Artistcloseup’s Post

#Creatives often work like horses with blinders on, focused narrowly on their specific #art form—writers on their words, filmmakers on their frames, designers on their canvases. My recent visit to an exhibition titled - "Visible/Invisible: Representation of Women in Art" at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) - was a revelation! The exhibition showcases human #experiences as complex and porous - transcending the boundary of any single medium. It's a must-see for all artists, whether you wield a pen, a camera, a brush or a mouse! #Storytelling

How do you ‘read’ an artwork? There is a school of thought which says 'art should speak for itself' - so according to this school, in an exhibition, the only information you will see is the name of the artist and the title of the painting. For the rest, you’re left to your own devices. Which is fine if you have an art history degree, or have been immersed in visiting museums and galleries over many years or just don’t subscribe to the notion of reading into artworks. But let’s face it, artworks can be opaque. You might be left wondering ‘what does it all mean?’ or perhaps ‘a kid could have done this!’ Hearing an artist speak about their work, or a curator opening the doors  to the unsuspected intricacies of a painting can reveal so much of the cultural context and significance of  a piece. When I discover an artist, I want to be given the keys to their world. I want to know what their inspiration was, where they lived, how they grew up… otherwise I remain an outsider to their practice and their message and I find it difficult to establish a connection with them and their work. A case in point was during my recent trip to Colombia, when I happened upon a rich display of Fernando Botero’s work.  Botero is a super star artist of the second half of the twentieth century, whose paintings and sculptures can be found in the collections of many public institutions. I remember, back in the 1990s, an open air exhibition of his sculptures lined the Champs Elysees in Paris - that’s how big he was and still is. But Botero never ‘did it’ for me. I looked at his supersized subjects and they didn’t speak to me. All that changed after a month spent in Colombia, why? Answering that question gets to the heart of the art in context debate. It also addresses what we consider to be the norm, or canon of the art that we know. In my blog post, I explain how I rediscovered the work of Fernando Botero, and how I came to see the world through his eyes. Find out more by following  the link in the comments below.👇 #arthistory #fernandobotero #colombianartist #artincontext Photo credit: Pareja by Fernando Botero

performance art piece - video art installation at @galleriaumbertobenappi While the terms ‘performance’ and ‘performance art’ only became widely used in the 1970s, the history of performance in the visual arts is often traced back to futurist productions and dada cabarets of the 1910s. Throughout the twentieth century performance was often seen as a non-traditional way of making art. Live-ness, physical movement and impermanence offered artists alternatives to the static permanence of painting and sculpture. In the post-war period performance became aligned with conceptual art, because of its often immaterial nature. Now an accepted part of the visual art world, the term has since been used to also describe film, video, photographic and installation-based artworks through which the actions of artists, performers or the audience are conveyed. More recently, performance has been understood as a way of engaging directly with social reality, the specifics of space and the politics of identity. In 2016, theorist Jonah Westerman remarked ‘performance is not (and never was) a medium, not something that an artwork can be but rather a set of questions and concerns about how art relates to people and the wider social world’. #performanceart #performanceartist #performanceartstudies #videoart #videoartinstallation #contemporaryart #contemporaryartinstallation #contemporaryartturin #performance #performanceartistforever #performanceartweek #exhibitotorino #artissima2024 #artissima

https://lnkd.in/eF2nBhD5 Art, photography, film and music are nonviolent carriers of culture, tradition and visions in the path and struggle for liberation and social justice

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬? Remember, art is not a competition and every one has their unique style to do it. We make art because we love to. Art is not about how realistically one has drawn something, it's not about how one can copy famous artworks of famous artists precisely or to do what everyone else is doing. Art is all about how you feel about something or someone and then tracing your mind into the canvas or a drawing pad. Ofcourse, you can follow the trend, but impart your own style into it. Remember, art isn't a contest, it's a mode of communicating feelings for which we were short of words in the first place. ©muteflutter #art #artistsonlinkedin #thoughtsforlife #muteflutter

📌 DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT LIES BEHIND A WORK OF ART? 💥 In addition to the creative genius of the artist, there is a truly complex and fascinating SYSTEM that each of us is part of every time we visit an exhibition, read an article or simply admire a painting. ️🖼️ 💥 But what exactly is the Art System? It is the sum of all the actors that contribute to bringing a work of art from the hands of the artist to the collector who buys it. A journey involving gallery owners, dealers, curators, art critics and many other professionals, each with a fundamental role in determining the value and success of a work. ❌ Behind every work there is research, selection and promotion work aimed at enhancing artistic talent and making it accessible to the public. 😎 And you, what role do you want to play in the Art System? #artsystem #artinvestment #artmarket

When transparency speaks volume

This painting titled 'Bacchus – Iron curtain of the Vienna State Opera' by Cy Twombly (https://lnkd.in/dA5kwbgH) was sold for 42 million dollars. About the artist: "Late Mr. Twombly countered the Olympian loftiness of the Abstract Expressionists by stressing the loquacious, cosmopolitan nature of art and its connectedness not only to other forms of culture but also to the volatile machinations of the human mind and to lived experience. His art functioned as a kind of sieve in which he caught and brilliantly composed the chaotic flood of existing objects or images that the world offered. Mr. Twombly, always cerebral and introspective, isolated individual motifs like targets and flags, mystifying their familiarity with finely calibrated brushwork and collage. His methodical approach to art making helped set the stage for Conceptual Art and influenced generations of artists." The not so subtle business of art and the economics of art galleries...High-end art is one of the most manipulated markets in the world. The manipulation of art valuation has further manifested in tax-fraud. Inflated art appraisals cost U.S. government untold millions, a tax-fraud scheme involving donations of overvalued art to four local museums is part of a larger, unchecked problem with inflated art appraisals that has cost the federal government untold millions, a Times analysis has found. https://lnkd.in/dCed9T3r PS: There are probably worse injustices in the world than wealthy people paying too much for art... Here is a good read: https://lnkd.in/dZHatTMp

Art has the ability to cheer us up, to entertain and to provoke new ideas, but it also has the power to create real change in the world. Pablo Picasso once even went so far as to declare, “Painting is not made to decorate apartments; it is an offensive and defensive instrument of war against the enemy.” Some artworks throughout history have revolutionised the way we think about politics, social issues and even art itself. From cave paintings to soup cans, and princesses to soviet leaders, these are some of the artworks that have had an undeniable, impact on the art world and beyond. Lascaux caves, 17,000 Before Present Studies of the foetus in the womb, c.1510, Leonardo da Vinci Las Meninas, 1656, Diego Velazquez The Death of Marat, 1793, Jacques-Louis David Olympia, 1863, Edouard Manet The Horse in Motion, 1878, Eadweard Muybridge Black Square, 1915, Kazimir Malevich Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962, Andy Warhol Guernica, 1937, Pablo Picasso The Problem We All Live With, 1964, Norman Rockwell Safe Sex, 1985, Keith Haring Guerilla Girls, 1989, Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum? My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, 1990, Dmitri Vrubel At Stuttaford Van Lines, we understand the importance of art, that is why we have a dedicated team that can safely move your art pieces. https://lnkd.in/dWQYUq8s #art #thoughtevoking #artpieces #contemporaryart #modernart #revolutionaryart #design #creativity #artmoving #artcollection #artwork #moving #SVL #fineart #fineartmoving #fineartpacking #artmovers #controversialart #artworld #famouspaintings #artmovement #greenmachines #artcollectors #sculpture #watercolour #abstractart #minimalistart #graphicdesign #posters #paint #paintbrushes #colour #photography #worldwideart