Weird but cool art

A lot of times, I find myself attracted to "pretty" art, but I do love the work of Francis Bacon. His art kind of scares me, but I am also very intrigued. Bacon's work is most famous for capturing the intangible concept of pain and tension. He also is famous for saying that he did not mean to scare people, but instead his paintings showed reality. "You can't be more horrific than life itself."

One of his earlier works was Head (1949):

His most famous is the similar work, Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X:

This was his version of Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X:

Bacon's painting Figure with Meat was also a version of the Velazquez painting:

Not as frightening, but in the same style, Man with Dog:

That's it for art history today.

Last night I was reading Garden and Gun magazine, which is a really great magazine that covers a weird, yet appropriate for the South, combination of clothes, hunting, art and alcohol. Every issue of Garden and Gun features Southern artists, which I love. In this most recent issue, I read a great article on artist John Alexander, who was born in Beaumont, TX and went to SMU (now lives in NYC and Amagansett but clearly influenced by the South). I've noticed his work before, and liked, but admittedly hadn't paid that much attention. But after reading this article, I really have a new appreciation (the article is definitely worth reading). Just as strange yet fitting the articles are in Garden and Gun, so too are John Alexander's subjects, which range from beautiful depictions of wild life to eerie, skeletal figurative paintings.


Proud
Charcoal, 25 x 19

Oil on Canvas, 2008, 76 x 84 (I actually would love this above a mantel...)

Class Reunion
Oil on Paper 2008 10 x 10"

John Alexander

The artist's studio

Works from studio

Oil on canvas, 90 x 100, 1986

(images from Garden and Gun and John Alexander Studio website)

Art Writing

I just read an awesome interview with Glenn O'Brien in an older Bergdorf Goodman catalogue/magazine. He's a writer, blogger and so on, and focuses alot of his work on art. I was so so so glad to read this, because alot of times art history and theory gets a horrible reputation because of the overly wordy and almost condescending way it is written. I try to argue this all the time in art history classes, but it gets me no where. I loved this little bit that I cut out to use in future arguments. I wish I had written it. Most of my art theory books sound exactly like his satire.

Q: You're working on Art in America now. What is the problem with art writing today? How come I can't understand the writing in art magazines?
A. The problem with art writing is that it isn't good writing. I believe in putting out a plain-language art magazine that any smart person can read, without a degree in jargon. Also, I think there aren't enough artists writing in art magazines. I'd like to see more primary material from artists, not just people reacting to art.

Q: I went to college, own a dictionary and I make art. If I can't understand it, who can? Can you?
A: You're preaching to the choir, baby. Didn't you ever read my satire on artspeak, "Progress here is no longer a subtextual gloss, but a condiment, as it were, related sidereally to a parasite morphology that has been elevated to a counter-theological syntax among its proponent..." Had enough?

Q: Do you like art?
A: It's my life. It's my wife.

Audubon

Two things I love: the outdoors and art. So it's no surprise that one of my favorite artists is John James Audubon. He combined a love of nature and incredible talent by attempting to paint every bird in America, which lead to famous namesakes like the Audubon Society, Audubon park, Audubon Magazine and so on. Just recently I saw some beautiful reproductions of Audubon's Roseate Spoonbill and American Flamingo and it inspired me to put all my favorite original Audubon works together.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

American Flamingo

Canada Goose

Great White Heron

Hooping Crane

Little Blue Heron

Long-Billed Curlew

Louisiana Heron

Osprey

Passenger Pigeon

Roseate Spoonbill

Yellow-Crowned Heron

FYI

Last night I went to dinner with my boyfriend's boss and wife. Inevitably, the conversation turned to what kind of art I like. This happens alot since I'm in grad. school for Arts Administration, which is a somewhat vague term and most of the time people just ask what I like about art. Anyway, I like to try to categorize why I love art and what art exactly, otherwise I feel overwhelmed. Although I know more about early modern art (from undergraduate and graduate studies) which is Kandinsky, Miro, Leger, etc., I LOVE LOVE LOVE American Paintings from the 1800's. I am so interested in this type of painting, and it's works like these that make me realize that I'm finally on my way to having a career in something I'm passionate about. This is why:



This is Fur Traders Descending the Missouri by George Caleb Bingham. It's about life in the Midwest and it is literally at "masterpiece" in every since of the word. I can see it wonderfully displayed in a chic home today, but equally I can see the museum quality in such a work (it's at the Met). This work is so quietly dramatic.



This is Martin Johnson Heade's The Coming Storm (part of the Luminist movement... which makes sense when looking at how he plays with light here).


Also at the Met, this is Winslow Homer's Northeaster. Homer is a really famous American painter, most famous for his paintings of the sea. This is beautiful.


This is Thomas Eakins Max Schmitt in a Single Scull from 1871. It's a river in Philadelphia. Supposedly Eakins is in the distance and his friend Max is in the closest boat.

I'm pretty sure I was born in the wrong century. Everything in these paintings is so beautiful and majestic. There are so many examples like these, and most of them are at the Met. I guess the point here is that I have to get to NYC ASAP (and to see my wonderful friends.)