MyArtPlot Powerpoint

My Art Plot Presentation

view presentation (tags: 340sum08)

MyArtPlot (4)

A few days a ago I discovered an UH-MAZING new tool for us art enthusiasts! MyArtPlot (myartplot.com) is "a global arts and crafts community and movement. Fighting elitism, it is an empowerment platform that offers functional tools to re-design the industry's archaic social, professional, and commercial dynamics. On MAP, any one participant is a crucial element of the global movement." (From MAP's 'about' page)

I think we can all agree that although there are infinite online resources for artists, art lovers, etc., there's really not ONE place to get it all. I often find that when I'm looking for something even remotely specific, I need to go to at least ten different websites to find something that's like what I want. And that's me being kind here...

MyArtPlot, as I understand it, aims to give us one place to go for all things art. Cool, huh? Yeah. I hardly trust that my explanation of MAP would do it all justice, so here it is in their own words:

The Identity

We are here because, as artists, artisans, and crafters, we've suffered for far too long the crushing blow of global isolation caused by technology deficiency. Being trapped in our respective localities, we are plagued by the elitist elements that prevent the global cohesiveness of our industry while severing the limited bonds within our isolated communities. These days, the focus deviates from the raw passion and genius of creation and rests too much upon simply knowing the right people. Elitism in social capital and other forms of resources has created an uneven playing field amongst us, causing inefficiencies in most of us to inspire, to produce, to connect, and to sell. MAP is our profession's singular honest attempt to combat the failures of our industry while actively incorporating the important partcipation of buyers. Together, we dare to fight against elitism and the absence of a globally centralized support and connectivity source. We boldly imagine a world in which we are no longer disconnected, low-resourced, and financially unstable. In our world, there exists a free flow of affordable original arts and crafts to all public and private spaces.

The Function

By providing functional social, professional and commercial tools, MAP allows disconnected artists, crafters, artisans and buyers worldwide to connect socially while interacting professionally and commercially. On MAP, you can showcase, critique, rate, review, favorite, buy, and sell original arts and crafts while interacting with people from around the world and across all experience levels.

The Mission

MAP attempts to solve a problem that has plagued artists and art buyers worldwide since the emergence of the artisan profession some millennia ago. The problem states that social, professional, and commercial interactions between artists, artisans, crafters and buyers are inefficient, caused by technology deficiency, with all parties suffering from (1) information asymmetry, lacking equal distribution of information about each other, and (2) isolation, having no easy centralized channel to connect and interact globally. Therefore, those who create original arts and crafts are notoriously known for earning substandard incomes simply because they, as independent operators, lack easy access to a global concentration of each other and of buyers. Similarly, buyers, lacking the same access to those who create goods, have trouble accessing original arts and crafts, which are thus only available to those who are well connected to the artistic communities and who can afford the high prices, driven up by the inability to sell in large quantities. This situation of inaccessibility from all sides and high prices results in a majority of the arts and crafts professions earning low incomes while original arts and crafts buyers become an extremely elitist group which excludes perhaps a majority potential buyers who, lacking social and financial resources, resolve to buying reprints. Facing this problem, MAP offers itself as a solution.

Now that it is pretty darn clear what MAP is supposed to do, let me tell ya how I'd review it so far. In a word, AWESOME. But there is still a lot of work to be done before it's absolutely perfect.

As a person with limited MAP membership, the only problems I have encountered with MAP so far have to do with the layout of the site. I believe that over time, the website needs to be modified in order to be more easily navigated. But the site is still, in a word, incredible!

As I've mentioned before, I can only wish to be a good artist. I usually throw away all of the artwork I make myself because I get embarrassed for myself just looking at them. So, it's safe to say I won't be checking the "artist" box on My Plot bio! But, in the "art enthusiast" area, I excel with flying colors! In just a few short hours of playing around on MyArtPlot, I've fallen in love with several artists' work! Let me show you one of my newest loves:

Supernova, by Elizabeth Klecker

Image on Klecker's Art Plot

I know we're all different, blah blah blah, but to me, this is a beautiful painting. I'm all about the abstract, the color, the texture. Not for you? Here's another work of art in a different style (obviously), that I'm loving:

P-Feathers, by Cate McQuiston
Image from McQuiston's Art Plot

I realize these two work of art may not be for you, but never fear! That's the beauty of MyArtPlot!!!! There is so so so much great art to find there! Here's what you can choose from:

Drawings
Mixed Media
New Media
Paintings
Photography
Prints
Sculptures
Typography
Miscellaneous Crafts

Signing up takes about, oh I don't know, 30 seconds? So instead of reading more blogs, become a member of MyArtPlot now! NOW! Becoming a member is totally, 100% free. But, in order to keep MAP alive, those who want more advanced membership may pay for it. Here's the breakdown of the more advanced membership fees and benefits:

Path Painter: $29.00. No ads for 12 months.
Plot Guard: $32.00. No sales commission for 12 months.
MAP Wolf: $39.00. No ads. No commission. 18 months.

In conclusion, MyArtPlot.com provides us with a completely unique experience. As far as I know, MyArtPlot.com is the only place online where those of us who just love art can find all things art and interact with others like us at the same time.

Two more cool "recycled" or "repurposed" art links!

So, I'm going to be putting up a pretty lengthy post in the future about "recycled" or "repurposed" art... But, I thought I'd give a little preview of what I'm going to be centering that post about with these two sweet links... Enjoy!

Repurposed: Art from Recycled Materials

Repurposed: From the Landfill to the Gallery

Repurposed: Art from Recycled Materials at Green Girls Global

Repurposed Art: Puffy Hearts

Painting Cans

By browsing the amazing resource that is My Pageflake Page (which I blogged about here), I discovered a blog post about a group that has put together a contest for artists who paint smashed/flattened cans. Art News Blog reports that the group from Spain, Confusion Group, is asking artists to send in painted cans that if chosen will appear in a book of photographs of the cans and will also be exhibited in an art show in Madrid.

The Confusion Group's blog states their purpose: "This initiative aim to encourage the use of this medium, whose use in the everyday is limited for the time of the consumption, for the creation and dissemination of independent art." (Also stated on the Paintingcans blog.)

The contest is open to all artists, not just artists from Spain, so even those of us who just WISH we were super good artists can participate. The deadline is Halloween 2008, giving us lots of time to come up with some really good ideas and hopefully some painted cans worthy of being chosen by the Group! Here are the guidelines for the contest, taken from the contest blog:

"Use the can as a blank canvas, express yourself on it, and send it to us. Just follow the specification:
Keep the “easy open” for hanging it.
The perimeter of the can is the limit.
Do not use filled cans, it must be crushed.

You can be part of this project as individual or as group, from any field, from anywhere of the world.

Deadline: your painting cans will be accepted until October 31th, 2008.

What you get for? Your painting cans will be part of the digital gallery in paintingcans.com with you contact details, and the price. If you work is sold you receive 70 % of the price you decided.

Also it will be part of an art goup show in Madrid (Spain) and published in a book that you will receive a copy. We can not guaranty that your work will be selected for the book, please accept our apologises if it is not published.

The artist will be paid by Paypal (if you do not yet have a Paypal account, get one free at www.paypal.com).

The artwork that the artist submitted to paintingcans.com remain the property of the artist, on the condition that paintingcans.com has exclusive rights to print the works in a book. We are not responsible for the content submitted by the artist.

The address that your submission needs to be sent is:

paintingcans.com
Apartado de Correos 203.030
28080 Madrid
Spain"

Still not quite sure if this is cool or not (IT IS!)? Check out these pictures of painted cans featured on the Paintingcans blog...

Left: Delata by Rafael Bertone
Middle: Untitled 2 by Martin Bochicchio
Right: Eye by Martin Bochicchio

So if you think you've got the skills the compete with these fine artists, go chug some soda asap, crush your can, and paint away! Ya never know, you could be the next Jackson Pollock!

My Pageflake Page

My Pageflake Page centers around the same things as this blog... Art. But honestly, it is so much cooler than this blog because contains this blog and so much more. If you were to enter my pageflake, you would have immediate access to some great artblogs (including my own, obviously), art news websites, books I recommend, art search tools, and even some awesome bookmarks from my bookmarking soulmate and I. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning.

Just a little preview of my pageflake page

So, when you first open up the page, you'll see a bunch of "flakes" which are organized under headings. The first headings you'll see are "ART BLOGS", "ART NEWS", and "BOOKS I LOVE". Obviously I tried to make the page super duper easy to navigate, so you'll find exactly what you think you'll find under those headings. Under "ART BLOGS" you'll find the RSS feed for this blog, Art21 Blog, Art News Blog, Art.blogging.la (which I wrote about here), we make money not art, and New Art. At my pageflake you'll get to see the titles of the five most recent posts on each of those blog, and the beginning of the newest post (and a little picture, if you're lucky). So instead of having to visit each and every one of those blogs to see what they've got to say today, visit my pageflake page! Or, if you're not in the mood for some blog-surfing, check out what's under "ART NEWS"...

Under "ART NEWS" you'll find the RSS feeds for five amazing websites dedicated to art news, including, but not limited to, modern art news, museum news, gallery news, cool new public art, and art history news! Don't we all want to know if DaVinci's Battle of Anghiari is really hiding behind Vasari's Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana? Well keep checking my pageflake page for updates on that situation...

Vasari's Battle of Marciano

Moving on to the next feature of my pageflake page: "BOOKS I LOVE". Under this heading, you will find four summaries, pictures, and links to four books that I have read and loved. Each of the books covers some aspect of modern art and are perfect for anyone interested in art, whether they're a art history student or just someone who loves art (uh, who couldn't?).

But wait, there's more! If you scroll down the page a bit, you'll find even more art resources. Under the art blogs section is an RSS feed for my art bookmarks from Diigo. And just to the right of those are the art bookmarks from my bookmarking soulmate. The pages that are bookmarked include museum websites, gallery websites, art image collection websites, art blogs, and more.

Still haven't found what you're looking for? Or just want MORE? Above my soulmate's bookmarks you'll find "SEARCH TOOLS" which includes a universal blog search and a universal news search. The keyword, "art", is already loaded for your convenience.

So, pretty much what I'm saying is: my pageflake page is an amazing place to find all things art in cyberspace. So next time your hunger for art hits (which is, like, every five seconds if you're anything like me) go straight to your computer and visit My Pageflake Page!

Book: American Art Since 1945

The book American Art since 1945 by David Joselit is, in short, an introduction to American art after World War II. The book discusses forms of art including, but not limited to, Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism.

Click here to get this book from Amazon.com

Unlike many of texts presented in Art in Theory 1900-2000, Joselit's writing is very straightforward and simplified - perfect for both the avid art historian or for someone just getting interested in Modern and Contemporary art for the first time. Furthermore, one need not know anything about art in order to gain knowledge and understanding from Joselit's book. Here is a sample of Joselit's writing:

"It may seem odd to describe Pop art with terms like 'icon' or 'monument.' After all, in their ostensibly ironic embrace of the everyday and the commercial, paintings like Warhol's appear antithetical to conventional monuments whose traditional function is to mark the history of a place by commemorating an event or a person. And yet this striking paradox is fundamental to Pop art. In a commercialized Western culture, it is the everyday commodity which structures our experience of place and time - a condition which artists like Warhol and Oldenburg as well as Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, and James Rosenquist explored in various ways."

10 Marilyns, by Andy Warhol

As that little sample demonstrates, Joselit's writing is very easy to understand, but is by no means elementary. I would definitely recommend the book to those interested in post-WWII art, but especially to those who are less familiar with the period in general.

Book: Art in Theory 1900-2000

The book Art in Theory 1900-2000, edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, is a compilation of pieces of texts by artists, art critics, philosophers, politicians, and literary figures who discuss art theories in relation to art from 1900-2000. The 1187 page book (excluding the bibliography) offers a total of 371 texts, which are all presented in pieces to provide us with the most relevant and important information. Furthermore, each text included in the book offers us with new information and ideas, making the book the ultimate resource for any art historian (or just art lover) interested in 20th century art.

Click here to find this book at Amazon.com

Over the past few months, I have gotten the opportunity to read many of the texts and I can definitely say that the book has given me more insight into modern art than I could have gotten from any other individual text. Although there is no way to sum up the eclectic collection in any reasonable amount of time, here are some of my favorite quotes from my favorite texts:

"The painter no longer approached his easel with an image in his mind; he went up to it with material in his hand to do something to that other piece of material in front of him. That image would be the result of this encounter."
-Harold Rosenberg on Abstract Expressionism, from The American Action Painters

I have spent the past four years completely fascinated by the "encounters" that Rosenberg is talking about. Too many people don't understand the significance of Abstract Expression. They say, "My kid could have done that." I say, "But they didn't--Pollock did."

Jackson Paints a Picture, by Hans Namuth

Now for the art historian I consider to be both the most intuitive, intelligent and most frustrating: Clement Greenberg.

"The essence of Modernism lies, as I see it, in the use of the characteristic methods of a discipline to criticize the discipline itself - not in order to subvert it, but to entrench it more firmly in its area of competence."
"The arts could save themselves [] by demonstrating that the kind of experience they provided was valuable in its own right and not to be obtained by any other kind of activity."
"The limitations that constitute the medium of painting - the flat surface, the shape of the support, the properties of pigment - were treated by the Old Masters as negative factors that could be acknowledged only implicitly or indirectly. Modernist painting has come to regard these same limitations as positive factors that are to be acknowledged openly."
"It is not in principle that Modernist painting in its latest phase has abandoned the representation of recognizable objects. What it has abandoned in principle is the representation of the kind of space that recognizable, three-dimensional objects can inhabit."

-Clement Greenberg on Modernism, from Modernist Painting

Those incredible ideas by Greenberg are only a tiny tidbit of what the book has to offer. Anyone even remotely interested in 20th century art would LOVE this book.

Herronlib: My Bookmarking Soulmate

I've finally found my soulmate -- my bookmarking soulmate that is. I found "Herronlib" through del.icio.us yesterday and immediately knew it was fate. The tags he uses most include art, artblog, contemporary, criticism, galleries, reviews, exhibitions... You get the point. With a glance at just a couple of those tags, it was clear that he would be able to introduce me to a lot of art-oriented websites that I would love but may not have been able to find without his help. Yay for del.icio.us and Herronlib!

Herronlib also has very good bookmarking practices. He has a detailed, specific description of almost each and every website he has bookmarked. Not only does this make his bookmarking more efficient and useful, but it makes it so so so much easier for me to go through his bookmarks and see what each thing is all about. This way I don't have to actually visit each individual link (fifty-nine in total!) in order to figure out if the website has what I'm looking for. For example, under his British Library Images Online bookmark, he writes:

Offers access to thousands of unique and unusual images from the illuminated manuscripts, archive photographs, maps, and engravings held by the British Library.

Very nicely done, Herronlib. His description is right on point, telling us exactly what we're going to get. And honestly, knowing how lazy I can be, I may not have bothered to click on that link without such a great description. Luckily, I did and found some incredible images.

Atlas Coelestis, astrological sphere, 1660.

Another great website I found with the help of Herronlib was Artopia. The author, John Perreault, describes what his blog about in his own words:

ARTOPIA is an art diary featuring my evaluations of the art I see in galleries, museums, public spaces, and sometimes in artists' studios... I specialize in new art or art that needs to be looked at in a fresh way, in terms of contemporary practice. The art will be presented in the context of everyday life, since art is my life.

Once again, I find myself looking at a website that totally interests me but I am almost certain I would have never found it if it weren't for my soulmate...

Isaac Abrams, Cosmic Orchid, 1967.
Image from Artopia's May 2007 archives.

In conclusion, I'll just say that I'm so happy to have found my bookmarking soulmate. And I can't wait to keep exploring all of the art websites Herronlib has shown me.

Blogorama

1. Welcome

The term “art” covers such a large spectrum of ideas, things, and concepts. As an Art History major, with an emphasis in modern art, I am very interested in the standards of art and the requirements of art, or often the lack thereof. I hope to explore how technology relates to these ideas particularly in modern and contemporary art, specifically from 1940 through the present. However, I do not want to limit myself to just the relationship between modern and contemporary art and new technologies.

Although my main concentration in Art History has been in modern and contemporary art, I continue to be fascinated with any and all art up to the present. Though new technologies obviously cannot be related to the production of this past art, it absolutely relates to it in other ways. New technologies continue to become increasingly important in understanding older art. With new technologies, art historians can discover more and more about how art was produced, with what it was produced, etc. Art historians have even been able to use new technology to discover the original compositions underneath some of the greatest old masterpieces celebrated today. For instance, Giorgione’s The Tempest features a mysterious scene of a nursing mother in the wildness with a soldier standing guard, among other strange aspects of the painting. However, modern technology revealed that Giorgione had originally painted a second woman, in the nude, in the place where the soldier now stands. This discovery has opened the doors for much more study and interpretation of this famous work of art. In my blog, I would like to discuss and continue to explore instances like that of The Tempest to illustrate the important role new technologies has played in the study of art both old and new.

Giorgione, The Tempest, c. 1508, Venice, Italy.

Lastly, I would also like to discuss how technology has affected the art world in terms of accessibility of information about art. One-hundred years ago, the Mona Lisa may have been a familiar masterpiece in terms of hearing its name. However, fewer people would have been able to see an actual picture of the artwork, let alone be able to see it in person. New technologies of all kinds including, but not limited to, the internet, efficient travel, and mass production, have made it possible for millions of people to study and experience art that they would not have been able to study and experience in the past. I, for one, am eternally grateful for the advantages technology provides in relation to my study of Art History.

Without modern technology, the study of Art and Art History would not be what it is today. So, as someone in love with Art History, I have come to the conclusion that art loves technology.

2. Profile of artblog.net

Tonight I discovered an amazing art blog logically located at Artblog.net. Artblog focuses the visual arts, arts writing, design, art criticism, the artist's life, exhibition and book reviews, rants, and quotes. Artblog is written by Franklin Einspruch, who is an artist himself. In his own words, Einspruch describes what Artblog is all about:

I'm Franklin Einspruch, an artist and writer. I started blogging about art back in 2002 and put up Artblog.net in May 2003. What began as a rant into the digital aether about art has turned into a long conversation with people all over the world about art and how we experience it. I believe that art's main power is to encapsulate human experience in an aesthetic, intuitive, non-verbal way. Art that has other agendas tends to arouse my suspicion, but I'll give it a shot. For more information, see the Third-Person About.

In the aforementioned Third-Person About, Einspruch goes on to say:

Personal, contrarian, subjective, independent, spirited, and consitutionally indifferent to the art "scene," as people call it, Artblog.net seeks to apply clear looking, clear thinking, and clear writing to visual art. It posts exhibition reviews, art book reviews, reports on comics and illustration, essays on a broad range of concerns within visual art, special publications, and a weekly roundup of hyperlinks to art-related stories selected by the author on the basis of importance, humor, or oddball virtue. Artblog.net publishes each weekday.

According the blog's traffic page or "peastat", it approximates 61 hits per hour--this number is based on recent hits and is therefore subject to change frequently. The blog has also been featured in various art magazines.

One recent post on Artblog.net shows us the work by artist John Link. John Link's abstract artwork is really something. Although Artblog featured several of his paintings, this one is my favorite:

John Link: Battled Ground, 2008.

For more art by John Link, visit johnlink.org.

Another great post on Artblog was a post on New Modernism. Since I have been studying modernism (and postmodernism) in art for the past four years, I got really excited about this post. The post quotes what Walter Darby Bannard has to say about new modernism, and then analyzes it.

Though I've only mentioned two of Artblog's posts, the blog has so much to offer anyone interested in art. While the blog is very professional and scholarly, it often presents its material in a fun and more interesting way. Whether you're an artist, art historian, or just an art lover, the variety of posts (some long, some short and sweet) will deserve your undivided attention.

Overall, I think that Artblog makes for a great quick read or reference, and I look forward to visiting it again and again! And although I intend for my blog to focus a little more on how technology affects art, Artblog.net will definitely make a great reference for my blog in the future!

3. Voice profile of art.blogging.la

Looking through some of my favorite art-oriented blogs, there was a clear winner for favorite "voice". This was art.blogging.la. While some other art blogs read more formal and "professional", art.blogging.la presents its material in a more fun and comical way. I mean, if we're talking about modern art, why shouldn't we have fun with it?

On May 24th, Caryn Coleman of art.blogging.la went to various art events and openings. If you've ever been to an art opening, whether at a small gallery or big museum, you know us art lovers have a good time when we all get together to celebrate new art! If you have never gotten the pleasure of attending an opening, you're probably imagining a bunch of stiffs moseying around, stopping every now and then to tilt their heads and mumble, "Hmmm." Well it's more like this: People of all ages, personalities, backgrounds, styles, etc. all in one place to share food, cocktails, and a passion for modern art. In other words, it's a party with art! Coleman touches on this experience in a comical way--as she should. In her Opening Recap she starts by saying:

Ending an evening of art openings at a karaoke bar in Korea-town with dealers, artists, and collectors is by far one of the best ways to be amused, embarrassed, and see the less serious side of your artworld friends.

While someone else may have said, "Going to art openings is fun," Coleman sums up her night in a much more humorous, descriptive. She paints a picture for us. Even just the words "art openings at a karaoke bar in Korea-town with dealers" makes me laugh right away and, more importantly, want to read on to see what went down!

The rest of Coleman's post is just as witty, fun, and descriptive as that amazing first sentence! In closing she writes:

I look forward to next weekend and, just perhaps, more karaoke.

Me too, Caryn.

Image from Coleman's May 24th Opening Recap post

Another post by Coleman I enjoyed was a short post about an Anselm Kiefer exhibit. The post was titled Anselm Kiefer’s “Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday)”
. In this post, she is slightly less detailed but she still gets to the point in style. Once again she makes the point interesting and fun just by a better choice of words and phrases--never underestimate the power of thesaurus.com! The Kiefer exhibition she discusses apparently stayed open a few extra weeks, and I can see why. It looks really cool!

I love the way she uses language to change the way you imagine what the exhibition looked like, even if she hadn't provided pictures. Here's a tidbit from the post that I found to be simple but funny:

The showing of this one-of piece was in conjunction with his show at Gagosian Beverly Hills was absolutely incredible and quite the feat of physics (an additional supporting wall structure was needed for the wall pieces)

Although the sentence doesn't read that well grammatically--I think she meant to say one-of-a-kind?--I envision the "feat of physics" really well. While she could have just said, "It must have been difficult," she spices it up with just three little words. But those three little words are so much more fun to read!

However, my favorite part came next...

I’m still not sure how they got the tree in there. If you missed it, shame on you...

If she hadn't brought up the mystery about how they could have gotten the tree there, I wouldn't even have thought about it! But, since she did in her comical way, I get this picture of a bunch of spunky artists trying to get a huge palm tree through a little gallery entryway. And then there's the "shame on you" comment. Yeah, it's just three little words, but they are more fun to read than "too bad" or the variety of things she could have said instead. Once again, thanks Caryn!

Image from Coleman's post on Anselm Kiefer’s “Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday)”

Overall, I love love love the voice of Caryn Coleman on art.blogging.la. It's fun, light-hearted, witty, and clever, but she still maintains a really professional blog. I hope to develop my voice in the same way she has. To sum up, I'll say this: I went to art.blogging.la for the Los Angeles art news; I stayed for Caryn Coleman's voice. I hope that someone will be able to say the same thing about my voice on Art World Now someday!

The Voice of art.blogging.la

Looking through some of my favorite art-oriented blogs, there was a clear winner for favorite "voice". This was art.blogging.la. While some other art blogs read more formal and "professional", art.blogging.la presents its material in a more fun and comical way. I mean, if we're talking about modern art, why shouldn't we have fun with it?

On May 24th, Caryn Coleman of art.blogging.la went to various art events and openings. If you've ever been to an art opening, whether at a small gallery or big museum, you know us art lovers have a good time when we all get together to celebrate new art! If you have never gotten the pleasure of attending an opening, you're probably imagining a bunch of stiffs moseying around, stopping every now and then to tilt their heads and mumble, "Hmmm." Well it's more like this: People of all ages, personalities, backgrounds, styles, etc. all in one place to share food, cocktails, and a passion for modern art. In other words, it's a party with art! Coleman touches on this experience in a comical way--as she should. In her Opening Recap she starts by saying:

Ending an evening of art openings at a karaoke bar in Korea-town with dealers, artists, and collectors is by far one of the best ways to be amused, embarrassed, and see the less serious side of your artworld friends.

While someone else may have said, "Going to art openings is fun," Coleman sums up her night in a much more humorous, descriptive. She paints a picture for us. Even just the words "art openings at a karaoke bar in Korea-town with dealers" makes me laugh right away and, more importantly, want to read on to see what went down!

The rest of Coleman's post is just as witty, fun, and descriptive as that amazing first sentence! In closing she writes:

I look forward to next weekend and, just perhaps, more karaoke.

Me too, Caryn.

Image from Coleman's May 24th Opening Recap post

Another post I enjoyed was a short post about an exhibit by artist Anselm Kiefer. The post was titled Anselm Kiefer’s “Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday)”
. In this post, she is slightly less detailed but she still gets to the point in style. Once again she makes the point interesting and fun just by a better choice of words and phrases--never underestimate the power of thesaurus.com! The Kiefer exhibition she discusses apparently stayed open a few extra weeks, and I can see why. It looks really cool!

I love the way she uses language to change the way you imagine what the exhibition looked like, even if she hadn't provided pictures. Here's a tidbit from the post that I found to be simple but funny:

The showing of this one-of piece was in conjunction with his show at Gagosian Beverly Hills was absolutely incredible and quite the feat of physics (an additional supporting wall structure was needed for the wall pieces)

Although the sentence doesn't read that well grammatically--I think she meant to say one-of-a-kind?--I envision the "feat of physics" really well. While she could have just said, "It must have been difficult," she spices it up with just three little words. But those three little words are so much more fun to read!

However, my favorite part came next...

I’m still not sure how they got the tree in there. If you missed it, shame on you...

If she hadn't brought up the mystery about how they could have gotten the tree there, I wouldn't even have thought about it! But, since she did in her comical way, I get this picture of a bunch of spunky artists trying to get a huge palm tree through a little gallery entryway. And then there's the "shame on you" comment. Yeah, it's just three little words, but they are more fun to read than "too bad" or the variety of things she could have said instead. Once again, thanks Caryn!

Image from Coleman's post on Anselm Kiefer’s “Palmsonntag (Palm Sunday)”

Overall, I love love love the voice of Caryn Coleman on art.blogging.la. It's fun, light-hearted, witty, and clever, but she still maintains a really professional blog. I hope to develop my voice in the same way she has. To sum up, I'll say this: I went to art.blogging.la for the Los Angeles art news; I stayed for Caryn Coleman's voice. I hope that someone will be able to say the same thing about my voice on Art World Now someday!

Artblog.net

Tonight I discovered an amazing art blog logically located at Artblog.net. Artblog focuses the visual arts, arts writing, design, art criticism, the artist's life, exhibition and book reviews, rants, and quotes. Artblog is written by Franklin Einspruch, who is an artist himself. In his own words, Einspruch describes what Artblog is all about:

I'm Franklin Einspruch, an artist and writer. I started blogging about art back in 2002 and put up Artblog.net in May 2003. What began as a rant into the digital aether about art has turned into a long conversation with people all over the world about art and how we experience it. I believe that art's main power is to encapsulate human experience in an aesthetic, intuitive, non-verbal way. Art that has other agendas tends to arouse my suspicion, but I'll give it a shot. For more information, see the Third-Person About.

In the aforementioned Third-Person About, Einspruch goes on to say:

Personal, contrarian, subjective, independent, spirited, and consitutionally indifferent to the art "scene," as people call it, Artblog.net seeks to apply clear looking, clear thinking, and clear writing to visual art. It posts exhibition reviews, art book reviews, reports on comics and illustration, essays on a broad range of concerns within visual art, special publications, and a weekly roundup of hyperlinks to art-related stories selected by the author on the basis of importance, humor, or oddball virtue. Artblog.net publishes each weekday.

According the blog's traffic page or "peastat", it approximates 61 hits per hour--this number is based on recent hits and is therefore subject to change frequently. The blog has also been featured in various art magazines.

One recent post on Artblog.net shows us the work by artist John Link. John Link's abstract artwork is really something. Although Artblog featured several of his paintings, this one is my favorite:

John Link: Battled Ground, 2008.

For more art by John Link, visit johnlink.org.

Another great post on Artblog was a post on New Modernism. Since I have been studying modernism (and postmodernism) in art for the past four years, I got really excited about this post. The post quotes what Walter Darby Bannard has to say about new modernism, and then analyzes it.

Though I've only mentioned two of Artblog's posts, the blog has so much to offer anyone interested in art. While the blog is very professional and scholarly, it often presents its material in a fun and more interesting way. Whether you're an artist, art historian, or just an art lover, the variety of posts (some long, some short and sweet) will deserve your undivided attention.

Overall, I think that Artblog makes for a great quick read or reference, and I look forward to visiting it again and again! And although I intend for my blog to focus a little more on how technology affects art, Artblog.net will definitely make a great reference for my blog in the future!

Welcome!

The term “art” covers such a large spectrum of ideas, things, and concepts. As an Art History major, with an emphasis in modern art, I am very interested in the standards of art and the requirements of art, or often the lack thereof. I hope to explore how technology relates to these ideas particularly in modern and contemporary art, specifically from 1940 through the present. However, I do not want to limit myself to just the relationship between modern and contemporary art and new technologies.

Although my main concentration in Art History has been in modern and contemporary art, I continue to be fascinated with any and all art up to the present. Though new technologies obviously cannot be related to the production of this past art, it absolutely relates to it in other ways. New technologies continue to become increasingly important in understanding older art. With new technologies, art historians can discover more and more about how art was produced, with what it was produced, etc. Art historians have even been able to use new technology to discover the original compositions underneath some of the greatest old masterpieces celebrated today. For instance, Giorgione’s The Tempest features a mysterious scene of a nursing mother in the wildness with a soldier standing guard, among other strange aspects of the painting. However, modern technology revealed that Giorgione had originally painted a second woman, in the nude, in the place where the soldier now stands. This discovery has opened the doors for much more study and interpretation of this famous work of art. In my blog, I would like to discuss and continue to explore instances like that of The Tempest to illustrate the important role new technologies has played in the study of art both old and new.

Giorgione, The Tempest, c. 1508, Venice, Italy.

Lastly, I would also like to discuss how technology has affected the art world in terms of accessibility of information about art. One-hundred years ago, the Mona Lisa may have been a familiar masterpiece in terms of hearing its name. However, fewer people would have been able to see an actual picture of the artwork, let alone be able to see it in person. New technologies of all kinds including, but not limited to, the internet, efficient travel, and mass production, have made it possible for millions of people to study and experience art that they would not have been able to study and experience in the past. I, for one, am eternally grateful for the advantages technology provides in relation to my study of Art History.

Without modern technology, the study of Art and Art History would not be what it is today. So, as someone in love with Art History, I have come to the conclusion that art loves technology.