JaZzArt en València

Cheers…

* But you can easily skip them or break them…

However…

There is a rule that must not be broken…Rule #1…and that is that every brushstroke should be applied to the canvas with thought and with a specific purpose in mind. There should be no randomness in the manner in which paint is applied. Yes, at first, random brushstrokes are admitted…and even encouraged…but when you are finally shaping the structure of the composition, each brushstroke should be carefully thought out and purposely applied. This rule should not be broken because if you do, you will not be putting the thoughts into the composition that it requires. After all, I am assuming that you did put thought, intention, message and emotion into your composition in the first place…

And…

This rule…as all other rules…applies to figurative as well as to abstract art. I have often said that abstract art is the most difficult art to do…to do right…because the reference is internal, therefore it is very important that Rule #1 be followed diligently. Now, if you consider the example I have placed above, you might think that there is a lot of random dripping of paint…unmixed paint right out of the tube…and that little thought was given to where it would end up on the canvas. But you would be wrong. Like I said, the reference…for me, as the one who painted it…is internal, so it can change according to how I «see» this reference within my head. Yet the reproduction of it on the canvas remains faithful to the reference. And please do not confuse this with what the observer may, or may not, see when looking at the painting.

I chose not to give this painting a word title and instead I chose the number 1,2,3, as they, in their union, as a number, 123, stand in place of a philosophical concept, which I will not go into here, but it is meaningful to me. Nothing is random, nothing is intuitive, as intuition does not lead to a finished work of art.

CHEERS

This is certainly part of Art History, although it doesn’t really have much to do with the professional, philosophical and profound aspect of art. After all Art is an academic subject one studies at university, right? Well, a lot of these artists said they did not need that, all they needed was some paint, a canvas and a couple of brushes. Would Engineers, Medical Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and other professions say that amateurs pretending to be engineers, doctors, dentists and lawyers be the same as the ones that have suffered through 4 to 6 years of uni training?

And don’t get me wrong, I love Grandma Moses and Henri Rousseau. I don’t think much of some of the others, especially Frida Kahlo. You see, she is taken as an icon of women’s liberation, or feminism, but if you read her published diary and any other articles or books…very few…written about her, you will realise that she was definitely no feminist. She was a submissive woman who suffered gratuitously at the hands of an abusive husband and she still held him at the highest standard. That is not what a feminist believes and it is not how a feminist acts. So, especially if you are a fan of this artist, let me know what you think…

Well, here is my version of Naive Art. I do enjoy a lot of it…

Let me know what you think…

Cheers…

THAT

That feeling that now lingers and embraces
the place where shadows dance and silence roars,
has reached its highest point, its lonely climax,
has opened wide some long forgotten door…

That fragrance that now rises from your pale skin
that seems to know the way towards my desire,
has reached its highest point, has reached its climax,
and closed the wooden windows, lit the fire…

That deep, full smile,
that well placed love,
that gesture proud and bold…

That light that formed your careful form now conjures
long forgotten lines we traced on wrinkled papers,
later thrown, forgotten, sent to fly on pink-blue winds
its highest point its lonely climax reached…

Your voice…
Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seemed to me,
your voice untangled frightful dreams,
and scary nights and those tight knots that bind us to forever…

That’s why I can forget you never…

C.2021, 25 DEC 2021, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, Valencia, España

CHEERS

These three are very interesting and quite different in style and approach to their creative process. I think they are a great special edition to this series of «Art History in One Minute (videos)«.

CHEERS

THE TIMELESS CIRCLE OF MASTERS
(of art)

Usually most people think of the great masters of the Renaissance when asked about their favourite artist. Others look more to the recent past or even to the present. But knowledge of art history is very sketchy among most people and even among many artists who have not gained from the vast amount of knowledge that art history contains. So, the solution is to study art history?

Well, yes, but no, not necessarily. You can subscribe to my blog and to my YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/@FranciscoBravo Cabrera) and I think you will learn enough. That is if you are simply a lover of art. But if you are, or aspire to be, an artist, then you should study art history, as well as painting, drawing and other techniques. Education and preparation is essential for an artist.

So, let us look at what I am calling the “timeless circle of masters.” These are greats that not many dispute their inclusion in such a special group:

Leonardo da Vinci – mindful, experimental, the searcher
Michelangelo – impetuous, powerful, indefatigable worker, mystic
Rembrandt van Rijn – light and human truth.
Diego Velázquez – visionary, technical perfection, spiritual quest
Johannes Vermeer – seeking the light and its impact on the world and people
Francisco de Goya – painter of reason, nightmare and social criticism
Claude Monet – the birth of perception as art.
Vincent van Gogh – emotion as flame and colour as the medium
Pablo Picasso – inventing new ways to create, innovations, the search without end

I would say, unequivocally, that all of these, (whether I like them or not), redefined the meaning of a painting, or what painting was before them. They did not only work through their good taste and the search for beauty but of art being.

Here are some more that some art historians would probably add to the above “super” group:

• Caravaggio – light, darkness, and violence turned into revelation
• Frida Kahlo – capitalising on being a “martyr”
• Sandro Botticelli – a true maser of light, colour, image and greatness
• Salvador Dalí – self-agrandising, narcissist, non-genius who called himself a genius

And although these painters are now famous, some of them were not famous in their time, although some, like Velázquez and Goya excelled in the courts of kings and Michelangelo was commissioned by popes to decorate churches…

Some would say, and I would agree, that fame is only the faintest reflection of what truly matters in art…

Most of the “greats” did not live to chase recognition. On the contrary, their search, their quest was for truth, light, and the feeling of art, and used a canvas, or a wall, to find themselves within that search. Painting is seeing, and one must see with honesty and if you accomplish that, then you will walk the same path of the great ones even if only a few people know your name, or no one at all. As an artist you add colour to the world and things that did not exist before you picked up a brush, dipped it in paint and placed it on a surface. And that is no small thing. It is a search and it is the expression of what you found.

I have heard it say that, «Art is the quiet echo of the soul made visible. It asks nothing but attention, and in return, it teaches us how to see ourselves and the world anew.» I can subscribe to this statement only if I can add that art is also an academic/professional pursuit which demands of the student/artist education, preparation, discipline and good taste. And also the hunger to exhibit, sell and live off of his art. Art, can also, like a soft brushstroke across still water, stay with you if you let it…

So you, yes, you, what are you chasing in art?

CHEERS

Yoko! You’ve done it again! I never thought you would imagine…

But you did, or did you? I think the name comes from that song that your deceased husband released back in 1971, I think the name was «Imagine», no?

Well, this is nothing more than another one of your «zen» musings, or your «radical thoughts», right Yoko Ono?

Wrong…

It’s another stupid installation by the conceptual artist Yoko Ono, (who really thought hard on a title for this one!), you know the one that brought is the Wish Tree, the Bed-In and the Lighting piece (where she instructs us to light a match and stare at it until it goes out), and the Instruction Pieces where she asks us to smoke everything, even our pubic hair or to go out and step on every puddle in the city (although it may not be the rainy season)…

Yoko, I know you’ve a lot of money, after all you did inherit a pretty penny, and you can afford to indulge yourself in these fits of fancy, thinking you are bringing peace to the world, or love, or unity, or, well, frankly, stupidity is what I think, but can’t you just settle down into your old age and leave us alone?

Well folks, you never know. These signs, your «Imagine Peace» installations, are probably coming to every city in the world, even to your insignificant little village. And I am sure that coming generations will look back upon 2022 and say, «my word, she did bring about world peace!»

Cheers…

BAILA Ven,baila que hemos llegado al centro del salmo,y allí nuestro aliento es el signo,y la carne reza.Báilame al ritmo de los astroscuando nadie …

“Baila”, un poema de Francisco Bravo Cabrera

Pincha el enlace para leer el poema completo.

GRACIAS