Additionally, this computer visualization was submitted to the SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival, but it wasn't selected by the jury.
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and NASA's "Perpetual Ocean"
Vincent van Gogh was certainly a visionary impressionistic painter, and definitely one who continues to inspire many contemporary artists of various styles today. His swirling "Starry Night" skies appear very similar to the digital images produced by this NASA/MIT/JPL computational model ECCO2, which created a computer visualization that shows the world's ocean surface currents from June 2005 through December 2007. This visualization is called "Perpetual Ocean", and was made in the Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, and what it shows is a "high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice".
Additionally, this computer visualization was submitted to the SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival, but it wasn't selected by the jury.
To see this computer visualization please click the link below:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/
Additionally, this computer visualization was submitted to the SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival, but it wasn't selected by the jury.
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003827/
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Sacred Visions: Pablo Amaringo and Belkis Ayon Manso
The complex and detailed works of the late Pablo Amaringo and Belkis Ayon Manso are extraordinarily beautiful and emotional. Their art work is deeply rooted in their own personal experiences in religious ceremonies, and virtually all of their work is inspired by their deep spirituality. Without their spirituality, there would be no need for them to create art. The two artists worked in different media: the shaman Amaringo worked his ayahuasca-induced visions into paintings, and the santera Ayon Manso portrayed scenes of Santeria ceremonies and the Abakua society through the lost technique of collography and in lithographic prints.
The stunning and seething images found in Amaringo's work are reminiscent of the nierikate yarn paintings of the Huichol shamans of Mexico, such as the works of Jose Benitez Sanchez. The influence of these shamanic artists' chosen spiritual sacraments, which were ayahuasca and peyote respectively, is very evident in the use of vibrant colors and highly fantastical images.
The environments of Ayon Manso's work, with their rich ebonies and stark ivories, is reminiscent of film stills from the 1964 movie Soy Cuba. Although her collographs are very dark and appear to be captured images from a secret Abakua ceremony, the film has several scenes where characters are praying to Santeria gods; in city scenes, the film features characters living in the same Havana where Ayon Manso was born and raised. Soy Cuba is quite different in theme than her work, as this film was made by Soviet filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov, and it captures the essence of Cuba before Castro. This film has also been held in high esteem with such American film gods as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, for its visionary film style. Also, to note, the famous pool party scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 movie Boogie Nights pays homage to the style in which a rooftop party scene was shot in Soy Cuba.
In many of their works, the artist is represented as an onlooker in their works, however Amaringo's hallucinatory environments are exceedingly colorful and vibrant, whereas Ayon Manso's scenes of secret ceremonies are swathed in a spectrum of grays and ebonies. Although much of their work is deeply personal, both artists' works have a similar dreamlike presence of the supremely powerful and sacred, that all viewers can relate to. There is much to be explored in the lithographic technique of callography that Ayon Manso specialized in as it is a dying technique, and the mestizo culture of Amaringo also should be respected and preserved as it too is slowly dying. Amaringo recently died in 2009 at 71 after a long battle with illness, but in 1999 Ayon Manso unfortunately ended her life at the age of 32.
--Pablo Amaringo:
http://www.ayahuascavisions.com/pablo-amaringo-paintings-1.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3716773/Ayahuasca-Visions-by-Shaman-Pablo-Amaringo
--Huichol art:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/190-mexico-s-huichol-resource-page-their-culture-symbolism-art
--Huichol shamanism video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtC1hBexPAI
--Belkis Ayon Manso, the first is a video of her process to make a collographic print:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAdGFCxiL9A
http://strawberige.blogspot.com/2011/03/belkis-ayon-manso.html
http://www.csupomona.edu/~kellogg_gallery/critics/ayon.html
http://www.csupomona.edu/~kellogg_gallery/critics/ayon2.html
--Soy Cuba film scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwLZOpxAFQ&feature=related
*Rooftop party scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BhMGrdA2Ag&feature=related
--Boogie Nights pool scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCrGpT84G9Y&feature=related
The stunning and seething images found in Amaringo's work are reminiscent of the nierikate yarn paintings of the Huichol shamans of Mexico, such as the works of Jose Benitez Sanchez. The influence of these shamanic artists' chosen spiritual sacraments, which were ayahuasca and peyote respectively, is very evident in the use of vibrant colors and highly fantastical images.
The environments of Ayon Manso's work, with their rich ebonies and stark ivories, is reminiscent of film stills from the 1964 movie Soy Cuba. Although her collographs are very dark and appear to be captured images from a secret Abakua ceremony, the film has several scenes where characters are praying to Santeria gods; in city scenes, the film features characters living in the same Havana where Ayon Manso was born and raised. Soy Cuba is quite different in theme than her work, as this film was made by Soviet filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov, and it captures the essence of Cuba before Castro. This film has also been held in high esteem with such American film gods as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, for its visionary film style. Also, to note, the famous pool party scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 movie Boogie Nights pays homage to the style in which a rooftop party scene was shot in Soy Cuba.
In many of their works, the artist is represented as an onlooker in their works, however Amaringo's hallucinatory environments are exceedingly colorful and vibrant, whereas Ayon Manso's scenes of secret ceremonies are swathed in a spectrum of grays and ebonies. Although much of their work is deeply personal, both artists' works have a similar dreamlike presence of the supremely powerful and sacred, that all viewers can relate to. There is much to be explored in the lithographic technique of callography that Ayon Manso specialized in as it is a dying technique, and the mestizo culture of Amaringo also should be respected and preserved as it too is slowly dying. Amaringo recently died in 2009 at 71 after a long battle with illness, but in 1999 Ayon Manso unfortunately ended her life at the age of 32.
--Pablo Amaringo:
http://www.ayahuascavisions.com/pablo-amaringo-paintings-1.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3716773/Ayahuasca-Visions-by-Shaman-Pablo-Amaringo
--Huichol art:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/190-mexico-s-huichol-resource-page-their-culture-symbolism-art
--Huichol shamanism video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtC1hBexPAI
--Belkis Ayon Manso, the first is a video of her process to make a collographic print:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAdGFCxiL9A
http://strawberige.blogspot.com/2011/03/belkis-ayon-manso.html
http://www.csupomona.edu/~kellogg_gallery/critics/ayon.html
http://www.csupomona.edu/~kellogg_gallery/critics/ayon2.html
--Soy Cuba film scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwLZOpxAFQ&feature=related
*Rooftop party scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BhMGrdA2Ag&feature=related
--Boogie Nights pool scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCrGpT84G9Y&feature=related
Masters of Manipulation: Pipilotti Rist and Erik Madigan Heck
Swiss visual artist Pipilotti Rist's work is often featured as video projections in installation shows, and one of her most inspiring works is I Want to See How You See (2003), which thoroughly blurs the line between everyday life and hallucinogenic fantasies. One of her most recent projects is from 2011, and titled Administrating Eternity which features two fixed and two moving projections of sheep, who are colored similarly to images captured on Kodak Aerochrome infrared film, which is a false color reversal film still used today by contemporary photographers Richard Mosse and UNLV MFA alum Sam Davis; infrared film is also used to capture images of aerial landscapes and vegetation growth. Much of Rist's work focuses on exploring female sexuality, identity, and reality, all captured through her innovative and unusual camera angles and color distortions.
--To read about Rist's provocative and interesting work, please peruse this article by Adrian Searle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/26/pipilotti-rist-hayward-gallery-review
--To watch I Want to See How You See:
http://www.lumeneclipse.com/gallery/04/rist/index.html
Richard Mosse: http://www.richardmosse.com/photography.php
Sam Davis: http://www.samdavisart.com/#p=-1&a=0&at=0
Like Rist, New York-based fashion photographer Erik Madigan Heck pushes colors to their extremes in order to present a surrealist environment that appears to be simultaneously both delirious and poignant. Much of his work is for colorful fashion houses Mary Katrantzou, Etro, Kenzo and Ann Demeulemeester; however, even the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera have called on the artist to capture the on-stage magic of their performers. Please follow the links to view his photographic works:
--Erik Madigan Heck's portfolio:
http://www.maisondesprit.com/selectedworks.php
http://www.maisondesprit.com/archives.php?id=island_og_blar_ogilt
http://www.maisondesprit.com/archives.php?id=mary_katrantzou_the_surrealist_ideal
--To read about Rist's provocative and interesting work, please peruse this article by Adrian Searle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/26/pipilotti-rist-hayward-gallery-review
--To watch I Want to See How You See:
http://www.lumeneclipse.com/gallery/04/rist/index.html
Richard Mosse: http://www.richardmosse.com/photography.php
Sam Davis: http://www.samdavisart.com/#p=-1&a=0&at=0
Like Rist, New York-based fashion photographer Erik Madigan Heck pushes colors to their extremes in order to present a surrealist environment that appears to be simultaneously both delirious and poignant. Much of his work is for colorful fashion houses Mary Katrantzou, Etro, Kenzo and Ann Demeulemeester; however, even the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera have called on the artist to capture the on-stage magic of their performers. Please follow the links to view his photographic works:
--Erik Madigan Heck's portfolio:
http://www.maisondesprit.com/selectedworks.php
http://www.maisondesprit.com/archives.php?id=island_og_blar_ogilt
http://www.maisondesprit.com/archives.php?id=mary_katrantzou_the_surrealist_ideal
Under the microscope: through the medical "looking-glass"...
Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson is a former photojournalist turned visionary of medical photography. He is most famous for his series featured in his book A Child is Born, which features photography of the fetal development of the human being from the moment of conception to birth. Nilsson was also a contracted photographer for Life magazine, and during these years (1965-1972) he photographed microscopic views of the human body and brain, particularly the heart and focusing on heart attacks. His other scientific photographs can also be viewed on his website portfolio, under the titles Close to Nature and The Human Body, and many of these apparently macroscopic images of microscopic cells and were captured using very specialized, technical equipment.
Today, Mr. Nilsson's still work continues to inspire international photographers and scientists to capture images and videos of microscope slides, and some of these images are entered into the annual Olympus Bioscapes digital imaging competition. The work presented in this competition is stunning; some cellular images are incredibly psychedelic, especially those of stained zoological specimens and fluorescent cultures. Nature will never cease to leave us awestruck and inspired...
http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/gallery/2011/
http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/
To view Mr. Nilsson's website:
Today, Mr. Nilsson's still work continues to inspire international photographers and scientists to capture images and videos of microscope slides, and some of these images are entered into the annual Olympus Bioscapes digital imaging competition. The work presented in this competition is stunning; some cellular images are incredibly psychedelic, especially those of stained zoological specimens and fluorescent cultures. Nature will never cease to leave us awestruck and inspired...
http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/gallery/2011/
http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/
Beyond Cirque: Otherworldly circus and performance art
Cirque du Soleil is world renowned for the ingenuity, incredible artistry and synergy of the creators and artists. However, recently, former Cirque artists and other acrobats from the world over have made names for themselves as increasingly more creative rivals of Cirque du Soleil (CdS).
One of the most outstanding rivals of CdS is Ruslan Ganeev, who is a Moscow Circus School alum and mind-blowing performance art/music designer. He has created his own brand of choreography, costume design and circus art, and he has created entire acts, costumes and music tracks for his original shows such as Archetypes and I-Show 5 Continents. His shows feature exquisite aerialists and equilibrists who perform as various personalities in a very theatrical circus stage environment, and who are dressed in often very detailed and unusual fashions also designed by Ganeev. To see some of Ganeev's work, please follow the links posted below:
Archetypes: http://archetypes.tv/common/index.html
---"Diva" http://archetypes.tv/on_diva/video.html
---"Fury" http://archetypes.tv/on_fury/video.html
Kansas City-based performance art and aerial dance company, Quixotic Fusion, also features beautiful circus choreography and stunning visuals in some of their USA based shows, take Esoterra for example.
The company "seeks to unite artists of all media to produce new forms of expression". Some of their most amazing artists are classically trained ballerinas Francoise Voranger and Jillian St. Germaine, who like the prima ballerinas Guillem and Vishneva of my previous post, have gone on to form their own equally poignant works, and the latter have also created their own performance group, the Hybrid Movement Company.
To see more of Quixotic Fusion, please click the links below:
http://www.quixoticfusion.com/media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGMubLe5eWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1er0lATJI
The Hybrid Movement Company: http://vimeo.com/hybridmovementco
Les 7 doigts de la main is another circus arts performance troupe that was founded in 2002 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by 7 directors who sought to expand their creative horizons from being artists on the stage into directors, writers and choreographers. 5 of the 7 founders performed for years with Cirque du Soleil, and they have created 8 full stage productions to date.
http://7doigts.com/en/the-company
http://7doigts.com/en/shows
http://www.youtube.com/user/doigts?feature=watch
One of the most outstanding rivals of CdS is Ruslan Ganeev, who is a Moscow Circus School alum and mind-blowing performance art/music designer. He has created his own brand of choreography, costume design and circus art, and he has created entire acts, costumes and music tracks for his original shows such as Archetypes and I-Show 5 Continents. His shows feature exquisite aerialists and equilibrists who perform as various personalities in a very theatrical circus stage environment, and who are dressed in often very detailed and unusual fashions also designed by Ganeev. To see some of Ganeev's work, please follow the links posted below:
Archetypes: http://archetypes.tv/common/index.html
---"Diva" http://archetypes.tv/on_diva/video.html
---"Fury" http://archetypes.tv/on_fury/video.html
Kansas City-based performance art and aerial dance company, Quixotic Fusion, also features beautiful circus choreography and stunning visuals in some of their USA based shows, take Esoterra for example.
The company "seeks to unite artists of all media to produce new forms of expression". Some of their most amazing artists are classically trained ballerinas Francoise Voranger and Jillian St. Germaine, who like the prima ballerinas Guillem and Vishneva of my previous post, have gone on to form their own equally poignant works, and the latter have also created their own performance group, the Hybrid Movement Company.
To see more of Quixotic Fusion, please click the links below:
http://www.quixoticfusion.com/media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGMubLe5eWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1er0lATJI
The Hybrid Movement Company: http://vimeo.com/hybridmovementco
Les 7 doigts de la main is another circus arts performance troupe that was founded in 2002 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by 7 directors who sought to expand their creative horizons from being artists on the stage into directors, writers and choreographers. 5 of the 7 founders performed for years with Cirque du Soleil, and they have created 8 full stage productions to date.
http://7doigts.com/en/the-company
http://7doigts.com/en/shows
http://www.youtube.com/user/doigts?feature=watch
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The visual art world continues to inspire choreographers and dancers
The modern dance world is becoming progressively more experimental, as lighting design and technology advances and enhances designers', choreographers' and dancers' abilities to create powerfully emotional and moving works. Several artists and dancers continue to push the limits of their minds and bodies, such as choreographers Martha Clarke and Russell Maliphant, and dancers Sylvie Guillem and Diana Vishneva.
Martha Clarke, is an American avant garde choreographer and director who was so inspired by Hieronymous Bosch, that in 1984 she created an original work that pushed the boundaries of theatre, music, dance, and aerial dance (and flying). This work was based on Bosch's famous triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights, which is symbolic of the evil of life's temptations. This work was re-presented in 2007, to open the 30th American Dance Festival, and was again presented in a re-imagined version to audiences in an off-Broadway production from November 2008 through April 2009. Paintings are very influential to the choreographer, and her other works are also inspired by the visual arts. To view a short video of her work inspired by Bosch, please click on the link below.
Martha Clarke's The Garden of Earthly Delights:
Sylvie Guillem and Diana Vishneva are two world class professional classical ballerinas who act as muses for choreographers like Russell Maliphant, helping them to visualize and explore their creativity through prescribed movement. Sylvie was recently featured in Maliphant's Eonnagata, which is based on the life of the spy the Chevalier d'Eon, who was possibly the first transvestite spy who dressed as a woman to further his duties in spying for Louis XV, doing so until the day he died. The director was Robert Lepage, and the costume designer was non other than the late incomparable visionary, Alexander McQueen. Much of the choreography is enhanced by stunning and at times confrontational lighting designs, and some of which is clearly inspired by the Japanese dance movement Butoh. Butoh is a performance movement that has no set style, and allows for a variety of diverse images and environments to be created through movement. Butoh first appeared after WW2, as a rejection of the West's modern dance and also of Japan's famous Noh theater. To see more of Sylvie Guillem and an art video based on Butoh dance, please click the links below.
Sylvie Guillem in "Eonnagata"choreographed by Russell Maliphant, directed by Robert LePage with costume designs by Alexander McQueen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyVJUS_YT1k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdjAbhZi-QU
Alexander Mc Queen's retrospective tribute show, "Savage Beauty", from the Met:
http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/video/
Alexander Mc Queen's retrospective tribute show, "Savage Beauty", from the Met:
http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/video/
Butoh art video:
Diana Vishneva is the prima ballerina for the Kirov, and she worked with Moses Pendelton on the choreographic piece F.L.O.W.. Pendelton is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director of MOMIX, which he formed in 1981. His works often feature acrobatics and dance poses that appear to be moving figurative sculptures. Please click the links below to see more of his work with Ms. Vishneva, as the first is a slide show of pictures from the work, Beauty in Motion: F.L.O.W (For the Love of Women):
Diana Vishneva in Moses Pendelton's F.L.O.W.:
Monday, April 16, 2012
If Klimt had an Iwata airbrush and Temptu body paint...
The fusion of airbrushing and body painting has been realized as a true art by two incredibly talented young artists, Ragen Mendenhall and Adam Tenenbaum.
Ragen is a Las Vegas local, who works in an Art Nouveau style with a definite Realist proficiency, and her body painting are similar to the works of Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, with some apparent influences from the exceptional visionary artists Robert Venosa and Alex Grey.
Adam Tenenbaum who primarily works for Temptu Pro and the performance troupe Zen Arts LA, has a more industrial and aboriginal touch that contrast with Ragen's gilded ethereal goddesses, but his technique of layering creates incredible depth and dimension. Adam's work is darker, at times even appearing confrontational and sinister like a scene from a Michael Hussar painting, and other time with his subjects (fire dancers, aerialists and models) embellished like divine shamanic figures from the Tassili Cave murals.
Both Ragen and Adam are exceptional artists, and the fact that their art is literally worn for a few hours and then washed away makes their work even more precious.
To explore their amazing body art, please click the links below:
Ragen Mendenhall:
http://www.ragensart.com/bodypainting/bodypainting.html
Ragen's Possible Inspirations---
Gustav Klimt:
http://www.klimt.com/
Alphonse Mucha:
http://www.muchafoundation.org/MGalleries.aspx
Alex Grey:
http://www.alexgrey.com/
Robert Venosa:
http://www.venosa.com/catalog.html
Adam Tenenbaum:
http://www.overlayair.com/
Adam's Possible Inspirations---
Tassili Cave Murals:
http://www.cvsanten.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=77&limitstart=5
Michael Hussar:
http://www.michaelhussar.biz/pages/pretty_pink_spade_pg.html
Zen Arts LA:
http://www.zenartsla.com/
Ragen is a Las Vegas local, who works in an Art Nouveau style with a definite Realist proficiency, and her body painting are similar to the works of Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, with some apparent influences from the exceptional visionary artists Robert Venosa and Alex Grey.
Adam Tenenbaum who primarily works for Temptu Pro and the performance troupe Zen Arts LA, has a more industrial and aboriginal touch that contrast with Ragen's gilded ethereal goddesses, but his technique of layering creates incredible depth and dimension. Adam's work is darker, at times even appearing confrontational and sinister like a scene from a Michael Hussar painting, and other time with his subjects (fire dancers, aerialists and models) embellished like divine shamanic figures from the Tassili Cave murals.
Both Ragen and Adam are exceptional artists, and the fact that their art is literally worn for a few hours and then washed away makes their work even more precious.
To explore their amazing body art, please click the links below:
Ragen Mendenhall:
http://www.ragensart.com/bodypainting/bodypainting.html
Ragen's Possible Inspirations---
Gustav Klimt:
http://www.klimt.com/
Alphonse Mucha:
http://www.muchafoundation.org/MGalleries.aspx
Alex Grey:
http://www.alexgrey.com/
Robert Venosa:
http://www.venosa.com/catalog.html
Adam Tenenbaum:
http://www.overlayair.com/
Adam's Possible Inspirations---
Tassili Cave Murals:
http://www.cvsanten.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=77&limitstart=5
Michael Hussar:
http://www.michaelhussar.biz/pages/pretty_pink_spade_pg.html
Zen Arts LA:
http://www.zenartsla.com/
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