Moving Masterpieces

I have posted a video of this technique before (on another blog), but here it is applied to classical visual art.

Clients from Hell

Thankfully, I never had any clients like those whose obnoxious conversations with creators are inventoried on the website Clients From Hell, but I have commiserated with many who have. I did graphic design commercially as well as writing, and the design clients were always more challenging to converse with than my writing clients.

As a technical writer, this happened to me many times:  An employer would contact me and work out a contract and then he'd walk me down the hall to meet "the people I'd be working with." They would warmly welcome me then the boss would leave and the "people I'd be working with" would say, "What the hell ... we're not ready for you!"

Here is a sample of what you'll find on Clients from Hell:

          CLIENT: “I don’t like the type.”



          ME: “What don’t you like.”



          CLIENT: “I don’t like how it goes all to one side.”



          ME: “You mean arranged left.”



          CLIENT: “Yes, yes, arranged left.”



          ME: “How do you want it?”



          CLIENT: “To be the same on both sides.”



          ME: “Justified?”



          CLIENT: “I don’t have to justify anything for you. I own the fucking company.”

Inkodye Printing System

Lumi is a new DIY alternative to screen printing. The process works on cotton, linen, silk, rayon, canvas, and any other natural & absorbent fiber. Once finished, your print is permanent and can be machine washed without fading. Link.

FIlm on van Gogh

Concept trailer for the new production from Oscar-winning studio Breakthru films, a feature-length painted animation. A murder mystery about the life and death of Vincent van Gogh told through revealing interviews with the characters from van Gogh's own paintings.

Sad Commentary on Public Taste

From Neatorama:

There's many path of to artistic fame, but Cecilia Gimenez's is unique: back in 2012, the amateur octagenarian artist decided to help "restore" a deteriorated fresco called Ecce Homo at her local church, painted over 100-years ago by Spanish painter Elias Garcia Martinez. 

The end result of Gimenez' "restoration," described as a "crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic," was widely mocked on the Internet. The restored version has been called "Ecce Mono" (or Behold the Monkey, a pun on its original name) and "Potato Jesus." 

The ridicule was so bad that the priest of the church had considered covering up the painting. But thank goodness that didn't happen, because the botched painting turned out to be quite a boon to the local town of Borja, Spain. Since gaining worldwide attention, the infamous fresco has raised more than 50,000 euros (US$66,660) for a local charity and drawn more than 40,000 visitors. 

And things are definitely looking up for Gimenez: the 80-year-old artist has sold her art on eBay for thousands of dollars. She now has her own art exhibit, where two dozens of her other works are on show. No word, however, on whether she'll attempt another restoration anytime soon.

Art Critique Rant (Performance Art)

You may have seen this video if you are interested in visual art and are a blog junky like me. Well, the blog Laughing Squid posted today that it is, in fact, a fake crit—well, not fake exactly. The artist purposefully did a dreadful painting hoping to elicit negative response from those critiquing her so that she could stage (and film) her rant.

Rembrandt Flash Mob

How they made it (in Dutch, but still interesting):

Create Joke Artist Statements

Generate your own free artist statement with the Arty Bollocks Generator, and if you don't like it, generate another one. Here's the statement I generated:

My work explores the relationship between postmodern discourse and life as perfomance. With influences as diverse as Kierkegaard and Frida Kahlo, new combinations are created from both simple and complex meanings. Ever since I was a student I have been fascinated by the ephemeral nature of relationships.

 

What starts out as vision soon becomes corrupted into a tragedy of temptation, leaving only a sense of decadence and the prospect of a new reality. As temporal impressions become transformed through boundaried and personal practice, the viewer is left with a statement of the edges of our world.

Visual Art Blockbusters Come to the Cinema

Displays of artwork by Manet, Munch and Vermeer are to be filmed and screened in more than 70 cinemas, to give audiences from all over the country the opportunity to see them.

The same films will be shown in thousands of theatres across the globe in nearly 30 countries.

The films, by award-winning arts documentary maker Phil Grabsky, will include behind-the-scenes footage of the exhibition being prepared, and a guided tour of the works. A biography of each artist will be included to give context, with a complete display of the words on show.

The first film, of the Manet: Portraying Life exhibition at the Royal Academy, will be screened on April 11th cinemas including the Vue and Picturehouse /City Screen group.

It will be followed by the Edvard Munch exhibition at the National Museum & Munch museum in Oslo, with 220 paintings to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the artist.

In October, the National Gallery in London will grant film access to the Johannes Vermeer exhibition, with an HD film of his works.

The project, entitled Exhibition, was developed in association with Seventh Art Productions and BY Experience, with more films already in the pipeline for next year.

Mr Grabsky said the launch of the shows was “an absolute thrill”.

“I have been driven by the desire to share the thrill of great exhibitions with everyone from Kansas City to Adelaide, Osaka to Naples, and Glasgow to Cape Town,” he added.

Tim Marlow, an art historian who will give a guided tour of the Manet works, said: “I think that standing face to face with some of the greatest works of art ever made is one of the most powerful experiences in life.

“‘Exhibition' gives us the opportunity to convey something of this power in a cinematic format which brings the viewer as close to the real thing as possible. Sometimes, the camera reveals even more than the naked eye.”

Other countries confirmed to exhibit the series include: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Link.