Hi, everyone! It's been a busy summer; how was yours? My studio's a mess . . . canvases taking up too much space with paintings in different stages of completion (sigh). Wish I had more time. I know it's been a while since I blogged, but I'm still here, even though it seems I've dropped off the earth. However, today is about Mr. Damien Hirst. An even richer Damien Hirst.
Damien Hirst did it again! $$$ in millions rolled in . . . proving that there are art buyers with free cash even in the current economic gloom overtaking the global financial markets.
Famous for embalming animals in formaldehyde, British artist Damien Hirst sets a record-- fetching a cool $198 million (Cdn.) Tuesday after an unprecedented two-day, 223-lot sale of his work at Sotheby's auction house in London. Sotheby's said the record was also smashed for a sale dedicated to one artist, surpassing the $20 million for 88 works by Pablo Picasso held in 1993.
Sotheby's auction, entitled Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, broke new ground in which a major contemporary artist has for the first time offered a large body of work direct to the public by auction, bypassing the dealers and galleries, who can charge commission of up to 50 percent of the sale prices.
The first day of the sale on Monday, September 15, 2008, brought in $125 million (Cdn.), which included The Golden Calf for $19.7 million (Cdn.). The Golden Calf is a real calf,embellished with 18-carat gold horns and hooves and a gold disc on its head, contained in a gold-plated tank of formaldehyde set on a Carrara marble plinth. There was also a 2.4-metre tiger shark in formaldehyde in a black-framed tank, The Kingdom, sold for $18.5 million (Cdn.) with fees.
On Tuesday, September 16, 2008, The Dream was sold for $4.4 million (Cdn.) The Dream is a foal in formaldehyde inside a steel and glass tank. A butterfly piece called Reincarnated sold for $2.8 million, more than twice its top pre-sale estimate.
Beautiful Maat Intense Fetishistic Painting (with Extra Inner Beauty)--with a pre-sale price estimate between $573,000 to $764,000--sold for $918,640 (Cdn.)
The Rose Window, Durham Cathedral--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--sold for $2.4 million (Cdn.).
A coloured-spot Hirst work, Aurothiglucose--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--sold for 1.27 million (Cdn.).
Damien Hirst, already one of the best-selling contemporary artists in the world, continues to redefine; and the unconventional Sotheby auction with its 11-day pre-sale exhibition which attracted some 21,000 visitors clearly paid off big-time.
Last year Hirst, who works with a team of about 200 assistants, unveiled the artwork For the Love of God at London's White Cube gallery. This Hirst piece, thought to be the world's most expensive piece of contemporary art, is a human skull encased in a layer of platinum and encrusted with 8,601 diamonds, sold later in a private transaction for about $89 million. For the Love of God will be exhibited at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum for six weeks starting on November 1 before it embarks on a world tour.
Take a look at this video "Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble" by WSJDigitalNetwork:
Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.
Here's a look at some other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Pablo Picasso and Video
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) is considered to be the greatest artist of the 20th century. So much has been written and said about this artist. He created his art and lived as he liked.
To begin to have some understanding of Picasso the man and artist, he had this to say about his art and of himself:
" The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. That is why we must not discriminate between things. Where things are concerned there are no class distinctions. We must pick out what is good for us where we can find it -- except from our own works. I have a horror of copying myself. But when I am shown a portfolio of old drawings, for instance, I have no qualms about taking anything I want from them. " ~ Picasso [1]
" To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot always live in the present it must not be considered at all. The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was. Art does not evolve by itself, the ideas of people change and with them their mode of expression. " ~ Picasso [2]
Enjoy some of Picasso's portraits in this video by 'eggman 913' (Philip Scott Johnson), music by Yo Yo Ma.
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
References:
[1] Ingo F. Walther, Pablo Picasso 1881-1973, Genius of the Century, trans. Hugh Beyer (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1993), 18.
[2] Ibid., 24.
To begin to have some understanding of Picasso the man and artist, he had this to say about his art and of himself:
" The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. That is why we must not discriminate between things. Where things are concerned there are no class distinctions. We must pick out what is good for us where we can find it -- except from our own works. I have a horror of copying myself. But when I am shown a portfolio of old drawings, for instance, I have no qualms about taking anything I want from them. " ~ Picasso [1]
" To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot always live in the present it must not be considered at all. The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was. Art does not evolve by itself, the ideas of people change and with them their mode of expression. " ~ Picasso [2]
Enjoy some of Picasso's portraits in this video by 'eggman 913' (Philip Scott Johnson), music by Yo Yo Ma.
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
References:
[1] Ingo F. Walther, Pablo Picasso 1881-1973, Genius of the Century, trans. Hugh Beyer (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1993), 18.
[2] Ibid., 24.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monet's Garden at Giverny and Video
Claude Monet (1840-1926), photo by Félix Nadar,1899.Claude Monet's garden at Giverny, France lives on, inspiring and delighting many who visit. Monet shaped his garden and assigned every plant its place, planning and ordering, laying out beds and borders according to varieties and colors.
Giverny, where Monet spent the second half of his life, became his passion, his refuge, his world. "Wherever he travelled, he always asked after his flowers in letters home. The garden on sunny days was very life to him, and when it rained he withdrew to bed, depressed.[1]"
The following are excerpts from an eyewitness account, written during Monet's lifetime, by Arsène Alexandre (1859-1937), critic, art historian and collector, writing for Le Figaro, dated August 9, 1901:
" Everywhere you turn, at your feet, over your head, at chest height, are pools, festoons, hedges of flowers, their harmonies at once spontaneous and designed and renewed at every season.
. . . . . . He also wants, perhaps above all, his flower palette before him to look at all year around, always present, but always changing. Everything is designed in such a way that the celebration is everywhere renewed and ceaselessly replaced. If a certain flower bed is stilled in a certain season, borders and hedges will suddenly light up. The other day, what dominated--or at least most charmed one's gaze--were the broad but subtle harmonies of yellows and violets.
This last helps to describe the master's creation; the effect is explosive and joyful, and every effect is planned.
Photo of Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond and Japanese Bridge, Giverny, France. From Wikimedia Commons.There is also a second garden . . . . . . This is the famous water lily garden, with its little green Japanese bridge spanning the ornamental lake surrounded by willows and other trees, either fancifully shaped or rare. When the sunlight plays upon the water, it resembles--damascened as it is with the water lilies' great round leaves, and encrusted with the precious stones of their flowers--the masterwork of a goldsmith who has melded alloys of the most magical metals.
. . . . . . This, then, is why I say that the garden is the man. Here is a painter who, in our own time, has mutiplied the harmonies of color, has gone as far as one person can into the subtlety, opulence, and resonance of color. He has dared to create effects so true-to-life as to appear unreal, but which charm us irresistibly, as does all truth revealed."[2]
Enjoy a beautiful tour of Monet's Garden in Giverny, France. Video from 'lynnvm'
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.
References:
Photo of Claude Monet from Wikipedia.
[1] Christoph Heinrich, Claude Monet trans. Michael Hulse (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1994), 73.
[2] Charles F. Stuckey, ed., Monet: A Retrospective (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1985), 220-223.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Robert Motherwell, Bio and Video
Short bio & video of Robert Motherwell's work:
Robert Motherwell (b. January 24, 1915; d. July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter. Apart from his paintings, Motherwell also made numerous drawings, prints and inspired collages of ripped paper which incorporate paint.
Robert Motherwell was originally an academic, who studied philosophy at Stanford and Harvard University, before changing his field to art and art history at Columbia University, studying under Meyer Schapiro. He wrote extensively, giving the abstract expressionist movement intellectual weight and investing his own work with literary and historical parallels.
His most famous works are a series entitled "Elegy to the Spanish Republic," a homage to Picasso's "Guernica."
The Abstract Expressionists, or New York School as they are also called, broke new ground. Although their styles and philosophies varied widely, they "were united in their revolt against conventional art and in their commitment to a spontaneous freedom of expression."[1] Robert Motherwell, married to fellow artist Helen Frankenthaler, was one of the principal members of this movement, which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Barnett Newman.
Here's a very moving and beautiful video of Robert Motherwell's art from 'artpopulus' with music by Leó Ferré, Ne chantez pas la mort.
"Abstract Expressionism was a movement in American painting that developed in New York in the 1940s. Most Abstract Expressionists were energetic (or 'gestural') painters. They invariably used large canvases and applied paint rapidly and with force, sometimes using large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing paint directly onto the canvas. This expressive method of painting was often considered as important as the painting itself. Other Abstract Expressionist artists were concerned with adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract image. Not all the work from this movement was abstract or expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds."[2]
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
References:
[1] Judith Clark, The Illustrated History of Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 199.
[2] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.
Robert Motherwell (b. January 24, 1915; d. July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter. Apart from his paintings, Motherwell also made numerous drawings, prints and inspired collages of ripped paper which incorporate paint.
Robert Motherwell was originally an academic, who studied philosophy at Stanford and Harvard University, before changing his field to art and art history at Columbia University, studying under Meyer Schapiro. He wrote extensively, giving the abstract expressionist movement intellectual weight and investing his own work with literary and historical parallels.
His most famous works are a series entitled "Elegy to the Spanish Republic," a homage to Picasso's "Guernica."
The Abstract Expressionists, or New York School as they are also called, broke new ground. Although their styles and philosophies varied widely, they "were united in their revolt against conventional art and in their commitment to a spontaneous freedom of expression."[1] Robert Motherwell, married to fellow artist Helen Frankenthaler, was one of the principal members of this movement, which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Barnett Newman.
Here's a very moving and beautiful video of Robert Motherwell's art from 'artpopulus' with music by Leó Ferré, Ne chantez pas la mort.
"Abstract Expressionism was a movement in American painting that developed in New York in the 1940s. Most Abstract Expressionists were energetic (or 'gestural') painters. They invariably used large canvases and applied paint rapidly and with force, sometimes using large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing paint directly onto the canvas. This expressive method of painting was often considered as important as the painting itself. Other Abstract Expressionist artists were concerned with adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract image. Not all the work from this movement was abstract or expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds."[2]
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Major Cézanne Exhibit & video
References:
[1] Judith Clark, The Illustrated History of Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 199.
[2] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Major Cézanne Exhibit & Cézanne video
Cézanne Exhibit & Video
Britain's biggest single collection of paintings by the French artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) will go on display in its entirety for the first time, starting today: from June 26 to October 5, 2008, at London's Courtauld Gallery.
"The Courtauld Cézannes" exhibition is the culmination of the Courtauld Institute of Art's 75th anniversary celebrations. Major Cézanne paintings as the iconic "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" (1887) and "Card Players" (1892-95) will be shown, as well as rarely seen drawings and watercolours by this master.
Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
"Cézanne is the artist at the heart of our collection and of Samuel Courtauld's great project to assemble a collection of modern French paintings," said one of the curators, Barnaby Wright. "It's the greatest collection by some distance in the United Kingdom, larger than the National Gallery and the British Museum together."
Also on display for the first time will be an important group of nine hand-written letters in which Cézanne reflects upon the fundamental principles of his art. One of Cézanne's letters to Bernard was written shortly before his death in 1906 in which Cézanne said: "I have sworn to die while painting, rather than sinking into the degrading senility that threatens old men."
This exhibition traces Cézanne throughout his career: from northern Normandy, to near Paris where he visited his friend Camille Pissarro, and to his native Aix-en-Provence in southern France.
For more info on this exhibition, link to the Courtauld Gallery, London here.
Enjoy this video of Paul Cézanne's art from 'latempesta67' with music by Battiato.
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.
» Sources: supplemented with report from Agence France-Presse.
Britain's biggest single collection of paintings by the French artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) will go on display in its entirety for the first time, starting today: from June 26 to October 5, 2008, at London's Courtauld Gallery.
"The Courtauld Cézannes" exhibition is the culmination of the Courtauld Institute of Art's 75th anniversary celebrations. Major Cézanne paintings as the iconic "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" (1887) and "Card Players" (1892-95) will be shown, as well as rarely seen drawings and watercolours by this master.
Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London. Image from Wikimedia Commons."Cézanne is the artist at the heart of our collection and of Samuel Courtauld's great project to assemble a collection of modern French paintings," said one of the curators, Barnaby Wright. "It's the greatest collection by some distance in the United Kingdom, larger than the National Gallery and the British Museum together."
Also on display for the first time will be an important group of nine hand-written letters in which Cézanne reflects upon the fundamental principles of his art. One of Cézanne's letters to Bernard was written shortly before his death in 1906 in which Cézanne said: "I have sworn to die while painting, rather than sinking into the degrading senility that threatens old men."
This exhibition traces Cézanne throughout his career: from northern Normandy, to near Paris where he visited his friend Camille Pissarro, and to his native Aix-en-Provence in southern France.
For more info on this exhibition, link to the Courtauld Gallery, London here.
Enjoy this video of Paul Cézanne's art from 'latempesta67' with music by Battiato.
To take a look at other videos with my posts:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video
Damien Hirst & video
Pablo Picasso & video
Monet's Garden at Giverny & video
Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video
Robert Motherwell Bio & video
Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.
» Sources: supplemented with report from Agence France-Presse.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
