You Call that Art?

Being a very visual person I tend to think in images and pictures rather in words. For example, I can make allot more sense out of technical date expressed in graphical form than looking at raw numbers or even massaged statistics. Curiously I have a better memory for numbers as well maybe because numbers appear better than words as images in my memory.

In terms or art I see art all around me in a way. To not offend the art purists because I know the distinction between art and imagery so I should say I see beauty and potential art all around me.

Now here comes my huge disclaimer. I like what I like and realize my tastes are pedestrian at best relative to someone who really knows art from a cultural and academic standpoint. I frankly do not understand most modern art and my tastes are more traditional.  However my tastes are extremely multicultural.  We have all kinds of art in our house from African to Classic Roman and everything in between.

Most images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The Art I Like with Some Examples of Pieces We Have

My favorite classical artists are Monet, Michelangelo and Botticelli. I know not much of a stretch like my favorite classic composers are Mozart and Beethoven. These are a couple of my favorite works.

Poplars on the Epte

The Venus de Milo

Nymph Chloris being seized by Zephyrus

Some more contemporary artists we like are Vadik Suljakov, Jose Royo, Keith Mallett and Anatole Krasnyansky.  I mention these artists because we have lithographs or seragraphs of their works.   Here are a few we have.

Suljakov “At the Golden Time”.  The image does not do the vivid colours credit.  In the serigraph we have the artist adds even more highlights.  It’s in our well lit foyer it lights up our town house.

Royo’s “Nina con Manzana”. The delicate nature of his work is just outstanding.

Krasnyansky’s “Village Song”.  One of the more modern abstract and modern artists I like.  I love the playfulness and colours of this piece we have on lithograph.

Krysansky’s “Old City Danks” shows his range as an artist.  This is another litho we have from him.

This piece called “Beloved” by Keith Mallett is just an incredible work.   We have the print and the coulours and expressions are just amazing.

Another sketch I love from Marrett that we don’t have.

This painting called “Gaia” was a gift from one of our friends.

I love mixed media because it expands the tools an artist can use to maximize creativity.

Steadfast Samurai Sword of Yalty

A mixed media we picked up onlne which loses allot in translation but it’s detail, color and gold foil overlay is incredible to see in person.

This is a mixed media piece that recreates an ancient Egyptian drawing on papyrus on a whole different media that we love.  Again the image does not do it justice.

I love art that uses allot of textures and materials.  A few of our favorite wallhangings are made from these different materials.  Again while the symbols are traditional they

A piece we have called the “Tree of Life” from Haiti was actually made from the bottom of a 55 gallon steel drum.

Another is a Thai teak wood carving we own which is a traditional Thai design.

Our Asian and African collections are mostly sculptures, carvings and different artifacts.   We have had most of our Chinese jade sculptures and historic artifacts put in shadow boxes by a local .   Much of our Chinese collection is around our little foyer so anytime we get Chinese delivery the it’s always a good conversation topic.  It did not take a good picture but one of our favorite pieces is a traditional Chinese door lock.  Here is just a sample of those pieces.

The traditional Chinese door lock is very decorative but because it is by our door the image came out with allot of glare.

The last piece I will show is my favorite jade piece of a carved elephant that is very cool.

We have several old world map prints but my favorite is an old world reproduction tapestry.

Another group of old world images I like are old world religious and astrological maps.

We do not have this print but one of my favorite old world religious paintings is Hieronymus Bosch “Seven Deadly Sins”.

We have a print of “TERRÆ COELESTIBVS DATÆ“ that we particularly like.

Art and Entertainment

Art is just serious business for some people but I think it should be fun and entertaining as well.  Art is certainly in the eyes of the beholder.  We love art that is entertaining and playful, especially when there are so many serious things going on in the world sometimes you just need a time out for fun.  Following are pieces we have and art I find entertaining whether it challenges your perspective or just tickles your soul.

Escher is one of my favorites because his drawings are almost comical the way he was so playful with perspective and depth.

A 3D representation of a famous Escher drawing.

Now this will drive the right brained people absolutely crazy but I love fractal art.   No the semantics does not bother me if you do not want to call it art I have no problem.  I just think the images look very cool.

As a Manga and Anime fan I appreciate the artistic talent that goes into that medium though I do not get the appeal of the more exotic forms of Manga called Hentai.

Gene from “Champloo Samurai”

Group shot from “Trinity Blood”

Lucy/Nu from “Elfin Lied”

Ai from “Hell Girl”

You may recognize Shin from “Crayon Shin Chan”

One of the things we loved when it first came along was Adult Swim which is an adult cartoon programming slot on the cartoon network.  We do not like the direction they are going but some of the early shows were ground breaking in the way animation is watched in America.  I would not call it art it art but the images animation uses are very fun.  We bought a few original cells from the early series and they overlay these bits of action cells over the backgrounds to create the animated effect.  The cell is actually on Mylar film and the background is separate as you can see below.

“Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law” cell and background.

“Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law” cell only.

“Aqua Teen Hunger Force” cell and background.

“Sealab 2021” cell and background.

“Space Ghost Coast to Coast” cell and background.

Of course I can’t make mention of about any subject without talking about it’s relation to science.  One area of “art” close to my heart is chemical art.  It is interesting that chemistry “art” (images of chemical processes or structures) often looks like fractal art proving the connection between maths and the physical world.

Chemical Vapors

Nucleotides

Nanocrystals

Turbulence in a Tube.

Gold Nanocluster

Protease Enzyme

Medieval Islamic Quasicrystal

My new favorite artists is one of our very own on the planet WTS.

I have obviously only shown a fraction of the art and images I like.  I love photography as well but did not include many in this piece.   In many ways I feel overwhelmed by the images and art that surrounds us these days.  Like I posted in the last music thread the digital world has changed our whole perspective about what art is and to some what art is not.   Each artist can produce one original creation at a time and the advances in art reproduction only enhances the art we get to experience.  One of my favorite new mediums are serigraphs where they reproduce a high quality textured prints on canvass and in some cases the artists even touch up the print to make each piece unique.  I for one am very happy to live in a world with ever expanding access to the art world.

One of my favorite sites to view art online is Deviant Art where hundreds of artists contribute to the collection.