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Art

What Is Pop Art and How Did It Revolutionize the Art World?

Discover the art movement that flourished in the 1960s Today, we recognize both the artistic and commercial value of works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and David Hockney. In November 2013, Warhol’s serigraph, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), sold for $105 million, setting a new record for the artist’s work. Warhol is considered one of the fathers of the Pop Art movement. Lichtenstein’s Masterpiece was auctioned for an even higher price in 2017: $165 million. While these pieces have been auctioned for millions of dollars in the 21st century, this movement has not always been held in such high regard. When Pop Art first emerged, critics described it as vulgar, sensationalist, and "a joke." Intrigued to learn more about its history? In this article, we will delve into the story of a movement that not only revolutionized the art world in the 50s and 60s, but raised questions about the true meaning of art in an ever-changing world.
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Art

3 Steps to Become a Happy Full-Time Artist by Claudia Sahuquillo

Visual artist and business mentor Clauda Sahuquillo shares the four steps We all have dreams we’re working towards, but without commitment and consistency it’s all too easy for our big ideas to simply fade away. Not for Claudia Sahuquillo, however. Claudia first caught public attention with her #SkinIsTheNewCanvas campaign where she painted patterns and shapes on naked women’s bodies. Now, an owner of three businesses, a mentor for young creatives, and a thriving full time artist herself, she is living her constantly evolving dream and is determined to show others how they can do the same.
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Art

Glossary: Different Types of Paint and Painting Materials

Learn all about the most popular tools and types of paint If you’re about to start painting for the first time, you might be feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the different materials you can choose from. Or, maybe you simply want to learn a little more about the tools you already use. Whichever category you fall under, this glossary of basic painting terms will serve you well. Acrylics Acrylics were developed during the first half of the 20th century due to a need for a type of paint that would stay vibrant outdoors. It is made by mixing pigment with acrylic resin. Being water-soluble, acrylic paint dries quickly (drying occurs when water evaporates). If you want to slow down the drying process, you can add a retarder.
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Teacher Art

Explore Escher's Engravings in High Resolution

The Boston Public Library has digitized several dozens of Escher prints Enigmatic and brilliant, the work of M. C. Escher is worthy of admiration. That's why institutions that keep some of his engravings safe often exhibit them publicly so that we all can enjoy them. One of these institutions is the Boston Public Library — the largest municipal library in the United States — who has digitized almost a hundred of his engravings. Anyone who accesses its archives can explore them in great detail and get to know all the nooks and crannies of the impossible constructions that Escher devised and drew throughout his career.
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Art

5 Socially-conscious Artists Creating Art Out of Waste

Turning waste into works of art: meet inspiring artists from around the world For centuries, humans have exploited nature. The monstrous amount of waste we produce is an issue that socially-conscious individuals have turned their attention to. Today, creative people around the world are making art out of waste. This choice of material causes us to reflect on what items we discard and push as far away from our lives as possible. In this sense, an artist's decision to put these items into a museum as part of exhibitions is very provocative. We have selected five artists whose work you ought to explore: Vik Muniz Brazilian artist Vik Muniz is one of the most well-known artists working with waste, with his work having been exhibited in MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. In the documentary, Lixo extraordinario (Extraordinary Garbage), Muniz recreated masterpieces from art history, such as the Mona Lisa, with peanut butter and jelly. He used leftovers from a macarronada (a typical Venezuelan dish) to recreate Medusa’s panicked face in Caravaggio's famous painting, and used scrap metal to create a world map. The pieces are full of irony, forcing the spectator to question what can be labeled “sophisticated” art.
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Art

Hilma af Klint: The Fascinating Story of an Abstract Art Pioneer

Ahead of her time, this artist created hundreds of enigmatic paintings where the invisible became visible. Unseen for many years, her work has now vindicated her as one of the pioneers of abstract art It was 1935, and Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky wrote a letter to his New York gallery owner, where he claimed the authorship of his first abstract painting: a piece painted in 1911. “Without doubt, it is the first abstract painting in the world (...) it is, in other words, a historical painting”, said the letter. Nonetheless, in Sweden, in 1906, a woman called Hilma af Klint had already been painting abstract compositions in which line, color, and geometrical shapes had been the main subjects. However, her story and her contribution to abstract art remained unknown until the 1980s, when an exhibition taking place at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) finally vindicated her role. Why doesn’t her name resonate when we think of this art movement? What happened that kept her prolific production unknown, unlike Mondrian, Malevich, or Kandinsky’s works? Here is the fascinating story behind one of the pioneers of abstraction.
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Art

Why Is No One Smiling in Classic Portraits and Photographs?

Learn why smiling was so uncommon in paintings and early photographs "Smile!" We listen to this phrase practically every time we pose for a photograph. Nowadays, smiles are almost a requirement in photos and selfies, a reflex action: when we see a camera pointing at us or somebody asks to take our picture, our first instinct is to smile. But that has not always been the case. For most of recorded history, smiles have not been prevalent. Smiles are rarely present in paintings or old photographs. Why? A matter of vanity? One of the hypotheses that could explain this enigmatic phenomenon is the vanity of the subjects portrayed. Due to the lack of personal hygiene in past centuries, teeth condition left much to be desired. Subjects would keep their lips firmly closed when posing for posterity to avoid showing their teeth. But that is not the truth, for a simple reason: bad teeth were so widespread that they did not inspire shame in the subjects or their painters.
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Art

Domestika Diary: Naíma Almeida

Visual artist Naíma Almeida sheds light on her creative routine during lockdown and her experience experimenting with augmented reality Our creative processes are unique. They are influenced by different circumstances; they are a result of our cultural references, the feelings we have at the time, the tools we have available, and of course, the environment in which we find ourselves. We can’t escape these elements, not even in lockdown. In this Domestika Diary, visual artist Naíma Almeida shares her routine, creative processes, thoughts, and creations during lockdown. Discover more below:
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Art

The Art Institute of Chicago Is Sharing Thousands of Free Images

The Art Institute of Chicago’s digital library contains over 40,000 files that you can download for free The Art Institute of Chicago has a collection of over 300,000 works of art and a history spanning back to the 19th century (having been founded by George Armour in 1879). It is one of the most important and relevant art institutions across both the United States and the world–up there with New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The collection includes works by local and international artists from early and modern times. Standout pieces include those by artists from Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and Spanish schools. While many museums and galleries had already digitized part, if not all, of their permanent collections, The Art Institute of Chicago only made this leap more recently. Its digital library allows users to explore and download high-quality images of artworks from their collection.
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Art

Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Virtual Tour

You can now explore the Brant Foundation’s 2019 Basquiat exhibition online Connect to the internet and be transported to New York City. The Brant Foundation has created an immersive virtual tour of the inaugural exhibition of their East Village space. The exhibition, titled Jean-Michel Basquiat, comprises four floors filled with 70 works–created from 1980 to 1987–by the radical underground graffiti artist who went on to become a global sensation. Born in 1960 to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, Jean-Michel Basquiat grew up in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, Basquiat frequented the city’s museums and galleries and was encouraged by his mother to create his own works. When Basquiat was hit by a car aged eight, his mother brought a copy of Gray's Anatomy to the hospital. From that moment on, her son developed a fascination with anatomy, inspiring the bodily imagery–in particular skulls, sinew, and guts–that would feature heavily in his work.
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Art

5 Contemporary Chinese Artists You Should Know

Get to know the work of five artists that are reviving thousand-year-old traditions China is the birthplace of ink–one of the oldest known drawing tools. While artists worldwide have adopted painting with soot, it was first used by one of the oldest empires. Given the historic importance and diverse nature of Chinese art, we have selected five contemporary artists who continue to develop its thousand-year-old traditions and give them a modern twist.
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Teacher Art

Puño Recommends: José Antonio Suárez Londoño

Get inspired by the refined work of this influential Colombian cartoonist José Antonio Suárez Londoño is, until someone proves otherwise, the best artist in Colombia. The funny thing is that Suárez Londoño apparently draws without characters and without history. I say "apparently" because that is his story. He spends his life drawing anything: all the plants in Doña Gloria's garden, something he found in an old photograph, some mathematical game applied to drawing, endless variations of the same object... or whatever.
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Teacher Art

Textile Museum of Canada: Free and Unlimited Inspiration Online

Explore fashion history from around the world through the Textile Museum of Canada’s digital collection Located in a modest neighborhood in Toronto, the Textile Museum of Canada was founded as a museum of carpets in 1975. Half a century later, it is one of the biggest textile museums in the world. Having digitized its entire collection, today it is a global reference, housing more than 15 thousand pieces that have been used throughout history by people from different places around the world. Its collection helps us better understand and appreciate the history of clothing and the customs and cultures of past and present civilizations. The museum’s collection includes every type of garment and item of fabric imaginable: uniforms used in ceremonies and rituals, carpets, blankets, bedding, hats, bags, and shoes. It’s an anthology that inspires and educates, not just when it comes to fashion, but any creative or scientific field, due to each piece’s historic significance.
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Art

Great Artists Who Painted With Their Left Hands

Studies by art historians and scientists reveal that five of history's greatest creative minds were left-handed, though many tried to hide it
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Art

Art of Neuroscience Awards 2020

We select some of our favorite entries from this year’s edition of this fascinating competition
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Art

Enjoy Over a Thousand Works by Georgia O’Keeffe

Get to know the work of the modernist painter online Considered one of the most influential representatives of American modernism, Georgia O'Keeffe is also one of the most recognized painters in art history. One of her paintings sold for more than $ 44 million, the highest record for a female artist. Although critics claim that O'Keeffe's work is primarily about sexual themes, she claimed that she was only interested in the shape and beauty of nature. Throughout her life she fought against prejudice against her gender.
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Art

Ukiyo-e: the Beauty Behind the Classic Japanese Woodblock Prints (For Free)

Find hundreds of thousands of prints on the most extensive online ukiyo-e database Woodblock printing is one of the most famous Japanese art forms, an elaborate technique that was first used by temple monks to reproduce Buddhist texts efficiently. We associate it nowadays with ukiyo-e art, illustrations from the 17th to 19th centuries that capture scenes from everyday life: kabuki theater, geishas and courtesans, sumo wrestlers, folk tales, and landscapes.
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Teacher Art

8 Impressive Hyperrealist Illustrators and Painters

A selection of paintings, drawings, and illustrations by artists around the world Armed with pencils, oil paint, acrylics, and their imaginations, these hyperrealist painters and illustrators inject life into artworks that are so detailed, they could easily be mistaken for photographs. Despite the fact that lots of people have access to high-quality cameras on their phones these days, the following creatives continue to push the limits of figurative art with their hyperrealist styles, seeking to create lifelike reproductions of landscapes, objects, situations, and people. This style was seen in the United States around the 1970s, long before the term hyperrealism had even entered the dictionary. This style can be found in the work of artists who have been active in the distant past (Canaletto), the more recent past (Edward Hopper, Daniel Ridgway Knight), and very recent decades (Antonio López, David Parrish). Today, it is employed not only in paintings, but also in sculpture, including famous works by Ron Mueck, Kazuhiro Tsuji, and Giovani Caramello. Néstor Canavarro is an example of a celebrated hyperrealist artist working today. He is also a member of the Domestika community and teaches the course, Realistic Portrait with Coloured Pencils.
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Art

The History of India Ink: From Drunk Poets to Sumi-e

Ink has been essential for thousands of years of Chinese history All the drawing materials we use have a history, and some of them go back much earlier than we can imagine. This is the case for India ink, known in some countries as "China ink," as it has been used in the countries in disciplines ranging from tattooing to comics, and whose existence is deeply linked to the history of the country. Discover everything you always wanted to know about India ink in the video below: its origins, the reasons for its importance both in your country and in the rest of the world, and its unexpected connection to everything from the political to the economic, and, finally, the artistic.
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Art

7 World-renowned Artists Exploring LGBTQ+ Identity

Art has always been a powerful form of activism. Today we’re celebrating 7 artists who have stood up and spoken out for LGBTQ+ rights. Zanele Muholi, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Catherine Opie, Gilbert & George, Annie Leibovitz, and Robert Mapplethorpe have each used their medium of choice to speak out against social injustice, break down barriers, subvert gender norms, or draw attention to, normalize and celebrate queer identities and relationships. To celebrate Pride month, here we take a look at some of their most iconic works of art.
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Art

BCN Rise & Fall: The Street Art of Barcelona

Watch this documentary on the golden age of Barcelona street art In the nineties, Barcelona became an unmissable destination for urban artists. Suddenly, the city walls were flooded with the art of internationally renowned creators such as Banksy, Space Invaders, London Police, and Os Gemeos, among many others. The documentary BCN Rise & Fall reviews the golden age of street art in Barcelona and reflects on its current state. It is an important analysis of how the peculiar graffiti and urban art scene was created in the city.
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Teacher Art

10 Key Moments from Geek Culture

From the founding fathers in the 18th century to Star Wars and Rick & Morty, understand how this tribe of brilliant and unusual people have reached the pinnacle of pop culture Nerd, geek, otaku, dork, poindexter. None of these terms existed a hundred years ago. However, individuals who share these characteristics–high IQ, bad social skills, acute obsessions with particular topics, an affinity for math or science–have lived among us since long before their creation. The biographer and writer Tom Schachtman, in Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of Enlightenment, gathers data that illustrate how some of the so-called 'founding fathers' in the United States in the 18th century, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were geeks of the technological world, polymaths obsessed with research and inventions who had little time for things like family or "normal" friends. Today, nerds come in all shapes and sizes, from the classic computer geek to the anime obsessed otaku, and the school nerd boffin. While they were ridiculed when they were younger, many are now leaders of industry, superstars, and billionaires associated with entrepreneurship, discipline, and professional success. This Geek Pride Day, a celebration that began in Spain and has now spread across the world, we look at ten key moments in geek culture, from its prehistory in the 18th century to today. 1. The Founding Fathers
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Art

3 Museums Offering 2000 Art Books

Learn about free use of art books to awaken your creativity If you are looking for inspiring content on fine art, art criticism, theory, or art history, the following resources will interest you. Three museums are letting you download and read thousands of books covering all of the above areas, as well as monographic studies on schools of thought, movements, and artists of all different eras and regions. Find out about the collections available in three large New York museums and some of their most significant treasures free to consult right now. The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Met has collected around 1,700 art books from across the world. You will be able to consult the contents table to check if any particular book has what you need to research. Each book also indicates any award or press review received and includes links to related work and areas of interest. You can download the books for you to keep or read them online here.
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Art

You Now Have 2.8 Million Free Images to Use on Your Projects

The Smithsonian Institution releases millions of high-resolution images from across its collections into the public domain The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum and research complex, a must-see attraction in Washington D.C. that documents the history and heritage of the United States while also highlighting the world's natural and cultural diversity. The collection held in its vault is, by all accounts, staggering. It is estimated to have nearly 155 million pieces altogether, including more than 146 million artifacts and specimens at the National Museum of Natural History. The Institution has started digitizing its entire catalog, a process that will take years to complete. Less than 25% of it has been digitized thus far! The site offers high-resolution 2D images and 3D models, as well as research datasets and collections metadata. The Smithsonian's 19 museums, research centers, libraries, and even the National Zoo have contributed. The database includes content across the arts, sciences, history, culture, and design, from portraits of American historical figures to 3D scans of dinosaur skeletons.
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Art

Don’t Miss: BBC Culture in Quarantine

The BBC's Culture in Quarantine is delivering a new program of art and culture to Brits at home In challenging times, art and culture have the power to unite, inspire reflection, and offer solace. Since museums, theaters, cinemas and other cultural venues across Britain closed their doors in March as a result of the national lockdown, the BBC has been collaborating with organizations and individuals–from the Tate Modern and the Royal Shakespeare to writer Margaret Atwood and scholar Mary Beard–to deliver an eclectic mix of art and culture to the public at home. The BBC’s Culture in Quarantine Festival grants access to shuttered exhibitions and performances, festivals which have turned virtual, as well as new work, offering a rich program available to consume via the BBC: online, on television, or over the radio. "It’s important during this period that we maintain access not just to news and information, but to the arts and culture. For many people, they are a valuable part of their lives and a way of stimulating imagination, thought, and escapism. It’s a vital part of who we are as individuals and part of our identity as a nation,” said Director-General Tony Hall. Here, we pick some of the highlights from the program that are sure to not only entertain but inspire.
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Art

Sketchbook: 5 Great Masters Who Sketched

Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt and Goya all sketched before their masterpieces Seeing them hung in art galleries around the world, it can seem that the most important paintings in the world came out of nowhere. However, the creative process is often far more important, the tests and mistakes, in creating something really great. Many of the greatest artists in history would take their sketchbooks everywhere, drawing whatever interested them. Behind every masterpiece, there is an entire life of practice. See in the video below five of the biggest artists who also sketched.
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Art

Four Initiatives to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

If you’re experiencing creator’s block during quarantine, here are four initiatives to get your juices flowing Most creatives would agree that the best source of inspiration is to go out into the world and make observations, so what happens when you are stuck staring at the same four walls every day? If you’re experiencing creator’s block during lockdown, know that you are not alone. It’s OK to not be at the top of your game right now. This is a challenging time. So, first things first: give yourself a break. Being housebound will affect everyone in different ways–perhaps you are dealing with increased anxiety, feeling lethargic, and/or struggling to concentrate on work. You don’t have to be productive right now. But if you are itching to create and are not sure where to start, look to the creative community for support and inspiration. Right now, lots of brands and organizations are reaching out to their followers and the wider creative community to unite artists and inspire them to get started on different creative projects by setting fun tasks and launching competitions. So if you’re stuck for ideas, here are four initiatives that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
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Art

10 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Cats

Meet the artists whose cats inspired their masterpieces From drawing to architecture, we have composed a list of ten cat-loving artists who used their felines as sources of inspiration. As all cat-lovers know, the lives of these artists were deeply connected to that of their pets: they roamed their studios, interrupted their work, and often, served as models and parts of their studio production. Edward Gorey The American illustrator Edward Gorey, famous for his macabre and dark sense of humor, said that his greatest loves were his cats. He looked after them for more than 60 years, and on his death, he gave most of his wealth to an animal care organization. In this video, animated by Benjamin and Jim Wickely, Gorey himself speaks of his love of cats.
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Art

20 Museums You Can Visit Online

Take virtual tours of some of the most incredible museums around the world Thanks to museum experts, historians, curators, and photographers around the world, we are able to go online and visit art and history collections on show in the greatest museums each continent has to offer. This round-up includes museums from across the globe that allow you to take a virtual tour of their rooms and collections via their websites or as a collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. Get to know 20 museums virtually by embracing 360 technology or learning the stories of the pieces they have on display. Enjoy! Museo Del Prado (Spain) Visit the collections on display at the Museo Del Prado by time period, author, materials, art school, topic, or technique. Each piece has its own detailed information card.
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Teacher Art

The art from the Everything but the Kitschen Sync Exhibition

Meet the participating artists from this annual exhibition in Los Angeles Established in 1986 La Luz de Jesus Gallery is the brainchild of entrepreneur and art collector Billy Shire, considered primarily responsible for fostering a new school of California art and prompting JUXTAPOZ Magazine to dub him “the Peggy Guggenheim of Lowbrow.” La Luz De Jesus Gallery presents its annual juried group exhibition, Everything but the Kitschen Sync. This gigantic, no-theme show features works from some of the freshest and most relevant artists working today.
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