Tesserae

Earliest copy of Mona Lisa found in the Prado

2012-02-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

Curators have spent the better part of a year removing black paint from another Mona Lisa painting, thinking for years it was just a copy of the original. Turns out, it dates back to the original and was painted alongside Leonardo's possibly by an apprentice.

Using infrared reflectography also revealed the copy’s underdrawings, sketches that painters make before they start with the paint. The Louvre took IR images of the Mona Lisa in 2004. When the Prado curators compared the two sets of underdrawings, they found that they matched, suggesting that the copy was made contemporaneously with the original, following the changes to the composition as the master drew them before the final version was painted. There are documentary sources that attest to Leonardo having his students paint alongside him in the studio, but this is the first time we have IR evidence that strongly indicates contemporaneous painting.

Read article on The History Blog.

Eat My Heart Out

2012-02-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

Eat My Heart Out: The Monstrous Side of Love, Opening Reception Friday, February 10, 2012 at 5:30-8:00pm in the Center for the Arts Student Gallery (CAA Lobby)

Review: PermaDirty

2012-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Inland Empire Weekly review of the new Claremont Packing House artspace, PermaDirty, owned and curated by Chaffey College art professor Cynde Miller.

Kicking off its inaugural group show, “This is the Dirt,” on Friday, PermaDirty offers an eclectic exhibition of work from IE residents that include installation, video performance, sculpture, painting, ceramics and illustration. Seeking to make the art process more open and inclusive of spectators, Miller decided that PermaDirty would be both a gallery and studio space, open to members of the public who wish to view art in action. Drawing from her experiences as an artist and art professor at Chaffey College, she was also determined to make that space accessible and free of commercial art-world pressures—a living, breathing creative arena in which artists and performers may display their work without the need to jump through endless red tape hoops.

Read the complete review here.

This is the Dirt

2012-01-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

THIS IS THE DIRT, INAUGURAL EXHIBITION AT PERMADIRTY PROJECT SPACE OPENS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2012. CURATED BY CYNDE MILLER.

PermaDirty, A New Art Space in Claremont’s Packing House merges art studio with art gallery.

Cynde Miller has long noticed that the Inland Empire, home to many amazing artists and art-goers, has few artist-run spaces that seek to nurture the local artistic community. Excited to fill this void, Miller, an IE artist and Professor of Art at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, has founded PermaDirty Project Space in Claremont’s Packing House. Friday, February 3 marks the grand opening with This is the Dirt, a group show Miller curated to showcase local, dynamic artists.

Miller’s vision for PermaDirty reflects a unique approach to viewing, exhibiting and making art; she wants to merge the art studio with the art gallery to create a blurring (read dirtying) of the two. “I want local artists to have a working art studio with an open door policy that allows viewers to engage at any point in the process. Combined with more formal exhibitions throughout the year, the space will help nurture local artists and also demystify what it is to look at and talk about art.”Miller explains, “PERMA, slang for permanent and intense, is combined with DIRTY to signify a new take on exhibition aesthetics and practice. The space challenges the notion of the gallery as a ‘white cube,’ what we think of as a pristine space for the quiet contemplation of rarified objects.” PermaDirty invites viewers into the studio to encourage fearless curiosity about art practice; and invites the artist into the gallery to challenge and perhaps dirty that cube.

This is the Dirt echoes Miller’s idea of what the gallery experience should be - nurturing, supportive, alive and permanently dirty. In the interest of fostering community, Miller invited a group of artists to not only contribute work to the show, but to each invite one other artist to submit work for Miller’s curatorial consideration.

In the coming months a selection process will be put in place to develop a rotation of artists who use the space as an art studio. Building community is a huge aim of the space, “Claremont has so many amazing young people and such a rich history of art-making; PermaDirty wants to make sure the two continue to be bridged.” By merging the art studio with the gallery, Miller looks forward to fostering curiosity, community and conversation between artists and seekers. Miller’s plans for PermaDirty also include art workshops for the community at large and a shop that sells art supplies and the work of PermaDirty artists.

PermaDirty is located on the second floor of the Packing House in Claremont: 532 West First Street, Unit 219, Claremont, CA 91711. This is the Dirt opens Friday, February 3rd from 7-10 PM and runs through April 13, 2012. Visit www.permadirty.org for more information.

Chaffey Art Organization

2012-01-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

Join the Chaffey Art Organization for their first meeting of 2012 on January 5th at 12:30pm in CAA-302. The Chaffey Art Organization is the student artist and art historian club of Chaffey College. Learn more about the club and their upcoming events at http://www.chaffeyart.org/.

Waste Land

2012-01-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow at 12:30 in RM 102 of Wargin hall (u)ntitled will be screening the documentary Waste Land. WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.

Food for Thought

2012-01-11T17:33:00.000-08:00

Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art

Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art are pleased to present Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption, January 17– March 24, 2012. The artists’ reception will be January 18 from 6-8pm with light refreshments and entertainment featuring dj Trickmilla. The exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

In Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption, artists Edith Abeyta, Fallen Fruit (David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young), Anne Hamersky, Mark Menjivar, and Jessica Rath use food as the impetus to explore food politics and activism in complex ways. In the Project Space, Lauren Michele Kasmer (LMK) presents a participatory installation, Thoughtful Food. Coordinated in concert with the One Book/One College (OBOC) program 2011-2012 selection, Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire, Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption and related program work to expand the dialogue of Pollan’s book into the realm of contemporary art.

A series of lectures, participatory events, and food-related programs are planned in concert with Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption. Exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

Please visit us online at www.chaffey.edu/wignall.

The Complete History of Art References in The Simpsons

2012-01-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Posted by Complex Magazine / Jan 9, 2012

Now in it’s twenty-third season, The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted television series in American prime-time. In four hundred plus episodes, the obvious laughs are often low-brow, but what has made the show such a success season after season are the satirical takes on popular culture. While the film, television and music references are easy to recognize, The Simpsons is often rather erudite with frequent nods to the art world.

Spanning from the renaissance masters to contemporary minds, here’s the complete history of art references in every Simpsons episode ever.

Helen Frankenthaler 1928-2011

2011-12-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

The New York Times:

Helen Frankenthaler, the lyrically abstract painter whose technique of staining pigment into raw canvas helped shape an influential art movement in the mid-20th century, and who became one of the most admired artists of her generation, died on Tuesday at her home in Darien, Conn. She was 83.

Her longtime assistant, Maureen St. Onge, said Ms. Frankenthaler died after a long illness but gave no other details.

Known as a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, Ms. Frankenthaler was married during the movement’s heyday to the painter Robert Motherwell, a leading first-generation member of the group. But she departed from the first generation’s romantic search for the “sublime” to pursue her own path.

Refining a technique, developed by Jackson Pollock, of pouring pigment directly onto canvas laid on the floor, Ms. Frankenthaler, heavily influencing the colorists Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, developed a method of painting best known as Color Field — although Clement Greenberg, the critic most identified with it, called it Post-Painterly Abstraction. Where Pollock had used enamel that rested on raw canvas like skin, Ms. Frankenthaler poured turpentine-thinned paint in watery washes onto the raw canvas so that it soaked into the fabric weave, becoming one with it.

Her staining method emphasized the flat surface over illusory depth, and it called attention to the very nature of paint on canvas, a concern of artists and critics at the time. It also brought a new open airiness to the painted surface and was credited with releasing color from the gestural approach and romantic rhetoric of Abstract Expressionism.

The 30 Harshest Artist-on-Artist Insults In History

2011-12-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

flavorwire.com

1. Andy Warhol on Jasper Johns:
“Oh, I think he’s great. He makes such great lunches.”

2. Salvador Dalí on Piet Mondrian:
“Completely idiotic critics have for several years used the name of Piet Mondrian as though he represented the sum mum of all spiritual activity. They quote him in every connection. Piet for architecture, Piet for poetry, Piet for mysticism, Piet for philosophy, Piet’s whites, Piet’s yellows, Piet, Piet, Piet… Well, I Salvador, will tell you this, that Piet with one ‘i’ less would have been nothing but pet, which is the French word for fart.”

3. Marc Chagall on Pablo Picasso:
“What a genius, that Picasso… It’s a pity he doesn’t paint.”

4. William Powhida on Takashi Murakami:
“…that hack Murakami trying to consume the market whole and ended up designing handbags…”

5. Pierre-Auguste Renoir on Leonardo da Vinci:
“He bores me. He ought to have stuck to his flying machines.”

6. Linder Sterling on Damien Hirst:
“Dead butterflies, cows, horses, humans, sheep, and sharks — it reads like the inventory of a funerary Noah. How many halved calves suspended in formaldehyde does the world need? To my way of thinking, none.”

7. Edgar Degas on Georges-Pierre Seurat:
“I wouldn’t have noticed it except that it was so big.”

8. Joseph Beuys on Marcel Duchamp:
“The silence of Marcel Duchamp is overrated. It has become the territory of a few intellectuals, far from the life of people.”

9. Mihail Chemiakin on Voina:
“Many of us can draw a phallus with our eyes closed, but to create something serious? That’s hard, that needs to be studied. Anyone can be an amateur shit-doodling hooligan. It’s unpleasant and casts a shadow on all serious artists.”

10. Frida Kahlo on the European Surrealists:
“They are so damn ‘intellectual’ and rotten that I can’t stand them anymore… I’d rather sit on the floor in the market of Toluca and sell tortillas, than have anything to do with those ‘artistic’ bitches of Paris.”

Read all 30 at flavorwire.com

John Chamberlain 1927-2011

2011-12-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

The New York Times:

John Chamberlain, who almost singlehandedly gave automotive metal a place in the history of sculpture, smashing and twisting together a poetic fusion of Abstract Expressionism and Pop from fenders, fins, bumpers and hoods, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 84.

His wife, Prudence Fairweather, announced his death but declined to give a cause. He had spent his last years mostly in Shelter Island, N.Y.

Maria Nordman Filmroom: Smoke, 1967–Present

2011-12-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Her work looks very interesting. Had to share this with you guys...

LACMA:

"Maria Nordman is internationally known as one of the most significant artists to emerge from Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s. FILMROOM: SMOKE is one of her earliest artworks, made at the time she left UCLA graduate school.

“Nordman is so often categorized as part of LA’s so-called ‘Light and Space’ movement, but in fact her work comes from a completely different—and appropriately Los Angeles inspired—point of view, demonstrated not only by her numerous projects in Europe and the U.S. in the last decade, but also by this early landmark artwork,” said Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director.

A single room silent double projection, FILMROOM: SMOKE incorporates a real chair and documents two actors interacting with the same chair on the beach at the ocean’s edge. The side-by-side projections, divided by a wall, describe two distinctly different camera compositions: one largely active and detailed, and one more still and general. The filmic picture plane is literally aligned with the meeting of earth and water along the L.A. coastline."

Its available for view at LACMA until the January 15, 2012!

What do you guys and girls think about this work? How does it make you feel?

Share your thoughts!

Archaeologists are Unravelling the Mysteries of Stonehenge

2011-12-06T17:58:00.000-08:00

A team of archaeologists has found two previously undiscovered sub-surface pits that have shed new light on the Stonehenge mystery. The two large pits are positioned within what is referred to as the Neolithic Cursus pathway, placing them in alignment with the rising and setting of the midsummer sun when viewed from Sonehenge's Heel Stone. The pits may have contained stones, posts or fires that would have marked the rise and fall of the sun over the horizon, lending to theories that the stone monument may have been used as a place of sun worship.

This is the first time we have seen anything quite like this at Stonehenge and it provides a more sophisticated insight into how rituals may have taken place within the Cursus and the wider landscape. These exciting finds indicate that even though Stonehenge was ultimately the most important monument in the landscape, it may at times not have been the only, or most important, ritual focus and the area of Stonehenge may have become significant as a sacred site at a much earlier date.

Researchers claim that the land on which Stonehenge stands may have been used as an ancient ritual site as many as 5,000 years before the erection of its iconic, standing stones.

Source: Past Horizons

The surreal architecture of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona

2011-12-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

By Rebecca Ruiz, Senior editor, msnbc.com
Like other major Spanish cities, Barcelona has many charms -- some of them magical. Antoni Gaudí's surreal architecture would arguably be atop any list of these attractions.
Born in 1852 in a small town outside of Barcelona, Gaudí is chiefly known for the Sagrada Familia, a church (pictured above) that is structured in the shape of a Latin cross. Work began on the Gothic-revival building in 1882; Gaudí joined the project the following year and continued to work on it until his death in 1926.
The dramatic Nativity facade, dedicated to Jesus' birth, and crypt are among several of Gaudí's works on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Gaudí's style, which included undulating lines, pops of color and spatial creativity, "anticipated and influenced many of the forms and techniques that were relevant to the development of modern construction in the 20th century," according to UNESCO.
If you'd like to see the article go here : La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
--Its amazing to see the differences between the work of Gaudi and the Gothic and Romanesque architecture we have learned for the past 2 or 3 weeks. Can spot any major differences between this and the cathedrals we have studied?

Watts Towers | LACMA

2011-12-01T22:46:00.000-08:00

LACMA:
"Constructed between 1921 and 1954/55 by Italian immigrant Simon Rodia, the Watts Towers have become an iconic monument to the city.

The collection of seventeen structures, which Rodia himself called Nuestro Pueblo (“our town”), were erected by hand and made of steel rods wrapped in wire mesh and coated with cement. Embedded into nearly every inch of the environment are shards of ceramics, bottles tiles, shells, and other scraps—often brought to Rodia by others in the neighborhood.

Owned by the State of California and managed by the City of Los Angeles, The Watts Towers are a National Historic Landmark and one of the most widely recognized works of art to come out of Southern California in the last century.

LACMA has partnered with the City of Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs toward the preservation of this landmark work of art. Throughout 2011 LACMA’s Conservation Center will develop a comprehensive plan for the long-term preservation of the Towers"

"I had in mind to do something big and I did it."—Simon Rodia

What do you guys feel about this unique piece? Do you see it as something sophisticated or simply an eye sore? What if these towers were stationed in front of your house?

ARTicles, Issue 9, December 2011

2011-12-01T00:26:00.001-08:00

ARTicles, Issue 9, is now available. Find your copy at the Center for the Arts and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art or view it online at http://www.chaffeyarticles.com/ (links for all issues are at upper-right corner of page).

In this issue:
Fall Dance Student Showcase by Katelyn Cochran
The Many Faces of Quinton Bemiller by Timothy Haerens
Chaffey Celebrates Dia de los Muertos by Katelyn Cochran
Heading Out: Christopher Alday by Minh Vo
Radio Edit: iconomaniacs by Sheila Taylor

ARTicles is a student-driven publication of the Chaffey College Center for the Arts. It is published twice each semester by a consortium of students with a passion for arts, entertainment and culture. The content reflects a diverse sample of the cultural life at the college. ARTicles is generously supported by the Chaffey College Marketing Department.

The Color Black

2011-11-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Black hasn't always been known as a color you know? Before Newton's discovery of the color spectrum, black and white were not considered as colors. Throughout history, black has been known to be used only as the color for underground spaces such as the prehistoric caves. In Egypt, black was associated with death while in Europe during the Middle Ages, it symbolized demons, evil, the devil, or ill omens. Until the Romanesque period, black began to be used as a color not associated with evil. It began to be used as the color for robes in the monastic order. Today, black is used all over especially in fashion. It is now considered one of the six major hues even though it may not be as liked as other bright colors.

Why is it that black was considered evil or death? Why didn't yellow become associated with evil? Do we attach symbols or meanings to colors? Is it cultural or something else?

The first paragraph is a summary of the article The Color That Wasn't a Color by Ann Landi.

Stolen Painting Returned to Germany

2011-11-23T01:29:00.000-08:00

A U.S. University returned a painting that was stolen more then six decades ago from Berlin during World War II. The Flagellation of Christ was among many that were stolen from a Berlin museum from British and Russian soldiers.

“One of the many tragedies associated with World War II was the loss of countless works of art that were stolen, confiscated, looted, pillaged or destroyed,” Michael McRobbie, the president of Indiana University, said during a handover ceremony at the German capital’s Charlottenburg Palace.

Art is often stolen during war. Do you think that art should be returned to where it was created?

Source: The Washington Post

NY museum galleries refocus gaze on Islamic art

2011-11-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

By By Ellen Freilich

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifteen renovated galleries offer fresh perspective on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of more than 12,000 Islamic works of art spanning 13 centuries and an area ranging from Spain to India.

About 1,200 pieces of art will be on view at any one time with displays of textiles and works on paper changing frequently due to the sensitivity of these materials to light.

A re-thinking of the Islamic art collection, developed alongside the museum's years-long renovation project, led to the new galleries being named to reflect the range of nations and empires that produced the art.

While the collection was once succinctly termed Islamic Art, the museum now describes the works inhabiting the galleries as "Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia."

The new emphasis on geography grew out of the view that while religion unifies the collection, region diversifies it.

For the whole article: Islamic art
Hopefully with more museum galleries like these, we get to look up to countries like Islam for their art and culture. What do you think?

Return to Inlandia

2011-11-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

DNA Reveals Leopard Spotted Horses

2011-11-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

What exactly are those spots on the horse in this cave painting? I know that in class I have learned one possible explanation of these spots found in cave paintings, but here is another.

Researchers at the University of York along with a team of fellow scientists from all over the world have run cutting edge DNA analysis on bone specimens from horses dating back as far as 35,000 years ago. They found that four of the samples originating in Europe carried the gene associated with modern leopard spotting, strongly suggesting these markings existed back then and cave painters were accurately capturing the horses they saw.

Here is the link for the full article: Gizmodo

Ancient Art: Skulls

2011-11-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

The other day I was thinking about how the ancient people of Jericho decorated their skulls and placed them in their homes for display. Why is it that we find that disturbing? We admire the Dia de los Muertos art; it includes decorated candy skulls and many little figures dealing with skeletons of the dead. Most of them represent people with the use of cloth. We do not find this disturbing, but a skull that is decorated from Jericho is. Maybe it may be the fact that the skull is from the deceased person itself and decorated to look life-like. Imagine having a skull of a close relative on the living room shelf! How disturbing!

Why do you think?

Metropolis II

2011-11-05T19:53:00.002-07:00

"an intense and a complex kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city."

This exhibition is unique in the fact that it uses small scale RC cars to portray its fast-paced 21st century environment.

"Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. According to Burden, "The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21^st Century city."

LACMA does not give an exact date of its release as they state "Coming soon Fall 2011"

See for yourself at: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/metropolis-ii

I'm curious to know how loud all these vehicles really are!

Sculpture of Ai WeiWei Corpse Spooks German Town

2011-11-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - A mock corpse of Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei in an art gallery has caused commotion in a small German town, leading some panicked residents, mistaking the statue for a real body, to alert the police.

The life-size sculpture of a dead-looking Ai -- which lies face-down on the floor in front of large glass windows -- has shocked passersby on the street.

"Several people had already called within days of the exhibition going up," said Peter Steger from the police office in Bad Ems, the town where the work can be seen.

The Chinese artist He Xiangyu said he intended to praise Ai WeiWei's efforts to criticize corruption and censorship in the Chinese government despite the threat of imprisonment.
Ai was detained without charge for 81 days earlier this year, a move by China that drew heavy criticism from Western governments.
Ai said on Tuesday that China's communist government had ordered him to pay 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in taxes and fines allegedly due from the company he works for.
He Xiangyu used actual human hair hand-knotted onto plastic and fiberglass to create the statue's realistic qualities. The statue in Bad Ems is one of three copies. ($1 = 6.355 Chinese Yuan)
(By Natalia Drozdiak, editing by Paul Casciato | Reuters – Wed, Nov 2, 2011)

Would you have mistaken this piece as a real corpse?

Glenn Ligon: AMERICA

2011-10-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

For those interested in Conceptual Art..

Glenn Ligon's work is on display at LACMA from October 23, 2011 to January 22, 2012.

"The exhibition includes unknown early material and the reconstruction of seminal bodies of work such as the Door paintings, the coal dust Stranger canvases and the Coloring series."

For more information check out this link: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/glenn-ligon-america

Richard Serra: New Works at Gagosian Gallery

2011-10-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Brief article on NPR about the art of Richard Serra.

Serra's work may be psychological; it may be theatrical. But the real work that it does for us is philosophical. These are philosophical spaces that excite us by letting us remember what it is like to discover the world through active living.

Art:21 Screening

2011-10-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Night of the Living Dead at the Wignall Museum

2011-10-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

Iconomaniacs Episode 28: Apple

2011-10-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

In their podcast, iconomaniacs, Art History professors John Machado and Denise Johnson consider the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy in art referencing various approaches to the themes of chaos vs. order, nature vs. civilization, female vs. male, and emotion vs. reason as they relate to this year's Chaffey College book selection, Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire. Iconomaniacs Episode 28: Apple can be viewed on www.iconomaniacs.com, through iTunes, or downloaded to a portable device. This is an enhanced podcast with images being presented along with the dialogue.

Menil’s Artist Documentation Program Goes Online

2011-10-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Very cool.

Former Menil chief conservator Carol Mancusi-Ungaro began interviewing artists, in the presence of their works of art in 1990, recording their attitudes and feelings toward the works’ conservation and exhibition. The series of videotaped interviews snowballed into the The Menil Collection’s Artist documentation Program, with 33 artists on record. Now, the ADP interview collection is available online on the Menil’s website as the ADP Archive.

The ADP interviews are casual and candid, filmed in the conservation studio, an exhibition gallery, or an artist’s studio, often by award-winning filmmaker and video artist Laurie McDonald, who performed video editing and post-production on the full collection.

ADP Archive

MOCA 2011 Gala

2011-10-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, although I'd love to attend, doesn't look like I'll be a guest at this year's MOCA Gala. Individual tickets run from $2,500 to $10,000.

This week MOCA announced that Deborah Harry will perform at the Gala on November 12th.

In the past, MOCA has lined up pop sensations like Lady Gaga and Kanye West to perform at its annual fund-raising gala. Last year, Caetano Velosa, Beck and Devendra Banhart were a less obvious draw but arguably had more of a visual art connection.

Now MOCA is going with a longtime art-world favorite by lining up Deborah Harry to perform at its Nov. 12 gala, which is being developed by Marina Abramovic. In announcing the singer's participation, museum director Jeffrey Deitch calls her "an icon of music, art, and fashion, and one of the most influential people in contemporary culture."

The Gala will coincide with the opening of the MOCA Grand Avenue exhibition Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles.

100,000 Year Old Art Studio Discovered

2011-10-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

Archeologist discovered an "art workshop" in South Africa dated 100,000 years ago. The archeologist found ochre, grindstones, and storage containers for creating art.

"Early homo-sapiens using ochre was previously recorded to have happened around 60,000 years ago. But these new findings show that early humans were not only using ochre much earlier, but also that they were producing and storing it 100,000 years ago."

Abalone shells were found containing ochre, and the holes on the abalone shells were plugged up creating a storage container for the ochre.

Check out the Gizmodo link below for more pictures.

Source: Gizmodo, Science

Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple

2011-10-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

For those who would like to visit a Buddhist temple, I recommend Hsi Lai Buddhist temple on the hillsides of Hacienda Heights in California. And yes, its free. The only problem is finding parking in the roads. Other than that, parking is free.

This place is great and shows various Budda statue shrines along the halls leading to the main temple. You find a little fountain full with different plants, trees, and statues. This is one of the beautiful sights besides the interior of the temple which is filled with little niches with lighted candles. In the middle wall of the main temple, you find three huge golden statues. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in this part.

The architecture is the traditional Chinese curved roofs with designs on the edges. If you stand on top of the stairs in front of the main building, you have a great view of the hillside. In the back of the main temple, you find a circular building that has the names of deceased persons around the walls and on top, but no photos allowed.

This temple has a mini shop, lecture class, restaurant and more. If you want to know more about it you can visit their website through this link: http://www.hsilai.org/en/index.html

Pacific Standard Time: An L.A. Art Story

2011-10-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

Another story on the Pacific Standard Time exhibitions happening across southern California this fall.

Read and listen to the complete story from NPR:

The story of America's rise on the global art scene has mostly taken place in New York — but now Los Angeles wants in on the narrative.

Over the past 10 years, the wealthy L.A.-based Getty Foundation has doled out about $10 million in grants to help launch Pacific Standard Time, an unprecedented collaboration between more than 60 cultural institutions with one grand theme in mind: the birth of the L.A. art scene from 1945 to 1980.

For six months beginning in October, large and small museums and cultural venues from San Diego to Santa Barbara will feature artwork that collectively aims to rewrite the history of art in America after World War II.

Pacific Standard Time

2011-09-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

From the LA Times:

A few of the 60-plus shows have already opened, but "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980" officially gets launched Oct. 1 and 2 with a trio of major surveys opening at the Getty, MOCA and LACMA. Here's an annotated list of some of the more intriguing exhibitions.

View list of exhibitions.

Center for the Arts Presents... Fall 2011

2011-09-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

Join the School of Visual and Performing Arts each month for a celebration of the arts, culture and entertainment in the Center for the Arts complex at Chaffey College.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
5:00pm CAA-211
Professional World versus the Academic World
This workshop will cover the differences and similarities of auditioning for collegiate and academic programs versus professional gigs and productions. What skills should every music student need to master in order to transfer from Chaffey College? What should every theatre student have in their repertoire? This workshop will be co-hosted by Christa El-Said of the Theatre Department and Patrick Aranda of the Music Department.

Friday, October 21, 2011
5:00pm CAA-206
Fall Dance Student Showcase 2011
Chaffey College’s second annual student dance showcase will feature new student choreography in a variety of dance styles including modern, jazz, hip hop, and creative fusions in an informal evening performance. Choreography by Chaffey students, Artistic Director Michele Jenkins.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
5:00pm CAA-211
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art Panel Discussion
A panel discussion featuring artists from the fall exhibition: Elonda Billera, Lester Monzon, Chad Petersen, andDakota Witzenburg.

The Power of a Symbol

2011-09-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

Why is it that a material object that represents something can be such a universal and powerful tool? Mesoamerican societies literally circled around iconography. Rulers in Late Formative Maya societies used the power of iconography, and their relationship to "mother culture" myths, to create a monumental shift in the way Maya people perceived the world (worldview). Changing a societies outlook takes great social appeal and power. The fact that these rulers had the ability to get every last man, woman, and child to upend their residences is a feat in itself, but to change the ideal's of a people is an accomplishment few people have been able to do even to this point in time. The best way to do this is to strike at the core beliefs of a people. You must use those beleifs to munipulate them, as well as, strike fear into those that resist. The Late Formative Maya rulers at Cerros did just that. These rulers were able to symbolically demonstrate cosmological beliefs through rituals at a ceremonial center. They were able to create a direct link to the gods of the otherworld, and in doing so create the perception, that they were as powerfull as the gods. Myths and ideals from the time of the Olmec had shaped society up to this point. The rulers of this time invented a way to center these myths, which were represented my iconography through the years, and turn it into a central power. The architecture of this time also played a key role in legitimizing the rulers, who were now considered kings. These massive structures were created using ideas and myths used througout the years in Mesoamerica. Structures composed of architectural icons that symbolized the idelas, values, and beliefs of the mesoamerican people. A central buliding where worship, sacrafice, and transformation could take place was pivitol. These intricate structure were use as stages. Stages to put on eleabotrate plays, and show direct lineage between the gods of the otherworld and the kings of the time. A lot of energy and time have gone into creating this social idea. The kings of the time had a great idea and were able to see it out for some time. The key element that really made these things come to fruition was the iconography, symbols, and meanings that sculpted pieces of the earth represent.

The Walker House/Museum

2011-09-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

"Originally completed in 1887 to be a railroad hotel, the Walker House, located at 121 N. San Dimas Avenue, is the new home of the San Dimas Historical Society, the San Dimas Festival of Arts. The San Dimas Historical Society Museum is open the first and third Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The museum is also open in conjunction with the 2nd Story Gallery on the second Friday of each month from 5:00p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Historical Society's Archives, located on the second floor of the Walker House, are open on each Tuesday and Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The San Dimas Festival of Arts hosts the 2nd Story Gallery open house on the second and third weekends of each month from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Please call (909) 599-5473 for additional information." Courtesy of: http://www.cityofsandimas.com/ps.aboutus.cfm?ID=2458

Getty Center Bus Trip

2011-09-20T11:46:00.001-07:00

The Associated Students of Chaffey College (ASCC) is sponsoring a free bus trip to the J. Paul Getty Museum of Art at the Getty Center in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 8, 2011. The trip is open to students who have paid the college service fee. Students can reserve a seat now at the Student Activities office and must bring their tuition payment printout and ID when they sign up for the trip. Seating is limited so don't delay.

Art/Object

2011-09-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

td[s], Elonda Billera, Lester Monzon
In the project space: Nathan Bennett
Curated by Roman Stollenwerk
September 12 – November 23, 2011
Reception for the artists: Wednesday, September 14 from 6-8pm

Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art are pleased to present Art/Object featuring projects and exhibits by td[s], Elonda Billera and Lester Monzon. The Wignall is also pleased to present Nathan Bennett in the Project Space. Art/Object began with a desire to include innovative contemporary design in our upcoming 2011-2012 programming at the Wignall. The fact that Chad Petersen & Dakota Witzenburg of td[s] have backgrounds in fine art was an intriguing idea that blurred the separation of art and functional design; both Petersen and Witzenburg are trained as studio artists and both have experience working as art professionals at museums and galleries. Attempting to classify designers and artists is not a new problem; however, doing so continues to raise interesting questions about how a person’s training influences our response to their creative work and how our response to objects changes depending on the context and how the object is displayed. This selection of exhibitions and projects expands upon some of these questions by presenting variations on the relationship art/object.

td[s] (todosomething) is a design and fabrication studio specializing in furniture and cabinetry that is crafted in their Los Angeles workshop with a commitment to sourcing local, domestic materials. Designers Chad Petersen & Dakota Witzenburg of td[s] have developed a signature style with a focus on craftsmanship that is characterized by a use of tactile materials and unique finishes blended with interpretations of minimalism, mid-century modernism, and Shaker Style. As designers, Petersen and Witzenburg are interested in creating pieces that explore the boundaries of what functional objects mean to their users in a contemporary setting.

Elonda Billera’s practice is a mixed-media and multidisciplinary forum for social exchange (both physical and psychic). She creates evocative compositions that use photography, video and sculpture, often modifying and recontextualizing found objects that have their own past experiences as previously valued items. Billera’s work brings attention to the way that objects can function as emotive markers of social relations.

Los Angeles-based painter Lester Monzon creates paintings that give the appearance of passionate expression; however, Monzon’s work is actually created through a precise and calculated process of glazing thin layers to represent textured marks of thick paint. By creating methodical representational paintings of apparently hurried abstract gestures, Monzon shows how the act of rendering defines the content itself. In the process Monzon demonstrates the contrived nature of human expression and questions the efficacy of sharing subjective experience. Monzon’s work also points to the materiality of paint (or lack thereof) and in the process makes the viewer consciously aware of the paintings as objects. Monzon’s skillful trick, however, is to create this awareness by using the techniques of representational painting, which generally place focus on the image and divert the viewer’s attention from the material construction of the painted object.

In the project space:
Nathan Bennett is a New York-based artist who uses photography, video, sculpture and drawing in his multidisciplinary practice. Bennett often integrates readymades and appropriated imagery in his work to present pieces of commercial culture with an uncanny tinge. He is interested in philosophy, psychoanalysis and anthropology as social theory practices that confront the limitations of history and the production of culture. In his work, Bennett hopes to create moments of desire and alienation that function as a magnifying glass for the irrationalities of capitalism.

The exhibitions and reception are free and open to the public.

WIGNALL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Chaffey College, 5885 Haven Avenue, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737
Park in the North Parking Lot - Permits can be purchased at machines for $2.
Parking is free during museum receptions and special events.

INFORMATION:
(909) 652 - 6492, www.chaffey.edu/wignall

9/11 Memorials

2011-09-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

It's been 10 years and the memorials dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attacks have been established or are currently in the process of being developed. How do you feel about the designs? What do you think about the amount of time that has passed between the attacks and the construction of the monuments?

This article discusses the memorials is Shanksville, PA and at Ground Zero

http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/us/newyork/articles/2011/09/11/911_memorials_in_new_york_pennsylvania/?page=1

Taipei's New Art Museum

2011-09-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

A Portugese design firm received an award for their proposal for this new art museum in Taipei, Taiwan. The museum's interiors are made up of continuous ramps, the skin is curved steel, glass, and solar panels. Up to 1250 trees will be planted around the building to offset the museum's carbon footprint. What do you think of the design?

More information and pictures can be seen here: Design Boom

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Opens

2011-08-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will be formally dedicated on Sunday, the 48th anniversary of Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech.

Read article here.

Got Culture?

2011-08-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

The School of Visual and Performing Arts 2011-2012 Event Calendar is now available at locations around the Chaffey College campuses and online! Get your copy today!

Top 10 Reasons to Support the Arts

2011-07-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Top 10 reasons for business and government to support the arts, according to Americans For The Arts.

World’s Largest Photo

2011-07-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

It's now on view in Riverside, July 16, 2011 - October 08, 2011:

The Great Picture: The World's Largest Photograph & The Legacy Project, an exhibition in three parts that tells the tale of the successful campaign to make the world's largest camera and photograph by six artists known as The Legacy Project-- the late Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Rob Johnson, Jacques Garnier, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada. Its mammoth scale of 32 x 111 feet has made it a Guinness Book world record, and a photo history landmark. It is also an exploration of the 172-year old conflict between painting and photography, and the more recent waning of traditional, analog, darkroom photography in the wake of digital dominance. The two-story atrium at the Culver Center of the Arts provides a rare opportunity to present such a gargantuan photograph. Organized by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery and Culver Center of the Arts, and curated by Tyler Stallings, artistic director, Culver Center of the Arts & director, Sweeney Art Gallery.

Exhibition Information, UCR Sweeney Art Gallery

Long-Lost Leonardo Da Vinci Painting

2011-06-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

Still quite a few unanswered questions about the painting. I'd like to see a bit more information released and confirmed first.

From ARTnews:

A painting by Leonardo da Vinci that was lost for centuries has been authenticated by distinguished scholars in the United States and Europe and will be exhibited at London's National Gallery as part of a Leonardo show that opens November 9, ARTnews has learned.

The painting, Salvator Mundi, or "Savior of the World," depicts Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding a globe. It is painted in oil on a wood panel and measures 26 by 18 1/2 inches in size.

Complete article here.

Van Gogh's "self-portrait" actually his brother

2011-06-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Art researchers at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum said Tuesday they have "discovered" a work by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh -- long thought to have been a self-portrait -- was in fact a picture of his younger brother Theo.

"According to current opinion, Vincent van Gogh never painted his brother Theo, on whom he was dependent," the Van Gogh Museum said in a statement.

But senior researcher Louis van Tilborgh now believed the 1887 painting of a man wearing a light-coloured hat and a dark blue jacket was in fact Van Gogh's brother Theo, Vincent's junior by five years.

"The conclusion is based on a number of obvious differences between the two brothers," said the museum, pointing out dissimilar features including the neatness of the subject's beard and his round-shaped ear, "something Vincent did not have."

"The form and colour of Theo's beard, more ochre than red, is also an indication" as well as the man's "eye-colour and the style in which he was dressed supports the new insight," the museum said.

"The portrait matches pictures of Theo," Van Tilborgh told the Dutch news agency ANP.

Theo van Gogh died six months after his older brother shot himself in a wheatfield at the age of 37 in Auvers, France, in July 1890.

The new investigation's results are published in a 600-page catalogue, put together by Van Tilborgh and three other researchers at the museum, which houses the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and letters.

Yahoo! News

Virginia Fields dies at 58

2011-06-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Virginia Fields, senior curator of art of the ancient americas at LACMA, died this week from diabetes complications. She was a lovely woman and wonderful colleague. She will be greatly missed by family, friends, and scholars around the world.

Virginia M. Fields, a leading scholar of early Mesoamerican art and archaeology who joined the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's curatorial staff in 1989 and devoted 22 years to making the museum a vital center of Latin American culture — partly by organizing major exhibitions such as last year's "Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico" — has died. She was 58.

Fields, who had suffered from diabetes since her youth, died Wednesday night of long-term complications from the disease in a hotel in Mexico City. She had traveled there with her husband, photographer and filmmaker David Miller, to attend a professional conference and finalize plans for an upcoming exhibition...

Read complete obituary by Suzanne Muchnic,
Special to The Times, June 19, 2011.

The Walking Gallery

2011-05-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

We invite you to the Walking Gallery's 19th exhibition:

"As Advertised: A Reinvention"

Saturday, June 11, 2011
8-9 p.m.
Pomona Arts Colony
(beginning on the corner of 3rd. & Main St.)

Featuring works by:
Efrain Torres
Megan Flanders
Minh Vo
Dustin Scott
Bob Hurton
Cynthia Garcia
Tung Dinh
Christopher Joseph Phillips
Jad Delima
Naomi Molinar
and many more.

OPEN TO ALL ARTIST

https://www.facebook.com/thewalkinggallery

de`ja`vu

2011-05-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

Before there were run ways and supermodels and before there were photo shoots and magazine spreads we had one of the most modern forms of art in what we called nude portraits. This is still even seen today in the most extreme forms of pornography, which as debatable as it may be because it’s considered to be degrading to women is a form of art. Then we have the more modern forms that are depicted in the forms of swimsuit modeling or in runway modeling. Taking all aspects they share a commonality and that is form and function using the human body.

Often unnoticed because most are viewing the subject matter than the overall piece of work in its entirety but most if not all modeling begins using a variation of what is known in the art world as the “Classic Venus Pose”. This is known when the subject of the painting has one arm bent over the head and the legs flexed forward. This was seen in the work of art known as the “Blue Nude” by famous nineteenth century artist Henry Matisse.

Notice the positions that indicate the “Classic Venus Pose”. I also would like to point out something that is very seldomely found in today’s modeling and that is how voluptuous this particular model was. This was something that wasn’t uncommon for many artist and sculptures of the time period and before to have voluptuous women as there subject matter. If you were to turn the page to the 21^st century you would find the complete opposite. There are less and less of what once was to what are now slim petite models. Everything on the market is aimed at dieting and keeping thin or enhancing parts of your body. But what it seems we as society haven’t figured out yet is that no one person is a like and we can’t all have the thin, slim structure nor can we all be heavier in structure or have those enhanced parts of the anatomy that a lot of people seem to lust for. Where the timetable turned I don’t even think we know but we as humans seem to follow what is the here and now.

Here you notice the “Classic Venus Pose” and as well as the form and function of what portrait taking and Art in this form has evolved too. Its ironic but not uncommon to see something that was used centuries ago again used today. I just used art and a minute aspect of it in modeling and portraits as an example. Film and music are just a few other forms this can be found in. It’ll be interesting to see if one were to fast forward centuries from now and find the things that we use today or even times ago make their way back to the surface where they once were in their prime. As they say history does repeat itself.

Japanese American National Museum

2011-05-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

I visited the Japanese American National Museum in Downtown LA. The most moving exhibit is an actual building from a Japanese internment camp. There are stories of the people who lived in the camps, and those who were there when they brought pieces of the camp to be brought into the museum. The stories are real, they are sad, and inspiring. The history of the Japanese people during World War II is a story most are unaware of. The museum also has an exhibit that features Japanese tapestries. After you have seen the museum make sure to stop by the famous Chado Tea House located on the grounds of the museum!

Arts graduates find jobs, satisfaction

2011-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Conventional wisdom has long held that pursuing a career in the arts is a likely ticket to a life of perennial unhappiness, hunger and unemployment. But the opposite appears to be true -- graduates of arts programs are likely to find jobs and satisfaction, even if they won't necessarily get wealthy in the process -- according to a new national survey of more than 13,000 alumni of 154 different arts programs.

Ten Damaged Artworks

2011-05-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Ten Famous Works of Art that Are Forever Damaged by Carelessness, Negligence, Anger or Pure Insanity. http://www.artdaily.org/

1. Fountain (1917), Marcel Duchamp
2. Night Watch (1642), Rembrandt van Rijn
3. Danae (1636), Rembrandt van Rijn
4. Rokeby Venus (1647-51), Diego Velazquez
5. The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist (1499-1500), Leonardo da Vinci
6. Portland Vase (30-20 BC), Maker Unknown
7. The Little Mermaid (1913), Edvard Eriksen
8. Pieta (1498-99), Michelangelo
9. The Actor (1904), Pablo Picasso
10. Le Reve (1932), Pablo Picasso

ARTicles, Issue 7

2011-05-03T09:43:00.001-07:00

ARTicles, Issue 7, is now available. Find your copy at the Center for the Arts and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art or view it online at http://www.chaffeyarticles.com/ (links for all issues are at upper-right corner of page).

Issue 7 includes a review by Dulce Soledad Ibarra of the Student Invitational 2011 exhibition currently at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art; an article on this year's Family day at the Wig! by Priscila Garcia; and a reflection by Sheila Taylor on the importance of dance in our lives and the recent Dance Department production, Physical Graffiti.

Surrealist Art

2011-04-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Those of you who like commercial design and a fan of modern art in general, should take a look into an artist name Rene Magritte. Specifically his work known as The Treachery of Images, which is the depiction of a briar pipe that looks commercial in appearance. What throws the mind for a slight curve is that beneath the pipe is “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” which in translation reads “This is not a pipe”. Magritte took the play on words and incorporated it with imagery. We as humans it’s our natural reaction to take images and see them for what they are. With The Treachery of Images it makes you think twice. This piece of art history is also located at our own Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This type of portrayal is also displayed with another of Rene’s work titled The False Mirror. It's actually one of my personal favorites simply because the meaning can be endless. Are we looking into a false mirror of a far away land, into the heavens or into the soul of possibly Magritte himself or perhaps even our own selves?

Rene Magritte’s masterfulness of imagery was one for the ages and he was one of the great Surrealists of the period. If you ever have a moment take some time and check out some of Magritte’s masterpieces or swing on by LACMA and see some up close and personal.

Spotlight on Careers in Art

2011-04-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

This year's Spotlight on Careers in Art event is Wednesday, April 27, from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM in the Center for the Arts (CAA) Student Gallery. Students are welcome to stop by any time during those hours. There are representatives coming from Redlands University, CSU San Bernardino and the Art Center for a mini Transfer Fair. The Chaffey College Transfer Center will also be there to answer questions and you will find information about the Chaffey College Art Department, Wignall Museum and the Chaffey Art Organization. Light refreshments will be served.

Student Invitational 2011

2011-04-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Student Invitational 2011
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art at Chaffey College
Reception: Wednesday, April 20, 6:00 – 8:00pm
Exhibition is open April 16 to May 26, 2011

Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art are pleased to announce the Student Invitational 2011, an exhibition featuring a select group of Chaffey College student artists that have excelled in the visual arts programs. In this competitive program, artists are selected by a jury of full-time faculty from the Art, Photography, and Digital Media departments to participate in the exhibition and accompanying honors class. The selected artists participate in a unique seminar course, undergoing a rigorous investigation of their own artistic processes with support and assistance from the art faculty, gallery curators and staff, culminating in an exhibition at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art. In its 34th year, this annual exhibition reflects the creative professionalism and diversity of the visual arts program at Chaffey College.

Student Invitational 2011 will feature the work of Donald Dreyer, Chris Hackworth, Rachel Hurton, Evert Munguia, Jaime Muñoz, Rachel Alexis Parks, Jessica Pavone, Nicole Rodriguez, and Cherie Savoie.

This exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art
Chaffey College
5885 Haven Avenue
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737-3002

Parking
Park in the North Parking Lot, permits can be purchased at vending machines for $2. Parking is free during museum receptions and special events.

Visit Us Online!
www.chaffey.edu/wignall

Serrano Photograph Vandalized

2011-04-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Excerpted from article by

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris

The Guardian, Mon 18 Apr 2011

When New York artist Andres Serrano plunged a plastic crucifix into a glass of his own urine and photographed it in 1987 under the title Piss Christ, he said he was making a statement on the misuse of religion.
Controversy has followed the work ever since, but reached an unprecedented peak on Palm Sunday when it was attacked with hammers and destroyed after an "anti-blasphemy" campaign by French Catholic fundamentalists in the southern city of Avignon.
...
Serrano defended his photograph as a criticism of the "billion-dollar Christ-for-profit industry" and a "condemnation of those who abuse the teachings of Christ for their own ignoble ends".
...
On Saturday, around 1,000 Christian protesters marched through Avignon to the gallery. The protest group included a regional councillor for the extreme-right Front National, which recently scored well in the Vaucluse area in local elections. The gallery immediately stepped up security, putting plexiglass in front of the photograph and assigning two gallery guards to stand in front of it.
But on Palm Sunday morning, four people in sunglasses aged between 18 and 25 entered the exhibition just after it opened at 11am. One took a hammer out of his sock and threatened the guards with it. A guard grabbed another man around the waist but within seconds the group managed to take a hammer to the plexiglass screen and slash the photograph with another sharp object, thought to be a screwdriver or ice-pick. They also smashed another work, which showed the hands of a meditating nun.
The gallery director, Eric Mézil, said it would reopen with the destroyed works on show "so people can see what barbarians can do". He said there had been a kind of "inquisition" against the art work.

Art in San Antonio

2011-04-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

I went to San Antonio over the weekend and was greatly surprised by the Arts in this friendly city. I learned Texans are big on Fiesta, it is a 10 day festival that is about Music, dancing, and food. The live performances were great! I also went to see the Alamo while in town, the architecture is beautiful and the grounds are serene. There are pieces of art at the Alamo, such as a painting of Davy Crockett and his actual buckskin vest. This town is rich in its culture and the arts.

Attacked Gauguin Painting Not Damaged

2011-04-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

By The Associated Press and The Washington Post

A painting by French Impressionist Paul Gauguin that was attacked by a visitor to the National Gallery of Art in Washington is back on exhibition.

The painting, "Two Tahitian Women," went back on display Tuesday after conservators determined that the painting, which was covered by Plexiglas, sustained no damage after a visitor attempted to pull it off the wall and hit it Friday.

The woman charged in the attack, Susan Burns, of Alexandria, Va., is expected to appear in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday.

According to court documents, Burns told investigators: "I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual. I was trying to remove it. I think it should be burned. I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you."

The painting, valued at $800 million and owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is part of "Gauguin: Maker of Myth," which opened in late February.

A Tate Modern employee stands next to Paul Gauguin's Two Tahitian Women in London in 2010. The painting was attacked while on display at Washington's National Gallery on Friday, April 1, 2011. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

THE ART OF POOL

2011-04-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

For those billiard enthusiasts or those of you who just simply like good design. I encourage all of you to take a look at up and coming company called Nottage Design. They are an Australian based company who pride themselves on:

Creating the most revolutionary and innovative lifestyle products
Manufacturing quality products and exporting to a worldwide market
Providing excellent customer service and accommodating customers needs wherever possible
Doing everything possible to make sure you enjoy the products you purchase from us

I first came across this company by mishap where you can easily lose track of time by simply marveling at their astonishing designs. The billiard tables use a patent design known as Vitrik. It’s a transparent surface that is placed on 15mm glass pane. What makes the Vitrik surface so special is that it duplicates the resistance of your typical cloth surface as well as still allows for the subtle nuances that a regular cloth surface would provide. Now their prices for these elaborate tables isn’t inexpensive so make sure you have your credit card ready. While you’re at it check out their other designs or if you have some unique ideas of your own, Nottage Designs will gladly welcome them. So keep your eyes pealed for Nottage Designs and I expect them to really breakthrough onto the map in the years to come, if they haven’t already.

Art and Fear

2011-03-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Art & Fear is a must read for any artist, designer, engineer, mechanic or if you’re just a creative soul period. It touches on points whether you’re an artist or not, due to the fact we all are creative in ways we don’t realize. The book was very direct from the start, stating everything an artist feels as well as questions one is afraid to say. One thing David Bayles and Ted Orland did unlike some authors is that they didn’t leave those questions unanswered. I think we realize that we can’t all be Monets, those gifted individuals come along once in a great while. “Art is in the eye of the beholder” as the saying goes. So whose to say what is art and what is not just because it may not hold up to a Rembrandt? Who made this the standard, was it one person or all of us who created a façade in search of something more divine? I feel this is one topic definitely debatable when it comes to creating and viewing art. Realistically a lot of what we create as artists rarely comes out the way we wanted and the viewer never sees the work the way it was intended. The way the book explains it, we want to adapt the views of the viewer when that is totally irrelevant to the artist. We should only be concerned with how to work on our own work and the intricacies that come along with it. Art & Fear is one of those books you can read again and again and each time come out with a different perspective than your previous read. As Bayles and Orland stated, “Audience comes later. The only pure communication is between you and your work”.

CAMPO VACCINO

2011-03-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

By now the Getty Museum will have put the Turner masterpiece CAMPO VACCINO on display. It was purchased last July for 45 million dollars. The British government postponed export of this painting until February, hoping to raise enough money to keep the national treasure from leaving the country. The money was not raised, probably because of the poor economy. There have only been two owners; the Earl of Roseberry bought it in 1878, while on a honeymoon with his wife Hannah. There are other Turner paintings at the Getty Museum, the Huntington Library, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Lorelei McGroarty, ART 5

Post-it Show

2011-03-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Chaffey Art Organization Post-it Show on view NOW at Chaffey College, Center for the Arts Student Gallery.

Center for the Arts presents...

2011-03-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

Join the School of Visual, Performing and Communication Arts each month for a celebration of the arts, culture and entertainment in the Center for the Arts complex at Chaffey College.

Artists and Their Day Jobs
Moderated by Nicole Farrand
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
5:00pm • CAA-211

Discussion panel led by Nicole Farrand on all the things artists do to make a living outside of making art.

John Kline - Painter
MFA in Painting, Claremont Graduate University
Exhibition Production Manager - Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena

Douglas McCulloh – Photographer
BA in Renaissance History, UC Santa Barbara
BA in Sociology of Collective Behavior, UC Santa Barbara
MFA in Photography and Digital Media, Claremont Graduate University
Curator
Author
Corporate Photographer
Faculty – Long Beach Community College

Allison Miller – Painter (represented by ACME)
MFA in Painting, UCLA
BFA in Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design
Assistant Painting Conservator (2001 – 2008)
Visiting Lecturer – UCI and CGU

ARTicles, Issue 6

2011-03-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

ARTicles, Issue 6, is now available. Find your copy at the Center for the Arts and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art or view it online at http://www.chaffeyarticles.com/ (links for all issues are at upper-right corner of page).

Issue 6 includes an interview by Sheila Taylor with Xavier Cázares Cortezis on his exhibition SOMETHING about nobody knowing ANYTHING for sure; a review of Found Beats at the Pomona Art Walk by Jules Ebe; and an article on the Center for the Arts Student Gallery by Dominique Silva.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles

2011-03-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today Chaffey College Art History professors John Machado and Denise Johnson and Director of the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Rebecca Trawick, accompanied 45 students on a tour of the Great Wall of Los Angeles. The bus trip was co-sponsored by the Associated Students of Chaffey College and the One College/One Book Committee.

The Great Wall of Los Angeles is a mural designed by Judy Baca in 1976 and executed by community youth and artists coordinated by the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). It is located in the San Fernando Valley community of Valley Glen, on the concrete sides of the Tujunga Wash. The project depicts the history of California from pre-historic times through the 1950s. The mural is credited as the longest in the world at a length of 2,754 feet (840 m).

We were also very lucky to have an opportunity to meet Judy Baca and discuss the history and future of this project. It was a great day.

Post-it Show

2011-03-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

Join the Chaffey Art Organization Post-it Show.

ARTIST CALL

2011-03-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR PUBLIC ART - ARTIST CALL

The Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaffey College and the Art Department at Chaffey College are pleased to solicit your proposals for a public art project. The work will be installed on the area surrounding the Wignall Museum on the Rancho Cucamonga campus for one week during our annual event, Family Day at the Wig! An Earth Day Celebration, April 16, 2011. All works must be installed outdoors and must be constructed to withstand exterior conditions for the duration of the week.

Theme of the Art and Proposals Desired
The themes selected should represent one or more of the following:
• Chaffey College culture
• Earth Day awareness/relatedness

All art must be family friendly and safe for visitors. The work will be on view during an annual event, Family Day at the Wig! An Earth Day Celebration which caters to children of all ages and their families.

Budget/Grant
A maximum of 5 grants in the amount of $100 is available to complete the total project, including the costs of design, fabrication, installation, any protective measures needed to protect the art, and all other related costs. All costs over $100 will be the artist’s or group of artists’ responsibility to provide. You must submit a budget that includes all expenses as part of your application/proposal.

Selection Process and Criteria
Proposals will be reviewed by a panel composed of representatives from the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaffey College and Art Department faculty. Proposals will be judged on: (1) the appropriateness of theme and medium to the location and community; (2) artistic ability and originality as demonstrated in applicant's proposed work; (3) the artist's ability to complete the work as proposed; and; (4) appropriateness of a family-friendly themed event.

Timeline
• March 4, 2011 Deadline for submittals
• March 7, 2011 Finalists chosen by Committee
• April 16 - April 22, 2011 Public display of art works
• April 15, 2011 Public Art Installation 10am-5pm
• April 16, 2011 Public Art Installation 9am-noon
• April 23, 2011 Public Art De-installation noon-4pm

PROPOSAL & QUALIFICATIONS
All artists interested in applying must submit the following materials:
• A statement of interest, no longer than one page, describing the proposed concept.
• Illustrations of the proposed art work, including detail as to material, color, fabrication, and installation.
• List of proposed dimensions and location of work. Please note final determination for location will be determined by event organizers. Your requests will be considered.
• Contact Information for the artist or collective. If more than one artist will be involved, submit a list of names of each member of the team, along with email addresses and phone numbers. If one artist, please include name/contact info.
• The complete budget for the work being proposed, including all elements listed in the budget section above.
• Include a list of all art, photo, and digital media courses completed and/or the instructor’s name. Applicants must be a current art student who has completed at least two art courses.
• The names and contact information for one Art faculty reference that the committee may contact about previous work and abilities.

TERMS & CONDITIONS
• The Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Department will not be responsible for damage to public artwork installations due to the elements or due to vandalism.
• The Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Department will not be responsible for art works that are not removed/de-installed by the deadline. Work that is not removed on the specified date may be disposed of or destroyed.

Application deadline: MARCH 4, 2011

All application materials must be received at:
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaffey College
5885 Haven Avenue
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737
Or drop-off in-person: CAA-321

Contact: Rebecca Trawick, Director/Curator
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art
email: Rebecca.trawick@chaffey.edu
Phone: (909) 652-6493
Website: www.chaffey.edu/wignall

Contact: Misty Burruel, Assistant Professor Art
Chaffey College, Art Department
Email: misty.burruel@chaffey.edu

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

2011-02-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

The Louvre has a new multimedia feature on its website to accompany one of its most famous Greek Hellenistic sculptures, the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The sculpture is positioned at the top of the museum's grand staircase. Its commanding presence stops me in my tracks every time I visit the museum. I also expect to see Audrey Hepburn from the scene in Funny Face glide past me in that red dress.

A peerless masterpiece of Greek sculpture, the Winged Victory of Samothrace standing on the prow of a ship overlooked the sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. The monument was probably a votive offering dedicated in commemoration of a naval victory.

An Exciting Blog

2011-02-24T11:01:00.000-08:00

One of my friends is a photographer and has his own blog, his name is Anthony Castro. He is always updating his blog with works of art and notable events. While looking at his blog I came across a project labeled American Asylum Holga Capture. I think works of art, whether it is a painting, photo, sculpture, etc., should evoke feeling from the person viewing. This photo evoked feelings of anxiety about new laws that seem to be constraining society. It also provoked me to into thought on how if we are a free society then why are there so many laws? Why do these pictures evoke these feelings of nervousness and anxiety about the future of my personal freedoms? I think that when an image has evoked thought it has accomplished its job! My mind is constantly learning, thinking and questioning the things around me and it is great.

Marlana Rivera
Art History 5

Art Exhibition at the Huntington

2011-02-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Although I am studying ancient art, I thought it might be good to compare what I'm studying with more recent pieces. The Huntington is currently showing an exhibit on "financial" art from the late 19th century. They will be running the exhibit through the end of May, coincidentally the end of our semester. The link above will give you more information on the exhibit itself. It usually costs money to enter The Huntington, but here is some information on their occasional free days. The Huntington is comprised of a library, art exhibits, and gardens. All three are fantastic, and I hope you enjoy if you do choose to go.

Alfred Stieglitz

2011-02-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

This is a brief video montage on the life and work of famed American photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)

Back to the Future

2011-02-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

I thought this was an interesting, albeit, as the artist stated, obsessive project.

Irina Werning, Back to the Future: "I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today... A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future."

Art History Causes Awareness

2011-02-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

I just arrived back from State Line Nevada where I stayed two days at Whiskey Pete's Casino. Previously, when I would go to State Line the last thing on my mind is to be aware of the pictures hanging in the casino room where I stayed at. To my surprise, I was curious who painted the pictures that were hanging in the room. I told myself, I would look him up on the internet when I got home. These two prints that were hanging in Whiskey Pete's room were done by

"Georg Dionys Ehret (1708–1770) dominated the field of botanical illustration in the 18th century and is considered to be one of the finest plant illustrators of all time. His illustrative skill and botanical precision led to his involvement with the world’s leading scientists and influential patrons and to his important contributions to many pictorial publications."

Here are the two prints by Georg Dionys Ehret

Art History 5 with Professor Machado is awesome! This class I took last semester has caused myself to be aware of art and architecture regardless where I go.

Resource
http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/Departments/Art/Ehret.shtml

Van Gogh's Yellows are Turning Brown

2011-02-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

In some of the artist's works, the once-vibrant yellows are turning brown. European scientists have figured out why.
Read more in this Los Angeles Times article by Amina Khan.

Visual and Performing Arts Centers Emerge on Campuses Across California

2011-02-08T12:29:00.001-08:00

Article in Affinity, an online magazine for California Community Colleges, highlighting new art centers at community colleges and the important role they play in our communities. A couple photographs of the Chaffey College Center for the Arts are included.

A few passages from the article by Sheng Lor and John Pastor.

With budget cuts still in effect across California, it comes as a beacon of light that many visual and performing arts centers have successfully been built or renovated within the past few years at community college campuses statewide. New arts facilities have emerged across the state backed primarily by local bond money.

The support for new and improved cultural centers on community college campuses has never been more evident. Despite severe state budget cuts to the education sector, local residents, businesses, community leaders, art patrons, and many others continue to support the planning and construction of new arts facilities by passing local bonds and putting forth donations. They see the positive economic, educational, and cultural impact that these centers could have on their communities now and for decades to come and understand the crucial role that advanced cultural centers have on the education and preparation of youth today for the future.

It is crucial that regional cultural centers continue to receive support and grow across California. They have power to transform the life of a community, bringing people from the region, from across the state, and from abroad together in one place. They offer the opportunity for students and community members to engage in the arts in ways they might not have otherwise. As Pier states, "Community colleges, a lot of it, is about lifelong learning; and the arts is certainly one area where that lifelong learning experience can happen."

Center for the Arts presents... Spring 2011

2011-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

Join the School of Visual, Performing and Communication Arts each month for a celebration of the arts, culture and entertainment in the new Center for the Arts complex at Chaffey College. You won't want to miss these!

Careers in Photography
Discussion panel led by Ardon Alger
Tuesday, February 22
5pm • CAA-211
Photographers will discuss current careers opportunities, how to prepare for a career, and what it is like to work in the field of photography.

Artists and Their Day Jobs
Moderated by Nicole Farrand
Tuesday, March 29
5pm • CAA-211
Discussion panel led by Nicole Farrand on all the things artists do to make a living outside of making art.

Broadcasting & Cinema Student Showcase 2011
Hosted by Daniel Jacobo
Tuesday, April 12
5pm • CAA-218
Projects created by currently enrolled Chaffey College Broadcasting and Cinema students will be screened for the public and the college community.

Student Invitational 2011
Tuesday, April 26
5pm • CAA-211
Join the Student Invitational 2011 student artists as they discuss their work, the Student Invitational process and field questions from the audience. The Student Invitational 2011 is on view at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art from April 16 – May 26, 2011.

ARTicles Production Meeting Today!

2011-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

The ARTicles Production Meeting for the March Issue is today, February 4th at 2:00 in CAA-305. You can view past issues of ARTicles online at http://www.chaffeyarticles.com/. This is a great opportunity for students to get involved with the visual and performing arts community at Chaffey College.

ARTicles is a student-driven publication of the Chaffey College Center for the Arts. It is published twice each semester by a consortium of students with a passion for arts, entertainment and culture. The content reflects a diverse sample of the cultural life at the college. ARTicles is generously supported by the Chaffey College Marketing Department.

Hands Across California

2011-02-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, April 17, 2011, history will be made as nearly 2 million people join hands in one continuous line up and down California, all in support of California Community Colleges and their nearly 3 million students.

Hands Across California will raise awareness of California Community Colleges like never before by being the largest-ever event held by any system of higher education. But more importantly, it will increase financial support for California’s Community College students—a truly worthy cause. Due to the ever-increasing cost of an education, California Community College students are facing a crisis of affordability, with many being forced to abandon their education each and every day because of financial hardships. Nearly 90 percent of full-time students are in need of financial aid, and almost half of all students have no resources to pay for college.

This is why Hands Across California is so important. Funds raised through the event will directly support the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment, a permanent fund that provides annual scholarships to thousands of students with the greatest need. And thanks to the generosity of The Bernard Osher Foundation, every dollar raised for the Endowment through Hands Across California will be matched by 50 percent, significantly increasing the impact of every donation. However, this opportunity doesn’t last forever. We as a system have only until June 2011 to benefit from the Osher Foundation’s generous matching opportunity, which is why the timing of Hands Across California is so critical.

Help us tell the world why California Community Colleges are so vital to the future, all while raising money toward scholarships that will support generations upon generations of students.

Get Involved!

Getting involved in this exciting event is simple:
• Lend your support to make this unparalleled and unique event a reality and bring new awareness of the needs of California Community College students. A sponsorship of this event will result in untold media coverage and public awareness of the need to enhance support to California Community Colleges, the training ground of tomorrow’s workforce.
• Make a commitment to stand with us on April, 17, 2011, by registering online at www.HandsAcrossCalifornia.org.
• Encourage others to participate and donate to this important cause.

Watch for more information on local organizing efforts from the Associated Students of Chaffey College.

Happy Birthday, Jackson

2011-01-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, who was born on this day 99 years ago. See some of his best-known works in the Museum of Modern Art collection.

Farewell, Olmec

2011-01-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

This week, a crew of specialists is hard at work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Resnick Pavilion deinstalling Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico. [lacmavideo]

Xavier Cázares Cortez, Brian Bress and Allison Alford

2011-01-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art

January 24– March 5, 2011

Artists' reception: January 26, 6-8pm

Lecture on Maya Calendar at CSULA

2011-01-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

Salvador Dali

2011-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching one section of a four-part television series detailing the lives and works of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol by Alistair Sooke on YouTube. The Salvador Dali documentary is the one I chose to watch first. I didn't realize he was involved in films and commercials. The commercial he did for Alka Selitzer was interesting when he plunged his paint brush into the women's chest and explained how the medicine flowed through her whole body using paints and a flower to describe the satisfying effect of the medicine. It had me wondering what he was going to do next, especially with that crazy white superhero costume. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owJFJxHVNuc

In my opinion, Dali was doing more than just selling a product, he was giving the public media Surrealism. This is fascinating because he takes Surrealism and applies it to everything he does. Wherever Dali went Surrealism followed.

Surrealism is trying to get into the subconscious mind. Dreams were one of the vehicles to get into the subconscious mind in order to draw out what is hidden or suppressed. Although Dali was a master in the Surrealism movement, he becomes obsessed with certain objects and people that he painted more than once. Just to name a few, his wife Gala, lobsters, eggs, and weird shapes that are replica's of rocks off the coast of Cadaques Spain were seen in a lot of his paintings. These objects and people I just mentioned aren't hidden in your subconscious mind, I think Dali was a genius in order to put together the "reuniting conscious and unconscious realms" in a way that the viewer is put in a subjective position to interpret what he sees
according to his own experiences in life.

I think Salvador Dali's contribution to the arts is amazing. He set the path for future artists to justify their different techniques and ideas in the arts.

Ruben Cimental

Here is the YouTube link to watch BBC Modern Masters four-part series: It's worth your time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtEdmPGLZnM&feature=related

The Janitor - HyperRealism?

2011-01-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

The Janitor, a sculpture by Duane Hanson, that was completed in 1973, is still leaning againt the wall. The sculpture looks so human, that people can't keep their hands off him. This impulsive desire by the public to touch The Janitor, has caused the cheif conservator, Jim DeYoung, at the Milwaukee Art Museum, to react against the damages and repair. He reported, "For a while, the museum tried a motion sensor, until it got to be a game for kids to see how close they could get before the alarm sounded and a security guard came running." Jim Stingl, in his article in the Journel Sentinel wrote, "Over the years, people have stolen his wristwatch and pens and a pipe from his pocket, or added new ones. A child was caught unzipping the janitor's fly to "see if there was anything in there." There isn't, but for the record he's wearing white Jockey briefs.

The question is where are these kids parents? It's one thing to have one eye on your kids running loose in Chucky Cheese, but quite another to have them playing unattended in a Museum. This past year when I went to the J. Paul Getty Museum I saw kids there, but I got the impression that everyone sort of treated the place with a sense of awe and respect.

Instead of placing a barrier around The Janitor, the Milwaukee Art Museum has decided to hang a sign telling the public "Please DO NOT Touch the Art" which has reduced the temptation. This sign takes away from the HyperRealism of Hanson's work. Signs are great next to paintings and sculptures to give the history, biography, or date, but to put a sign next to a HyperRealism sculpture takes away the curiosity to determine whether it's real or not.

The Getty Museum had an attendant in every room where the paintings and sculptures were at, making sure the public behaved properly. I'm not an expert in museums, but I thought that having an attendant in every room was a good solution, to have the public realize that we were not in any ordinary room.

Happy New Years!
Ruben Cimental

Reference
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/37550119.html

The Eavesdropper

2010-12-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

This painting was done by Nicolas Maes (1634-1693), this work falls in the category of 17th century Dutch genre painting. The website The History of The Netherlands wrote, "He was among the first Dutch genre painters to depict the domestic interior not as a shallow, three-walled box but as suite of rooms". At first glance, you can't help but look at the maid starring right at you, but once your eyes leave her, you get this curiousity of what is happening in the rest of the rooms. Upstair you have people preparing to have a social gathering or meal. The two rooms on both sides only allows you to see just enough inside to keep you curious and your eyes moving to the other rooms. All these rooms makes you feel like your in a maze. Regardless of the many rooms, the black and red colors on the people's clothes keeps you focused on the what's going on inside. Maes not only keeps your attention in the house, but he also has you looking outside at the big white house, which gives you an idea how big the house is you're actually in.

Other Dutch genre painters like Pieter de Hooch's Easy Come, Easy Go (top) and Jan Steen's Company Making Music (bottom) also start to move out of the three-walled box to other rooms.

The name of Maes' painting is called The Eavesdropper. At least once in your life, you will definitely find yourself in the position of this maid. The maid comes down the stairs hearing the secret meeting between this couple in the hallway. Her shocked stare and cheesy smile allows the viewer to become part of her secret. The gathering upstairs has an empty chair next to a women who is probably waiting for her husband who is downstairs in this fling. The maid's finger up to her mouth is obvious that she is telling you to be quiet, but one interpretation explained it this way, that her finger is also pointing above her head to the bust of the Roman goddess Juno, who is known as the protector of women and childbirth, which suggest that the adultery is continuing. In my opinion, whether the woman is pregnant or not is hard to tell after knowing about Jan Van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife, which keeps you in the verisimilitude realm concerning her pregnancy.

There is more interesting things to draw out of this painting, but hopefully I have whetted you interest in Nicolas Maes' genre paintings.
Ruben Cimental

Jean Leon Gerome

2010-12-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

These paintings are by Jean Leon Gerome (1824-1904), who was a French painter and sculptor. When I saw these paintings on the internet they caught my attention. During my art history class I saw many paintings of naked women, but these paintings have the sculptor kissing his work and getting a kiss in return, now that's loving your work. This had me searching for more answers about this artwork.

Gerome took this subject from Ovid's Metamorphosis Chapter 10 under the heading "The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue". You can read the story here. This Greek and Roman myth has many versions of the story that have come through the centuries, but the main point is that the sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with his own creation and the Goddess Venus hears his request of wanting a women like his work. Venus answers his request and this resulted in Galatea coming to life and a child being born. Read the above link to get the full force and details of the story.

I was also blown away to find that there was a 1948 film called the "Touch of Vensus" that followed this same subject of Pygmalion kissing his creation. Here is a short clip of that kiss to a statue.

Jean Leon Gerome wasn't the only artist and sculptor who did a piece on "The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue". If you took Art 5 these two names would be familiar, Honore Daumier and Francisco de Goya.

Daumier, who falls in the camp of Realism with his Third-Class Carriage, which portrays the working class in public transportation, also did this piece above. Definitely not your idealized couple, but it's a caricature of the story. The first thought that came into my mind when I saw this was two poor people that belong together. The bottom half of the sculpture doesn't show an idealized form, it shows a women with a big stomach and not the legs you would see in Gerome's painting. This drives home the idea my grandma used to tell me "tell me who you're with and I will tell you who you" including your dream girl. This is the working class at their best.

This piece above is by Francisco de Goya. Goya held no punches back, he has the sculptor's legs wide open to drive the hammer to the woman's privates. The woman has that expression on her face that reads "oh no!" When I saw this work of Goya it didn't really shock me because Professor Machado had shown us a book by Goya of his Los Caprichos, which is totally different and creepier than anything I have seen. Instead of the sculptor giving his creation a kiss, he is going to bring her to life with a scream! Sort of his MO.

There are more paintings, sculptures, drawings of "The Story of Pygmalions and the Statue" than I realized. In my opinion, I really like Gerome's painting better than all the others I have seen on the internet.

These couple of weeks I have off before going back to school is sweet, I get to read and check out stuff I usually don't have time for during the semester.
Back to my reading of Karl Marx by Isaiah Berlin.

Ruben Cimental

Steve Martin on Stephen Colbert

2010-12-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

In case you missed it last week, here is the complete, unedited segment of Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano "adding value" to Stephen's portrait for Steve Martin. (13:19)

Chicano Art

2010-12-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

Professor Machado's lecture on Chicano Art was interesting and it brought back memories of the artwork in my neighborhood where I grew up. This Chicano Art mural is painted on the side of a handball court that faces the street. This handball court is right in the middle of the park and has been there for a long time, approximately 40 years, according to my dad.

This art mural was important to guys and girls in our neighborhood. Although there were a lot of gangs in our small neighborhood, there was a respect considering the mural. NO gang would write their name or their club's name on that side of the wall. This is interesting because none of my friends or I had ever taken an art class but we realized that this mural identified who we were. As I look back this "wall" was more than just a mural to look at. In the 1980's there were benches in front of the mural, it was a place where you hung out with your friends, girlfriend, fight, party, eat, take pictures, and exercise (play handball).

A few years back the City of Colton wanted to remodel the park and put 3 baseball fields and other stuff for kids to play on, which was going to require removing the handball court. This decision by the city brought many of the old timers and friends of mine to go to the City Council and fight to keep the handball court. Victory to my neighborhood! The City had to work around the handball court. Actually the dirt in front of the mural is now part of the "New Baseball Field".

Finishing up this art history class with Professor Machado has brought an appreciation and an awareness of how important art has played in my life. This past Sunday my son took a picture of me in front of the Chicano Mural.

Ruben Cimental

MOCA Commissions Mural, Then Paints Over It

2010-12-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

This just happened yesterday. I'm assuming the museum had a clear and strong contract with the artist that gave the institution complete discretion over the mural, otherwise this could be problematic. Read the complete article here.

It seemed a novel idea: In advance of its recently announced April 2011 show on street art, the Museum of Contemporary Art offered one of its walls to a prominent street artist.

The artist, an Italian who goes by the name Blu, finished the work. This morning, the museum painted over it.

The paint was hardly dry on the mural, which covered the entire north-facing wall of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary with depictions of wooden caskets draped in dollar bills, when the museum literally whitewashed the piece.

ARTicles, Issue 5

2010-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

ARTicles, Issue 5, is now available. Find your copy at the Center for the Arts and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art or view it online at http://www.chaffeyarticles.com/ (links for all issues are at upper-right corner of page).

Issue 5 includes a review of Oklahoma! by Michelle Mora; two articles by Sheila Taylor on Leslie Dick's performance of Boundary Lines and the exhibition What My Family Looks Like at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art; and an article by Jules Ebe on the recent More Than Four Walls event. Photographs by Andrew Portillo and Graphic Design by Daniel Carlos.

ARTicles is a student-driven publication of the Chaffey College Center for the Arts. It is published twice each semester by a consortium of students with a passion for arts, entertainment and culture. The content reflects a diverse sample of the cultural life at the college. ARTicles is generously supported by the Chaffey College Marketing Department.

It Takes One Block to Build a Great Wall

2010-12-09T00:16:00.000-08:00

Artists of today’s time surely have gone a long way from the Renaissance Era. As contemporary artists have long ago ran out of art conventions to attack, one might ask: As we conclude 2010, what has been this decade’s defining style? To be frank I cannot really tell and I am not in the position to tell or even utter a guess what is the defining style for this passing period, and I am certainly not within the caliber of Clement Greenberg and Giorgio Vasari to give art critiques. Also, it may just be too early to tell. In today’s globalized world, it may even be harder to give a critique as to what has been the defining style in the last 20 years because we now live in a pluralistic society where ideas converge and are easily shared with the vast array of technologies available and being developed. However, a close examination of some of the recent artworks may help us define this period’s style, or if not us the future art critics.

Unlike painters 600 years ago who are mostly limited to brushes, a canvas, and an easel to make their oeuvres, the artists of today have a lot of mediums to put their creativity upon. In addition, contemporary artists are not restricted to follow art standards that give them more flexibility in manipulating their art piece. One such artist is Malyn Bonayog from the Philippines.

A fine arts graduate from the University of the Philippines, Malyn Bonayog is one of the many artists who experiment with new ideas and methods in painting. She has won many awards in the many art shows she has joined.

One of her works entitled Time Warp was shown in Art Gallery Manila and because of its uniqueness, it has garnered much attention and praise.

This work is an extraordinary “combination of photography and painting, the two media in an active mutual symbiosis.” The is the exceptional difference of Bonayog’s work among the traditional and even the paintings we see today - She uses photographs as part of her painting (in this case the background) and altered it with paint.

“The basic scene is a photographic rendering of old Intramuros, shown in perspectival view, with buildings on both sides with their particular architectural features and old automobiles parked along both sides of the road but seeming to meet at a distant point. The image, however, challenges the traditional optical view because it is divided into sections, each with its distinct pattern of fine colored lines, straight or wavy, but always equidistant like fingerprint patterns. According to the artist, these separate sections may represent different time zones in the history of the place. The wavy lines necessarily bring in movements and directions that increase the potential of the image. Completing the urban scene on another layer are people that appear to belong to different places and different time zones which indicate gaps and dislocations in the historical narrative despite the dynamic linear movements. The human figures themselves are of different ethnic characteristics. At the center, a city denizen in modern clothes seems to walk into a lumad from a different habitat. Even the two women walking on the left possess a faint anachronistic quality. However, the artistic device combines the synchronic of the same vertical time and the diachronic of horizontal movement in one cohesive and complex image. - (businessmirror.com.ph)”

Her works are often characterized as having wavy or straight adjacent lines like those found in a cage or jails as if to symbolize that these images “are trapped vestiges in their iconic representation of the past. (galerieanna.com)” Examples can be seen below:

An example of an artist who experiments on the uses of contemporary materials, Malyn Bonayog may not be the only one who has such an artistic mind. There may be hundreds or even thousands of them scattered in the world. Furthermore, with the entire world getting increasingly connected to the internet, it gets easier for works such as Bonayog’s to be seen in the different continents, influencing those who get the chance to view it, spreading and revolutionizing this idea in a new level. Looking at Bonayog’s work alone is of course not enough to characterize this decade’s or the last 20 years’ defining style, but it sure is a contribution to the art critics of the future that will define this decade’s art scene.

Paolo Daren M. Baluyot

Arts 5 Tuesday- Thursday

References: Quotes were from these websites.

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/life/4620-space-and-time-in-the-latest-art

http://www.galerieanna.com/artists/bonayog.htm

WSE10

2010-11-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

WSE10: Winter Student Exhibition
November 29 - December 4, 2010
Artist's reception: December 1, 12:30-1:30pm

This annual student exhibition at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art features work from all art, photography and digital media classes. All work is chosen by faculty in each discipline and the exhibition features hundreds of the semester's best student works of art. This exhibition is organized by the Art and Photography Departments and is presented concurrently with What My Family Looks Like, a student exhibition presented in the Project Space.

Jackson Pollock

2010-11-20T23:36:00.000-08:00

Jackson Pollock was an Abstract-Expressionist painter. He went to New York and studied at the Art Student League. Pollock was an alcoholic, and he went into therapy. However, Pollock was unwilling to share his problems with the therapist, so it had little effect in helping him. This rehabilitation experience nevertheless affected Pollock’s works. Pollock died of an alcohol-related car crash when he was 44.

Photograph of Jackson Pollock

Pollock’s works consisted of action paintings, works that are characterized by the dripping and pouring of paint directly on the canvas. He did not paint using an easel, but instead painted using the floor for which he was quoted saying that he needed the resistance of a hard surface. He also said that painting on the floor enabled him “to be a part of the painting”, because he could walk around it and paint on all four sides. The photographer Hans Namuth documented Pollock while working in his studio.

Photographs of Jackson Pollock working in his studio by Hans Namuth

It may be a good bet to say that for the casual art viewers (in contrast with art enthusiasts), deciphering the meaning of most of the abstract paintings produced is a difficult thing to do. With the artist’s philosophies, expressions, and feelings all contained on the canvas, interpreting the meaning of the work may seem like taking a look at someone’s countless and kaleidoscopic thoughts. On the other hand, representational works such as the ones in the Renaissance and Baroque Eras can easily be given an interpretation by most people.

These abstract paintings...

vs.

an image of a king

The ambiguous and vague nature of abstract-expressionist paintings allows the artist to conceal messages that people cannot easily see. Pollock might have done this to his painting entitled, Mural.

Can you see something?

The Smithsonian website has an article I have read just recently that talks about the alleged hidden name of Jackson Pollock painted in camouflage on his work, the Mural. The author of the article mentioned that it was his wife who first saw the letters “S-O-N” on the upper right area of the mural, “Then she realized JACKSON ran across the entire top. And finally she saw POLLOCK below that.”

Name of Jackson Pollock alleged to be on his painting, Mural.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Find-Pollocks-Name.html

It should be noted that this discovery is just a theory because of the lack of scientific evidences. Sue Taylor, an art historian from the Portland State University and who also has studied Pollock’s work the Stenographic Figure, said that “It’s feasible. Pollock would often begin with some sort of figurative device to which he would then respond—and eventually bury under layers of paint. Letters and numbers, moreover, frequently appear in works of the early 1940s."

It seems that there is still no scientific processes performed on Pollock’s Mural to verify this claim. It all the more adds to Pollock’s expressionistic aura as reflected on his works. Whether Pollock was just experimenting to see what he is capable of, or perhaps announcing something to the world, we cannot yet know. The only thing that is certain is Pollock is one of the best Modern artists that the world has ever seen.
Paolo Daren M. Baluyot

Art 5 Tues-Thurs

**All italicized quotes came from The Smithsonian online article:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Decoding-Jackson-Pollock.html?c=y&page=2

Interactive decoding of Pollock's Mural
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Find-Pollocks-Name.html

View my other post about the Spanish Heritage in the Philippines.
http://tesserae.blogspot.com/2010/10/spanish-heritage-in-philippines_24.html

Medievil Art

2010-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

The mixture of German, Roman, and Islamic art is what we call Medievil Art. It brings a new excitement to the sculptures and paintings. These sculputures are forms that are not that easily recognizable and they usaully appear on corbels, bossoms, and capitals. The art usually contains real and imaginary animals and demons as well. For instance, here it looks like there are dragons going in circles eating their own tails. The art is very creative and interesting. Don't you think so?

2011 Student Invitational

2010-11-10T14:42:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to all of the students selected for the 2011 Student Invitational Exhibition!

Donald Dreyer
Chris Hackworth
Rachel Hurton
Evert Munguia
Jaime Munoz
Rachel Alexis Parks
Jessica Pavone
Nicole Rodriguez
Cherie Savoie

Student Invitational 2011
April 16 – May 26, 2011
Artist's reception: April 20, 6-8pm

Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum proudly present the 34th annual student invitational exhibition, Student Invitational 2011, a juried exhibition featuring a select number of Chaffey College student artists. In this competitive program, the selected artists present new work in various media. The student artists are also trained in professional practices. This rigorous course culminates in an exhibition of work created during spring term at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art.

What My Family Looks Like

2010-11-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

What My Family Looks Like
November 29 - December 4, 2010
Artist's reception: December 1, 12:30-1:30pm

Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art Project Space exhibition featuring student writing, photography, drawings, paintings, collages, sculpture or video that represent their families. The work is inspired by the 2010-2011 college book, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This exhibition is organized by One Book/One College and presented concurrently with WSE 2010, a student exhibition presented in the main gallery.

Boundary Lines

2010-11-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

Boundary Lines, performance by Leslie Dick
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art
November 10, 12:30-2pm, CAA-211
FREE and open to the public

In 1994, Leslie Dick wrote a short text which explored the experience of being a mother as an experience of loss, describing a series of moments of separation from her daughter, then two years old. In 2008, Leslie Dick's daughter Audrey made a video in which she (aged sixteen) stood in front of a projection of an old home movie of herself aged eight. Taking this visual superimposition as her point of departure, and regarding the performance as a delayed and displaced collaboration, Leslie Dick will present further thoughts on identification and the image, memory and time.