Monthly Archives: September 2010

Maggie Tobin’s Luminous Treetops

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 Green

I found Maggie Tobin through Art In Brookyn–always nice to have hyperlocal resources–and the artist maes some lovely images of tree branches, displaced and translucent. It reminds me of lying on your back in the grass and looking up to see the such shine through branches, all black in thick relief.

Tobin notes how she captures such a deep yet luminous effect in her artist’s statement:

The trees are painted in oil on translucent vellum stretched over mirror creating a subtle luminous quality and 3-dimensional effect. I try to capture the sublime quality of the Hudson River Luminists as well as the sense of limitless space in twelfth century Chinese Southern Sung landscapes. Within my paintings there are no cultural references; I aim to reflect the timelessness of nature in a fleeting moment.

Fontenelle

The subject matter and the medium really work well together here. AND The artist’s website features flipbooks (fun!) and other goodies.  

Thelma Golden: How art gives shape to cultural change

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This TED clip (one of an excellent series) shows Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem discussing past exhibitions that have explored how art examines and redefines culture. The “post-black” artists she works with are using their art to create a dialogue about race and culture — and Goldin shares her views about her role in the process. It’s about 15  minutes long–so be prepared to settle in to watch it.

More great TED talks here.

Refreshment on a Summer Afternoon

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Basket of Wild Strawberries

One would be lucky to find oneself with Chardin’s bowl of strawberries one hot summer day washed down simple water. Nothing pretentious here–just a glorious warm red, and earthy immediacy, and a beautifully painted piece of carefully rendered depths. It looks as if you could reach in and pick one.

The quality of Chardin’s naturalistic painting in the 17th-century Dutch tradition was exceptional and his success as a painter of animals, birds, and fruit was immediate. The critic Diderot wrote in 1767, “One pauses instinctively in front of a Chardin like a weary traveler who sits down . . . in a grassy spot that offers silence, water, shade, and a cooling breeze.” I agree. 

May your long last weekend of summer be full of wild strawberries.