A few months ago, while in the car waiting for Greg, I discovered the work of contemporary Italian artist Agostino Arrivabene via Instagram. I immediately feel in love with the dark, surrealistic imagery.
His work fits perfectly into the stable of Visionary artists that stemmed out of the The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism in the mid forties and became very popular in the seventies. The work also evokes a bit of Spanish artist Remedios Varo in style, content and use of materials.
A nice collection of Agostino's painting, sketchbooks and mixed media pieces is featured in the latest issue of Juxtapoz if you'd like to delve further.
All images were found on the internet, see more of the artists work at his website here.
A large group compromised of friends and family ventured to LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, yesterday. We went specifically to see the Dali exhibit. Salvador Dali is a rather controversial artist, who was prolific and visionary. He was also one of those rare breeds who balanced the art of creativity with income, unlike Mozart or Van Gogh who died in poverty. The exhibit at LACMA was focused on the artist's work in film and painting, thus most of the great paintings were not included. However, there is a wealth of his work in film, much of which I was unfamiliar with. I've always associated Dali as a painter, not a film maker. Dali was master draftman, extremely skilled with portraying an alternate realism, surrealism. During art school we viewed and discussed "Un Chein Andaloo" several times. It is considered a classic in both art and film circles. In the spirit of surrealism the film challenges logical thought. Other films included in the exhibit were Spellbound, directed by Hitchcock, and the Disney animated film Destino. Dali was a notorious character. This segment from "What's My Line" illustrates him perfectly.
Ernst Fuchs, the founding artist of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, was friends with Dali. Below is an interesting interview with Ernst on his relationship with Dali. The progression of the arts is so fascinating. The inspiration and reinterpretation continues on from one generation to another.
