In the short time I have been part of redbubble I have learnt so much about editing and image making. I find it amazing that people from …
In the short time I have been part of redbubble I have learnt so much about editing and image making. I find it amazing that people from all over have seen and commented on my work. To have such talented people offer advice and support has been an enormous buzz. Now I can call myself ‘artist’. Admitedly only inside my head but it is an exhilarating and new thought. In the meantime I make a living in the real world but this has been enormously fun.
One aspect of RedBubble that has got little attention is where it fits in the development of art. Firstly a caveat, I probably only know …
One aspect of RedBubble that has got little attention is where it fits in the development of art. Firstly a caveat, I probably only know just enough to be wrong. Ploughing on regardless, I believe RedBubble is part of a revolution in the artistic market. It is about the rediscovery that art can be embedded in the fabric of society rather than spread on top like a thin veneer of Vegemite. Since the Renaissance, art has been what a tiny elite produced and sold at vast prices to another tiny elite. The art world was open only to the wealth few and a cabal of elevated artists. I have been lucky in my life and have some of this art on my walls. I know it is art because somebody has told me it is and because it cost a smallish fortune. It bloody well better be art or I want my money back. But then, taking a deep breath, I look at what my children produce (or an even deeper breath, what I produce) and I understand that this elite view of art is only part of the picture. I know in non-Western societies art can be much more democratic – anybody can participate in the process. Australia’s Aboriginals maintain this capacity but they are not unique (I have seen a similar thing in Bali). There was a dream of many in the 19th century to return to democratic art. John Ruskin felt everybody had a right to beauty. But the technology has worked against such dreams. In the era of mass production, everyday art is uniformly bland. Ikea continues to churn out an art mediocrity that manages to insult both the artist and the purchaser. And so RedBubble. I feel the site is creating new artists and new art purchasers. We strive to deliver the highest quality and each work, while not unique, is certainly rare. Building a great collection of traditional art is beyond almost everybody’s reach. A great collection from RedBubble can easily be aspired to for a few thousand dollars. All the Bub’s art lacks (in general) is the imprimatur of art elite who tell us it is good. As for me, my RedBubble purchasers sit proudly beside traditional works and I will dare anybody to say which has intrinsically more value. Next week I am meeting with the Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia. We will see if he shares my views on the evolution of art. I will pitch him to try and get a RedBubble art installation, which I see as truly modern art, not just a change in the medium (or content) but a change in the very meaning of art itself. This is a change enabled by the power of the Internet combined with print-on-demand technology.
Somebody recently b-mailed me asking me that very question. They said, “I see your pictures, I read your journals, you’ve got your writi…
Somebody recently b-mailed me asking me that very question. They said, “I see your pictures, I read your journals, you’ve got your writing, but who _IS Michelle?” They went on to talk about how we all find different ways to express ourselves, but to truly understand, we need to know where the other person is coming from. So who is Michelle? Part of the answer (from third-person perspective): Michelle is a daughter / sister / granddaughter / girlfriend / friend / co-worker / acquaintance / old classmate / caregiver. Michelle is very family-oriented. Her best friend is her sister. Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas are her favorite times of year because she gets to see her family. Michelle is a nurse. She went straight out of high school into an accelerated nursing program, and finished an Associate’s Degree within two years. Michelle is a pet-owner, currently of one dog, one cat, and one fish. In the past she has had other dogs & cats, goats, anole lizards, hamsters, gerbils, and mini-rex rabbits. Michelle is a bit obsessive compulsive at times, including but not limited to using proper grammar, to-do lists, how things are arranged in the medicine cabinet, and which way the light switches face. Michelle is a February-born person, but isn’t a big fan of the Snow Belt’s winters. She much prefers summer and autumn. Spring is too mushy where she lives. Michelle loves to bake/cook, write, photograph, read, sing / play music, even though things don’t always turn out the best. Michelle is a RedBubble addict. There is much more to Michelle than these things, but like I said at the top – this is only part of the answer.
In my traditionally composed paintings of flowers and Greek icons, I express the peace, relaxation, and spirituality she connects with th…
In my traditionally composed paintings of flowers and Greek icons, I express the peace, relaxation, and spirituality she connects with the act of painting. Although I renders oil-on-canvas floral subjects in hues reminiscent of the Renaissance tradition, I masterfully uses negative space and photographic angles to produce graphic images with a decidedly modern sensibility. My works appear starkly divided into two categories, but they are intrinsically linked by my personal symbolism influenced by my deep faith and personal story. Rather than painting to express the sorrows of my past, I paints to help the viewer escape the stresses of everyday life and retreat to a simpler time where forgotten values are embraced. www.marinella-art.ch
Monday night Belinda uploaded this amazing photo … !http://images-3.redbubble.com/img/art/size:large/view:main/1186940-1-venus-2.jpg…
Monday night Belinda uploaded this amazing photo … It made my fingers itch … and after Bel sent me the file, I sent her back this … See it up close and personal here
It was a wonderful surprise to find it in my Red Bubbler mail !! / I’m very glad ! :) Thanks so much. & All the best PB PS…
It was a wonderful surprise to find it in my Red Bubbler mail !! / I’m very glad ! :) Thanks so much. & All the best PB PS : to see what I do now… I try to fly with the Angel / in this way HWD / :))
If any one is interested in entering this comp in aid of the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care, the deadline is 11/01/09 and the link …
If any one is interested in entering this comp in aid of the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care, the deadline is 11/01/09 and the link is “http://www.renaissancephotography.org” So pretty impressive judges too. Good luck if you enter
If one googles the band, isabellalugosi, they would find that the first page of results includes a multitude of links to various music si…
If one googles the band, isabellalugosi, they would find that the first page of results includes a multitude of links to various music sites as well as band merchandising sites. Searching the term, tenseventythree will take you to several sites with writings and art. At redbubble.com, an online art community, searching the artist, 1073 will take you to an online portfolio full of paintings, drawings, photographs and writings that showcase darkness, grit and beauty in disguise. All of these have one common denominator, Eloy Alvarado. This alter-ego is an AP Art History and Graphic Design in a high school in far west Texas and is the masque of normalcy that he wears by day. / “Much of me feels like I am playing a role, and not myself.” he says in response to a question posed by one of his colleagues “I am a painter first and foremost. When I am not painting, I don’t feel myself. I feel incomplete.” When asked what subject he enjoyed teaching the most he said, “AP Art History has got to be the most rewarding subject that I teach. Sure it’s the most academic and the most confining, but i think that having a good knowledge of Art History one can best see their work in the grand scheme of things. Sort of a way to measure themselves up with the rest of the art making world.”
Honouring the Feminine and the Masculine…I came home to find that my painting Lovers and poem Dangerous had been chosen to feature in t…
Honouring the Feminine and the Masculine…I came home to find that my painting Lovers and poem Dangerous had been chosen to feature in the Sisterhood and my painting Renaissance Man had been chosen to feature in Men Appreciation. Thank you so much Mel Brackstone, Barssel and Textureofthesin from Men Appreciation and Sally Omar and Lina from The Sisterhood. I truly appreciate these three features. For my RedBubble friends who have not seen these work. I have placed Renaissance Man and Lovers on the front page of my RedBubble Profile and here is Dangerous: It is that feeling in her eyes / As she moves towards revolution / Her poise, her presence / She holds herself defiant and courageous / A warrior of the heart. Her heart exposed / Vulnerable like a delicate reed / Glistening and subtle, a pearl / But so easily turned raw. She bends but not breaks / Missing the arrows of war / and marches forward towards / the rupture of change. Through the wind and hail / A tornado of emotion / Her heart in flames / Her dance ignited by passion. Her thinking heart / She has been told / Thinks too much / But she is aware, her eyes see / and her heart knows. Instinct and passion / Softness and Strength / Intuition and Wisdom / a powerful marriage. It takes a strong man to love her / One who can see her soul / For as strong as she is / She is just as soft / And she knows and he knows / In this she is dangerous. Written by Anthea Slade Love Anthea
The great Tea Party Revolution of 2009 was just one saggy baggy dipping “DUMP.” The strategists of the Republican Party are starting to …
The great Tea Party Revolution of 2009 was just one saggy baggy dipping “DUMP.” The strategists of the Republican Party are starting to read the tea leaves that their tea bag has ripped opened spilling the dregs floating all aimlessly. What a little Tempest in a Teapot…not millions upon millions of Teabaggers just thousands of thousands and ranting not about taxes, they are so unhappy about a black guy in The White House that is what they are protesting…and they are pining away for the good old days of Nixon, Reagan and George W. Bush. The talking heads of the Republican Party are so beside themselves being a “minority” with no relevance and loudly mumbling “no” and musing about seceding from the Union and touting “patriotism” their brand of course, and that government is the problem…if that is true then all Republicans should just get out of any form of government if government is the problem…otherwise they are part of the problem and not the solution…a Catch 22 (?). / / John McCain’s campaign manager Steve Schmidt has said that the religious right (the religious right being political evangelical wing-nut-job Pharisee ministers making a buck off their ignorant flocks and those professing to be Christians like i.e. Sarah Palin who has been describe as a jet engine mounted on a golf cart, ambition being the jet engine and the golf cart her IQ…just picture that) has hurt the Republican Party and has even spoken in favor of Gay marriage while addressing the Log Cabin Republicans, who are gay and Republican and who have co-opted Abraham Lincoln who was born in a log cabin (go figure). Perhaps Steve Schmidt was trying to make points with the Log Cabin Republicans, wonder if they will swallow this latest turn around in the new Republican strategy to grow the Republican Party by recognized a concern amongst gay men and women. Steve Schmidt also said that the Republican Party has to reach out to Hispanics and African Americans (Michel S. Steele comes to mind he had better start hip hopping fast)…and of course omitted the gender that powers America…WOMEN…you must have heard about this disenfranchised minority the Republican Party hasn’t. The Republican Party needs to get Rush Limbaugh focused on getting more women to vote Republican. Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party and a misogynist. Are there female Republicans (?) yes and in a shrinking Republican Party they truly are a minority. Of course there are some high profile female Republicans…Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Bo Derek and Janine Turner. And then there are the Republican Stepford wives ready and willing to toe the party line…not being disingenuous no doubt they do as they are told…and you have to have “females” to procreate little Republicans very Darwinian too…oops not Darwinian more on the biblical patriarchal mandate…think Christian family values and small government within the true blue red white and blue little prototypical American family model of the only real American families yup they are Republicans…? If the Republican Party continues to go in the direction it is going which is the way of the Dodo bird, they had better somehow someway make polygamy legal, sounds crazy, remember Republicans voted George W. Bush into office or did they steal both elections of 2000 and 2004 (?). And if you saw the folks protesting at the great Tea Party Revolution rallies of April 15, 2009, the Teabaggers must be practicing polygamy amongst themselves…the rumor is and it could be true but not confirmed Republicans marry their own and if it is true, the results are blatantly self evident, no diversity they all look the same and all think and speak in the same coded tongue “no taxation without representation” and “socialism “and “fascism” chanting very much like a cult at the Tea Party Rallies with tea bags everywhere…I ain’t making this stuff up just YouTube or do a search on the WWW of anyone mentioned and the Tea Party of 2009…polygamy is in the bible there is a precedence for it and think Utah…polygamy is illegal for now except for those that practice polygamy you just have to catch them at it…tea anyone?…just wait…polygamy could be included as a way to increase the Republican Party base maybe the Evangelical right wing-nut-jobs could find a way to sanction polygamy so they don’t get kicked out of the Republican Party…remember 2000-2008 it never happened…anything is possible if you are a Republican…tea parties with Marie Antoinette cake and polygamy…misogynist are lining up already. Shut up!!!...the only thing that will destroy America will come from the right…2000 to 2008 never happened…relax kick back and wait…? Waterboard anyone? April 17, 2009…just a journal rant..BFD not a manifesto just an out loud thought or two so forget the grammar and punctuation…there is a cancer growing from the right wing nutjobs brewing trickle down tea…what else is new!!!!!
Yes, we’ve done it. All proceeds (profits) go to charity directly. We’ve not sold anything yet, but as far as I know, this is the *fir…
Yes, we’ve done it. All proceeds (profits) go to charity directly. We’ve not sold anything yet, but as far as I know, this is the first charity item (or at least from a group) on RedBubble. Check it out here! Please spread the word!
I have been making regular trips to Tuscany over the last few years, with my wife Jenny we have been discovering Tuscany since 1996, for …
I have been making regular trips to Tuscany over the last few years, with my wife Jenny we have been discovering Tuscany since 1996, for the last two years our enthusiasm for Italy has been to my colleague Anna’s student exchange programme; if Anna hadn’t persuaded me to join her Italian exchange I wouldn’t be making sketchbooks of Tuscany. I owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude. Tuscany is rich in art and culture, it is embedded into the fabric of life, as soon as you land at Pisa International Airport your eye encounters the Italian colour palette, terracotta red/orange roof tiles, Burnt Siena, Raw Siena, and Burnt Umber and Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre, all the most wonderful earthy colours you can imagine, each is exhibited in its extremes the strong light bleaching out the colour and the dramatic shadows take the tonal contrasts to the deepest tonal values. The train takes you from the airport into the heart of the city of Pisa, so you only get a glimpse of the modern city with a touch of contemporary graffiti that seems to decorate every rail side surface, and before long you are walking out into and discovering the old town, over the River Arno into a piazza with a statue of Garibaldi, past one of the oldest universities. The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa is a centre for teaching and research founded by Napoleon in 1810 and is still linked to a branch of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Finally, you emerge into the sun lit Piazza del Duomo campus of the Cathedral (Duomo), the Leaning Tower and the Baptistry in stunning white marble with hints of pink and green. Locally it is known as the Piazza dei Miracoli (Pisa). It is a miracle that I can actually start my sketchbook and begin to identify what I want to focus on, alley ways, light and dark, strong shape, colour, architecture, briefly wrought iron railings and street lamps, signs, newsagents stands, these are fascinating a touch of Russian constructivism Anna assures me, one day I may just do a whole project on them, and bicycles, arches, loggia everywhere offering shelter from the elements. / / Italy 1, 2, 3, 4. The train takes us to Empoli, this is our base for the week. Empoli is situated right in the heart of Tuscany an easy train journey to Florence, Pisa and Siena, all trains, buses the main autostrada intersect at Empoli. So as a location for discovering Tuscany’s art, culture, geography and people, you could not ask for a better place. Plus it has its own secrets to be discovered, that can lead you on equally exciting artistic experiences. Empoli lies at the intersection of two rivers the Arno and the Orme, historically and strategically important as one of the borders of Florence. / Sansepolcro. On Sunday, the birthplace of Piero della Francesca. Sansepolcro has I had always believed hiding in the town hall one of his greatest paintings. The greatest painting, is certainly part of this essay, however, which that is, is open to debate. I had always believed the “The Flagellation” to be up there with the best because of its mathematical mystic, perspective, ambiguous light source and absolutely undoubted mastery of colour and the technique of fresco painting. This painting is not in Sanseplocro, that is in the Ducal Palace in Urbino, totally the wrong place. What is in Sanseplocro? This is the home of the “The Resurrection” and a stunning “Polyptych of Mercy” and “Matteo di Giovanni, Polyptych with Saint Peter and Saint Paul” which has a connection to “Baptism of Christ” now in the National Gallery London. To see them you have to take the extra mile, 30 or 40 to be precise passed Arezzo, which incidentally has a fine collection of Piero’s work too, and go up into the hills and into the beautiful upper Tiber valley and find Sansepolcro. Anna’s research had found an essay by Aldous Huxley written in 1925 re-published in “The Piero della Francesca Trail” by John Pope-Hennessy in 2002. The title of Huxley’s essay “The Best Picture.” This became my inspiration for the trip and certainly enabled some joined up thinking to begin regarding all the art we eventually were able to see. In our car the journey took about an hour and a half, Huxley describe it has being a seven hour bus journey. A real pilgrimage to view a painting, and in 2009 an hour and half car ride for a Sunday day out still seemed quite a pilgrimage when you didn’t know the way and were unused to Italian roads. Our excursion with our Italian friends was still a day out and, therefore, in our desperation to see the paintings, we decided that actually, good pasta and some excellent expresso was essential first. This proved immensely fruitful, it allowed us to view the ancient parts of the town. Italy 5, 6 & 7. It was here, surprisingly, that I found a significant connection appearing above my head in the architecture of the streets. Each line of the roof; the overhang of all those classical medieval created eaves; shapes the environment that is an Italian street, every step was changing the composition. The abstract fissure framing the sky automatically made a compositional link to my own work. So in my quest to find “the best painting”, I discovered a visual connection, which put me in “Man-Made Line” heaven. The discovery of more “man-made lines” in the restoration work of the local church frescos also enabled me to get a buzz, each brushstroke was a line, deft and precisely applied, in repeating yet unique form. The restoration work was designed not to be hidden but to enable us to see the quality of the original fresco, and to do it tastefully and honestly. The honest brushstroke; one action among many, each executed with a clarity of vision; each with value and purpose, the trip was now beginning to take on an entirely new perspective. “The Best Picture.” The Museo Civico Sansepolcro has a remarkable painting by Piero della Francesca, “The Resurrection”:http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/piero/resurrection.jpg / The Palazzo dei Conservatori at Borgo San Seplocro as Huxley knew it in 1925 has this remarkable painting. Remarkable for several reasons, for nearly two centuries it was covered up by plaster someone had decided to redecorate. So it’s preservation in an almost perfect state is due to someone’s honest idea about better interior design. The fresco is not trying to be a brilliant composition, brilliant colour, even the figures are not that dramatic, what makes this painting remarkable is the honesty of the painter. “The Resurrection” is his painting, for his Sansepolcro, he isn’t trying to sell himself and say how brilliant he is about faces, folds in fabric or imitating marble, or constructing elaborate mathematically arranged compositions, he had already established a reputation as a master craftsman an intellectual and creative thinker. This painting is a simple triangle, the head of Christ risen at the apex, his foot stepping out of the sepulchre is placed on the baseline, his gaze purposeful and resolved. This is Piero’s celebration of Sansepolcro regaining its freedom from oppression and becoming a town again, this is resurrection of the human spirit rising with the rays of the new dawn, and is full of hope for the future, hope for mankind. Clever use of perspective, an honest painting without frills, there is no deception here, what you see is what you get. Then there is his Polyptych, the “Madonna of Mercy”. This beautiful woman standing against a gold background and the figure is perfectly modeled and the spatial vastness of the gold, the celestial majesty and atmosphere is created by a simple ellipse for her halo, the ellipse is perfect and just at the right angle, the gold becomes the whole spiritual universe. When you find not just one great painting but two, the best picture debate … Whether it will be in my top ten I don’t know. I don’t think I can actually narrow it down to ten works of art or ten artists, there are too many memorable moments that I have had with artwork, some as yet not recorded in the annals of fame. So like Huxley’s essay I am enjoying the opportunity to raise the question, what is the best picture? / For my eye it certainly does not have to be complex or elaborate, but it does have to be strong, solid and show an understanding of the visual language and employ correctly so the observer is not distracted by anomalies. My Sunday in Sansepolcro was a revelation, I found more than I bargained for, relevance to my own work, and a significant understanding of how I look at, and appreciate art. The Sunday excursion to Sansepolcro was new for us all, even my Italian hosts had not been there, so going the extra distance and seeing this specials place was without doubt a milestone for us all. / / Italy 8, 9 / At the Porta Romana of Siena the Shewolf feeds Romulus and Remus, the founders of the Roman state, here there is the oldest bank on one side of the bank’s piazza the building is decorated with the busts of former bank managers, or citizens of Siena looking down on us checking that we are not spending too much time in Nannini’s Gelateria (Siena). / All the streets curve around the Piazza Pubblico where the famous Palio horse race events are held, radiating from this point the roads link to the Duomo and the Museum where the Duccio “Maesta”:http://www.ducciodibuoninsegna.org/Maesta.html is exhibited. / This is a formidable polyptych, each of its individual panels is a little mini-masterpiece, the awe factor is high as soon as you see it gold everywhere, whether you can identify all the saints of key figures around the Madonna enthroned is not necessarily important, it is clearly trying to portrait a real human figure, an attempt at a baby sits on her knee, solid and of substance, there is a spatial quality to the composition created by the perspective applied to the throne, all the figures are modelled to show form. The opportunity to observe the individual panels enables close detail of how the egg or oil tempera was applied to the panels; the under-painting is clearly visible in places. In fact Duccio’s skill is clearly evident in these small panels where his artistic freedom from his religious patrons has been allowed to work there magic. To compare it to Piero’s “Madonna of Mercy” enable us to see where the Renaissance began and what it achieved in nearly 200 years. Piero has complete mastery of how to create a three dimensional living figure, even the halo in its perfect elliptical form gives spatial depth to his work, Duccio’s figures although modelled to show dimension and mass are still wooden and stiff, they don’t yet have the skills of the Mannerists, knowing that shortly we would be in Florence and able to see Duccio, Giotto and Chimabue in the Uffizi and compare Botticelli with Piero and Il Pontormo was almost too much to anticipate. The Museo dell’Opera is full of fantastic artifacts, the stained glass, the original sculptures from the Duomo façade are fantastic. / If you keep climbing literally through time to later artwork. You can eventually emerge out onto the west end window of the planned new cathedral. A cathedral that would have absolutely massive. It would have surpass the Duomo of Florence, but would also have rivalled St.Peters in Rome. Unfortunately the 1348 plague prevented its completion. The museum is built into the last three bays of the proposed nave. The west window allows you to look towards today’s cathedral and imagine a black and white striped Byzantine designed edifice. The current cathedral would be the transcept of the new church. A further climb to the top of the west window allows the agoraphobic free to enjoy the panoramic view of Siena and the surrounding country. If you can take your eyes off the beautiful roof tops of the city you can look out over the Palazzo Pubblico and the famous Palio track to truly enjoy the beautiful vista of the Tuscan countryside. / Florence. / Bridges of the Arno by Anna Goodchild / A day in Florence is like being a time jumper, constantly warping in and out of time, and each jump can add or subtract from your ability to absorb the art. It is a place that requires total concentration. In a museum, church or street, despite the façade of modernity Florence hasn’t changed drastically, since it’s power brokers shaped the city and it became the creative think tank of the era. At times the museum or the church is the here and now and the street is the past. Take away the 20th Century apparel and put horses back on the streets instead of cars and we would be standing in the Medici’s Florence. / Enough digressing, in trying to explain what it is like to have a diet of too much art and culture, getting off the train at Santa Maria Nouvella is like hitting a brick wall of noise, it has to be one of the loudest and busiest stations in Europe. The safest way from the station into the city is through a modern subway, in the early morning hustle and bustle of Florence this is quite an experience, note it is safer than trying to cross the roads. Walking to the Accademia through San Lorenzo market is great the stalls are being set up for the day, you can buy virtually anything there, but never take the price ticket seriously, beautifully stacked scarves, leather goods even hot chestnuts add there perfume to the growing mood and atmosphere. / Italy 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 / The Accademia? and Uffizi. So important is Michelangelo’s David that getting into the Accademia is like going through airport security. The sculpture is an icon of the state and a symbol of tremendous importance. X-ray machines, no bottles of water, guards give us plastic bags for our wet umbrellas. Chaos reigns, until we are all past and safely scanned, fortunately we have an early start and our English speaking guide is also on time and promptly takes us into the first gallery which has a plaster caster of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” by Giambologna, the original is in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza Signorina at the Uffizi. The sculpture is an example of a serpentine composition favoured by the Mannerists, twisting turning and off balanced human forms, the significance of plaster casts and the Accademia is its foundation as one of the first schools of art. Our guides voice blurs, in the growing noise as more and more groups with guides seem to be trying to talk at the sametime. In the next gallery the unfinished Michelangelo slaves and sculpture of St.Matthew line the walls. The human figures writhing inside the blocks of marble are struggling to get out. Michelangelo’s skill at visualizing the sculpture inside the stone is described, I can only see it like a modern laser cutter, towards the end of his life he only worked from the front and side apparently never rotating the block, St.Matthew enables us to see how the geometric form was achieved before rounding, filing and smoothing began. I tried this once and to cut a three dimensional form out of a block from only two directions is really difficult. The essential knowledge that guides have given me over the years about David , above the noise of other guides and tourists, is based on knowing the bible story or the individual against the oppressor. David is a shepherd boy, who has to protect his sheep his only weapon is a sling shot. So we have a young boy who can hit a wolf at a hundred metres. David is stripped naked and apparently defenceless against the giant Goliath. It is really quite easy to see how the sculpture is now seen as a symbol of the rights of the individual as a citizen of the state. David is portrayed like an athlete, the analogy is cricket or baseball, the bowler or the pitcher, or a javelin thrower, David’s body is critically balanced on his back leg up against a tree stump, his leading leg is flexed and ready to launch forward. His left hand is holding his sling drapped over his shoulder while in his right hand is the stone. It is being weighed, a calculation he has made many times before to hit a wolf. The body is, therefore, in an athletic stance waiting for the starter to trigger the action. The head is turned to his target, his eyes are measuring the distance, his whole body is being prepared to launch a stone at a target. David is a symbol of mans ability to reason and work things out, Michelangelo has made us see an intelligent caring human. With the knowledge of his experience David does not fear the obstacle that is Goliath, he has already overcome more dangerous predators guarding his sheep. A large slow moving target was a piece of cake to David. Michelangelo has, therefore, set his David at that precise moment before he unleashes his attack. The sculpture is about experience and knowledge, combined with reason and purpose, this can protect us and enable us to overcome any obstacles that we encounter. The Accademia has other important collections, but the curation of the Robert Mapplethorpe photographs on the theme of “Perfections in Form” are stunning and several have been cleverly displayed next to Michelangelo’s work. The anomaly that still intrigues me is why Andy Warhol’s “Electric Chair” was there too. The crowds, the noise, and fortunately the rain stopping allowed us to leave. The walking in Florence is the time warping we slipped past the Duomo and just managed to mention Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise” on the Baptistry, before moving onto the Uffizi., and then we had to jump again to the Ponte Vecchio, before jumping on and into Santa Felicita church, and peace. So peaceful that we almost forget why we are there. / The church is linked to the Vasari corridor that runs from the Palazzo Vecchio over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti, the corridor enabled the Medici to travel between the two palaces. In a side chapel by the entrance is what we had come to see a Pontormo masterpiece, On the side wall of the chapel is a fresco of the “Virgin and the Angel Gabriel” the “Annunciation” and above the altar is one of the masterpieces of early Mannerism his “Deposition”, the painting looks as if it had just been finished such is the quality of colour, the dead body of Christ is held by figures that sag under the weight of the dead body, Mary is feinting and being caught by supportive companions. Every figure is in an action pose, interlocking and relating, there are three groups or clusters of three figures that are in essence the main compositional elements. At the base of the semicircle on the upper right is a portrait of a man in a green hat, this is thought to be Il Pontormo. / There are two roundels where the walls meet the ceiling and one of these is thought to be by Bronzino a student of Pontormo’s. The Uffizi. The Uffizi collection is the best examples of Italian art, it is awesome to get into, groups are more successful than individuals who queue around the block to get in. Getting past security and climbing an exhausting set of staircases to the second floor enables the dedicated art lover to go forward in time, through a series of rooms which end at the best coffee shop in Florence on top of the Loggia dei Lanzi. Unfortunately we missed out this time, on expressos. / http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=25 / Our group had to look at two rooms specifically. Having been in Siena and seen Duccio’s “Maesta” and seen the birth of the Humanist revolution in art, it was essential that it is seen that he was not alone. The other key players are Giotto and Chimabue. It is said that Chimabue actually discovered Giotto drawing while looking after his sheep. In the history of Florence and Siena it is all about Duccio and Giotto. Our first room is dedicated to these three artists and you can compare three beautiful throned Madonnas. Skipping forward a couple of centuries and the group are dragged into the Botticelli room. On the virtual Uffizi website, which is the best way of finding art Botticelli is not to be found so look for Sandro Filipepi called Botticelli. / There are three paintings that we are trying to see, difficult because all the others are pretty good too. The three in questioned were all commissioned by the Medici family. They are the “Primavera”:http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=18, “The Birth of Venus”:http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=25 and “Pallas and the Centaur”:http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=25, the connections are that the characters could be members of the Medici family and they are all allegorical paintings about love or relationships or both. “Pallas and the Centaur” of the three is the least well known. These paintings were the plasma screens of their time hanging on the walls of a Medici palace they provided decoration, information, advertising, I’m sure Botticelli was fully aware of the best way to sell himself, would be to have a Medici as a patron. They are rooted in classical Greek mythology an intellectual pursuit of the time, and are Botticelli’s last paintings using mythological themes. I can imagine the “Primavera” high on a wall the base of the frame level with the doorway and opposite is “The Birth of Venus” and maybe on the end wall “Pallas and the Centaur”. Pallas is a Titan, quite a virile one too. All three are allegorical paintings and require de-coding, The series starts with spring, renewal, rebirth. The “Primavera” is not designed to be looked at from just face on it is designed to be read, convention would expect us to start from the left and work to the right. Not this painting. Here Botticelli has composed a painting for a specific location in a palace and it would be seen on entry, maybe the women first while the guys had their after dinner drinks and then the guys followed later to join the women to enter into debate. So the “Primavera” is to be read from right to left. Each character a symbol of love and relationships, each a symbol of the consequences of making the right or wrong decisions. The first half of the painting is physical love and the consequence of sewing seeds, the Venus Madonna splits the painting in half, blessing the union between man and woman, however Cupid’s arrow will take its course regardless and hit its target, so beware. The three dancing maids are Hours, Muses, Virtues, Graces or Juno, Venus and Minerva, the three graces group feature quite frequently in art, but the connection to the Greek classic and the stories of Troy would be known, Paris chose beauty and love over, wisdom and success in war. Which links beautifully into “The Birth of Venus” situated on the opposite wall of my imaginary palace salon. However, the last figure of the “Primavera” is a male figure with winged boots and a caduceus in his hand stirring some clouds. This is Mercury the messenger of the gods, Mercury seems lost in thought and shows no sign of interest in the women, has he got the message will he attain the super-celestial experience. By de-coding the “Primavera” the singularity of the “Birth of Venus” as the perfection of beauty, and Pallas would be good in a fight, and therefore, possible the three together would make a good Medici. In travelling through 200 years of Renaissance time in an hour and a quarter just discovering four key world artist was enough. In San Lorenzo Market, even on a rainy Florence day it is busy and claustrophobic having been saturated with Michelangelo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Il Pontormo, Duccio, Giotto and Chimabue not to forget Andy Warhol and Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine seeking retail therapy here wasn’t working and Santa Maria Novello station seemed preferable than haggling over the price of leather. The major excursions over our attention turned to places closer to Empoli, `il Pontormo and his painting of St.Michael and the Leonardo museum at Vinci, it has everything their and is currently being renovated so next year we should be able to see all his gadgets. Also if you are a wine buff the Leonardo da Vinci Cantine or winery will guide you through the whole production. Italy 17, 18 As I have previously said Empoli is at the heart of Tuscany and by rail, bus or car you can get to places quite quickly. An early evening trip to San Miniato was fantastic, the town is situate high on a ridge and overlooks the whole of the Arno river plane. Within two hours an expresso and a pastry, the light had changed from day through dusk to night. A sung Mass in the church making it even more memorable. Italy 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 “Artistically there are two artists of note, Jacopo (Chimenti) da Empoli (30 April 1551 – 30 September 1640) was an Italian late-mannerist painter, / and the very important Jacopo Carucci (May 24, 1494 — January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo da Pontormo, Jacopo Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine school. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine Renaissance. He is famous for his use of twining poses, coupled with ambiguous perspective; his figures often seem to float in an uncertain environment, unhampered by the forces of gravity.” / Ref. Wikipedia. Italy 25 His birthplace is now an Arts Centre in the suburb of Pontorme, now part of Empoli. Il Pontormo is certainly an artist worthy of our attention and is recorded in Vasari’s “Lives of Artists”, a student of Leonardo and several other important artists of the day. In the Church of St. Michael in Pontorme there is one example of his work the painting of Saint Michael the Archangel Italy 11 is my pencil drawing of St.Michael. With Vinci, Lucca, San Miniato and Montelupo only 30ish minute bus rides away, Empoli is really an exciting place to explore art, history, geography, technology; the Vinci Museum is fantastic; plus in Montelupo there is museum devoted to the history of ceramics. If you are a wine and food fanatic then Empoli is in the heart of Chianti country. My Italian sketchbook nearly filled, a high sense of achieving some visual goals, have been fulfilled, certainly becoming closer to the whole Renaissance period and seeing its evolution form the 13th.Century through to the 15th.Century and into the Mannerist period has begun to make more sense. What is very clear is that the whole Italian Renaissance was a phenomenon of overlapping minds, all these great creative thinkers, doing immensely joined up thinking and radically transforming human capability by combining the knowledge of the day and putting it to use. Perhaps we need more artists workshops, and creative joined up thinking.
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