How Extraordinary That the World Exists

Cosmologies, Cartographies, Ancient + Contemporary Art

[theegregore]

Scott Anderson

[arterialtrees]

louise bourgeois 

[thunderstruck9]

[nicecollection]

James Siena - Recursive Infected Lighthouse, 2004,  Graphite on Dieu Donne translucent abaca paper, 35.6 x 27.9 cm

[shihlun]

Chikatoshi Enomoto - Silver Mountain (1939)

[blastedheath]

Max Ernst (French, born Germany, 1891-1976), Le soleil sur terre, 1960. Oil on paper, 27 x 22 cm.

[blastedheath]

Max Ernst (French, born Germany, 1891-1976), Untitled, c.1939-40. Oil on board, 31.4 x 25.4cm.

[wetreesinart]

Max Ernst (All. 1891-1976), Cyprès, 1939, huile sur toile, H : 44 cm, Hambourg, Kunsthalle

[blastedheath]

Max Ernst (French, born Germany, 1891-1976), Les Canards [The ducks], 1954. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 39 x 26.5 cm.

[eightofive]

Max Ernst: Wenn die Vernunft schläft, singen die Sirenen [When Reason Sleeps, the Sirens Sing], 1960.

[blastedheath]

Max Ernst (French, born Germany, 1891-1976), La Création du monde, 1951. Oil on paper laid down on masonite, 22 x 23 cm.

[confront]

Lindsey Bull, Evergreen, 2016

Oil on canvas.

[johnnyblunders-blog]

Before I give the topic of appropriation in art a rest (and I think it’s fair to say all art is appropriation of one form or another), as far as my research has lead me, before Michaël Borremans started painting or photographing segmented bodies, Duran Duran had a music video depicting just that in 1981.  The icing on the cake, is there are lot of other visual similarities here as well: the suits, the lighting, ambiance, etc.  Of course magicians were doing similar things ages ago, but this was never in the name of “Art.”

This all could be merely coincidence, but supposing it isn’t, it doesn’t seem as if this really takes away from the work.  In any case, making a blanket judgment on all forms of appropriation is a misstep–it’s not so simple, each instance must be evaluated on a case by case basis if we are to treat the subject with the care and complexity it deserves, as is par for the course for most moral quandaries.  Suffice it to say, we live in a moral quagmire of a world, and Art is tied up in it in a fascinating and fundamental way.  

For anyone curious, here’s the music video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M0hogZyRyU

[medverf-deactivated20170502]

Damaris Pan

[medverf-deactivated20170502]

Damaris Pan

[tiafactor]

Intriguing awkwardness. Luscious surface.

[medverf-deactivated20170502]

Erik Creutziger

[philosophicalpoodle]

[redlipstickresurrected]

Fuku Akino 秋野不矩 (Japanese, 1908–2001, b. Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan) - Red Clothes, 1938  Painting  / Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art

[tiafactor]

Love the framing of the nearly empty central shape. So elegant.