ARTCYCLOPAEDIA

Marina Abramović, “Balkan Baroque”, 1997 Marina Abramović is an artist with a very complex and beautiful story. she was born in Serbia, in a family of Yugoslav Partisans. in her work, she often explores topics of war, resistance and consciousness. “Balkan Baroque” is a unique work, which explores all three themes simultaneously. this performance is Abramović’s answer to the war in Bosnia. she travelled back to Belgrade, and she interviewed her parents, as well as a man who catches rats. during this performance, which was first seen at Venice Biennale 1997, the artist sat on top of a mountain of cow bones, washing them, whilst three videos where streamed behind her back. two videos showed artist’s parents - one with her father with a pistol, her father showing his hands; the other with her mother with a cross in her hands, her mother covering her eyes. the third video portrayed the artist herself, first as a doctor, telling the story of the rat catcher, and then as a sexy dancer, dancing to traditional Balkan music. since the work was shown at Venice Biennale, which happens over summer, the Pavilion where the performance was happening was heating up very quickly. the smell of the rotting bones and the meat was spreading across the space, the worms were coming out from the bones. the performance is dealing with the concept of “cleaning the conscience” - accepting the past and moving on, in order to embrace the future. Marina states, that one can try to wash the blood off history, but one cannot wash away the shame of the war. #art #arthistory #venicebiennale1997 #venicebiennale #marinaabramovic #artcyclopaedia #war #postmodernart #performanceart #veniceitaly (at Venice Biennale, Giardini-Arsenale)

Jean Tinguely, "Pit-Stop", 1984 this work by Tinguely was commissioned by the Renault company for their art-promotion program "Recherches Art et Industrie". it consists out of 60 individual parts from Renault Formula 1 racing cars, that were driven by Alain Prost and Rddie Cheever. #art #artlover #artcyclopaedia #jeantinguely #artbasel #basel #engineering #formula1 (at Museum Tinguely Basel)

Shia LaBeouf, #ALLMYMOVIES, 2015 during #ALLMYMOVIES, LaBeouf watched all of the films he has ever appeared in. for 72 hours in a row, Shia sat in the cinema theatre, with about fifty other spectators sitting behind him, closely watching one film after another. the performance was streamed live, and Shia invited people from all over the internet to watch him fall asleep, think, laugh, smirk, yawn. Yet, whilst the physical spectator of Shia’s work could see the films, the online / the live spectator is only able to observe Shia himself cringing and smiling at his own performances. the piece was supposed to present transparency of a celebrity, and tenderness and frankness of LaBeouf himself. though, what this piece vigorously reminds me of is a process of looking back at one’s own memories on Facebook, as well as an obsessive collection and a process of sharing of possessed information. in realms of Facebook, users tend to think that their followers want to know everything about them, but the thing is that everybody actually wants to know everything about everybody. this is not only a question of narcissistic culture of Facebook users, but it is also a question of an almost voyeuristic perversion of being “liked” and “shared”. #artcyclopaedia #artlover #art #shialabeouf #allmymovies #newyork #nyc #labeouf #labeoufronkkoturner #performance (at Angelika Film Center)

this year, Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans-Ulrich Obrist introduced a new programme which accompanies the Serpentine Pavilion - Summer Houses. the four architects: Kunlé Adeyemi, Barkow Leibinger, Asif Khan and Yona Friendman, each created a so-called Summer House, in reference to Queen Caroline’s Temple in Kensington Gardens, designed by William Kent in the 18th century. Yona Friedman’s Summer House is a structure which refers back to Friedman’s project “La Ville Spatial”, which he has been working on since the 1950’s. the House is arrange is a way that it can be disassembled and reassembled in different compositions and forms. it consists out of a grid of modular frames, and Friedman suggests that this use of space and material means that cities can grow without occupying vast territories. Yona Friedman is a Hungarian-born French architect, possibly one of the most exceptional professionals in the world. he is the author of a following famous quote: "A theory must be general and valid for anybody". #london #design #serpentinepavilion #summerhouses #hydepark #kensingtongardens #serpentinegallery #yonafriedman #asifkhan #barkowleibinger #kunleadeyemi #bjarkeingels #architecture #art #artlover #artcyclopaedia (at Serpentine Pavillion)

today i was unbelievably lucky to be amongst the first people to see the Serpentine Pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels. it's absolutely amazing, and so beautiful. it was a true honor to hear the author explain his work, too. also, great news. today, @benjiknewman was spotted at the Serpentine bookshop! #art #arthistory #artlover #artcyclopaedia #serpentinegallery #serpentine #hydepark #serpentinepavilion #benjiknewman #bjarkeingels #design #london (at Serpentine Galleries)

Chaim Soutine, “Man in a Green Coat”, 1921 Chaim Soutine cam from a very poor Russian Jewish family, he was the tenth child out of eleven. as a child, Soutine enjoyed painting and drawing, and at the age of 14, the artist ran away from his house to Minsk, where he attended an art school. two years later, Soutine moved to Vilnius, to study art in the art academy. in 1913, Soutine moved from Vilnius to Paris, where he, at first, lived in complete poverty. the artist met Marc Chagall, Legere, Brancusi, as well as Modigliani, who became one of Soutine’s closest friends. few years later, the artist was noticed by one of the most important art dealers at the time - Paul Guillaume, and finally reached success. Soutine was not a good looking man - he had a short neck, large and heavy jaw, yellow and rotten teeth. he was angry and melancholic, and his artworks truly depict that state. even though the artist spent a long period of time in Paris, his style is closer to German Expressionism, as well as Abstract Expressionism. Soutine’s paintings are very fleshy, often full of pain and sadness. they portray despair and anxiety. in this particular painting, “Man in a Green Coat”, Soutine depicts an old, sad man. his head heavily leans on his hand. the eyes are closed, the man’s mind is far away dug in his own memory. Soutine painted a man who came back home from war, but was never able to fully recover, or forget it. #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #artcyclopaedia #chaimsoutine #moma #museumofmodernart #depression #anxiety #pablopicasso #marcchagall #amadeomodigliani #war #jewishart #jewishartist #montmartre #parisianart (at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art)

Willem de Kooning, “Woman III”, 1953 this large scale painting was created by a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning. in late 1920’s, when the artist moved to the United States, he met various different Modernist artists, but he was mostly inspired and influenced by an Armenian artist Arshile Gorky. de Kooning treated him as a blood brother. the artist was also friends with Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian. in 1950 de Kooning started his well-known series called “Woman”. this painting, “Woman III”, is a third one of a series of six paintings, and its dimensions are 173cm x 123cm. from 1970s the painting was preserved in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, but in 1979, when the Iranian revolution happened, the painting was no longer allowed to stay as part of an exhibition. in 1994 it was sold and left Iran. Sandy Heller, an influential art advisor, once said - “This is arguably the most important postwar painting that is not in a museum.” #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #artcyclopaedia #willemdekooning #dekooning #woman #tehran #iranianrevolution #museum #museology #privatecollection #abstractart #abstractexpressionism #actionpainting #arshilegorky #joanmiro #pablopicasso #pietmondrian #dutchart

Willem de Kooning, “Woman III”, 1953 this large scale painting was created by a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning. in late 1920’s, when the artist moved to the United States, he met various different Modernist artists, but he was mostly inspired and influenced by an Armenian artist Arshile Gorky. de Kooning treated him as a blood brother. the artist was also friends with Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian. in 1950 de Kooning started his well-known series called “Woman”. this painting, “Woman III”, is a third one of a series of six paintings, and its dimensions are 173cm x 123cm. from 1970s the painting was preserved in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, but in 1979, when the Iranian revolution happened, the painting was no longer allowed to stay as part of an exhibition. in 1994 it was sold and left Iran. Sandy Heller, an influential art advisor, once said - “This is arguably the most important postwar painting that is not in a museum.” #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #artcyclopaedia #willemdekooning #dekooning #woman #tehran #iranianrevolution #museum #museology #privatecollection #abstractart #abstractexpressionism #actionpainting #arshilegorky #joanmiro #pablopicasso #pietmondrian #dutchart

Ed Ruscha, “The Music From The Balconies”, 1984 Ed Ruscha is undoubtedly one of the most influential contemporary pop artists. born in Nebraska, after graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, the artist worked as an illustrator for the Carson-Roberts Advertising Agency. in 1962 Ruscha, together with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and others participated in an exhibition named “New Painting of Common Objects” in Pasadena. this was the very first pop-art exhibition in America. at the time, Ruscha was already working with words and typography, and a decade later, in 1970’s, the artist started to use whole phrases in his art works. the text in this painting - “THE MUSIC FROM THE BALCONIES NEARBY WAS OVERLAID BY THE NOISE OF SPORADIC ACTS OF VIOLENCE”, written in caps, comes from a 1975 dystopian novel “High-Rise”, written by J. G. Ballard. the painting behind the text does not directly introduce the text, but it definitely depicts the tension that is present in the novel, especially a balance between man and nature. #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #artcyclopaedia #edruscha #themusicfromthebalconies #jgballard #highrise #dystopia #dystopianbooks #tatemodern #tatecollection #contemporaryart #popart #andywarhol #jennyholzer #barbarakruger #roylichtenstein (at Tate Modern)

Georgia O’Keeffe, “Black Iris III”, 1926 Georgia O’Keeffe is an American artist, who started painting as a young child. when O’Keeffe started high school, the principal of the institution was so amazed by young girl’s talent, that gave O’Keeffe her own studio and a permission to paint whenever she wanted to. later, when the artist moved to New York to study Fine Art, she was fortunate to have William Merritt Chase as her head teacher. he taught O’Keeffe to make decisions fast - apparently, the artist produced one art work per day. in New York, O’Keeffe encountered sexism very often, but Chase was against any kind of gender prejudices. in 1920’s, O’Keeffe started painting flowers. this painting, “Black Iris III”, painted in 1926, made spectators immediately associate the flower with a vulva. it was, indeed, interpreted through the Freudian prism. the spectators connected the flower with artist’s sexual energy - even though the artist hers of denied the association; whilst a notable American critic and writer Edmund Wilson suggested the eros in the eyes of the beholder. #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #georgiaokeeffe #blackiris #painting #americanartist #americanart #sigmundfreud #metropolitanmuseumofart #themet #flower #femaleartist

Josef Albers, “Study for Homage to the Square: Departing in Yellow”, 1964 Josef Albers, an artist who was born in Germany, moved to the United States in 1933, under the Nazi pressure. he was, famously, a teacher of such excellent artists as Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning, as well as Eva Hesse and many others. the artist is famous for his use of colour - in 1963 he published a paper called “Interaction of Colour”, where he methodically described colour as a fundament of art. this painting, “Study for Homage to the Square: Departing in Yellow”, belongs to Albers famous series “Homage to the Square”, which includes hundreds of paintings and prints all dedicated to explorations of colour. each painting consisted out of three or four colours, arranged within one another in a square. there are strict sequences of order and symmetry, within which Albers was examining chromatic interactions. #josefalbers #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #artcyclopaedia #london #germanartist #homagetothesquare #tatemodern #tatecollection #robertrauschenberg #cytwombly #evahesse #willemdekooning #interactionofcolor (at Tate Modern)

Pipilotti Rist, “Ever Is Over All”, 1997 Pipilotti Rist was born in Switzerland, and she is an artist who mostly works with video installations. she often explores such topics as gender, body, and sexuality. this particular video work, “Ever Is Over All” consists out of two projections, one of which shows a woman dressed in a blue dress and red shoes, who is joyously walking down the street, with a large hammer shaped as a tropical flower in her hand. she is aggressively smashing and breaking the windows of cars that are parked on that street. at some point a police offices approaches the woman, smiling in approval of her actions. the second projection shows red flowers blossoming in the fields. the video is accompanied by a mellow soundtrack. “Ever Is Over All” is most definitely a feminist work of art. Rist is questioning performativity of her gender. what are the “normal” actions for a woman? Rist sees that performing femininity is a self-labelling process, and she is fighting for liberation from the framework of gender. #art #artcyclopaedia #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #contemporaryart #swissart #swissartist #pipilottirist #everisoverall #moma #zurich #museumofmodernart #newyork (at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art)

horrible, horrible news. Zaha Hadid has always been one of my most favourite architects, no, artists. her projects are full of light, life, movement and grace. Hadid was born in Baghdad, Iraq, but in 1980 began her practice in London. she most definitely is the most successful and amazing female architect, who started working, imagining and producing as a young teenager, always trying to break and expand the canons. i will never forget the first time i saw Serpentine Sackler Gallery, and how it blew my mind away. #art #artlover #artislife #architecture #zahahadid #serpentine #serpentinegallery #serpentinesacklergallery #london #hydepark #artcyclopaedia (at Serpentine Sackler)

Donald Judd, “Untitled”, 1980 Donald Judd is an American artist, who predominantly worked with sculpture and installations. he is one of the most important post-war minimalism artists. Judd started his career as an art historian and art critic, working for Arts Magazine. his practice, at the time, was fine art, but in the early sixties, the artist started working with installations, and started creating the so-called “stacks”. the “stacks” usually consist out of ten or twelve separated rectangular metal boxes, depending on the height of the room, one positioned above the other on the wall. this installation perfectly sums up Judd’s definition of minimalism - “Untitled (Stack)” is created out of completely identical units, all separated by the same length, all equal. #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #minimalism #donaldjudd #stack #americanart #americanartist #postwarart #moma #museumofmodernart #tatemodern #artcyclopaedia #modernart #installation #sculpture (at Tate Modern)

I am happy to announce that my most recent article can now be read on @arterritory website! 👌🏻

Marc Chagall, “The Promenade”, 1918 Marc Chagall is a Jewish artist, who was born in Belarus, Vitebsk, but quickly after the First World War moved to Paris, where he studied Fine Art. the artist comes from a very religious Ashkenazi family, and the scenes that he chooses for his paintings are often connected with Judaism. in this painting, “The Promenade”, Chagall paints himself and his bride, Bella Rosenfeld. they both have glowing smiles on their faces, and they are happy to be in love. Bella was the most important woman in Chagall’s life - even after her death, when he continued meeting many different women, she was the only one he ever dared to paint. by painting Bella high above the ground, the artist is showing their heavenly, unearthly love; as well as foreseeing his devastating destiny - he outlived Bella by 41 year. #art #artlover #artislife #artislove #artoftoday #artoftheday #marcchagall #bellarosenld #vitebsk #belarus #modernism #modernart #thepromenade #paris #cubism #expressionism #avantgarde #jewishart #jewishartist