June 7, 2013
David Lynch (b. 1946) is an American filmmaker known for his surrealist films. He has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed ‘Lynchian,’ characterized by dream imagery and meticulous sound design. The surreal, and in many cases, violent, elements contained within his films have been known to ‘disturb, offend or mystify’ audiences.
His work often exposes dark undercurrents in seemingly mundane people and places: ‘My childhood was elegant homes, tree-lined streets, the milkman, building backyard forts, droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass, cherry trees. Middle America as it’s supposed to be. But on the cherry tree there’s this pitch oozing out – some black, some yellow, and millions of red ants crawling all over it. I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath. Because I grew up in a perfect world, other things were a contrast.’
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June 7, 2013
Eraserhead is a 1977 surrealist body horror film written and directed by American filmmaker David Lynch. Shot in black-and-white, Eraserhead is Lynch’s first feature-length film, coming after several short works.
The film was produced with the assistance of the American Film Institute (AFI) during the director’s time studying there. It tells the story of Henry Spencer who is left to care for his deformed child in a desolate industrial landscape. Throughout the film, Spencer experiences dreams or hallucinations, featuring his child and the Lady in the Radiator.
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June 7, 2013
A coloring book is a type of book containing line art to which a child may add color using crayons (however, adult coloring products exist as well, including pornograhic, horror, and medical books).
Some coloring books have perforated edges so their pages can be removed from the books and used as individual sheets. Others may include a storyline and so are intended to be left intact. Coloring books may also incorporate other activities such as connect the dots, mazes, and other puzzles. Some coloring books also incorporate the use of stickers.
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June 7, 2013
Really Big Coloring Books, Inc (RBCB) is an American publisher based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company develops, publishes and distributes children’s coloring and activity books, many of which are over two feet tall. Some of their products have been controversial due to their political content.
The company was established in 1981 by publisher Wayne Bell. The company is best known for its politically themed coloring books, covering subjects such as Barack Obama, the Tea Party Movement, and Occupy Wall Street.
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June 6, 2013
Inscape, in visual art, is a term especially associated with certain works of Chilean artist Roberto Matta, but it is also used in other senses within the visual arts. Though the term has been applied to stylistically diverse artworks, it usually conveys some notion of representing the artist’s psyche as a kind of interior landscape. The word inscape can therefore be read as a kind of portmanteau, combining interior (or inward) with landscape.
According to Professor Claude Cernuschi, Matta’s use of the term inscape for a series of landscape-like abstract or surrealist paintings reflects ‘the psychoanalytic view of the mind as a three-dimensional space: the ‘inscape.” The ‘inscape’ concept is particularly apt for Matta’s works of the late 1930s. As art historian Dawn Ades writes, ‘A series of brilliant oil paintings done during the years of his [Matta’s] first association with the Surrealists explore visual metaphors for the mental landscape.’
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June 6, 2013
Roberto Matta (1911 – 2002) was one of Chile’s best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Born in Santiago, he initially studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, but became disillusioned with this occupation and left for Paris in 1933. His travels in Europe and the USA led him to meet artists such as Arshile Gorky, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, André Breton, and Le Corbusier. Matta was of Spanish, Basque, and French descent.
It was Breton who provided the major spur to the Chilean’s direction in art, encouraging his work and introducing him to the leading members of the Paris Surrealist movement. Matta produced illustrations and articles for Surrealist journals such as ‘Minotaure.’ During this period he was introduced to the work of many prominent contemporary European artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.
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June 6, 2013
Biomorphism is an art movement that began in the 20th century. It models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature.
Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices, often with mixed results.
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June 5, 2013
‘Juicy‘ is a single by American hip hop artist The Notorious B.I.G. and his solo debut single from his 1994 debut album ‘Ready to Die.’ It was produced by Poke of Trackmasters & Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs. It is a sample of Mtume’s ‘Juicy Fruit,’ but samples from the song’s ‘Fruity Instrumental’ mix, and has an alternative chorus sung by girl group Total.
The song is considered one of the greatest hip hop songs of all time. After the death of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, a tribute version of this song was made in his honor by the R&B musical group Next with new lyrics.
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June 4, 2013
‘You Only Move Twice‘ is the second episode of The Simpsons’ eighth season. It first aired in 1996. The original concept for the episode came from a story idea by Greg Daniels involving Homer getting a new job for an employee-friendly, Silicon Valley type, modern boss (Hank Scorpio voiced by Albert Brooks) who would stand in contrast with Mr. Burns, an authoritarian, 19th century style boss.
Homer’s new boss, despite being friendly and personable, would be a supervillain in the mold of Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the James Bond novels and films. This element was meant to be in the background and Homer would be oblivious to it.
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June 4, 2013
Chris Bathgate is a self-taught metal sculptor working and residing in Baltimore. He has spent the last several years learning how to build and use a variety of metalworking tools. In addition to exploring the finer intricacies of both manual and computer-assisted machining, he also has applied electroplating and heat coloring techniques to his intricate and precise sculptures.
Bathgate’s sculptures are as much about the processes he uses as they are about his imagination. He is represented by Gallery Imperato, located in Baltimore, and a member of Viridian Artists Inc, an artist cooperative in the Chelsea District of New York City.
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June 3, 2013
Kintsugi (‘golden joinery’) or Kintsukuroi (golden repair) is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a lacquer resin sprinkled with powdered gold. Kintsugi may have originated when shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs in the late 15th century.
When it was returned repaired with ugly metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetic means of repair. Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi. Kintsugi became closely associated with the ceramic utensils used for Japanese tea ceremony.
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May 29, 2013
Gary Baseman (b. 1960) is a contemporary artist who works in various creative fields, including illustration, fine art, toy design, and animation. He is the creator of the Emmy-winning ABC/Disney cartoon series, ‘Teacher’s Pet,’ and the artistic designer of ‘Cranium,’ a popular board game.
Baseman’s aesthetic combines iconic pop art images, pre- and post-war vintage motifs, cross-cultural mythology and literary and psychological archetypes. He is noted for his playful, devious and cleverly named creatures, which recur throughout his body of work. Baseman’s art is frequently associated with the lowbrow pop movement, also known as pop surrealism.
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