Weird Art And Shit You Inexplicably Like

[Steven]

I really appreciate the art work of the old masters, just from the technical ability. The problem is a lot of them had to concentrate on iconic nicely portrayed Gospel scenes and the like, or portraits of rich fuckers. I do like some of the weirder shit they managed to get up to like Heironomous Bosch's weird visions of hell being a sort of proto-surrealism.



I really don't like modern art or 'abstract' but I guess I love the in-between, just the skill of the artistry in of itself coupled with some kind of weird vision. It doesn't really matter how you interpret the image itself, I'm more interested in what I think the artist might have meant. Or what I think they were trying to express. I don't put a lot of belief into the sort of 'formal analysis', in which the artist and the context are stripped from the work. Obviously some stuff is open to interpretation to some extent as sometimes even the artist might not have known what they were trying to express which is probably what 'surrealism' is about, sort of painting the unconscious but consciously. There seems to be some strange kinds of psychological 'memes' which pop in up in an artist's work, or cross-pollinate between artists. For instance Dali had this recurring form of a strange disembodied face, it appears in probably his most famous piece 'The Persistence Of Time'. It also appears boldly in 'The Great Masturbator'.



I've seen a documentary on the BBC recently about Dali which said the shape was based on a rock near to where Dali lived. Also others say it's an embryonic version of Dali lain waste to the world of psycho-sexual problems and time/death etc. Since Dali was basing his surrealism on Freudian analysis this probably fits in, but I was surprised on further study that the origin of the shape may be back to Heironomous Bosch again in his painting 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'.



It's uncanny that Bosch has formalised this duality to the shape and seems to be obviously creating a second image using the reptiles as cover, it even has the little Dali-esque moustache under the nose, strange indeed! Dali would have would have seen this painting as it was held at a museum in Madrid, but it's just odd he would have picked up on this shape so strongly. Dali himself used this trick of duality of image a lot, I first noticed how subtle some of it was when I went on a college art trip to the Tate in Liverpool for an exhibition of his work. Standing before his 'Crucifixion' painting it took me a while to notice what the cheeky fucker had done, using the antithesis of the Satanic Goat's head (or skull) on the cross in place of Christ. It started to made sense why the painting was at such a strange angle. Dali also did say he was into the underground movement of the occult and esoteric teachings.



I think a lot of artists have done this sort of thing over the years, probably much more subtly before the Reformation to convey various esoteric teachings or blasphemous ideas. There's also the idea that Michelangelo's painting of the creation of Adam by God on the Sistine chapel actually represents the brain (in the shape of the 'host' or whatever you'd call it around him) While this is obviously open to interpretation it does fit in with esoteric teachings about the divine spark of intellect of man being his own God etc.



And finally, I love this painting by Max Ernst but don't know why, 'The Fireside Angel'.



Just something about the shape of the figure really fascinates me for some reason, it's just striking. Ernst must have had a definite interest in the defined shape because he seems to have developed it from an earlier painting.



Ernst has a lot of other very strange and fascinating works, I think Dali stole a lot of ideas (and mojo) from him. Sadly he's a bit overlooked now in the obfuscation Dali created with his mass celebrity. There's a documentary about him on youtube should anybody be interested, a definite experimenter into the unknown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuC7PFozKUg

[Serge]

I like what I've seen of Edward Wadsworth's work, though I've never found a book dedicated to it, just the odd painting reproduced here and there in books covering 20th Century Art and a couple when I've visited the Tate, including this one:



Although some of his earlier work was abstract (and looks bizarrely like the sort of stuff I end up doodling when I'm bored - blimey, I even rip off other people when I'm doodling!) most of my favourite stuff by him is like the above - pictures which look surrealistic, but which are actually made up of real objects, mainly nautical and maritime objects. here's another:



Presumably, his fascination with the sea started when he was in the navy during the first World War (or maybe it was the fascination that lead him to join the navy in the first place), but it was during that time that he was involved in the design of Dazzle Ships, which almost look like large works of art in their own right. I think it's time the Tate did a proper exhibition!

He also looks like he could have played Hercule Poirot:



I'm also a big fan of the Austrian artist Hundertwasser. If he'd merely done paintings, that would have been enough in itself, his artwork being so bright and teeming with energy:

http://redtreetimes.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/hundertwasser_fax.jpg
(Linked because it's a big picture!)

But it's his architecture that is the most amazing thing. More often then not, he would take an existing building and remodel it (he called himself an 'architecture doctor'), so something like, say, a formerly mundane block of flats might end up looking like this:



Or this:



It's almost as if a childrens fairytale building somehow managed to come to life. He even managed to make a power station look good:



Google him, you'll see some amazing stuff. Just be careful, as it's also possible you might come across a picture of one of his infamous 'nude lectures' from the sixties.

[Cerys]

Ah, Heironymus Bosch.  I think I know why I love his work so much.  When I was a kid we had an Encylopaedia of Superstitions.  The dust jacket had a painting (or maybe engraving) by Breughel;  it used to give me the shivers, but I'd look at it anyway.  This was when I was about four or five.  By the time I was old enough to read the book the dust jacket had long gone - I don't know where;  in fact I only found out it was a Breughel a few years ago, when I came across the same image in a book about mediaeval witchcraft.  But I digress.  Let's skip to about 1985, when I was in secondary school.  We had an English textbook - I don't remember what it was called, but I do know that it had part of the third panel of Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights in it.  I used to sit in English lessons, getting those shivers again - and I loved it.

So I suppose, when it comes down to it, my taste in art - and the art I produce myself - is the result of a book someone decided my mum would like when I was a baby.  Maybe I should hunt them down and thank them.

[Steven]

Thanks Serge, I didn't like the Edward Wadsworth's paintings you linked myself, but I'm a cunt, but LOVED the painted buildings. The first one reminds me of that very early city they found somewhere in the Indus Valley where they were basically like modern flats all built on top of eachother in a hap-hazard fashion. Just that simple painting of this ugly edifice turns into something very warm. And of course stuff like the power station etc is just art that is 'functional' in a sense, it beautifies what in a sense is an ugly man-made hunk of brick or metal and brings it to life.

And Cerys I had a similar thing of seeing Bosch as a child and it's just scary but fascinating at the same time. It's really quite important to the shaping of our psyche the iconic images our minds craft at that early age. Do you know which Breughel it was by the way? We had a few art books that really fascinated me, one about different types of fantasy creatures with really interesting pictures of Goblins and Elves and various other weird shit.. some of them I can't track down now but one is pretty famous and I'll probably do a thread about it at some point because the story of the book and the artist is pretty interesting, not to mention his other work. I never knew the mass hysteria the book actually created at the time because I grew up with it a few years after it was released but I always found it fascinating to leaf through it and just stare at the details. Mentioning the hare-brained adventurers who latched onto it as an obsession after it's release will probably give it away.

[Cerys]

After a bit of a hunt, I've tracked it down.  It was The Powers of Evil, an engraving by Hiëronymus Cock (heh), from a Brueghel piece:



(In the absence of a scanner, that's the best copy I've found.)

[Johnny Yesno]

Continuing the Surrealism theme, Giorgio de Chirico:



It probably helps that the Ico artwork was hugely influenced by his work:

[Cerys]

I'm getting a strange feeling of deja vu....

[Johnny Yesno]

I'm getting a strange feeling of deja vu....

Ha! I'd like to think it's down to the art being displayed, but I think it's because of me repeating myself. It's the age, you know...

[Steven]

Cerys, I tried to find Bruegel original of that Cock (heh) engraving but alas cannot. Thanks for reminding me about Bruegel though as his stuff has pretty much been intertwined in my head as a kid with Bosch (ooh-err) as they look very similar. I like those Tower of Babel paintings both of them did a lot.

http://www.boschbruegel.com/

There's even a society dedicated to both, but it looks like it's been set up by clones of Beaker from the muppets. Sadly there isn't a Bosch & Cock society.

[purlieu]

BEKSINSKI















Described his paintings as being full of joy and humour.  Not sure what he's on about.  They're amazing, though.


edit: I forgot my favourite:

[Cerys]

Holy crap, those are beautiful!  They strike a chord with me, somehow - as though he's painted childhood dreams I don't even remember dreaming.

[Steven]

Yes me like too. It's like H R Geiger's Little Big Adventure.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The first one has an impressive sense of height, I love it. I find all the death/gothic stuff boring though and the rest are a bit unsubtle for me.

I find this de Chirico to be the most disturbing painting I know. It was recently used as the cover for Phillip Pullman's The Subtle Knife, which is how I came about it.



There's nothing obviously threatening about it, but perhaps the structure and starkness of the shadows, it just fills me with grim terror. The figure in the distance gives you an impression of claustrophobia. Why? I'll try to explain.  The sun isn't warm or welcoming, it's like this sort of blistering glare that will strip off your skin. And the other place- the shadows, are this deathly horrible unwelcoming blackness. The whiteness of the building on the left seems to add to the sense of really really really not wanting to know what lies in the courtyard. The use of perspective, the way the buildings just seem to collapse in. I hate it, everything about it. Yet it's affecting enough for me to discuss.

[purlieu]

I love how utterly vivid Beksinski's stuff is, but also its scale.  this one is particulaly effective I think.  And on the subject of His Dark Materials, this one's always reminded me of the books:


But seriously, what sort of a name is Zdzislaw?

[dr_christian_troy]

purlieu, you've blown my mind. I like those a lot. They remind me of those parts of a dream that are set in some desert straight out fantasy, and yet have a sense of unease and hint of nightmare about them.

Or at least, the dreams I have anyway. As if Giger had designed the sets for The Neverending Story and Labryinth.

[Johnny Yesno]

There's nothing obviously threatening about it, but perhaps the structure and starkness of the shadows, it just fills me with grim terror. The figure in the distance gives you an impression of claustrophobia. Why? I'll try to explain.  The sun isn't warm or welcoming, it's like this sort of blistering glare that will strip off your skin. And the other place- the shadows, are this deathly horrible unwelcoming blackness. The whiteness of the building on the left seems to add to the sense of really really really not wanting to know what lies in the courtyard. The use of perspective, the way the buildings just seem to collapse in. I hate it, everything about it. Yet it's affecting enough for me to discuss.

Heh! I have the exact opposite reaction. I like the emptiness and I am fascinated by what might be just out of view. You're right about the sun not being warm or welcoming but I don't see it as threatening either. It seems to just exist, almost like time isn't passing. The whole thing feels too still to be menacing.

[Mary is not amused]

BEKSINSKI

To add to the chorus: Thanks purlieu, those are fucking amazing!

[purlieu]

Make sure you Google him, the guy did hundreds of pieces, not all of them are even on his website.  I could look at them for hours.

[JPA]

To add to the chorus: Thanks purlieu, those are fucking amazing!

And again - never even heard of him before, some fantastic stuff.

[Serge]

It's interesting that you mention that this picture was used on a Philip Pullman cover, as I was going to post it as a favourite because it appeared on the cover of another book I used to own years ago, though I can't for the life of me remember the author's name. It was a Spanish or Italian writer, and the title was translated as 'Vanishing Point' (nothing to do with the film). I like the emptiness of it too!

Those Beksinski pictures look like a cross between Mervyn Peake and Gerald Scarfe! It's a shame that Peake is mainly only remembered for his novels - fantastic though they are - because his artwork is incredible. I've got a couple of books of his drawings, and they're well worth tracking down. I can't find any of the best ones online, though I will post his drawings of Steerpike, which always made my dad say that he should have been played by John Lydon...

[rudi]

I like what I've seen of Edward Wadsworth's work

Me too.

it was during that time that he was involved in the design of Dazzle Ships, which almost look like large works of art in their own right.

Bloody great OMD album, too...

[purlieu]

The best OMD album.

[Little Hoover]

Not all that weird by the standard of this thread but the dominion of light by Rene Margritte is a simple but effective idea.



Doesn't really work, when looking on a laptop screen, it's a lot more impressive when you see it on a much bigger scale.

He's done a few pieces I like





There's something quite mundane about a lot of the surreal images he chooses.

[Johnny Yesno]

There's something quite mundane about a lot of the surreal images he chooses.

Yes, that's what makes them dreamlike to me. Mundane stuff behaving oddly and/or with the scale out of whack.

More Magritte:

[Serge]

Allegedly an influence on this image:

[Steven]

I do like Rene Magritte and he absolutely is a surrealist. I suppose surrealist art more adroitly is the familiar perceived in an unfamiliar way. Of everyday objects in an unconventional juxtaposition of context - Dali's Lobster Phone etc. There is the story of Magritte seeing his drowned mother with her face covered as a boy and hence why he had this compulsion to obscure the faces in his works. Other people have said this is a false story but there's little to really say if it was or not. Certainly makes sense though doesn't it?

I do like to analyse the meaning or psychology of the artist when interpreting works, but it can be a very misleading path I suppose. Freud's theories I've always found totally bollocks, they make sense in the most prosaic way so it's easy to become an armchair psychologist but it just seems to me Freud was a totally neurotic fuck-up and presumed everyone's thought process was like his. I bet his mother was a fackin' hottie though.

Nicked from Wiki:

"According to Freud, the Virgin's garment reveals a vulture when viewed sideways. Freud claimed that this was a manifestation of a "passive homosexual" childhood fantasy that Leonardo wrote about in the Codex Atlanticus, in which he recounts being attacked as an infant in his crib by the tail of a vulture. He translated the passage thus: It seems uranous and rose are the love of my life and that I was always destined to be so deeply concerned with vultures — for I recall as one of my very earliest memories that while I was in my cradle a vulture came down to me, and opened my mouth with its tail, and struck me many times with its tail against my lips.

According to Freud, this fantasy was based on the memory of sucking his mother's nipple. He backed up his claim with the fact that Egyptian hieroglyphs represent the mother as a vulture, because the Egyptians believed that there are no male vultures and that the females of the species are impregnated by the wind.

Unfortunately for Freud, the word 'vulture' was a mistranslation by the German translator of the Codex and the bird that Leonardo imagined was in fact a kite. This disappointed Freud because, as he confessed to Lou Andreas-Salomé, he regarded Leonardo as 'the only beautiful thing I have ever written'. Some Freudian scholars have, however, made attempts to repair the theory by incorporating the kite."



Surely if Freud saw the shape there and thought Da Vinci put it there subconsciously, the shape would have had to been so vague as for Da Vinci not to have noticed it, meaning there is little to say Freud is correct which his interpretation. Argh it's a bloody mess isn't it? As for intentional symbolism, as I indicate in my first post, I think there's a absolute concrete case this happens all the time in art since time immemorial.

[Phil_A]

The first one has an impressive sense of height, I love it. I find all the death/gothic stuff boring though and the rest are a bit unsubtle for me.

I find this de Chirico to be the most disturbing painting I know. It was recently used as the cover for Phillip Pullman's The Subtle Knife, which is how I came about it.


.

Wow. I guess that Chirico art may finally provide some explanation as to what the hell was going on with this cover:

[Mister Six]

I wonder whether it inspired this cover for the videogame ICO?

[waste of chops]

It's interesting that you mention that this picture was used on a Philip Pullman cover, as I was going to post it as a favourite because it appeared on the cover of another book I used to own years ago, though I can't for the life of me remember the author's name. It was a Spanish or Italian writer, and the title was translated as 'Vanishing Point' (nothing to do with the film). I like the emptiness of it too!

Any more for any more?

[Blumf]

Been enjoying some of Jacek Yerka stuff recently.