Marcel Duchamp Redux

Norton Simon Museum
April 25 through December 8

Opening next month is Marcel Duchamp Redux, a special installation commemorating the 45th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's legendary retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum (now the Norton Simon Museum). Organized by Director Walter Hopps in 1963, By or of Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy was the first-ever retrospective of the artist's oeuvre. Organizing an exhibition around this groundbreaking artist was a major coup for a small West Coast institution. The Museum's challenge to East Coast authority was widely touted, and Hopps went on to organize a series of innovative exhibitions there.

Marcel Duchamp Redux features 12 Duchamp works acquired by the Museum during and after the 1963 exhibition, as well as photographs and ephemera from the retrospective.

Frozen in Grand Central

In this performance piece 207 people walking through Grand Central Station in New York all "froze" in place at the same moment. During the five minute event onlookers were truly bewildered as they tried to figure out what had happened.
Watch the video here.



Update: Can I get a napkin please.

Impressivenism???

The impressionist movement which came out of France in the 19th century was an art campaign that encompassed light in its changing forms, unique angles, vibrant brush strokes, in a calm everyday setting. The movement in the visual art brought along movements in music, and literature of that time. This movement much like others in any form of art brought about a lot of criticism and hostility from art schools and critiques. Criticism is expected with any good change, the time period gave fame to world renowned artists, like Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Pierre Renoir, American born Mary Cassatt and many others. The impressionist or to my eyes impressivenist style is one of my favorites, for many reasons but the painting by Georges Seurat "A sunday afternoon on the island of la grande jatte" Sums everything i can say with hundreds of words, in one piece.... Enjoy

Bowl (dinos) with symposium scene

Click on the title to enter MFA Boston website to view more details about this piece.

Bowl (dinos) with symposium scene

Italic, Etruscan

Archaic Period about 530 B.C.

Ceramic, Black Figure

Height: 22 cm (8 11/16 in.)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Francis Bartlett Donation of 191213.205

Although you will find this piece to be an Etruscan art, Isn't the style similar to the Greek's black-figure pottery style?

Black Figure pottery is a Greek style developed during the Orientalizing period around the 7th century BCE. It is called "Black figure" since the figures on the vases were black, while the background was usually a pale color. Athenian artists adopted this technique and it turned to be a dominant style in Greece around the 6th century BCE, during the Archaic period. During the same period of time, the Etruscan art flourished in Etruria (Italy). I think that either the Greeks and Etruscans traded art pieces or one must have copied the style of the other.
(background info & dates taken from Art History, third edition, by Marilyn Stokstad)

Any thoughts on who might the artist was? I guess he was Greek...

I just do not think that the figures themselves portrait a Greek style; the faces, the body form...

Any suggestions to why it is classified as Etruscan art?

A Day in Pompeii

For those of you taking the history of ancient art, you might want to take a trip to San Diego to see this exhibition. The San Diego Natural History Museum has more than 250 artifacts from Pompeii currently on display, including some of the body casts I mentioned in class. This is a cast of a dog that was buried in the volcanic ash.

A Day in Pompeii
February 15 – June 15, 2008

Discover an ancient story of human drama and natural disaster. This compelling exhibition features authentic artifacts from Pompeii, buried in 79 CE by a catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius. Most poignant and dramatic are the body casts of the volcano's victims, frozen in their last moments. Objects such as frescoes, jewelry, and household items take visitors back in time to experience life and death in ancient Rome's favorite vacation resort.

Broissin Sci-fi Residential Homes

Broissin Architect Firm, located in Mexico City, Mexico has created many innovated buildings in the last several years, mostly in Mexico. He has been competing his architectural ideas for some time and won his current commission internationally. His work appears to look very futuristic and environmental. The new building the “Urban Shelter” commissioned to be built in Vancouver, Canada, as a residential building that holds clinging pods to the exterior of it. It is planned to be a 270 square foot aluminum pod, occupying up to 2 people, with all the usual necessities that a home would require. There would be solar panels on the roof and octagon windows to help energize the transportable units to the side of the building. Broissin definitely depicts a sci-fi notion of a habitation capsule. It is beautiful and cutting edge, it reminds me of the new Star War films. So, far the dates when thought to be constructed, is currently unknown. The pictures give you the idea of the construction of the pods and the building itself.

Look at their website to keep up with the news of the building. http://www.broissin.com/

Refered to article from Architectural Record by Beth Broome (2007)

Cucamonga Peak/Art Avalanche

Cucamonga Peak/Art Avalanche presents…Contemporary Art Events at Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum

Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Chaffey College, the Art Committee, the Wignall Museum, the Art Department and the Chaffey Art Organization have combined energies to create Cucamonga Peak/Art Avalanche, a collaborative effort that is pleased to announce three contemporary art events at Chaffey College. 30 Years: Student Invitational Exhibition Artists Revisited, Wignall Museum; reNEW/reSTORE art shop and installation, CAO at the Wignall Museum; Temporary Art Park (TAP), Chaffey College Art Committee and Art Department, campus wide. The dates for the events are March 24-April 4, 2008 with an Artists Walk with TAP artists on Saturday, March 29, 3:00-5:00 p.m. and an Artists’ Reception for all events 4:00-6:00 p.m. featuring the groovy sounds of the dj duo Mohair Gravy.

30 Years: Student Invitational Exhibition Artists Revisited - 30 Years is an exhibition and sale featuring art works by former Chaffey College Student Invitational artists from several decades. All work is available for sale and a portion of the proceeds will benefit innovative programming at the Wignall Museum and by the Chaffey Art Organization. Artists include Christopher Alday, Charlotte Apacible, Theodisa Aquino, Mary Beierle, Tommi Cahill, David Clark, Adrian Culverson, Buffy Cutler, Jay Dawes, Ranee De la Rosa, David Delgado, Kimberly Diebolt, Patrick Gallagher, Gabriel Gonzales, Price Hall, Natasha Helton, Aaron Johnson, Bryce Johnson, Kreshnik Kastrati, Jena McRoberts, Kimberly McWhorter, Catherine Mejia, Sean Pothier, Emily Rinard, Michael Rodriguez, Joshua Schandoney, Stephanie Schmitz, Miles Smith, Kate Thomas, Lee Tintary, Monique Villanueva, Jan Volz, and Kelli Zabel.

Temporary Art Park (TAP) is an exciting new alternative, multi-disciplinary event sponsored by the Chaffey College Art Committee and Art Department incorporating the public art work of visual artists at sites on the campus of Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. Artists: Stephanie Bedwell, Libby Gerber, Price Hall, Matthew Hebert, Dodd Holsapple, Jessica Hutchins, Brandon Jones, Joyce Kohl, Ryan Lamb, Helen Lessick, Amy Maloof, Doug McGoon, Jessica Newman-Skrentny, Justin Stadel, Christian Tedeschi, Robert Wechsler, Karen Wolfe & Dori Atlantis .

reNEW/reSTORE - Chaffey Art Organization (CAO) members have conducted and participated in a series of workshops to produce one-of-a-kind art objects and small editions based on the theme of renewal. These eclectic and exciting art objects will be sold in a creative installation conceived and created by CAO members in the Wignall Museum’s Project Room. All sales will benefit CAO’s student organized art programming on campus.

All of these exciting contemporary art events are taking place concurrent to the Chaffey College 125th Anniversary Celebration, which will be held at Chaffey College on Saturday, March 29 from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and features alumni events, live bands, a free BBQ, a kid’s zone with Happy Crowd, jumpers and storytelling, an open house on campus and other special events TBA. For more information, contact Chaffey College Marketing Department at 909/652-6113 or 909/652-6114.

LOCATION: Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum/Gallery are located at 5885 Haven Avenue, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737-3002. Admission is free. Park in the North Parking Lot, permits can be purchased at vending machines for $2.

MUSEUM HOURS: Monday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.; Saturday, noon - 4:00 p.m.
CLOSED Sundays and Holidays.

ART EVENT INFO: (909) 652-6492, www.chaffey.edu/wignall

Mesoamerican Network Meeting

Mesoamerican Network Spring 2008 Meeting
Sunday, April 13, noon-4:00 PM
Autry National Center, Griffith Park

Speakers:

John Pohl (Fowler Museum, UCLA)
Children of the Plumed Serpent: Art and Ritual in Mesoamerica's Late Antiquity

Jeremy Coltman (UCR)
Sustaining the Celestial Vault: A Study of the Skybearer in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest

Danny Zborover (U. Calgary)
Putting History Back into Archaeology: The Chontalpa Historical Archaeology Project, Oaxaca

Veronica Pacheco (UCLA)
Ethnomusicology in Action: Exploring Music and Ritual in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca

Ronald Loewe (CSU-Long Beach)
Working for Tommy Hilfiger: Article 27, Neoliberal Reform, and the Death of Agriculture at the Mexican Periphery

Plan to take advantage of our meeting at the Autry National Center, and visit the Museum of the American West. In addition to their permanent collections, see "All the Saints of the City of the Angels." Museum is open 10am-5pm, $9 adults, $5 students with ID and seniors. (note: you do not need to pay the entrance fee to attend the meeting). For more info on museum and directions, go to www.autrynationalcenter.org.

Remember, you can now get information about Mesoamerican Network meetings at www.mesoamericanet.com. Also, you can participate in a discussion board at http://groups.google.com/group/MesoNet.

Abstract Art

Hey you guys check this website out. Is all about abstract art like the painting posted here (above), it is very interesting so you guys enjoy it ok?.... =)

http://abstract-art.com/index.shtml

Abstract: Any art that does not represent observable aspects of nature or transforms visible forms into a stylized image.

FLUIDS

A HAPPENING BY ALLAN KAPROW

During three days, about twenty rectangular enclosures of ice blocks (measuring about 30 feet long, 10 wide and 8 high) are built throughout the city. Their walls are unbroken. They are left to melt.


This spring, in conjunction with the exhibition Allan Kaprow—Art As Life organized by MOCA, LACMA will recreate Allan Kaprow’s Fluids the weekend of April 25-27. First realized for his1967 exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum, Fluids will be reinvented by teams of volunteers in a wide range of sites across Los Angeles including some of Kaprow’s original locations. Those interested in participating should attend a preliminary meeting at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, at 3 PM on Thursday, March 6. The happening will be thoroughly discussed and details of the event will be reviewed.

Assistant Curator Michele Urton and Director of Education Toby Tannenbaum are coordinating Fluids and co-chairing this meeting. If you have questions or to RSVP, please contact Michele at murton@lacma.org or 323-857-6225 or Toby at ttannenb@lacma.org or 323-857-6138.

Most Popular Art Museums in the World

The top 20 most popular art museums in the world compiled by Art Newspaper. The list below includes the number of visitors to each of the museums.

8,300,000 - Louvre, Paris
5,509,425 - Centre Pompidou, Paris
5,191,840 - Tate Modern, London
4,837,878 - British Museum, London
4,547,353 - Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
4,518,413 - National Gallery of Art, Washington
4,310,083 - Vatican Museums, Vatican City
4,159,485 - National Gallery London
3,166,509 - Musée d’Orsay, Paris
2,652,924 - Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
2,650,551 - National Palace Museum Taipei
2,435,300 - Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2,395,075 - State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
2,232,475 - Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
2,219,554 - Museum of Modern Art, New York
2,133,149 - Field Museum, Chicago
1,772,255 - Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo
1,674,607 - CaxiaForum Barcelona, Barcelona
1,650,000 - Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow
1,649,969 - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Looks like I need to do some more traveling. I've only been to 13 of these top 20 museums.

Here's a PDF of the complete list.

2008, A Message For America...

The 2008 presidential primary elections have been in their own right historic from the start. The idea that a woman, and an African American could legitimately run for the president of the United States of America was far fetched even a year ago especially when you realize they were the last two groups that were offered the right to give their opinion on who should run their nation. With that being said the idea of an African American legitimately running for the supreme American office was even more far fetched for reasons that are obvious. Barack Obama has seemed to wipe those old stereotypes of the past out with a bi-ethnic, bi-economic, bi-partisan, bi-religious and bi-regional attitude that actually resembles our nation as a whole, since its birth. His campaign has ran an incredibly diverse and respected ideal for change. The image is a perfect illustration and visual analogy to the credit of senator Obamas speaking to the masses. The artwork is a simple but extremely effective lifelike silhouette, which encompasses the junior Senator from Illinois' thought... idea...plan... and message that seems to transcend throughout all of America.

Resolution to Old Power Methods

The turbines we usually find in fields and desserts to produce power are now being redirected to the deep sea. We all know how the aesthetic of these pinwheels are definitely nothing beautiful to look at and have always left people wondering if there was another way to produce energy efficiently, but could be aesthetically beautiful. However, that is not the only issue that has left environmentalist thinking about in Western Norway. Primarily the fact that there is not enough space to place these towered turbines. The answer has been found, to place them in the northern sea, covering about 400 sq. miles,

where no other would see except for the whales. The total of 2 million windmills covering the spot, presumed that it could give power to all of Norway. Although the project has been in process for some time now, there had not been much success. The current prototype called Sway, thought to be the next plausible leading turbine designed by Eystein Borgen. Test trials reviews currently say that it works but not impeccably. It is currently taking up changes and if the end result proves successful, it will be erected for the schedule goal of 2015.

From Forbes Magazine- February 25, 2008