in memory of / nine eleven

i saw one of kevin bubriski's works in his series titled 'world trade center series, new york city' during my visit to the american art museum today, and thought it was one of the most moving images i have seen relating to the tragic event. bubriski visited ground zero shortly after the buildings fell. he witnessed the masses of people who went to go see the terror. his photographs reflect what i think most people felt the day of 9/11. each reaction is so alike: the viewers are stopped in awe of the cataclysmic disaster. may we always remember...

artist you should know / henri de toulouse lautrec

when jarman and i were first dating there was an exhibit at the san diego museum of art all about lautrec, and i forced him to go with me. it was such a great exhibit and had so many of his unfinished works. my favorite part about lautrec is his sketchy quality and rawness, some of his works are even done on cardboard. jarman ordered a lautrec book for me for christmas that year, and i loved that he thought of it. lautrec has been one of my favorite artists since then.

the artist:

lautrec came from an aristocratic family. his mother and father were cousins, and the inbreeding in their family caused health problems for young henri. on top of that, he broke both of his hips, and his legs stopped growing. as an adult, he had a full torso, with children's sized legs. because he could not enjoy most activities that others could, he took to painting. 

lautrec was a post-impressionist who borrowed a lot of his stylistic details from impressionists.  he painted contemporary french society, and showed what lower class life was like during the post-revolutionary era. lautrec moved to the bohemian montemartre area of paris, and painted scenes that were common to the bohemian lifestyle. many of his works were painted in the moulin rouge: he practically lived there. he was very depressed and became and alcoholic, drinking the formidable absinthe that was so fashionable. he died at the young at of 37.

the art: 

the most well-known pieces by lautrec are his posters that he created for the moulin rouge. while many other artists turned down the commission, he gladly accepted because the moulin rouge was like home to him. he also painted many prostitutes and entertainers that he saw at the moulin rouge, some of them were even done on site. 

where you have heard of him: 

i hope that most of you have seen moulin rouge- if not, go watch it right now. lautrec was portrayed as the midget play writer. he goes by toulouse in the movie. he was also featured in midnight in paris, as one of the artists of la belle epoque.

artistic references / lady gaga

i only watched the very beginning and very end of the vma's (so happy that jt won best video!). i've never been a fan of lady gaga, but her performance really impressed me. not because i actually enjoyed it, but because i noticed a few artistic influences. i love when artists (even pop artists) reference other works. it just shows they they are knowledgeable and possibly worthwhile. these references may have not been direct or even planned, they are just my observations.

in the very first scene, gaga shows just her face through a white wall (later we see she is wearing almost a whole nun's getup). this reminded me of brancusi's sleeping muse sculptures: 

later, gaga stripped down to her black unitard and put on a bright yellow wig, reminding me of lichtenstein.

she ended in a shell bikini with a long flowing wig, which obviously referenced boticelli's most famous work, birth of venus. 

art you should know / the swing

jean-honore fragonard: the swing, 1767, shown at the phillip's collection in london. 

the style:

rococo is funny style of art. it came after the the french baroque style and after king louis xiv, but before the revolution. i used to think that i loved rococo: it has pretty women in gorgeous dresses. but that is almost all there is to it. rococo as a whole lacks depth and meaning and favors frivolity and playfulness. often the style shows scenes of men and women falling in love, reading love letters etc. it was made for the upper class to hang in their homes, showing just where that society placed its value.

the swing by fragonard is one of the most well known rococo works. it shows a woman being playfully pushed on a swing (the man who pushes the swing is either her husband or a churchman), and a man casually laying beneath her (looking up her skirt). supposedly a gent of the upper class commissioned this painting of himself and his mistress. the swing is a symbol of sexuality, and the man beneath looks tousled and aroused. the girl's shoe is flying off towards a statue of cupid, the god of erotic love. essentially, that is the whole theme of this painting: erotic love. 

can you spot the corner of the painting shown on the couch. when you rewatch the movie, because you will definitely rewatch it, be sure to look for the painting.

the influence:

the reason i was so excited to talk about this painting today is not because of the erotic love, but because it was just in an awesome movie. baz luhrman's the great gatsby features this painting on the couches in tom buchanan's love nest. in fact, in fitzgerald's book he mention's the painting being somewhere in the house ('to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of versailles') . of course this painting would be appropriate for the apartment that tom keeps for myrtle, his mistress. it only makes sense and i love fitzgerald and luhrman for it. interestingly, after doing a little bit of research i found out this painting also had influence on a disney movie as well. you know what they always say about the hidden messages in disney movies. Frozen derived its stylistic theme from the swing. supposedly this doesn't mean that anything else in the movie was influenced by it, but you have to wonder.

hangable art / clyfford still

for this column i want to show art that would actually look good in your home. while the raft of the medusa is super important, i don't think it is practical to have it hanging above your couch. personally, i prefer modern art for the bigger pieces in my house. right now i have two large canvases that are abstracted and modern, but i can tell you nothing about their authors. they are of the anonymous home-goods brand (when my father-in-law walked in to my house he immediately said they were not real art, i half agree with him. though i doubt that he would think the modern art that i do really like is 'real art'). someday i hope to have real copies of my favorite modern artists in my house. i think i will start with clyfford still. 

still was part of the abstract expressionist movement, and specifically was a color field painter (which means exactly what it sounds like). he believed that his works had no deep connections or associations. they were not meaningful or mythical. rather, they were just about the colors on the canvas. and he really did use the greatest colors. most of his works are centered on large forms of black and white, but many also incorporate oranges and reds.

his works are massive! the collection that i saw at the met and the lacma were twice as tall as me. i wouldn't want my copy to be quite that big, but i would love for it to take up almost an entire wall. it will sit on the ground and lean up against a wall, preferably in my living room. unfortunately, art.com only has one clyfford still print available for order. the lacma website allows you to order my favorite still that i have seen yet (the one at the very bottom). this website allows you to order reproduction paintings which aren't too expensive and they have tons of stills. oh, and if you ever happen to be in denver there is a clyfford still museum there! check it out!

Clyfford Still: Untitled, 1946-47, on view at the Metropolitan Museum, NY.

close up of the image above.

Clyfford Still: 1947-48-W No. 1, 1947-48, on view at the Metropolitan Museum, NY.

Clyfford Still: 1955-H, 1955, on view at the LA County Museum of Art, available to order on the LACMA website.