The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Art From Above

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(Pic #1) Art from the air

An original Rothko sells for millions.(Pic #5)  This artist gives his work away. On the other hand, while Rothko has millions of fans, this artist’s work is seen by tens of millions — every day. Meet Google Maps. The piece above is actually a screen grab from a Google Maps search of the area just outside Taft, California. It actually depicts a small section of one of the many farms in that agricultural town.

(Pic #2) The Ganges River Delta, USGS National Center for EROS, NASA landsat project science office

Earth: A Fragile Work of Art

My point is this:  If even for a second, you opened your anticonvulsant mind to the possibility that this was an undiscovered masterpiece, then you can accept that there are beautiful pieces of art that you overlook every day. The images on this page are pictures of the Earth’s surface, taken with the aid of an orbiting satellite. In August of 1959, the first American automated spacecraft “Explorer 6” took the first photograph of our planet from above. It was the very beginning of satellite imagery. Today, over 2000 sats orbit the atmosphere — taking pictures — and making art.

(Pic #3) Human landscape: art from space

(Pic #4) Planned community -- unplanned art

(Pic #5) "Dionysius" by Mark Rothko, 1949

The Painted People

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Ethiopian tribes use their bodies as living canvases.

German photographer Hans Silvester spent over 5 years documenting the cultural diversity of the Omo Valley tribes of Southern Ethiopia. He’s compiled these breathtaking photos in a hardcover collection, and you’ll see some of his magical moments in the video above. It’s worth watching to the end.

The Omo people decorate their faces and bodies with their fingers, nails, or crushed reeds, and transform themselves into stunning works of art. They execute their vibrant abstractions quickly—painting themselves or each other two or three times a day. The rich geology of the region provides pigments of red ocher, green copper, yellow sulfer, and gray ash. The tribesmen also incorporate into their most personal masterpieces — nature’s finest accoutrements: wispy  feathers, brightly-colored flower petals, and rough-hewn twigs and leaves.

(Pic #1) Left: "Summer" painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1573. Right: Omo Valley Tribe girl with face painted, hair adorned with fruit, © Hans Silvester, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York.

In describing his mission, Silvester says “what’s most important for me is saving… as much as possible of this truly living art, which is mobile, changing, subject to infinite variation, and whose elements form a link valtrex between man and nature. It seems to me that our modern painting found the purpose of these elements, this simplicity, and used it as its foundation.“

(Pic #2) Left: Painted Omo Valley boy, © Hans Silvester, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York. Right: Minimalist abstract painting by Father Bill Moore, 2010.

For me, the resemblance between the raw tribal art above and today’s most successful museum or gallery-shown art – is chilling. (Pics # 1,# 2, #3, #4) Worlds away, these inspired naturalists create their visual statements with no connection to Western culture. Most likely, they have never seen a Picasso, Goldsworthy or Miro.  But their masterpieces are authentic, original, and frankly, way too hip for the room.

(Pic #3) Left: Head-dressed Omo Valley girl, © Hans Silvester, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York. Right: Environmental art by Andy Goldsworthy, 2003

(Pic #4) Left: Head sculpture on Omo boy, © Hans Silvester, courtesy Marlborough Gallery, New York. Right: Steel mobile by Timothy Rose, 2001

Hans Silvester’s extraordinary work can also be seen in The Mediterranean Cat, Cats in the Sun, and  The Land of the Incas. A New York Times review of his work, The Painted People may be seen here.

 

 

Salvaging Beauty from Destruction

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Left: Pompeo Batoni painting: “Time Orders Old Age to Destroy Beauty” (1746). Right: Wagon Wheel Motel Excavation unearths fresh art (2011). Photo by Juan Carlo Mendoza, Ventura County Star.

The demise of a local landmark reveals stunning visual treats.

In my last post, I wrote about the demolition of one of Southern California’s most recognizble roadside landmarks, the Wagon Wheel Motel on Interstate 101 in Oxnard.

Given its storied history, it hurt to watch it gradually disintegrate into a pile of splintered beams and waste. But I always try to see something anti inflammatories visually fresh in my lens. So I documented the last days of the iconic structure with the hope of creating a few canvases of abstract art.

Suddenly, the 1960 turquoise paint seemed elegant, and the property’s broken wooden fence perfectly framed the vibrating lines and textures destined for the landfill. Graffiti became a decorative touch, and cheap, crumpled window blinds gave me a new way to understand geometry.

Am I crazy?

Maybe. But delighted I got to embrace the beauty left by the storm.