Geoffrey Johnson

I am somewhat mesmerized by Geoffrey Johnson's paintings. They all carry somewhat of the same motive: human figures that are disappearing into their surroundings.. Abstractions meets reality. His paintings are contemplative, melancholic, yet tranquil. And quite beautiful!

Johnson was born in 1965 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Monday in spotlight: Leo Villareal

For me, the lucky one living in San Francisco, I am quite impatient to finally see Leo Villareal's massive public art project soon. If you have not heard, the whole Bay Area bridge has already been 'decorated' in LED lights and it promises to be quite the spectacular show of lights.

Last week I attended the artist's lecture at SFMoma and among others he explained his attempt to bring natural, celestial and urban elements into this project. Plus it's like an urban picknick, said Leo, where strangers are brought into conversations when viewing this massive play of lights.

And have you checked out his other work? Quite interesting: abstract and attempting to be in tune with urban environment..

Monday artist: Cecily Brown

Vogue just featured Cecily Brown in its January issue. I believe these paintings can make quite the impact once seen in real (which I have had not the pleasure off yet). 

Her paintings are a combination of figuration and abstraction. The more intensely one looks into them, the more stories seem to start playing out in front of us... 

artist of the week: Modigliani

The beautiful and tragic Jeanne Hebuterne felt deeply in love with Modigliani and committed suicide the day after his death.. She was only 22 year old.

Jeanne was the frequent subject of his art. One of Modigliani's portrait of Jeanne is currently on sale at Christie's in London for an estimated 16 to 22 mil euros..

For sale...

Art a day: Hendrik Christian Andersen

"Andersen’s sculpture, paintings and writings demonstrate a fondness for large monumental classically inspired pieces, which, he believed, stirred in the viewer a desire for self-improvement. Much of his work was done in contemplation of the single idea of designing a perfect “World City,” filled with art, which would motivate humanity to achieve a near Utopian state."

Serra's Sequence

My second discovery from my recent Stanford trip (see more here...) is Richard Serra's spectacular Sequence. I am quite the fan of this San Francisco local artist. To be exact a new fan; I have discovered his work only recently. Yet somehow Serra is becoming the artist I am self-learning how to enjoy contemporary work.

Take the Sequence as an example. Sequence is an imposing steel structure measuring close to 70 feel long and 13 feed height. Imagine, it weights more then 200 tons! It is composed of two connecting enormous figure-eights. As we only had few minutes to spare, I literally ran through the object. My immediate reaction was a tiny doze of claustrophobia, but I promptly calmed down as the tilted walls and enclosed halls brought images of Utah's canyons into my mind.

And so I believe this was Serra's intention: one has to interact with the sculpture (you literally can walked into the heart of it). And by bringing personal emotions and life experiences, the Sequences can augment your art understanding.

Look how imposing the Sequence is!

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Can you also see the resemblance?

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Rodin and his herous...

San Francisco's larger area is indeed full of treasures. Today my boyfriend and I spent our day at the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. Little did I know of Rodin's sculptures exhibited there (ohh my ignorance!). Rodin, the world famous French artist, is a progenitor of modern sculpture and I finally had real glimpse of why.

Right in front of one of the Stanford's Art centers, there stood the famous heroic Burghers of Calais. In nuttshell the statute depicts a story as follows:  Edward III, the English king, besieged the city of Calais and offered to spare the city if six of its inhabits would give themselves up to him. And so it was six 'burghers' of Calais voluntarily agreed to surrender themselves to Edward's hands. Mind you this is not a story of big victory, but a story of sorrow and human sacrifice. And Rodin depicted it with utmost realism. The statute comprises of the heroic burgers marching towards what they thought was certain execution.

I just read that initially the statute stood at a pedestal, but eventually was brought down to the ground as for the viewer to be able to better experience and interact with the individual figures. Genius! It's quite a remarkable experience to be able to look straight into the suffering eyes of Rodin's heroes and enjoy each of the burger's individual posture.

And this is officially my first art posting... Hopefully many more to come!