ocean

The ocean has many moods, forms and expressions and has inspired many artists through the ages.

Katsushika Hokusai 's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" ( Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura) is an internationally recognised print, perhaps one of the most well known renderings of an ocean and the best recognised work of Japanese art in the world. 

The Ukiyo-e woodblock print by the Japanese 19th century artist (published around 1830) is the first in his famous series of prints called 'Thirty six views of Mount Fuji' which, as per historian Richard Lane is " a monumental print-series, one work- that made Hokusai's name both in Japan and abroad"

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist, Ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa

Like every other piece of 'great art', The Great wave has inspired more art, as demonstrated by the following images, taken from different art and design disciplines.

 

source: http://thisisjapan.asia/katsushika-hokusais-under-the-great-wave-off-kanagawa-as-an-inspiration-for-various-projects/

source: http://lidiaalinaartstuff.blogspot.in/2012/05/great-wave-of-kanagawa-hokusai.html

source: http://annafelldowntherabbithole.blogspot.in/2011/06/inspiration-dior-at-moscows-pushkin.html

Photo Credits for above picture: Andrea Russo

source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9874847@N03/4440965388/in/set-72157607388721337

question

A chicken created out of eggshells - a unique sculpture by British artist Kyle Bean tries to answer the eternal question "What came first?"

Kyle Bean is an illustrator, art director and maker. He creates playful, concept -driven work that appears in editorial and commercial projects as well as installations. His work is characterized by a whimsical and meticulous re appropriation of everyday materials and handcrafted techniques.

source:  http://www.kylebean.co.uk/portfolio

books

Books are about knocking down the fourth wall and allowing fiction to escape says Mac Barnett. Books are an escape. They literally have the capacity to transpond you to a different place in an instant. Two videos that talk about the connection of the book with its reader. Why books affect us way more than we expect them to.

Credits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREyQJO9EPs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPrS7-kx9Y0

contentment

The sculpture Contentment (1974, 206 cm x 229 cm x 92 cm, ciment fondu) by Singaporean sculptor Ng Eng Teng at the entrance of the National University of Singapore Cultural Centre on its Kent Ridge Campus. (206 x 259 x 92 cm)

Ng Eng Teng (12 July 1934 – 4 November 2001), The Grandfather of Singapore Sculpture was a sculptor in Singapore known for his figurative sculptures, many of which are found in public locations around Singapore. 

"Humanity, yes, life itself is my main inspiration. All along I've been working on figures, human beings, the good and bad side of life, the achievements and downfall of mankind. The thought of losing life and wasting one's life is urgent in my mind. While we have life, we must treasure it."

"A person assumes the form of a body, with enclosed emotions. Body movements interpret emotions. The structure of the body is a very powerful symbol of emotion and feeling; I am fascinated by the immense potential in the use of the figure."

"My main purpose in life is to be happy, healthy and artistically productive. As for art, it is not what I have to do, but rather, what I feel I have to and want to do. It is basically to create, visualise my emotions and my thinking, sharing these ideas and productions with others. When I get into my studio, a piece of clay will do wonders and soon I feel free and forget myself, unpleasant things forgotten, ideas flow into forms and thoughts tam into shapes with material. I have recalled a number of reactions of viewers to my works; these responses to forms and images demonstrate that there is contact and communication between my works and viewers; this gives me joy and satisfaction. "

(excerpts from: Arts and Thoughts: Conversation between Ng Eng Teng and T.K. Sabapathy)

source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NgEngTeng-Contentment-1974-NUS-20080828.jpg

http://www.publicart.sg/?q=Ng-Eng-Teng-Contentment

http://www.nus.edu.sg/museum/pdf/2010/Sculpting_Life.pdf

http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/arts/sculptors/ngengteng/interview.html

drama

Greek theatre, most developed in Athens, is the root of the Western tradition; theatre is in origin a Greek word. It was part of a broader culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that included festivals, religious rituals, politics, law, athletics and gymnastics,music, poetry, weddings, funerals, and symposia. Participation in the city-state's many festivals—and attendance at the City Dionysiaas an audience member (or even as a participant in the theatrical productions) in particular—was an important part of citizenship.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_theatre

The Greeks created the most amazing theatres, carved out of the hillsides , that existed in the ancient world. Drama was a very important part of their lives, society and culture, and the design and acoustics  of these amphi theatres, that form the setting of ancient greek dramas- tragedies, comedies and satyr plays,  are amongst the most amazing feats of architecture and engineering ever.

circus

"Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933" ( presented by The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York)  , a new look at the artists early years when his radical innovations included open-air wire sculptures, his beloved and important miniature "Circus", and the creation of a new artform, the mobile. This video excerpts scenes of Calder performing the "Circus" from a 1955 film by Jean Painleve.

source:  http://www.whitney.org/calder

Calder’s Circus, 1926–31. Wire, wood, metal, cloth, yarn, paper, cardboard, leather, string, rubber tubing, corks, buttons, rhinestones, pipe cleaners, and bottle caps, 54 × 94 1/4 × 94 1/4 in. (137.2 × 239.4 × 239.4 cm) overall.

Elephant and Trainer, from, Calder’s Circus, 1926–31. Painted wood, cloth, rubber tubing, wire, fur, pipe cleaners, cork, and nails, 12 1/4 × 29 × 15 1/2 in. (31.1 × 73.7 × 39.4 cm)

Little Clown, the Trumpeteer, from Calder’s Circus, 1926–31. Wire, cloth, paint, yarn, thread, rhinestone buttons, electrical tape, rubber tubing, and metal horn, 12 × 3 1/2 × 3 in. (30.5 × 8.9 × 7.6 cm

source: http://whitney.org/Collection/AlexanderCalder

dreams

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944) is a surrealist oil-on-wood painting by Salvador Dalí. A short, alternate title for the painting is Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee.

In this “hand-painted dream photograph” — as Dalí generally called his paintings — we find a seascape of distant horizons and calm waters, perhaps Port Lligat, amidst which Gala is the subject of the scene. Next to the naked body of the sleeping woman, which levitates above a flat rock that floats above the sea, Dalí depicts two suspended droplets of water and a pomegranate, a Christian symbol of fertility and resurrection.  Above the pomegranate flies a bee, an insect that traditionally symbolizes the Virgin.

In the upper left of the painting a fish bursts out of the pomegranate, and in turn spews out a tiger who then spews out another tiger and a rifle with a bayonet that will sting Gala in the arm. Above them an elephant with long flamingo legs, found in other compositions of the period such as Dalí's The Temptations of St. Anthony, carries on its back an obelisk — like Bernini’s Elephant and Obelisk in the Piazza Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marqués de Dalí de Pubol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989),  was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres, Spain.

Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media.

Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem, and to the irritation of his critics.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Caused_by_the_Flight_of_a_Bee_Around_a_Pomegranate_a_Second_Before_Awakening

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD