Writing about life and arts
Wrote Sicilian essayist Leonardo Sciascia on the “Portrait of a Man” by 15th-century Italian painter Antonello da Messina:
“Is he a nobleman or a plebeian? A solicitor or a farmer? A painter, a poet or a killer? He just resembles. That’s all I can say.”
At Milan’s Palazzo Reale (via Finacial Times)
These sprawling murals by Melbourne-based artist Kitt Bennett in parking lots and on top of buildings are one of a kind.
Kitts observational drawings of his surroundings have been translated into murals for clients and collectors across Melbourne. He’s work is often conceptually driven as exploring topics of individuality, existence and the mysterious phenomena that surrounds us inspires him to create art.
View more of his work.
There’s an excellent piece in the NY Times about Leonardo Da Vinci’s obsession with drawing weird faces:
Leonardo was a true Renaissance man, fascinated with everything — the mechanics of flight, architecture, engineering, botany, artillery and human anatomy — but one of his favorite private pastimes was to draw faces, either as scribbles in the margins of his notebooks or as fully conceived sketches later used for paintings.
Leonardo da Vinci made ugly beautiful, an approach Francis Bacon did well to mimic nearly five hundred years later.
Conceptual artist and illustrator Gediminas Pranckevicius creates digital art that instantly whisk viewers off into a world of imagination. The Lithuania-born artist uses soft light and blended colors to create harmonious worlds where it is easy to get lost in the surreal stories.
He uses software like Photoshop to produce the playful digital drawings that feature imaginative creations like giant trolls, flying pigs, and houses and towns perched on top of precariously balanced mountaintops. His places and characters come alive through layer upon layer of intricate details, which are evident in the final work.
(via)
“To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.”
— Man Ray, Self-Portrait
