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Tag Archives: Fun Art
Everything Old is New Again
I can’t remember exactly how my Art History series began. It started about 2 years ago with a piece I called “VanGogh meets Warhol meets Parmigianino meets Kurek”. It was based on a Vincent VanGogh self portrait — but it also incorporated Warhol’s use of repetition — and it touched on late Renaissance Mannerism (Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck.) Long, possibly bad, titles aside, the series has been well received and continues to grow. Here’s a look at my latest “victims”: Grant Wood and Max Beckmann. “Art History #4: Grant Wood’s American Gothic …. sort of…” is based on a painting that needs no introduction. “Art History #5: Max Beckmann Merlot” deviates a bit from the other pieces in the series. Warhol’s repetition wouldn’t have worked here. So, instead of creating four repetitive image cells, I added onto the original image. I changed the cigarette in Beckmann’s hand to a wine glass and added a table with a wine glass and bottle of wine. The image on the bottle of Beckmann Merlot features a miniature image of one of his still life paintings.
If it isn’t obvious, let me state that these works are all meant to be in good fun! They are based on well known works, and I include “Art History”, the name of the original painting and/or the name of the original artist in each title. If you are not familiar with Max Beckmann, you should be! He was an interesting character. Here’s a Wikipedia link to start you off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Beckmann
You can find my originals and prints in my Etsy shop at:http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio?ref=si_shop
Defending the Fine Art of Fun Art
Ann Peterson, an artist friend of mine, plays a game at art festivals. The game: Best Quote of the Show. The artist who comes up with the dumbest, rudest, or just plain out there quote from a customer/show attendee wins the game.
Here’s an idea of the type of quotes we’re talking about. Ann is a fine art photographer who travels the world in search of her fabulous images — like the one below. At any given show Ann will probably be asked if she knows where that photo was taken, if she know who took said photo, if she’s ever been to Italy, exactly what type of camera/lens, filter, shutter speed and f-stop did she use to shoot the image, etc. You get the point.
Tuscany, Ann Peterson © 2012
You can connect with Ann through her website here: http://www.mundoimages.com/
My quotes tend to be of a different nature and revolve around the three main themes of my artwork: animals (mostly cats), alcohol and yoga. I could tell you COUNTLESS stories of people who have 25 cats and exactly how they found each and every one of them — but I won’t 🙂
Angels and Devils, Alison E. Kurek © 2012
My personal winning quote for the 2012 Allentown Art Festival (held June 9th and 10th this year) is of a different nature. I’m happy to say that I had a successful show and was a bit overwhelmed and bleary eyed by mid-day on Sunday, so the exact details aren’t clear, but here’s what I do recall:
Maybe 5pm or so on Sunday, a well dressed, articulate woman struck up a conversation with me about my artwork. She may or may not have purchased a small item before the conversation began — I don’t remember — but I DO remembered that she gushed about my work: it’s so happy, so colorful, so much fun! Then she stopped her praise and said: “well — you make REAL art too, don’t you? Surely you paint Fine Art images as well as these”.
Ouch! There it was again. That back handed slap across the face. Another version of “Surely Alison you don’t call what YOU do ART, do you?”
After two successful days at the festival the sting wasn’t as bad as it can be. I felt less of a need to defend the legitimacy of my “Fun Art”. Instead, I looked at her and replied: “What you see on these walls is as Fine as it gets”. The conversation ended there, probably because another small line of purchasers had formed in my booth. Purchasers who, like many others throughout the weekend, have an appreciation for the Fine Art of Fun Art 🙂
You can find prints of my work and a few originals in my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio?ref=si_shop
Angels and Devils: Who spilled the wine?
Angels and Devils, one of my newest paintings, is just about finished . But before I apply two coats or vanish and attach a hanging wire I’ve got to decide who the angels and devils are. The painting depicts Fredog, my sister’s black lab, and my two cats, Mylo and Livee. From the looks of it they have thrown a party and broken into a bottle of Devil Dog Red Wine — and someone has spilled the wine. Of course they all have angelic looks on their faces and no one is talking — so who did it?
The halos and devil horns are made out of polymer clay and are not attached yet, so I think I’ll have a little fun shifting the blame, and the horns, around to each of them. Through the wonders of digital imagining I can produce archival ink prints of the image exposing each of them as the wine spilling culprit — but the halos and horns will have to be permanently attached to the original. So tell me — who do you think did it?
You can find prints of this image along with others in my Etsy shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilentMyloStudio?ref=si_shop
