ART Punctuate!

Blood Art: How Vile is Painting with Vials?

 

Would you be grossed out or intrigued if someone told you they had just purchased the most magnificent painting ever...and it was all made with human blood?  

I have been thinking about the Daily News article my friend sent me the other day reporting on celebrity photographer/artist Tyler Shields' latest artistic endeavor; painting an artwork using celebrity blood. My emotional pendulum  regarding this concept is still oscillating. 

At least 20 of Hollywood's famous have offered up their veins to give Shields the "ink" he needs for this sanguine artwork . The finished piece will be the focal point of his latest show "Life is Not a Fairytale" scheduled to open up on May 7th in Los Angeles.

I think about all that blood commingling, on the canvas and get a little unsettled....ok, strike that, I'm skeeved out.  

The Daily News reports, "We drew vials and vials of blood from people," Shields explained, as we grew weak in the knees. "I have a refrigerator full of blood right now in my bedroom, which is hilarious." ...or gross depending on your particular sensitivities. 

Like a rubber-necker staring at a train wreck,  I am curious about artists who have the desire and stomach to create this way.  I think it is macabre and slightly creepy, but nevertheless fascinating.  

Intrigued by the whole concept, I found a few more artists who paint in blood, including the Australian tattoo artist Rev Mayer who uses his own blood to create intricate works of art. At a recent Tattoo and Body Art festival Mayer was supposed to paint live, but the Health Department shut the whole operation down citing health reasons.

The next two artists on the list, Tinet Imgren and Vanessa Tiegs come with an extra caveat. Not only do they paint in blood, but the way they procure it is, well, very unorthodox.   I am too squimish and grossed out to go into details here... but if you dare, follow the link under each painting to see how these female artists get the blood they need to create.  

Double Eckk. 

Tinet Imgren

Vanessa Tiegs, Menstrala

 

Rev Mayer, The Blood Painter

The Art of Being Certain

Art & Life

 Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (Der Kuss)

I have been staring at Gustav Klimt's The Kiss for the better part of an hour as it hangs prominently on the wall in the office building where I have been working. I have seen this piece several times before,  but today my mind drifts into a daydream, weaving a tale about this couple. How long have they know each other? Are that saying hello or kissing good bye? What happened to them after this kiss?  One thing is obvious, they are in a moment; one that is certain, sure and clear.

My friend called me earlier to say that his friend, Tony, is getting married. Tony met a young woman whom he quickly became smitten with and got engaged to within a month. Now, Tony is not an impulse man. In fact, he is a bit cynical  and oftentimes cautious. But here he is, suddenly emphatic about getting married to this woman and very sure. His Facebook status has been abruptly changed from single to "engaged."  Wow.

My friend and I discuss impulse, whims and getting caught up in the moment. How can he be so certain so soon? Shouldn't you take time in making decisions, to be "sure?" But is time always the key to being certain? I know some people who met and married their spouse almost overnight and who now have children and several years under their belt.  Were they just fools lucky enough to avoid being devoured by their own stupidity? Other people I know  are never certain of anything and spend their lives pondering the same possibilities over and over, like a cow chewing its cud. 

I found this book called, On Being Certain: Believing You're Right, Even When You're Not. It theorizes that for the human mind, certainty is a mental sensation like love, anger or pride, rather than evidence of fact. In essence, the feeling of knowing is something that comes to us naturally, we can not make it happen.  

Perhaps it simply feels good to the human spirit to feel certain about something or someone, even if that does not mean absolute truth. I wonder, Can certainty eliminate regret? After all, how can you look back and say you shouldn't have acted on something if you were so certain in the first place?

I was once speaking to this artist in SoHo who was displaying his work for sale.  I asked him about his process; how he came to achieve a certain confluence of texture and image. He told me, "I never truly know what the painting will look like or how it will turn out.  I can have an idea and a hope, but the only thing I am certain of, is that I must paint it."

Does an artist know that a painting will be a masterpiece before he even puts the brush to canvas, or is he only sure that he must make that first stroke? And who decides that a painting is a masterpiece anyway?

Perhaps there are appropriate times to act from certainty, like there are appropriate times to act from love, pride or courage...and then there are those times when it is best to have these feelings and definitely not act from them. The key is learning to tell the difference.

I hope to be certain about many more things in my life. Not right, just certain. It seems, at times, that the feeling of certainty can be a blessing, one that will give you the assurance to take the next step in your journey. 

Abstract Art: Man or Monkey Made?

Art & Contemplation

If you think most people can't tell the difference between a painting made by a chimpanzee and one made by an abstract artist, the New York Times says, think again. A recent article posted on the NYT Arts Beat Blog claims that when asked to choose between two paintings, one made by a child or primate and another made by an adult abstract artist, most people still prefer the artist. 

I can't say that I was shocked by this apparent "discovery". However, upon doing some further research on this topic, it became evident to me that our primate cousins are not that far off from us  in terms of their artistic aptitude...at least not in the abstract sense. Let's take a look....

The top painting belongs to Cy Twombly, a renowned abstract artist of the 20th century whose work I happen to respect and enjoy. The latter painting was made in the 1950's by a chimpanzee artist named Congo. Congo picked up the brush at two years old and learned to draw and paint. By the age of four, he had become the prolific painter of over 400 pieces of work.

 I don't know folks...you decide. 

(Learn more about Congo, the chimpanzee artist  and other monkey art. )

Cy Twombly: Quattro stagioni,Part I: Primavera, 1993-94

 

 

A painting by "Congo"