War Art has been of a constant fascination to me since I was a small child. I wanted to be one -- an odd thing to want to be really. One of my favourite galleries is the Imperial War Museum's long term exhibition gallery, which houses some of my most inspirational war artists: the Nash brothers, John Piper, and Graham Sutherland.Whatever else war is -- shocking, destructive, sad -- it makes beautiful and haunting images.
Challengers Crashing Out
Arabella Dorman went out to Iraq in 2009 as a war artist. As the Telegraph article points out, the only other female artist to do this was Linda Kitson, who went to the Falklands war in 1982. In her "Frontlines Statement" Dorman argues for painting war, rather than depending entirely on film and media: "A painting on the other hand has the potential to ask more from the viewer. It asks for an emotional engagement, it asks us to move beyond pure documentation and literal description, into a quieter evocation of something more timeless".
Dorman is a bit hit and miss with me. I think some of her work is fantastic. I also find a portion of it terrible. The ones I have used on this blog I really like. However, her concentration on the soldier's experiences of war is really interesting. Especially looking at the "quieter moments" rather than just the "big bangs"
Homecoming
Here is the Telegraph's interview with the artist:
And another very interesting audio interview with the BBC: here
Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976) was a fantastic sculptor, most famous for his hanging mobiles, wire sculptures, and best of all his CIRCUS!
Calder is up there with my favourite artists of all time, mostly because of his child-like imagination as well as prodigious talent.
I don't want to be repetitive in the information that is already out there. Moreover, it's probably much more comprehensive than I could ever be if you want to know about his life, work and history. Therefore, for this purpose I supply a few links that I have found useful in the past:
Calder had a fantastic exhibition in Paris at the Pompidou Centre entitled 'The Paris Years' in 2009. Unfortunately I never saw it but bought the exhibition catalogue last time I was there.
Below are the pieces by Calder that I keep coming back to:
Goldfish Bowl, 1929
I love how this piece has his autograph sculpted into it, as do many of his others. I tried wire sculpture for a while but I just didn't have the right quality of wire (garden wire just wont do!). I will certainly try again though. If you know of a particular type that is good I would like to hear.
National Gallery III, 1972
And finally his circus. One way of really seeing the man's love for his circus is with the Youtube videos. They are probably the best way of seeing how the circus worked as something other than a static toy set.
If you have any other information (interesting links or exhibitions) on Calder, or have a particular favourites I would love to hear in the comments.
