. Okay!!!!! So. The artist obviously uses the lines contained within the eiffel tower and recreates them to suit his/her idea. Instead of the metal framework being contained and brought to a single point, he/she JUST GOES ABSOLUTELY INSANE. It's like they're trying to create a roller coaster track, almost. The lines comes out of the eiffel tower, twisting and turning in every direction, even coming towards you. Almost like the eiffel tower is whipping its hair back and forth. GOIN CRAZY. Which leads me to the proportion/perspective. It is obviously a one point perspective, and the vanishing point being somewhere near the bottom of the eiffel tower. But what I find so cool about this is how the artist skews the surroundings to curve inward, toward the tower itself. The proportion is... Normal, as it was a photograph to begin with. However, the big giant metal arm coming towards you actually makes you imagine being there, and the woman standing next to it on the sidewalk gives you an appreciation of how big the actual tower is. Ohhh... What else.. Oh! Space. Of course you're smart enough to figure this out. The foreground being the woman (kindof), the buildings, and the sideway, middle-ground being the tower, and background being the treesssssss...... and the far away streets/beginning of other parts of the city. Happy blogging! :P

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Dat lotus eater.

Guys. This website is so intense. Like... I just have no idea how to explain to you how amazed I am by this  artist. I never post a week ahead of time, I've never had my jaw open while starting at artwork, and I've never felt truly emotionally moved by any artist. Yes, over the years as I have grown as an artist, I have seen what is defined as "truly great" or a "masterpiece", I've seen and experienced what an artist must go through to create an astonishing piece, I've seen the "masters" work... But pertaining the most... I've seen that some artists rely on emotions to connect with their viewers.. But I've never seen such a great example of it. This person... Whomever they may be... I believe is a genius. The music of course, brings a completely different atmosphere to his/her work than if it simply did not exist. I've never felt the actual depression, or sadness of a piece of art. Please go to this website and maybe you'll understand how I felt. Like I said, sound is just as important as the artwork itself. You'll notice that once you get to the website, there are little black roses on the right side of the picture frame. Hover over them to navigate the website. The little hovering black dots on the opposite side of the picture frame let you see his/her different pieces of art. You'll understand after you see it for yourself.

www.thelotuseater.com/

Here's a direct quote from my friend Emily Hannan, which I believe really does explain this artwork completely.
"This is crazy... It's like I'm walking through a nightmare. It's like a good feeling, but at the same time, it's not."
For some reason, this artist wants his/her identity to stay unknown. I've researched it for a while, and even on their deviantart account, they don't have any personal information. This artwork is just astonishing to me. The artist is a master at the grey-scale, shown by how they use close to every value of grey I can possibly think of. It creates a nice sense of unity throughout the pieces. The intensity is, of course, on the darker side. He/she is also wonderful at creating texture throughout the pieces, as shown by the rocks, canyons, wood planks, etc. One thing that I found that stood out throughout the pieces is the anatomy of the characters. You will notice if you look carefully how the artist makes it a point to show characters actually GROWING into the ground or, in one case, their own face. I just absolutely loved this website and wish I knew who the artist was.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Restorin' Dat Artwork

Hey guys. :) Today Ima blog about what I'd do if I were to pick a career in art. Mkay? Kay. Sooo....
Ever heard of art restoration? It's so much more of a complicated process than you think. First, let's start with what art restoration even is. It's simply the process by which a trained professional cleans, repairs, and restores a damaged or old (we're talking hundreds of years) painting, sculpture, vase, basically ANY artwork you can think of. Many people just think art restoration is simply going over and repainting something to make it look brand new. Right? WRONG. Professional restorers need to know or have the following skills :
  • Some degree of scientific knowledge as far as chemistry goes.
  • Degrees in studio art, fine art, and art history are needed.. Along with graduate programs in fine art conservation.
  • A background or in depth understanding of painting (or sculpting, etc., depending on your choice of medium).
  • Obviously because of all the above, you will need to have a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) or Master of Fine Arts (MFA) courses... Which can go up to five years. 

Wait? Chemistry? Why chemistry. Well guys, sorry for the bad news, but I don't have an amazing video for this one. But.. It does sorta show you why you need some knowledge of chemistry to be a prof. restorer. WATCH THIS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-7epo34-lY&feature=fvwrel

You'll see in the beginning of the video he uses an NH3 (Ammonia) compound to remove the layers of dust and grime caked on the surface of the painting after years upon years of existing. So, there's the chemistry part for you.
Where in the world would you find a job after you're training is complete and are an "aspiring professional"? Simple. Go to ANY museum and tell them you're a prof. restorer. They'll absolutely eat you up if you have the credentials. However, art restoration is a VERY competitive career choice. So, you have to have a strong sense of business and impress very high-ranking people in the art world. I think that I'd love this job because... I'd personally love to challenge myself in order to impress people and actually make my indirect mark upon the art world. Not to mention my perfectionist type attitude and my slight chemistry background would definitely help with the miniature details and compounds I'd have to mix to clean the paintings (or medium of my choice).
Ahhh... The money. After intensive internet research (about 5 minutes of it) I've come to the conclusion that depending upon your locality... You can earn anywhere from $15 to $100 an hour as a prof. art restorer, with an avg. yearly income (of all art restoration related careers) about $60,000. Pretty good, eh? :) Happy blogging!

References:
http://www.careerage.com/career/cc/art/
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Art+Restoration
http://www.ehow.com/list_6195741_art-restoration-careers.html

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Watercolourssssss

Got another link for ya here, followers. You know the drill. :P

http://www.marion-b.com/index.php?/paintings/sneak-peek/

I stumbled upon this interesting artist earlier in the week, and I had lost her link for a while. It slightly upset me because I wanted to do my next project based on her style. But, lo and behold! I had outsmarted myself and had written down the link. :) The artist's name is Marion Bolognesi, as you may have noticed. She lives in New York City, and has a Bachelors in Fine Arts Degree (BFA) from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in Boston. So, she definitely knows what she's doing. :P But what peaked my interest the most is that she has a - successful, nonetheless - art career in accessories design in NEW YORK CITY, the city of fashion itself! Imagine how she had to fight to the top and work hours upon hours with designs after designs. I admire her for that. But what I admire her for more is that even though she has this (most likely) time consuming career, she still makes just as much time to work on her personal portfolio.

Both of the pictures below I will probably use as inspiration for MY portfolio. So interesting!