RE:Art

Whitney Justesen is an artist that I've following on her flickr for a few years now. Honestly I haven't seen much of her work lately but when I do see it, it brings a smile to my face. She's got so much talent. Looking at this mixed media drawing/picture initially I notice how the subject is looking into the distances ('Halted Traveler') and that really intrigues me. It means the person has something so spectacular, so attention-absorbing in front of them that they go as far as to look away from the camera. Obviously in this piece of art the attention absorbing thing is the giant freaking ship flying out of the mountain but what's specific to this piece is that the main subjects are completely drawn. In fact, the ship could be merely a figment of the girl's imagination, then again, the girl is also drawn so she could simply be an idea too. The hair catches my eye and to me it represents her freedom. She's looking into the distance, imagining the ship, perhaps her mind has strayed to a daydream, and her hair blows loosely in the wind. It's as if she represents the concept of daydreaming, simply a breeze passing by; here for a moment then passing into the next. If you like this as much as I do, you should go check out more of Whitney's work- she's an incredible artist with an incredible mind!

  This sculpture shows a girl named Nydia, a character in the famous book The Last Days of Pompeii, that was caught in the tragic end of Pompeii. She's shown running with a staff, covering one of her ears to hear and find her way out of the burning city. She's also trying to hear the man she fell in love with (along with his fiancee). After she leads them to safely to water, she drowns herself out of her misery. To me this work is beautiful. It appears that Nydia is just getting up in a sudden rush trying to find her way. Her hand shows her inability to see what's in front of her and the sorrowful look in her eyes makes the viewer sympathize with her pain. I'm going to go order the book on Amazon right now for a read!

This Lost Pleiade is a sculpture that has been replicated countless times for museums around the world. I saw it in person at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) yesterday for the first time and I think it's incredibly beautiful. Below what the pictures show is Electra standing on a cloud looking far away. Electra was one of the seven daughters (Pleiades) of Atlas, she ran away out of grief after the city of Troy was destroyed. To me the motion of her dress and her body is what sets this apart from other sculptures, it's beautifully carved and I would love to see the original.

Hey, my name is Eric and I created this blog for organizing and sharing work that I love while also telling others what I love so much about the photograph by critiquing them. "The Memory Get-er" is a concept of somebody getting another person's memories- in this case through art. I feel like I experience some parts of life through other's work and experiences, and I want to share what I love with other's. Unfortunately a lot of the art that I love is by artists that aren't well known (some are, some aren't) so I will always provide a source/click-through link to the work so that others can find it! Thank you so much artists for making art, if for some reason you want me to remove your work from the page just send me a message in my ask box!

This photo titled "The Harbinger" showcases not only some amazing sharpness but also some incredibly deep emotions. Within seconds of originally seeing this image the sharpness struck me, how Jack got the brilliant bokeh in the background while maintaining sharpness is a mystery to me. The next thing that hits me is the white haze luring in the background along with the texture in the upper left and bottom right of the image. The choice of a primarily green background really emphasizes the skin tones and sets the background far apart from the foreground. Moving more into posing the hands are the center of the photograph and really speak the most to me, so my eyes are drawn there first. The posture of both figures is strong from what I see as two separate emotions: The individual in the gas mask seems to be taunting power over the other subject, while the other subject seems to have their back straight in fear. The sense of power to me seems to come mostly from the difference in height between the two characters; the fearful one seems to be on their knees while the other is dwelling it his or her power physically over him. Finally, the eyes continue the theme of the dominant "Harbinger" by showcasing the fear in the left while leaving the ominous black eyes on the right. In having the black eyes it leaves the viewer without the personality of the individual, it could be anyone. It's almost as if the figure on the right represents the inevitability of the bringing of change itself. I think this photo excels in its expression of emotion; it really shows fear and control in a simple way. For being shot as a self portrait and modeling for both figures the focus is perfect, the eyes look directly at each other, and the mood, like I keep restating, is great! I think Jack did a fantastic job! Please, go check out more of his work at his stream!

Jet Lag is a short film about a boy after he returns from traveling but he struggles to shift back to his life at home. This short film really hits home for me because I've done a lot of traveling by myself overseas and to me it's honest about the feeling of coming home and feeling apart from everyone. Beyond traveling literally, this video seems to be about how we take flight in our head, leaving behind what other's want or expect of us. As the video progresses the viewer becomes more curious about what happened before he traveled and even more so, what he's thinking about. Jet Lag has some beautiful cinematography and some great scenes, so I recommend everyone to spend the 13 minutes and 29 seconds to go through and watch it.

by Damien Rayuela

This photograph by Federico Forlani is very intriguing to me. The first thing that really catches me about the photograph is the brilliant use of direction, which seems to be telling the story. When I first looked, my eyes drew to the contrasted lighting; in this case the bathroom is the lightest part and contrasts with the darker remaining space. It's as if the right bathroom is the lightest, then attention is brought to the next lightest area- which as the other subject in it. The direction is also brought on by the doors, it's natural to walk straight into the room in front of you, and in this case the bathroom is framed as a rectangle. Now out of the corner of your eyes you can see the other room with the other figure in it. As for meaning behind the photo I see a man looking into the mirror and seeing himself, perhaps it's a darker side of himself. Either way their posture dictates a state of being calm and undramatic, which causes an ease as though the subject is contemplating something about himself. Simply looking into that mirror wouldn't show the contemplation, both figures seemingly staring at each other but at a great distance. The link that really shows that the figure is staring at himself is the distance from the mirror on both sides. Now you may be thinking 'He isn't standing an equal distance on both sides from the mirror' but this is where an optical illusion takes over. Since the photograph is taken at this angle the eye references the wall as the distance between the man and himself, and since the wall is at an angle it references the longest straight line nearby. The nearest and longest straight line is that where the two door frames meet, so that becomes the axis for reflection rather than the physical mirror. I think the artist did a fantastic job of using not only direction, but tone for telling the story. Having the photo in black and white also adds to the contemplative-ness and exemplifies the lightest areas without distraction from the color. The black and white also induces a feel of film, which adds to the beauty in the photograph in my opinion. The nudity of the man on the left, however, is odd. It creates a sense of the photo being uneven because it defines the two figures as being separate from one another. I would suggest either have both nude or both wearing some sort of garments, perhaps white briefs on the right so that it blends with the room and opposes the darkness on the other side. Walking away from this photo I feel like we can get a sense of self, and it makes me look within myself by taking a step back and seriously looking. I think this photo is great and I would love to see more work by Federico Forlani!