Symbols of death, like tombstones and skeletons, help to create all those eerie and unsettling feelings we come to expect this time of year, and cemeteries provide the perfect inspiration. To mark the occasion, here are a few photos of artists’ graves I visited this summer in France. The phantoms and spirits were on their best behaviour during my daytime visits, and the only unsettling visuals came from the public washroom. There are times I’m SO grateful I can’t smell.
That pretty much captures how I felt about coming home from a wonderful holiday in France. I can’t seem to yank my head out of holiday mode despite reality inducing activities such as laundry and work, so until I get my act together and make some projects, I thought I’d share a few photos with you. This desperate looking creature resides on the magnificent front façade of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Continue reading
Filed under travel
How wonderfully disturbing to greet your guests with these odd little creatures lurking in your entrance. They were inspired by a exhibition I saw, pictured below, by Annette Messager, where she explored the idea of covered things which are half hidden and half revealed. Perfect for Halloween.
Les Piques by Annette Messager. Centre Pompidou, 2009.
Filed under Halloween
Baigneuse et Profil by Pablo Picasso, 1930. Photo:http://picasso-paris.videomuseum.fr
When you consider Picasso’s body of work, three dimensional pieces in sand don’t usually come to mind. So this turned out to be a surprising discovery I made when visiting the Musée National Picasso in Paris a few years ago. Click on the link and select ‘oeuvre en 3 dimensions’ to have a look at the other seven works in this series, and for inspiration to make your own version. Here’s a quote from Picasso which nicely explains why we shouldn’t be surprised by his explorations:
“When you come to think of it, I am probably a painter without style. ‘Style’ is often something that ties the artist down and makes him look at things in one particular way, the same technique, the same formulas, year after year, sometimes for a whole lifetime. You recognize him immediately, for he is always in the same suit, or a suit of the same cut. There are, of course, great painters who have a certain style. However, I always thrash about rather wildly. I am a bit of a tramp. You can see me at this moment, but I have already changed, I am already somewhere else. I can never be tied down, and that is why I have no style,” Picasso wrote. (http://www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picassobio.html)
Filed under Artists, Pablo Picasso
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