Dear Diary

Marlies Romberg
Top Secret USB Stick
Dear Diary 1.0
porcelian and silicone
wood
Image: mocoloco.com - modern and contemporary design blog

A quickie today that I discovered looking for something else, as usual. Marlies Romberg's goal: "to materialize the ungraspable fast digital world and create an opportunity for nostalgia in this future world."(mocoloco.com)

more images: http://mocoloco.com/archives/011440.php

Nouveau Railing

Balcony Railing, 1907-1912
Hector Guimard
patinated cast-iron
35.5 x 64 x 7 in.

I'm currently working through the Toledo Treasures catalog of art for my museum to become more familiar with the collection. While I won't be sharing specific works from the TMA's collection I am using it for inspiration and plan on sharing many artists new to me.

TMA has an amazing fireplace mantel that I can't help but fawn over whenever I walk through the gallery it lives in. I hadn't until now made a point in noting the artist. Hector Guimard is most well known for his Paris Metro cast-iron subway entrances (image: parisbuscards.com )

Guimard was part of the Art Nouveau movement whose aesthetic revolved around undulating lines and flower motifs. The decorative style was popular at the turn of the century. Guimard brought more of an element of abstraction to his art nouveau works.

Illusion

Bridget Riley (b.1931)
Hesitate, 1964
Oil on canvas
support: 1067 x 1124 mm frame: 1155 x 1100 x 54 mm
Tate Collection

When one mentions Op Art, Bridget Riley's paintings are the most famous example. I spent a lot of time with abstract art during a museum visit last week, none of which was by Bridget Riley, but I thought I would overflow into this week with the work of women. The Albright Knox Art Gallery owns at least one Riley, and this was my first experience with her work. As a child I loved it because of how it played with my eyes. I would move back and forth, closer, farther away from the painting to see how it changed.

Op Art refers to the optical effects that the work has on the viewer. The experience becomes dimensional and dominates the viewer's experience. Op Art and Riley's work had a very significant affect on commercial ventures such as fashion and design.

Riley's works don't get their due justice in a digital environment, despite their optical quality. Her paintings are often very large, and this has a very specific effect on the viewer who is in turn encompassed by the illusion and visuality in the work. The "fine art" aspect of Riley's work has been debated as her work fits more comfortably with decoration and design than fine art. An interesting article briefly tackles the distinction and Riley's work -
"Read between the lines: Are Bridget Riley’s paintings really fine art?" by Will Self.

Furniture

Charles Rohlfs (1853–1936) American designer and craftsman
Chair n.d.

I'm always trying to broaden the reach of this blog to include work beyond what falls typically into "Fine Art". I am going to try to include more decorative arts. One of my favorite areas of decorative art is furniture design. Beautiful and functional pieces. We recently got a catalog of the work of an American furniture designer, The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs. It doesn't hurt that much of my favorite design is from the 19th, early 20th c. when much was booming in my hometown of Buffalo. Rohlfs spent his design career there. Rohlfs work stems from Arts & Crafts as well as Art Nouveau but his unique artistic attentions make it stand alone. This chair was apparently salvaged from the garbage and recently sold for almost $200K.

Rohlfs career was overshadowed by his wife's Anna Katharine Green, a best selling author of detective fiction.

NY Times article about Rohlfs and the travelling exhibition of his furniture.