Masquerade – A celebration of Masks

It’s been a while since I posted.  I have been busy  compiling another video – a  a celebration of masks from history, cultures and of course art.  The most prolific artist who featured a lot of  of masks in his work was probably James Ensor ( 1860 –  1949) and many of his mask paintings are featured in this video.  Picasso, Matisse and Watteau also appear in the video, along with masks from different cultures.  There’s even a few quirky ones (knitted) which I’ve added and a few TV characters who are famous for wearing masks.  Hope you enjoy the video (and recognise some of the paintings)

Many image credits here;-

Picasso here here here

Pietro Longhi here  and here Magritte here Banksy here   Eileen Agar here  and here Salvador Mayol

Thomas Eakins    Louis Emile Durandelle   Man Ray Brancusi  Zeng Fanzhi  Watteau Diane Dooley Natalie Holland

Green Man  Abriginal  and here  Chinese, Japanese and Greek mask here  American Indian Indian  Roman Chinese

PLUS

Another Poetry challenge over on Bookstains!  Just click and go!

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Scream and Scream Again!

The Scream by Edvard Munch 1893

Today is the anniversary of when the famous painting ‘The Scream’ by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944) was recovered undamaged where it was first stolen in February 1994 from the Oslo Museum.  It had been missing nearly 3 months.

Artist and printmaker Munch explored themes of madness, jealousy and sexual awakening, among other psychological states.  His childhood was tragic.  His sister and mother died of tuberculosis and there was mental instability in his family.  The Scream’ (also known as ‘the Shriek) or to give its original title Der Schrei der Natur   means ‘The Scream of Nature) and the painting was part of his ‘Frieze of Life’ which he painted in 1893.

A lot has been written about Munch’s tragic personal life as well as his art  (read two of my earlier posts here and here ).  Munch. although striking, tall and handsome to women was himself quite wary of the opposite sex.  He had a fear of marriage, convinced that any children he may have may be prone to depression and physical illness – a family trait.

My original print re assembled

The location in the painting has been identified as the road leading up to the mental hospital Munch’s sister Laura Catherine was a patient in at the time of the painting.  I once watched a programme about Munch and this painting and it was said that screams could be heard from the interns  by Munch and his family.

In a page in his diary headed Nice 22.01.1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image thus:

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

This painting has inspired films, masks and other art – my own included.  The painting has been stolen a few times.  the first time was February 12th 1994 and recovered undamaged in May 1994. 

Final print

Another version of ‘The Scream’ (there are several) was stolen by gunmen in 2004 and recovered in 2006 (lots of details about the thefts here.

In 2004 I even ‘borrowed’ the painting myself, basing some lino prints on it.  The intention behind this was to show the alternative worlds between madness and sanity.  I did this by cutting my print up and re-assembling, then making  further prints.  The print is divided and has the line running down the middle to show the split personality of the self and other.  I have heightened the colours to show intensity and acuteness – but I have made one muddier and more nebular to show the hidden and less lucid mood.

Original Scream image from here

More about this painting here.

Munch Museum here

Poetry contribution

'Aqua Sulis' (mixed media) by Lynda M Roberts

Here’s my poetry contribution for the ‘Freeflowing poetry challenge’.  It’s over on my other blog ‘Bookstains’.  I hope you enjoy it and join in!  An excellent idea of from the Artroadshow!

My 500th post

It’s not really my 500th post – that was yesterday, but I wanted to commemorate the Titanic.  I have been playing around with WordPress’ slide show tutorial and I thought what could be more fitting than to try to make a slide show of some of the items I have featured on my blog so far.  Starting in November 2008, I chose a few images from the monthly archives and made this slide show.  All the posts are still there in the archives, just type in the search facility or use the month and year as a clue.  I had great fun making it – it brought back many memories too.  I hope you enjoy watching it 🙂

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Update:  I have had to severely edit the slideshow as it was slowing everything down.  Hope this proves quicker.

My 427th post summary

read all about it?

I thought that it was time for a little summing up of what’s been happening on here.  This is my 427th post now.  So far (fingers crossed) I have managed to blog very nearly every day last year.  My goal for this year is not to miss one day out.  What am I finding to blog about?  ooh all sorts of interesting and some not so interesting things…….

Styx

I thought it was about time I put a little of my art on here, plus an explaination of what ‘echostains’ actually is.  Weird and wacky design is carrying on and so are the teapot posts. Just when you think you have seen it all – someone comes up with yet another innovative design.

Richard Flores 'Stormin Norman teapot

January also saw the launching of my other blog ‘Bookstains’ just press the magic button on the right and get there instantly!  That blog is dedicated to reading challenges, authors I have read and a mapping of my Gormenghast journey as I re read Titus Groan and Gormenghast and write my findings and any new insights I find.  I shall be having a spring clean on here – if Spring ever comes and a bit of a sprucing up.  I may even have to change my theme as the formatting is erratic at times – sometimes the text comes out massive when I save a post.

PS

Echostains – what exactly is it’

echo stain

 People are always asking me how I came up with such unusual name like ‘Echostains’ for a blog. Echostains began was a project I did at University. That project has now seen many changes, but it is still alive and kicking. I am still exploring communication through art, though now the communication is through the written word and in cyberspace. Here’s an explanation of the original concept;-

'Watcher'

‘EchoStains’ is a personal project that I completed in the second year of my Visual Arts BA Hons Degree. (1Ith August 2002). I have split the project into three parts because the process was ongoing and progressive and each part inevitably merged seamlessly into the other, culminating in the final piece – the large painting ‘Echo Stain’. The work is about communication – on all different levels.

'Meeting Place'

Echostains

In this first part of the project, the process is as important as the eventual image, in the sense that ‘recipes’ (see ‘My Surfaces’ category) and media components that have been explored in an earlier project, are now being applied in an almost ritualistic manner; i.e. pouring, splashing, scraping back, and finally painting. So, a dichotomy of measured and automatic response has merged to make the stain tangible. The ‘echo’ is the way that the piece communicates with the viewer – it is a first contact. Dialogue is established through the use of colour conversations. Solid matter versus the metaphysical and slight tensions between the representational and abstract start to emerge.

'House on the Borderland'

Another example is ‘House on the Borderland’ a book by William Hope Hodgson which was made iwth various inks overrunning each other, manually mnipulated to created ‘prisms’ crossing over each other.

'Alan Turing'

Shadow Maps

In this part of the project although the language is still personal, a kind of code is starting to come through. The Shadow Map’ is a form of communication: a visual narrative. Although there seems to be a gradual shifting away from the more nebulous ‘Echo Stains’, the ‘Shadow Maps’ are only an extension of the Echostains’ concept.

'Blue Animation'

Communication is continued by the use of colour relationships and special considerations makes themselves known. This is sometimes explored by painting in more gestural movements: sometimes motivated by lines of poetry – a measured response. The use of certain colour relationships denote mood. Repetition has been employed in some instances to convey a sense of rhythm and immediacy. The Shadow Maps try to give some semblance of coherence to the ‘dialogue’. The ensuing result is that they start to develop into a sort of communicative ‘code’ that is not yet deciphered – still in shadow.

'1066'

The Yellow Wallpaper

The monumental works of the artist Wlodzimierz Ksiazek are both public and personal. He has developed a kind of dialogue that communicates to the viewer. This can be summed up by the quote mentioned in the review by Merleau-Ponty, who wrote of Cezanne’s work how each element contributed to: “an emerging order of an object in the art of appearing, organises itself before our eyes.” It is this kind of ‘dialogue’ that I have used in the third part of my project, inspired by the short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman called ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. The story can be read online.

'Creeping Woman'

Although these paintings do not ‘illustrate’ the story literally: it is the highly personal narrative that is the chief objective. The use of repetition and occasional nuance that starts to communicate on some level with the viewer.

So now you know what the ‘Echostains’ concept is about. Each gallery holds about  a dozen paintings. I shall be putting more on, as well as new work.

 PS

My art experiments – Pretend playing in the pretend snow

nothing to see really

Time for some more art experiments: I was going through some  pics taken when the snow was about (shhhhhh,  better whisper in case it hears me and comes back …) and I thought I’d have a bit of fun with the images.  These are the pics I took – yes, nothing special to write home about, BUT…….

a miserable vista of snowy delight

It’s amazing what lurks under the surface of that snow…so I did a bit of excavation work…..

 

cleared a few paths…..

snow has many layers - this has three

Cropped, super imposed and filled (no fancy footwork here).  Just when I’d cleared the snow away, I decided to add some more.  But I wasn’t happy with the composition at all, so a quick crop…

I give you - 'See amid the Winters Snow 1'

And ‘See Amidst the Winter’s Snow’ was born.  Here are a couple of variations…  old comic book colours maybe – but there wasn’t anything comical about that snow! 

'See Amidst the Winter's Snow' and feel that icy blast

 

and finally this one which I warmed up slightly with what looks like something out of the Blitz-

Neuclear Blitz anyone?

As you can see from the original composition, the portrait formated pic didn’t really take off.  So – waste not want not, I say – I decided to merge reverse images of the same shot and go with this;-

'See Amid the Winters Snow' reversal

 I think that the last image would make an interesting  painting,  if I turned the top roofs into tall chimney pots, contrasting Victorian industry with modern day living  –  progress marching through the constancy of the weather – I might be on to something.  Some things will always be with us.