Untitled - George Berking 

The wicked technique of George Berking transforms this image from simple landscape into a cyclical design, turning the windmill subject matter into a double play.

I love how the hill on the left looks like a cornea, giving the overall effect that the image is giving the viewer the hairy eyeball.  Making a statement? Maybe.

Claustral - Morris Louis (1961) 

Some of the exploration of line that is visible in art from the 60s is really interesting.  This beautiful, richly coloured cupcake for the retinas brings to mind a melted-crayon version of Max Ernst's surrealist piece from the 1920s.

Forest - Max Ernst (1928)

Javanese Shadow Puppet

Wayang Kulit, or Javanese shadow puppetry, probably originated sometime in the first century CE.  Puppets like the one above are brought out by professional storytellers on special occasions to give entertaining or didactic performances (or both).  Often, scenes from the Indian epics The Mahabharata or The Ramayana are depicted.

Each puppet is hand carved from buffalo hide, with details like hair and build indicating class standing.  The intricate carving is picked out in sharp relief when the puppet is backlit against a screen.  The delicate features are as complex and intricate as the stories the puppets tell, blurring the boundaries between sculpture and performance art.

It kind of reminds me of the scene from the latest Harry Potter movie with the Tale of Three Brothers:

So fantastic.  Harry Potter the movie finally manages to deliver in style.

I love the design of these stamps, which depict Bauhaus (bow hows) art and the Bauhaus design school.  The Bauhaus movement, which started in post WWI Germany, strove for order in a society recovering from chaos.  Their architectural model, based on function and efficiency, is the reason why skyscrapers have the geometry that we see today.

A boa constrictor swallowing a wild beast - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

At first glance this drawing from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince seems quick and child-like.  And it's cute, for sure, but a second look reveals that this artist wasn't breaking in his first box of crayons.  Check out the balance in the snake's body, the wild-eyed panic in the eyes of the fuzzy purple thing, and the way that the negative space in the snake's mouth reflects the composition as a whole.  One thing's for sure; my 12-year-old cousin's never churned out anything like this.

When Life Shuts a Door...

Theo van Doesburg. Stained-Glass Composition: Female Head, 1917

Rose Window, Santa Maria del Pi, Barcelona

Check out the rich colour in van Doesburg's stained glass window.  Bet you didn't know it was a portrait of a woman until you read the title - I for sure didn't, anyway.  Compare to the fantastic rose window from the Barcelona cathedral Santa Maria del Pi.  They are both so beautiful, with such fantastic colours and great geometry, yet so different.  Van Doesburg is considered one of the founder of De Stijl, a style that valued harmony and order, and featured hyper simplified compositions.

Bianca Chang- Recent Works

Using hundreds of pieces of paper, Chang creates intricate sculptures, the tedium of which is awe-inspiring.  The pure aesthetic of the finished product stands alone, but in order to appreciate the full value of the work, one must watch the stop motion of its production.  In the video, the process becomes a performance, giving scope to the creation of each piece.  If only my Art History prof would accept a ten page paper cutout in place of a ten page essay.  If it displayed even a modicum of the exactitude and consideration of Chang's art, it would be much more enjoyable for everyone involved, and have a lot more staying power.  

To any environmentalists out there: Get pumped.  Chang just saved hundreds of sheets of paper from padding the recycling bin.

glɪtʃ- The Art of the Accident

breaking bad[ly] glitch art series- Nina Wenhart

JPEG Glitch inspired painting - Andy Deckler

Since Aphex Twin inundated the 90's with their creepy synthetic strains, the internet era has revolutionized the art world.  The digitization of communication media has had a profound effect on visual language, which has been forced to evolve along with the ideas it represents.

An interesting side effect of this change is the creation of glitch art.  According to Wikipedia, the term glitch comes from the German word glitschig, which means "slippery", and refers to "the unexpected result of a malfunction".  This anomaly has risen from the propensity of technology to screw up.  We've all experienced that teeth grinding hair pulling sensation when several hours of fruitless button pushing fail to rectify a skipping disk or a flawed program.  Fortunately, human creativity can triumph over the machine by turning the frustration of the cracked image into art.

As proven by the above images, the "unexpected" can be beautiful.  The two artists whose work is pictured have aestheticized flawed, pixelated images to turn a TV clip or a broken image into a compelling stand alone work.

As with all art, or all human output, for that matter, you have to sift through a lot of crap to get to the good stuff.  Upon searching 'glitch art' in Google, I immediately decided that I hated it.  Images in garish colours with jarring or poorly thought out composition bombarded my retinas.  However, further inspection modified my opinion as I discovered that not ALL of the art displayed sub par visuals or lack of consideration - just most. 

One possible reason why glitch art seems so hit or miss is its accessibility.  Anyone with a computer and an imagination can crack an image.  YouTube tutorials or Yahoo! Answers will walk you through the logistics, or you can simply download a program to corrupt your image for you.  It is obscenely easy to make a piece and upload it.

Although this makes for of a lot of ugly art, the freedom of it and the proliferation of creation it allows is delicious.  The internet has made possible an unprecedented amount of information sharing and communication, be it visual or textual.  If that freedom is used to create, I'll take it.

Last Contact- Isabel Ferreira

I wanted to take a closer look at this piece because it is actually a digital print, not a photograph or a painting.  Lately I've been a bit horrified/fascinated by the proliferation of digitally adjusted cat photos that abound on the internet.  This print gives hope to those who romanticize Photoshop as an artistic tool- Ferreira has used the medium to aestheticize her image, adding texture and interest, unifying the colour scheme and streamlining the composition.

Illustration- Brian Drucker

I saw Brian Drucker's art in the movie It's Kind of a Funny Story.  He creates the images that the main character in the film draws while learning to deal with depression (spoiler alert: not really a funny story).  His cityscapes twist and splay out into the background in a romantic organized chaos, intertwining line and redefining design.  Love the sketchy line style, which gives it a great unpolished aesthetic.  Thank you, Brian Drucker, for throwing a bone to notebook doodlers everywhere!  Also, please hook me up with a sweet movie art gig.  

The Singing Butler- Jack Vettriano

Jack Vettriano turns putting paint on the canvas into a sexual act.  The vibrant colour, the juicy splash of red, the flow of the composition... In a word, lust.  Or maybe I'm just lusting over that foxy red dress.

Grey House- Marc Chagall 

Unlike most surrealist painters, Marc Chagall often worked with themes of love and happiness.  In this depiction of his hometown of Vitebsk, Belarus, Chagall's characteristically vibrant colour scheme is missing, and his abstract style has all but disappeared everywhere but the sky.  The dark house is definitely not giving off any warm fuzzy vibes; for sure not invoking the smell of mom's apple pie cooling on the window sill.  Presumably dad isn't smoking a pipe and reading the paper at the kitchen table, or playing catch out back with his future iconic artist of a son, either.

        

In a town where his father worked like a "galley-slave"(My Life- Marc Chagall) for a herring merchant, it's crazy that Chagall managed to make it big as an artist.  To all other creative hopefuls of the world: hope you like kraft dinner and taking the bus.

The Court- Paul Flora

Fine lines hide their rigidity in this expressive style.  The triangular composition and contrast in tone add interest for the eye.  The procession of ridiculously decked out characters, tiny heads perched atop bodies that appear a little too accustomed to mulled wine and roasted lamb, provide fodder for the imagination.

We got lost in the blue ridge mountains- Dee Clements

The subtle use of colour in this piece is so fantastic.  This is what Cezanne would have done if the only medium available had been Mike and Ikes.

La Montaigne Saint Victoire Barnes- Paul Cezanne