Artist Birthdays- Remedios Varo

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Mixed Media, New York Art Shows, Painting / Painters
Dec 162025
 

“Allegory of Winter”, 1948, Goache and paper

“The Juggler (The Magician)”, 1956, Oil and inlaid mother of pearl on board

Surrealist artist Remedios Varo was born on December 16th, 1908, in Spain. Throughout her life, she was a part of avant-garde circles— first in her homeland, and later in Paris and Mexico. She and several other intellectuals and artists fled to Mexico during World War II, where they were given asylum and citizenship. It was there that she would create the majority of her best-known works.

Varo’s paintings are filled with symbolism and mystical imagery. They also often reference her own experiences creating art. While Allegory of Winter (first image) is currently in a private collection, The Juggler (The Magician) can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art.

From MoMa about the work-

This painting’s titular juggler (or magician) stands on the platform of a carnivalesque cart filled with fantastical objects and animals. He performs before seemingly identical figures robed in a single gray cloak. To produce this composition, Varo worked in the manner of early Renaissance masters: she transposed preparatory drawings onto a gesso-primed panel, which had been scratched to give the surface variation. She also deployed decalcomania, a technique favored by the Surrealists in which materials such as paper or aluminum foil are pressed onto wet paint to transfer a pattern that may then be embellished. This textured effect can be seen in the magician’s garments and in the background trees.

 

David Lynch 1946-2025

 Art, Artists, Books, Films, Miscellaneous, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Quotes, Television, Video and Film
Jan 202025
 

Still from “Mulholland Drive”

Club Silencio scene with Rebekah Del Rio from David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive

Today would have been artist and filmmaker David Lynch’s 79th birthday.

Although it was sad to hear of his passing, it was such a joy to spend the weekend looking through his artwork, reading the tributes from those who knew him, and rewatching his films and the documentary about him, The Art Life.

He also wrote Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, a short book filled with his thoughts on transcendental meditation, his films, digital video, creativity and more- worth checking out. Below is a short clip from one of his interviews with The Atlantic.

He also acted occasionally, both in his Twin Peaks series and in other projects. Below he plays another famous director, John Ford, in a clip from Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans.

And here he is on Louis C.K.’s show Louie.

David Lynch’s creative legacy will continue to influence and inspire people for many years to come. He was one of the greats.

Faith Ringgold 1930-2024

 Art, Artists, Conceptual Art, Fiber Arts, Illustration, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters
Apr 192024
 

I was very sad to hear the news of artist and activist Faith Ringgold’s recent passing. Throughout her incredible career she created work in a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, and narrative quilts. She also wrote and illustrated several children’s books- including the wonderful Tar Beach, based on one of the quilts, which won several awards.

Pictured above is American People Series #20: Die, 1967, currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

From the museum about the work-

Recalling her motivation for making this work, Ringgold has explained, “I became fascinated with the ability of art to document the time, place, and cultural identity of the artist. How could l, as an African American woman artist, document what was happening around me?” Ringgold’s American People Series confronts race relations in the United States in the 1960s. This mural-sized painting evokes the civil uprisings erupting around the country at the time. On the canvas, blood spatters evenly across an interracial group of men, women, and children, suggesting that no one is free from this struggle.

Song of the Day- Tina Turner- “A Fool in Love”

 Music, Musicians / Bands, Spotify Playlist
May 262023
 

Tina Turner- A Fool in Love

Music icon Tina Turner sadly passed away on Wednesday. Luckily for the world she left behind a lot of incredible music. Her live performances were always energetic and full of life as well, as seen in the clip above and many others.

Rest in Peace.

SHINE Mural Festival- 2022- Reginald O’Neal

 Artists, Books, Florida Street Art, History, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Quotes, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art, Writers
Feb 022023
 

 

“History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be.”- Dr. John Henrik Clarke

Dr. John Henrik Clarke was an American writer, historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies. He taught at both Hunter College in NYC, where he established the Department of Black and Puerto Rican studies, and Cornell University where he was the Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Visiting Professor of African History at Cornell University’s Africana Studies and Research Center.

The mural pictured above, Dr. John Henrik Clarke and the Mundari Tribe by Reginald O’Neal, was created for the 2022 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

 

 

St. Pete Art Shows- Sam McCoy and Sheherazade Thenard in “Fresh Squeezed 6” at Morean Arts Center

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Florida Art Shows, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters
Jun 202022
 

Florida Roadside- Gatorland, 2020

Dusk Pines, 2020 (left) and Pinelands, 2020

Artists Sam McCoy (works above) and Sheherazade Thenard (work below) were both part of the recent exhibition Fresh Squeezed 6: Emerging Artists in Florida at Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Information on Sam McCoy from her website–

Sam McCoy was born and raised in Orlando, Florida in the 90s. She is a contemporary painter who focuses on the boundaries between natural and hyperreal landscapes of Florida. She pulls her inspirations from a place where spectacles and roadside attractions dominate America’s tourism capital. Between eco-tourism destinations and constructed gardens, McCoy explores the contradictions of her experiences in these places. By pulling back the metaphorical curtain on a carefully crafted image of Florida, McCoy’s ideas of disenchantment and re-enchantment are enacted in each painting. The viewer can still find meaning in the shadier discordant corners of the State.

Magnolia, 2020

From Sheherazade Thenard’s information page–

For me, a landscape painting is not merely a visual representation of the world. It is a metaphor for the human condition. I paint to try to make sense of the fragility of our world, the passing of time, and our shared experiences of light, color, and space. The incorporation of figures within my paintings are often swallowed or hidden by their constructed lush surroundings. Painting the land and its inhabitants continues to be a way of engaging with the strangeness of being here.

The undercurrent themes of mysticism, escapism and fantasy are reoccurring within my pieces. Through these works, I aim to create psychological spaces paired with hidden symbolism integral to the understanding of each painting.

Check out both of their websites to see more of their excellent work.

Nathan Coley at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, British Art Shows, Conceptual Art, Installation Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Apr 042020
 

This work by Scottish artist Nathan Coley is located outside the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

From the museum’s website–

This outdoor work by Nathan Coley proposes, on a scaffolding support six metres high in illuminated text, ‘There Will Be No Miracles Here’. This originates from a project in which Coley posted a series of public announcements around the town of Stirling. One included these words, taken from a seventeenth-century royal proclamation made in a French town believed to have been the frequent site of miracles. Coley’s practice is based in an interest in public space, and how systems of personal, social, religious and political belief structure our towns and cities, and thereby ourselves.

 

 

Films to Watch- “Cutie and the Boxer”

 Art, Artists, Films, Video and Film
Feb 282014
 

Cutie and the Boxer- Official Trailer

Currently on Netflix streaming and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Cutie and the Boxer is a glimpse into the lives of two artists, Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko.

Noriko was only a 19-year old art student when she met 41-year old  artist Ushio, and they have remained together ever since. While the film presents Noriko’s sacrifices and frustrations within the relationship, it also shows the process that goes into the artistic work itself for each of them. Now, forty years later, she is showing her own work and emerging from the shadow of her husband’s career.  It’s a fascinating, intimate portrait of the couple.

This is a good interview with Noriko.

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