Episode 104: Deconstruction Art

Deconstructionism, by it's simplest definition, is the process of taking concepts apart and putting them back together again sideways or inside-out. It began in France in the late 1980's and is often associated with the philosopher Jacques Derrida. He was very interested in fragmentation and taking things apart, to use objects in a way that they were not typically used.

Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, 1984-87

Parc de la Villette, Dragon Slide

Daniel Libeskind, Zhang ZhiDong and Modern Industrial Museum

Peter Eiseman, Wexner Center For the Arts

 Eiseman, City of Culture of Galicia

Zaha Hadid, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, 2012

Dancing House, Prague, Czech Republic

Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada

Los Carpinteros, Cama,

Los Carpinteros, Free Basket

We hope you enjoyed this episode on Deconstruction Art! Next week Julia & Alisha will be talking about Victorian Fairy painting! See you next Wednesday!

Episode 100: Our Favorite and Least Favorite Pieces of Art

This is our 100th episode!  It is an exciting milestone for us and we want to thank all of our listeners for sharing this journey with us!  We also want to thank all of our alumni whose work in the podcast over the years we treasure!  We have included messages from some of them in this episode.  We miss you Marie, Kenna, Mary, Megan, Chloe, Zach, and Lauren!

In this episode we each chose an example of our most favorite and our least favorite artists or pieces of art and had a bit of a smackdown!   As we discuss art together, we often find that we have such differing opinions.  Yet none of them are wrong because there is no universally agreed upon example of "best" or "worst" art. What we gain from our debates is a better understanding and greater appreciation for artists and their creations. 



Alisha's Picks
Love:  Winged Victory, or Nike of Samothrace, Unknown Greek artist, c.200-190 BCE
Hate:  Russian Suprematism-- ie:  Red Square by Kazimir Malevich, 1913

Carolyne's Picks
Love:  Apollo & Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622-1625
Hate:  Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-1517

Jo's Picks
Love:  The Slave Ship by J.M.W. Turner, 1840
Hate:  Dada-- ie: Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917

Carrie's Picks:
Love:  Antoni Gaudi-- ie: Casa Batllo, 1877
Hate:  Willem de Kooning-- ie: Woman V, 1952-1953

Julia's Picks
Love:  Red Room by Henri Matisse, 1908
Hate:  Street, Dresden by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1908

Thank you for listening today, we hope you enjoyed our 100th Episode! Next week we have a special guest host, Assistant Professor Courtney Davis talking with Julia about the famous French Neoclassical painter David.

Have a great week!

Episode 98: A&F Top 10 Churches

This week Carrie and Alisha list their Top 10 churches in an eclectic tour of the world.

Number 1: Crystal Cathedral (Christ's Cathedral)

The Crystal Cathedral, is known as Christ’s Cathedral

This modern beauty is a sight to behold in California. Designed by Philip Johnson in 1981, it is one of the largest glass buildings in the world!

We proudly award this church: Best Bling

Number 2: Salt Cathedral in Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland

Yes that’s right, we said SALT Cathedral! This flavorful mine has an actual cathedral located inside, carved out of the walls of the mine. Life size statues and chandeliers of rock salt decorate the mine.

This cathedral earns the award of: Most Edible, yummm!

 In case you were looking for other buildings you can lick, here is a link for you:

http://gizmodo.com/buildings-you-can-lick-9-spectacular-structures-made-o-5992613

 

Number 3: San Diego LDS Temple

This picturesque temple belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is located in San Diego. By day the temple seems to sit like a delicate cloud on the beautiful manicured grounds. The stark white exterior lights up when the sun goes down and looks like a halo in the middle of the city!

We bestow upon this temple the award of: Most Heavenly

Number 4: Washington National Cathedral

While part of the cathedral was under construction in the 80’s, a contest was held for school children to design Gargoyles and Grotesques to adorn the towers. One of the winners was Christopher Rader and his Darth Vader drawing, and then turned into a sculpture by Patrick J. Plunkett

Most Sci-Fi award we grant this

Number 5: Santuario de Las Lajas (The Shrine of Our Lady of Las Lajas) Columbia

The Shrine of Our Lady of Las Lajas

This Neo-Romanesque masterpiece was designed by the architects J. Gualberto Perez and Lucindo Espinosa and built between 1916 and 1949

We give this one the award of: Most Epic!

Number 6: Svyato-Spassky Convent in Kostomarovo 

Two churches are located in these caves, a Spassky temple and a smaller St. Seraphin Sarovsky church.  These churches dig deep into the cliff to provide surprisingly open interiors. These churches were also built as a way to protect parishioners in case of sieges or attacks

This cleverly disguised location earns it the Best Camouflage Award

 

Number 7: Hallgrimur Church, Iceland

This tall glass of water was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson who found inspiration from the basalt lava flows found throughout Iceland. The church is 244 feet tall.

We give this beauty the award of: Tall Awesomeness 



Number 8: Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, France

An ancient church turned museum of antique ornamental wrought iron? Talk about a dream come true! This church now houses a collection of wrought iron amassed by Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq des Tournelles who was one of France’s leading architectural photographers to the 19^th Century.

This amazing museum/church is granted the Sweet Transformation award

Number 9: Mont Saint-Michel

This miraculous monastery fortress is located on a tidal island in Normandy. The city plan of the island is based on the medieval feudal system, with God (the monastery) at the top, then the great halls, then shops and stores, and without the walls, the farms.

Obviously we have awarded this one: The most medieval town on an island looking!

Number 10: Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul

This amazing mosque houses the tombs of the Sultan Süleyman his wife Roxelana.

Roxelana was a highly influential and powerful woman in her day.

We give this Mosque the award for Inspiring Carrie’s future interior design projects!


Thanks for joining us today! Come back next week for Julia and Alisha's episode on Fairy Painting.
Have a great week!

Episode 95: Friedensreich Hundertwasser

This was an especially fun episode to record because it was a listener request! We are so happy that it was requested because the more we learned about Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the more we fell in love with his art and personality.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born in 1928 and raised in Vienna, Austria. His birth name was Friedrich Stowasser but at the age of 21 he changed it to what we see now. He studied in a Montessori school but his real learning and passion came from nature.

Hundertwasser used the term Transautomatism to define his art style. This style is a kind of surrealism. The viewer is the prime focus to the art and it is all about how they interpret it. Hundertwasser was completely against straight lines and referred to them as 'godless and immoral'. He believed in being connected with nature and this concept was apparent in all of his works.

Painting: Color was his main focus in his paintings. He loved placing complimentary colors next to one another. He had two main categories for painting one was representing animalistic nature and vegetation and the other was the repetitive use of architectural symbols: houses, windows, gables and fences.

Yellow Houses: It hurts to wait with love if love is somewhere else, 1966

Singing Steamer in Ultramarine III, 1959

These pieces illustrate his love for vibrant colors and architecture.The lines may appear straight but he rarely used straight lines in his works.

Tapestry: Hundertwasser created his first tapestry because of a bet and created many more after that. He never used a template for his tapestries.

Yellow Ships, Sea of Tunis and Taormina

Printmaking: It was his aim to make many different unique pieces within the art of the graphic, thereby going beyond machine production.

Swimming Window, 1979

Architecture: Hundertwasser was quoted saying, "an uneven floor is a melody to the feet."

Hundetwasserhaus, 1983

Hot Springs Village in Rogner Bad Blumau, Austria

Waldspirale (Forest Spiral)

In his later years, Hundertwasser participated in nude speeches where he voiced his strong opinions on environmentalism and politics. His passion is what drove his art work to be completely unique and awe inspiring.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Come back next week to learn more about Exiled Artists!

Episode 93: Abstract Expressionism “I Could Have Done That! (But you didn’t)”

Abstract Expressionism is an art movement that developed after World War II in the United States and is considered the first American art movement to become an international art movement. 

According the Oxford University Press, Abstract Expressionism is, “interpreted as an especially ‘American’ style because of its attention to the physical immediacy of paint; it has also been seen as a continuation of the Romantic tradition of the Sublime". 

During this time, in the 1940's and 1950's, science and psychology are changing. Quantum Mechanics and psychoanalysis begin to change people's perceptions of the world. How a person feels is important, and this is something that is very evident in Abstract Expressionism.

Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, MoMA

Franz Kline, Black Reflections, 1959

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/64.146

Paul Klee, Ancient Sound, Abstract on Black, 1925

Seon-Jeong Kim, Abstract Art 221

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/seonjeong-kim.html

Seon-Jeong Kim said:

“I start my day from wondering what I painted on the previous day.

I end up my day feeling alive and achieved.

I paint my frustration, illusions, former existence, and transience of life.

I do not know where my mind is going.

I do not know what my painting will be.

Later, I see a path and it begins to shape my feelings.

Today, I go on this lonely journey to simplify my spirit.

I paint to free myself. I paint what I like.

If anybody feels the same way I do through my art, I will feel fulfilled. “

Come back next Wednesday to listen to our Valentine's Day episode on Arts & Facts Top 10 Smooches with Julia and Jo!

Have a great week everyone, and please, let us know what you think of Abstract Expressionism!

Episode 90: The Influences of Byzantine Art and Architecture.

The Byzantine Empire started out as the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. Much of the art we associate with it today is Christian related. Christianity gained popularity in Byzantium after the Roman Emperor Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians and eventually declared himself a Christian.

The beautiful mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, architecture and other arts created in the Byzantine Empire influenced other countries and places outside the Roman empires region and time. 

Lets take a look at some examples of Byzantine art and architecture, and other art that was influenced by it...

Page from the Rabula Gospels (Mesopotamia, 6th century AD)

Virgin And Child Flanked By Justinian I And Constantine I, Hagia Sophia 

Mosaic from the Basilica of Santa Prassede, Rome, Italy

The Temptations of Christ, St. Mark's Basilica, Venice Italy, 12th Century

Cross section of the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul Turkey, As it looks today

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France

Example of Byzantine carving

See you next Wednesday for a new episode on Great Artist Rivalries! Have a great week!