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Art Wisdom from Artist Anselm Kiefer

9/28/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Art is longing quote by artist Anselm Kiefer. Visuals by Kim Lee Kho 2015. Click on this graphic to link to a downloadable/shareable version.
"Art is longing.
​You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will."

​– Anselm Kiefer (contemporary German artist)
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Have You Seen the New Royal Portrait? Can You Spell 'Greeting Card'?

9/21/2015

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While reading The Guardian (a UK newspaper) online, I came across the headline that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, had had her first official portrait painted, I could hardly wait to see it. I mean she's a gorgeous, vivacious and charismatic young princess, (but not so young as to be a bland, blank slate)... what could go wrong?

So when I opened the story and saw a portrait Thomas Kincaide (the late, self-branded 'Painter of Light') might have been proud of, I was very, very disappointed.

Now I am usually someone who looks for and finds the positive in all kinds of artwork (ask any of my students, or people who attend my Gallery Walk & Talks), but faced with a portrait this bland, this made-for-greeting-cards, (in stark contrast to the 
Picture
Detail from the first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge by Paul Emsley Photo- Npg/PA
the subject), it seems worthwhile to consider what went wrong. 

First, what went right?

If you visit the original story in The Guardian (just click on the painting), you will see that the painting is considerably larger than life, which seems suitable for the Duchess's personality. 

I have no doubt that the proportions and features were carefully measured and re-measured so as to be accurately rendered. 

Also, as in real life I'm sure, lots of attention was lavished on her hair.

OK, so what went wrong?

Too much focus on accurate rendering has led to a portrait that looks like Kate might look aged 50 having had some tasteful but effective cosmetic procedures done. 

The soft focus airbrush effect has got to die, it looks like a Breck shampoo ad from the 1970s, (remember them?) and terribly kitsch.
A person's beauty, personality and vitality come from within not from their surface appearance, the same surface applied to a different inner person would look different (as often happens with twins as they age for example). 

There are loads of gorgeous people who don't have classically beautiful features and proportions, who aren't young and perfect-looking but they make our heads swivel, they are magnetic.

The artist in this case needed to be freer in his application of the paint (make actual marks; give the paint the lively personality he needed to convey about the very lively Kate!); make artistic decisions, including altering the measured proportions of the face, to create a more accurate feeling for the person being portrayed. Accurate measurement ≠ truth. 

A key way artists take responsibility in their work is by making artistic decisions, whether that means editing, altering, adding, distorting and/or doing other things. Sometimes those decisions are going to work better than others, but they will still represent an attempt to communicate a point of view.

I feel badly for Emsley, the pressure of painting this beautiful and much-loved royal couldn't have been heavier, and while I'm sure he did his best I think he knows it's a disappointment because The Guardian reports he “said he had faced one difficulty with the portrait. Kate, he said, was just too beautiful to make a good subject.“

That does sound rather like making an excuse though doesn't it? I would have been happier if he'd said that her beauty was a challenge to adequately convey, because she is patently an excellent portrait subject, but the best subjects aren't only the easy ones.

What do you think of the new portrait? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Blinking Pablo: My First Animated GIF

9/13/2015

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Animated GIFs are a popular format on the internet and for internet art in particular. 

I've wanted to make one myself for some time now and as soon as I'd finished this drawing (for my #dailyheroes project – more on that in a later post) I knew I had to animate him! 

The animation loops 3 times (he blinks twice each time). If you want to see it again, just reload (refresh) the page.

Enjoy :-)

via GIPHY

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Camping, a Broken Ankle & Spreading the Word that #KindnessMatters

9/10/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
My husband Kal used some charcoal created by the previous night's fire to embellish the firebowl.
Reading or watching the news can be a depressing business, which is why some smart people I know take breaks from it, as well as breaks from being online, breaks from having their phone on beeping at them all the time, and breaks from social media.

My recent break from all of that was during a recent camping trip. Wonderful! Great weather, lots of wild turkeys (and their babies) around, lots of reading and campfires, and characteristic of the Canadian shield: rock, water and white pines.
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A panorama of our third campsite, the one where I broke my ankle.
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Driving to the hospital – not quite what we'd planned to do on our vacation!

Scientists have observed that acts of kindness have a positive effect on not just the recipient, nor just the donor but also anyone who observes the act of kindness!

#KindnessMatters

There is also science that shows we are connected to our extended social networks (i.e. including people we don't actually know) in ways that would have been considered either impossible or magic before. Here is a TEDTalk on that topic by one of the scientists who studied our surprising connectedness:
It was all pretty idyllic until I broke my ankle. A couple of gorgeous afternoons were spent at the hospital while I got x-rayed, examined and eventually fitted with an air-cast  – yay! At least it's not a plaster one!

While trying to avoid putting weight on my leg I read and saw too much news including the little drowned Syrian refugee Alan, and the sharply contrasting responses to the refugee crisis by various governments. 

It occurred to me (not for the first time) that we have really lost our way, because "out there" in the world everything and everyone gets treated like a commodity, having no inherent value, valued only if they can be monetized and exploited. That the kindness held up as a primary value by most sages and religious beliefs was getting trampled in the rush for money at all costs.

Knowing I couldn't be the only one getting dragged down by the depressing lack of kindness in the world, I decided to devote some of my social media time to spreading messages of kindness using the hashtag #KindnessMatters. 
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Sometimes I link to videos or other people's stories, sometimes I make my own meme with a quote, like the one above, but everyday I want to put something "out there" that focuses on kindness. 

If you find yourself feeling similarly to me, I hope you'll add your voice in spreading #KindnessMatters, whether it's once or once in a while or once a day. We all need reminders of what matters cutting through the noise of all that other stuff "out there".
2 Comments

    Kim-Lee Kho

    As a visual artist I like nothing more than getting up to my elbows in paint or little plastic toys, or wading in at the deep end in pursuit of an idea. When I am not teaching others in a similar vein, you can find me researching, writing and noodling around in my studio, seeing where my latest lines of inquiry lead me.

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  • Home
  • Gallery
    • 2025 Facial Expressions
    • Burnt Offerings (2023)
    • Burnt Offerings (2022) >
      • Sponsors: Thank you
    • My Father's Things (series)
    • Heartspace
    • A Full Heart
    • Subject to Limitation >
      • Boxed In
      • Expanding Media
      • Fences as Barriers
      • Containment
    • Skin
    • Face[t]s
    • [Un]Settled
    • Digital / Photo / Mixed
    • Painting
    • To See More
  • SHOP 📦
  • Courses & Events
    • Current + Upcoming
    • Virtual Studio Parties
    • Gallery Walk & Talks
    • Testimonials
  • Blog
    • News Archive
  • ABOUT
    • Biography
    • Statement
    • CV
    • Publications/Media
  • Contact