artificial scarcity

Via Hyperalleric, we have another update from Molly White on how great Web 3.0 is going (previously) with this dispatch from a New Zealand auction house that sold material contact prints and plate glass negatives from photographer and portrait artist Charles Fredrick Goldie—whose work is problematic, considered reductive and promoting the contemporary thinking that the Māori were on the verge of extinction as a culture and colonial paternalism though also a snapshot of heritage that might be otherwise lost to time—bundled with their NTF, which fetched much higher prices than they could otherwise garner, complete with a small mallet—inviting the winning bidder to smash the plate and render the lot digital only—see also. The sales were of a self-portrait of the artist at his easel and not of historic aboriginal elders so this provocation is not such an afford to museums and the art world, though one suspects that bidding was driven by investment and looking for a place to park one’s money rather than an appreciation for art or the subject matter.

8x8

i just think they’re neat: an orchestral ballad extolling the qualities of the tuber—via Pasa Bon! 

pulsar: a mysterious, suspected white dwarf star called GLEAML-X is far more energetic than physically possible  

eurhythmics: the greatest music teacher of the twentieth century, Nadia Boulanger whose pupils included Igor Stravinsky and Quincy Jones  

nu descendant un escalier № 2: the Marcel Duchamp research portal  

great green wall: an ongoing project to grow a corridor of trees across Africa 

meta-maps: gazetteers that interpret atlases from the collection of David Rumsey 

 bande dessinée: Belgium’s new passport design pays homage to the country’s comic artists  

fire sale: a curious inventory of lots for sale with the closure of the Drury Lane theatre  

his father’s eyes: a giant New Zealand potato, Dug, is subjected to genetic-testing for proof that it is a tuber

esolang

A portmanteau of esoteric and programming language that arose in the 1990s by the hacker, coding enthusiast community as a form of artistic expression (see also), Hyperallergic contributor Daniel Temkin offers several points of entry into the conceptual interface that limns the boundaries of software art, communications and instruction that defy through definition the current obsession with non-fungibility as the direction of digital art. The pictured bitmap execution is a rendering of “Hello World” in the above mentioned Piet. Much more to explore with the various categories and movements in the link above.

corporate identity

We thoroughly enjoyed this object lesson in the importance of logos and branding via this collaborative work-space application called Kapwing taught by filtering iconic emblems through a suite of different graphical eras and movements—from Art Nouveau to Bauhaus, Psychedelic, Pop Art, Retro 80s and 3D. Check out the full matrix of iterations and various big name brands at the link above.

młoda polska

Via Calvert Journal, we are introduced to the movement that has parallels with the near contemporary Arts and Crafts in England, owing as much to independence and freedom from foreign influence as it does to synergistic aesthetic opposition against Positivism in Young Poland discovered in the country’s sanatoria, Zakopane, high altitude and remote and relatively free from the intrigues that had despoiled the cities that became a focus of these restored values. Questioning the emphasis on progress, adherents sought to bring beauty and wonder into the daily dialogue of every individual regardless of their station or circumstance and a rebuffing of industry and occupation.

as is, as was / as was, as is

Together with contemporaries Jan Dibbets amd Marinus Boezem, Amsterdammer Ger van Elk (*1941 - †2014) produced an extensive body of multidisciplinary works falling within the range of conceptual art and arte povera. Exhibiting in his native city as well as New York and Los Angeles with the Tate among other prominent modern museums upholding Van Elk’s works as the chief representatives of this movement, many pieces include the themes of reflection on and reference to art history.

scarabus

Via Weird Universe, we are (formally—as it seems familiar in a way but never knew the artist’s name) introduced to the Belgian writer and animator Gérald Frydman through his 1971 surreal vignette about a town and the bizarre rituals of its inhabitants. Frydman’s short films were jury selectees and winners of the Palme d’Or in 1976 and 1984 and can be viewed at the artist’s channel.

the electrical life of louis wain

Our gratitude to Strange Company for the introduction (well, the association of the artist to his delightful deranged felines rather) in Louis William Wain (*1860 - †1939), whose extensive body of works (one for every topic practically) are well and loving curated in the public domain and is the subject of a recent biopic, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Wain’s first publish sketch in 1886, “A Kittens’ Christmas Party” in the Illustrated London News struck the right notes and proved very popular—along with other anthropomorphic portrayals—in Victorian England and became a quite prolific artist over the next three decades and was a champion of various animal charities and human societies, including one called the Governing Council of Our Dumb Friends League—as they couldn’t speak for themselves. Though the diagnosis remains disputed, the onset of Wain’s apparent schizophrenia which saw him confined to an asylum for the remainder of his life may have been triggered by toxoplasmosis, a parasitical disease that cats can pass to their humans. Some professionals claim to be able to track Wain’s deteriorating mental state through the succession of his paintings (see also here, here and here) though that assertion and its citation in popular psychology remains controversial.  The cat model that inspired his art throughout was called Peter and originally was the pet of his wife who encouraged Wain to get his drawings in print.

7x7

the year that was: Miss Cellania’s Winterval tradition of annual lists—including arts and entertainment, animals and more  

market volatility: unusual vintage shot glasses track ups and downs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average—via Super Punch 

a sight for sore eyes: a coffee table edition from rock royalty The Residents  

where the wild things are: Maurice Sendak directed a darker version of The Nutcracker ballet, truer to the original narrative and far more captivating  

ultimate rendering: Picasso’s first and last self-portraits—see also—via Messy Nessy Chic 

boop: robot reacts to a poke in the nose

lend me your ears and i’ll sing you a song about a sad, dysfunctional d.c.: US president Joe Biden’s first year in review presented by Politico

✝ j.m.j. ✝

Venerated on the Sunday between Christmas Day and New Year’s (or traditionally, before 1969, on the first Sunday after Epiphany), the Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated to honour as a familial unit Jesus, His mother Mary and His step-father Joseph—presenting their relationship as a model for good Christian families, though relatively little is mentioned canonically about the upbringing of Christ after the Nativity. A popular art subject from the late fifteenth century onward, sometimes the depictions went beyond the nuclear family with Anne, Mary’s cousin, and John the Baptist included—though never later portrait studio editions with his four brothers, James, Joses, Jude and Simon and unnamed sisters.

adam’s rib

Though not referred to as saints historically nor theologically in Ordinary Time, during the vigil of Christmas, corresponding with their feast day, this first couple and primogenitor (technically, Eve was cleft from her husband since Lilith as a co-creation didn’t work out as planned, Adam is called Father alone) of the human race, as Mary is called “the New Eve, Coremptrix” with Jesus “the New Adam,” celebrated on the next day. The cultural appropriation of the Christmas tree is sometimes attributed to “paradise plays” recounting the narrative of Genesis reenacted, fully-clothed I imagine at this time of year (they being the co-patrons of gardeners and tailors), on Christmas Eve, with greenery (a Paradise tree) decorated with red apples (later baubles), acting out their sin of disobedience and being expelled by the angels and made to toil.

diseñador gráficos

Via the forever brilliant, peripatetic Things Magazine we quite enjoyed perusing this treasury of Uruguayan graphic design heritage curated and chronicled in this archive through ephemera, philately, film posters and more. We especially liked the unified, branded-look of the logos by Fernando Álvarez Cozzi commissioned for wineries, charities and government offices. Check out all the different categories at the links above.

muskelspiel

Born this day in 1867 (†1927) in the village Burkhardtsdorf in the western edge of Upper Lusatia, Osmar Heinrich Volkmar Schindler, demonstrating skill as an artist early on was with the support of his uncle enrolled at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts where after his education in portraiture and travels in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium developed a signature style that mixed elements of Impressionism and Art Nouveau. In 1900, Schindler was invited back to the academy and given a professorship. Better known for his murals and interior decor for both secular and religious buildings of the fin de siècle throughout Saxony, works on display include David and Goliath, landscapes of the Sächsischen Schweiz and Lake Garda, as well as this muscle-flexing study that has the undivided attention of the art class.

pingxiety

This short about the tug-o’-war between duty to engage with social media demands and responsibilities in the real world that become increasingly suffused with online work and kindred spaces by Hanna Sun called “Blip” does an excellent job of limning that dreadful allure of the screen. Much more at Colossal at the link above.

géant endormi

Interviewed by co-founder of the alternative, underground publication platform Asylum Press Steven Heller we quite enjoyed learning about the new monograph from artist, writer and advocate for attribution Brad Holland and being able to pin a name to the many signature illustrations the graphic designer has done over his long career for magazines, album covers and contributing illustrator. Be sure to check out his blog, called Poor Bradford’s Almanac, for more of his catalogue of work on the human condition that’s reminiscent of that of Goya.

controlled burn

Via Everlasting Blört, we enjoyed this array of carefully crafted paper-programming with this collection of pyrotechnic posters (affiches), realised through a series of trial and error by French design duo Marion Pinaffo and Raphaël Pluvinage, whose dynamic geometric shapes and circuitry are reminiscent of the Thelema Tree of Life. Much more to explore at the links above.

obturador

The twelfth century Visigoth cathedral of Palencia, dedicated to San Antolín of Pamiers sustained damage from the catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the Iberian peninsula with

reconstruction efforts to the roof and cornices delayed until 1908, under the leadership of local architect Jerónimo Arroyo, who replaced one of the lost gargoyles anachronistically with the figure of a cassocked man lugging around a camera of the times. This was in homage to a documentarian called Luis Rodríquez Alonso, who were among the first to chronicle the region using the new medium. The rather austere gothic exterior betrays the rich interior treasures, including over twenty chapels, ornate retablos and a painting by El Greco of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, contains another easter egg, this time dating to a 1995 renovation to the achivolt above Puerta de los Reyes: at the apex, the two bas-relief creatures facing one another are not demons or dragons but rather xenomorphs from the then contemporary instalment of the Alien franchise.

6x6

recursive: Ghislaine Maxwell sketches the courtroom artist sketching her 

temporal distortion: an xkcd comic that references every ambiguous birthday scenario 

check out those gams: a pair of pageants with a narrower focus on beauty—via Nag on the Lake 

menty-b: Macquarie Dictionary’s short-list for Word of the Year  

qed: an overview of maths in film and television 

hungry eyes: the canon of Western art as viewed through the lens of food

the cat will eat you

Referred via our peripatetic friend Everlasting Blört, we quite enjoyed the introductiong to the extensive portfolio of Matt Semke whose collections of sketches and animations (framing exhibitions entirely in the GIF medium, at the risk of posting too many successive ones myself, as a way to limn the format’s possibilities and limitations) evoke this element of the Kafkaesque with sort of a contemplatively resigned yet disarming nature to them and a style possibly referencing that of La Planète sauvage. Much more to explore at the links above.

nifty

As the Guardian reports, Collins Dictionary has selected the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Token as its word of the year (see previously here and here), tracking the stratospheric rise of the blockchain of registry of digital assets that lexically rose above the general din of the COVID crisis, pingdemic and hybrid-working as pandemic-related forerunners, and—regardless of what one thinks of the evaluation--defines a new market and speaks to a broad craze and means for artists to profit online. Other contenders included cheugy and regencycore—referring to cosplay in 1810s style garb.