Readings / Art Lectures / Menil Collection Visit

So many exciting things happening.  I have ordered a bunch of new readings books and once I get them I will report about them.  The first I have received is:                                                                

Vitamin P - New Perspective of Painting, Barry Schwabsky.                                                            What a wonderful BIG beautiful book.  

I have also started reading some great articles:

Harold Rosenberg: The American Action Painters

Clement Greenberg: Modern Painting

Achim Hochdorfer: A Hidden Reserve - Painting from 1958-1965

Thomas Lawson: Last Exit:Painting

Katy Siegel: Another History is Possible

I have been to a couple MFAH Talks, I already talked about Sanjay Patel's Talk 01/23.  

On 01/27 - Special Lecture Beyond the White Cube:Contemporary@mfah - Where the MFAH is challenging the traditional “white-cube” of the museums environment in order to celebrate the multi-faceted vitality of the art today.

Alison de Lima Greene, (curator of Contemporary Art) over-viewed the growth of the contemporary Art Collection.  

Some of my favorite pieces presented were:

James Turell - The Light Inside

Cai Guo-Qiang’s Gun-Powder Odyseey - Created October 2010 - I actually helped/witnessed this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzrWaOhx1ho

Allen Ruppersberg - 5 foot shelf

Nan Goldin, Sisters, Saints and Sibyls, 2004, installation

Yoshitomo Nara: WhiteHouse

Do-Ho Suh Karma 2003

Luis Jimenez Man on Fire

Tony Smith - Drawings

Kurt Schwitters

Trenton Doyle

Leandro Erlich: Swimming Pool at P.S.1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT7gjhHq9d0

Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time

On 01/29 - The Impressionist: An Enduring

Presented by Dr. Nancy Locke, Associate Professor of Art History at Penn State U.  

Manet’s Figures of Modernity

Edward Manet  - Édouard Manet (French pronunciation: [edwaʁ manɛ]; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism toImpressionism.
His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe) andOlympia, engendered great controversy and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism. Today, these are considered watershed paintings that mark the genesis of modern art.
She did a comparison of Manet and Dega
Edgar Degas[p] (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917), born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas (French pronunciation: [ilɛʁ ʒɛʁmɛnɛdɡɑʁ dəˈɡɑ]), was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmakingand drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionismalthough he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist.[1] A superb draughtsman, he is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and femalenudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and depiction of human isolation.[2]

Some of the paintings discussed were:

Edward Manet - Olympia

Edward Manet - Railway

Edward Manet - Execution

During this event I was also  invited to join a book club by Emily Ryan.  (I will give you the update on that too! )

Met with artist Basilios Poulos, my neighbor, whom was quite a great human.  He directed me to visit the Menil Collection.  Here, among so many I will only post my favorite paintings.

http://www.menil.org/

Clyfford Still

Clyfford Still

Dorothey Tanning

Tony Smith Drawings

Kurt Schwitters

Max Ernst - Le surealilisme

My classes start next week for the next 12  at the Women’s Institute.  I decided to take MASTERPIECES FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY

David E. Brauer

Houston will be the sole recipient of a major exhibition from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., which is scheduled at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston from February 20 to May 22.  Many of the most famous and admired works of the late 19th century will be displayed, including five major works by Manet, three by Van Gogh, several by Cezanne, as well as representative works by Bazille, Degas, Cassatt, Caillebotte, Pissarro, Seurat, and Gauguin.  This exhibit offers an unprecedented opportunity to see these great works in Houston as well as the opportunity to compare works of the same period in the museum’s permanent collection.  In this series of lectures we will examine many of these works in detail and place them in their historical context, all of which will increase our appreciation of these magnificent masterworks of art.

ASTONISHING ART THROUGH THE AGES

Fernando Casas

In this course we shall examine works of art that are unprecedented, extraordinarily new, and highly original.  We will attempt to understand how each work came about and what the artist was thinking as each was created.  We shall marvel and delight at these works, examine them and question their origin, nature and novelty.  Furthermore, the course as a whole constitutes a philosophical attempt at articulating the nature of originality in the arts.  We shall first study some of the works of Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso; then, as part of an examination of the rise of non-objective art, we shall examine works by Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian followed by some American abstract expressionists.  We shall continue with the examination of DADA and  Surrealist artists.  We shall finish with a look at the work of such diverse contemporary artists as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Anish Kapoor and James Turrell.  
This course continues the examination of extraordinary works of art started in our study in fall 2009.  A general introduction to the main ideas of the course will be provided in the first session; hence, a person may take this course without having taken the previous ones.

I will get to attend these with Pat Johnston, and artist, neighbor and friend.  Fun times!  

At the Contemporary Art Talk on January 27th I met an artist that agreed to meet with me.  Hs name is Robert Ruello.  Painter and professor at Glassel School of Art   Excited that I get to meet with him on Thursday, I will give you my weekly update next week.  
Also, I start some painting explorations with Salli Babbit on Monday!  More thrilling. :)
Most exciting is tonight I am going to SOLD OUT TICKETS TO PREMIER of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso - updates to come! :)
Acclaimed actor-writer Herbert Siguenza (¡Cantinflas! and Culture Clash in AmeriCCa) returns to the Alley with a new play. Siguenza brings his virtuosic writing, acting and design skills into Picasso’s private studio, “Le Californie” on the coast of France, for an intimate and revealing weekend.  Picasso’s controversial and flamboyant opinions and creations gripped the public imagination and forever changed 20th century art. Delving into the creative mind and work of one of the most inspiring artists of modern history, this play explores Picasso’s proclamations about ambition, destruction, creativity and art as an agent of social change.
Recommended for mature audiences due to strong language.

That is all for now.  Next post I will discuss my  meetings Robert, Sallie and the play and I will start taking pictures of some new works that I have been developing.  Also I will post my first paper!  :) Finished.  Whoopee!

Luminous Years, Sanjay, Upcoming Lectures & More - Update:

It has been just about a week since my last post and boy do I have a world of knowledge to post! Literally. This week was a pretty incredible!  Filled with knowledge, family and ART!  I am still on my journey to find a mentor.  I have two big meetings coming up.  BP and LC. I will give you the update and let you know how it goes next week.  My parents came to Houston from Florida to help my brother move from Houston to Iowa.  From his residency to his fellowship in ophthalmology - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophthalmology - could not be prouder :).  Mom and dad are so wonderful and spending time with them is always beautiful.  We went fine dining (Peces) and I was really inspired by a painting with out an artist name but I was bold enough to take a picture...ha, could not help myself.  

Pat Johnston, artist and dear friend invited me over her house and lent me quite a treasure - History of Modern Art - H.H. Arnason and then we had the chance to enjoy eating her home made sandwiches and the joy of watching:  The Paris - The Luminous Years.  This was a film about the first three decades of the last century in Paris were collectively a watershed moment in Western culture. Just listing the names of some AND MY FAVORITE of the artists working at that time suggests the significance of being at the right place at the right time:
Pablo Picasso & Gertrude Stein
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) was the rare famous painter whose influence on the history of painting was inarguable during his life.  One of his earliest collectors was Gertrude Stein, an American expatriate who studied at Radcliffe and Harvard before becoming an early collector of avant-garde art paintings.  With her brothers, Leo and Michael, Gertrude moved to Paris in 1903;shortly she owned a leading contemporary art collection as well as the leading salon for post World War II intellectuals, whom she defined as the "lost generation".  

Igor Stravinsky -Russian-born, naturalised French, later naturalised American composer, pianist, and conductor.
He is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky

Diaghilev- usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise.

Nijinsky-  was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent. He grew to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could perform en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time (Albright, 2004) and his ability to perform seemingly gravity-defying leaps was also legendary.

Hemingway - American author and journalist. His distinctive writing style, characterized by economy andunderstatement, influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and public image. He produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's fiction was successful because the characters he presented exhibited authenticity that resonated with his audience.

Marcel Duchamp - was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaistand Surrealist movements. Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art. He advised modern art collectors, such as Peggy Guggenheim and other prominent figures, thereby helping to shape the tastes of Western art during this period.[1]
A playful man, Duchamp challenged conventional thought about artistic processes and art marketing, not so much by writing, but through subversive actions such as dubbing a urinal art and naming it Fountain.

Henri Matisse - French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, andsculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.

Marc Chagall - was a Belarusian (that time Russian Empire) French artist, associated with several keyart movements and was one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. He created unique works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints. Chagall's haunting, exuberant, and poetic images have wide appeal, with art critic Robert Hughes referring to him as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."  

Jean Cocteau (poet) Aaron Copland (American composer), Janet Flanner (the New Yorker's Genet-American writer and journalist)

Georges Braque[p] (13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art movement known as Cubism.

Also, I have decided I am joining a a class at  http://wih.org
The Women's Institute of Houston
2202 Avalon Place
Houston, Texas 77019
I am deciding from the following classes.
PICASSO AND BRAQUE
David E. Brauer / 12 weeks, Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-3:00 / Starting February 3, 2011
ASTONISHING ART THROUGH THE AGES
Fernando Casas / 8 weeks, Monday mornings, 10:00-12:00 / Starting February 7, 2011
MASTERPIECES FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY
David E. Brauer / 12 weeks, Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-3:00 / Starting February 2, 2011

I think I am going to take Picasso and National Gallery, I have asked for my advisor Hannah’s advice, so we will see what she thinks, this is to be decided.  

My good friend Hans, artist, has started a studio.  I meet with him on Thursday! Excited about that too!  
214 E 27TH St. Houston TX to Schedule a preview call Hans Payan

OK - AND THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEKEND was meeting and listening to the Artist Talk at Museum of Fine Arts Houston by SANJAY PATEL - he is an animator and storyboard artist at Pixar Animation Studios.  His known for his works in films including, Monsters, A bug’s life, Toy Story 3 and was presenting his Little Book of Hindu Ddeities & Ramayna.  
http://gheehappy.com/
When I met him I promised him I would paint him the picture, his favorite picture that is in the picture below!  :) Excite for the challenge!   
In his talk he mentioned a pretty awesome website, I thought I would www.kuler.com - COLORS, check it out when you get a chance.

ME AND SANJAY PATEL!

Lastly, reactivated my Netflix account to watch art documentaries, need to learn more, about to cancel useless and brain wasting space cable!  That is my new quest.  Feel like I do not have enough time in my day. I have also painted a picture of my parents for there anniversary. Once I take a better picture I will post. Alright I think that is enough information overload. Till later. Signing off......Tanya!