20th January 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Jonathan Jones this week celebrated 'The Dance' by Matisse in this Guardian article "Why this is the most beautiful modern painting in the world. Those in a position to visit London will soon be able to see it at the Royal Academy. To learn more about the 'From Russia' exhibition and how you can find our more about this painting see below.

Henri Matisse, The Dance, 1910.
Oil on canvas, 260 x 391 cm.
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Photo Archives Matisse, Paris. Copyright Succession H. Matisse/DACS 2008 (see the item on the 'From Russia' exhibition below)

Art Blogs

• I don't think I've ever seen, and certainly have never featured Bruce McEvoy's blog before, but this is it - the official Handprint Blog. I'm not quite sure why I've missed it but I think I'm maybe not alone given its absence from the blogrolls of people who I would expect to be fans. You can see more of Bruce's work here and this is the link to Bruce's completely wonderful Handprint website - which probably has one of the most opaque and complex site maps going - if I could ever find it!
• Thanks to Tina Mammoser for the reference to the a-n site and the section on artists 'exposing contemporary visual arts practice' . These are more blogs set up to talk about a specific project then day-to-day blogs which happen to have a project. I was absolutely fascinated by the one which is about Drawing with Wood (about marquetry). Thanks also to Tina for nominating this blog as one of her 8 must read blogs - check out her other recommendations.
• Serena Fenton (Layers of Meaning) has a great blog which comments on design and textile art. She recently highlighted a UK based textile artist Carol Naylor who constructs wonderful vistas throught the use of machine stitched embroidery. For those who are interested, this is Carol Naylor's website which provides you with more insight into her stunning work.
• Congratulations to Bonny Racca in Canada (Bonny's pages) who has achieved her 100th post - with a heart-warming memory.

Art Blog Tutorials

• Maggie Latham has a tutorial on pastels on Wet canvas - Talk on Pastels with demo. This show how she makes her own boards and what she does to demonstrate pastels to others.
• Michael Chesley Johnson talked in December about Skipping the Underpainting when painting plein air in winter.
  
• Photographing Art: Thanks to Nita Leland (Exploring color and creativity) for the reference to J R Compton's article in the Dallas Art Review of How to photograph artwork.
  
• I don't generally list a blog until it's at least 3 months old (the attrition rate is just too high!) however here's a very unusual new blog Where Art Meets Technology. Set up by David Darrow, its intended aim is "Helping artists understand and use computers and web technologies to advance their careers, gain exposure and sell art". It already includes a number of useful posts and I've added it into my information site The Art Business - Resources for Visual Artists.
  

Art Business and Marketing

It's a new year and there are an awful lot of good marketing posts around - more about this later this week in relation to the current economic context. In the meantime here are a few more of them.

• Alyson B Stanfield (Art Biz Blog) constructed a list of her The Art Biz Blog Greatest Hits of 2007 at the beginning of January (maybe save that one to look at later as it includes a lot to look at). I've seen some blogs criticise others which have provided lists of their blog posts which others have 'clicked' on the most. Very silly - after all nobody's forcing you to read them - and you may have missed some of the really good ones while distracted with other things! Plus here's a couple of more recent thought-provoking onesa couple of Is art marketable without talent? and some interesting thoughts on juried art exhibits.
  
• Edward Winkleman (Edward Winkleman) has an interesting post about a seismic shift - with an awful lot of comments - which suggests the ultimate prize is no longer to get into a museum (where your work may be consigned to long periods in the vaults) but rather into the ownership of a premier collector. Could this be because collectors tend to have friends who are also collectors?! ;)

Art Exhibitions and Art Fairs

• here's a list of the major new exhibitions in the UK in 2008 - they all look pretty good to me. The links to the exhibitions mentioned are below:
• Royal Academy - From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870–1925 from Moscow and St Petersburg (26 Jan—18 Ap 2008). This is, by consensus, widely reported as the blockbuster exhibition of 2008. It's also going to be a 'once only' opportunity to see many of the paintings for those not planning to visit either Moscow or St Petersburg. Thank goodness that, as reported last week, the problem about whether or not it would be able to open was resolved. (Although this was drafted earlier in the week since when we've had a few more altercations at a cultural/diplomatic level - so who knows what will happen!). You can read more about the exhibition here - if you are in any doubt as to whether you want to travel to London and/or book a ticket click the links to see some of the images (such as the painting by Matisse at the top of this post) which will be on display! You can also read about the exhibition and the paintings in the free and interactive format of the winter edition of the RA magazine.
  
• National Gallery - Van Eyck to Titian: the Renaissance Portrait (15 October 2008- 18 January 2009 - no link listed as yet). This exhibition is jointly organised with The Prado, Madrid.
  
• Tate Britain - Peter Doig (5 February – 27 April 2008) and Francis Bacon (1 October 2008 – 4 January 2009)
  
• Tate Modern - Rothko (26 September 2008 – 1 February 2009)
• Liverpool Biennial 2008 (Various venues, Liverpool, 20 September – 30 November 2008)
  
• Some alternative perspectives on this week's London Art Fair by The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. I'm off there this afternoon for the last da

Visual Arts, Video and Television

• Edward Winkelman (op cit) comments on new developments in relation to art blogs and TV here. I have to say I agree - having the technology is one thing, getting the content right is quite another - even if you are an established reporting site.
  
• For example, just take a look at this very weird video from the New York Times website of the opening of the exhibition of Lucian Freud's work in New York. I can't imagine this is what either the artist or gallery hoped for in terms of coverage! I thought the interviews and journalism were pitiful. Is this typical fare from the New York Times arts columnists
• Also take a look at this interesting article by John Wyver in the Guardian commenting on the gulf between the numbers which stream into Tate Modern and the numbers who watch arts programming on television

Facebook

I've previously indicated on this blog that I've joined Facebook. However, on Monday, after reading this Guardian article "With friends like these...." I removed virtually all my information from Facebook and just left a link to the article. It comments on the political motivations and practices of some of the backers of Facebook and topped the the 'most read' article site for two days running plus generated enough letters and e-mails to warrant a second site Facebook pig in a poke for neocons here by Wednesday.

......and finally

People make their art out of all sorts of materials - but this week photographer Carl Warner managed to get himself some fantastic exposure on more than one TV channel with these complex and fantastic still lifes as seen on the BBC website. This Times article Raw art that's too good for you explains a little bit about the process he uses. For more views go to his website www.carlwarner.com (you'll need flash) and click first the orange box and then the second box from the left which is called Foodscapes.