Unpronounceable volcanoes, Björk, Vikings, Game of Thrones – these are some of the things you might think of relating to Iceland. This remote and fascinating island, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a population of 360,000 people, is one of the most creative nations in the world. Is it due to isolation, the inspiration from nature or its centuries-old folklore legends? Eve Jackson goes to the land of ice and fire to find out why Iceland has such an exceptional and disproportionate amount of artists.
Category Archives: Art
Views: The 2022 Laguna Beach Festival Of Arts
As one of the nation’s oldest and most highly acclaimed juried fine art shows, the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts has offered a breathtaking showcase for artists and art lovers for 90 years.
Set in a beautiful open-air gallery, this highly acclaimed juried fine art show features the work of over 100 award-winning Orange County artists. From paintings, glass, ceramics, photography and more, the Festival showcases a variety of mediums and artwork styles for avid collectors and festivalgoers to browse and purchase directly from the artists.
From early July through the end of August, the Festival of Arts opens its doors daily for visitors to not only enjoy the award-winning work of exhibited artists, but also art demonstrations, live music performances on select days, opportunities to meet the artists and more.
Art Exhibtions: ‘Picasso & Braque – Radicals’ (2022)
Picasso & Braque: Radicals highlights significant work by the two pioneers of the Cubist art movement—Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism, one of the most influential artistic developments of the twentieth century, challenged traditional perspectives of how we see the world. The movement is characterized by fractured viewpoints and abstracted forms and defies established notions of three-dimensionality. Cubism can be intellectually challenging but beautifully reflects the dynamism, rhythm, and innovation of the early 1900s.
Although there is debate on who developed Cubism first, Picasso and Braque are credited with establishing this new visual language that presented infinite possibilities and catalyzed future developments in the visual arts. This exhibition features work by twentieth-century artists who took inspiration from these revolutionary ideas and practices, including American artists Fannie Hillsmith and John Marin, and Texas artist Bill Reily, among others. Paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints demonstrate how Cubism transcended time and space.
Picasso & Braque: Radicals is organized for the McNay Art Museum by Lyle W. Williams, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Curator of Modern Art; and Rafael Fernando Gutierrez Jr., the inaugural Douglass Foundation Intern in Curatorial Studies.
Tours: 2022 Royal Academy Of Arts Summer Exhibition
With nearly 1,500 artworks on display, there is a lot to see at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) Summer Exhibition 2022. If you want a taste of what’s on show then here is a quick tour. The theme chosen by the exhibition’s coordinator, Alison Wilding RA, is Climate. It begins outside, where a large-scale immersive installation by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias brings nature and water to the courtyard. Inside, the artworks are spread over 11 rooms, including two galleries of prints selected by Grayson Perry RA.
Art: Volcano Painting In Europe From 1780-1870
‘It is desirable for a Painter, at least once in his life, to witness the Eruption of a volcano.’ – Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1799). Join exhibition contributor Clive Oppenheimer, Professor of Volcanology at the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, and explore the ‘Volcanoes’ section of True to Nature. #TrueToNature is open at the Fitzwilliam Museum until 29 August 2022 https://fitz.ms/ttn
Art & Architecture: The ‘Ex Of In House’ In New York
Today Architectural Digest brings you two hours north of New York City to Rhinebeck, NY for an in-depth look at a home that feels like an inhabitable work of art. Architects Steven Holl and Dimitra Tsachrelia explain the design philosophy and inspiration behind their secluded, off-grid “architectural wonder in the woods,” breaking down the intent behind each design choice and how they work together to create a uniquely meditative but stimulating space.
Museum Insider: ‘Caligula’ Marble Bust’s True Colors
Archaeologists Vinzenz and Ulrike Koch Brinkmann have spent the last 40 years dedicated to the study of polychromy—or “many colors” in Greek—in ancient sculpture. Once a fringe area of study, their research combats the misconception of white purity in ancient Greece and Rome. They reflect on the marble bust of Caligula and how the reconstruction of its former color can help us better understand history.
Explore more perspectives on Caligula: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspective…
Getty Art + Ideas Podcast: “Imagining The Afterlife”
“The underworld, the afterlife, is fairly dank, dark, shadowy; quite frankly, it’s a bit boring. Somewhat like waiting at a bus depot.”
Homer’s Odyssey depicts an afterlife that is relatively dull, with heroic actions and glory reserved for the living. Nonetheless, people in Southern Italy in the fourth century BCE were captivated by the underworld and decorated large funerary vases with scenes of the afterlife—the domain of Hades and Persephone, where sinners like Sisyphus are tortured for eternity and heroes like Herakles and Orpheus performed daring feats.
Little is known about precisely how these vases were used and seen in death rituals. A new book by Getty Publications, Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife in Ancient South Italian Vase Painting, brings together 40 such vases and explores new research on them.
In this episode, Getty Museum curator of antiquities David Saunders discusses these enormous and often elaborate vases, explaining the myths they depict and what is known about the ways in which they were used. Saunders is editor of Underworld.
For images, transcripts, and more, visit https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/podcast-imagining-the-afterlife-through-ancient-vases/ or http://www.getty.edu/podcasts
To buy the book Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife in Ancient South Italian Vase Painting, visit https://shop.getty.edu/products/underworld-imagining-the-afterlife-in-ancient-south-italian-vase-painting-978-1606067345
To learn more about the exhibition, visit
Art: British Illustrator Heather Gatley’s Colors
Surrealist Art: Max Ernst’s ‘Attirement Of The Bride’
Attirement of the Bride is an example of Max Ernst’s veristic or illusionistic Surrealism, in which a traditional technique is applied to an incongruous or unsettling subject. The theatrical, evocative scene has roots in late nineteenth-century Symbolist painting, especially that of Gustave Moreau. It also echoes the settings and motifs of sixteenth-century German art. The willowy, swollen-bellied figure types recall those of Lucas Cranach the Elder in particular. The architectural backdrop with its strong contrast of light and shadow and its inconsistent perspective shows the additional influence of Giorgio de Chirico, whose work had overwhelmed Ernst when he first saw it in 1919.
Boomers Daily 