Major General JFC Fuller

The Portal Paintings by

Top Image: “The Portal of the First Order- Building of the Pyramid”, 1909

Bottom Image: “The Portal of the Second Order- Knowledge and Conversation”

Major-General John Frederick Charles Fuller was a British Army officer, military historian, and strategist, notable as an early theorist of modern armoured warfare, including categorizing principles of warfare. With 45 books and many articles,, he was a highly prolific author whose ideas reached army officers and the interested public. He explored the business of fighting, in terms of the relationship between warfare and social, political, and economic factors in the civilian sector.

Fuller had an occultist side that oddly mixed with his military side. He was an early disciple of English poet and magician Aleister Crowley, and was very familiar with his and other forms of magick and mysticism. During this period of his life, he wrote “The Treasure House of Images”, edited early sections of Crowley’s magical autobiography “The Temple of Solomon the King” and produced highly regarded paintings dealing with A∴A∴ teachings: these paintings have been used in recent years as the covers of the journal’s revival, “The Equinox, Volume IV”.

Double-Headed Serpent

Mosaic of a Double-headed Serpent, c. 15th-16th century, Cedrela Wood, Turquoise, Pine Resin, Oyster Shell, Hematite, and Copal, 20.5 x 43.3 x 6.5 cm, Mexico © Trustees of the British Museum

Serpent imagery occurs throughout the religious iconography of Mesoamerica. The serpent played a very important role in Aztec religion. The word for serpent in Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs, is coatl and is associated with several gods such as Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), Xiuhcoatl (Fire Serpent), Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) or Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt), the mother of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

Sebastian Del Grosso

Sebastian Del Grosso, Photographic Sketches

A skilful artist has brought his selfies to life – by sketching himself into the picture to make the photographs look like paintings. Sebastien Del Grosso, 33, from Paris, first came up with the idea when he wanted to update his Facebook profile picture and has since developed a quirky collection of images.

After taking a self-portrait, the digital artist started to sketch himself into the picture. But rather than completely transforming his pictures into a complete sketch, the artist only partially adapted the original pictures, creating an interesting composite effect. This is then used to make the photographs appear in part like black and white paintings.

“The drawings are done with a simple pencil on a sheet of paper. The pencil strokes are fast and nervous, and so give the impression of a construction. Then, my “dodge and burn” effect is used a lot in the final rendering. It is in fact a multitude of brush strokes, black or white, which serve to highlight, or rather mitigate some facial features, and clothing. This treatment is intended to look like a little more like a painting than a photo. Then the drawing is scanned, cleaned and added to the picture with Photoshop tools.” -Sebastian Del Grosso

My thanks for finding this artist to a great blog http://art4gays.tumblr.com

Keith Jellum

Keith Jellum, “Transcendence”, Bronze, South Park Building, Portland, Oregon

Keith Jellum hand fabricates and casts large scale sculptures and unique weathervanes in bronze, copper, and steel. Drawing on animistic themes, he creates one-of-a-kind artworks for both public and private locations.

Transcendence is an outdoor sculpture by Keith Jellum, located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It depicts a fish flying through the brickwork above Southpark Seafood at the northwestern corner of Southwest Salmon Street and Southwest Park Avenue in Downtown Portland. The sculpture measures 11 feet (3.4 m) long and is made of hand forged and welded bronze.

Kyle Bean

Kyle Bean, “Forbidden Fruit”, Fruit, Metal, Flame

With a slightly sinister and naughty tone, British designer Kyle Bean materializes “forbidden fruit” as a series of dangerously armed produce, bearing unusual self defense mechanisms. Photographed for latest issue of the “Gourmand” magazine in collaboration with photographer Aaron Tilley, Bean has composed five visualizations of the guarded garden greens. Each snack embodies its own spunky and edgy style, while its protective personality seems to divulge secrets about a “dark side” of fruit. – Design Museum

“Magic Eye” by Tom Bacceo and Cheri Smith

Three Autostereograms from the book “Magic Eye” by Tom Bacceo and Cheri Smith, 1991

Magic Eye is a series of books published by N.E. Thing Enterprises (renamed in 1996 to Magic Eye Inc.). The books feature autostereograms (precisely, random dot autostereograms),which allow some people to see 3D images by focusing on 2D patterns. The viewer must diverge his or her eyes in order to see a hidden three-dimensional image within the pattern. “Magic Eye” has become something of a genericized trademark, often used to refer to autostereograms of any origin. The autostereogram predates the Magic Eye series by several years. Christopher Tyler created the first black-and-white autostereograms in 1979 with the assistance of computer programmer Maureen Clarke.

Unable to find an American publisher after creating its first images in 1991, creators Tom Baccei and Cheri Smith managed to make a deal with Tenyo, a Japanese company that sells magic supplies. Tenyo published its first book in late 1991 titled Miru Miru Mega Yokunaru Magic Eye (“Your Eyesight Gets Better & Better in a Very Short Rate of Time: Magic Eye”), sending sales representatives out to street corners to demonstrate how to see the hidden image. Within a few weeks the first Japanese book became a best seller, as did the second which was published shortly after.

Click on each image, relax your eyes. Try refocusing your eyes. Once you get one, it is easy to shift to the other images. I, personally, find it easiest to view these images by slowly crossing my eyes and slowly uncrossing them. As I uncross the eyes, at one point the image just pops into view.

Thanks to http://nickyskye.blogspot.com

Alexandre Hogue

Paintings by Alexandre Hogue

The dust storms of the 1930s moved millions of tons of topsoil across America’s heartland, wiping out farms and ranches that had stood for generations. Hogue was a young Missouri-born artist just making his reputation when the Depression and Dust Bowl ravaged the communities of the Southern Plains. He saw firsthand the mass exodus of families who packed what the banks had not taken and set out for California, hoping to find a better future.

Alexandre Hogue’s deep concern for environmental issues was a catalyst for the creation of a body of works that spanned the entirety of his career. The land-management failures that spawned the devastation of the dust-bowl decade of the 1930s became the impetus for some of the artist’s most powerful imagery—the Erosion series. Works such as the DMA’s own Drouth-Stricken Area served as an alarm to the public and an accusation and rebuke to powers that, through encouraging poor farming practices, had helped to produce the greatest agricultural disaster in American history.

George Desvallière

George Desvallière, “Les Tireurs à l’Arc”, Pastel, 1895. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France

At the start of the First World War, Desvallières joined up as a volunteer. Very quickly his men acknowledged him to be an unsurpassed leader, and demanded of his superiors that he be kept in his post, which was at first only a temporary appointment. Desvallières led his “chasseurs” across the Alsatian mountains for four years with determination, courage and a kindness recognised by all on the front.

In March 1915, his seventeen-year- old son Daniel was killed in action a few miles away from his father. This loss affected him deeply, but thanks to his convert’s faith, he was able to sublimate this terrible ordeal. All his post-war work is centred on the theme of the soldier’s sacrifice for his country, which he assimilates to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Some of his canvases are directly related to the War and to his son’s death, and his impressive wall-paintings on a similar theme made a profound impact on contemporary public opinion.

Georges Desvallieres

Georges Desvallieres, ”Ball Players”, Pastel, 1894

A native of Paris, Desvallières was a great-grandson of academician Gabriel-Marie Legouvé, and received a religious upbringing. He studied at the Académie Julian with Tony Robert-Fleury and with Jules Valadon at the École des Beaux-Arts. He painted portraits at first, but a relationship with Gustave Moreau turned him towards an interest in mythology and religion.

Desvallières became acquainted with ancient art during a trip to Italy in 1890, and upon his return began working in the style with which he was most associated, combining dark subjects and violent color with a dramatic conception of religion. He took as his subjects numerous symbolist characters, such as Narcissus (1901), Orpheus (1902), and The Marche Towards the Ideal (1903). He also served as one of the founders of the Salon d’Automne.

Ruffino Tamayo

Graphic Work by Rufino Tamayo

Rufino Tamayo’s legacy in the history of art lies in his oeuvre of original graphic prints in which he cultivated every technique. Rufino Tamayo’s graphic work, produced between 1925 and 1991, includes woodcuts, lithographs, etchings and “Mixografia” prints. With the help of Mexican painter and engineer Luis Remba, Tamayo expanded the technical and aesthetic possibilities of the graphic arts by developing a new medium which they named Mixografia.

This technique is a unique fine art printing process that allows for the production of prints with three-dimensional texture. It not only registered the texture and volume of Rufino Tamayo’s design but also granted the artist freedom to use any combination of solid materials in its creation. Rufino Tamayo was delighted with the Mixografia process and created some 80 original Mixographs. One of their most famous Mixografia is titled Dos Personajes Atacados por Perros (Two Characters Attacked by Dogs).

Tom Killion

Five Woodcut Engravings by Tom Killion

Californian-born Tom Killion takes inspiration from 19th century Japanese prints to recreate epic engravings of American landscapes. He describes his technique, tongue-in-cheek, as “faux ukiyo-ë” to emphasize his aesthetic debt to the landscape prints of early 19th century Japan, but also to acknowledge his embrace of early 20th century European / American wood-engraving and book illustration techniques and styles as well. Among his influences are both the Japanese ukiyo-ë landscape masters Hokusai and Hiroshige, but also European and American wood-engravers such as Eric Gill and Rockwell Kent.

Killion carves his images into cherry, all-shina plywood, Amsterdam linoleum and other block materials using Japanese handtools. He prints his often elaborate, multi-colored images on handmade Japanese kozo papers using oil-based inks and a German hand-cranked proofing press.

Abelardo Favela

Paintings by Abelardo Favela

Born in Mexicali in 1948, Abelardo Favela was a Mexican multi-faceted artist known for his simple, carefree scenes of everyday life done in a palette of primary colors without shading or blending. He studied in Guadalajara and later in Mexico City, where he began painting in 1970. Favela, in addition to his artistic pursuits, was a television producer for the cultural public television network Channel 13; he later became the general director in 1977.

In 1982, Favela founded and became director of the advertising agency Grupo Match, where he produced over two-hundred fifty commercials before retiring to focus on his artwork. Favela moved in 1994 to Cuernavaca, Mexico, to paint full time. Over the course of his lifetime, he produced over five-hundred paintings and three-hundred drawings. Abelardo Favela passed away in January of 2020 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Abelardo Favela painted scenes inspired by man’s life at sea and the area around Puerto Vallarta. The figure of the sailor, a model of masculinity and survivor by his own skills, played an important role in many of his paintings. Favela’s work also included images of muscular athletes, foreign tourists, androgynous dancers, and romping dogs set in scenes of charm, self-confidence and a slight touch of humor.

Favela’s work had been shown in many collective exhibitions including Mexico City’s Galileo 100 Gallery, the Oscar Roman Gallery, and the El Carmen Museum in 2005. He had also entered his work at the various “Contemporary Ex-Votes” exhibitions held in Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador and Jamaica.

Favela’s solo exhibitions include shows at the La Pulga Gallery, Morlet Gallery, the Status Gallery and the Galileo 100 Gallery, all in Mexico City. Favela had a solo exhibition in 2005 at the Contemporary Art Museum, Jose Luis Cuevas in Mexico City. From 2008 to 2018, Abelardo Favela has been represented by the Contempo Gallery in Puerto Vallarta Jalisco.

Bottom Insert Image: Abelardo Favela, “La Gran Reunión”, Date Unknown, Oil on Canvas, 162.6 x 142.2 cm, Private Collection

Robert Motherwell

Robert Motherwell, “Spanish Elegy”, Lithograph, size , 25 3/8 x 21 3/8 inches, printed in black on Chine Appliqué and red Japanese Gampi paper mounted on white Arches Wove Paper

Robert Motherwell was a major figure of the Abstract Expressionist generation. His work encompassing the automatism of the Surrealists, the expressive brushworks of action painting, and the saturated hues of field painting.

At the age of eleven, Robert Motherwell was awarded a fellowship to the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, and went on to the California School of Fine Arts in 1932. He received his BA in philosophy from Stanford University in 1936. Beginning his career as a painter in 1939 in Paris, he had his first solo exhibition of his work. Motherwell returned to the United States and studied art history at the Columbia University from 1940 to 1941.

It was there that Matherwell met Roberto Matta, Meyer Schapiro, and other exiled European artists associated with Surrealism. Emotionally charged brushwork and severely structured abstract were painted during this period, but in 1943, Motherwell produced a series of dark, menacing works in response to World War II.

The work for which he is best known, the series “Elegy to the Spanish Republic XXXIV” (1953-1954), are large abstracts that reflect his generation’s despair at the lost cause of the Spanish Civil War. During the 1950s, Motherwell spent most of his time lecturing and teaching, notably at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. It was during this time he worked on his most influential literary achievement, “The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology” published in New York in 1951.

In 1952, Robert Motherwell and abstract painter Ad Reinhardt produced the journal “Modern Artists in America.” Motherwell was married to Helen Frankenthaler, also an abstract artist, from 1958 to 1971. During the years 1968 to 1972, Mortherwell worked on a series of paintings called “Open,” which reflected the new style of color field painting. His later works returned to the more traditional Abstract Expressionist style.

Costa Dvorezky

The Artwork of Costa Dvorezky

Costa has drawn inspiration for his prolific works of art from board travels and his abundant life experiences as both a visitor and resident of numerous countries around the world. Born in Russia in 1968, Costa developed his unique brand of art through his extensive schooling at the Art College and the Academy of Arts in Moscow. His passion and talent for art was recognized by Russia’s Union of Young Artists when he received the Development of The Year Award in 1997.

Through his paintings Costa goes beyond the obvious to uncover the symbolism within the human aspect of daily life. His creativity and style come alive through his works depicting dark and surreal imagery. As a viewer of Costa’s images, one is transported to a world of fictional proportions that exists in the recesses of the artist’s mind.

Metamorphosed human and animal figures shrouded in darkness, suggest the existence of a distorted world-order. These images evoke one to closely examine and question the reality of what one sees. Through his artwork, Costa challenges the observer to not only understand the scope of the actual image, but to also comprehend the feelings that the image provokes. His paintings are as bold as the statements that they make, and it is up to each individual to decipher what the meaning behind the image really is.

Paul Le Blanc

Paul Le Blanc, “Alchemical Queen”, Illuminated Assemblage with Turkey Wings, Oil Paint, Eggshells, Silver/Gold Leaf, 44 x 44 x 14 Inches

“Within my work I have developed a personal interconnecting system of symbolic and metaphorical structures. I use esoteric symbolism, new physical theory, and comparative psychology to create this interconnecting system. By combining these disciplines I hope to create a common context in which all are welcome to participate. This seems to be an activity of alchemy, a subject of study for both philosophers and physicists.

I study alchemy as a source for artmaking. Its symbolism and metaphor provides for me a rich source of inner discovery and reflection. I am especially fond of Carl Jung who has done so much work and grounded research. I also read about the new sciences such as particle physics.

I gather my collection of objects from secondhand stores, dumpsites and salvage yards. When gathering these things I respond to shape texture or use. I couple these objects with painted images to build on a concept or theme. More unique arrangements develop through an improvisational and intuitive process that creates a common connection. Larger themes evolve from these connections which build a network of support. This synergy produces a complex symbology that draws on a mind pool of thought.” – Paul Le Blanc