Anti-Paintings

If a painter refuses to paint, is he still a painter? If an artist says that a painting isn’t a painting, what is it? What does it take to make a painting not a painting?

These are the somewhat esoteric questions posed by a new exhibit opening Sunday a the Museum of Modern Art, “Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927-1937.” Miró worked furiously during this decade and the exhibit highlights 12 series created as “anti-paintings,” a way for the artist to rebel against the traditional confines of painting.

Jeff Wall in Vancouver

The Pine On The Corner, 1990 , transparency in lightbox

Born in Vancouver, Jeff Wall didn’t have a large show in the city since 1990. But now the Vancouver Art Gallery will be showing it’s collection of the artist’s iluminated transparencies until January 25. With works influenced by cinema and paintings, using digital technology and, many times, amateur performers, Wall started a aesthetic followed by many artists. His work helped stablishing the role of photography in the contemporary art.

Sarah Sze

American sculptor Sarah Sze builds environments out of collections of  little household objects. Elegantly precise and beautifully naive her work is painting with props on space, virtuosic miniature ecosystems.

Person Sarah Sze

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1000 Artworks to See Before You Die

Marc Chagall Over the Town (1914-1918)

The British newspaper The Guardian started today the series 1000 Artworks to See Before You Die and it will continue throughout the week. From the caves to today it’s the Guardian writers picking the world’s essential artworks. It’s going to be fun to follow and see if they have included our personal favorites.

A Photographer’s Life

Nicole Kidman by Annie Leibovitz

Covering 15 years of Annie Leibovitz’s most recent work, the National Portrait Gallery exhibition (until February 1, 2009) includes over 150 photographs by the celebrated photographer. From her more personal work (photos of her family and friends) to commissioned portraits, the show is a comprehensive overlook on Leibovitz’s style.

Media Sculpture

Jonathan Schiper’s Invisible Sphere

With a very well founded education as sculptor Jonathan Schipper’s work is very in tune with our times. The Sphere contains 215 monitors and 215 cameras. Each camera is opposite to the monitor it feeds. It constantly recreates its surroundings on monitors from every conceivable angle at all times. The Sphere is a reflection of media’s attempt to remain revealing as it grows in power and becomes increasingly part of everything.

Person Jonathan Schipper

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Window of the Soul

Nude with Hands

Blind photographer, Evgen Bavcar, can’t see but can produce some very poetic and inspired images. His portraits are ethereal and his landscapes full of atmosphere. Walter Aue, the acclaimed Berlin poet, consider that after Niepce, Fox Talbot and Daguerre, Bavcar is “the fourth inventor of photography”. This image reminds me of this.

Paper Cut

Paper curtains, dreamy nets. Go to  Chis Natrop and visit his Multifaceted series for art that takes the room with shapes and shadows.

Camouflage Chameleon

Unify the Thought to Promote Education 160 x 150 cm c-print

Liu Bolin Urban Camouflage series explores the notion of how the environment shapes us the way we are. Using flags and slogans as backgrounds and painting himself to blend in, he comments the Chinese political scene.

Portraits of Frida

Photo by Nickolas Muray Frida Kahlo on White Bench #30, 1938

Frida Kahlo is known for her self portraits. The San Jose Museum of Art is giving us the rare chance of seeing other views of her, through the eyes of renowned photographers in about fifty images. Frida Kahlo – Portraits of an Icon shows the artist carefully constructed self image, but also more private moments – in her bedroom, hospital room, studio, and garden.