Wednesday 1 April 2015

A-Z Day 1

Copyright ©2015 Mark Kelly.
A is for absolutely Anything!

No, that's cheating. So today, day 1 of the 2015 A-Z Blogfest Challenge is upon us, one and all. I fell within the first few days the last time I entered, much to my shame - but, as most of us only know too well, life sometimes has other plans for your 'free time', as was the case with me.

So what can I chat about today under the magnificent banner of that great vowel, the letter ' A '?


I choose: ART. I'm not going to be pretentious about it and waffle and blah about the great artists of this period or the movements from that period. No. What I will do, however, is share with you some of the artists for whom I have great admiration and present to you a mini-showcase of examples I find most engaging. These (few) artists might be from the digital arena, as in concept artists for gaming, of graffitti street artists that brighten up urban blight, to photographers I have been awed by. Whichever I choose, I hope it will be for you as it was for me when I first laid eyes upon them.


M. C. Escher

Copyright ©2015 www.wikiart.org
The first is a graphical artist, Maurits Cornelis Escher, that many will have heard of, if not seen works produced by.

His amazing mathematical approach to finely detailed graphical art siezes the viewer by the eyeballs, dragging them into the visual paradoxes Escher excels in.What also strikes me as amazing is the fact he primarily worked in the media of lithographs and woodcuts, and some mezzotints that are considered to be his masterpieces - follow the links in the wiki page to discover more on these techniques.
Without a doubt, Escher has not only inspired generations of artists, but film makers have dabbled with Escher's subject matter. Any who have seen the film 'Inception' will recall the scene where the street begins to curl in on itself during a dream sequence, and also the planar distorted staircase two of the actors ascend/descend whilst talking about 'inception'.

www.hdwallpapers.in

Kekai Kotaki

This artist came to my attention during the build up to the release of the abysmal sequel ( in my humble opinion ) to ANet's brilliant MMORPG game, 'Guild Wars', a rather poorly and ineptly named, 'Guild Wars 2'.

Kekai Kotaki has featured in my Art Spot, along with many other artists from the digital media arena, so if interested please feel free to click on the link and have a browse.
The initial success of GWs2 was, in large, due to this young man's gorgeous visualisations of what ANet promised its player fanbase. Below is one of the iconic dragon beasts from the GWs2 game as visualised by KK.

Copyright ©2015 Kekai Kotaki - All Rights Reserved.
To see more of this talented artist's work, click on this LINK that will take you to his website, where you will find a broad canvas of works on multiple themes, not just gaming. Enjoy.


TSO

This photographer and film maker hails from Norway, beyond that I'm not sure about much else. But what I do know is that he sold up everything he owned in order to travel the world to make his first ever film. According to his FaceBook page ( here ) he is now back home in Norway.

His films are time lapse and the subject matter is that of stunning natural vistas of our planet, accompanied by gorgeous musical soundtracks. Below, for your pleasure, is 'The Mountain', my first introduction to this amazingingly focused individual. Here is also his YouTube page - enjoy.

 


André Castro

Last of all is a recent discovery I've made - a brilliant concept artist and designer from Curitiba, Brazil. His work is gorgeous in detail, colour and texture, and I especially love his photoshop work with a live model, something I've always wished to master. Pay him a visit at his site HERE

Copyright ©2015 André Castro (Synthesis) - All Rights Reserved.


Graffitti Art

A collection of some of the art found around the world as produced by some known, and mostly unknown street artists. I shall let the images do the talking :)

blendspace.com
malovanikresleni.cz

workfromhomemembership.com

isthisthefuture.com


7 comments:

Elise Fallson said...

I do like the various artists you've highlighted. And the video is mesmerizing, I love watching the night sky.... Art is indeed A great A word. Good to see you in the A-Z madness! :)

Greenpatches said...

Another A-Z er here to thank you for introducing me to some new artists.

Deborah Weber said...

What a great topic and how lovely to be introduced to some new-to-me artists. Happy A-to-Z-ing.

Mark K said...

Elise - so nice to see you once again. I'm just a bit miffed I couldn't have been somewhat more eclectic in my choices, but then it would have become an essay.

Thanks for stopping by. Get the coffee and cake out, I'm swinging by your way shortly ;)

Mark K said...

Welcome Greenpatches - always nice to meet a 'new' fellow blogite :) As I said to elise, sorry it could not have been more of a 'wow!' moment. Thank you for dropping in.

Mark K said...

Deborah, so nice to meet you and thank you for stopping by. Could have been better I admit, but it's just day 1, so I'll trying and build on momentum as I go :)

Elise Fallson said...

Sugar and cream? ;)