ART

 Nov. 19: PICASSO

Those of you who are familiar with Picasso may enjoy this digital morphing again by Phillip Scott Johnson.

Look at Picasso's painting of Guernica and think about what his message is. Guernica was a quiet village and on the day its attack the population was mostly women and children as many of the men were away fighting elsewhere. Guernica is painted in grey, white and black and is 3.5 meters by 5.7 meters.Picasso aimed to bring world attention to the bombing of the Basque town by the German bombers who were supporting the facist leader General Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. According to PBS, 'On April 27th, 1937, unprecedented atrocities are perpetrated on behalf of Franco against the civilian population of a little Basque village in northern Spain. Chosen for bombing practice by Hitler's burgeoning war machine, the hamlet is pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. Townspeople are cut down as they run from the crumbling buildings. Guernica burns for three days. Sixteen hundred civilians are killed or wounded.'

Picasso shows war as a brutal and destructive and through his images inspired by the attack on Guernica and builds an unforgettable collage of suffering:' Speculations as to the exact meaning of the tortured images are as numerous and varied as its viewers, and perhaps this was exactly Picasso's intention. A composition so compelling challenges our most basic notions of war as heroic, unmasking it as a brutal act of self-destruction.' (PBS) 

Watch Lena Gieseke's 3D animation of Picasso's Guernica :

 

Watch this animation from a student at The Vancouver Film School. Spot the other artists but particularly note the references to Guernica.

 

 

   How are artists able to 'speak out' ? 
How does this painting reflect some of the concepts of war we have been exploring in class? 
What is the theme of Picasso's painting? 
Go this zoomable version to explore the painting in detail. 




 Nov. 17: SPOT THE ARTIST

For those of you who like art and may recognize some of these paintings take a look at the videos below of women assembled into an amazing digital morphing by Phillip Scott Johnson. Great cello music as well

And for more self portraits by artists over 500 years by Philip Scott Johnson

500 Years of Male Self Portraits in Western Art:

August 15 LIST OF ART GALLERIES

Bored nothing to do? Visit an art gallery from around the world!! Today I found an amazing list of international galleries from Canberra,Australia to Finland!Go in and explore. Look for paintings that could connect with the concept of heroes and journeys.


 August 12

August 11 COLLAGE ARTIST: TEESHA MOORE

Take a look at Teesha Moore's work -very inspiring. Notice how she uses text swirling around her images and her quirky figures partly sketched, partly created from magazine cuttings. Visit her site and for those keen artists amongst you read how she creates her images, her techniques.