Google Street View Technology + Art

Nothing will ever beat a first hand experience, but this is still pretty cool. If anything, it can give you a little preview to see what exhibits you would actually be interested in visiting in person.



Find out more at Artinfo.

www.BrittanyStiles.com

Post-Impressionist Exhibit @ The de Young

Paul CÉZANNE
Still-life with onions, 1896-98


I knew I would already be in Northern California for Thanksgiving with my family, so I decided to come a weekend early to get in the Elle Decor Showhouse and the Post-Impressionist exhibit at the de Young. The Post-Impressionist masterpieces come from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the de Young is the only museum in North America to host the exhibition. Posting photos of my favorite works really doesn't do them justice, so if you have the chance to visit the exhibit from now until January 18, 2011, I would highly recommend it.

My biggest tip for visiting would be to buy your tickets in advance here, and if at all possible, book the first tour of the day, so that there are less people in the gallery when you are trying to view. It was crowded on Saturday (and the worker in the gift shop said it was slow day), so it took a little while to get up to the paintings, and then when we did, we felt a little rushed because you don't want to keep everyone behind you waiting for too long. I really wished I had more time because I really would have liked to look at some of these pieces a little bit longer. Even still, it was a great exhibit. Here were some of my favorites:


Maurice DENIS
Panel for girl's bedroom: October evening, 1891


Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
The clown Cha-I-Kao, 1895


Redhead (Bathing), 1889


Vincent VAN GOGH
Portrait of the artist, 1887



The poet, 1888

Émile BERNARD
Portrait of my sister, 1888


Breton women with umbrellas, 1892


I snagged these photos from National Gallery of Australia website which hosted the exhibit earlier this year. The site lists every piece in the collection and is a great place to read more information on each of the paintings.

Joan Mitchell - The Last Decade

I seriously can not wait for this! The Last Decade will feature 14 paintings from the last ten years of Joan Mitchell's life. The opening reception is this Saturday, November 13th, from 3 to 5 pm.

Now go get cultured!

You can find more info on the Gagosian Gallery website, here.

www.BrittanyStiles.com

Mari Eastman

Mary Eastman is one of the 45 contemporary artists featured in the California Biennial going on now at the OCMA. The California Biennial brings together a large cross-section of the State’s most innovative contemporary visual artists, and after doing a walk-through last Wednesday night, I chose Mari Eastman's works to be among my favorites.

There is just something about the women's faces that Eastman paints, and the colors she uses that is really interesting to me. Another thing I love is that in many of her pieces she uses the unexpected element of glitter, lightly sprinkled over the painting. It gives the illusion that the painting is suppose to be glamours in a cool and contrived 80's sort of way, but at the same time the faces are asymmetrical and have a lot of abstract qualities, which actually give the pieces a lot of depth. That's the best way I know how to describe it, but I do know that I love her style.





Below is a textile that she painted that isn't at the Biennial, but I found online at the Cherry and Martin gallery webpage. I think she should mass produce this so that I can turn it into throw pillows. It's pretty fantastic.

Santa Monica Museum of Art

Tonight I went to the Santa Monica Museum of Art for the opening reception for the Combustione: Alberto Burri and America exhibit. Alberto Burri (1915-1995) was an Italian born artist who eventually moved to Los Angeles. Combustione highlights projects that occupied Burri in the twenty-five-year period during which he worked in L.A.

I had such a great time and enjoyed all of Burri's pieces, most of which were abstract, mixed media. But I'd have to say that my favorite part of the exhibit was the room that showcased several different Italian artists' books from the 20 and 21st century. There was a lot different bookbinding, graphic design, photography, and writing that was really interesting and creative. I loved it all and would highly recommend it to anyone. This particular exhibit goes from September 11-December 18 and admission is free!

Find more information here.

www.BrittanyStiles.com

Art Education

One of my client's just convinced me to become a docent at the Orange County Museum of Art, OCMA for short. She said that she volunteers to docent a couple times a month, but that volunteering comes with 6 months of really great art and art history training; better than any courses she's taken before. She also said that not enough people go to the OCMA or even know about it, so I thought I'd do a little bit of advertising on this little blog of mine.

Along with the standing collections at the OCMA, you can also catch the following exhibits currently on display:

Charles Long: 100 Pounds of Clay

15 Minutes of Fame: Portraits from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol

New Art for a New Century: Contemporary Acquisitions 2000–2010

The museum is open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 am - 5 pm, and open late until 8 pm on Thursdays. Admission is $12 (Well worth it for a little culture.)

Visit the OCMA website here, and join the OCMA Facebook fan page here.

www.BrittanyStiles.com

Joan Mitchell

After perusing "Artful Approach" from March's issue of Elle Decor, I became obsessed with the artwork of Joan Mitchell (1925-1992). There was something about the painting (shown below) that I fell in love with.



I started to do a little more research on Joan and fell more and more in love her work. 2 weekends ago my friend Paula and I went to the LACMA and viewed the Renoir exhibit, but I was even more excited when I saw in their contemporary art gallery an original Joan Mitchell, "East Ninth Street" (1956) (no photography allowed). Here is a little collection of some of Joan Mitchell's beautiful abstract expressionist paintings.






I've decided that one day I'll own an original Joan Mitchell, but until then I've had a couple of friends suggest just recreating one with my own canvas and paints. I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt it yet, but if I do, that would definitely be a post worth blogging about - whether to laugh at my failure, or applaud my success. (Something tells me that it will probably be the former.)