Björk is a completely amazing Icelandic musician. She has a very distinctive voice and commands amazing control over it, whispering intensely one moment and screaming passionately the next. She often inserts smooth, gorgeous melodies into her songs. She is famous for her eccentric style and her boundary-breaking music videos.
You've probably heard this song from way back in the early 90's:
In the late 90's, she released Homogenic with the lead single All is Full of Love. The video for which is a huge leap in special effects as well as an interesting commentary on humanity, sexuality, and technology. It won several awards:
In 2000, Björk starred in and wrote the score for Dancer in the Dark. This musical written and directed by Lars von Trier takes place in the 1960's. It centers around Czech immigrant Selma, who is in the process of going blind. She is saving up money for her son's surgery so that he will not suffer the same fate. In order to escape the awfulness of everyday life, Selma daydreams that she is in a musical.
It's completely heartbreaking, but well worth it. Björk is absolutely captivating in it.
Here is my favorite song in the film (there are SPOILERS):
The following video, made for a song off of the album Vespertine (2001), is one of my favorites. The Pagan Poetry video was banned by MTV due to the stylized yet graphic sex scenes as well as for its use of needles piercing the skin. It is obviously NSFW:
Her music is quite versatile. Earth Intruders (2007) has an infectious, African-inspired drumbeat:
Her newest endeavor, Biophilia, is an ambitious multimedia production which addresses the physics of music in nature. Super exciting stuff!
Check out her newly redesigned site björk.com for more.
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
May 11, 2011
Feb 13, 2011
Artist of the Day: Chuck Close
Chuck Close is an American artist known for his photorealistic paintings. If you've ever taken a college art history course that deals with the last half of the last century, you are probably familiar with this image:
One amazing thing about this image is that it ISN'T a photograph. It's paint! He was one of the first artists to really go in this direction of super real paintings that emulate photography.
Another amazing thing?
Chuck Close is face blind.
He doesn't recognize faces.
I learned this from this podcast from Radiolab.
What he does is map out a flattened image of a face in a grid, creating sort of a landscape. The features of this landscape eventually become a highly realistic picture of a face.
A couple more examples:
Also - he was on The Colbert Report.
His work is an amazing technical achievement. While I'm not in love with this particular style/movement, I admire that Close has overcome so much adversity to become such an accomplished and well-known artist.
Not only is he face-blind, he's also dyslexic. He still can't count without the visual aid of a domino.
When he was 11, his father died, his mother got breast cancer, his grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and he developed a debilitating kidney infection.
He moved past all this to later graduate from the University of Washington as well as Yale. He went on to earn acclaim for his portraiture.
At 49, he suffered a blood clot in his spinal cord.
This made him a quadriplegic. He completely lost the use of his limbs.
But Close, being the determined bad ass that he is, apparently demanded his dying muscles to work again.
He stills paints.
Now his paintings look like this:
I actually like these better. But I'm a sucker for abstraction.
info from here
One amazing thing about this image is that it ISN'T a photograph. It's paint! He was one of the first artists to really go in this direction of super real paintings that emulate photography.
Another amazing thing?
Chuck Close is face blind.
He doesn't recognize faces.
I learned this from this podcast from Radiolab.
What he does is map out a flattened image of a face in a grid, creating sort of a landscape. The features of this landscape eventually become a highly realistic picture of a face.
A couple more examples:
Also - he was on The Colbert Report.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Chuck Close | ||||
| ||||
His work is an amazing technical achievement. While I'm not in love with this particular style/movement, I admire that Close has overcome so much adversity to become such an accomplished and well-known artist.
Not only is he face-blind, he's also dyslexic. He still can't count without the visual aid of a domino.
When he was 11, his father died, his mother got breast cancer, his grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and he developed a debilitating kidney infection.
He moved past all this to later graduate from the University of Washington as well as Yale. He went on to earn acclaim for his portraiture.
At 49, he suffered a blood clot in his spinal cord.
This made him a quadriplegic. He completely lost the use of his limbs.
But Close, being the determined bad ass that he is, apparently demanded his dying muscles to work again.
He stills paints.
Now his paintings look like this:
I actually like these better. But I'm a sucker for abstraction.
info from here
Jan 11, 2011
Artist of the Day: Banksy
If you have been on the Internet before (you're there right now!) then you are likely aware of Banksy and his delightful snarkiness.
Here are two of my favorite examples of his street art:
Graffiti is where he got his start. He is also notorious for slipping pieces into galleries and museums.
More recently though, he's been getting real, live exhibitions of his very own. The attendance to which are staggering. Here's a link on his (free) exhibition in the Bristol City Museum.
A couple highlights:
I think one of the most excellent, broad-reaching things he's done so far, however, is his "couch gag" with The Simpsons. The beginning is relatively business as usual, with Banksy references (rats, crows, vandalism) sprinkled here and there.
Right around 0:37 is where it really gets interesting and amusing.
How my Art Criticism professor hesitates to include him in our list of contemporary artists this past semester, I just don't understand.
Here are two of my favorite examples of his street art:
Graffiti is where he got his start. He is also notorious for slipping pieces into galleries and museums.
More recently though, he's been getting real, live exhibitions of his very own. The attendance to which are staggering. Here's a link on his (free) exhibition in the Bristol City Museum.
A couple highlights:
I think one of the most excellent, broad-reaching things he's done so far, however, is his "couch gag" with The Simpsons. The beginning is relatively business as usual, with Banksy references (rats, crows, vandalism) sprinkled here and there.
Right around 0:37 is where it really gets interesting and amusing.
How my Art Criticism professor hesitates to include him in our list of contemporary artists this past semester, I just don't understand.
Dec 28, 2010
Artist of the Day: Swoon
Caledonia “Callie” Dance Curry aka Swoon is a street artist based in New York City. She creates these amazing cardboard and paper cut-out works. They're displayed all over the city and they're built to be temporary.
Perhaps her most impressive work is this one
which is a commentary on a disturbingly large amount of young Mexican women who have gone missing, the Mexican government merely disregarding the cases. This piece is in particular a memorial to 17-year-old Silvia Elena Rivera Morales.
More recently, she's been working on this flotilla project:
The whole idea is to make different ways of life accessible to people who might not be exposed to anything terribly different. Swoon wants to portray this message via a traveling flotilla which stops to give performances.
I'm not sure if she and her troupe are getting the message across. From what I saw in this interview, the performances look a little alienating to someone outside the act.
I love her ideas though, and I hope she keeps engaging the public with her art.
Perhaps her most impressive work is this one
which is a commentary on a disturbingly large amount of young Mexican women who have gone missing, the Mexican government merely disregarding the cases. This piece is in particular a memorial to 17-year-old Silvia Elena Rivera Morales.
More recently, she's been working on this flotilla project:
The whole idea is to make different ways of life accessible to people who might not be exposed to anything terribly different. Swoon wants to portray this message via a traveling flotilla which stops to give performances.
I'm not sure if she and her troupe are getting the message across. From what I saw in this interview, the performances look a little alienating to someone outside the act.
I love her ideas though, and I hope she keeps engaging the public with her art.
Dec 23, 2010
Artist of the Day: Stina Persson
Today I've got an art on for Stina Persson.
Stina Persson is an illustrator based in Stockholm, Sweden. She uses mixed media to create collages of different inks and papers.
Some examples:
Her use of negative space is so simple and engaging. I adore how some of the images just melt into their pages. Especially in these examples:
I even love her ad work.
Check her out here.
Stina Persson is an illustrator based in Stockholm, Sweden. She uses mixed media to create collages of different inks and papers.
Some examples:
Her use of negative space is so simple and engaging. I adore how some of the images just melt into their pages. Especially in these examples:
I even love her ad work.
Check her out here.
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