Home Blog Page 221

Visual Artists

Constructionist Geometric Abstract Art
Constructionist Geometric Abstract Art

Visual artists

Artists reflect the city’s vibrant cultural mosaic, bringing together influences from the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and beyond. Their work spans painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, and experimental media, often exploring identity, migration, urban life, and the ecological tensions of South Florida. United by innovation and diversity, Miami-based artists contribute to a dynamic creative community that continues to shape the city as a global destination for contemporary art.

Tomma Abts

Tomma Abts is known for her meticulously constructed abstract paintings, where geometric forms emerge through a slow, intuitive process that yields precise, intimate compositions.

Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci was a pioneering conceptual and performance artist whose provocative actions and architectural interventions reshaped ideas about public space, the body, and viewer participation.

Horst Ademeit

Horst Ademeit created obsessive photographic records documenting what he believed were “cold rays” affecting his environment, producing a unique archive that blurs art, paranoia, and daily life.

Anni Albers

Anni Albers, a Bauhaus master, revolutionized textile art with her innovative weavings, merging modernist abstraction with craft traditions to elevate fiber into a fine-art discipline.

Josef Albers

Josef Albers was a central modernist figure whose rigorous studies of color—especially his Homage to the Square series— transformed the understanding of perception and visual interaction.

Peter Alexander

Peter Alexander, associated with the Light and Space movement, created luminous resin sculptures and atmospheric paintings exploring color, transparency, and the sensory experience of space.

Pedro Álvarez

Pedro Álvarez blended Cuban historical imagery with American pop culture, creating witty, politically charged paintings that examine identity, colonialism, and contemporary visual language.

Francis Alÿs

Francis Alÿs is known for poetic conceptual actions and videos that explore urban space, political borders, and human futility, often using simple gestures to reveal complex social realities.

Francis Alÿs

(duplicate on your list — same description above)

Mamma Andersson

Mamma Andersson creates evocative paintings that merge landscape, interior space, memory, and Nordic folklore into dreamlike scenes layered with texture and psychological depth.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was a groundbreaking photographer celebrated for her intimate portraits of individuals on society’s margins, revealing the humanity and complexity of unconventional subjects.

Wifredo Arcay

Wifredo Arcay documented Afro-Cuban religious rituals and cultural life through deeply atmospheric photography that captures spiritual intensity, community, and the cadence of everyday Havana.

Arman

Arman was a key figure of Nouveau Réalisme, known for his sculptural accumulations and “destructions,” which transform everyday objects into critiques of consumer culture and material excess.

Lucas Arruda

Lucas Arruda creates intimate, atmospheric paintings—often landscapes or seascapes—that explore light, memory, and the psychological depth of minimal imagery.

Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa is celebrated for her hand-woven wire sculptures, whose ethereal, biomorphic forms redefine space through transparency, repetition, and rhythmic line.

Morton Bartlett

Morton Bartlett produced haunting, hyper-detailed sculptures and photographs of childlike figures, creating a private, psychologically charged body of outsider art.

Larry Bell

Larry Bell, associated with the Light and Space movement, uses glass, coated surfaces, and optical phenomena to investigate perception, reflection, and the materiality of light.

James Bishop

James Bishop created subtle, meditative abstractions characterized by translucent layers, restrained palettes, and a quiet, contemplative sense of space.

Karla Black

Karla Black works with delicate, ephemeral materials—cosmetics, powders, plastics—constructing sculptural environments that explore fragility, color, and sensory experience.

Paul Bloodgood

Paul Bloodgood was known for lyrical abstract paintings rooted in gesture and atmosphere, balancing emotion, structure, and painterly intuition.

Michaël Borremans

Michaël Borremans creates enigmatic, meticulously rendered figurative paintings that blend psychological tension, surreal undertones, and cinematic stillness.

Carol Bove

Carol Bove produces sculptural assemblages that combine industrial materials with organic forms, exploring modernist legacies, spatial harmony, and mythic abstraction.

Marcel Broodthaers

Marcel Broodthaers, a major conceptual artist, used text, objects, and institutional critique to question language, museums, and the construction of cultural meaning.

Leonard Bullock

Leonard Bullock creates intuitive abstract paintings characterized by layered marks, shifting rhythms, and a sense of improvisation balanced with structural clarity.

Chris Burden

Chris Burden is known for radical performance and sculptural works that test limits—physical, psychological, and societal—challenging ideas of danger, authority, and public space.

Werner Büttner

Werner Büttner uses irony, dark humor, and raw painterly gestures to critique contemporary culture, politics, and the contradictions of everyday life.

Mario Carreño

Mario Carreño’s work bridges Cuban modernism and postwar abstraction, combining rhythmic geometry, bold color, and influences from Afro-Cuban culture.

John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain transformed crushed metal and industrial materials into dynamic abstract sculptures, merging spontaneity with sculptural force.

Christo

Christo, working with Jeanne-Claude, realized monumental environmental installations that wrapped buildings and landscapes, transforming perception through temporary, poetic interventions.

George Condo

George Condo is known for his “artificial realism,” creating hybrid, cartoon-like figures that merge classical portraiture with distortion, humor, and psychological complexity.

Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner was a pioneering experimental filmmaker and assemblage artist whose work used found footage, collage, and countercultural imagery to critique mass media and modern society.

Ron Cooper

Ron Cooper creates light-based sculptures and installations that explore color, perception, and spatial experience through glass, neon, and reflective surfaces.

Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell is renowned for his poetic assemblage boxes, which combine found objects into intimate dreamlike worlds that evoke nostalgia, memory, and surrealist imagination.

Salvador Corratgé

Salvador Corratgé, a significant figure in Cuban abstraction, developed a vibrant geometric language marked by rhythmic structures and spiritual intensity.

Mary Corse

Mary Corse, associated with the Light and Space movement, creates minimalist paintings that incorporate glass microspheres to shift appearance with the viewer’s movement and ambient light.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby blends painting, collage, and photo-transfer techniques to explore diaspora, domestic space, and cultural hybridity through richly layered figurative compositions.

R. Crumb

R. Crumb is a legendary underground cartoonist whose raw, satirical drawings critique American culture through iconic, exaggerated, and often controversial characters.

Sophie Crumb

Sophie Crumb works across drawing and comics, producing expressive, autobiographical works that merge humor, vulnerability, and sharp observational detail.

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn, part of the 1980s Neue Wilde movement, creates energetic paintings and multimedia works that draw on pop culture, music, and punk aesthetics.

Sandú Darié

Sandú Darié, a leading figure of Cuban Concrete Art, developed geometric constructions and kinetic forms that merge mathematics, movement, and optical experimentation.

Noah Davis

Noah Davis created emotionally resonant figurative paintings rooted in Black life, memory, and surreal atmospheres, and founded the influential Underground Museum in Los Angeles.

Roy DeCarava

Roy DeCarava captured the profound everyday beauty of African American life through poetic, low-light photographs marked by deep tonal nuance and human intimacy.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia / Phillip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia is known for cinematic photographs that blur documentary and staged imagery, exploring chance, identity, and the psychological tension of contemporary life.
(Note: spelling varies but refers to the same artist — “Philip-Lorca diCorcia” is standard.)

Laddie John Dill

Laddie John Dill, associated with Light and Space, uses light, glass, cement, and pigment to create luminous sculptural and environmental works shaped by material and atmosphere.

Jim Dine

Jim Dine is known for expressive paintings, sculptures, and prints that combine personal symbolism—hearts, robes, tools—with vigorous, tactile mark-making.

Jiri Georg Dokoupil

Jiri Georg Dokoupil works across diverse experimental techniques—soot, soap bubbles, unconventional materials—to create unpredictable, process-driven paintings.

Stan Douglas

Stan Douglas creates conceptually rigorous films, photographs, and installations that examine history, technology, and the constructed nature of narrative.

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp transformed the course of modern art through his conceptual “readymades,” challenging authorship, taste, and the very definition of art.

Marlene Dumas

Marlene Dumas creates emotionally charged figurative paintings that probe desire, identity, politics, and the psychological tension of the human body.

Marcel Dzama

Marcel Dzama produces intricate drawings and mixed-media works populated by surreal, folkloric characters that blend fantasy, violence, and dark humor.

William Eggleston

William Eggleston revolutionized photography by elevating color images into fine art, capturing the beauty and strangeness of everyday American life.

Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin is known for minimalist installations using commercial fluorescent lights, transforming space through color, geometry, and pure light.

Günther Förg

Günther Förg explored modernism’s legacy through painting, photography, and sculpture, using bold color fields and architectural references to examine structure and surface.

Suzan Frecon

Suzan Frecon creates contemplative abstract paintings based on subtle color relationships, curved forms, and the quiet power of balanced composition.

Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken works across sculpture, installation, photography, and assemblage, creating raw, inventive forms that reflect urban life, modernity, and cultural fragmentation.

Tina Girouard

Tina Girouard was a key figure in performance and installation art of the 1970s, blending ritual, dance, and community-based practices with vibrant, material-driven environments.

Robert Gober

Robert Gober creates meticulously crafted sculptures and installations that revisit domestic objects to explore memory, vulnerability, and the psychological undercurrents of everyday life.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Felix Gonzalez-Torres produced poetic conceptual works using light strings, candy piles, and billboards to address love, loss, identity, and social fragility.

Robert Graham

Robert Graham was known for figurative bronze sculptures characterized by refined anatomical detail, expressive realism, and monumental public commissions.

David Hammons

David Hammons uses found materials, performance, and biting humor to confront race, power, and cultural politics with sharp conceptual clarity.

Suzanne Harris

Suzanne Harris, associated with the 1970s SoHo performance scene, created kinetic sculptures and body-focused performances exploring movement, architecture, and spatial awareness.

George Herms

George Herms, a central figure in West Coast assemblage, transforms found objects into poetic sculptural works that celebrate improvisation, spirituality, and the beauty of the discarded.

Georg Herold

Georg Herold creates conceptual sculptures and paintings using unconventional materials—bricks, caviar, wood—infusing his work with irony, critique, and formal tension.

Jene Highstein

Jene Highstein is known for monumental, organic sculptural forms that explore mass, void, and the primal physical presence of abstract shape.

Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer uses text as her primary medium, projecting and installing powerful language-based works in public space to confront themes of politics, violence, and truth.

Yun Hyong-keun

Yun Hyong-keun, a key Dansaekhwa painter, created meditative compositions of deep umber and blue-black, evoking gates, silence, and spiritual austerity.

Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin’s work investigates perception itself through subtle manipulations of light, space, and environment, making the act of seeing the core of the artwork.

Donald Judd

Donald Judd defined Minimalism with precise, industrially fabricated forms that emphasize clarity, structure, and the autonomy of the object in space.

Craig Kauffman

Craig Kauffman, associated with the Light and Space movement, created luminous acrylic wall reliefs that play with reflection, transparency, and sculptural color.

On Kawara

On Kawara is known for his conceptual “date paintings” and daily telegrams, works that meditate on time, existence, and the record of being alive.

Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley explored memory, pop culture, and trauma through installations, performances, and sculptures that mix dark humor with sharp cultural critique.

Raoul De Keyser

Raoul De Keyser created intimate, subtly abstract paintings defined by compressed gestures, fragmented forms, and a poetic sense of everyday observation.

Toba Khedoori

Toba Khedoori produces large, meticulous drawings and paintings depicting architectural and fragmentary forms, creating contemplative images suspended between detail and emptiness.

Edward Kienholz

Edward Kienholz created immersive, politically charged assemblage installations using found materials to critique American society, violence, and institutional hypocrisy.

Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger worked with relentless humor and provocation across media to challenge artistic authority, cultural norms, and the mythology of the artist.

Konrad Klapheck

Konrad Klapheck painted machine-like objects with surreal precision, transforming typewriters, sewing machines, and tools into iconic, psychologically charged symbols.

Paul Klee

Paul Klee blended abstraction, music, color theory, and playful imagination in paintings that explore rhythm, line, and the inner architecture of the visible world.

Aline Kominsky-Crumb

Aline Kominsky-Crumb was a pioneering underground cartoonist whose raw, autobiographical comics confront gender, desire, and domestic life with biting wit and expressive line.

Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons creates high-gloss sculptures and installations that explore consumer culture, desire, and mass spectacle through kitsch aesthetics and industrial fabrication.

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger uses bold text-and-image compositions to critique power, gender, consumerism, and the construction of social identity.

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama’s immersive installations, paintings, and sculptures use repetition, dots, and infinite mirrors to explore obsession, psychology, and cosmic interconnectedness.

Greg Kwiatek

Greg Kwiatek creates atmospheric landscape-inspired abstractions, using delicate color transitions to evoke memory, perception, and emotional terrain.

Sherrie Levine

Sherrie Levine challenges authorship and originality through appropriated photographs, sculptures, and paintings that interrogate art history and the circulation of images.

Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein, a leading Pop artist, reimagined comic-book imagery through bold Ben-Day dots and graphic lines that questioned high and low culture.

Nate Lowman

Nate Lowman repurposes pop-cultural and mass-media symbols—bullet holes, smiley faces, signage—to critique American violence, celebrity, and consumerism.

Rosa Loy

Rosa Loy paints enigmatic figurative scenes populated by women, blending surrealism, symbolism, and personal mythology in lush, dreamlike narratives.

Konrad Lueg

Konrad Lueg, co-founder of Capitalist Realism, created works that critique consumer society through irony, painterly experimentation, and conceptual staging.

Kerry James Marshall

Kerry James Marshall is renowned for monumental figurative works that center Black life, history, and representation within the canon of Western art.

Gordon Matta-Clark

Gordon Matta-Clark created radical “building cuts,” carving into architecture to reveal social critique, spatial perception, and the politics of urban environments.

John McCracken

John McCracken’s minimalist sculptures—lacquered planks and geometric forms—use reflective surfaces and pure color to bridge painting and sculpture.

Alberto Menocal

Alberto Menocal is known for expressive, symbol-rich compositions that draw on Cuban cultural history, spirituality, and the dynamics of human emotion.

José Mijares

José Mijares, a key figure in Cuban modernism, blended geometric abstraction with expressive color, creating lyrical compositions rooted in formal exploration.

Larry Miller

Larry Miller is a conceptual artist associated with Fluxus, known for performances, installations, and works that examine systems of belief, language, and the body.

Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell was a leading Abstract Expressionist whose gestural, lushly colored paintings evoke landscape, memory, and emotional intensity.

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian pioneered geometric abstraction through his iconic grids of primary color, seeking spiritual harmony and universal balance through pure form.

Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi created quiet, contemplative still lifes, transforming simple bottles and vessels into meditations on light, subtlety, and perception.

Juan Muñoz

Juan Muñoz produced psychologically charged installations and figurative sculptures that play with narrative, architecture, and the uncanny presence of the viewer.

Oscar Murillo

Oscar Murillo works across painting, installation, and social engagement, exploring global labor systems, displacement, and the movement of bodies and ideas.

Bruce Nauman

Bruce Nauman is a central figure in contemporary art whose work—spanning video, sculpture, performance, and neon—confronts embodiment, language, and psychological tension.

Alice Neel

Alice Neel painted intimate, unflinching portraits that reveal the emotional depth, vulnerability, and humanity of her sitters across decades of American life.

Barnett Newman

Barnett Newman, a key Abstract Expressionist, used bold vertical “zips” and expansive fields of color to evoke the sublime and the spiritual in painting.

Jockum Nordström / Jockum Nordstrom

Jockum Nordström creates whimsical collages, drawings, and small sculptures that blend folk art, fantasy, and fragmented narrative with delicate, playful precision.

Albert Oehlen

Albert Oehlen pushes painting to its conceptual limits through chaotic gestures, digital manipulation, and self-reflexive humor that critique the medium itself.

Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili blends mythology, pop culture, and spiritual symbolism in richly layered paintings that incorporate unconventional materials and bold color.

Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg is known for his large-scale soft sculptures and monumental public artworks that transform everyday objects into humorous, iconic forms.

Pedro de Oraá

Pedro de Oraá, a founding figure of Cuban Concrete Art, produced geometric abstractions defined by clarity, optical tension, and the pursuit of visual order.

Eric Orr

Eric Orr, associated with the California Light and Space movement, explored perception, silence, and metaphysics through sculptural environments and elemental materials.

Palermo

Palermo (Peter Heisterkamp) created vibrant, minimalist paintings and textile works that balance abstraction, color, and architectural sensitivity with subtle emotional charge.

Helen Pashgian

Helen Pashgian makes luminous resin sculptures and spheres that investigate transparency, color, and the immaterial qualities of light.

Luis Martínez Pedro

Luis Martínez Pedro, a member of Los Diez Pintores Concretos, developed a refined geometric vocabulary marked by rhythmic forms and serene chromatic structure.

Raymond Pettibon

Raymond Pettibon is known for ink drawings that blend text, satire, and cultural critique, drawing on punk culture, literature, and American iconography.

Sigmar Polke

Sigmar Polke experimented with alchemical materials, photography, and painting to produce irreverent works that critique authority, history, and visual culture.

Richard Prince

Richard Prince appropriates mass-media imagery—advertising, celebrity culture, pulp fiction—to question authorship, desire, and the construction of American identity.

Neo Rauch

Neo Rauch blends surrealism, social realism, and personal mythology into enigmatic figurative paintings marked by dreamlike narratives and dislocated time.

Ad Reinhardt

Ad Reinhardt, known for his “black paintings,” pushed abstraction toward pure form and visual stillness, seeking the elimination of all non-essential elements in art.

Jason Rhoades

Jason Rhoades created sprawling installations using neon, found objects, and chaotic assemblage to confront globalization, consumer culture, and American identity.

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter moves fluidly between realism and abstraction, using blurred imagery and squeegee-driven color fields to explore memory, perception, and the instability of images.

Michael Riedel

Michael Riedel generates works through processes of repetition, copying, and transformation, reflecting on authorship and the circulation of information in contemporary culture.

Bridget Riley

Bridget Riley is a central figure of Op Art, creating precise, rhythmic compositions that use optical vibration and color interaction to activate visual perception.

Larry Rivers

Larry Rivers blended painting, sculpture, and performance with a brash, narrative style that bridged Abstract Expressionism and Pop, infusing everyday life with bold visual commentary.

José Ángel Rosabal

José Ángel Rosabal, a member of Los Diez Pintores Concretos, developed crisp geometric abstractions rooted in Constructivist rigor and the vibrant modernism of Cuba.

Dieter Roth

Dieter Roth created radical works using ephemeral materials—food, waste, printed matter—challenging permanence, authorship, and the boundaries of artmaking.

Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff redefines photography through large-scale portraits, manipulated images, and typologies that explore digital culture, surveillance, and the nature of photographic truth.

Fred Sandback

Fred Sandback used acrylic yarn to draw lines in space, creating minimalist sculptures that redefine volume, edge, and perception through near-immaterial form.

Alan Saret

Alan Saret is known for his delicately tangled wire sculptures, where airy, organic forms suggest networks, energy flows, and the geometry of natural systems.

Katy Schimert

Katy Schimert works across sculpture, drawing, and installation to explore myth, nature, and the body through fluid forms and atmospheric materiality.

Jan Schoonhoven

Jan Schoonhoven created sculptural reliefs of white paper and cardboard, using repetitive grids to achieve meditative, rhythmic surfaces central to the Dutch Nul movement.

Kurt Schwitters

Kurt Schwitters pioneered collage with his “Merz” works—assemblages of found materials that transformed everyday detritus into poetic abstract compositions.

Annabelle Selldorf

Annabelle Selldorf is an architect known for refined, human-centered designs that bring clarity, material sensitivity, and modernist restraint to museums and cultural spaces.

Spotlight Series (category)

The Spotlight Series highlights significant artists, movements, or themes deserving focused attention, offering deeper insight into influential voices shaping contemporary art.

Richard Serra

Richard Serra is celebrated for monumental steel sculptures that engage viewers through weight, scale, and movement, transforming space into a physical, embodied experience.

Seeing Shakespeare (category)

Seeing Shakespeare explores artistic interpretations of Shakespeare’s characters, narratives, and themes across contemporary visual culture.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is known for her staged photographic portraits in which she performs multiple identities, critiquing representation, gender, and the construction of the self.

Tamuna Sirbiladze

Tamuna Sirbiladze created expressive, gestural paintings marked by fluid brushwork and sensual immediacy, blending abstraction with hints of figuration.

Josh Smith

Josh Smith’s work spans painting, collage, and sculpture, using repetition, bold color, and improvisation to question authorship and the conventions of contemporary painting.

Loló Soldevilla

Loló Soldevilla was a leading figure in Cuban Concrete Art, known for her refined geometric constructions and inventive use of color and spatial rhythm.

Rafael Soriano

Rafael Soriano’s luminous, spiritual abstractions draw on mysticism and inner experience, creating atmospheric compositions of soft forms and radiant depth.

Daniel Spoerri

Daniel Spoerri, associated with Nouveau Réalisme, transforms everyday objects—often dining remains—into assemblages that freeze moments of life into artistic relics.

Al Taylor

Al Taylor produced playful, inventive sculptures and drawings using humble materials, exploring movement, perception, and the poetic possibilities of line and form.

Diana Thater

Diana Thater creates immersive video installations that examine the relationship between humans, nature, and technology through color, light, and environmental observation.

Miroslav Tichý

Miroslav Tichý used handmade cameras to create soft-focus, dreamlike photographs that capture quotidian moments with raw, outsider-art intimacy.

Tillmans / Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans expands the language of photography through abstract experiments, intimate portraits, and observational images that explore perception, vulnerability, and contemporary culture.

Jean Tinguely

Jean Tinguely created kinetic sculptures and mechanical installations that celebrate movement, humor, and the absurdity of modern machinery.

Bill Traylor

Bill Traylor, a self-taught master of American folk and outsider art, depicted memories, figures, and animals in bold silhouettes that convey narrative power and personal history.

Rosemarie Trockel

Rosemarie Trockel works across sculpture, installation, and drawing, often using textiles and conceptual strategies to challenge gender norms and modernist hierarchy.

James Turrell

James Turrell transforms light into physical presence through immersive environments that explore perception, celestial phenomena, and the act of seeing itself.

Richard Tuttle

Richard Tuttle creates delicate, understated works using humble materials, blurring the boundaries between drawing, sculpture, and painting with poetic restraint.

Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans is known for restrained, haunting paintings that reinterpret historical memory, photography, and political trauma through muted color and ambiguity.

Alan Uglow

Alan Uglow created minimalist paintings defined by precision, subtle geometry, and a meditative attention to surface and spatial balance.

De Wain Valentine

De Wain Valentine, a key figure in the Light and Space movement, produced large, translucent resin sculptures that explore luminosity, color, and atmospheric depth.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol, central to Pop Art, used repetition, celebrity imagery, and industrial processes to examine consumer culture, fame, and modern identity.

Peter Fischli / David Weiss

Peter Fischli and David Weiss collaborated on playful, philosophical works that transform everyday objects and gestures into humorous meditations on time, balance, and human ingenuity.

James Welling

James Welling experiments with photographic processes—color, abstraction, digital manipulation—to explore perception, materiality, and the nature of images.

John Wesley

John Wesley created stylized, graphic paintings blending pop culture, eroticism, and deadpan humor through bold outlines and flat color.

Franz West

Franz West produced sculptures, installations, and interactive “adaptives” that embrace humor, awkwardness, and the tactile, blurring art and everyday experience.

H.C. Westermann / HC Westermann

H.C. Westermann crafted meticulously detailed sculptures and assemblages that critique war, mythology, and American culture with dark humor and emotional precision.

Doug Wheeler

Doug Wheeler creates immersive light installations that dissolve architectural boundaries, placing viewers inside luminous, perceptual environments.

George Widener

George Widener, a self-taught artist, uses calendars, numerology, and intricate diagrams to construct visionary works rooted in pattern, memory, and systems thinking.

Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams uses conceptual photography to critique commercial imagery, production systems, and the mechanics of visual culture with meticulous precision.

Jordan Wolfson

Jordan Wolfson creates provocative videos and animatronic sculptures that confront violence, identity, technology, and the darker edges of contemporary culture.

Christopher Wool

Christopher Wool is known for bold text paintings, abstract gestures, and photographic works that explore language, repetition, and the limits of painting.

Rose Wylie

Rose Wylie paints large, exuberant canvases whose bold, childlike forms reinterpret pop culture, memory, and daily life with wit and spontaneity.

Liu Ye

Liu Ye creates refined, dreamlike paintings combining minimalism, cartoon imagery, and art historical references to explore innocence, desire, and cultural symbolism.

Lisa Yuskavage

Lisa Yuskavage blends classical technique with exaggerated, surreal figures, creating psychologically complex works that challenge conventions of the erotic and the feminine.

Portia Zvavahera

Portia Zvavahera paints emotionally charged, multilayered images rooted in dreams, spirituality, and personal ritual, using expressive patterns and luminous color.

Portafolio Artístico

Big Bang Rafael Montilla Kubes in Action Street Art
Big Bang Rafael Montilla Kubes in Action Street Art

Portafolio Artístico

Tú me dices: “Me encanta crear, pintar… ¡qué sé yo! de tantas áreas artísticas que
manejo y que, según mi familia, debería proyectar y que alguien las conozca y las
valore”.
Yo te respondo que si sientes el arte visual como parte de tu vida es el momento de
proyectarte, como una catapulta, a que muchas personas te conozcan y reconozcan.
¿Alguna vez escuchaste el término “portafolio artístico”?
¿Has escuchado que para ingresar a alguna institución o proyecto te exigen ese
“bendito portafolio”? Pues no es otra cosa que reunir en una sola carpeta tus
creaciones; esas que te hacen sentir orgulloso, que te han brindado elogios de
algunas personas, conocedoras o no de arte. En fin, una muestra de lo que has hecho
y haces, relacionado con arte, visual o no. Algo que hable de ti y lo haga bien.
¿Te gusta la fotografía, el dibujo o la pintura? O más bien te inclinas hacia el diseño
y o el interiorismo?
Hay quienes se sienten motivados por el diseño de modas. Algunos más audaces lo
hacen por la escultura o la arquitectura. Y habrá artistas que se sienten identificados
con los comics y dibujan maravillas.
Aquí te vamos a presentar algunas recomendaciones para preparar ese famoso
Portafolio Artístico que tantos dolores de cabeza puede producir.
La primera es: Reunir tus creaciones, las más recientes, donde demuestras tu talento,
experiencia, trayectoria… La cual puede ser corta o larga, no importa, lo que nos
interesa es reunirlas. Tu me dirás: ¿Y eso para qué? Por si quieres optar por un
empleo, o simplemente continuar profesionalizandose.
—No tengo mucho tiempo dedicado al arte.
No importa, se necesitan solamente algunas piezas representativas de tu estilo y
originalidad, así como tus preferencias.
No te preocupes porque tu amiguito reunió una muestra “así o asao”, es tu
imaginación y creatividad lo que hace tu portafolio algo individual, único e
irrepetible.
Lo primero que recomiendan los expertos es que ¡Comiences ya a crear! Esto
significa: dedicar tiempo a que tu talento se vuelque a tu inspiración.
En segundo lugar: ¡Observa y crea..! Todos los artistas, novatos o no, deben incluir
esos dibujos que han realizado en un momento de ocio, cuando observaban algo que
los inspiró. Escenas de la vida real… Eso está cargado de detalles maravillosos y
enriquecerán tu portafolio.
No dudes en plasmar cualquier concepto o idea que encuentres interesante, con los
colores que te provoque, con lo que te recuerde alguna experiencia de vida. Esto
significa que no te reprimas, confía en ti y añade tu toque particular.
Algunos pasan un mes diseñando la portada de su portafolio para que luzca
atractivo, yo te aconsejo que nunca una fachada puede valer más que el contenido,
eso es lo que se busca: “calidad”, es mejor que cantidad.

Te traigo algunas sugerencias que te servirán de apoyo en el momento de armar y
lograr tu atractivo portafolio profesional
Sé tú mismo. La originalidad es clave en ese momento. Refleja quién eres y es tu
tarjeta de presentación. Es lo que te diferencia de los demás. ¡Y, por supuesto tú no
quieres ser del montón..!
La calidad de tu habilidad. Es importante destacar por encima de la cantidad.Es
preferible una pequeña muestra, digamos 10 a 20 imágenes con tu mejor trabajo que
muchas imágenes que no sean tan dignas de elogio.
Coherencia y consistencia en el trabajo. Aunque seas múltiple en tus habilidades,
es importante mantener una continuidad y destacarse en una o dos técnicas, recuerda
que “el que mucho abarca, poco aprieta” y es mejor evitar incluir exceso de obras
que desentone. De ti y de tu buen juicio depende la escogencia de lo que sea
conexo y coherente.
La Paciencia es una cualidad y la mejor forma es encontrar la oportunidad adecuada
para introducirse como artista con un concepto sólido. No abrumar queriendo
mostrar todo lo que hay en ti en una sola presentación. Se recomienda mostrar tu
serie más sólida y adecuada y confiar en que se te abrirán las puertas para exponer tu
trabajo y todos sus aspectos.
Actualizar tu carpeta de trabajo es obligatorio. Cada cierto tiempo debes revisar y
desechar lo que a tu criterio ha quedado obsoleto. Ya sea porque tus habilidades
técnicas han mejorado o porque ya no estás interesado en promoverlas.
¿Y qué me dices del orden? Teniendo en mente a las personas que vayan a ver la
muestra de tu obra, lo más lógico es presentarte de una manera cuidada, sencilla y
adecuada. Un ejemplo podría ser agruparlas por temas, por técnicas y/o estilos. O
bien por su orientación o agrupación.
¿Cómo debo ordenar las obras? Sencillamente, de la manera que tú quieres que las
vean. Por supuesto que la mejor debe abrir el grupo, ya que la primera abrirá la
puerta a las demás. Y que tu segunda mejor obra sirva para cerrar el portafolio, para
que quede esa última buena impresión.
¿Debe ser personalizada? Si. No te olvides de ese detalle, y deberás incluir toda la
información que te hayan solicitado y la que consideres conveniente. Puedes
preguntar qué es lo que quieren ver y qué tipo de información exigen. También es
necesario información de las imágenes, formato, etc. Procura mostrar lo más
reciente de tu trabajo, indicando siempre las técnicas o herramientas que usaste para
lograrlo. En lo posible, evita repetir imágenes, así no sean la misma, pero si son
parecidas no causa buena impresión.

Ser profesional, es importante, porque además de tu trabajo se te va a valorar a ti
como persona con la que trabajar. No significa que tengas un título universitario, se
trata de irradiar esa profesionalidad que representa el hecho de prestar atención a los
detalles, crear una carpeta cuidando la calidad en las imágenes y textos que la
puedan acompañar; sobre todo mostrar don de gentes y amplitud mental.
¿Cuántas obras incluir? Los expertos recomiendan no menos de diez, pero
respetando: 1, tu estilo; 2, pulcritud y habilidad y 3, integración armónica de la
muestra. Siempre deberás mostrar obras terminadas, incluso si incluyes imágenes del
proceso creativo o bocetos.
Un último consejo: Si no te sientes listo, no vayas a crear un portafolio. Ser honesto
es lo mejor y así podrás evitar una decepción. Ya ves que la paciencia es la mejor
consejera. Espera, confía y produce, son los mejores consejos para estar seguros de
mostrar lo mejor de nuestro talento.

BEYOND MONET

BEYOND MONET

“BEYOND MONET”, LA EXHIBICIÓN INMERSIVA DE UNO DE LOS MÁXIMOS EXPONENTES DEL IMPRESIONISMO, CLAUDE MONET.
 
“BEYOND MONET, THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE” SE ENCUENTRA EN MIAMI, CON UN MUNDO MULTISENSORIAL DE MÁS DE 400 OBRAS DEL PINTOR FRANCÉS.

Tras el éxito arrasador de “Beyond Van Gogh” con millones de boletos vendidos en Estados Unidos y el mundo, ahora pueden visitar en Ice Palace Studios de Miami, “Beyond Monet”, la exhibición inmersiva del máximo exponente y creador del impresionismo Claude Monet. Esta fascinante propuesta cultural, lleva a los asistentes a un mundo multisensorial, presentando más de 400 obras emblemáticas del pintor francés (www.miamimonet.com)

“Beyond Monet” ofrece al público un vistazo a las emociones, pensamientos y sueños de Claude Monet combinando tecnología con piezas diseñadas a la perfección. Las impresionantes imágenes del artista, rodean todas las superficies del salón, desde el piso hasta el techo, sumergiendo a los invitados al interior de las pinturas, que cobran vida fuera de los marcos a través de proyecciones animadas y tecnología de vanguardia. “Beyond Monet” es toda una experiencia inmersiva para despertar los sentidos, ambientada a la perfección por una banda sonora.

Cortesía fotos: Beyond Exhibitions

Despues de ingresar al Garden Gallery, los visitantes llegan al área más grande de la exhibición. Inspirándose en el Musée de l’Orangerie de París, el hogar de las obras maestras de Monet, los asistentes pueden caminar libremente por el Infinity Room, un espacio de forma ovalada, y cautivarse con las pinturas más icónicas del artista como la serie “Nenúfares”, “El puente japonés”, “Impresión, sol naciente” (el cuadro más famoso de Monet pues es el que dió origen al estilo impresionista), entre otras obras, que pueden ser apreciadas por diferentes tipos de público, amantes del arte y la familia en general.

Cortesía fotos: Beyond Exhibitions

“Beyond Monet” se basa en el éxito global de “Beyond Van Gogh” que estuvo recientemente en el Ice Palace de Miami por 6 meses recibiendo a más de 200 mil asistentes. Abarca 50.000 pies cuadrados, lo que la convierte en una de las exposiciones inmersivas más grandes de Estados Unidos.  Creada por el responsable de Beyond Van Gogh, el franco canadiense Mathieu St-Arnaud, uno de los mejores diseñadores audiovisuales del mundo y su equipo creativo de Normal Studio.

“Beyond Monet,The Immersive Experience”:
Tickets a la venta en www.miamimonet.com
Ice Palace Studios: 1400 N. Miami Ave. Miami, FL

 “Beyond Monet”, una experiencia inmersiva como ninguna otra, la nueva forma de apreciar el arte. 

Para más información y boletos de “Beyond Monet”:
www.miamimonet.com
Instagram: @monet.miami
Facebook: Beyond Monet Miami

Cortesía fotos: Beyond Exhibitions

All you need to know about Geometric Abstraction

Constructivism Art movement
Constructivism Art movement

All you need to know about Geometric Abstract Art…

        5/5 (2)

In 1852, renowned writer Gustave Flaubert wrote a letter of what today seems like a premonition of what was about to happen back then in the world of art: “Perhaps beauty will become a feeling useless to humanity, and art [will become] something half-way between algebra and music.” Little time after this words were written down, meaning and representation would radically change the limits of visual perception and understanding through a series of artists and styles that would define the geometric abstract art movement and the different artists and facets that have represented it. 

Cezanne and Seurat began to complete Flaubert’s prophecy, setting preconditions for abstract geometric art. Cezanne created his art on the strict and specific laws of geometry, treating nature through different figures like a cylinder, a sphere, a cone, everything seen through perspective, in a way in which every possible side of an object in the composition would be directed towards a central point. Cezanne attempted to go beyond nature and find the laws that composed it, hence his allegory of the divine which would later influence other painters as well. Seurat on the other hand, found harmony in an almost musical perception of reality, highlighting use of primary colours and simple shapes. He said “Art is Harmony. Harmony is the analogy of the contrary and of similar elements of tone, of colour and of line, considered according to their dominance and under the influence of light, in gay, calm or sad combinations”.

0,10 Exhibition: A section of Suprematist works by Kazimir Malevich exhibited for the first time.

These two artists established the grounds for what was to come afterwards and we now recognize purely as fauvism and even expressionism which would be the transcendental basis of geometric abstraction. Geometric abstraction arrived after many decades of figurative painting where sensitive images of detailed landscapes, and portraits of pompous characters where featured in many paintings. This fundamental change consisted in the use of simple geometric figures (squares, circles, triangles) combined inside subjective compositions that lived inside surreal spaces. There was no reference to the real world, only fictional, utopic scenarios as if the goal was to say that painting is something that simply one does. It was born as a reaction towards the excess of subjectivity of the visual artists of previous movements in an attempt to distance themselves from the purely emotional. Abstract geometrical art tried to be precise, sticking to the rules of nature and science.  

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915, oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (Image By Kazimir Malevich – Tretyakov Gallery, Public Domain
Piet Mondrian, Composition with color fields, oil on vanvas, 48cm x 60.5 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

One of the pioneers and most emblematic artists of abstract geometric art was Kazimir Malevich, who founded the Suprematist movement. His purpose was the search of an absolute and pure expression, nonfigurative, unlike customary art. During his twenties Malevich established contact with Larionov, which opened the doors for him to new experiences and international relationships, getting to know fauvists, cubists and Italian futurists, playing a huge role on his own creations. His first experiments lead him to create this movement, based on an acute visual language which consisted of abstract geometric figures and neutral colours. He developed his work between 1912 and 1923. Along with his career, he created a series of numerous black and white geometric abstract art paintings. In 1915 he presented his most iconic and historically transcendental piece, called Black Square. Malevich promoted values of logic, mathematics and objectivity contrary to the subjective sensitive technicality of art established then. Claiming superiority in the abstract arts, this piece also rejected mainstream art of the moment and was considered the beginning of a new current, representing the death of conventional art, opening the doors to a new tradition of art. 

Piet Mondrian, Composition number iii, oil on canvas, 19 ¾ x 19 ¾ in. (50 x 50.2 cm), 1929.

Another transcendental exponent of modern abstract geometric art Piet Mondrian. He would be initiated in the art world by his uncle Frits, a landscape impressionist painter. The early youth days of Mondrian, influenced mostly by Amsterdam’s pictorial environment, included still life paintings, landscapes and academic studies. In order to survive, young Mondrian created copies of paintings that were exposed at the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) and drawing illustrations for books. Around 1901, he took on a trip to Spain to watch the bullfights, he was completely shocked and entered in a sort of mystical crisis that leads him to isolate himself in search of a new order, a new synthetic law. Between 1907 and 1908, he started getting in touch with fauvist artists before going to study cubism based on straight lines. During those years, he created a series of now-famous geometric abstract art paintings simply called “composition”. 

Theo van Doesburg. Simultaneous Counter-Composition. 1929-30. Oil on canvas. 19 3⁄4 x 19 5⁄8” (50.1 x 49.8 cm). The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection

In 1914 Mondrian went back to the Netherlands and in 1917 established a connection with Theo Van Doesburg with whom he created the “De Stijl” (The Style) magazine and its manifesto where we would write many theoretical articles of how art was supposed to be done. He created his first compositions of blue, yellow and red compact rectangles on a white background with primary colours and abstract geometric art with black and white. The purpose of his art was to re-establish the balance between man and nature. In 1920, due to disagreements with Van Doesburg Mondrian separated from the De Stijl movement and started getting in touch with the Bauhaus current and its players. Layer in his life he moved to New York, where we stopped using lines and started substituting them for rectangles and squared figures. Mondrian’s painting changed to be based completely on absolute thorough mathematics. He pretended to create a mix between art, matter and spirit to capture neo-plasticism (De Stijl) the universal harmony (using right angles and primary colours): an approach which goal was to discover the deep spiritual essence of reality and life. In the De Stijl movement, the principles that dominated artistic creation were always absolute abstraction, no reference to reality was allowed, and the language was restricted to lines and right angles, the three primary colours (blue, yellow and red) and the three non-primary colours, grey, white and black. 

Theo Van Doesburg, CompositionVIII_(The Cow), circa 1918, oil on canvas, Height: 37.5 cm (14.7 in); Width: 63.5 cm (25 in), Museum of Modern Art

Famous geometric abstract art painter Van Doesburg, (co-founder of De Stijl) created a series of figurative studies to abstract them into geometric figures composed of lines, colourful rectangles and squares. He would later move on from the movement’s aesthetics by inserting lines of different lengths and widths and colours, this would be a cause of rupture with Mondrian inside the De Stijl since the artist was taking a different path to the one established in the manifesto. Van Doesburg lived a vivid political and educational life, establishing contact with different Bauhaus and constructivism artists, he even got involved in architecture and was a key promoter of the Dadaist movement all across Europe. Since the role of Van Doesburg was so essential to the De Stijl, the movement was not able to survive after his death, although many members stayed active and in touch with each other. Many of its original artists, especially Mondrian continued however to create artworks that would be heavily influenced by the current. 

Bart Van der Leck, Composition, 1918, Oil on canvas, 21 3/8 x 16 3/4 (53.5 x 42.5). Tate Museum

Bart Van der Leck, was another transcendental member of De Stijl, who despite having participated for a brief period of time, was extremely meaningful for the movement. Even though the artist refused to sign the manifesto, he created a series of geometrical abstract artworks in which his conception of geometrical painting and his colour palette had a determining influence on the creations of Piet Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg. The artist would later still create realistic and figurative paintings and would sporadically continue experimenting with geometrical abstraction without sticking to the previously established rigid geometrical rules of De Stijl. 

Bart van der Leck, Study for Compositions No. 7 and No. 8, 1917, Gouache on tracing paper, 100 x 154 cm, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Geometric abstract art has had many different stages and facets across the history of art starting from the early XX century and expanding towards the present day. The influences of geometric abstract art could be seen along with different decades and continents, having also new waves in Latin-American art during the 60s and 70s. Its influence can still be identified in contemporary art and other movements of the XX century. 

Cover image: Theo Van Doesburg, CompositionVIII_(The Cow), circa 1918, oil on canvas, Height: 37.5 cm (14.7 in); Width: 63.5 cm (25 in), Museum of Modern Art.

Written by Eduardo Alva Lòpez

Bob Bonies

Bob Bonies

Elisabeth Grossmann

In the Netherlands constructivist art looks back on a long tradition. The group “de Stijl” originated in the 1920s and in the course of time came to shape the development of constructivist art decisively, so that it is today considered by art critics to be one of the main directions in classical modern art. The creed of the “de Stijl” group still influences art, architecture, and industrial design in the Netherlands today, in that it continues to live as a creative maxim in the aesthetic program “Less is more”.

Bob Bonies can be considered to be a successor of the “de Stijl” movement in as much as he did not just restrict himself to free art alone but extended his artistic work to architecture, industrial design, and art teaching, and exemplified the aim of those pioneers who wanted to use their artistic ideas for shaping their surroundings. Moreover, he can also be considered a pioneer of the second generation, as his constructivist painting imparted a new impetus to the geometric direction of art in the Netherlands of the 1960s.

Prototyp, 1965, acrylic on wood, 30 x 30 cm

Were one to look for a conceptual motif in Bonies’ art work, one would in the first instance cite the theory of Josef Albers on “The Unity behind the Many” and “The Many behind the Unity”. His method, however systematic it may be, is directed less towards the programmatic and more towards investigating the potential of variables. Thus Bonies’ art work does not develop in a serial way as is usual in the constructivist domain, but rather in a sequence of cycles of works whose themes recur with varied points of view. The only fixed factor in Bonies’ investigation over many years into color and form is his handling of colors: he has always used and today still uses only four colors, namely the three primary colors red, yellow and blue, the secondary color green (as the complementary color of red) and the noncolor white. On the other hand, he has given the handling of form as well as of format a more open interpretation. His vocabulary of forms includes differently weighted categories of areas with linear edges (stripes of varying thickness, triangles, and rectangles) arranged in the three classical directions horizontal, vertical and diagonal, and has in the last years been extended to include the circle as well as the circular segment. The basic colors and forms appear in different systems of arrangements, of which there are, as regards their number and combination, essentially two types of picture. First there is the closed and contained absolute shape of the square which dominates Bonies’ work and which also occurs standing on a corner (diamond), and then there is, so to speak, the polarly opposed type, the “shaped canvas”, which is sometimes included in the shaping of the picture. This novel shape was developed by American artists during the 1960s and was intended to free them from the traditional rectangular pictorial shape in order to achieve a congruence between picture and format, as well as at the same time attaining an enhanced objectivity.

Were one to seek a common denominator for Bob Bonies’ process of visualization which now encompasses nearly four decades, one would surely find it in the dynamic extension based on a tension-laden balance of forces. Thus, for example, Bob Bonies combines progression with rotational moment in a square format and at the same time quasi extends the construction beyond the boundaries of the picture (Without Title, 1986, p. 22). Or he achieves a displacement of the diagonal axis in a “shaped canvas” by flapping open the upper part of the picture (Without Title, 1987, p. 30). This virulent dynamization of elements has in the last years been further heightened by a return to the method of omission practised in the 1960s (Without Title, 1966, p. 19) or the inclusion of the circular segment (Without Title, 2002, p. 29). In the multipartitioned pictures, several parts constituting the whole are omitted, leaving the completion of the gaps to the imagination (Without Title, 2003, p. 42). Furthermore, the basic system of proportional partitioning in the multipartitioned picture is now harder to comprehend. Thus, in recent years his intention has distanced itself from the initial elementary order and has proceeded in the direction of increased complexity, without, however, renouncing his reductionist convictions. The pictorial organization continues to be based on the interpretation of progression, rotation, displacement of axes and omission, but the extensive character of the most recent works is more strongly accentuated.

Prototyp, 1967, acrylic on wood, 30 x 30 cm

In view of the prevailing social background, it is not difficult to interpret this tendency to break through the boundaries as a characteristic of Bonies’ democratic understanding of art and his typical open-mindedness. Willy Rotzler has used the medium of sailing to describe Bonies’ work. He considers his works to be “sheer as a sail, reduced to minimal essentials”, and they suggest “a dry cheerfulness and distant vision, as is typical of a coastal, seafaring people” (Rotzler, Willy: Bob Bonies und Nelly Rudin. In: Zwei Künstler aus zwei Ländern – Nelly Rudin, Bob Bonies. Zuger Kunstgesellschaft (ed.), 1989). Bonies’ paintings appear cheerful and composed, inspired by the pioneering spirit of the 1960s, as if the artist were at all times prepared to send his pictorial intentions across the seven seas.


Preface

Bob Bonies has, with his particular form of art, taken up a direction which can be considered to be a successor to the de Stijl movement. His works are a continuation and development of the principles of this art form which originated in the Netherlands. He has extended the strict reduction to the three basic colours by including green in his large works. Not only in this way, however, but also in formal ways has he endeavored to shift the boundaries of his preceding generation. He paints segments of circles which he combines with strictly rectangular shapes. Bob Bonies is an impassioned innovator. Thus he demonstrates through his art, which has connections with hard-edge painting as well as with the classical shaped canvases, that a composition constructed solely according to aesthetic criteria loses nothing in the way of relevance or freshness.

Formally, Bob Bonies is interested in the phenomenon of movement. This he achieves not only by juxtaposing the three basic colours with green, leading to a differentiated sense of depth, but also by placing the different shapes and forms in an irritating way relative to one another within the picture. These subtle effects help to demonstrate to the viewer how sensitive his spatial perception is.

It is a pleasure for us to extend our hearty thanks to Bob Bonies for his dedicated help. It was not only his “Haagse Hopjes” but also his honest enthusiasm for this exhibition which made the preparations really enjoyable. We also thank Naomi Duveen, who accompanied the preparations with many good proposals and suggestions. Our sincere thanks are due to Dr. Elisabeth Grossmann, director of the “Haus Konstruktiv” in Zurich and a friend of the Arithmeum from the beginning, who has agreed to contribute an article to this catalogue and to speak at the opening.

As always, we are especially grateful to our sponsors, without whose continued support this exhibition would not have been possible.


Biography

1937

Born in The Hague.

1960

After five years of professional art courses in The Hague and Stockholm, he has his first exhibition in 1960 at the Observatorium Gallery in Stockholm. During these years he frequently meets with Olle Baertling. At the end of this period he establishes his studio in The Hague.

1962/63

Visits the United States and Canada, where he paints abstractly. He marries Hanneke Schuitema there.

1964

He settles in Wassenaar near The Hague.

1964/65

Once back in the Netherlands, the development of his work is characterized by a continued reduction of pictorial elements, forms, and colours. He not only paints, but also constructs reliefs and spatial structures out of fibreglass and aluminium as multiples (“art for the people”).

1965

He joins the “Bond voor Beeldende Kunstenaars” (BBK).

1966

He became board member of the BBK.

1965/66

Marks the beginning of fifteen years of cooperation with Riekje Swart of the Swart Gallery in Amsterdam.

1966

First one-person exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Participates in the international exhibition “Forms of Colors” in Amsterdam, Berne and Stuttgart, with Albers, Bill, Judd, Kelly, Lohse, Newmann and Stella, among others.

1967

First meeting with Richard Paul Lohse in his studio.

1969

Cooperates with choreographer Hans van Manen to create the ballet “Squares”, the pre- mière of which was performed by the “Nederlands Dans Theater” in the “Théatre de la Ville”, Paris.

1971

One-person show at Galerie Teufel, Koblenz.

1972

Cofounder of the trade union “Bond voor Beeldende Kunstarbeiders (BBKA)”, whose chairman he becomes.

1972 onwards

Is active as member of various consulting bodies among others of the ministry of cultural affairs concerned with the integration of the plastic arts, architecture, and municipal planning.

1972 onwards

Realization of numerous commissions in public buildings.

1976

One-person show at Galerie Teufel, Cologne.

1979

One-person exhibition in the Gemeente Museum in The Hague with “shapes” and constructions.

1981

Retrospective exhibition in the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven.

1981 – 1988

Worked with the dancer Naomi Duveen to produce several different performances with the overall title “Danswerk”.

1988 – 2001

Director of the Free Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague.

1989

Together with the couturier Frans Molenaar and the composer Simeon ten Holt, he realizes the “Constructivistic Triptych” which is exhibited in Utrecht and Tokyo.

1991 onwards

Visits the United States annually to work there. He stays, in particular, in New York, Marfa (Texas, Donald Judd), and Taos (New Mexico, Agnes Martin).

1991

Comprehensive exhibition entitled “Bob Bonies, Works from the Years 1965-1991”, in the Hoffmann Gallery, Friedberg.

1993

Marries Naomi Duveen.

1999

Invitation to participate in “The Quindao International Art Exhibition” held in the Municipal Museum in Quindao, China.

2001

Rehearsal of the ballet “Squares” by Introdans, Arnhem.

2001 onwards

After retiring from the directorship of the Free Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, he once again devotes himself fully to his own artistic work.


Bob Bonies in Conversation

How did you discover art for yourself? When did you decide to become an artist?

I began to find art exciting somewhere back in the middle of the 1950s. I was at middle school at the time – without much success, to be honest. Thus the question arose as to whether I would be better off learning something practical. My father was a photographer, and so it was only natural to consider whether that might be something for me, too, or perhaps interior designing or decorating. So I started at the Academy of Art when I was only sixteen years old. The director, an artist himself, said to me: “Oh well, now you’re here we’ll start you off learning to draw”. At that time the drawing classes were naturally traditional – we sketched models realistically. I worked very enthusiastically, which my parents noticed, and eventually they said: “If you want to continue doing this, then we’ll support you”. So I stayed at the “Vrije Academie voor Beeldende Kunst”. After that I studied for some time at the Royal Academy in The Hague, where I concentrated on sculpture. That, too, was handled completely traditionally, figuratively. My interests were, however, wider than that. I was also interested in interior layout and design. So I then went to the “Konstfackskolan” in Stockholm, which is a college for arts and crafts. It was there that I first became aware of Olle Baertling’s work, which impressed me deeply at the time. I often returned to Stockholm, right into the 1960s, and on this foundation I then decided to become a professional artist.

Prototyp, 1965, acrylic on wood, 30 x 30 cm

Where was your first exhibition?

My first exhibition was in 1960 at the end of my training in Stockholm. I then returned to the Netherlands, where I have lived and worked as an artist ever since.

Was it very difficult to get going as a young artist? How did you orientate yourself in those days?

The first years were naturally very hard. In those days I was doing abstract painting and sculpture, lyrically abstract. In the Netherlands, COBRA was all the rage as modern art, for example Karel Appel, but I had a different idea of art. In 1963 I visited America and there I saw a totally different form of art, one not normally seen in Europe. This visit certainly influenced my work, which underwent a large reduction in style in the space of three or four years.

Were there any artists in those days on whom you modelled yourself?

There were such artists, American ones. When I was in America, I lived for a while in Washington D.C. It was there that I got to know Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. Another such artist was Clyfford Still whom I very much admire. I consider him to be an absolutely top painter. When looking at a painting by Clyfford Still, it is difficult to explain why I feel such an affinity for his work, but I do and have done for many years.

Do you think that your roots have something to do with the direction of art which you have chosen?

I am from The Hague, I was born there. The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague has the most extensive collection of Mondrian’s works in the world. I was always very interested in the de Stijl movement. I studied the works of Theo van Doesburg, Mondrian, and all the others with great interest. That was always part of my baggage, as it were, wherever I went. But at the time I had no idea that I would go in that direction myself.

What else appealed to you apart from the de Stijl movement? What else contributed to your development of form and colour?

I was extremely interested in the development of modern art in Russia: Malevich, Tatlin, and Lissitzky. The connection between de Stijl and Malevich and the Russian artists at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the freedom and breadth of the American avantgarde, were the three main roots from which my further development sprang. Thus one can, I think, see today, that my work is partially the continuation of a certain European tradition and at the same time also has a certain connection with America. In this sense I am, after all, a loner, as I have always been in the Netherlands.

Your particular form of art sprang from these roots, but surely also from modern ones?

Yes, also from modern ones, but on the other hand, from the American standpoint one perceives the European traditions. That’s what makes my work different.

Can you say something about the development of the pictorial language of your pictures?

That was a long path over a period of forty years, concentrating on the question as to how far one can go with restrictions and reductions without losing all the tension in the picture. Today, I don’t need to start from the beginning every morning. My work now has a large, firm basis. With every completed painting one gains in experience, which one can then invest in the next one. I now feel completely at home in my work. I don’t need new inspiration every single day. What is essential for me is not to lose track and go astray, but to follow and deepen my path consistently. I need to be convinced of my own work and have full confidence in it.

In constructivist art, and also in your work, what matters in the end is the picture itself. The creative process plays only a minor role as no expressive strokes of the brush are involved. Can you imagine your works of art being created by some other media rather than by painting, or would that entail the loss of some essential element?

In constructivist and also in concrete art the restrictions of the media used must be concentrated totally differently. The more sparse and restricted the media become, the more difficult it is to work. You can, for example, see that clearly in Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, from which one can learn a great deal.

Prototyp, 1974, acrylic on wood, 30 x 30 cm

The original idea of constructivist art was to induce people to see the world around them in a new way, to integrate art into their lives. To what extent do you think this has been achieved so far?

In the middle of the 1960s I established my own studio near The Hague, and I also intended to become engaged politically. I was filled with the idea that art was for everybody. “Everybody is an artist”, Beuys once said. I found this idea fascinating, but who wants to be an artist? On the other hand, I still believe in the goals of constructivist art. The constructivist artist wants to open a door for people to enter through, or a window for people to look through in order to see a different kind of reality. I believe that is the purpose of the artist and his art. For me, constructivism as a concept is still highly topical, especially in this visual era with its enormous two-dimensional visual flood through television and advertising. I think it is very important that something with a deeper quality is available. That is why I believe that artists have a definite and proper place in society today, as they have always had in the past.

By what criteria do you judge whether one of your pictures has turned out to be good? Does it ever happen that you paint a picture which you liked when you sketched it but which doesn’t satisfy you when it is finished?

Yes, that could happen. But with my way of working I am given several chances to judge my work. I have a lot of experience with the form and effect of colours and with judging the quality and quantity of colour. I also have a lot of experience with questions of format. My first sketches are small and also large, then I make prototypes and at the very end I decide on the actual format and paint the picture one-to-one.

You have restricted yourself not only in your pictorial language, but also in your choice of colours. Does it ever happen that you wake up in the morning and say to yourself: today I want to paint in purple, or in orange?

Neej, neej, neej, I haven’t done that for decades. Since the 1960s I haven’t painted in a subjectively colouristic way. I use colour for contrast, for perceiving forms. Different colours act differently in the way they form contrasts: red is the number one and blue is its main contrasting colour, then comes yellow and finally, in contrast to red, there is the fourth colour green. I have in the past never used more than four colours. Each of these I also use for a special direction in space: vertical, horizontal, diagonal. In my paintings I aim to achieve a synergy between the three-dimensionality or the construction of my picture on the one hand, and the real space in which the picture exists on the other. This correspondence between pictorial space and surrounding space is what makes up the actual quality of the picture. In this sense I also see myself as a spatial constructor. For forty years now, I have been using only the primary colours plus green and white. The same goes for forms. Only now am I actively using compasses again, something I have hardly done in the last twenty years, during which I worked mainly with squares and rectangles. I am now connecting up with the past again, not only with respect to compasses. When one considers the essence of the picture and concentrates the possibilities, then one needs no more but fewer means. In this sense I also feel a great affinity for Ad Reinhardt or Agnes Martin.

What they express in their pictures is not usually so direct. Your paintings are quite different – they are utterly direct on account of the clarity of their colours and forms.

Certainly my pictures express themselves more directly. When one studies them, one doesn’t immediately feel compelled to look for a psychological meaning, or for a particular experience, as one would with artists who choose their colours subjectively.

In spite of the clear directness of your paintings, do you not sometimes want to reach the viewer emotionally, or is that completely impossible with your paintings?

No, that is not impossible. Just as it isn’t impossible for me to paint an emotional picture. There is an emotional component in me too, namely, when I decide when it is enough. Then I find that it can’t be less either. Thus there is always also a subjective component. And it has to be like that, that is typical, that’s what art and artists are all about.

By what criteria can one judge the quality of works of constructivist artists?

Today the category of constructivist art is rather wider than it used to be. Often concrete art is also included. When painting, I proceed very systematically, but the pictorial quality is of more importance to me than the programme. That is the main difference. There are several different birds in the constructivist tree and each one sings its own song. It is difficult to say in general what constitutes a good piece of art. One must judge from a historical perspective. If, for example, one looks at the works of Robert Mangold with their picturesque surface, then that is somewhat irritating. On the one hand this has something to do with the constructivist conception of the picture, and on the other it is cosmetic, with an awfully false romanticism. But when one considers his development, then one must agree that he deserves the position that he holds. He has crossed certain boundaries. One can honestly say that his is a very comprehensible and good form of art.

How do you proceed in detail when you begin a new painting?

When I now set to work in my studio, I proceed completely traditionally: canvas on dovetailed wooden frame. I usually paint with a brush, that is quick and efficient.

So your skill with the brush still plays a role in the creative process?

Not as a means to an end. In my work manual skill is not strictly necessary in order to achieve my aim. But the direct contact with what is being represented is certainly necessary, with the result that there are little nuances in the use of colours – not colours as colours but as matter. Colour saturation plays a decisive role. I can’t leave that to anyone else. Or perhaps I could, but I don’t want to. That remains an essential point. When one judges the end result, then one can also perceive this, one experiences it. Colour quantity always also influences colour quality, and this constitutes a subjective component of the judgment of the picture. I like to be in control here. In this way I am thus also a colourist.

With regard to your work “Kunst am Bau”, what was your artistic relationship to architecture?

Whenever I was commissioned to do such a project, I had the chance to work together with people of other disciplines. We always strived for a synthesis. I was involved in an interdisciplinary team comprising a constructor, an architect, and an artist. That was really exciting. Of course, as an autonomous artist I always had to restrain myself a bit.

Were you also able to contribute as an artist outside your own studio?

From 1988 to 2001 I was director of the Vrije Academie in The Hague. That is a totally different facet in the life of an artist. For many years I was also a consultant for art projects in the Netherlands, and was responsible for all commissions. Seen as a whole, one can certainly say that I did not spend all my time in my studio. I think it’s important for an artist to orientate himself more broadly and not to spend all his time with brush and palette in his studio.

When you were director of the Academy, did you try to convert the students to your ideas?

No, never. It is very important that each one of them follows their own path and discovers art in their own way. I have never ever tried to impose my own conception of art on others because I know, that is fruitless. Students who are receptive for that sort of influence soon become passive, or imitators.

Can one really learn art at an art academy?

It is practically impossible to learn art, but one can create a climate or offer an environment which one hopes will inspire young students. In the end, however, each one of them must make their own way as an artist. And that’s not too much to expect. Of course, one can act as an example as well, one can show them that it is worth while to persevere and not to let oneself be led astray too easily, which unfortunately often happens. Selling pictures, following trends and fashions, and the promise of quick success all play a role. In this sense real art is something quite different. Quick success doesn’t exist here.

Of course, the question always remains whether quick success is also lasting success.

That is indeed always the question these days. When one is a professional artist, then one becomes part of a system with all its associated marketing. In the fine arts, quick success is usually strived for, especially by the non-artists involved, who want to become rich quickly. One should really try to stay clear of that environment as much as possible.

How do you recognize lasting values in constructivist art? Do you find in your own work that you painted something thirty years ago which you still like just as much today?

Naturally not everything is always as good today as it was thirty years ago. But at the same time one can realize that it was necessary to paint a certain picture at that time in order to go a step forward. There are long lines and also short moments, and both should be judged in concert, and at the end one can say that this is a good artist and another perhaps a not so good one.

But usually every artist will assert to be a good one!

Yes. One tries to go a step forward every day, or at least as often as possible. But one cannot always produce top quality work.

Have you ever destroyed a picture, or thrown it away, or at least placed it in a corner?

No, or nearly so. There are pictures which I hardly ever look at, and others which I enjoy hanging in my rooms. But that’s the same with every artist. And moreover, different viewing times make different judgments possible. There are certain periods when I love Mondrian’s pictures, and others when I say that I have painted much better ones myself. Things are not static, they are dynamic, and the same holds when judging one’s own pictures.

Is there nothing, then, that you consider to have really lasting value as a work of art?

Naturally, I have several icons or experiences tucked away in my mind, of which I say that they have a constant quality for me. Brancusi’s sculptures, for example, and some of Mondrian’s pictures. They will last. Then there are also some pictures of Malevich from the 1920s. Several pictures from that period are the absoplute pinnacle for me.


Artwork

Music For Ballet

Music For Ballet
Music For Ballet

Ballet Music

What type of music is used for ballet?

classical musicMany classical ballet works are performed with a classical music accompaniment. Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet, The Nutcracker, refers to the music itself, as well as the dance moves, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

Why is music important in ballet?

During a dance performance, music plays an important foreshadowing and guiding role in dancers’ body movement, stimulates dancers’ inner throbbing and gives more passion to dancers, so that they will have the strong desire for performance.

What ballet has the best music?

Top 9 ballet recordings

  • Port De Bras Vladimir issaev
  • Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet.
  • Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker.
  • Tchaikovsky Swan Lake.
  • Stravinsky The Firebird.
  • Delibes Coppélia.
  • Ravel Daphnis et Chloé
  • Adam Giselle.
  • Khachaturian Spartacus.

How do you choose a ballet song?

  1. Consider Age Appropriateness. …
  2. Stay Away From Top-40 Songs. …
  3. Make Sure Everyone Loves It. …
  4. Look for Must-Haves.

What are the 7 movements of ballet?

Noverre analyzed ballet movement into seven basic categories. These are known as the seven movements in dancing. These are plier (to bend), etendre (to stretch), relever (to rise), sauter (to jump), tourner (to turn), glisser (to glide), and elancer (to dart).

How is music connected to ballet?

Ballet as a music form progressed from simply a complement to dance, to a concrete compositional form that often had as much value as the dance that went along with it. The dance form, originating in France during the 17th century, began as a theatrical dance.

How does music affect ballet?

Dance needs music to set the mood, drop the beat, and create the motivation needed to start moving. Music has that ability to make us feel a certain way, which is why it plays such an immense role in dance. Different styles of music create various types of beats, which all correspond to a specific dance style.

What are the qualities of ballet music?

A huge element of ballet music is a strong rhythm. The music must be expressive to capture the plot of the ballet. Leitmotivs, or simply motivs, are signature tunes for each character. Most ballets have pit orchestras, especially for classical and romantic ballets.

Who is the most famous composer for ballet?

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is the composer behind some of the most well-known ballet titles we have – The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. He was born in a small town in Russia called Votkinsk in 1840.

Arte NFT

NFT Joe Cool 93
NFT Joe Cool 93

¿Sabes qué es Arte NFT?

  • Arte
  • GIF
  • Videos y deportes destacados
  • Avatares virtuales y máscaras de videojuegos
  • Música

Los “tokens no fungibles” (NFT) son certificados de propiedad almacenados en una cadena de bloques y respaldados por un  blockchain. Los NFT ofrecen nuevas posibilidades de ingresos para los artistas, ya que al crear una obra digital pueden autenticar su archivo y tienen la posibilidad de darse a conocer en subastas digitales, a tal punto de vender sus obras por buen dinero.

Un ejemplo de lo mencionado anteriormente es la casa de subastas Christie’s, que vendió la obra de arte digital, Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, de Beeple por más de 69 millones de dólares,llegando a posicionarse junto a Picasso, Monet y Van Gogh. Como una de las obras de arte más costosas en ser vendidas en una subasta. 

Para este punto del artículo algún artista o persona que esté interesada se preguntará ¿Cómo adquirir un Art NFT? La respuesta es sencilla. El artista adjunta la obra de arte digital a un NFT, que luego se pone a la venta en un mercado de criptomonedas, o un mercado especializado en arte, como Known Origin,Flipkick o Nifty Gateway  y allí el usuario podrá realizar la compra. 

Aclaración: Aunque el archivo digital adjunto se puede reproducir en un entorno digital, la obra de arte de NFT sigue siendo auténtica. Ya que su procedencia se remonta al artista original que creó ese token no fungible. De esta forma, los NFT representan la propiedad de los activos digitales para que los artistas puedan vender esa pieza de arte digital. En pocas palabras, los NFT representan el valor en criptomoneda de las obras de arte digitales, lo que les permite ser comercializadas como bienes digitales negociables. Aunque más allá de tratarse de un activo no tangible, lo que aumenta su valor son los comentarios positivos de los internautas hacia esa obra en particular. 

El arte NFT ¿se trata de una burbuja o llegó para quedarse? Es algo que solo el tiempo y el interés por las obras podrán decidir, lo cierto es que desde 2019, las obras digitales no paran de ser vendidas. 


Por qué los NFT está haciendo millonarios a muchos artistas

Internet democratizó la posibilidad de acceder a contenidos. Cualquiera con un dispositivo celular o computadora puede ver una obra de arte expuesta en un museo de Nueva York o cualquier parte del mundo. ¿Por qué las personas están pagando millones de dólares por tener algo que podrían descargar de internet?

Los tokens no fungibles (NFT) parecen haber salido disparados del éter este año. Desde arte y música hasta tacos y papel higiénico, estos activos digitales se venden como exóticos tulipanes holandeses del siglo XVII, algunos por millones de dólares.

Por qué los NFT está haciendo millonarios a muchos artistas

Qué son los NFT y por qué están valorados en millones de dólares

Una pieza de arte que no existe en el mundo físico fue vendida en una subasta de Christie’s por US$69 millones: el comprador no recibirá una escultura, ni una pintura, ni tan siquiera una copia.

Recibirá un token digital (o vale digital) conocido como NFT.

Si el bitcoin fue aclamado como la respuesta digital a las divisas, los NFT son ahora considerados la respuesta digital a las piezas de colección.

Pero hay muchos escépticos que consideran que es una nueva burbuja a punto de explotar.

¿Qué es un NFT?

NFT son las siglas en inglés de token no fungible.

Qué son los NFT y por qué están valorados en millones de dólares

El argentino Sebastián Wainraich, “Miami. Tierra prometida”

El argentino Sebastián Wainraich presentará el monólogo “Miami. Tierra prometida”

Wainraich actuará en Miami por primera vez; hará tres funciones inolvidables para reír sin parar y disfrutar del humor inteligente, que además nos invita a reflexionar. Jueves 31 de marzo: 7:30 pm; sábado 2 de abril: 7:30 y 9:15 pm. La cita es en The Alan and Diane Lieberman Theater, de North Miami Beach. Los boletos están disponibles en  http://www.marjcc.org/wainraich Reconocido como uno de los principales comediantes de Buenos Aires, con 6 temporadas en el histórico Teatro Maipo; líder en su programa de radio; y protagonista de “Casi Felíz”, una de las series de comedia latina más vistas en Netflix. Con su mirada única, Wainraich recorrerá temas como el judaísmo, la vida en pareja, los hijos y el sinsentido de la vida que sabe plasmar con el sentido del humor que lo caracteriza. Es actor, comediante, guionista, presentador y escritor. Ha sido ganador del premio Martín Fierro. Ha hecho dos proyectos para Netflix: en 2015 grabó su especial de comedia, con una hora de su mejor material de Stand Up; y en 2020 estrenó “Casi feliz”, su serie de comedia. En 2016 estrenó “Una noche de amor”, su primera película, de la cual también es autor. Desde 2003 se presenta en teatro: primero en el espectáculo “Cómico Stand Up”; y luego con sus propios espectáculos, primero “Wainraich y los Frustrados” y luego “Frágil”. Es autor de dos libros: “Estoy cansado de mí” (2005) y “Ser felíz me da vergüenza” (2008). Fue conductor de más de 20 programas de la televisión Argentina. En los canales más importantes (Canal 9, América, Telefé, y Canal 13). También ha destacado en canales de Latinoamérica como Disney, Cartoon Network, VH1, y Comedy Central. 

Non-fungible token

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

NFT Non-fungible token

JOE CAMEL

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

NFT ledgers claim to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but the legal rights conveyed by an NFT can be uncertain. NFTs do not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital files, do not necessarily convey the copyright of the digital files, and do not prevent the creation of NFTs with identical associated files.

NFTs have been used as a speculative asset, and they have drawn increasing criticism for the energy cost and carbon footprint associated with validating blockchain transactions as well as their frequent use in art scams and claimed structure of the NFT market to be a Ponzi scheme.

wikipedia.org

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
JOE CAMEL NFT by Rafael Montilla

What are some examples of non-fungible tokens?

Non-fungible tokens can digitally represent any asset, including online-only assets like digital artwork and real assets such as real estate. Other examples of the assets that NFTs can represent include in-game items like avatars, digital and non-digital collectibles, domain names, and event tickets.

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

How does non-fungible tokens work?

Essentially, NFTs are like physical collector’s items, only digital. So instead of getting an actual oil painting to hang on the wall, the buyer gets a digital file instead. They also get exclusive ownership rights. That’s right: NFTs can have only one owner at a time.

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

How do I buy NFT tokens?

How to buy The NFT Token

  1. Download Coinbase Wallet. …
  2. Choose a Coinbase Wallet username. …
  3. Securely store your recovery phrase. …
  4. Understand and plan for Ethereum network fees. …
  5. Buy and transfer ETH to Coinbase Wallet. …
  6. Use your ETH to buy The NFT Token in the trade tab.
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

Is bitcoin an NFT?

For example, Bitcoin is not an NFT. But a one-of-a-kind piece of art is non-fungible. You cannot replace it. If you trade it with another piece of art you will have something completely different.

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla
Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

What is an example of something fungible?

Commodities, common shares, options, and dollar bills are examples of fungible goods. Assets like diamonds, land, or baseball cards are not fungible because each unit has unique qualities that add or subtract value.

Joe Cool NFT by Rafael Montilla

Where can I sell NFT art?

11 NFT marketplaces you should know to sell your NFT ART

  • OpenSea. The broadest and most established NFT marketplace. …
  • Nifty Gateway. The NFT marketplace with big drops. …
  • Rarible. The NFT marketplace for rare media and sports collections. …
  • Binance NFT. One of the largest and future-proof NFT marketplaces. …
  • SuperRare. offers a traditonal gallery approach to NFTs. The NFT platform with an art gallery feel
  • Async Art. This NFT marketplace is a leader in programmable art. Async Art NFT market where you’ll find programmable art
  • MakersPlace. An NFT marketplace hosting established fine and modern artists.
  • KnownOrigin. This NFT platform supports limited-run drops and high-quality art. KnownOrigin is one of the most established NFT marketplaces
  • Foundation. An artist-run NFT marketplace with rare and exclusive projects. Foundation is a very select, artist-led NFT marketplace.
  • Zora. An NFT marketplace that supports artists and creators of all kinds. Zora enables creators to sell NFTs of physical items, such as RAC’s album Boy.
  • Mintable. A newcomer that makes creating and selling NFTs very easy. Create an NFT from almost any digital file on Mintable.

The best NFT marketplaces: frequently asked questions

There’s a lot of jargon involved in the world of NFT marketplaces, and some controversy around NFTs themselves. Many NFT marketplaces are trying to make their platforms easier to use, and some even now take debit and credit cards as well as crypto wallets, so creating, selling and buying NFTs is becoming easier. Below are the answers to some common questions many newcomers to the NFT scene still have.

What are gas fees?

This is the charge you need to pay on the Ethereum blockchain to perform a function, which includes the case of creating (minting) an NFT. Gas fees are measured in gwei, and they can go up and down depending on how heavy the use of the blockchain is. On average you’ll be charged 0.0042 ETH per transaction. You can find lower fees early in the morning, between 1am and 3 am (UTC) or late at night, between 9pm and 11 pm (UTC).

Can I avoid gas fees?

Yes, some NFT marketplaces are offering gas-free minting. These including OpenSea and Rarible. This approach essentially places the gas fee on the buyer not the creator, so it will show in the sale (a little like VAT, or the fuel tax added by some airlines). There are some blockchains that have no gas fees or at least lower fees. These include Polygon on Opensea, or ImmutableX on Mintable. Before minting or buying an NFT, look into the fees and at which blockchain and token are being used.

What is minting?

Like with physical currency, “minting” is the term used for the process of creating a currency and NFTs on a blockchain. With NFTs it’s usually on Ethereum. The process of minting records data in a public ledger that is unchangeable and tamper-proof, and which can follow and track the NFT as future sales are made. Minting usually has a cost – the gas fee that we mentioned above. But as we said, some marketplaces are becoming creative about how, when and to whom the fees are charged.

What’s a blockchain?

Investopedia describes a blockchain as: “a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network.” The strength of blockchain tech is that it guarantees security and trust without the need for a third-party, speeding up data transactions. The data entered is irreversible, ensuring it’s permanent. For NFTs, it means the artist can trace their NFT and ensure a percentage on future sales.

Do I need a crypto wallet?

In most cases, yes. In most cases, you will need to pay in cryptocurrency to mint an NFT, or to buy an NFT. As a result, most NFT marketplaces require you to create a crypto wallet to mint and trade NFTs. A common one is MetaMask, though Coinbase is another secure wallet. Some newer NFT marketplaces, such as Nifty Gateway, have started allowing the use of Fiat currency payments (US dollars, etc) via credit and debit cards, making access to NFTs easier.

Can anything be an NFT?

Yes. Any kind of digital file can be stored as an NFT. Most marketplaces are set up for digital artwork, but more are now supporting video, game assets, and music. Physical items are also now digitised as NFTs, for example physical limited edition Nike trainers. Expect NFTs to exist on and between the digital and physical spaces in the future.

Are NFTs controversial?

Yes. You can’t escape the fact Ethereum minting has a high carbon footprint, but perhaps not as high as some believe. Yet everyone accepts there is a problem. Ethererum 2.0 should solve this issue, and is due this year.

Are there any energy-efficient blockchains?

Yes, and NFT marketplaces are now offering alternatives to energy-hungry Ethererum with better carbon footprints. These include Flow, Tezos, and Polygon. New blockchain Solana boasts of being carbon-neutral. Check on your NFT marketplace which is being used and opt for one that suits your conscience.

Source: Creativebloq.com


What is the difference between cryptocurrency and NFT?

The term cryptocurrency is used for “virtual currency,” “tokens” and “digital assets.”) One NFT cannot be exchanged for another, and an NFT’s value, if any, is based solely on what someone is willing to pay the seller to buy it.


What is the meaning of fungible token?

A. F. A representation of an asset on a blockchain that is interchangeable. Cryptocurrencies are the prime example of fungible tokens because each coin has the same value as any other coin of the same type at any given moment.


What is meant by non-fungible?

A unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership (as of a specific digital asset and specific rights relating to it) 

Catching Up with David Byrne’s American Utopia’s

Catching Up with David Byrne’s American Utopia’s band member Tendayi Kuumba
Catching Up with David Byrne’s American Utopia’s band member Tendayi Kuumba

Exclusive: Catching Up with David Byrne’s American Utopia’s band member Tendayi Kuumba

Dec 17 Written By Wilson Morales

Currently playing at the St. James Theatre is the return of David Byrne’s American Utopia, which received a Special Tony Honor and won Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Rob Sinclair and Brian Spett’s Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special as well as Paul Hsu, Michael Lonsdale and Pete Keppler’s Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special. Both were based on Spike Lee’s pre-recorded version of the show..

Spike Lee’s acclaimed filmed version of David Byrne’s American Utopia made its world premiere opening the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and is currently streaming on HBO Max. It also played in movie theaters nationwide for a special, one-night-only theatrical event on September 15, 2021.

The show features David Byrne with returning band members Jacquelene Acevedo, Gustavo Di Dalva, Daniel Freedman, Chris Giarmo, Tim Keiper, Tendayi Kuumba, Karl Mansfield, Mauro Refosco, Stéphane San Juan, Angie Swan and Bobby Wooten III.

Blackfilmandtv.com caught up with Tendayi Kuumba as she shared some insights to her background and experience being a band member.

How long have you been with the company?

Tendayi Kuumba: I’ve been performing with David in the band since the World Tour in 2018. I’m a dancer and backup vocalist.

How did you come to join the band?

Tendayi Kuumba: Well, I joined the tour about two months in, and they were in the midst of doing the world tour, the album, and the former person who held my role, I think was just having difficulty holding on to all of the work. And through word of mouth, colleagues, with the assistant grandma for Lizzie, who’s under NTB Pearson, and she and I had worked together formally. And so she passed on information along to David. And next thing I knew I was getting an email asking me to join the tour.

Was there no one else in the band that could step up?

Tendayi Kuumba: Well, everyone else in the cast are just musicians. So there are only myself and my counterpart Chris Giarmo, we’re the only two dancer vocalists of the entire show. So it’s just David and the two of us backing him up. And then everyone else are musicians. So they were looking for someone that could really hold off to the all of the choreography, as well as holding down the vocals to bring more to the show. I was glad I was able to step up to the part.

How challenging is it?

Tendayi Kuumba: What’s challenging now is getting back into shape post pandemic, in the midst of pandemic. But before the most challenging part was that I only had two weeks to learn the entire show, before joining the tour, and I didn’t meet anyone in the band before my first show. I met everyone that morning. And then did that show that day. So that was the most challenging part, just making sure I had everything down so I could just jump right in and not skip a beat.

Prior to this, had you watched any of his work before?

Tendayi Kuumba: I’ve seen some Talking Heads and some Talking Heads music. But I wasn’t as much as familiar with some of the other songs, and some of the other work that he’s done. Of course, now that I have worked with him for so long. I’ve just continued to discover more and more what he’s created in his legacy of history of music.

When you’re on stage, you can’t see the excitement before, during and after the show, but when you tell friends that you’re in the band, do you see the level of respect people have for him and the show?

Tendayi Kuumba: Yeah, all kinds of excitement. I think both excitement from people that are already familiar with his work. And then excitement from people that are just discovering it, that see videos or pictures pop up, and then they discover it for themselves, watch the film for themselves and or come to this show, and they’ve never heard of David Byrne and then just be blown away and opened up to a whole new world of music. So I’ve gotten a lot of positive response all around people that are familiar already with his work and are just super supportive in my life, as me as an artist, to have this situation and opportunity. And then also just being able to open up a new crowd of my world to his work and music too and find ways to keep it fresh. It’s been a really positive overall. The pandemic happened and we all have gained a pound or two.

How much time did you give yourself to get back in shape before you hit the stage again?

Tendayi Kuumba: Throughout the midst of pandemic, it was been this question of if and when. When the conversation started coming up, about a good four months before I was really like, Ok, gotta lock and load,” but prior to doing getting back into rehearsal, I had already started teaching some dance classes at NYU Tisch and some other workshops and doing some of my own choreography. And so I was lucky enough to already have some virtual and small social distance performances before jumping right into the show. I had a little combination of pre-peloton workouts for about three, four months before the show and doing some other stuff on the side that helped me tap in back into performance mode.

What’s been the protocol has been so far?

Tendayi Kuumba: Everyone’s vaccinated, and we get tested twice a week. And if we’re doing award shows, or events, we get tested again, I think about twice the day before and the day of. So it’s very consistent testing on a regular basis. If there’s ever any results or things like that, we’re always notified and taking precautions and all of that. So they’re all on it. 

Is the show playing for a limited engagement?

Tendayi Kuumba: It’s a limited engagement. But right now, I believe towards the closing being either in March or June, which is a big gap. But I know June for sure. But as you know, things are up in the air. And fingers crossed that everything just keeps growing with Broadway opening up and ticket sales going up.

How long had you been dancing? Was this show the first time you did both dancing and singing?

Tendayi Kuumba: I’ve been dancing since I was three and singing since I was seven. My background in dance is a combination of modern ballet, tap, hip hop, West African, you name it, and vocally growing up singing jazz and musical theater. A lot of the people that I’ve been able to work with growing up even just doing musical theater, throughout growing up and high school and as well as other dance companies has always been a combo package for me. Before coming into David Byrne’s tour, I was consistently with a company called Urban Bush Women, which connects movement and sound and storytelling and all of that. So it’s second nature to me to have music, dance, movement, all in the same chord all the time. And even within my own work that I create with myself and with my partner. It’s always music and sound and movement all connected.

Is there a favorite song of David’s that you like performing?

Tendayi Kuumba: One of my favorite songs to sing is “Glass, Concrete and Stone” just because I really just love the harmonizing of it, on a personal selfish note. So yeah, that’s definitely one of my favorite songs to sing.

When you’re not on stage, what do you do during your downtime?

Tendayi Kuumba: Well, I do a lot of yoga, and meditation. And then my partner and I, my boyfriend Greg, we have our own creative world. Under the name UFly Mothership, we just create music and have fun in that in our own arena. I describe it as Neo soul, Afro futuristic, a little bit of hip hop, and a little bit of jazz inspired. We make music that makes us feel good. That’s inspiring. It’s storytelling. We put out a visual album and mixtape throughout during the quarantine. We just continue to build and it’s great. So that that’s our therapy, and then just staying active and getting rest, getting sleep, and eating good food. Tendayi KuumbaDavid Byrne’s American Utopia

Page 221 of 279
1 219 220 221 222 223 279