Tantric Portraiture

Alright, I admit this one might sound strange to most artists. But one of the art forms I've developed I call "Tantric Portraiture". Most people think that the word tantric must have a connotation to sex. Tantric sex has been practiced for thousands of years as a form of bringing body and soul together in a merging. 

But the word "tantric" is Sanskrit and means "to weave energy". 

Art Experiments - Styrofoam & Mortar

Experimental Artists live to explore new techniques. Sometimes its important that we approach and art experiment without any preconceptions of what we want to create. 

The experiment above began with only one goal, to see how mortar reacts to styrofoam. I'm coming at it from the idea of creating a surface that has multiple dimensions. 

Using very wet mortar, I spread it out in random spots along a 6 foot styrofoam panel. Before I began, I used a heat gun across the whole surface of the styrofoam in order to strengthen it. When Styrofoam is heated it becomes much harder than the original substance. My idea was that the mortar might not adhere to the styrofoam if it wasn't prepped first. It needed a more solid surface that it could seal into. 

The mortar was laid out randomly and then I used a simple rolling pin to spread it out a bit. It was left over night to dry with a fan on it. 

As I had hoped the dried mortar was sealed tightly to the styrofoam the following morning. I then used the heat gun to further melt the styrofoam around the mortar, creating more depth as the foam sank. The mortar was left raised. Lastly I used a piece of sand paper to clean up any pieces of mortar sticking up and clean the surface a bit. 

Thats as far as I've taken it so far. The experiment isn't over but I want to consider the next step carefully and how I can put the experiment to use as an actual art form. I've said often that the greatest benefit of styrofoam is that can create depth that you cannot achieve easily on canvas. 

Any good art experiment means that you take time to observe and to consider each step carefully. So from this point on its about improvisation and taking the experiment to the next level. 

Check back later for more.

The Art of Landon Huber (New Work Added)

"Heads Vomit Heads"
Artist: Landon Huber
Twitter: @HuberLandon
Specs: This piece of art was first drawn by hand using pencil and paper and made into a tight drawing. Then scanned and digitally Painted using photoshop.
Purchase Info at: https://society6.com/landonhuberart

Grey's Notes on This Piece: Landon has an amazing sense of imagination. Viewing his work is more like taking a trip into the dark side of ones mind. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes enlightening. What I find interesting about the above piece is the symmetry. Surrealistic art is some of the hardest art to create symmetry within. But if you move your eyes clockwise starting at the raised hand and follow around in a complete circle, the symmetry is nearly perfect. The angle of the floor and walls, the archway, even the pattern on the floor still allow for an easy transition around the piece. If you flip the image, its easy to see that the symmetry does not work in the opposite direction. I look forward to viewing more of Landon's work in the future. ~G~

War & Surrealism Art

From time to time I get obsessed with a particular genre of images. This often results in an artistic exploration of that genre. The more knowledge we have as artists, the better our ability to explore more and more complex themes in our art. 

A recent obsession with urban decay led me to an exploration of war photos that show the bleak realities of battle. I took a particular interest in photos showing bombed out cities on the verge of collapse. I think there is a stark beauty in these images. There is no doubt that they carry with them a emotional depth that effects us when we see them. 

The image above was taken of Leningrad during World War II. Its one of many that fascinates me. I was looking at it the other night and I thought to myself, what if the image were raised up from stark reality to surrealism? What if the image took on an almost dreamlike state. How would it change perceptions of the image?

And right there I recognized a conceptual idea that needed to be explored. War and surrealism. So I reworked the image above to transform it into something new.

Dr Grimm's Freak Circus & Petting Zoo - Understanding the Concept Behind the Art

Dr Grimm's is part of my Evolutionary art series. The piece is a combination of graffiti and street art which is themed towards a particular subject. The Dr. Grimm's piece was developed for a show where the theme was clowns. The piece is 7 feet high by 5 feet across but only 4 inches deep. 

It is the second piece created for the Evo Art series. The first "The Door to Nowhere" was themed around climate change and was shown at a December show in New Orleans. 

There are a few unique aspects to the art form. 

The Idea Makers

The eternal search for new ideas becomes harder every moment that civilization exists. This is literally true. Our ability to create completely spontaneous and new ideas is gradually getting harder and harder. 

As technology increases we are able to explore new avenues of ideas and creativity, but we will eventually reach a point somewhere in the future where everything that can be thought up, very well might be. 

Depression and the Artist

Severe depression can be a fierce battle between sanity and insanity. Its an experience that I would wish on no one.

I watched my mother struggle with it her whole life. It was so bad that not once but on several different occasions I was forced (after I was an adult of course) to have her temporarily committed so we could keep her from killing herself. It was a constant battle and one that for much of her life was controlled by badly prescribed drugs that made her situation worse. But even in more recent years when the drug quality was much better, getting her to stay on them was a battle.

From Artist to Entrepreneur: How to Start a Home-Based Business - By Brittany Fisher (Guest Writer)

Photo by Pixabay

We all have something we are particularly good at or passionate about, and for you, it’s art. No matter what medium you use, you have a knack for it. With this particular artistic skill also comes the opportunity to start your own home-based business.

As an artist, you’ve already got the skills necessary to run your own business – tenacity, adaptability, problem-solver, self-critique. You have the framework, so here’s how to launch it.

Start with a Business Plan 

Let the Gallery Handle It

We take a lot of things for granted when a gallery handles a showing of our art. I discuss the negative aspects of the gallery system and how it is failing emerging and unknown artists. But lets talk about some of the positive things a gallery does.

We count on the gallery having an A List of potential buyers of our work. But there is a lot more that goes into doing a showing.

The Many Faces We Show the World - Understanding Identities

We all show a lot of different faces to the world. We shift from persona to persona so quickly sometimes that we are not even aware we are doing it.

As an artist and photographer I've had the opportunity to see a great many faces, but most are caught in a moments time and for me. That's the face that person will always wear because that is the image I captured. But occasionally the rare opportunity comes along to see past that one face and into a persons soul and identity.

I got thinking about this recently and wanted to understand it better. 

One of my models I've worked with for over 15 years. During that time I've gotten the opportunity to capture many sides to who they were. As a performer, an artist, a human, they have worn many faces and I have had the chance to observe them. Over successive years and many thousands of images, I've been graced with this persons friendship and an intimate look at who they are, who they were and who they might become.

The following series of images, some edited, some not, are a compilation of these faces. They are not by far all the images I have, but represent the diversity that one human being can be.

In looking at the images in this way its given me a chance to examine the human identity better and try to grasp what it is to be human and what it is to be an artist and a photographer who tries to capture a taste of that humanity. There is one last idea that is examined in their compilation. Do these images make us immortal in a way? There is an essential part of us that we leave behind in these faces we show the world? Or is it merely illusion? Of this I cannot answer.

Creative Mirror Show - A Celebration of all Things Creative

There are all sorts of creative venues trying out new ideas to attract art lovers and help artists get notice. Artists cannot rely on Galleries anymore to get seen. This is no offense against the gallery system. It has its place in the future of the art world. But artists are now taking their careers into their own hands and trying out new and innovative ideas to get their work seen.

The Amazing World of Evolutionary Art

What is it? Never heard of it. Is Darwin involved? 

Evolutionary Art is exactly what it is called. It is art that evolves. It is a piece of art that changes and evolves over time.

Art is typically considered to be static. For example, the Mona Lisa looks much the same today as it did when DaVinci first painted it. Yes there has been a lot of preservation applied to keep it looking like it does, but its basic has not changed.

In fact, art that has changed is usually defective. A great example is Jackson Pollock. When Pollock was creating his drip paintings, he used gloss enamel house paint for a lot of his work. This was a new product at the time which emerged in the 1930's. It was perfect for Pollock's uses, but as was found out later, it lost its color over time. This is why a house traditionally needs to be repainted every so often. The result is that some of Pollock's paintings are now beginning to devalue because they are loosing their color.

With this in mind, art that changes over time is usually frowned upon.

Troublesome Wood

Working with dead wood which has been laying around for 30 or 40 years, is that you occasionally encounter some problems. As a sculpting base its fantastic but sometimes there are some rather unusual problems. With the piece above, I was working on the restoration and cleaning of the piece when I found it had a decidedly large termite family living within it. In most cases once I've cleaned the wood, the local denizens all die. Not in this case. Its now been treated several times with an insecticide that permeates the cracks, but they still continue to wriggle out. I am hoping a third treatment will do the trick. But in the offhand chance it doesn't, the rest will be caught in their own tomb when I use an epoxy sealant on the wood as the final step of the restoration process. 

Do other sculptors have these odd problems???? 

Yeah it will look great when its finished! 

Death and the Artist

The Scottish author George MacDonald once wrote "How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset". 

How we look at death is as important as how we look at life. Death teaches us strength and compassion and lets us know that inevitably all things change over time even if we cannot always sense its passage. 

When I walk in the Cities of the Dead it is a reminder to me not of death, but of time. I look upon these solid stone tombs and I see the tiny cracks in the marble and then I look upon my artists hands and see the tiny wrinkles on my flesh and I understand that flesh or stone, nothing is ever permanent. 

So why be afraid? Like George said, its only the sunset. What happens when the sun rises again? 

~Grey~

To view the complete City of the Dead collection, click here: Walking in the City of the Dead

NEVER call me an "art enthusiast". Never call yourself an "art enthusiast". 
We are "Art Professionals". Anything less is demeaning and casts our art down to the level of a hobby.