Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration’

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La Isla de Las Munecas

Saturday, January 21st, 2012
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Click thumbnails to view full size

La Isla de Las Munecas (The Island of the Dolls) was brought to my attention yesterday; I can’t believe I’d not come across it before as this doll infested wonderland looks absolutely incredible. It’s already got be thinking about how I could go back to working with dolls and mannequins.

The story of the Island of the Dolls suggests that a young girl actually drowned in the lake on the island following which the islands inhabitant, Don Julian Santana, devoted his life to honoring this lost soul in a unique and fascinating manner. As you can see from the images above he collected and hung up dolls by the hundreds. In 2001 Don Julian Santana was found drowned in the same area in which he believed the little girl had died.

Although the result of this shrine is undeniably creepy, La Isla de Las Munecas is definitely going my long term to do list!

*Images sourced via Flickr: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

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Takashi Iwasaki’s Embroideries

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
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I found these wonderful embroideries by Takashi Iwasaki on the Oh, What a World, what a world blog last week. I think my own embroideries are a way off this level at the moment but it’s provided plenty of inspiration.

I hadn’t yet considered working on black fabric though it would seem to be the obvious next step though given the recent white on black drawings I’ve been creating. I’m wary of simply embroidering the drawings as they are to create a piece of textile wall art. This may be a point from which to start as I try to develop my embroidery skills but the process of simply replicating the drawings in stitch feels rather futile as an end in itself.

You can find a lot more wonderful work by Iwasaki on his website: www.takashiiwasaki.info

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Tortuga

Monday, January 16th, 2012
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I’ve long been fascinated with maps, and so it seems are many of many of my fellow artists. I came across this lovely 17th Century map of the island of Tortuga very much by chance. Ye olde maps were very often drawn from a different perspective to the view from directly above that we’re familiar with today as seen in the picture above.

Tortuga is a Caribbean island that forms part of Haiti and was well know as a pirate stronghold during the 17th Century.

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Ross Gilmore

Monday, January 9th, 2012
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I discovered this image via the wonderful ThisIsColossal blog last week. The photograph is by Ross Gilmore who’s really rather good although from those images I had a look at this definitely stood out. Those of you who know me well will understand that as it definitely appeals to by love of all things uncanny and grotesque.

You can check out more of Gilmore’s work right here.

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Night in a Surreal Forest

Saturday, January 7th, 2012
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This short clip is from a 1941 newsreel, featuring scenes from a Salvador Dali-hosted event called ‘Night in a Surreal Forest’. Held on September 2, 1941, in California, the dinner was a fundraiser for artists in exile during the Second World War. Notable invitees included Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Ginger Rogers, but of course it was Dali’s wife wearing a unicorn on her head that grabbed my attention.

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Shadow Play: Peter & The Wolf

Thursday, December 15th, 2011
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I headed over to Tommy’s Bar in Cardiff last night to watch some wonderous shadow puppet shows by Year 1 & 2 Illustration Students from Cardiff School of Art & Design. The puppets were absolutely beautiful and all of the performances were totally spellbinding.

This performance of Peter and The Wolf by Layla Holzer was the first of the night and set the perfect tone for the rest of the evening. This was followed by Hans Christian-Andersen’s The Snow Queen which was told in seven parts. Clips of those tales will be available to view via the Illustration Cardiff blog in the next few days.

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Mound

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
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Mound by Allison Schulnik from garaco taco on Vimeo.

I was quite drawn in by the strange figures in this stop-motion video by Alison Schulnik. It’s a haunting little film worth a watch. There are also some lovely drawings and paintings on her website: www.allisonschulnik.com

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Sentences on Conceptual Art

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
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  1. Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
  2. Rational judgements repeat rational judgements.
  3. Irrational judgements lead to new experience.
  4. Formal art is essentially rational.
  5. Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.
  6. If the artist changes his mind midway through the execution of the piece he compromises the result and repeats past results.
  7. The artist’s will is secondary to the process he initiates from idea to completion. His wilfulness may only be ego.
  8. When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond the limitations.
  9. The concept and idea are different. The former implies a general direction while the latter is the component. Ideas implement the concept.
  10. Ideas can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually find some form. All ideas need not be made physical.
  11. Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily be completed in the mind before the next one is formed.
  12. For each work of art that becomes physical there are many variations that do not.
  13. A work of art may be understood as a conductor from the artist’s mind to the viewer’s. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist’s mind.
  14. The words of one artist to another may induce an idea chain, if they share the same concept.
  15. Since no form is intrinsically superior to another, the artist may use any form, from an expression of words (written or spoken) to physical reality, equally.
  16. If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics.
  17. All ideas are art if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
  18. One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past.
  19. The conventions of art are altered by works of art.
  20. Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
  21. Perception of ideas leads to new ideas.
  22. The artist cannot imagine his art, and cannot perceive it until it is complete.
  23. The artist may misperceive (understand it differently from the artist) a work of art but still be set off in his own chain of thought by that misconstrual.
  24. Perception is subjective.
  25. The artist may not necessarily understand his own art. His perception is neither better nor worse than that of others.
  26. An artist may perceive the art of others better than his own.
  27. The concept of a work of art may involve the matter of the piece or the process in which it is made.
  28. Once the idea of the piece is established in the artist’s mind and the final form is decided, the process is carried out blindly. There are many side effects that the artist cannot imagine. These may be used as ideas for new works.
  29. The process is mechanical and should not be tampered with. It should run its course.
  30. There are many elements involved in a work of art. The most important are the most obvious.
  31. If an artist uses the same form in a group of works, and changes the material, one would assume the artist’s concept involved the material.
  32. Banal ideas cannot be rescued by beautiful execution.
  33. It is difficult to bungle a good idea.
  34. When an artist learns his craft too well he makes slick art.
  35. These sentences comment on art, but are not art.
By Sol Lewitt | First published in 0-9 (New York), 1969, and Art-Language (England), May 1969
via www.altx.com/vizarts/conceptual.html

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My Giant Colouring Book

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
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I love the look of these drawings by Jake and Dinos Chapman. They’re part of a series etchings currently on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood until the 8 January 2012.

’19 of the 21 images are based loosely on join-the-dots drawings from children’s picture books, which were copied through photo-etching onto copper plates. The resulting images include improvised monstrous creatures and fantastic landscapes, which deviate wildly from the prescribed dot-to-dot formation.’

Apparently the exhibition opened all the way back in September; it seems it slipped completely under my radar until now. This is definitely going to warrant a visit though as I’m a great fan of the Chapman brothers’ work. I actually wrote a large chunk of my Master’s Dissertation about them.

The Magic Worlds exhibition, which looks at fantasy, illusion, and enchantment, also looks fascinating.

*My Giant Colouring Book 9, 2004 © Jake and Dinos Chapman and The Paragon Press, London

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The Droll Dreams of Pantagruel

Monday, November 21st, 2011
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These wonderful woodcuts are from a book entitled Les songes drolatiques de Pantagruel. The authorship of this book is not indicated, only the dedication was signed by a certain François Desprez (albeit with the thinly veiled anagram of “Deserpz”). Those in the know believe that the design and style of the woodcuts and the imaginative presence of some monstrous figures support the theory that Desprez produced these.

I discovered these works via the always awesome Monster Brains blog where 100 of the 120 woodcuts that make up this volume can be viewed.

If you want to learn more about these woodcuts then head over to the Poemas del rio Wang blog here for an absolutey fascinating read.

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