Saturday, July 23, 2011

calder

























if you happened to have googled anything at all yesterday, you might have seen their homage to alexander calder's birthday, replacing the google logo with a calder inspired mobile. his mobiles are probably what he is best know for, but his enormous sculptures are equally amazing, there are at least two here in downtown chicago, flamingo being the largest and best know at federal plaza. braniff also commissioned serveral planes for the 76 bicentennial, like the one above.

the calder foundation has lots of great pics http://www.calder.org/ 

Monday, July 18, 2011

john currin

the cripple

hot pants













































































john currin is one of my favorite american painters. i like these two, although some of this best are not completely blog appropriate, so you'll have to check those out for yourself. his themes are sexual and social and done with amazing technique.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

ivan serpa




















 
























didn't know much about ivan serpa until i saw him in an old varig airlines comerical. he was a brazilian painter from rio and was a big part of the brazilian post-war avant-garde, both as an artist and teacher at the museum of modern art in rio. esteemed in brazil, he isn't all that well know outside it, perhaps due to his early death in 1973. they might not have such a impact these days but i love the paintings above...

Saturday, July 9, 2011

air zaire



































































i have been fascinated by zaire ever since i spent a semester in college studying its former ruler mobutu. air zaire is long gone but it had some great graphics from back in the 70s. these are a few i've found online.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

cy twombly







back in 2009 the art institute here in chicago had a showing of twombly's work entitled: the natural world, and i thought it was beautiful and inspiring. the mix of drawing, painting, calligraphy, graffiti all on such a large scale is a feast. twombly died july 5 in rome.

from the times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/arts/design/cy-twombly-an-art-who-emphasized-mark-making.html