Month: August 2016

Charles Gleyre

 

Charles Gleyre, “The Helvetians Force The Romans To Pass Under The Yoke”, Oil on Canvas, 1858

This romantic painting by Charles Gleyre celebraties the Tigurini victory over the Romans at Agen (107 BCE) under Divico’s command.

The Tigurini were a clan or tribe forming one out of four pagi (provinces) of the Helvetii. The Tigurini were the most important group of the Helvetii, mentioned by both Caesar and Poseidonius, settling in the area of what is now the Swiss canton of Vaud, corresponding to the bearers of the late La Tène culture in western Switzerland. Their name has a meaning of “lords, rulers” (cognate with Irish tigern “lord”).

The name of the Tigurini is first recorded in the context of their alliance with the Cimbri in the Cimbrian War of 113–101 BCE. They crossed the Rhine to invade Gaul in 109 BCE, moved south to the Roman region of Provence in 107 BCE and defeated a Roman army under Lucius Cassius Longinus near Agen. The Tigurini followed the Cimbri in their campaign across the Alps, but they did not enter Italy, instead remaining at the Brenner Pass. After the end of the war, they returned to their earlier homes, settling in the western Swiss plateau and the Jura mountains north of Lake Leman.

The Rabbit’s Revenge

Illuminated Manuscripts: The Rabbit’s Revenge

“The typical depiction of a rabbit, especially when used in Medieval art and literature, is an image of purity and innocence—a harmless puff of cuddly cuteness. Another common association with the rabbit is that of fertility, a sensical comparison when one is aware of the speed at which the species copulates. In some medieval illuminated manuscripts however, the illustration of a rabbit turns from harmless to violent, with several examples showcasing the formerly innocent creature in the act of decapitation and other sword-wielding wrongdoings.

A way to analyze these drolleries, or medieval margin illustrations, is to think about the violent role reversals as humorous symbolism. Because these animals were so low on the totem pole of fear, it was quite amusing to the medieval illustrator to draw them enacting a revenge—silly animals on the opposite side of the slaughtering. This was also a way for the artist to show the stupidity of the human who was the object of the rabbits’ anger, one who was foolish enough to be bludgeoned by bunny.” -Kate Sierzputowski, Colossal

Faoladh

Photographer Unknown, (Faoladh: Still Here But Now with iPhones)

“Laignech Fáelad, that is, he was the man that used to shift into fáelad, i.e. wolf-shapes. He and his offspring after him used to go, whenever they pleased, into the shapes of the wolves, and, after the custom of wolves, kill the herds. Wherefore he was called Laignech Fáelad, for he was the first of them to go into a wolf-shape.” – Coir Anmann, 215

O. R. Melling: “The Dark Ray of Life”

Photographer Unknown, (Run with the Wolf)

To run with the wolf was to run in the shadows, the dark ray of life, survival and instinct. A fierceness that was both proud and lonely, a tearing, a howling, a hunger and thirst. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst. A strength that would die fighting, kicking, screaming, that wouldn’t stop until the last breath had been wrung from its body. The will to take one’s place in the world. To say ‘I am here.’ To say ‘I am.”

–O.R. Melling

Shayla Maddox

Paintings by Shayla Maddox

Shayla Maddox’s paintings are not projection-mapped or powered by LEDs. They are infused with what the artist says are “the strongest [phosphorescent] pigments available,” making them much more than just glow-in-the-dark. “The color changes with the seasons and weather,” she explains to The Creators Project. “What looks one way when it’s sunny will change slightly when it’s overcast. The angle of the sun in winter highlights different elements than in summer. A person standing to the right will see something different than someone standing to the left.”

Maddox acheives this effect by using unwieldy phosphorescent paint which she  spreads in thin layers, mixed with standard acryllics, onto a canvas, letting them dry completely in between each round. In depicting anything from a swarm of 159,000 hand-painted dots to a glowing rendition of Middle Earth, she incorporates crushed gass and other “light-reactive” materials to give the paintings an almost sculptural element of three-dimensionality.

Painting Titles from Top to Bottom: “Warning- Fiery Red modern Landscape, Sunrise Sunset”; “Echo”; “Terraforming Mars”; “Doorway to a Thousand Churches”; “Frequency”; “Break the Chains”

Bertrand Russell: “The Chief Glory of Man”

Photographer Unknown, (The Chief Glory of Man)

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid … Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.”

–Bertrand Russell, Why Men Fight

Georges Paul Leroux

Georges Paul Leroux (French, 1877-1957),” Les Baigneurs du Tibre [Bathers in the Tiber, Rome]”, 1909. Oil on Canvas,. Musée Departmental de l’Oise, Beauvais.

Georges Leroux is considered a painter, engraver and illustrator from the French school. He was born August 3, 1877 in Paris and died in 1957. He received his formal art training at the Beaux-Arts Academie under Leon Joseph Bonnat.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Leroux joined the French Army and served on the Western Front in France and Belgium. He later recalled how on one reconnaissance mission he saw “a group of French soldiers taking shelter in a great shell-hole full of water”. That evening he made sketches of what he had seen and later painted “L’Enfer (Hell).” One critic remarked that the Leroux had “produced a work which attempts to represent as accurately as possible the Unreprehensible reality of war”.

George Leroux was a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Artistes Française where he was awarded the third class medal in 1903 and the Prix de Rome of 1906. In 1908, Leroux was honored with one of France’s awards to Chevalier in the Legion of Honor. He won a second class medal for 1911 and the Prix de Henner in 1920.

Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga

Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga, Projected Animation

Artists Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga of VJ Suave were recently invited to participate in the Walk&Talk art residency on São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal. The duo transformed their projected street art animations to happily dance across the trees, cliffs, and shores of the the island including the Lagoa das Empadadas, Porto da Ribeirinha, Cachoeira do Cabrito and Lagoa das Sete Cidades. Using long exposure, VJ Suave captured their interventions with nature, creating the two GIFs seen here.