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Welcome!
On behalf of the Art.sy team, welcome to Art.sy and thank you for joining our beta. Our mission is to make all the world’s art freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Art.sy is a free platform where you can discover, learn about, and collect art. Continue reading
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Scientists in Australia have discovered bees have a remarkable ability to distinguish different types of paintings.
The experiments, carried out at the University of Queensland, showed the bees could pick a Monet over a Picasso.
The aim of the research is to discover more about how bees search for food and help us understand how humans learn.
Our never-ending commitment to demonstrate the value of public libraries–not just the institution as a great idea but all its phenomenal specific examples– led us to the Portland, Maine Public Library. We wish it were as simple as walking down the street to visit this exhibit…
Click the image to the right to go to its website, highlighting the roles of Maine College of Art and Portland Public Library. And major thanks to The Bank of Maine, mainly for funding generously provided to support your public library, but also for doing it with a master of illustrated story-telling.
If you happen, like many of us on this site, to be a devoted fan of Mr. Gorey, you might find this profile of him in Harvard Magazine to be of interest. And for that matter, if you happen to be in Portland, Maine then you are relatively not so far from the Gorey home, which is open to visitors.
An ongoing exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art asks visitors to consider the connections between art and science — and how they each attempt to explore the why, when and how of our existence. “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts” illustrates how the stars and planets we see in the sky have been influencing African art and ritual for generations. Continue reading
Damien Hirst in front of one of his butterfly canvases, part of his retrospective at Tate Modern. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features
He has his detractors (is he an artist or merely a shrewd entrepreneur?), but anyone who gives butterflies their due gets our attention:
Butterflies made Damien Hirst’s career and this is how he repays them: Continue reading
“Pick a nest.”
It was the first day of my architectural design studio class and we were told to pick a nest, any nest. I knew this was going to be a great semester: the first assignment was seemingly random, kooky, and just a little ‘out there.’ I was excited! As an architecture student, I love when things are approached in such a non-traditional way.
I know what you must be thinking: aren’t architects supposed to be designing buildings for people? Why are you looking at bird nests?!
I, too, was confused, but I didn’t question it because I had a really cool nest in mind. Because I spent the summer in India with bird-lover and birder extraordinaire, Ben Barkley, the Baya Weaver Bird, who builds its iconic hanging nests around the backwaters of Kerala, was an obvious choice.
Here are my “comprehensive drawings” of the Baya Weaver Bird that attempt to explain the complex relationships the bird maintains with its surroundings.
My 2nd draft of Baya Weaver nest comprehensive drawing (Photograph and drawing by Karen Chi-Chi Lin)
Vaska the cat, one of the Hermitage Museum mice hunters, seen in the museums yard, with an antic statue on the background, in St. Petersburg, in this April 25, 2004 photo. Cats have been part of the Hermitage’s security system since its founding days. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Winding beneath the magnificent halls of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, with its Da Vincis, diamonds, Greek statuary, Egyptian parchments, enormous number of paintings, mechanical peacock clock, and other treasures, there is a catacomb of cellars. It was into this windowless nether region—far below the Winter Palace’s expansive view of the waters of the Neva—that Maria Haltunen and I had cautiously descended. As I followed her through a narrow, imperfectly-lit corridor, full of large pipes and jutting wires, Haltunen gasped. “Look!” she said.
In the semi-darkness, a little being had appeared. He perched, a foot-tall shadow, on a water pipe.
“Oh, you are a fat one!” said Haltunen, jangling the chain of her I.D. pass like a talisman as she approached the pointy-eared creature. “How nice you are!”
The cat sat, perfectly still. Then he vanished.
Thanks to our friends at Colossal for pointing us here:
I can’t speak from personal experience about the political climate in Yekaterinburg, Russia but if we take this video from the ad agency Voskhod at face value it appears the powers that be neglected the city’s infrastructure one day too long. Continue reading
Now that I’m back at Cornell, crunching numbers once again for my Finance classes, I have to look back on my trip to Jaipur, Rajasthan to remember that freedom that I already miss. For everybody who misses traveling, here is something to keep you happy.
Cheers!
In coordination with the 2012 Paralympics British performance artist Sue Austin has revised her 2008 project “Portal” into “Creating the Spectacle!”, a piece that literally sends ripples across the divide between spectator, audience, galleries and stage.
The focus of the project has shifted from being about transforming preconceptions about the wheelchair to a more global perspective that we all have issues to transcend… Continue reading
Bravo to the good folks of Australia for their public spiritedness, and for sharing it on vimeo. Also thanks to the commenters (search on Goldsworthy and Australia and you will see there was lots of outcry on this) far and wide who shared their opinions. Like it or not, this is where we are: less and less nature, more and more people who want to do/say something about it.
Click the image above for more information on the group’s current activities, but their founding mission and recent past actions seem promising:
…We aim to free art from the grips of the oil industry primarily focusing on Tate, the UK’s leading art museum, and its sponsorship deal with BP. Continue reading
“In African mythology the elephant reincarnates carrying the soul of a murdered God. It is thus the embodiment of the transmigration of souls. It is also the metaphor for the world’s preoccupation with Africa as an exotic location. The elephant thus embodies the world’s romanticism with Africa…” Andries Botha
South African artist Andries Botha has been paying homage to the strength, majesty and perseverance of elephants throughout his career. Blending Western and African elements he has created numerous life size pieces, both as individuals and in groups, that portray a sense of mysticism in their unexpected settings. Continue reading
The most spectacular event of all Kerala festivals, Onam epitomises a new found vigour and enthusiasm about everything. The festival celebrates the return of King Mahabali, who is said to visit his subjects each year. To convince their beloved King that Kerala continues to be prosperous land of milk and honey people decorate their homes and celebrate to the fullest sometimes even faking prosperity to present a happy and flourishing facade to their King. Continue reading
I shall resist the underwhelming urge to throw in a bit of canonical wordplay concerning St. George, and merely say that this is my first insect photograph with my new 50mm F1.8 lens. The dappled sunlight behind the dragonfly is a testament to the glory of shooting with this enormously apertured lens – the bokeh is a pleasure to both create and to view. I was only in Georgia for ten days in between Kerala and New York, but it was a pleasure to step out of my grandmother’s (an avid odonatophile) back door to find this dragonfly patiently waiting for me. Continue reading
Painting by: Jane Pompilio George
It was with pleasure that I recently discovered a Cornell “neighbor” who happens to be both an artist and bird lover, who takes inspiration from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s round-the-clock “bird cam” nest images. (Click on the painting above to go directly to her blog.)
People all over the world have been able to experience (and be inspired by) the nesting of great blue herons and red-tailed hawks near the Cornell campus, as well as Osprey nests in other parts of the United States.
Thanks to Mr. Krulwich for the investigative wonderland his sciencey (and artsy) blog is. Click the banner for a great series of photos and explanation for the wonders.
Yesterday, Jonathon, Siobhan, Milo, and I moved into one of the new Raxa Collective properties under development. As the four of us huddled silently under our covers, the backwaters of Kerala’s nighttime accompanied Jonathon’s ghost stories…
Instead of spooky tales, though, today I want to share with you another story Jonathon narrates, Raxa Collective presents “A Learning Laboratory.” It’s a short video, Jonathon (narrator), Sunnie (illustrator), Siobhan (director), and I (producer) put together with the help of all the staff and summer interns to highlight some of the best anecdotes of how Raxa Collective’s Cardamom County ecolodge has acted as a “learning laboratory” for its staff, international trainees, and summer interns.
Enjoy!
Kerala offers a veritable array of the performing arts, most of them springing from folk tradition. Though often related to religious rituals and mythological stories, they are also very much the language of the people. Dramatic costumes, vibrant colours, throbbing music; watching a folk dance is an unforgettable experience. Poothan-Thira Kali is one of the popular ritualistic dances of North Kerala. Continue reading
the fourth instalment of the “valtari mystery film experiment” is by icelandic directors arni & kinski. their video for rembihnútur focuses on meditation:
the much needed changes in the world will happen through changes within each and every one of us. we all want and need love. this film is a celebration of sigur rós’s music and the benefit it is having in the elevation of consciousness that is happening with humankind. people are finding strength in love, care, and respect for themselves, each other, and the world we live in.
more information is here
Organikos 