I would love a Karl Maughan…

Tags

Art, Auckland, En plein air, Exhibition, Gow Langsford, Karl Maughan, New Zealand, New Zealand Art, NZ, Paint, Visual Arts

‘Creamery Road’ by Karl Maughan – October 2008
*For some odd iPhone camera-induced reason the colours are not true
(Image by TSL)

I covet a Karl Maughan painting. My parents have the one shown above hanging in their lounge. It’s the first thing you notice when you walk into the room. I love it. I want to know what is around the corner of the path. I feel as if I could just step into the painting…

According to the Gow Langsford bio’ on Karl Maughan, he is “recognised for his hyper-real paintings of lush gardens and native fauna – flower gardens, vegetable gardens, manicured bushes and out-of-control wildernesses – he finds inspiration in them all.  At first Maughan began painting these settings in the tradition of ‘plein-air’ – in the outdoors. However, struggling with changeable elements such as wind, light and weather became too problematic.  Painting outdoors also became an issue when Maughan relocated to London in the 1990’s.  Based there for many years, cooped up in a studio in the East End, Maughan found that he missed the wide open spaces and lushness found in New Zealand gardens.  Maughan began to source a growing archive, capturing gardens on film, to take back to his studio where he could then play and reinvent colours, lighting and perspectives.  The resulting works were an explosion of colour, encompassing viewers in surrealist fantasy landscapes.”

For me, Karl Maughan’s work has a colourful and idealistic joy. Looking at his paintings makes me happy. What do you think?

‘Pirie Street’ by Karl Maughan – 2006
(Image © Gow Langsford Gallery)

‘Crosshills’ (detail) by Karl Maughan – 2002
(Image © Gow Langsford Gallery)

‘Koromiko Road’ by Karl Maughan – 2011
(Image © Gow Langsford Gallery)

‘Awahou South’ by Karl Maughan – 2006
(Image © Gow Langsford Gallery)

An exhibition of new works by Karl Maughan opens at the Gow Langsford Kitchener St Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand on Tuesday 2^nd October. Sadly, I won’t be attending…

If you would like to learn more about Karl Maughan, or see him create a major (5 metre long) artwork for a limited edition wine release by Christensen Estate, there is a 60 second movie of his month-long endeavour here.

Miguel Endara Takes Stippling to the Millionth Degree!

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Art, Artist, George Seurat, Hero, Ink, Miguel Endara, Paint, Pen, Pointillism, Print, Shopping, Sketch, Stipple, Stippling, Visual Arts

‘A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ by Georges Seurat
(Image sourced from here)

I have long been a fan of George Seurat and his pointillism artworks. The way the millions of tiny dots of multi-coloured paint allow the eye to blend colours optically rather than having the colours physically blended on the canvas have always fascinated me.

Pointillism has got to be stippling at its most sophisticated, don’t you think?

Definition of STIPPLE
1: to engrave by means of dots and flicks
2 a : to make by small short touches (as of paint or ink) that together produce an even or softly graded shadow, b : to apply (as paint) by repeated small touches
3: speckle, fleck

So, when I recently came across the fabulously patient and talented Miguel Endara and his Hero work, I was captivated.

‘Hero’ by Miguel Endara
(Copyright © 2012 Miguel Endara)

‘Hero’ by Miguel Endara (Close Up)
(Copyright © 2012 Miguel Endara)

‘Hero’ by Miguel Endara (Close Up)
(Copyright © 2012 Miguel Endara)

‘Hero’ by Miguel Endara (Close Up)
(Copyright © 2012 Miguel Endara)

Miguel took a n image of his Dad and recreated it using stippling. Hero is composed of approximately 3.2 million black ink dots, using a single Sakura Pigma Micron pen (nib size 005, 0.20 mm). The total number of dots was determined by multiplying the average stippling speed of this piece, 4.25 dots per second, by the amount of time logged in, 210 hours. WOW!

Watch the wonderfully shot video below which condenses 210 hours of drawing to see how Miguel did his amazing work.

You can also check out his Miguel Endara’s website here. For US$140, you could be the proud owner of a limited edition Hero print. All prints are produced on archival paper. Each limited edition print is signed, numbered and shipped personally by the artist. Certificate of Authenticity included.

For Jeremy Brown, Love is Art…

Tags

Abstract art, Andy Warhol, Art, Design, Interior design, International Klein Blue, Jeremy Brown, Love is Art, Paint, Photography, style, Unique, Yves Klein

A slightly titillating post for this hump day…

Love is Art is a kit that comes with everything a couple needs to safely make a tangible piece of abstract (and expressionistic) art together. You and your partner put down the canvas, cover yourself with paint, and then use your bodies to spread the paint around, creating a unique piece of abstract art in the process. You then take your one-of-a-kind (truly!) abstract painting to your unsuspecting local framer to have it stretched for hanging.

Jeremy Brown (sourced from Daily Grommet)

Love is Art is the brainchild of South African-born Jeremy Brown.  Inspired by French artist Yves Klein and pieces by Andy Warhol, Jeremy Brown has been making abstract art for over ten years.  After first complimenting him on a piece in his own home, a friend asked him to provide her with the equipment she might need to create her own piece of art with her husband.  The idea of Love is Art was born.

I have a wee bit of a ‘thing’ about Yves Klein (as you can see here), so I’m loving the Klein Blue version of Love is Art….

According to Jeremy Brown,”Art takes patience, dedication, practice, creativity, open mind, and an open heart…so does love. Love is art.”

What do you think?

(All images, other than that of Jeremy Brown, sourced from here)