MONOCHROME MONDAY - THE WORKPLACE

FOR MORE on the MONOCHROME WEEKLY THEME visit AILENI  HERE

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY - 'ART' IN THE SHADOW - TALLY

Detail of Still Life with Milk Can and Apples by Cezanne

After looking at a lot of painting, not everyone sees or remembers a particular artist's work.  Whatever field of art is most interesting to us - be it music, literature, dance - a recurring theme may make memorable a particular form but the name of the artist is often forgotten. Yet, when we come to know it once again, then better for the second and third time around, the work becomes a part of us.  Still, the name of the artist is but on the tip of the tongue.  The melody, the story line, the leap, the shape and colour of the work remains with us in abstract.

  The first shape to emerge from the camera, number 3, reminded me of a Marcel Duchamp Readymade, the shadow suggesting a urinal.   Before shooting,  image number 1 was prearranged,  including three motifs of Cezanne - the apple, the knife and the sculptural arrangement of a white napkin, reminiscent of the profile of Cezanne's beloved mountain, Sainte-Victoire (above). which he painted over and over again.   Number 4, the halved red cabbage, suggested an early abstraction of Georgia O'Keeffe.  Number 5 is a parody on Giorgio Morandi's life-long obsession with space and forms that penetrate each other as in painting small uninteresting bottles.  (Mine was arranged and photographed in five minutes!)

As for the 'exception', fellow blogger Ralphe was right about the vertical knife on the breadboard:

while cooking a la Julia recently, the knife was photographed for its shadow - ergo, a motif of the culinary arts.   Hot Fudge and Elizabeth both mentioned Morandi whose work has recently been exhibited at major museums in this country and in Italy.  Memorable imagery, but a name I tend to forget!

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY - 'ART' IN THE SHADOW

'ART' - AS SUGGESTED BY THE SHADOW is everywhere - even in the kitchen!    Some examples here -

                                            1                                             2                                            3
  

                                                     4

                                           5

All except one image is inspired by known artists - do any of these ring a bell for you?

IT IS HEYHARRIET SSS TIME AGAIN - GO HERE TO SIGN IN for the 80th edition! 

At the end of the day, it will be interesting to see what the tally is!  Put a name to the number 

identifying the image.   

SKYWATCH FRIDAY - NY SUNRISE REFLECTED

THE SUNRISE, EARLIER THIS WEEK, REFLECTED IN THE NYU DORM WINDOWS NEXT DOOR.   

FOR MORE SKYWATCH FRIDAY VISIT HERE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

GIVING THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO MAKE IT POSSIBLE  -

THROUGH THICK AND THIN

The Empire State Building tonight.    In darkness, last night.     (view from studio window)

RUBY TUESDAY - DONATION TIME!

  

FOR RUBY TUESDAY - MY FAVOURITE THRIFT SHOP FOR THE CURE OF DIABETES!

A time to donate and a time to buy!  12th Street, between 4th and 3rd Avenue, NYC

FOR MORE RUBY TUESDAY, do visit HERE

MONOCHROME MONDAY - LIGHT AND DARK

CHECK OUT AILENI'S MONOCHROME WEEKLY THEME HERE to participate and/or just enjoy the work of other black and white photo enthusiasts!

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY - WHITE WALLS

White walls -  canvases for shadows

FOR MORE SSS do visit Hey Harriet HERE #79

SKYWATCH FRIDAY - AS THE SUN RISES, NYC

(AS THE SUN  RISES, A BRIEF MOMENT OF Minta's "REDDISH GLOW" inside!)

"Minta's Glow" - multicolour woodcut print from Impressions of TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

by Virginia Woolf

Three weeks ago the sun was rising here - to the left of the chimneys!

VISIT SKYWATCH FRIDAY  HERE  for more great sky shots!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Walking through Union Square Park, NYC yesterday

More WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

RUBY TUESDAY - COOKING A LA JULIA

BOEUF A LA BOURGUIGNONNE

                                    This is a 'Thursday Motion Meme' style shot,  reacting to a sudden oven heat wave,  as well as reflecting the joys and travails of cooking together!


Cooking a la Julia once a month with two friends (wearing our pearls) was inspired by seeing the movie JULIE AND JULIA with Meryl Streep as Julia Child, and Amy Adams as Julie Powell.     Julie, the blogger, whose modern life parallels Julia Child's earlier traditional life, winds up publishing her own book on cooking and blogging Julia Child's recipes for a year in a small apartment in NYC.

 Both had married and needed another interest in life - Julia Child chose cooking, and eventually published her cook book in 1967.   Julie, the blogger, decided to cook a recipe a day a la Julia, and recently published her experiences (2009).    Both books are now on sale, side by side, at many bookstores.

It is a hilarious movie for wannabe gourmet cooks, often poking fun at the traditions of Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts.

The recipe BOEUF BOURGUIGNON is to be found on page 215 of Julia Child's Mastering The Art Of FRENCH COOKING (1967 - Alfred A Knopt).

Do visit RUBY TUESDAY (Work of the Poet) for more fun with the colour red.

MONOCHROME MONDAY - NEW YORK'S PARK AVENUE ARMORY

The Armory's mission is to revitalize one of America's historic treasures as an alternative arts space unlike any other in NYC.  Part palace, part industrial shed (a 55,000 square foot drill hall), the Armory provides a non-traditional setting for the performing and visual arts.  I was there recently attending the International Fine Print Dealers Association Fair.  Looking up, a fine example of industrial architectural construction of the 1900s. Below, rows and rows of 20th century, well lighted, sophisticated gallery booths showing rare art pieces at very high prices - and some bargains, too.

Do visit Aileni's Monochrome Weekly Theme and participate in this challenging meme.

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY - HOPSCOTCH

FOR MORE SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY,  DO VISIT HEY HARRIET to see the 77th Shadow Gallery and participate in the 78th SSS!

SKYWATCH FRIDAY - GRAY

The sky is too gray for a jocular comment about what looks ominously like another rainy day to come.

               Suffice to say, weather hugely influences how I begin my day - one photo is enough!

Do be cheered by visiting another post at SKYWATCH FRIDAY!   PS   Today, it is said that water is found on/in the moon.




A woodcut, 'That woman in Gray' (Mrs. Ramsay), one of a series of prints made, influenced by Virginia Woolf's novel, TO THE LIGHTHOUSE.

Size:
Edition:   To come

FINE ART PRINT FAIR at THE ARMORY, NEW YORK

International fine print dealers assoiation - www.ifpda.org

A printmaker's experience includes a must-see trip to such high profile annual international dealer exhibits as above - this week held at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC.    I went to meet dealers in their booths showing prints from their collections.   The experience is both awesome and daunting.  Yet, the likelyhood of finding an affordable print that one wants is still possible.  I saw the one I want  - I have had a reproduction of it since the 1960s, rarely seen in your everyday New York Museum!   I will place it at the end of the posting.

Entering the Armory is like entering a cave these days.  It was so dark, just enough light to get you through the entrance and transparent door,  hiding the rich antiquity of the foyer itself.    My friend and blogger, Elizabeth, has posted her take on this historic part of the venue, as well as views of different categories of the prints themselves.   Do visit Elizabeth's blog at THE WORLD EXAMINING WORKS   There you will also see a wonderful demonstration of sand painting by an impressive photo of a monk.

My interest, today, is in what appears to be a trend to bring back the narrative print in a format borrowed
from the limited edition homemade book tradition.  In particular, I was drawn to a showcase on the wall
showing the work of Marcus Rees Roberts, whose reading of the poet Paul Celan inspired these pages - the poetry formed by "fragments, repetitions, hesitations and abrupt halts".  These have the title Draft For A Landscape 11, 2009, evocative of the Ukrainian forest, a compelling image found in Celan's early work.   Mixed media, collage, chalk, oil, acrylic, varnish and pencil on Somerset Soft White paper in full linen case binding.    Gloomy, but I like the expressive imagery.

Published Pratt Contemporary, 2009   www.prattcontemporaryart.co.uk

Last year I recall visiting an exhaustive Asian Print exhibit hosted by the New York Public Library in which the narrative form, an ancient tradition, was shown in long glass cases - unrolled prints depicting historic events.  Today, I saw framed and unframed prints that unfolded - then refolded into a book once perused.    One, a delicately constructed invention, as seen below.

Another framed, sequential print below (volunteering the occasional balloon with a cerebral message) - with imagery and messages,  needed closer examination than the time I could give it.  But the idea of changing the shape of the traditional print format did catch my attention.

To see more great contemporary prints - particularly the new work of Robert Kushner (two lithographs and a group of monotypes) whose flower prints are stunning, go to the website of SHARK'S INK .  There you will find a number of 'emerged' artist's (in the last 40 years) whose work is inventive, experimental and worth a look.    All these sites are interesting to look at if you are a printmaker, collector or just love to look at prints.

Enlarge to read message!

There were one or two limited editions of handmade illustrated books, the illustrations of which could be expanded lengthwise upon opening the book to visually tell the story of, say, a memorable day in baseball!  Like Willie Mays and his famous catch!

There was another book form that was new to me - a pile of sturdy pages that opened like a concertina (like the early computer printout copy paper) containing hand painted/printed illustrations of a childrens story.  They look too good to touch, for the price asked, but assurances are that, today, the materials used will withstand a good deal of handling.  

And, lastly, the print that surprised me, that took my breath away  (simply

because a copy of it had been in my files for so long) was Otto Mueller's YELLOW BATHERS - a lithograph (size 332 x 442 mm) printed from 3 stones in black, yellow and cobalt blue.  A German Expressionist (1874-1930), the artist did this in 1921.  Price tag:  $68,000.00!  Yes, I want that one.

One of my own first variations on this theme and style of drawing was done as a woodcut.  However,  it did not proceed beyond making one or two proofs, handprinted on newsprint paper!    

I believe I saw YELLOW BATHERS at the booth of the Davidson Galleries - another good website to look at.

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY - THE PRESS

Whether to blog or to etch this week, that is the question!

Do visit heyharriet for more SSS, home of the brave shooters for the 77th time!