Christys' Art Blog

Monday, April 7, 2008

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Batman is the sexiest comic book hero. Ever.

Is there really even an argument?

Batman Rules.

Ships in Distress in a Heavy Storm 1690

Ludolf Backhuysen, oil on canvas

My 2 big canvases.. I will start fresh on them very soon. I am very excited about them again.

My final choice is fixed now, it will be ....Petra.

We will see if I can do a decent landscape. But, first I have to figure out how to paint a baby though.

Not as easy as it sounds.

Anyways, I love yalls posts, keep em coming!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Political Art of Shepard Fairey

Snide Philadelphia Inquirer story about the scary Big Brother poster says:
Apparently, it makes Barack Obama look like a totalitarian leader to people over the age of 35 or so, since they are not familiar Shepard Fairey's Obey posters, what this is obviously a total homage to. It's more than an homage - you can buy a print at the Obey Giant site or Obama's site. It's art they sanction. I'd seen it around, admired it but didn't know the story. We've shown it at Silenced Majority Portal, from an image at Cafe Press.

Here is what Shepard himself said at his Obey Giant Worldwide Propaganda Delivery site:
Sales of the Obama T-shirts through Upper Playground funded these bus shelter ads in Philly. You might be saying… “supporting a political candidate, paying for ads, what is Obey thinking?” Well, we’re thinking that helping to put Obama in office is one of the most subversive things we could be doing. To see for yourself, check out his policies at BarackObama.com

Make Art Not War - read more about this artist - the history, the progation method, the madness. Fairey started as a skater and graffiti artist and finished Rhode Island School of Design. I just read a very nice thesis from St. Mary's in London about art and propaganda with alot of Fairey. He is from the tradition that goes back to "Kilroy was Here" in WW2.

more
Fairey is one of today's best known street artists. The "Obey Giant" campaign has grown via an international network of collaborators. His manifesto links the art with Heidegger's phenomenology. The "Obey" campaign draws from the movie "They Live" (which starred a pro-wrestler) from which come slogans, as from McLuhan's work, such as "The Medium is the Message." Fairey has specialized in silkscreens and there is an Obey clothing line. He also has a film degree and has done documentaries, album cover art (as for the Black Eyed Peas and Smashing Pumpkins, and Led Zeppelin.) He has joined with other artists to create antiwar-antiBush posters and has collaborated with DJ Shadow, Mission of Burma, Interpol AND founded Swindle magazine as well as written a book, "Supply and Demand." He also DJs as DJ Diabetic and Emcee Insulin. His political art sets a high standard. He has also designed an electric guitar with a Big Brother logo and did the loading screen for Guitar Hero. I am just scratching the surface. Slugbug

My lifelong friend Karen Sasine is a mosaic artist. This is some of her work! Rainbow Mosaics is the name of her website.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Am working on links

If your link disappeared, I am working on it.

Mosaic Fun

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

An amazing revival

In the beginning of the last century, the Native American Indians were a defeated race. But their defeat was not defined at any of the famous 'Last stands' nor was it signaled by a single treaty or act. However there was something that more than anything finalized the subjugation of their race.. It was 'schools' like this one.

This school, in Guthrie Oklahoma was used to house 'Indian children', who once removed from their people had little choice but to be integrated into white society. They shaved their braids, taught them white mans games and language. Most of these children were forbidden from speaking in their native tounge, and the penalties for doing so usually included severe beatings and starvation until they were less 'savage'.

But, by the time I lived by the school it had long been abandoned. It looked like this...

Like with most spooky old buildings, it was rumored to be haunted. The ones who dared to go in there would claim to hear the wailing screams of children throughout the entire building. It just sat there, and rotted, an unwanted reminder of the not so distant past.

And then someone with millions of dollars to spend bought it, and decided to turn it into a single home for himself and his family.

And this is what it looks like now.

When I first saw it again, after all these years, I literally quit breathing.