Tag: Conceptual Art

Athens-Based Curator Turns Residency Model Inside Out With Provocative Project โ€œฮ’ฮ•ฮกฮŸฮปฮ™ฮฮŸโ€

A provocative curatorial project unfolding in Athens is challenging one of the contemporary art worldโ€™s most celebrated career rituals: the international residency. Titledย โ€œฮ’ฮ•ฮกฮŸฮปฮ™ฮฮŸโ€โ€”a deliberate reference to Berlinโ€”the project is a conceptual and performative curatorial experiment created by art historian and curator Elli Leventaki. Its aim is to confront what she describes as a largely unspoken barrier in the global art ecosystem: class privilege embedded in the structure of artist residencies.

Duct-Taped Banana Sells for $6.2 Million vs. 6.2 Million Children Die from Starvation Each Year

A banana duct-taped to a wall has just sold for $6.2 million at Sothebyโ€™s in New York, an event hailed by art critics as a record-breaking triumph. But as headlines celebrate this bizarre spectacle of wealth, one must confront an unsettling parallel: every year, 6.2 million children die from starvation, mostly in Africa. Thatโ€™s over 17,000 children a day. While crypto millionaires and provocateurs play with their money in the name of โ€œart,โ€ over 700 million people around the world go to bed hungry. Thereโ€™s something deeply rotten in our global culture when a piece of duct tape and a banana is valued more than the lives of millions dying from preventable causes.

Iranian Artist Unveils โ€˜Freedomโ€™: Mostafa Nodehโ€™s New Minimalist Photography Collection

Mostafa Nodehโ€™s Freedom collection is an artistic meditation on the essence of personal growth and resilience. Through minimalist black-and-white photography, Nodeh captures scenes featuring snow, footprints, and birdsโ€”symbols that evoke renewal, journeys, and aspiration. Each image invites viewers to reflect on their own experiences, drawing connections between the visual simplicity of nature and the complexities of human emotion. With a focus on universal themes, Nodehโ€™s work transcends cultural boundaries, offering moments of quiet contemplation that resonate with audiences worldwide.

Gates of the Underground: Sculptors Berรกnek and Proลกek Unveil Mesmerizing Exhibition in Istanbulโ€™s Basilica Cistern

This large-scale exhibition is one of the most extensive Czech sculpture exhibitions in Istanbul to date. “Gates of the Underground” examines our deep connection to the past by immersing us in the landscapes imagined by Vlastimil Berรกnek and Jaroslav Proลกek. Berรกnek creates his unique sculptures in his studio in the Czech Republic. His expression of solid foundations encourages everyone to pause, or at least slow down, and appreciate the best feelings within each of us. Berรกnek is truly a Renaissance personality, excelling as a painter, architect, writer, graphic artist, poet, and designer, with his primary domain remaining sculpture. His simple forms, executed in materials such as glass, represent the perfectionist tendencies that Berรกnek contrasts with ancient 6,500-year-old wood in his later work, showcasing the ultimate expression of his post-minimalist approach to this medium. Berรกnek seeks a unique balance between abstract form, inspired by innermost values, and the irrefutable completeness of his sculptures.

Exclusive Interview with Tom Glynn โ€“ Part 4 | As A Man Thinketh

Tom Glynn is a rare breed: an artist who can move effortlessly between artforms, materials, scales and registers, equally adept at making miniature paintings andย  monumental sculptures. And yet all of his work is unmistakably English in mood.ย  His images are populated by the countryโ€™s Neolithic monuments and pastoral landscapes, and informed by the many artists who inhabited those places before him.ย  Glynn is driven by the same Romantic spirit that motivated Palmer and Turner, Nashย  and Piper, Wallis, Lanyon and Hockney, but his art is never anything but his own. Itย  is, after all, underpinned by an urge that has coursed through his veins since he firstย stepped foot in a sandpit.ย 

HOLLYWOOD BY MATEO BLANCO – Celebrating 100 Years of the Original Marker for La La Landย 

Mateo Blanco, a Colombian American artist who lives in Miami, has had a longtime interest in expressing the lure of Hollywood. He has explored the powerย of the image and fame in his highly original portraits ofย  iconic screen sirens like Jennifer Lawrence, whose portrait he recreated using peanuts, Madonna, Dolly Parton and many Marvel superheroes, Avatar charactersย  as well as beloved Star War characters.

In his latest piece, HOLLYWOOD BY MATEO BLANCO, we can see how the stark white background gives power to the image: white, the color of Marilyn Monroeโ€™s dress; white, the color of the lights that shine and make movies possible; white, the first word uttered when the director begins to shoot; white, the color of the gleaming smiles, the diamonds, the very screen on which all our dreams and movies are projected.

Exclusive Interview with Tom Glynn โ€“ Part 3 | Taking Care of Business

How much do your paintings cost? “My paintings range in size, theme and medium and whilst I make very large and small paintings, the price can vary considerably. A small ย painting may take me one to two weeks to complete, while a very large ย painting will evolve over one to two months and involve more materials. Typically, I have sold A5 to A4 paintings from $5,000 to $8,000ย (dependent upon the dealer or gallery commission) and very large ones from $10,000 to $15,000. My paintings will also be valued against myย expertise, experience and reputation and of course every piece I make is unique and continues to increase in value. With regards to my sculptures and assemblages, prices are on application.”

Tom Glynn is a rare breed: an artist who can move effortlessly between artforms, materials, scales and registers, equally adept at making miniature paintings andย  monumental sculptures. And yet all of his work is unmistakably English in mood.ย  His images are populated by the countryโ€™s Neolithic monuments and pastoral landscapes, and informed by the many artists who inhabited those places before him.ย  Glynn is driven by the same Romantic spirit that motivated Palmer and Turner, Nashย  and Piper, Wallis, Lanyon and Hockney, but his art is never anything but his own. Itย  is, after all, underpinned by an urge that has coursed through his veins since he firstย stepped foot in a sandpit.ย – Dr. James Foxย | British Art Historian & Broadcaster

Exclusive Interview with Tom Glynn – Part 2 | Assembling Life

What makes your art unique? “My paintings, sculptures and assemblages are potentially unique as Iย explore the narrative of everyday events and issues, historical journeys,ย the paradox of objects and the abstract qualities of both landscape andย  the built environment. Direct responses to landscape are significantย recurring themes. I work with a multitude of found objects, materials andย  techniques within the scope of painting and sculpture, in order toย harness the mystery and visual excitement created by juxtaposition,ย visual memory and spatial configurations – the surrealist and dadaย  placement of objects and images. Themes and visual ideas oftenย  explore incongruity, archaeological qualities, visual ambiguity, pictorialย and real space, political irony, symbol and humour, resulting in a wideย  range of outcomes made from expressively applied paint, collage,ย  assemblage, wood and objets trouvรฉs that yield a profusion of colour,ย texture, form and spatial complexities.”

Who is DovBer Marchette

Founder of the ‘Pura’ art movement, Jewish-American artist DovBer Marchette has explored unique ideas in the creative process for over 50 years.

Trained as a professional sculptor, his body of work actually represents a wide range of materials and concepts from the modern art world.

Currently DovBer works mainly with wood sculpture as well as painting, drawing, and photography.

“I continually explore the idea of unlimited creative possibilities within strong boundaries. I limit certain factors such as my color palette and working with resources that are available in the moment.”