Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dorthea Tanning's Long, Creative Life

Max Ernst and Dorthea Tanning 1948
Bayou

Beyond the Esplanade 1940

Both of these paintings are by Dorthea Tanning. I love them. The first one looks like it may have been a costume design and the second one reminds me of Picasso. I know that Dorthea Tanning married Max Ernst in 1946 and that she drove Peggy Guggenheim crazy. I have her book "Birthday" in my book shelf. Maybe I should re-read it. I found these images on the Frey Norris Gallery website in their annex which houses a nice collection of surrealist art: here is the LINK
Some of her surreal works I don't like quite so much. But, these show a more classical sensibility. I just looked her up on wikipedia and it looks like she is still alive at age 98(!?) and she is still producing books and poetry. She has had museum retrospectives and designed costumes and sets for theater and ballet. She was with Ernst for 36 years.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Doctor Jesus

"Painting on the wall of a traumatologist's clinic waiting room in Guatemala." From Xeni Jardin's set of photos from her recent trip to Guatemala on flickr. Thanks, Xeni.
(This is for you, Raleigh.)

Monday, May 25, 2009

John King -Spanish Fandango

The late John King demos the Spanish Fandango in June 2008 for his students at the Portland Ukulele Festival held at Reed College in Portland, OR. (Thanks silvacox YouTube)

He was only 55 - gone too soon. Read about him: NYTIMES link

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Fossil News


A new fossil find links humans and lemurs. Okay. Lemurs are cute.
Especially lemurs with black and white striped tails.
Story:


J J Grandville in Black and White


Click to enlarge

I took a little hiatus, but I'm back now. I blogged about illustrator J J Grandville before: his flower women. Born in 1803-died in 1847...he wasn't around very long, but he left a cleverly surreal body of work behind.
Try this LINK to view more.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Musical Saw Engraved with Your Name

You can buy this musical saw and get your name engraved on it for a reasonable price here:
If you want to read a history of saw-playing go here. LINK
Thanks, Shelley Rickey for link, who can be seen playing one in a photo on her blog.
The Art and Music of Amy Crehore

Thursday, May 14, 2009

New Encyclopedia of Surreal Art, German Edition

"The Caged Wonder" painting 2008 by Amy Crehore
My art has been published in "Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler" by Gerhard Habarta.
It's an international encyclopedia of fantastic & surrealistic & symbolist & visionary artists (living and dead). The German language edition has just been released. I am honored that Mr. Habarta selected my biography, plus an additional reproduction in colour of
"The Caged Wonder" painting.
There are 1122 artist biographies from 69 countries, 462 pages, 950 b/w + 458 colour reproductions. ISBN: ISBN: 9 783837 084276

www.lexikon-surreal.com