John Graham@ Allan Stone Gallery

Allan Stone Gallery
The work of John Graham is not nearly as well-known as his protégés Arshille Gorky and Willem de Kooning. Yet Graham has achieved a place in the history of the New York School of painting. New Art City by Jed Perls is the most recent book to chronicle the influence of John Graham on the pioneers of the new abstraction.
John Graham is an acquired taste. His last eforts were devoted to a strange mix of classicism (inspired by Ingres), surrealism and the occult that precludes a wider acceptance by the genteel museum-goers who flock to the latest post-impressionist exhibit yet shy away from anything more difficult than late Monet. Second, there have been few opportunities to see any paintings by John Graham in the galleries and museums.
Thankfully, the Allan Stone Gallery exhibit may change some of this. Perhaps time has caught up with the mysterious and strange imagery of this enigmatic painter. Fans of Henry Darger may respond to John Graham. Note: the squeamish and conservative may be offended by the explicit imagery and implicit violence in the late works on view in this show.

“John Graham: Sum Qui Sum will be on view at the Allan Stone Gallery from October 22 – December 22, 2005. The most comprehensive John Graham show in almost two decades, this exhibition presents a survey of John Graham’s oeuvre, including his alchemy-inspired paintings and drawings, his majestic horses and soldiers, and his best-known work—the beautiful, elegant, and yet increasingly disturbing paintings of women.”

-from the press release of the Allan Stone Gallery

New Art City by Jed Perl: book review

New Art City by Jed Perl: book review
This book, along with de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, covers the well-worn territory of the “heroic” period of American Art and the importance of New York City as the locus that made the new art possible. Indeed in Mr. Perl’s book, subtitled Manhattan at Mid-Century, the City itself is the main character whereas in the de Kooning book, the city is the backdrop and catalyst for the remarkable career of one painter.
The history of this period has become myth, legend, caricature and satire for generations yet both books offer fresh insight and perspective from a vantage point that is several steps removed from the gallery propaganda and art world hype inimical to books about this period. To speak of the “triumph of American painting” was to glorify and obfuscate an historical shift of power from the Old World to the New, from the old guard to the avant-garde.
I have been immensely pleased with the writing in both of these books: the story is told in a straight forward jargon-free and direct style that is appealing and fresh as the art that is described. I haven’t yet finished New Art City but I am confident that it will sustain the sense of drama, destiny and desire for the new art in the new city for many readers as the Stevens/Swan book has done for de Kooning.

Drawings by Vincent

Get in the van, go to the Met, see the drawings. You won't be disappointed.

22nd St. Double Bill: Daniel Libeskind / Sue Williams

Freedom Tower by Daniel Libeskind

Painting by Sue Williams

Daniel Libeskind@Max Protech
A retrospective for the battered architect of the new WTC tower.
Opens Oct. 7 (now open)
511 W 22nd St.


Sue Williams@303 Gallery, 525 W 22nd St.:
this show of recent paintings by an artist at the top of her game, right next door to the Libesking exhibit at Max Protech.

Top 10 shows, top 10 Chelsea galleries, top 10 small museums, etc. to see right now

-from The Autumn Art Scene The L Magazine

What Art to see in NYC: Fall '05 (part II)

More Art to see in NYC: Fall '05:


Jeremy Blake; sodium Fox @ Feigen Contemporary
Went to see this latest projected "time-based painting" today... great activity for a rainy afternoon. Jeremy Blake continues to intrique me with his multifarius multilayered multimedia extravaganzas. Definitely worth checking out even if the weather improves.
535 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
Tel 212.929.0500


Memling's Portraits is at the Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, (212) 288-0700, through Dec. 31

View from the Eiffel Tower

Artdaily.com - The First Art Newspaper on the Net

Artdaily.com - The First Art Newspaper on the Net

Artdaily.com - The First Art Newspaper on the Net
3D images of Architecture

Google Homage to Frank Lloyd Wright

This from a CAD blog...could't resist "borrowing" it.

Two Franks

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry
http://www.rockwool.dk/sw58000.asp
Beauty and the Industrial City
“Not since the Sidney Opera House, has a building achieved more recognition and admiration than the new Guggenheim art museum in Bilbao (1997).”
Definitely one of the first buildings of the 21st Century.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water
http://www.paconserve.org/fw-building.asp

The Story of Fallingwater
“Fallingwater is recognized as one of Wright's most acclaimed works, and in a 1991 poll of members of the American Institute of Architects, it was voted "the best all-time work of American architecture." It is a supreme example of Frank Lloyd Wright's concept of organic architecture, which promotes harmony between man and nature through design so well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition. Wright embraced modern technology to achieve this, designing spaces for living which expressed architecturally the expansive freedom of the American frontier.”

What Art to see in NYC: Fall '05

Art to See in NYC:
Russia! @ the Guggenheim


This show is exquisite. My favorites are the early modern masterworks collected by Sergei Shchukin. The Picasso and Matisse paintings from this collection alone are worth the price of admission.

"Shchukin collected passionately, and he largely based his decisions on instinct, focusing on one or a few artists at a time. Among his favorites was Claude Monet, whose work he first acquired from 1898–1904. From 1904–10 he collected the works of Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh; and from 1910–14, he championed Matisse, Picasso, and André Derain. Shchukin developed an especially close relationship with Matisse, buying thirty-seven of his paintings within a few years and inviting him to Russia." -from The Guggenheim web site

Van Gogh Drawings @ the Met
This is one for the ages.

Jeremy Blake @ Feigen Contemporary
“Time-based painter” Jeremy Blake recent work including his new film Sodium Fox on view now at Feigen Contemporary.
535 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
Tel 212.929.0500

Bronzino/Velazquez : Linear and Painterly

From the classic Principles of Art History(the problem of the development of style in later art) comes this comparison of two modes of seeing and consequently two modes of painting: linear (Bronzino) and Painterly (Velazquez).


In the words of Heinrich Wölfflin:
Bronzino

“is particularly interesting as the presentment of a sumptuous costume perceived by an exclusively linear taste. No human eye can see things in this way—I mean with this even firmness of line. Not for a moment does the artist depart from the absolute distinctness of the object, it is as if, in the representation of a bookcase, an artist were to attempt to paint book by book, each equally outlined, while an eye attuned to appearance only grasps the shimmer playing over the whole in which, in varying degrees, the separate form is submerged. Velasquez had an eye thus attuned to appearance. The dress of his little princess was embroidered in zigzag patterns: what he gives, however, is not the ornamentation in itself, but the shimmering image of the whole. Seen uniformly form a distance, the patterns have lost their distinctness, yet without looking indistinct; we can see perfectly clearly what is meant, but the forms cannot be grasped, they come and go, the highlights of the fabric play over them, and the whole is dominated by the rhythm of the light-waves … which also fills the background.

p.45-6

Learning in Motion: Web Animation

Here is an elephant walking, based on the work of Eadweard Muybridge.

This is an article about animation.

Animated Gifs from Math World

Animated Gifs from Math World
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/AnimatedGIFs.html

Tessellations
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/Tiling.html

Animated GIFS

Animated GIFs in Photoshop 7 and ImageReady
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=31536&rl=1
This is an in-depth tutorial on creating animated GIFS. Refer to this article to review everything you need to know to create animated.

Examples of Student Animated GIFS

Buoyancy:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/gallery/animations_buoyancy.html
These animations were created by 8th graders (at Poly Prep) to demonstrate their knowledge of the Archimedes Principle.

Savage Earth:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/gallery/animations.html
My students (again, at Poly Prep) were asked to create animation to illustrate earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes.

Cell Biology:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/gallery/animations_cell.html
These animations were created by 7th grade students (yet again, at Poly Prep) as part of a science unit on cellular processes.

Introduction to Animation Using Flash

What is Flash?
Macromedia Flash is a multimedia graphics program specially for use on the Web
Flash enables you to create interactive "movies" on the Web
Flash uses vector graphics, which means that the graphics can be scaled to any size without losing clarity/quality
Flash does not require programming skills and is easy to learn
-from W3Schools.com
http://www.w3schools.com/flash/flash_intro.asp

Animation Basics

Idlewild: Tutorials: Bouncing Ball
http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/01b/bball.shtml
This is everything you need to understand the basic principles of animation, especially squash and stretch.

Cartoonster: Fun Animation Tutorials
http://www.cartoonster.com/
This site demonstrates the effect of frame rate (frames per second). Squash and stretch are also covered again in this simple tutorial

Flash Basics

Phong (Flash Animation Tutorial)
http://www.phong.com/tutorials/flash/animation/index2.php
“When an object squashes and stretches, it appears to be composed of a softer, organic, elastic material. Objects which do not stretch appear rigid and plain.”

Acky.net Tutorials: Flash : Bouncing Ball
http://www.acky.net/tutorials/flash/bouncing_ball/
This is another approach to the bouncing ball, try it this way for homework: try to understand “Easing In” and “Easing Out”.

Macromedia Software
http://www.macromedia.com/
Download the trial version of Flash MX 2004 from this site, if you want to work at home.


FLASH Tutorials:Animation the old Fashioned Way with Flash
http://www.samspublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=28807&rl=1

Animation Tutorials for Flash
http://webdesign.about.com/cs/flashtutsanimation/

STOP MOTIONFrame Thief
http://www.framethief.com/download.htmlShareware for stop motion animation


Examples of Animation
Schlumberger SEED, the science education web site.
Using Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady, I created these animations to illustrate a unit on Science in the Bathroom.

In the Bathroom
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/index.htm
Using Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe ImageReady, I created these animations to illustrate a unit on science in the Bathroom.

Bubbles
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/bubbles.htm
Illustrations and a flash animation linked on this page; “Watch the soap bubbles form”

Mist on the Mirror
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/mist.htm

Floating Duck
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/duck.htm

The Bath is Too Cold!
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/toohot.htm

Flushing Vortex
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/vortex.htm

The Drying Hairdryer
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/bathroom/dryer.htm

Illustrations and animation about other science topics:
The Cartesian Diver
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/diver/index.htm

Permeability
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/permeability/index.htm

Build a Buckyball
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/buckyball/index.htm


Salvadori Foundation education and the built environment.
http://www.salvadori.org/aoc
This site is an animated companion to The Art of Construction by Mario Salvadori. I created over 150 illustrations and animations on this site.