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Fascinating Photos of the Models Who Inspired Famous Artworks

By Alison Nastasi on

We’re fascinated, and slightly unnerved, by Flóra Borsi’s photo manipulations, which bring abstract figures from paintings to life. They apply a surreal and cartoonish twist to the traditional notion of the model as subject, and mischievously toy with our separation of real and aesthetic dimensions. Of course, the two are intimately related, and the real-life models of the fine art world have their own fascinating stories to tell. Fortunately, the advent of photography offered artists the opportunity to capture their sitters for reference. See famous artworks and the models that inspired them, side by side, in our… Read More

Art

10 Great Works of Literature and the Famous Artworks That Should Illustrate Them

By Chloe Pantazi on

Literature and art often work best together. Walk into the New York Public Library and you’ll find a heaven of books amid decadent paintings. Frank O’Hara’s 1957 poem, “Why I Am Not a Painter,” is best read alongside Michael Goldberg’s painting, Sardines. More recently, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs came up with Bookcam, a sculpture that, as its title suggests, is a working camera made out of books. And The Book Lovers, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts‘ current exhibition, which features novels by Carl Andre, Salvador Dalí, and Andy Warhol, is all about the relationship between books and art. The show inspired us to explore that relationship further by matching artworks to our favorite pieces of literature – we think these would make fantastic illustrations. … Read More

Art

From Picasso to Dolly Parton: The 10 Best Giftable Art Books of 2012

By Leigh Patterson on

Art books: the absolute best “no one needs this, everyone likes this” gift option out there. We sifted through this year’s wealth of art book offerings — from highbrow to lowbrow, $10 to $750 (?!!) — to provide ten page-turning suggestions we guarantee won’t just sit collecting dust on your coffee table. Enjoy! … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds In Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we wished cute puppies would fall from the sky more often — and we’re super glad a hawk didn’t eat this free-falling pooch. We hoped no one would actually wear Queen Elizabeth II’s underwear currently up for auction. We had a moment of silence for Donna Summer and… Read More

Pop Culture

The Art World Redefined Through Contemporary Slang

By Alison Nastasi on

A recent article in The Guardian brought attention to Urban Dictionary entries that redefine the giants of literature through contemporary slang. They range from the stupid (JK Rowling: being under the effects of cannabis (J) and ketamine (K)), to the sublime (Kerouac: to wander aimlessly for the giddy thrill). The New York Daily News cited the entries as being a “history of literature as seen by millions of 17-year-olds today,” but as The Guardian points out, some familiarity with the writer’s canon is required to make the quips successful — which means there has to be some literacy at play here.

We wanted to see if the same rules applied to the art world, so we clung to our brain cells (just in case) and went digging through Urban Dictionary’s website for slang versions of famous artists and related works. See what we found past the break, and let us know if you have your own redefinitions to contribute. (Diebenkorn, for instance, is just screaming for appropriation.) … Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. Last night, Jay-Z hosted an exclusive advance listening session for Watch the Throne, his collaborative album with Kanye West — which we now know includes two songs featuring Odd Future’s Frank Ocean and one (“Life Off”) with guest vocals by Beyoncé. Hova still wouldn’t disclose a release date but promised fans would hear the material… Read More

Art

Paris Through My Eyes: The Essences of Our Favorite Cities In Art

By Emily Temple on

In an interview about his newest film, Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen declared, “I wanted to show the city emotionally, the way I felt about it. It didn’t matter to me how real it was. I wanted it to be Paris through my eyes.” Inspired by the king of fantasy destination films (Vicky Christina Barcelona anyone?), we’ve created a highly subjective list — not of art that is necessarily directly representative of a specific city, nor art that is necessarily created in that city (though there are a few of each on our list), but of art that feels like our favorite cities to us, that calls up the same responses and urges, the same colors and sense memories. Please feel free to chime in with your own choices, feelings and ruminations in the comments! … Read More

Cocktails

Cocktails Inspired By Famous Artists

By Judy Berman on

In the wake of last night’s midterm elections, we imagine many of our readers have turned to drink (or plan to, come five o’clock). Allow us to help you out with that. Inspired by HTMLGiant’s wonderful list of Writer Cocktails, we bring you 10 brand-new Artist Cocktails, meant to embody everyone from Rothko and van Gogh to Jeff Koons and Pipilotti Rist. As you might have guessed, some of them are disgusting. … Read More

Art

Photo Gallery: Delia Brown Channels Frida Kahlo

By Paul Laster on

Known for her lively paintings and works on paper of ladies of leisure, Delia Brown wields a deft brush to present herself and her female pals in stylish settings. Mixing illustration with appropriation art, the talented Ms. Brown places her subjects in familiar situations from art history, print media, and film. She’s painted self-portraits à la Picasso and Gainsborough and captured her friends in the roles of distracted socialites. And, in her current series of works, Brown envisions herself and her mates as Frida Kahlo look-alikes lounging around gardens and fireplaces in a spirit of camaraderie. … Read More

Art

Nail Art Goes High Art

By Judy Berman on

Is it just us, or is nail art — from geeky to stylish to just plain weird — everywhere these days? While we’re not usually motivated to go above and beyond our customary, single-color home manicures, we have great respect for those who take the time (or enlist a pro) to do something different. In fact, nail artists the world over — especially the folks at London’s WAH Nails and participants in NAILS magazine‘s Mini-Masterpiece contest — are recreating high-art masterpieces, using fingertips and acrylics alike as a tiny canvas. After the jump, we round up some of our favorite designs, from Picasso’s Desmoiselles d’Avignon to Munch’s The Scream. … Read More