Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Music Appreciation

Written by Adele and Paul Epworth, Rolling in the Deep was released on November 29, 2010. The lead single and opening track received critical acclaim, reaching number one on many Billboard charts and received a Grammy for Song of the Year. 

Epworth and Adele composed the song one afternoon following Adele's breakup with her boyfriend. In an interview with Caroline Sanderson of The Independent, she explained, "[it was my reaction to] being told that my life was going to be boring and lonely and rubbish, and that I was a weak person if I didn't stay in the relationship. I was very insulted, and I wrote that as a sort of 'fuck you'."

Sam Brown directed the music video, which begins with Adele sitting in a chair inside an abandoned house. The video switches between various rooms that includes glass water, a pile of china dishes, a drummer, a cityscape model, and choreographer Jennifer White (IG: movejenmov) dancing in white powder. 

The music video won a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video and the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

via Adele

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/songs/rolling-in-the-deep-adele.html

Body Paint: Brittney Pelloquin and Cory Mayon - Blue Trees & Body Paint

Artists: Brittney Pelloquin and Cory Mayon

Lead photographer: Melvin Maya

Models: Gabrielle Mika, Hillary Sotello, Jessica Griffith, and Lenna Spurs, Misty Turner, Nikki Danis, Nikki Lockett, and Nor' Jae

via Melvin Maya

Dance: Sam Smith - Unholy (ft. Kim Petras)

Dance Choreography: Paris Cavanagh

via Paris Cavanagh

Cosplay is an Art: Greater Austin Comic Con 2022

via mineralblu

Fashion is DEFINITELY Art: Dolores Cortes Fashion Show Spring Summer 2023

Creative Director: Dolores Font Cortés

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid/IFEMA

via A Fashion Show

Miguel Covarrubias

Art Appreciation

Born on November 22, 1904, José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, and illustrator. At the age of 14, he started producing caricatures and illustrations for the Mexican Ministry of Public Education. A few years later, he moved to New York City on a Mexican government grant. 

While in New York City, Covarrubias was introduced to the city's literary/cultural elite by Mexican poet José Juan Tablada and New York Times' artistic photographer Carl Van Vechten. He then became involved in designing sets and costumes for theatre productions. 

During one theatre production, he met dancer and choreographer Rosa Rolando, who later became his wife. The power couple spent time with other artists like Edward Weston, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Eugene O'Neill, Langston Hughes, John Huston, and Nelson Rockefeller.

Covarrubias' artwork and celebrity caricatures were featured in The New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines. He also began to publish his own books of caricatures and illustrations, along with providing illustrations for classics like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Frankie and Johnny.

Covarrubias was invited by the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition to create a mural set that would highlight social and culture of countries in the Pacific area. He created six murals titled The Fauna and Flora of the Pacific, Peoples, Art and Culture, Economy, Native Dwellings, and Native Means of Transportation. 

Rosa and Miguel returned to live in Mexico City where he continued to paint, illustrate and write. He was appointed artistic director and director of administration for a new department at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. His wife would play a key role in the development of an Academy of Dance by ushering in a "golden age" for Mexican modern contemporary dance. Their marriage, however, ended in 1952 after Miguel pursued one of his pupils, Rocío Sagaón. 

Baile en Mexico

El Hueso

Sitting Woman with Flowers

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Covarrubias

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351714754_The_Golden_Age_of_Mexican_Modern_Dance_Miguel_Covarrubias_and_the_Academia_de_la_Danza_MexicanaMiguel_Covarrubias_and_the_Academia_de_la_Danza_Mexicana

René Magritte

Art Appreciation

As I walked through the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. I came across a painting of a painting. To be more precise, it was a canvas in front of a window and on the canvas was a painting of the outside. The title is The Human Condition (1933) by surrealist artist René François Ghislain Magritte.

His witty and thought-provoking images have since caught my interest to the point where I seek Magritte paintings at museums. If a museum lacks a Magritte, it's not really a museum -- in my opinion. 😉

René Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium on November 21, 1898. He began drawing lessons when he was young. 

His mother, who was a milliner -- one who made and sold hats -- committed suicide when René was a teen. Supposedly, when she was found, her face was covered with her dress. It is said that this may be a source of several paintings in 1927 and 1928.

Magritte studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and influenced by Futurismo and by figurative Cubism of Jean Metzinger. He was also influenced by Giorgio de Chirico's scuola metafisica and William Degouve de Nuncques' postimpressionism. 

Magritte produced his first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey (1926) and held his first solo exhibition in Brussels in 1927, which was not well-received by critics. He moved to Paris and got involved in the Surrealist group. Two years later, he exhibited at Goemans Gallery in Paris with Salvador Dalí, Jean Arp, de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, and Yves Tanguy.  

    

In 1936, Magritte had his first solo exhibition in the United States at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, then an exposition at the London Gallery a couple of years later. 

He remained in Brussels, during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II. Feeling alienated living in German-occupied Belgium, Magritte added colorful and painterly style, like Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

During the lean postwar period, Magritte painted and sold forgeries of Picassos, and de Chiricos. At the end of 1948, he returned to the style and themes of his pre-war surrealistic art. His imagery influenced pop art, minimalist art, and conceptual art.

Golconde (1953)

The Human Condition (1933)

The Lovers (1928)

Sources:

Wikipedia

Dance: Sam Smith - Unholy (ft. Kim Petras)

Dance Choreography: Yeji Kim

via 1MILLION Dance Studio

Cosplay is an Art: Lucca Comics & Games 2022

via Mondi Futuri

Album Cover: Rihanna - Talk That Talk

Album Cover

Album: Talk That Talk

Released: November 18, 2011

Model: Rihanna

Photographer: Ellen Von Unwerth

Art Direction and Design: By Ciarra Pardo and JP Robinson

Deluxe Edition

Standard Edition

 

Sources: Wikipedia, Composite.is

Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone

Music Appreciation

Released on November 16, 2004, Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone received positive reviews and won many accolades including a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  

The pop rock power ballad was written and produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke. The song, as Clarkson explained to MTV is a song about a relationship that turned sour, but expresses a sense of relief at the end.

The music video was directed by Alex De Rakoff and received a MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video and Best Pop Video. 

via Kelly Clarkson

Source: 

Wikipedia

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/songs/since-u-been-gone-clarkson.html 

Dance: Ezio Bosso - Following a Bird

Dance Choreography: Rita Lynch for The Firebirds Burlesque Show 2019

via Rita Lynch

Cosplay is an Art: DragonCon Atlanta 2022

via mineralblu 

Fashion is DEFINITELY Art: Versace Spring-Summer 2023

Creative Director: Donatella Versace

via Versace

Album Cover: Patti Smith - Horses

Album Cover 

Album: Patti Smith - Horses

Released: November 10, 1975

Design: Bob Heimall 

Photography: Robert Mapplethorpe

Model: Patti Smith

Today is Election Day...

... and if you haven't done so, go out to vote.

If you don't know where to vote, go to this website: 

https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/

 

Body Paint: Johannes Stötter - Light Lizard UV Bodypainting

 

via Johannes Stötter

Pole Dance: Amanati - Sevdas

Choreography: Sofia Iosifidou

via Amanati

Cosplay is an Art: Fan Expo 2022 Chicago

via ModernAnimator

Album Cover: Cher Lloyd - Sticks & Stones

Album Cover

Album: Cher Lloyd - Sticks & Stones

Released: November 4, 2011

Album Cover Design: JP Robinson and SMOG

Photography: Steven and Dennis

Art Direction: JP Robinson and Maria Marulanda

Konrad Mägi

Art Appreciation

An Estonian pioneer of modernisim, painter Konrad Mägi was known for his color-sensitive landscape works and motifs. 

Born on November 1, 1878, Mägi received an art education from German Artisans' Society of Tartu. He continued his art education in Saint Petersburg, then went to Paris in 1907. While in Paris, he was influenced by Impressionism and Fauvism.

His travels to France, Norway, Germany, and Italy influenced his expressionism. He was known for incorporating bold colors into his landscapes, different from his contemporaries at the time.  

On the Road from Viljandi to Tartu, 1915-1916

Venice, 1922-1923

Portrait of Elsi Loo, 1915

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://emmamuseum.fi/en/exhibitions/konrad-magi/