Maggie Tobin’s Luminous Treetops

 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

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.

Duy Huynh: A Magical Realist at the Crossroads of East and West

Floating Meditation
I’ve been neglecting my blog, but I am happy to have done a little bit of writing on Duy Huynh’s paintings–up now at Escape Into Life Online Arts Journal. For the most part his works are a mystical take on Magical Realism which is quite dreamy (in a good way). This image struck me as very like some of the reworkings of the Bhudda by contemporary Tibetan artists at the Rubin museum
Other paintings seem more into Western modes and tropes. Exempla gratis: man in bowler hat below.
Time Flies
Time does fly–it’s nearly fall. I’m looking forward to being more with you then. Until then, happy summer!