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Michael Fields is a self-taught artist based in Portland, Oregon. His work focuses “primarily on the duality that exists inside each and every one of us. The feral beast confounded by logic and order… the internal struggle between instinct and knowledge…” (from artist website) Fields is also a graphic designer and WordPress developer.
To see more, visit MFields.org.
Some of today’s images may look familiar to you, especially if you’re a fan of the TV show “Ghost Whisperer” where they appear in the show’s intro. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Maggie Taylor has a BA in philosophy from Yale University and an MFA in photography from the University of Florida.
In 1996, after more than ten years as a still-life photographer, Taylor began creating her images digitally. Using flatbed scanners and Adobe Photoshop, Taylor creates unique digital collages that “transport viewers to dreamlike worlds inhabited by everyday objects.” Primarily a fine artist, Taylor also spends some of her time creating cover images for books and music CDs. Her commercial clients include Warner Brothers Music and Penguin Publishing.
Taylor’s work is featured in “Adobe Photoshop Master Class: Maggie Taylor’s Landscape of Dreams”, “Solutions Beginning with A” , and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll . Her images are in numerous public and private collections including Princeton University Art Museum, The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Museum of Photography, Seoul. She currently lives in Gainesville, Florida.
To see more of Taylor’s work, visit MaggieTaylor.com.
1. Nocturne painting depicts scenes evocative of night or subjects as they appear in a veil of light, in twilight, or in the absence of direct light. Nocturnes usually include landscapes and the technique has been employed by artists from the Baroque period of the early 17th century to the present. Artists use various methods to depict nocturnes: washes of color, impasto, and linear treatments. The first artist to paint scenes on a regular basis in the nocturne mode was Rembrandt van Rijn
2. Exquisite corpse (also known as “exquisite cadaver” or “rotating corpse”) is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence by following a rule. For example, the artist being allowed to see only a small portion of what the previous person contributed.
3. There are two schools of thought about how Vincent van Gogh lost part of his left ear on December 23, 1888. Some believe that Paul Gauguin cut off van Gogh’s ear in self-defense during a quarrel. Others think that he slashed his own left ear lobe after learning that his brother, Theo, was getting married. Whether the wound was self-inflicted or not, there is no doubt that Van Gogh, bleeding from his wound, staggered into a bordello and gave a prostitute friend named Rachel his severed ear, telling her to ‘keep this object carefully’.
4. William Blake is ranked among the greatest English poets but less known is that Blake is considered to be one of the most original visual artists of the Romantic era. Blake studied art as a boy at the drawing academy of Henry Pars, apprenticed with the commercial engraver James Basire, and entered the Royal Academy Schools as an engraver. Blake also developed a method of etching in relief that enabled him to combine illustrations and text on the same page and to print them himself.
5. A collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a work of art made from an assemblage of different forms that create a whole. Collage materials may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of paper, portions of other artwork, photographs, and other found objects that are attached to a variety of surfaces. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty. The term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the start of the 20th century when collage re-emerged.
Related Books:
The Art Lover’s Almanac : Serious Trivia for the Novice and the Connoisseur
Facts On File Encyclopedia Of Art ( 5 vol. set)
Growl-but-Never-Bark © Elbow-Toe - Cut Paper on Birch Panel
Today’s image is by the versatile Brooklyn, NY based artist ELBOW-TOE. “ELBOW-TOE has been creating introspective urban art for several years. His artwork for the streets is grounded in myth, symbolism and poetry and is primarily executed in woodcut, stencil or large-scale charcoal drawings. His oeuvre is a study of human gesture as communication and he utilizes public spaces as stages for private moments. He is particularly interested in the ability of environmental forces outside his control to create a timeless quality to the work thereby allowing it to feel as if it has been memory and is part of the collective unconscious.
ELBOW-TOE’s gallery work focuses on portraiture and abstract narrative and is primarily executed in collage. These intricate collages at first glance might be mistaken for paintings given that they have a fluidity rarely seen in collages. Whilst his work has a very unique style it draws on a rich history of figurative painting and has qualities reminiscent of Freud, Bacon and Soutine.” (bio from artist’s website)
Check out more of Elbow Toe’s work at Elbow-Toe.com or see his photostream on Flickr.
Today’s feature is São Paulo, Brazil artist Silvio Alvarez. Alvarez is self-taught and has been working with collage since 1989.
I find Alvarez’s work very interesting: “He gives us a cheerful picture of everyday life in the big city, without, however, failing to provide a critical analysis of society.
Silvio believes that the most important raw material in his work – even more important than paper – is patience. He cuts out images from magazines or publicity leaflets, one by one, to create a world that is wholly his own, magic and surreal.” (from Art Slant )
To see more of Alvarez’s work, visit Silvio Alvarez.com.
Saturday’s image is by Brazilian artist João Ruas. Ruas has exhibited numerous times at ThinkSpace Gallery in Los Angeles as well as other venues in the US. To see more of Ruas’ work, visit Feral-Kid.com.
ElephantMan © Joao Ruas ( Pencil, Watercolour and Collage)
The Hive and the Honey Bee © Lisa Falzon
This week’s Deviant is 26 year old surreal artist Lisa Falzon. Born and rasied in Malta, the self-taught artist currently lives in Cork, Ireland.
Most of Falzon’s work is digitally assembled in Photoshop though she also works with oils and acrylics. Her creations are a mix of small photo parts that are cut out then combined and airbrushed to create a unique merger of painting and collage.
Falzon’s work has extended to book covers, CD art, children’s book illustrations, and advertising. She also plans to try her hand at comics in the near future.
If that isn’t enough, Falzon is also a writer and her first novel, ‘Xi Mkien Iehor’ was published in 2008 by Merlin, Ltd. in Malta. She also has a micro-fiction blog where you will find her wonderful stories that are exactly 50 words long.
To see more of Lisa Falzon’s work visit LisaFalzon.com or view her profile on Deviant Art. Follow this link to see just how she makes her compelling digital collages.
The Constant Gardener © Lisa Falzon
