Irene Kung

Photography Appreciation

I came across a photo of the Chrysler Building in New York City in The Essential Guide art magazine by Irene Kung. 

The Swiss photographer is internationally recognized for her subjective interpretation using a dark technique to illuminate details of her subjects.

You can see more of her work, HERE.

Cavallo 4

Chrysler Building

Teatro Scala, Milano

Sources: 

The Essential Guide Santa Fe & Taos 2011 - 2012, pg 13; 

http://milano.corriere.it; http://focusontofilm.com/2011/01/irene-kung/

http://oharadesigngroup.com/2010/10/14/irene-kung/
Irene Kung: Invisible Cities

Under the sea

I figure since I blog about artists, I should enter my son's artwork as well.

May 2012

Hieronymus Bosch

Art Appreciation

Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch is known for his paintings of religious themes using fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and spiritual conflicts.

Although, little is known of the late-Medieval painter, Bosch's work continues to be a subject of interpretation. General consensus, however, is that his artwork was influenced by his religious upbringing.

You can see more of his paintings HERE.

The Stone Operation (c.1488) via Hektoen International

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych via Hassan331

Hell (c.1500) via Friends of Art

Sources: http://www.hieronymus-bosch.org/; http://hassan331.tripod.com/Bosch/Garden.htm; Wikipedia

Pants in a 100°F weather

In my younger years, I rarely wore shorts. It was pants, even if the weather reached 100°F, which was quite often in deep South Texas, aka the Rio Grande Valley.

I think it was a cultural thing for men in the Rio Grande Valley to not wear shorts. I don't recall seeing many doing so. I think it's because shorts were meant for women. Not men.

So, if you knew me back then, you'd see me wearing either dark jeans or dark slacks during the hot summer days--364 days in a valley's year.

It wasn't until I met my wife that I learned to wear shorts. Really. I think there was a day during the hot Central Texas summer where she inquired as to why I was wearing black slacks. I didn't have shorts to wear outside the apartment, and I guess we clashed--her in light color shorts, me in dark pants.

The only pair of shorts I could wear, I wouldn't dare. They were short cut off jeans that were passed on to me by a friend of mine who didn't have to worry about not looking good in them. Me wearing them, however, would definitely give people the wrong idea.

Now, it's a different story. I'm in shorts and t-shirts when I am not at work. It doesn't matter if there is a chill in the air. Shorts are my style.

Shamrock

Name: Molly Fitzgerald
A.k.a: Shamrock
 Dunshaughlin,Ireland
Power: "Luck of the Irish"

Thirty years ago, Shamrock first appeared in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions # 1 comic (June 1982).

Her powers were obtained from the "souls of a thousand war victims who manifest themselves as poltergiests, which affect probability within a 20-foot radius of her, altering situations so that she is given an advantage." ," which helped her get the winning advantage.

Marvel decided to create a superhero that would represent Ireland, similar to Captain America representing the United States. So, Marvel created a 5'10" red-headed beauty who obtained powers from the dead.

First of all, I have a thing for red-headed superheroines like Black Widow, Jean Grey, and Leeloo. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Shamrock caught my attention.

Now, you probably haven't heard of Shamrock. I don't blame you. The character came with a lot of controvesy. People thought the character was too stereotypical, and eventually the character was retired--she retired after breaking her foot and decided to became a hairdresser.

I decided to sketch what I would think Shamrock should look like. I dressed her in black rather than the green spandex in the earlier comics. I kept the shamrock and opted for her hair to be loose rather than restrained inside head mask. Finally, I gave her a magical shillelagh as a weapon to
use to help summon the innocent souls to help her get the advantage.


Sources: http://marvel.com/universe/Shamrock; http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/shamrockcoc.htm; http://www.comicvine.com/shamrock/29-13888/; http://www.cracked.com/article_18502_the-5-most-unintentionally-offensive-comic-book-characters.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock_(comics)

Alice Cooper - School's Out Summer

Music Appreciation

Today, is my son's last day of school. He starts summer vacation at exactly 12 o'clock noon. So, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about Alice Cooper's "School's Out."

The song, which was released in 1972, was named by VH1 as the 35th best hard rock song of all time.

Sources: Wikipedia; http://www.youtube.com/artist/Alice_Cooper?feature=watch_video_title

Sergey Tyukanov

Art Appreciation

Welcome to the dream world of Sergey Tyukanov. Born on May 17, 1955 in Russia's largest island, Sakhalin, Tyukanov has taken bedtime stories and myths to create worlds in etchings, drawings, paintings and book prints, also known as ex libris.

One of his famous themes is Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, where Tyukanov introduces us to his imaginative world of Wonderland.

He has some other fantatic drawings and paintings that are full of philosophical elements and thought. For example, Town of Time, where Tyukanov illustrates a puppet hanging from a bridge with sand timers as vertical towers.

Probably one of my Tyukanov favorite is the watercolor painting of The Moon -- an imaginary stone covered city in the shape of a half crescent moon floating between a canyon.

Sources: http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2010/05/sergey-tyukanov-here-and-here-sergey.html; http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/04/tyukanov-revisited.html; http://www.tyukanov.com/; http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2012/02/sergey-tyukanov.html