Paleolithic Period

Learning about the Paleolithic period can also be studied in an anthropology class. Along with cave art, the tool technology can also be considered an art form. These tools, such as spear throwers had utilitarian functions and practical purposes. During the time of the Upper Paleolithic, there were 5 archaeoligical industries. One of them, the Solutrean, is what Venus of Willendorf is primarily associated with. If you're interested in any of this stuff, take an anthropology class; you'll learn a lot.

Martin Waugh's Liquid Sculpture

Catherine shared this site with me that features liquid sculpture. She agreed that it's cool but asked, "Is it art?" What do you think?

Sandfantasy

My friend sent me the following link to preview sandfantasy video clips.

It's interesting to see how Llana Yahav, sand animation artist, uses sand to paint a live picture. As I opened up the first video clip, titled "Just Imagine", I immediately envisioned a painter painting . But, instead of using a canvas, paint, and a variety of paint brushes, Llana chooses to use a lighted glass table, sand, and her own fingers to develop her sand fantasy images live, or right before her audience's eyes.

Drawings From Leonardo to Titian: A North Italian Itinerary

Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A.

Works from the museum's collection explore the stylistic range and influences of artists from northern Italy in the 16th century.
Through Feb. 26

Hours: Tue.-Thu. and Sun., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; closed Mon.

Price: Free; parking is $7 Information: 310-440-7300

This exhibition offers highlights from the Getty's collection of North Italian Renaissance drawings, focusing on the work and influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Titian. Italy in the 1400s and 1500s was a patchwork of dukedoms and principates, with artists often connected to particular courts. Artists in the northern regions Italy—Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and the Veneto—had diverse approaches to drawing, working with different materials and developing distinctive regional styles and effects.

BAM ... WOOSH ... Vintage Comics = Art

'Masters of American Comics'

What: Comic strips from the first half of the 20th century

Where: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood

When: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Ends: March 12
Price: $5; free on Thursdays

Contact: (310) 443-7000, www.hammer.ucla.edu

Also What:

Comic books, '40s onward

Where: MOCA, 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Ends: March 12

Price: $8Contact: (213) 626-6222, www.moca.org

technocraft

technocraft at the Wignall
January 30 - March 18, 2006
Artist’s reception: Wednesday, February 1, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Curator’s walk through: Saturday, March 4, 2:00 p.m.

technocraft is a group show featuring the work of seven contemporary artists who, through meticulous processes, apply a hi-tech aesthetic to create work that is derived from and reflects the culture of mass production.

The exhibition focuses on startling transformations of mundane materials into otherworldly, hi-tech objects and renderings; indeed the work conveys a presence and complexity that is greater than the sum of its parts. Using intensive, hand-made production skills, each artist imbues everyday lo-tech materials with a highly polished, digital-age-based vernacular.

Exploring notions of wastefulness, indulgence, and a fascination with technology, the exhibition provides insight into the varied representations of contemporary culture by looking at the fissure between the machine-age and its heir apparent, the age of information. technocraft includes a presentation of work diverse in size, scale, and media in the form of installation, sculpture, works on paper, and multimedia constructions by artists Eduardo Abaroa, Stephen Hendee, Won Ju Lim, Amy Myers, Jason Rogenes, Jane South, and Shirley Tse.

technocraft opens at the Wignall Museum, Chaffey College on January 30 and continues through March 18, 2006. The exhibition is co-guest-curated by Karen Rapp, Director of Programs and Curator, Sweeney Art Gallery, UC Riverside, and Linda Theung, Research Assistant, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Egyptian Art Lecture at Chaffey College

Dr. Eva Kirsch, Director of the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum at California State University San Bernardino, will give a lecture at Chaffey College on the art of ancient Egypt. The museum's Egyptian collection consists of about 900 objects representing different periods of Egyptian history, from Pre-dynastic to Coptic. It includes 500 ceramic molds used to make amuletic jewelry. The larger part of the collection is on extended loan from the Harer Family Trust. About 200 objects are on permanent display year-round.

Lecture on February 2, 2006, 11:00 am to 12:15 in VSS-108.

Rim of the World

Misty Burruel lives on and in The Rim of the World. A world of nature and animals. A world bound by landscape.

Seeing snow, fires, forests, waking up to pine and horned creatures, she focuses on what is caught in the headlights of her art. Burruel's new sculptures fix the Rim of the World animals, wild and domestic, into a huge interpretive diorama of carved, molded, painted and challenged animals and nature.

Parasites and shadows are fastened onto each animal. Nature is in a deadlock with itself. The survival of the fittest is clearly Burruel's sub-message. Burruel's sculptures pay attention to all things living and fleeting.

Rim of the World runs from Tuesday, January 10 through Saturday, February 11, 2006. The opening reception is on Saturday, January 14, 2006 from 7-9pm. NEWSPACE gallery, 5241 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038.
Hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 11-4pm.

Image: "Kamikaze", 2004
Additional images can be viewed here.

See things the way they did. Blurry?

I just came across an ad on another art blog for the alcohol Absinthe. I really had to laugh. The selling point for the drink is to imply that it was used by some famous artists for inspiration. "Drink of choice for the world's artists and writers including the famous Oscar Wilde, Picasso, Van Gogh and Hemingway who used Absinthe for inspiration." The tag line is "See things the way they did."

photo la 2006

The 15th annual Los Angeles International Photographic Print Exposition, photo la 2006, is the largest and longest-running photographic art exhibition in the West. photo la hosts the finest photographic art from more than thirty countries. This year, the opening reception will be hosted by actress Diane Keaton, and proceeds will benefit the LACMA Photographic Arts Council. Opening night reception: January 19 (6pm-9pm).

photo la 2006

info | 1/19-1/22 | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | Call 323 932-5846 or e-mail eschillo@lacma.org for more information.

Photograph by Jeff Brouws/Courtesy of Craig Krull Gallery