The artist Jeanne-Claude has died at the age of 74 in her New York apartment. Those who don’t know Jeanne-Claude actually do, as she and her husband made art under his name, “Christo.”

The irritating headline for the NYTimes reads, “Jeanne-Claude, Collaborator With Christo, Dies at 74.”  The obituary notes that,

To avoid confusing dealers and the public, and to establish an artistic brand, they used only Christo’s name. In 1994 they retroactively applied the joint name “Christo and Jeanne-Claude” to all outdoor works and large-scale temporary indoor installations. Other indoor work was credited to Christo alone.

My boyfriend and I saw The Gates the first day that they opened in Central Park, we were up at the very northwestern corner of the park and saw Jeanne-Claude and Cristo talking to reporters. The amazing thing about that work, which many New Yorkers didn’t like, was that it made you walk slowly and look up as you were walking.  People were walking past one another, acknowledging their neighbors and the novelty of the situation through non-aggressive  eye contact—which never happens in New York.  To me, it was quite wonderful. Quite a relief. It was the perfect color for that the gray of February in New York.

Anyway, we saw Jeanne-Claude and Christo surrounded by a gaggle of reporters and I took a great picture of them surrounded by the gates and by microphones and you can see her amazing red hair next to the orange of the gates.

jeanne claude and christo at the opening of the gates in 2005

Sad. Another female artist dies without the recognition she deserves. Read this creepy list of anonymous accounts from Fade In magazine of how the powerful men in Hollywood are openly racist and sexist and steal ideas from women/writers of color. Hopefully, in 50 years some brilliant young woman will write a phenomenal account of Jeanne-Claude’s totally interesting life and her art, and how she and her husband collaborated, and everyone will read it and understand a little bit more about the art world in the 20th c.

Watching this

Over the past ten years, the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association (CFADA) has grown from just a handful of founding members to 13 member galleries that continue to help transform Charleston’s art market and to set standards of professionalism.  This November, CFADA welcomes avid art collectors and nationally renowned artists to celebrate its 10th anniversary and continue the tradition at the Eleventh Charleston Fine Art Annual.  As Charleston’s premier weekend dedicated to the visual arts, the Charleston Fine Art Annual features more than 25 leading artists, exhibiting at CFADA member galleries and painting in Washington Park. The event takes place on November 4, 6, 7, 2009.  Proceeds will benefit Charleston County High Schools’ fine art programs.

The fine art weekend kicks off on Wednesday, November 4 with the first of a new three part lecture series on Women in Art, organized by the Gibbes Museum of Art.  For ticket information on the lecture series, please visit www.gibbesmuseum.org.   The next event takes place on Friday, November 6 at 5:00 p.m., featuring an art stroll and gallery openings at CFADA member galleries. Each gallery will present works by prominent local and visiting artists who travel to Charleston every year to participate in this prestigious event. This free event is open to public.

On Saturday morning, November 7 starting at 9:00 a.m., locals and visitors alike will once again mingle and watch artists at work as they donate their time and talent to creating masterpieces that will be later auctioned off at the Charleston Art Auction to benefit the Charleston County High Schools’ art programs. The ever-popular plein air event, Painting in the Park, takes place at Washington Park from 9:00 a.m. till noon.

The Sixth Annual High School Art Competition, a platform for young talented artists to showcase their unique works, is part of the plein air event and will start at 11:00 a.m. at Washington Park. The finest student works will be on display and judged by a panel of celebrity judges. The winners will be announced at 11:30 a.m.

Saturday evening will be dedicated to auctioning fine works of art, featuring historically significant paintings and drawings together with contemporary works by recognized American artists.   The creations from Painting in the Park will be auctioned interspersed between other works.  The Charleston Art Auction will start at 7:15 p.m. at the Renaissance Charleston Hotel, 68 Wentworth Street, downtown Charleston. Reservations are highly recommended as seating is limited. Ticket are $50.00 (contributed to the Charleston County High School Art Programs, this includes a fully illustrated sales catalogue) per person.

Founded in 1999, the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association is the source of fine art in the South and consists of the city’s prominent galleries. The association promotes Charleston as a fine art destination for avid collectors and passionate art enthusiasts and supports the artists of the future. CFADA has donated more than $140,000 to local high schools, the Gibbes Museum of Art, Redux Art Center and the Studio Art Department at the College of Charleston. For more information on CFADA, please visit www.cfada.com and for ticket reservations for the auction call 843-722-0128.

Guerilla Girls are also fond of using statistics. About 58% of the time statistics are lies or twisted in a way to make your argument work. Who cares! In my opinion a progressive feminist doesn’t get her jollies from making men feel bad by naming all their follies or making comparisons…. a truly progressive woman–and I use the word woman rather than “feminist” with purpose–will render men on their knees simply because she is above all of that and is better than them on her own accord.  Or she is simply outside the whole thing.  Woman are one thing, men are another.  A peach shouldn’t get furious because I indulge in bananas more often.  No. That peach would be better off knowing it’s better-tasting in a cobbler than a banana will ever be!

In the last two exhibitions, about Constructivism and Futurism, at Tate Modern (London)  an important space was given to female artists, who took part in this art movements.  So, you could appreciate their art works and understand their role and relevance.

This is a significant change in the way to show and talk about Contemporary Art, because you could have a complete overview of the movements  and not, as usual, only a report of male artists inputs.
The society is made by women and men; the Art is always an expression of the society; so, if you don’t consider the female contribution, you don’t actually give a exhaustive report of an art movement or period.

I hope that this was the beginning of a different (better) approach to the Art research and exhibition, not only in England but in all world countries.

On Sunday I decided to carry out the plans I had intended for Saturday before my need for country won out. After getting up and getting around I headed to the Centre Pompidou.

The Centre Pompidou is named after former president Georges Pompidou and houses the National Gallery of Modern Art, along with several galleries for visiting exhibits, cinemas for independent films and several educational spaces for children. The building is very strange and futuristic looking, with most of the activity happening outside. The elevators and the escalators run up the outside of the building and several sculptural exhibits are on outdoor terraces. It’s said that President Pompidou once said “this is going to cause a stir” when he saw the plans for the building that was to be his namesake, I think he was right.

The ouside of the Centre Pompidou, the red are the escalators.

Inside was just as incredible as outside. While the sculptures in the water fountain were cool, I think the sculpture inside was better. I was incredibly lucky and got to see the visiting Alexander Caulder and Wassily Kandinsky exhibits!

The Sun Bird sculpture in the water fountain outside the musuem.

Caulder has always fascinated me. His sculptures are so lithe and full of movement. His little wire contraptions always dance around in the most delicate way, it’s as though he had a second understanding of the natural environment around his art and could see how it was going to change from second to second, depending on the breeze from an old woman fanning herself or the gusts from a little kid running in circles around the stand. This exhibit also made me realize that the second half to his art is the shadows created by the works. In the silhouette created by each figure you could see a different piece. Hallowed out faces became fuller and expressions of anger and hate softened to almost smiles.

Caulder's "Fishbowl". His pieces are just so lighthearted and fun spirited. You can tell he enjoyed making his art and wanted his viewers to enjoy it too.

As much as I enjoyed the Caulder exhibit, the Kandinsky one was a little bit better. Kandinsky had a long career and was able to impact several different movements and periods in modern art. His art reflects the fear and uncertainty of central and eastern Europe during a time when war was always imminent and life as everyone knew it could change at any time. Even though he lived in a scary and depressing time, his art always appears to be optimistic, he painted images of life of joy and happiness. The man had a very strong faith and was an eternal optimist in my opinion and that shines through in every painting. His development over time was interesting to see too. He began with a very basic, elemental style and advanced to more complex and complicated compositions and movements and then went back to the basics. At one point he stopped mixing his colors and stopped using advanced shapes. He heralded the strength and simplicity of the primary colors of red, blue and yellow and the starkness and well-known comfort of the circle, the triangle and the square.

The main gallery wing was devoted to an interesting look at women in art during the modern movement. I was stunned to see just how suppressed and underrepresented women have been in the modern art era. For some reason I’ve always thought of the art world as being more open and accepting of women than other fields. Just so long as the creativity and desire to look deeper is there I thought that was enough for the art world. The numbers would disagree. A study was done of the art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it showed that less than 3% of the art is by a female artist, but nearly 84% of the nudes are women. I guess this just goes to show that, even in the art world, women are still just seen as a form in a lot of ways. Their beauty is heralded and renowned and praised, but that’s that, they are to be looked at and appreciated but not examined on a deeper level. Hopefully that’ll change soon.

The openness of the museum also allowed for an incredible view of the city. I almost think it’s the best view I’ve seen yet. From the top floor you can see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Paris Balloon and a ton of other beautiful monuments. Despite being a little hazy today I could see for miles and just stopped to appreciate the beauty of teh city. Sometimes it still feels a bit surreal. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here nearly 5 weeks already and only have a few weeks left. It’s gone by so fast and it’s been amazing for every second of it.

Sacre Coeur as seen from Le Centre Pompidou

The Paris balloon that goes up for 10 minute rides over the city. We almost went up for Katie's birthday but the weather didn't cooperate.

The Eiffel Tower...again

My colleague in art unexpectedly said to me that he no longer liked women’s faces in art.  In jest I asked if he was becoming a misogynist, and we talked further.

He clarified that some faces were ok, maybe just the faces that were fashionable or just beautiful were objectionable…”this one is ok and I like that one all right” as he pointed to women’s faces that suggested natural states, universality or expression.  “Not just a pretty face” was my interpretation of what he was conveying.

It made me think about why we like what we like in art.  Do the emotional responses change in light of education and experience?

When I go to a museum, I don’t like to use the headphones that tell you about each work. I first want to have a personal, uneducated response to the art before I delve into knowing about the artist or the circumstances of what he is saying or why she used the imagery she did.

One time I went to the MOMA and I saw the work of Cy Twombly.  One piece in particular drew my attention, but I didn’t “get it”.  I thought about it often.   While studying the work of photographer Harry Callahan, a photo of grasses emerging through the snow connected me to that painting.  I then understood what Twombly was saying to me. That moment helped me to define one of my emotional responses to art.  The wonder and underlying essence of nature speaks to me in art…the abstracted concepts, patterns and secrets of what is happening dynamically in the natural world. When I witness those concepts in a two or three-dimensional representation, it is as sublime as the nature itself.

I have studied, written about and taught art for many years.  With education comes appreciation and understanding. But I am talking about the emotional response…what really turns one on or off about art. To discover and define those aspects is epiphanic and revealing.

So when my colleague told me about the faces of women, he was just reinforcing what I already knew about him, he has a true respect for women. His personal art collection is full of women, real and expressive women.  Maybe experiences and education recently reinforced that revelation. It was his emotional response to art that he was declaring. And what are emotional responses except unexplained forces of nature that happen dynamically.

And I believe it an apt metaphor for art itself…Not just a pretty picture, but a personal response to what is significant in one’s own life.

This is an older piece of work, The Liberation of Eve,  I made in 2007.  I had a blog that I called Daily Paintings by Marcella Paliekara.  I wanted to be part of a painting movement that offered smaller work at affordable prices.  Most of the work I saw from other artists in the movement were of food, fruit etc. I learned that my artwork didn’t really fit into that mold and I didn’t want to fall into a mind set that I would create work only with the intent to sell.  I decided to move my work to a new site and produce the work I felt drawn to create. I felt liberated.

This picture shows a woman with her back to the viewer.  She is not looking backward, but forward into the future.  She looks into the darkness of  uncertianty of life and life’s choices, the unknown and she is ready to trust.  She holds the mirror away as she is lets go of vanity and living on the surface. She is concerned with meaning and with the spirit. She is moving toward wholeness.

Art invokes the mystery without which the world not exist.  Rene-Francois-Ghislian Magritte.

Women In Film

Como me gusta este tipo de trasformación facial (se me imagina como a plastilina XD), llega un momento donde los rostros se complementan y parece como si se moviera.

I suspect that this video has been floating around for awhile. I’m mesmerized by the transitions. To quote Robert Tobey, “not a lot of openness and joy on those faces.”

This video is from eggman913. See it HERE.

La historia del arte a través de la representación de la mujer.

The Secret of Women

Robe de Mariee

Paul Delvaux (September 23, 1897 – July 20, 1994) was a Belgian painter, famous for his surrealist paintings with female nudes.

The paintings Delvaux became famous for usually feature numbers of nude women who stare as if hypnotized, gesturing mysteriously, sometimes reclining incongruously in a train station or wandering through classical buildings, accompanied by skeletons or puzzled scientists. Delvaux would repeat variations on these themes for the rest of his long life, although some departures can be noted. Among them are his paintings of 1945-47, rendered in a flattened style with distorted and forced perspective effects, and the series of crucifixions and deposition scenes enacted by skeletons, painted in the 1950s.

In the late 1950s he produced a number of night scenes in which trains are observed by a little girl seen from behind. These compositions contain nothing overtly surrealistic, yet the clarity of moonlit detail is hallucinatory in effect. Trains had always been a subject of special interest to Delvaux, who never forgot the wonder he felt as a small child at the sight of the first electric trams in Brussels.

In 1959 he executed a mural at the Palais du Congrès in Brussels, one of several large scale decorative commissions Delvaux undertook. He was named director of the Académie royal des Beaux-arts of Belgium in 1965. In 1982 the Paul Delvaux Museum opened in Saint-Idesbald.
Delvaux died in Veurne in 1994.

The Conversation

Sleeping Venus

Call of the Night