Skip to main content

Where is beauty? What is beauty?



Chameleon rose from my garden. 

The answer to "where is beauty?" seems  easy .... beauty is  all around us, but do we all see the same beauty ?  There is a Chinese saying, "Flowers look different to different eyes" Yes, we've all heard that before ..."Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

Contemporary artists worldwide often challenge our notion of beauty and many celebrate the ordinary and the familiar, making comment on daily rituals and consumer items.  None of this is very surprising since early man recorded every day life in cave paintings  and it has been happening in the art world ever since.  Up until 1960s, household items often appeared in still life paintings, but it was the contemporary pop art movement where artists sought out the commonplace to elevate artistically. What could be more "everyday" than Andy Warhol's iconic Campbell Soup Tins ? 
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/andy-warhol-campbells-soup-cans-1962/

All sorts of useful mundane items have been celebrated in art - I am particularly intrigued by artists who transform everyday items not only into subjects for their art works but use them as art materials. It is as if they see beauty in the every day object not as it is but in its transformation. This sculptured tyre  has been created by contemporary artist, Wim Delvoye.. "The artist hand-carves rubber car tyres with motifs whose curlicued florals and sinuous vines recall Art Nouveau decoration." 
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/making-art-from-mundane-materials-900188
These artworks by  French artist, Albert Legrand are amongst my favourites as he seems to be able to inject emotion into these commonplace  found objects.    


https://www.boredpanda.com/everyday-object-character-art-gilbert-legrand/


In my recent  series of little wearable art pins, I have been trying to depict  the very ordinary, the very everyday and  to capture daily thoughts or ideas which are not momentous or genius but things that we all wonder about from time to time. Most of the beauty I see around me is in my garden or close by, but even so, others may not think what I use as my inspiration as particularly beautiful.  so ... is this the answer ? .... 

“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”  And then is it possible to interpret in art the beauty one perceives and does it retain its beauty? ....



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

Fragments

 Some days are just your lucky days - today I was very fortunate and privileged to open the first ever Australian exhibition "Fragments" by  UK  Fibre Artist  Sue Hotchkis .  Here is a little about the techniques of this amazing textile artist from her own website  ...  Working intuitively with print and stitch, marks, textures and colours are exaggerated, intensified to reveal the detail and complexity within the images. Materials are deconstructed using modern methods, ripped, burnt and dyed. Time is invested in their reconstruction; pieces can take from a week to several months to create. Whilst being aesthetically pleasing the work can also act as a metaphor for deterioration and ruin, associated with urban decay and ultimately death and loss. They evolve organically, built up with layers of print, cloth, paper, and stitch into three-dimensional abstract forms that hover between object and image; to create a unique, visual and tactile lan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons   The work for the "Stitched Up " Project  continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood  Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours.  Trimmed and cut if necessary  Ends sealed with matte sealing solution.  Drying  - solution goes on white but dries clear.  First wrapping - foil to create a body shape  Second wrapping - stretch fabric.  Third wrapping - fabric strips  Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to ...
Post a Comment
Read more