Merry Christmas Everyone

I wish you all a very merry x-mas with another piece of brilliance from George Michael:

December song

It’s snowing!

Living in the Canaries, you hardly realize that it is Winter. I decided to give God a helping hand and let it snow (well, at least on my blog…. )

Welcome to the Artblog at Colegio Arenas Atlantico

Welcome to the Artblog at Colegio Arenas Atlantico

I want to use this blog as a sounding board of the creative minds at Colegio Arenas.

I will start a thread with an issue or something I find interesting to share with you. Then, everyone is asked to join in and post entries. You can post your opinion on the issue or comment on other people’s entries. However, it must be noted that the value of art is very personal and subjective. Thus, derigatory comment about other people’s entries will not be tolerated. Everyone is free to post comments without being judged.

A blog is only ever as interesting as its posts. Therefore, post frequently!

An artblog without images does not make much sense.Unfortunatly, you cannot directly upload pictures or links to other webpages. Therefore, you will have to include in your comment a link to the picture/link to the webpage and I myself will post your comment together with the picture/link.

I would also appreciate any ideas for posts you may come up with.

Please use the scroll-down menu on the right to browse the different categories.

Happy blogging!

Mirjam

Have you ever wondered why you are having art classes at school?

Wonder no more – just watch the video:

“the importance of art in education” on the top right of this blog

Favourite Artworks

Maybe, some of you would like to share your favourite artworks.

I really can’t decide on one. I like to many, but then I am familiar with much more than you probably are.

Daniel Lopez Urquia (sorry, my computer doesn’t speak Spanish, so I can’t make any accents…) would like to show on of his favorite paintings from Picasso, the “Guernica”. This painting was made in the year 1937, and it can be seen now at Museo Renia Sofía in Madrid.And I like it because it has got a large history in it, It was in the year 1937 when the Spanish Republican Government asked Pablo Picasso to paint something incredible for Paris International Exposition, he wanted to create something new different to the other paintings, when he found out about the bombing of Guernica. He decided to express his feelings here and in July of that year, he showed his new painting to the whole world.

Comment: I assume that all of you are familiar with this painting. But do you know about the symbols used in this painting of suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos.

• The overall scene is within a room where, at an open end on the left, a wide-eyed bull stands over a woman grieving over a dead child in her arms.
• The centre is occupied by a horse falling in agony as it had just been run through by a spear or javelin. It is important to note that the large gaping wound in the horse’s side is a major focus of the painting.
• The bull’s tail forms the image of a flame with smoke rising from it, seemingly appearing in a window created by the lighter shade of gray surrounding it.
• Under the horse is a dead, apparently dismembered soldier; his hand on a severed arm still grasps a shattered sword from which a flower grows.
• On the open palm of the dead soldier is a stigma, a symbol of martyrdom derived from the stigmata of Christ. Picasso was not religious, although he was brought up in the predominantly Catholic Spain, and this symbol is not to be interpreted as Christian identification.
• A light bulb blazes in the shape of an evil eye over the suffering horse’s head (the bare bulb of the torturer’s cell.) Picasso’s intended symbolism in regards to this object is related to the Spanish word for lightbulb; “bombilla”, which makes an allusion to “bomb” and therefore signifies the destructing effect which technology can have on society.
• To the upper right of the horse, a frightened female figure, who seems to be witnessing the scenes before her, appears to have floated into the room through a window. Her arm, also floating in, carries a flame-lit lamp. The lamp is positioned very close to the bulb, and is a symbol of hope, clashing with the lightbulb.
• Daggers that suggest screaming replace the tongues of the bull, grieving woman, and horse.
• A bird, possibly a dove, stands on a shelf behind the bull in panic.
• A dark wall with an open door defines the right end of the mural.

Picasso’s Guernica has been redone by painters and would-be painters alike.Sometimes, when I see these paintings, I get quite annoyed. I can just imagine rich art collectors proudly showing off their “Picasso” without having a clue about or respect for its meaning. Oh, and the fact that these paintings are often ridiculously colourful turns them from a meaningful statement into a pleasing abstract artwork…

Example:

 

There is, however, a truly modern version of this painting that I like as the original’s message is unchanged: A blog run by American soldiers on duty in Iraq -  full of honest accounts of the war experienced everyday – is using a modern cartoon version of Guernica on its starting page:

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Sarah Umpierrez’s favourite artworks include Judith with Holofern´s head and The tree of life by Austrian Artist Gustav Klimt. She particularly likes the colours, the shapes, the feminine figures…

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Two students sent me a comment saying that they like Diego Velasquez’s painting “Las Meninas” very much.

It is the most important painting of Diego Velazquez, a spanish painter. It is placed in the “Museo del Prado” in Madrid. The picture shows a large room in the palace of King Philip IV of Spain, in which there are several people from the royal family and the Spanish court. The Infanta Margarita is surrounded by her maids of honour and a dog. Behind them, Velazquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. A mirror hangs in the background and reflects the king and queen.

Cristina Landin particularly likes this picture because it shows an event of the past and a room of an important building. She also likes that it is a very big canvas and the colours which Velazquez used to create an effect of an old image.

Comment: This painting has been countless times redone by other artists (Picasso alone did several versions of this painting) and has also been used in popular culture and advertisement. The latest installment is for example the El Corte Ingles advert.

Check out some updated versions of this painting

Las Meninas

Here is one example:

3° Eso students will make their own version later this year…

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Alberto Gonzalez sent a picture of a painting he likes a lot because it represents Spain:

http://www.fotos.org/galeria/data/523/31933-Corrida-la-mort-du-torero-pablo-picasso.jpg

Luis Hernandez sent a picture he likes:
I like this picture because i like swans very much, because they are very elegant, just like me…

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Thanks to Carlota Sierra for introducing us to a wonderful site about graffiti:
http://www.graffiticreator.net/
She wrote the following comment to go with her link: I think that urban arts like graffiti have a long history and are a good tool to promote social awareness.

Comment: I completely agree. Which is why I like Banksy and le Rat so much.

Great Unusual Artworks

Hello,

this thread aims to be a collection of weird/funny/unusual art you would like to share with your peers.

Unfortunately, you cannot directly upload pictures or links to other webpages. Therefore, you will have to include in your comment a link to the picture or a link to the webpage and I will post your comment together with the picture/link.

To start with, I would like to introduce you to a tattoo artist that makes stunning, eye-deceiving works. Body art is an art form that stretches back thousands of years, although for one American artist, it is as relevant today as it ever was.

Craig Tracy paints stunning images on people’s bodies before photographing them in unique poses.

‘Butterfly’: Mr Tracy painted the leopard’s eyes onto the floor while the back of a female volunteer, facing the floor, forms the rest of its face. A butterfly makes up the creature’s nose

‘It is an emerging art form that is continuing to grow, yet it is the second oldest visual art in the world, next to drawing in the dirt,’ said 42-year-old Mr Tracy. He  draws inspiration from his volunteers’ bodies, often only deciding what to paint after seeing them. Using luscious colours he spends up to nine hours painstakingly applying water-based paint to his volunteer’s curvy bodies before photographing them.

And we already got the first valuable input from a student: Thanks to Almudena for introducing us to this great German (that must be a paradox, surely…) Streetartist:

Edgar Müller

http://www.metanamorph.com/

In the tradition of the great Renaissance Masters who invented Trompe D’Oeil paintings, Edgar Müller uses the street as a canvas. If one looks from the right spot, the three-dimensional painting becomes the perfect illusion.

Here is a video of him painting a massive crevasse on a street:

The Crevasse – Making of 3D Street Art

I love it! Exactly the kind of painstakingly done work I like.

That’s what I want to see from you: weird and wonderful new art!

Thank you again Almudena.

At last, the blog seems to be taking off:

Elio has just replied to Almudena’s post.

He would like to share the following homepage showing great pavement art from around the world.

http://paradoxoff.com/files/2007/06/street-art-need-for-speed-4.jpg

Hard to believe that this is a two-dimensional painting. You really get the impression that the car is charging out of the pavement…

I also like these:

This one confused me for a moment:

It seems that the advertising world has caught on to pavement art.

Here is a pavement art/advert for a telecommunication company in Germany:

Comment: Well done. Sadly, telecommunication companies do not normally show any imagination when it comes to advertising. I personally am pretty bored with their never-changing flyers and tv spots.

Thank you Elio. That is exactly what I am looking for; some interaction between you guys.

Here you have some more pavement art:

Pavement Art

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Elena Santana has sent me a link to another great body painter- an italian guy named Guido Daniele. Amongst others, he paints animal heads on hands. I’m sure all of us have used our hands as dolls at least once as a kid. Daniele’s art takes this to an extreme.

http://www.guidodaniele.com

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Luis Hernandez has sent a picture he likes:

His comment: I found a lot of pictures but this one is my favorite, is a little be sad but i like it because is very interesting and a soft picture.

Comment: I think this is a pencil drawing. Very nicely done. However, I can’t explain it but I find it kind of disturbing…. Thank you Luis for explaining why you like it.

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Ariadna has sent a picture she likes:

Comment:

This artwork is actually by one of my all-time favourite artists: a streetartist that goes under the pseudonym “Banksy”. He is a quasi-anonymous artist from Bristol. It is not clear who he is as he never appears in public. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique,  has appeared in cities around the world. I love his work not only because it is often funny, but also because his works usually have a meaning. His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. He often gets his inspiration from already existing marks and includes them in his works.

Have a look at his homepage. I like so many of his works that I find it difficult to choose any favourites.

http://www.banksy.co.uk

In addition to his graffiti pieces he has done some funny interventions.

Example:

In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by DangerMouse Music tracks were given titles such as “Why am I Famous?”, “What Have I Done?” and “What Am I For?”. Several copies of the CD were purchased by the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites such as eBay The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog’s head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption “90% of success is just showing up”

 

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Thanks to Cristina Artiles for introducing us to an amazing new artist:

Kseniya Simonova (born 1985 ), an Ukranian sand animator.  She started drawing with sand after her business collapsed due to the early 21st century credit crunch and had been drawing for less than a year when she entered Ukraine’s Got Talent. She became the 2009 Winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent-a show looking for new talents- constructing an animation that portrayed life during USSR’s Great Patriotic War against the Third Reich in World War II.

Comment: How great is that? Instead of signing up to the dole and complaining about the bankruptcy of her business like so many other would have done, she “invented” a new art style! Hats off! Moreover, normally you don’t really get people doing new things on these talent shows.

See here a video of her final winning performance on Ukraine’s Got Talent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo

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Leticia Santana would like to share a funny picture with us. It reminds her of a commercial she saw on TV.

Here is the commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQv3c0Tp19c

That made my day, thank you Letitica!

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Sara Navarro would like to introduce us to a painter she likes:

Antonio Gimenez

http://www.llunalila.com/antonio/cuadros.php

She particularly likes the following painting (I agree, it is the most beautiful one. Very romantic!.. God, I want holidays!…   )

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Laura Gonzalez found another great pavement artwork she would like to share:

The two kids on the carpet look as if they were flying over the city.

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Ylenia Romero would like to introduce us to the Thai art of food carving.

http://horecadigital.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/tallar1.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_W1Gk0Hnc9y0/SgIC-MS0dyI/AAAAAAAAABw/JzF8kjuU5FE/s320/decoraciones+de+frutas.jpg

Here you have instructions to make two food carvings, a leaf out of an apple and a flower out of a cucumber. Let me know if you tried them out.

Apple Leaf
Material:
2 red or green apples
Equipment:
sharp pointed knife, carving knife
Instructions:
1. Wash the apples.
2. Cut a wedged-shape slice as in the picture.
3. Trim away any of the core, leaving the flesh and skin.
4. With the carving knife, cut the slice to the shape of a leaf.
5. With the tip of the knife, make curving grooves in the skin to represent the veins of the leaf. Work from the base of the leaf to the tip.
6. Cut notches along the edges of the leaf.

Simple White Lotus Cucumber Garnish  

Material:
1 long cucumber and 1 carrot
Equipment:
sharp pointed knife and carving knife

 

Instructions:
1. Wash the cucumbers. Cut into 3 sections.
2. Divide the circumference of each into 8 equal parts and then make cuts about 3mm deep between each part down the length of the section.
3. Slice beneath each part down the length almost to the base to separate it from the flesh, thus forming the 8 outer petals.
4. Trim the flesh to remove ridges and then divide into 8 parts as before to make the inner ring of petals. These should be centered between those of the outer ring.
5. Remove the core of the cucumber, trim each petal so it tapers to a point, and then insert the center of the flower.
6. For the center, use 1/4″ thick disk cut from a small carrot. Cut small grooves in a crisscross pattern on one face, and place up in the lotus flower.

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Ylenia has also found another great art: LEGO sculptures.

I particularly like the first one…

Check out some more images at the flick page:

LEGO SCULPTURES

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Iru sent the following picture and comment: I like this picture because for doing this kind of pictures you have to be very imaginative, and very intelligent in order to make such confusing images
I think that the artistic value is to confuse your eyes and make you see that the photo is moving while it isn´t.

SAFETY WARNING: DON’T LOOK AT THIS PICTURE FOR TOO LONG OR YOU’LL GET NAUSEOUS.

Comment: Yes Iru, that is exactly the point of this picture. It is actually not that difficult to make, it is all down to optical/physic laws. Check out Op-Art. I have a large database on such images. I’ll post a selection soon.

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Here we have got some new body art images. Thanks to Elena Santana for finding them.

Check out some more images at the flickr page:

Beautiful Body Art

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Marta Aide sent the following comment and link:

I really like this pictures cause they can show you the music without making any sound it doesn’t make sense but I think this pictures are showing the emotions of the people who painted them

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/7716/violin2by2bangeldu2.jpg

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Noelia saw a picture and thought it would look nicer with a character of one of her favourite TV shows in it.

http://image.excite.es/quemovida/foto/Cuadros-famosos-Los-Simpson/13-simpson13.jpg

Comment: Made me smile. Such a typical pose for Homer. Maybe he has run out of Donuts? Or has Moe’s run out of beer? Something awful must have happened….

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Silvia has sent a picture she likes:

http://www.todohumor.com/UserFiles/Image/imagenes/2008/marzo08/bolsa-original.jpg

I like this pic because it is different and original !

Comment: Finally some good advertising! So much of it is just plain boring and repetitive.

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Here you have some more body art:

http://www.artistas-americanos.com/cuerpospintados2/index.html

Thanks to Cristina de Armas for finding them. I particularly like the two portrait feet…

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I would like to share another picture with you guys:

This is quite possibly the scariest optical illusion ever ! Do you see some women looking at themselves in a mirror… or is it the devil staring right out at you?!

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Irene found a beautiful picture mixing an eye with a petal:

http://fotos0.mundofotos.net/2008/30_10_2008/negro_blanco1225384087/pestanas-originales.jpg

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Carlota Madrigal sent a b/w photo she likes a lot:

This image shows a city that I visited and liked a lot.
This picture is in black and white because I love these type of photos, they can transmit many feelings and ideas without requiring the use of colors and thats the reason I love pictures in black and white.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2722983048_9c2ca27fbd.jpg?v=0

Disc-Coveries

While recording artists and bands are busy recording their albums, a separate effort is usually being made behind the scenes to plan for the launch, promotion and circulation of the new tracks. The creation of CD cover art is an integral part of this process.

Some CD covers feature heavily edited and airbrushed  photos of the musicians or recording artists. Thankfully, others are much more creative and work to create a cover image that reflects the mood, attitude or feel of the music it promotes. The type of cover art can make a big difference when a little-known band releases an album. Captivating or iconic cover art can make a band instantly recognizable, which increases sales, which in turn boosts airplay and subsequently demand for the music.

In times when digital copies are cheaper and quicker to get, album covers have somehow lost their importance as less and less customers actually buy CDs and LPs in the stores. That’s a pity because album covers can be extremely expressive and convey the message of the album in a number of creative ways. This thread attempts to prove exactly that. The aim of this thread is to gather opinions of students of different courses about CD’s they bought.

So, let’s share CD covers you like/hate/find quirky/unusual/unique/funny,etc. Unfortunatly, you cannot directly upload pictures or links to other webpages. Therefore, you will have to include in your comment a link to the picture and I will post your comment together with the picture. Write a link to the picture (so that I can upload it afterwards) and explain in a short comment what you think about the album art of the CD you have chosen. You may comment on other post’s uploads or entries. It must be noted that the value of art is very personal and subjective.

So, let’s start…

Here is some CD Cover art I like:

It is a cartoon style ink drawing done by the artist Craig Thompson for the indy band “menomena” (album:friend and foe).

I very much like doodle-like illustrations with lots of details to discover.

This artist did a great art intervention together with the band “menomena”: He accompanied them on their Europe Tour, got on stage with them and drew on giant paper stuck to the walls. After the concert, he tore these amazing impromptu sketches up and gave the pieces to the audience.

Hm, that is something I would love to do myself. But with a better band, of course.

Another CD cover I like is this one:

I like art that is a mixture of different medias and looks a bit “sketchy”.

And finally, here a few pictures of pretty awful CD Covers:

Probably the some of the worst CD covers

My students could have done this better!

And now over to you guys…

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Cristina Almeida likes this album cover very much:

Comment: This is one of the cover art made for Madonna’s video collection “Celebration”. There were different versions depending on the country it was sold. The artwork is a digitally edited photo of Madonna – done in the iconic way of Andy Warhol’s “Marilyns” from the early 1960s.

I agree, it is very nice. I would love to teach you how to do this. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to computers for my classes. I might be able to teach you stuff like that next year, when all students have their own computers… (fingers crossed)

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Marcos Perez has sent a picture of an album art he likes:

Because is one of my fav. groups and is a strange tipe of ”macabre” cd cover.

Comment: Good taste, marcos! Great album, brings back many memories… I like the cover, too. Simple, but provokes a reaction. Why do you think they chose the picture to go with the title”American Idiot” ?
Maybe they chose the hand granate-heart because of the love vs. rage theme that goes through the whole album. The album cover with the raised hand evokes memories of propaganda material and Green Day speak openly about the general stupidity of today’s society who buys into all the media hype and political “bullshit” (excuse my language…)
Just my interpretation, of course…

It would be great if you guys could try to explain why you like a CD cover and maybe even try to give your opinion on why you think the artist chose this cover.

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Juan Carlos Gago likes the following CD Cover art:

Comment: This cover is heavily inspired by 1960′s psychedelic pop art.

See examples of artworks done by Peter Max

Peter Max

or The Beatles’ movie “Yellow Submarine”.

You see, art is recycled in commercial goods. Art imitates life, life imitates art. (Almost) Everything is always based on existing ideas or concepts.
Comment by Iru :
This picture is one of the best pictures I have ever seen. It is very colourful and I like it because of that, and because it make you feel better and happy. It is a hard work and the person who has done it, in this case Peter Max, is very imaginative, by his picture I suppose that he is a very happy person.

Comment: Well Iru, Peter Max belongs – together with love beads, tie-dye, incense and black-light posters- to what defines the 1960s. It is very probable that he used drugs like LSD, which may helped to make him a “happy” person….

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Pablo Santana sent a picture of one of his favourite album arts. It made me smile because I also like it very much and almost chose to put it up on the blog.

Comment: Coldplay’s album “Vida la Vida Loca” took its title from a 1957 painting by Frida Kahlo, an acclaimed 20th century Mexican artist and wife of the artist Diego Rivera.

See the painting:

Viva la Vida by Frida Kahlo

The artwork of the album is a copy of Eugène Delacroix’s painting “Liberty Leading the People” from 1830. This painting commemorates the July Revolution of the same year, which toppled Charles X. A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the tricolore flag of the French Revolution in one hand.

I think the album art is a good choice for this CD as its central themes are war, peace and love.
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Marta Sanchez Gonzalez sent a picture of a CD cover she likes a lot as well as a very interesting comment:

This CD cover is definitely one of my favourites and it belongs to The Beatles´s album “Revolver”. I first saw this cover when i was 7 or 8 years old and it was just like a love at first sight. It´s a kind of old school and retro style, it looks quite complicated but actually it isn´t.(as my point of view)You can appreciate that the background is made up by some really cool drawings of the members of this mythical band, and then sticked some photos of them over it, it gives to this cover a very personal touch and that makes it look quite familiar.It would be great if we could work it in class someday.