ARTISTS AS PRANKSTERS

It's April Fool's Day so what better to talk about than artists who are known as pranksters. There have been many pranks pulled throughout Art History but here are two artists who stand out the most.

The first is Harvey Stromberg. Now, it's hard to find any actual information about him and his art but we do know that in the early 1970's he got this idea to go to the MoMA and make exact sticker replicas of light switches, air vents, locks, and things like that. So weeks before his "exhibition" he walked around the MoMA and took notes on the structural details to create the realistic looking stickers. When he went to place them he said "When I install a piece, my adrenalin is racing. In fact, its very hard for me to come up with serious reasons why I do it." A lot of his "pieces" stayed up for 2 years before Stromberg held an fake gallery opening with plastic champagne glasses. And that's about all we know about it! A lot of people think it's strictly a prank, others like to think it's art. What's your opinion?

On another hand we have an actual artist who is known for high class pranking, Banksy. Having placed his own work in museums from the British Museum, to the Louvre and the Met, Banksy has done it all and made a statement while doing it.
In 2005 Banksy placed a stone with a cave drawing on it with a caveman pushing a shopping cart in the British Museum's Ancient Artifacts Section. This piece apparently stayed up for 3 days going unnoticed.

Image from British Museum

Again in 2005 Banksy smuggled in his works (all Anti-War related) into museums in New York City. Including a fake Andy Warhol print "Discount Soup Can" in the MoMA, "You Have Beautiful Eyes" in the Met, "Soldier with Spraycan" in the Brooklyn Museum, and "Withus Oragainstus" in New York's Natural History Museum.

Banksy, Discount Soup Can, 2005, Museum of Modern Art

Banksy, You Have Beautiful Eyes, 2005, Metropolitan Museum of Art

"You Have Beautiful Eyes" in place in the Met

Banksy, Soldier with Spraycan, 2005, Brooklyn Museum

Banksy, Withus Oragainstus, 2005, Museum of Natural History

In 2006 Banksy put a life-sized replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in Disneyland inside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. It remained there for 90 minutes before the ride was closed down and they removed the statue.

Image from www.woostercollective.com and BBC News

And possibly his biggest hoax of all, in 2010 he created a movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which was a documentary about Banksy and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary. But there is a lot of debate over whether the documentary is authentic or all fake.

Whether you think it is disrespectful or hilarious, it's great to see someone in the Art World with a sense of humor. Especially on a day like today!!

References/Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/01/the-10-best-art-pranks_n_1388512.html
http://pranksters.com/historical-pranks/
http://www.complex.com/style/2014/04/banksy-hoaxes/#!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5335400.stm
http://www.woostercollective.com/post/a-wooster-exclusive-banksy-hits-new-yorks-most-famous-museums-all-of

WOMEN IN ART: ALICE NEEL

Throughout my education and while visiting various museums and shows I've had a chance to see many paintings by Alice Neel. Yet, up until now I haven't actually learned about her as an artist. To start, Alice Neel was an American Portrait Painter. But her life wasn't easy, she struggled and broke barriers as a female artist.
Born in 1900, Neel was taught that she wouldn't make an impact in the world because she was a woman. But she went on to pursue her art career and she took classes in art and eventually enrolled in Art School. While in school she met her husband Carlos Enriquez and she moved to Hanava with him learning more about Cuban avant-garde arts. When in this situation Alice Neel began to take her stance in political consciousness and equality for women.

Alice Neel in her studio in Harlem, 1944

A year later Alice and Carlos had a daughter, Santillana, who died a year later from diphtheria. The lose of her daughter was so strong that she portrayed themes of lose, motherhood, and anxiety in her paintings. Not long after the loss of Santillana, Neel had a second child, Isabella Lillian, in New York City. After her birth, Neel painted "Well Baby Clinic" which more resembles mothers and babies in an insane asylum than in a maternity ward. And a few year after that Carlos took Isabetta back to Cuba and in reaction to the lose of her husband and daughter, Neel broke down and was hospitalized and attempted suicide.

Alice Neel, Well Baby Clinic, 1928, oil on canvas, Private Collection

At about this time it was the Depression Era, Alice was lucky to work for the Works Progress Administration and was hired to make paintings. During this time she was seeing heroin addict and sailor, Kenneth Doolittle who set fire to 350 of her watercolors, paintings and drawings a few years later.

Alice Neel, Kenneth Dolittle, 1931, oil on canvas, Tate Modern, London

She then began to surround herself with artists, intellectuals, and political leaders for the Communist Party, who she also painted. This allowed her to become a well known and respected artist. She gave birth to another child, Richard, of her lover Jose Santiago moving to Spanish Harlem and painting her neighbors.

Alice Neel, The Spanish Family, 1943, oil on canvas, Private Collection

After Jose left she gave birth to another son, Hartley, of her lover community intellectual, Sam Brody. As for her art career, she was illustrating for Masses & Mainstream but her work for the Works Progress Administration stopped soon after leading to Alice Neel having to struggle to make ends meet. In the end of the 1960s, Neel's work gained interest because of the Women's Movement which led to Neel becoming an icon for many feminists. She became of celebrity status when she was awarded with a National Women's Caucus for Art award by President Jimmy Carter.

Alice Neel's painting of Kate Millett for the cover of TIME Magazine, August 31 1970

Alice Neel, Andy Warhol, 1970, oil on canvas, Whitney Museum, New York

Alice Neel's Website has tons of information about her life and her work: www.aliceneel.com

NEW YEARS FOR ARTISTS

New Years is always a fresh start to begin again and try and improve yourself and your bad habits from the previous year. Every year people choose impossible resolutions and end up forgetting about them or just give up after a few weeks or even days. Each year we even try to make them easier and try so hard to keep them. Why is it so hard to keep our goals? How about this year we help each other?

GET A BUDDY.
Not only will you have yourself to remind you to work on your New Years Resolution but someone else to either remind you or to work with you to achieve the same goal. This way you can push each other (and have someone to blame other that yourself when you don't accomplish your goal) I also suggest keeping notes or reminders everywhere to really keep you focused (Post-Its, phone reminders, locking yourself out of a certain room until you are done each day).

Now, what are some of the best New Years Resolutions for Artists that are maintainable?
I asked my many Twitter followers this question and got nothing in response so we'll just have to figure it out ourselves.

Artists are dedicated to their work. We just need to promise ourselves to work on those things we struggle with so here is a great list of things to use for New Years Resolutions:

1. Using your sketchbook... DAILY. Yes that means meaningless sketches or writing or playing around with new materials EVERYDAY. That shouldn't be too too bad, just set off a half an hour everyday and open your sketchbook and do something, anything.

2. Create an actual piece of artwork once a week. Using your mindless sketching or experiments and create something full fledged and finished. It doesn't matter if it turns out terrible since it is only for you. It'll keep your mind in the creating mode and it'll help you figure out the kinks of what works and what doesn't.

3. Take in a commission. One of the best things I could've done was accept a request for a commission of a genre of art I don't find I am the strongest in. Now I don't suggest it to everyone because it is stressful and it is always better to accept a commission of something you will work confidently in, but for those who want to challenge themselves do it. Even if it is just a Birthday gift for someone that you are commissioning yourself to do, just share your art.

THIS website has 10 pretty good New Years Resolutions for Artists that I suggest checking out.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO ANY OTHER ARTIST, THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION IS TO DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS MORE. If you are having a hard time check out this older post about it.

COLLAGE ART: SURREAL IMAGERY OR SIMPLE BRAINSTORMING?

Collages are sometimes linked with childhood art projects, but how about collages that bring flawless surreal imagery together?

The idea of collaging is often a way to put all of your favorite ideas or thoughts together. But what about thinking out of the box and creating something completely new and imaginative... without just using Photoshop. Painstakingly cutting and arranging images found from encyclopedias to magazines can lead to some amazingly creative works and creating worlds that bring up issues or thoughts some of us may have never even thought of before.

One artist named Sato Masahiro, or Q-TA, uses both digital and analog techniques to create nostalgia based imagery. When in an interview with Revolution 360, the artist says "The reason that the majority of my work has young children is that I would like to show a new way of thinking by offering the audience, children’s view of the world and also placing children in those worlds." Just take a look at some of Q-TA's pieces for example:

  

But lets step back a second, haven't we seen innovative collaging before? Man Ray? John Stezaker? Hannah Höch? 

Man Ray for example was a significant component to the Dada and Surrealism Movements. He considered himself a painter over all but he also dabbled in photography and collage. He uses collage in two different ways (mainly photographic): in camera collaging and photogram collaging, which he appropriately called "Rayographs". Both forms of collaging but approached differently. In the top photo, Observation Time: The Lovers, Man Ray sets up the entire scene in front of the camera and takes a photo. In the other he uses random objects and sets them on top of the emulsion to create the shadows.

Man Ray, Observatory Time: The Lovers, photograph, 1936

Man Ray, Rayograph, 1922, Silver Gelatin Print, © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Either way collages can be attempted in various formats and mediums. Some artists use it as a way of planning out their creations or simple brainstorming, others use it as their actual medium. Sometimes they are used to create surreal worlds, or they are used to create an aesthetically or even psychologically pleasing work of art. Any way you look at it collaging leads to a very simplistic form of creating. So, you you're ever lacking ideas start a collage and see where it leads you!

Sources/Related Articles:

http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/3318/Top_10_Collage_Artists_Hannah_H%C3%B6ch_to_Man_Ray
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/sato-masahiro-q-ta-collages?context=tag-art