Since the Art Gallery of NSW has brought some of Picasso's masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso Paris to Sydney, i thought now is as good a time as any to upload my own little piece of abstraction.
I'm hoping this exhibition will enhance my appreciation of the genre.
I find that Picasso's work, in a nutshell, to be very much revolutionary, and lets face it the world would be a different place without many forms of abstract art.
However, in saying that, i do not find it my favourite artistic platform.
For Picasso being a firm staple as one of the most influential artist of the 20th Century, i feel somewhat guilty saying such things. (Popular society tends to do that). But alas, I am not an art critic and have never claimed to be. I am in no position to be making judgement calls and outlandish statements that some might misconstrue as what i am saying as being a 'hater'. A hater i am not, but we all have our favourites, and this style - albeit with all due respect - is just not one of them.
I do hope this exhibition whets my appetite to embrace it more than i do presently.
Would be interested to hear from any Galerians to share their P.O.V's to help me on this journey - as you all know i relish to be educated with a difference perspective.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
The 1953 movie Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo.
Though here's a fun fact: with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter took his place.
The Hollywood blacklist is known as a list of any screenwriters, actors, musicians and directors who were denied employment in the entertainment industry due to their political beliefs or involvement with the American Communist Party. During the period of the Cold War, particular at its height between the 1940's-1950's, the list was explicit and ruined the careers of many talented artists.
While of course I am not sympathetic to the cause itself, i am glad we now exist in a world where political and religious beliefs do not dictate what artists can and cannot achieve rightfully.
Gladly, Trumbo's credit was reinstated when the film was released on DVD in 2003. On December 19, 2011, full credit for Trumbo's work was restored.
Kudos!
On another note, Dendy Newtown is showing a special screening of Roman Holiday on Valentines Day. So get on your mopeds lovers and see it on the big screen.
One of the most famous pin up artists and pulp illustrators of the golden era was Mike Ludlow, and i for one am a huge fan.
Ludlow was a glamour illustrator who did much pin-up work in the late 1950s for Esquire. He painted the entire twelve-page calendar for 1957 - the last published by the magazine. His pin-ups also appeared in the series of three-page centerfolds known as Esquire's Lady Fair. For these works, Ludlow often called on actresses like Virginia Mayo and popular personalities like Betsy Von Furstenberg in addition to professional models.
Besides painting his Esquire pin-ups, Ludlow had another entire career as an illustrator of romance articles, providing pictures of beautiful women to mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, Collier's, and Family Circle. From 1950 to 1960, he also painted many front covers for paperback novels, including among his clients Pocket Books, Dell Books, and Bantam Books. All his paperback covers had a strong air of sensuality and featured sexy pin-up girls as the main figures.
*Source: The Great American Pin-up by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel.
And so the Guess campaigns continue...
We've seen Drew Barrymore and Cindy Crawford thus so far, and now for the crème de la crème - Claudia Schiffer. She became one of the most famous models in the world thanks to this highly publicised campaign, which furthered her career in the US and put Guess in the spotlight as one of the most recognised clothing brands of the 1990's. Marriage made in heaven? The pictures speak for themselves.
