The Red Boa: Mojo Monday ~ Art

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Mojo Monday ~ Art

All art requires courage. ~Anne Tucker

Art is defined as:
1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
2.
a. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
b. The study of these activities.
c. The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.
3. High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value.
4. A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, or literature.
5. A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.

Art can be viewed very subjectively. Al Capp, an American cartoonist and humorist, had this to say about one type of art "Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered." That is really just his opinion though, as there are many who would say they love abstract art.

This past year an amazing traveling art show called the Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya came to town.

Nathan creates all of his art using little plastic legos. The same lego toys that children have been playing with for years. Some of his creations are three-dimensional and life-size. Others are more flat, such is the case for the portraits he creates.

I can appreciate many forms of art and I thoroughly enjoyed and was amazed at Nathan Saway's creations. Yet there is some other element that makes art touch one on a deeper level and leads the admirer to really connect with a painting or sculpture or perhaps even piece of music.
I experienced the "WOW" factor when I walked into Shiloh McCloud's gallery The Wisdom House in Mendocino. It is the only word that could come out of my mouth for several minutes. There was an immediate draw to her paintings.
Do you connect with a certain artist, type of art or medium?

Is there something in particular that has touched upon the "WOW" factor for you?Besides Shiloh's art there are a couple other women artists who work touches me on a deeper level. I would like to share a couple of samples of their art.