Written by: Renny McFadin Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, born in 1975, is relatively hot in the world of current abstract art. A Yale graduate whose “paintings do not have value because they are in the museum. They have value because they are in dialogue with and a continuation of other paintings.” She works primarily in the abstract painting sphere, but many of her works can be considered highly sculptural as well. She self identifies as a painter, and no, nobody told her to do this. Her paintings incorporate collage, found objects, cutting, weaving, and scraping. In her 95 Theses on Painting, Zuckerman-Hartung creates paintings that show her way of “deciphering the codes of visual information and experience that structure capitalism in our time.” One of her friends, Danielle Gustafson-Sundell, describes her art as “generous and witty, sharp as fuck, critical and messy. and, and, and... (and this, and what if this, and also, and another thing...) these are talkative paintings (and i think contrarily gorgeous) and, like the best of conversations, they keep me thinking long after the afternoon ends.” And this is a fantastic description of Zuckerman-Hartung’s works. They are critical. Contrarily, they are messy. It’s a smooth combination of these characteristics that makes Zuckerman-Hartung’s painting so charismatic. And with exhibition titles like, Fuck Nice, Negative Joy, and QUEEN, what would you expect? With these incredible forms of assemblage, Zuckerman-Hartung truly creates a funky, trippy world with which we can all submerge ourselves in. It’s unique. It’s new. It’s “sharp as fuck”. It’s … current.
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Written by: Natalie Kim and Maya Koehn-Wu Art on Sedgwick Art on Sedgwick is a community initiative on Sedgwick Street, Chicago, a neighborhood largely divided between the upper and lower socio-economic classes. Affluent housing occupied by predominantly upper class whites faces low-income housing that accommodates a predominantly lower class black community. The street marks the distinct divide. Up until recently, the division and separation remained; however, Charlie Robinson Branda, a specialist in nonprofit organization management founded an art studio in order to bridge the two communities. Art on Sedgwick is now a thriving community center that has helped to bring together children from both sides of the street, and has helped redefine community identity; establishing the power art can have in unifying and healing. Check out this video link to learn more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/art-unites-deeply-divided-neighborhood_us_5babdac0e4b0a4e65d62402e Follow-up on Banksy’s Christmas Present In Port Talbot, a Welsh Town, Banksy made his grand reappearance on the side of property owner Ian Lewis’ garage. The image is of a child playing in the falling ash - a reference to the towns industry and pollution emissions. Since the work’s appearance, an estimated 20,000 people have come to see the piece. Lewis recently sold the piece titled “Season’s Greetings” to Banksy expert John Brandler for six figures (around 100,000 dollars). The piece is expected to stay in Port Talbot for a few years but may be moved to the town centre. Speculation on the Van Gogh Brother’s Mystery Nude Perhaps one of the most seated discussions in Van Gogh Brother’s collections is that of a seated nude - who’s authorship and identity remain unknown. There is speculation that John Peter Russell, a painter who studied under Van Gogh, is the master of the work. There is additional questioning to the model’s identity. In association with Russell, her identity is guessed to be Marianna Mattiocco, Russell’s lover. Mattiocco frequently wore her hair up in a bun, which appears throughout works in which she modeled, however, in the Van Gogh painting, the figure is depicted with dark hair, while Mattiocco was blonde. The speculation persists, and, while there is proposed authorship to the painter and model’s identity, the mystery behind the painting still remains largely unsolved. J.R.R. Tolkien is Secretly an Artist? While most know J.R.R. Tolkien as the author of the bestselling series The Hobbit, he also is talented in many other fields such as art, mapmaking, and linguistics, utilizing all three to aid in his creation of the world-renowned series. While he is a gifted author, he used his abilities in mapmaking and linguistics to contribute to the fantasy land of Middle-earth by mapping the world and creating his own languages to be utilized in the plot. These traits could likely be inferred throughout the reading of the novels, but what most don’t know is that Tolkien also created a couple of his covers, such as the original book cover for The Hobbit. A new exhibit originating at UK’s Bodleian Library at Oxford is now being displayed at the Morgan Library and Museum titled “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” and is a showing of Tolkien’s many artistic works which include watercolors, maps, and scenes from his lifetime. He didn’t hold a high regard for his art, with the exception of his first book cover, but it’s a fairly impressive collection of works that were created by a truly gifted individual, in many more subjects than one. Here is a link to view some of Tolkien’s works: http://www.tolkienestate.com/en/painting.html Pay Gap Changing Museum Prices Beginning February 24, the MCA Chicago will lower the price of admission for women who believe they are being affected by the gender wage gap between men and women. The new fee will be $12 instead of the usual $15, 81% of the full price, representing the 81 cents women are paid in comparison to each dollar men make doing the same job. This policy was created in response to the inequality women face, particularly those who are minorities, and how even though they are being paid less, they are expected to pay the same amount for goods and services. The exhibitions that inspired this change were Howardena Pindell’s “What Remains to be Seen” and Laurie Simmons’ photography exhibition “Big Camera/Little Camera”, both women who have advocated for the feminist movement. Heir to Michelangelo’s Legacy The Royal Academy of Arts in London has shocked an immeasurable number of people by making the decision to show an exhibition that pairs traditional works done by the famous old master Michelangelo with the controversial videos of Bill Viola, an artist who creates videos on the topic of the essential events in human life such as birth and death accompanied by sounds to ensure the viewer is focused on the work. Some in the art community are outraged at the fact that the museum would dare to even compare the two and believe Viola to be too egotistical, while the museum defends its decision by stating that both artist use the common themes of life in their works and actually have more in common than one might think. Needless to say amongst all of the controversy, it should be intriguing to see how the public reacts to this exhibition. Learn more about Bill Viola: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-viola-bill.htm View a short video about his content and his works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xArFDtN3B2M Citations:
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/blog/mystery-nude-in-van-gogh-museum https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/jrr-tolkien-art-morgan-library-1449088 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mca-chicago-gender-gap-1448572 https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/michelangelo-viola-1448545 https://arrestedmotion.com/2018/12/streets-banksy-seasons-greeting-port-talbot-wales/ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/18/banksy-artwork-garage-wales-sold-six-figure-sum https://www.apnews.com/392898918e3a46df83a0e520084f6f6b https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/art-unites-deeply-divided-neighborhood_us_5babdac0e4b0a4e65d62402e http://www.artonsedgwick.org/index.html https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliebranda |
AuthorsNATALIE KIM is a junior at MLWGS and is committed to informing others of history being made in the art world. Archives
April 2019
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