Bad Art

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, "Is this art bad?"  Most of the time it is not that bad, and sometimes it is not that good.  But to my amazement I found out today that there is a MOBA  (Museum of Bad Art).  

 I was shocked and of course it caught my curiosity.  What could they possibly have that is that bad?  Well some of it, YES.

Mama and Babe

In the cat's mouth

Dog
 

If you want to see more of this "bad" art here is the website http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/index.php

So before you ask again if your art is bad, think about these (especially mama and babe) and hopefully you have not crossed the line into "bad art".

Making art the message

What can you see when the message and the art go hand in hand.


If you could leave a message in a piece of book art what would you want to tell others?

Changing your style

 

Many artists change their style as they advance in both career and age.  Some change because the world around them is changing and some change due to physical reasons.

Matisse started as a painter, but as old age affected his hands he began making cut outs out of colored paper and started a whole new movement in collage.


Chuck Close started out as a realistic portrait painter.



As you can see he loved to paint large images of realistic people.  Yes, that is a painting and not a photgraph.

But do to a car accident he had to change his style.  He still painted large portraits of people, but in a new way.



I wanted to show you these and show you that you too can change and evolve your style.  Don't feel like you have to do one thing because that is what is the only thing you know.  Branch out and try something new.  Is there something new in art that you would like to try? 

The unseen

In art we always want to draw and paint what we see, but sometimes it is the unseen that can be enchanting. 



The above piece is called "Grace's Love" by Pomm.  Perhaps you will disagree with me, but I love the hidden tree in this watercolor paintings.  I think it adds mystery and beauty to an otherwise boring piece, but what do you think?  Would you have left it out or would you make another change?

Extreme Doodles

Do you like to doodle in your notebooks, on post-its, on your walls or just on anything you can find?  Have you ever doodled on a coffee cup?  If so you have something in common with the artist Cheeming Boey.  He is a styrofoam coffee cup artist whos only tool is sharpie markers.

 

 

So what do you think?  Do you think of them differently if I told you that they range in price of $400 to $1500 per cup?  Now what do you think?  Would you pay for them?  Would you try to create them?

Ordinary to Extrordinary

I ran across this artist MEGX and his amazing artwork to everyday objects. 



So here we have an ordinary bridge.  This one happens to be in Europe but it could be anywhere.  Anyways, over the course of four weeks, MEGX turns this plain bridge into this...

A giant Lego bridge.  He uses painted panels to make it into something fun and unique.



This is a form of street art.  If you could change something from ordinary to extrordinary what would you change?  And what would you change it into?

Tires

We all know that used and old tires can make great swings for kids, but did you know that they can make great sculptures?

The artist Yong Ho Ji has taken recycled tire art to a new level.







Yong cuts up the tires from cars, tractors and bikes so that it looks like muscle and flesh for each animal.  He uses a steel structure to hold the overall shape of the animal and then attaches the tires on top of that steel. 

What are your thoughts on this art?  Is it something that you would like to see up close or even touch?  Do you like his creatures which are based on real animals or should he make them more realistic?

Have you ever wondered?

Have you ever wondered what the skeletal structure would like like of your favorite toys??  Well artist Jason Freeny is letting us all know what the insides of our favorite cartoon and toys look like on the inside.






Most are sculptural, but some are drawings.  So the question is had you ever wondered what their insides looked like?  Or did Jason Freeny just make you wonder about all the things that you never really thought about before?

Making Lines Move

Bridget Riley was one of the first female artists to use lines to create Op Art, short for Optical Illusion Art.  She discovered that by the placement of lines you could create movement in a work of art through the viewers eyes.

Arrest 1,  1965

Horizontal Vibration   1961

Blaze 1,  1962

Descending   1965

Her style was created in the 60s and 70s, but it has become more popular over the past few years.  What do you like or dislike about Bridget Riley's Op Art?

Is it hard to look at or is it hard to look away from it?  Do you have any other types of Op Art that you like?

Remembering Sept 11

This day will one that we will always remember.  I will always remember the boys that walked into my classroom and asked me to turn on the tv.  Below is artwork remembering the heros of that day.

Making a Line famous

Picasso

The first and most basic element of art is a Line.  Some artists have taken that very basic and often simple design and made it into famous works of art.  Mondrian has even made the line his whole career.

Piet Mondrian

He used several lines and then would fill in those lines with 3 colors.  Any guess which colors?

 

Do you know of any other artists that only use line?

Breaking up the painting

I ran across this artist, Carol Manasse, who is a contemporary acrylic painting artist.  I found her art very beautiful, colorful and intriguing.  It reminds me of cubism, but without the harsh lines and shading techniques that Picasso and Baroque created.

Bridle Path at Sunrise

Fractured landscape

Grecian Sunset

Gymnasts

4 Horsemen of the Apocolypse

Galloping Horses

What do you think of her style?  Do you like it or dislike it?  Does it remind you of anything or inspire you?  Which one is your favorite or least favorite?

Stairs of Color

Have you ever just wanted to make the ordinary unique?   Why not make stairs into art?



These are thousands of pieces of tile and glass on an outside set of stairs. 
 What design would you make if you could decorate a set of stairs?  What design would you make if you could decorate the stairs in the school's commons area?  Would you make a different design than you would in your house?

   Would you do both the tops and the fronts or just one or the other?

Graffiti Sculpture?

Sometimes we think we have heard of it all, but now artists are taking graffiti, which is normally written on the sides of walls or trains, and turning them into 3 dimensional art.



This sculpture was by an artist named Kwest and it is located in Toronto.



This piece is a relief sculpture called "Rock" by an artist named Peeta.



And this one is from an artist named DAIM.

How do you think an artist takes a 2D or flat work of art and makes it 3D?  What materials would you use if you were trying to create these works of art?

Dreaming of Cake

Wayne Thiebaud is an artist after my own heart.  He is a pop artist, that is short for popular culture artist, and he found his subject in a bakery window.

He enjoyed creating texture through line and patterns through shapes.  He also tried to focus on the shadows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you tell just by looking at his paintings where the sun is located?

 

 

He painted things other than desserts, but I think they are some of his best.  You can research Wayne Thiebaud and find other paintings that you might like.

 

But if you had to paint popular culture items, like dessert, what would you paint?