Monday, November 26, 2012

Pop Art goes Sinister

When it comes to modern art, Pop Art is the largest form of income. People will pay big bucks for a painting done by Andy Warhol. There have been many museum displays of Pop Art recently such as "Regarding Warhol" at the Met in New York and the touring exhibit, "Lichtenstein survey" which is currently located at the National Gallery. However, like everything these days, people are always looking for the next big thing. They Whitney art museum in New York has taken the next step with a new exhibit called "Sinister Pop." Organized by the museum's curators, Donna De Salvo and Scott Rothkopf, displays Pop art with a sinister twist. The art on display features consumerism of the early 1960s, antiwar, and anti-corporate sentiment of work. It also includes photographs from the 60s and 70s. Some of the paintings include Warhol's race riots and electric chair, paintings of gas stations, and barred-off highway landscapes. This new exhibition evokes gloomy thoughts within the frequent visitors.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/arts/design/sinister-pop-at-the-whitney.html?ref=design&_r=0
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

'Absorbed by Color'




The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, N.Y. is hosting "Absorbed by Color: Art in the 20th Century." This show is a tour of color in 20th-century paintings. This display is ambitious, but the "younger sister" of the 2008 Museum of Modern Art's "Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today" exhibition. "Absorbed by Color" is not a collaboration of well known artists and paintings, instead, it leans toward lesser-known and overlooked artists. Artists featured in this display include Joseph Albers, George Biddle (influenced by the famous impressionist, Degas), De Hirsh Margules, James Henry Daugherty's and many more talented artists. The curator decided to arrange this exhibition by color, grouping the reds together, the yellows together, ETC. Some may say that this is a childish way of displaying this show, but it will attract the largest possible audience.        http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/nyregion/a-review-of-absorbed-by-color-at-the-heckscher-museum-of-art.html?ref=design

Monday, November 5, 2012

Art Comes Alive at the MoMA

Even a dangerous hurricane cannot stop an exhibit at the MoMA in New York City from going off without a hitch! The Museum of Modern Art has had a dance series and the last installment was interrupted by Hurricane Sandy. "Some sweet day" is the series finale. The artists, Deborah Hay's and Sarah Michelson included racial themes. In this exhibit, the dancers mingled with the audience. The choreographer, Ralph Lemon said that, "It's been a difficult week." This performance provided a relief from the horrible events from the past week, if only for a moment. The dancers came from a wide range of dance companies.       http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/arts/dance/sarah-michelson-and-deborah-hay-in-moma-series.html?ref=arts&_r=0

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Scratching the Surface, Two Picassos Revealed


When Picasso painted "Women Ironing," he was only 22. It was 1904 and he was living in Paris trying to be a successful painter. Picasso is known for starting one painting and then mid way through, he would abandon it. For years, art historians have guessed that there is a painting underneath "Women Ironing." Images were even taken with an infrared camera in 1989, revealing a portrait of a man with a mustache. People do not know who the man is and whether or not it was painted by Picasso. Some believe that it is a portrait of Benet Soler, a Barcelona tailor and friend of Picasso. There is said to something next to the man, and some people think that it is a sewing machine which would support the Soler hypothesis. When the painting was transferred the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1952, a thief broke in a tried to steal it by cutting it out of the frame. He was caught before he could steal it, but he caused substantial damage. The painting was fixed, but people started to notice more color seeping through the grey tones. When the painting was further inspected, people found the man standing next to an easel instead. The Picasso like brush strokes and his positioning makes people think that this is a self portrait instead. People are still in disagreement to who the mysterious man is. "Women Ironing" is currently located in the Guggenheim Museum.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/arts/design/under-a-picasso-painting-another-picasso-painting.html?ref=arts&_r=1&     

Monday, October 22, 2012

Kids Mistakenly Eating Laundry Pods



The CDC has recently released a new warning for parents concerning children mistaking laundry pods for candy. This past summer, during a 30-day period, there were more than 1,000 cases of poisoning from detergent among kids. Of those cases, more than 400 were connected to detergent pods. There was an average of 10 cases a day during May. More than 90% of the cases occur with children under the age of 6. These laundry pods are the most dangerous form of detergent poisoning. Kids have been rushed to the hospital due these laundry pods. The makers of Tide detergent are planning on making their detergent pod containers, which resemble a candy jar, childproof. However, the responsibility falls on the parents to keep detergent out of reach from their children.    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/laundry-detergent-pods-emerging-public-health-hazard-kids/story?id=17514676#.UIVhumdTBEM

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Younger "Lady with the Mystic Smile"

http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/09/26/14115751-younger-version-of-mona-lisa-to-be-presented?liteIn 1913 a painting was discovered in a manor house in the west of England. But this just wasn't any painting. This painting is said to be the first Mona Lisa. The girl in this picture is extremely similar to Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" except that she appears to be about 10 years younger. It is still undecided whether Leonardo copied this painting, or this unknown artist copied him. What is known is that the painting is on canvas, not Leonardo's medium of choice which was wood. Currently the "Mona Lisa" or "La Giaconda" is located in the Louvre. This newly discovered painting is located in a Swiss bank and is under extreme examination.   

Monday, October 8, 2012

Impressionism and Fashion Collide



Currently on display at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, is “Impressionism and Fashion”, just in time for Paris Fashion Week. This fascinating exhibit explores the relation between fashion today and the fashion in paintings from the late 19th century. During this time, fashion became an expansive industry and also a form of leisure. This show is with collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago and is planned to come to the States next year. This display is showing the comparisons between fashion today and fashion from the 1800s. Throughout this show, there are paintings done by famous impressionists including Monet and Degas. Next to these paintings are modern clothing that represent the clothing that is displayed in the famous paintings.