AO Auction Preview – Modern and Impressionist Evening Auctions in London, June 18th-19th, 2013  This Kandinsky is a pretty great piece; the symbolistic shapes —such as the blaue reiter and arch — that would dominate his later works begin to emerge in the forms painted in this work. Plus Monet’s Le Palais Contarini (1908) in this article is intoxicating….If only I had that $24 million… image: Wassily Kandinsky, Studie Zu Improvisation 3 (1909), via Christie’s (Source Art Observed)

AO Auction Preview – Modern and Impressionist Evening Auctions in London, June 18th-19th, 2013 

This Kandinsky is a pretty great piece; the symbolistic shapes —such as the blaue reiter and arch — that would dominate his later works begin to emerge in the forms painted in this work.

Plus Monet’s Le Palais Contarini (1908) in this article is intoxicating….If only I had that $24 million…

image: Wassily Kandinsky, Studie Zu Improvisation 3 (1909), via Christie’s (Source Art Observed)

  • June 18, 2013, 11:43pm

          1 note

…but then there was this…I experienced Tony Smith’s Smoke (LACMA 2008, originally erected 1967) after Jazz at LACMA, after hours, with a security guard — who did not “care for” the Matisse’s Le Gerbe — whistling some hip-hop song, the name of which I cannot seem to remember. I looked up into the geometric ceiling and walls of the Ahmanson Building — the building’s geometric architecture an older complement to the newer BCAM — and recognized the beauty of an incredible work that is perfectly suited for its space within this hallowed domain…

SIde note: this piece has exemplary wall text.

I found Stephen Prina’s “Untitled/Exquisite Corpse: The Complete Paintings of Manet (since 1988, ongoing; 1 to 556)” to be so incredibly heartwrenching and thought-provoking. It’s a truly beautiful work of art…even if LACMA’s the wall text for “As He Remembered It” failed to provide a platform for understanding the overarching exhibition. This article gives more context…. At its core, “As He Remembered It” is conceptual. It merits conteztualization through the written word to provide meaning and understanding to the viewer. I couldn’t grasp that the bright pink works utilize preconcieved reconstructions of architecture and design structures painted in the trendy Honeysuckle — Pantone’s 2011 color of the year — without the explanation.* Though I connected with individual structures, namely a cushioned booth-seat, a piano, the crooked closets, and the freestanding bookshelves that reminded me of/were the inspiration for the exhibition, I found them more engaging in retrospect, after I had read a better description of Prina’s intention…It all goes back to Joseph Kosuth, but that’s for another post… * Though, Lacma does provide better information on their website. 

I found Stephen Prina’s “Untitled/Exquisite Corpse: The Complete Paintings of Manet (since 1988, ongoing; 1 to 556)” to be so incredibly heartwrenching and thought-provoking. It’s a truly beautiful work of art…even if LACMA’s the wall text for “As He Remembered It” failed to provide a platform for understanding the overarching exhibition.

This article gives more context….

At its core, “As He Remembered It” is conceptual. It merits conteztualization through the written word to provide meaning and understanding to the viewer. I couldn’t grasp that the bright pink works utilize preconcieved reconstructions of architecture and design structures painted in the trendy Honeysuckle — Pantone’s 2011 color of the year — without the explanation.* Though I connected with individual structures, namely a cushioned booth-seat, a piano, the crooked closets, and the freestanding bookshelves that reminded me of/were the inspiration for the exhibition, I found them more engaging in retrospect, after I had read a better description of Prina’s intention…It all goes back to Joseph Kosuth, but that’s for another post…

* Though, Lacma does provide better information on their website. 

Check out this slideshow of fashion photographs inspired by fine art. It includes some of my favorites from both sides of the fashion/art divide including, Steven Mesiel, Peter Lindbergh, Gustav Klimt, Jacques Louis David, Édouard Manet, Sir John Everett Mallais, and Roy Lichtenstein. Of course, it also includes the ever breathtaking muses Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. Find more in Chloe Wyma’s article.

Check out this slideshow of fashion photographs inspired by fine art. It includes some of my favorites from both sides of the fashion/art divide including, Steven Mesiel, Peter Lindbergh, Gustav Klimt, Jacques Louis David, Édouard Manet, Sir John Everett Mallais, and Roy Lichtenstein. Of course, it also includes the ever breathtaking muses Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman.

Find more in Chloe Wyma’s article.

Awww yeah! Thor 2! Can’t wait! 

Hermès hosted a dinner to celebrate the final night of its 4th annual Saut Hermès The Saut Hermes  at the Grand Palias is quite the artistic synergy of sport, fashion, Parisian architecture, and product placement. Photo by Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images

Hermès hosted a dinner to celebrate the final night of its 4th annual Saut Hermès

The Saut Hermes  at the Grand Palias is quite the artistic synergy of sport, fashion, Parisian architecture, and product placement.

Photo by Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images

The PMCA’s California Scene Paintings from 1930 to 1960 was featured in HuffPost Arts & Culture yesterday!!!  Horray for California art! Phil Dike Holiday, 1931Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inchesMike and Susan Verbal Collection

The PMCA’s California Scene Paintings from 1930 to 1960 was featured in HuffPost Arts & Culture yesterday!!! 

Horray for California art!

Phil Dike 
Holiday, 1931
Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches
Mike and Susan Verbal Collection

  • April 16, 2013, 10:21am

          1 note

Bored on this lazy Sunday? Why not take a tour of the Louvre! Every museum and gallery should have a similar sort of online database. 

Bored on this lazy Sunday? Why not take a tour of the Louvre! Every museum and gallery should have a similar sort of online database. 

  • April 14, 2013, 11:35am

          1 note

Fun facts about The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Francisco Jose de Goya from Mr. Bruce Johnson: Sinister creatures of the night torment the artist - presumably Goya himself - who lies slumped over his table, unable to work. Yet the real clue to Goya’s print lies in its subtitle: ‘Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts.’ The etching of the sleeping artist, threatened by fantastical faces, was originally intended to open the Caprichos series. Goya later decided to replace it with a self-portrait, the picture of a self-assured man dressed in a top and wearing a critical expression. — I love that full title: “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts.” Any takers on deciphering it?

Fun facts about The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Francisco Jose de Goya from Mr. Bruce Johnson:

Sinister creatures of the night torment the artist - presumably Goya himself - who lies slumped over his table, unable to work. Yet the real clue to Goya’s print lies in its subtitle: ‘Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts.’

The etching of the sleeping artist, threatened by fantastical faces, was originally intended to open the Caprichos series. Goya later decided to replace it with a self-portrait, the picture of a self-assured man dressed in a top and wearing a critical expression.

—

I love that full title: “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts.”

Any takers on deciphering it?

Once a San Franciscan, always a San Franciscan…I love my city by the bay!