Month: October 2016

Ian Ingram

Mixed-Media Work by Ian Ingram

Ian Ingram’s self-portraits are autobiographical reflections of meaningful events, such as his wedding or the birth of his child; that is, times when a decision or an action changes one’s worldview. Beyond serving as a vehicle to relay his feelings to the outside world, Ingram’s drawings become unflinching windows into his subconscious, and serve as a tool for his own self-reflections and ruminations. His hyper-realistic and intensely emotional self-portraits arrest the viewer with a direct gaze that at times seems almost uncomfortably intimate.

Ian Ingram’s tightly rendered canvases are dreamlike, the result of Ingram’s use of a range of techniques. From careful cross-contours, grids and lines to amorphous passages of blended charcoal, each method plays a role in building Ingram’s expression of the human face’s subtleties. Working with charcoal, pastel, ink and watercolor, Ingram also incorporates more unconventional materials such as beads, beeswax, metallic thread, silver leaf, string and even butterfly wings.

Full Moon

Photographer Unknown, (Full Moon Hanging O’er the Trees)

“I fancied my luck to be witnessing yet another full moon. True, I’d seen hundreds of full moons in my life, but they were not limitless. When one starts thinking of the full moon as a common sight that will come again to one’s eyes ad-infinitum, the value of life is diminished and life goes by uncherished. ‘This may be my last moon,’ I sighed, feeling a sudden sweep of sorrow; and went back to reading more of The Odyssey.”
― Roman Payne

 

Yelawolf, “Shadows”

Yelawolf, “Shadows” Featuring Joshua Hedley

Joshua Hedley, an East Nashville stalwart who’s backed artists like Jonny Fritz and Justin Townes Earle on fiddle in addition to leading his own band, sings the mournful opening hook: “Memories of shadows haunt me, from the years when I was young / All the things that used to terrify me, are the things that I’ve become.” He’s accompanied by a fingerpicked acoustic guitar and ghostly vocals, adding to the heavy mood.

Alabama native Yelawolf – who spent several years living in Nashville – paints a vivid, frightening picture of personal demons, biker lawlessness, illicit drugs and all-out desperation in his characteristic drawl. “Whiskey bent after twelve – I’m always playing with death / Bullet shells in my yard – loaded gun on the shelf,” he snarls, backed by bluesy Dobro riffs and a shuffling beat. He’s looking back on lost innocence, realizing he’s embraced his own nightmares of paranoia and crime.

Yelawolf, a long time favorite of mine, and Hedley. a great fiddler and singer, make this song.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Halloween Horror

Happy Halloween: Third and Final Chapter: Horror Manga

Japanese horror tends to focus on psychological horror and tension building and suspense, particularly involving ghosts and poltergeists, while many contain themes of folk religion such as: possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and yōkai.

Recommended: Graphic horror works by Junji Ito ( “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and “Uzumaki”) and “Jisatsu Circle” by Furuya Usamaru.

Recommended: Films:  “Jigoku”,1960 by director Nobuo Nakagawa; “Tetsuo: The Iron man”,1989, a cyberpunk horror film by Shinya Tsukamoto;  “Ringu”, the original Japanese version of the Americanized “The Ring”,1998, directed by Hideo Nakata.

Enjoy. Do not forget to turn off all the lights. No flashlights allowed. Happy Halloween to all of you.

Hugo Simberg

Hugo Simberg, “The Wounded Angel’”, Oil on Canvas, 1903

The “Wounded Angel” is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. It is one of the most recognizable of Simberg’s works, and was voted Finland’s “national painting” in a vote held by the Ateneum art museum in 2006.

Like other Simberg works, the atmosphere is melancholic: the angelic central figure with her bandaged forehead and bloodied wing, the sombre clothing of her two youthful bearers. The direct gaze of the right-hand figure touches the viewer.

The procession passes through a recognisable landscape, that of Eläintarha, Helsinki, with Töölönlahti Bay in the background. In Hugo Simberg’s time, the park was a popular spot for leisure-time activities among the working classes. At the time, many charity institutions were located in Eläintarha park. In “The Wounded Angel” the healthy boys are carrying the injured girl towards the Blind Girls’ School and the Home for Cripples. She clutches a bunch of snowdrops, symbolic of healing and rebirth.

Simberg himself declined to offer any deconstruction, suggesting that the viewer draw their own conclusions. However it is known that Simberg had been suffering from meningitis, and that the painting was a source of strength during his recovery. This can also be read metaphorically: meningitis is known to cause neck stiffness, lethargy and light sensitivity, each of which is exhibited by the central figure.

Bruno Vekemans

Bruno Vekemans, “De Zwemmer (The Swimmer)”, 1995, Mixed Media on Paper, 85 x 115 centimeters

Bruno Vekemans was born in Antwerp on July 29, 1952. As a child and teenager he is constantly engaged in drawing and painting. Vekemans took one preparatory year of decoration and a two-year interior decoration course at the Technicum Institute, Londenstraat, Antwerp.

In 1971 Vekemans started experimenting with different techniques, experimenting with collages, églomisé and comics. In 1988 his art work was focused on linear works, mostly gouache on pattern paper. Vekemans later replaced the paper patterns with seventeeth century paper and started experimenting with oils on canvas.

Bruno Vekemans has been in several international exhibitions in Tokyo, New York, Paris, and Amsterdam, among others. Influenced by his travels, he has recently completed two thematic series on Africa and Cuba.

Image reblogged with thanks to https://thunderstruck9.tumblr.com

 

Xavier Dolan

Artist Unknown, “J’ai Tué Ma Mère (I Killed My Mother)”, Computer Graphics, Gay Film Gifs

“J’ai Tué Ma Mère” is a 2009 Canadian drama film written by, directed by, and starring Xavier Dolan in the role of Hubert. Dolan was sixteen years old when he wrote the semi-autobiographical script. The film was initially financed by Dolan; it later received funding from the Society for the Developement of Cultural Enterprises under their indie film division.

The film made by Xavier Dolan at the age of nineteen attracted international attention after it won three Director’s Fortnight awards at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. After the showing, it received a standing ovation. At the Vancouver Film Critics Circle in 2010, “J’ai Tué Ma Mère” won the awards for Best Canadian Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film.

Antonio Lopez

Antonio Lopez, “Sink and Mirror”, 1967, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

López García studied art in Madrid in the 1950s and lived there after 1960, becoming an instructor at his alma mater, the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He has influenced generations of artists as a leader of the Spanish Realists, known for their unyielding depictions of their surroundings and for the long history of painting from which they have evolved. López García’s paintings and sculptures demonstrate not only his keen powers of observation, but also his extraordinary sensitivity to atmosphere and light.

Interior spaces are a recurring theme in López García’s work, particularly the interior of his own studio and bathroom. Though he was initially captivated by the emptiness of his new studio, in Sink and Mirror López captures traces of his own presence. The objects arranged on the shelf below the mirror serve as an autobiographical assemblage that stands in for the (absent) reflection in the mirror.

The artist’s near-obsessive attention to perspective, as hinted by the vertical and horizontal lines of the tiles, cause a rift in the painting’s composition. In order to avoid a terribly inclined perspective, López divided the scene into two views, keeping the traces of process as a mediating buffer in the center.