In a new study published this month in the journal Emotion, psychologists suggest that to really enjoy abstract art, you should watch something scary first. After experimenting on 85 Brooklyn College students, researchers deduced that fear tunes one into the abstract aesthetic, to the “novelty, ambiguity, and the fantastic” — more so, than say, 30 jumping jacks or a funny video. Science!
Why? Because fear and the sublime are emotionally linked. Because fear motivates the fight or flight instinct and makes us more alert, priming us mentally for “difficult” geometric abstractions of Lissitzky or the measured cubist chaos of Picasso. Because one of the “evolved mechanisms for coping with danger” is escapism from daily life. Why not escape into a good painting? We’ve curated a modest selection of frightening film scenes and art duos, specifically selected to complement each other. We think this will enhance the experience of the works and bring out their punch… or jab, stab, slash, what have you. Let’s try it out!
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Today would have been Ansel Adams’ 110th birthday. Whoa! The famous photographer and environmentalist pioneered his own exposure and contrast system, and lugged a large-format camera across the American West to produce what are some of the most memorable natural landscapes in the history of photography. We’d like to give him a standing ovation by highlighting a few essential landscape photographers, as well as some evocative, alternative talents mining similar themes and scenes. Enjoy! Just don’t blame us if you’re suddenly struck with a violent bout of wanderlust or impassioned environmentalism.
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Tomorrow is Yoko Ono’s 79th birthday. Can you believe it? Nearly 50 years ago, John Lennon visited London’s Indica Gallery and climbed a tall, white ladder, grabbed a magnifying glass that was dangling from a thread and read the tiny Ono Ceiling Painting… on the ceiling. It said, simply, “YES.” Moved, he demanded to see the artist. And that’s how they met. Or not. It’s one of those rock ‘n’ roll myths.
Ono’s written messages are a large part of her body of work, as are “Instructional Paintings.” You might say this delegates her to the group of artists who don’t “make” their own work – instead, “Instructional Paintings” are pieces of work that are fully formed in the artist’s mind, placing the creation on the spectator. Here are some of the artists who do just that — create instructions for manifesting or completing their artworks.
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The 55th World Press Photo Contest has rounded up some of the most chilling and gorgeous photographs taken in 2011, capturing revolutions, natural disasters, and all the violence and beauty that shook the world last year. We weren’t surprised to see Donald Weber’s images of the tense hell inside a police interrogation room, or some of the iconic images that dominated the news, like the young rejected “bride” attempting suicide in China. We were however happily surprised by master photographer Guillaume Herbaut and his portrait of the provocative, topless protestors from Ukraine and Johnny Haglund’s almost surrealist photograph of a young girl fishing in the Congo river. From over 100,000 submissions, the judges have culled this powerful gallery of winners. We’ve made you a smaller one. See them and be moved. A warning: Some of these are graphic and NSFW.
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Australian photographer Mark Tipple’s The Underwater Project captures surfers and swimmers frozen mid-action as they’re thrown down by the force of waves, escaping a cloud-like avalanche of frothy water, plummeting toward the sandy ocean floor, and thrusting themselves triumphantly towards the rippled, silver surface. Yes, these images are quite striking and totally refreshing… because Tipple wants them to be. With this deliberately appealing project, the photographer is trying to bring attention to the humanitarian organization Gallery for Justice, bridging fine art and coverage of social justice issues, like documenting the plight of transients, junk yard gleaners, and child buskers in Jakarta. Now back to the surf. Enjoy these sparkling, compelling visions of the underwater world and maybe, pick up a copy of the book.
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Quick, think of someone you physically admire, not just because they’re pretty or handsome, but also because what they do is sexy. Admit it, artists are very sexy, especially those whose art reveals their smarts, humor, mischievousness, and perversions. Inspired by Hyperallergic’s Top 10 Art World Figures I’d Like to F*ck, we’ve rounded up some not necessarily provocative, but sexy, nice-looking artists for you to drool over. Or rather, I, your art editor did that, so all comments and complaints shall thereby be addressed to me. Without further ado, presenting: Artist Crushes. Let the gushing begin!
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This gentleman of yore would like you to talk dirty to him. That’s what “TD2M” means, right? The Internet lexicon of today’s young’uns is baffling and surprisingly complex, like some sort of pedestrian haiku on crack. Let’s take a look at some of these coded acronyms and Tweets, re-imagined as very formal 18th century American paintings by artist Shawn Huckins. Of course, my good gentlemen and ladies, if you think LDO, ITS A CWOT (Like Duh Obviously, It’s A Complete Waste Of Time), don’t. Go eye roll in the corner somewhere. We happen to think that these acrylic hybrids of portraits and word paintings are rather brilliant.
The American Revolution Revolution series asks, “The physical act of typing very fast on small devices has undeniably impacted spelling, grammar and punctuation, encouraging a degree of illiteracy that has become the new social norm. As goes our grammatical literacy, do our social and cultural literacies follow?” Indeed.
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Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and some of us here at Flavorpill are feeling silly. Or, you know, nauseated and glum. Sigh. So, what are we going to do? We’re going to play the Famous Artworks Matchmaking Game! Yay! Remember when you were kid and you’d smack your Barbie and Gumby together and pretend they were a couple? It’s like that. We’re pairing up the classic, contemporary, and pop culture works of art — and their subjects — that we think should go on a date and have a nice time together. Feel free to rain on our silly love parade in the comments section. We realize that it could be quite cathartic this time of year.
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Photographer Viktoria Sorochinski began this project in 2005, when the young 23-year-old mother and the 3-year-old daughter’s bond was most dramatic. “It was often hard to tell who held the power and control between the two, and who was learning the essence of being a human in this world,” she writes. So, she brought out the co-dependent and child-like nature of both through folk tale-influenced, phantasmagoric scenes. As time passed, both grew and the young child drifted off into an imaginary world of her own. The dynamics of this changing relationship come to life in a beautiful series Anna & Eve, currently on view through February 25 at the Courtesy Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. See the series in our slideshow — part documentary, part enchanted family album.
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We know that some kids just aren’t alright, but this time, we’re focusing on their folks. From ghastly, painterly scenes of classic filicide to controversial contemporary photographers who use their children as muses, here are a few examples of questionable, problematic and plain terrible parenting through the ages. Are we being too harsh? Did we miss someone? Feel free to tsk-tsk in the comment section.
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