Paper Clips

 Until I saw this slow motion GIF, I really had no idea how paperclips were made. ( That statement probably holds true for most things I use on a daily basis).

via Bits and  Pieces

After deciding to post this, after posting nothing but the weekly quiz for quite a while, I decided to see if I could find anything else fascinating involving  paperclips.  I was amazed by the beautiful sculptures created by the Italian artist  Pietro D’Angelo. Not all of his sculptures are of people reading. I just liked those the best. Click here to see a portfolio of his works.

la favola, fermagli nichelati (2010) by Pietro D’Angelo

Librarsi (2011) by  Pietro D’Angelo

After seeing these nothing else online related to paperclips seemed that impressive. It would be wonderful to see these works in person, but after searching for a while it

1. appears they are not currently on display anywhere, and 
2. the artist has changed the material he uses to screws. 

Quante “Vite” ha il gatto (2014) by  Pietro D’Angelo

Con Game

According to Wikipedia:

Elmyr de Hory  was a Hungarian-born painter and art forger who is said to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world. Following his death in 1976, de Hory’s paintings became valuable collectibles. His paintings had become so popular that forged de Horys began to appear on the market. (Read more here).

Minnesotan Mark Forgy, de Hory’s assistant / bodyguard from 1969 until de Hory’s death, maintains the official website elmyr.net. He has written a book about his experiences and a play based on the book.

The following quiz comes from Mpls/St. Paul magazine.

But how good could Elmyr de Hory’s works really be? We pitted his pieces against the masters in who’s style he was working in Con Game:

Click here and scroll down past the videos to take the quiz.

I scored 61.54% (8 out of 13). I was able to use knowledge gained from taking a tour of

at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts last Tuesday to correctly pick the 2  done by Matisse. I guessed on the other 11.

To read the full article from Mpls/St. Paul magazine click here.

Simply Creative Illustrations

By adding simple drawings to everyday objects, Javier Pérez creates wondrous images such as these.

Many more images can be viewed on his website.

via My Modern Met

How to Recognize the Artist of Paintings

You can see more of these posted on Imgur.

Fish Scavenger Hunt

Saturday was member preview day for the new exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Audacious Eye. Description from the MIA website: This first-look exhibition of 120 highlights from the Clark Collections, recently acquired by the MIA, offers unusually rich and personal insights into the scope of Japanese art and the nature of connoisseurship.

It’s my favorite exhibit since China’s Terracotta Warriors were there last winter. Afterwards I decided to do a “fish scavenger hunt”. The MIA is huge and I have a tendency to stick to certain paths so that I don’t get lost. I’m serious! Here’s the map of the second floor: The red squiggly line is the path I take from the stairs to the special exhibit. I have a similar path on the third floor that gets me to the main photography exhibit which is located right above the Target Gallery (which is where the special exhibits are located).

Searching “fish” on the MIA’s Art Finder gives 584 results. Most of these aren’t currently on view and the “limit results to items currently on view” option isn’t working. The “listen to an audio tour on your cell phone” from our web site wasn’t working Saturday either.

In 60 minutes of searching, I found these fish:

Top left: Detail of wallpaper from Gallery 328. Supposedly there is a game box with playing pieces in the shape of fish in that period room. I didn’t see it but was very happy when I noticed the fish  among the numerous non fish images on the wallpaper.

Top right: Details from two oil paintings, A Fishing Party Off Long Island by Junius Brutus Stearns and A Sea-Nymph by Edward Coley Burne-Jones.

Bottom left: Detail from Shallow Bowl with Double Fish Motif

Bottom middle: Detail from Plate with Trianqi exterior

Bottom right: Pendant in the Form of a Fish and Pendant in the Form of a Fish, I searched the collection of Jade in this gallery twice but wasn’t able to spot Pendant in the Form of a Fish or Pendant in the Form of a Fish.

I also found Nautilus Shell Cup but couldn’t get a good picture of it! You’ll have to click on the link if you want to see what it looks like.

Hopefully the next time I go to the MIA the website will be fixed.

Linking to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.

Can You Tell The Difference Between Modern Art And Paintings By Toddlers?

In 2005, ABC News asked artists and an art historian to distinguish between modern art and art by 4-year-olds. They didn’t do too well. 

Some of these paintings are on refrigerators. Others are in MoMA.

Can you tell the difference?

Take the Quiz

I also didn’t do too well. I got 7 out of 11 correct.

ABC News ran this test in response to  public  reactions to  Christo’s massive public art work, “The Gates.” For two weeks in February 2005, 7,500 metal gates draped with orange fabric were staked along 23 miles In New York’s Central Park. Some people called “The Gates” a masterpiece. Others called it an ugly nuisance. 

ABC News also ran the test on their web site and conducted the test with New Yorkers at a Manhattan mall.  Those groups of people also didn’t do too well.

The Gates Photograph by Morris Pearl

via Buzz Feed

Sculpture Garden at the Walker

Yesterday I played mini golf with a friend at Walker on the Green: Artist Designed Mini-Golf. This is the third summer  there has been a mini golf course set up by the sculpture garden across the street from the Walker Art Museum, and I finally managed to make it there and play.

The course was crowded, so I didn’t take pictures. You can see a slideshow of the course here. Previously there was mini golf at the Walker the summer of 2008 (pictures from that course) and the summer of 2004 (pictures of that course). It makes sense that I missed playing in 2008. I have no idea why I didn’t go in 2004. I love mini golf.

While there, I took some pictures of the 25 year old Minneapolis Sculpture Garden planning to link to Mosaic Monday.  I forgot that Mary at Little Red Ren is on a “blogging break” until I tried to link this post. (There’s no Mosaic Monday this week to link to.)

Your Dog

I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts today and saw a very big dog. The size of the statute Your Dog is 72 x 51 x 108 in. (182.88 x 129.54 x 274.32 cm). There were hardly any people at the art museum today so I sat down on the floor and took some pictures. I think the snow and sleet caused many people to decide to just stay home today.

Your Dog, 2002 Fiberglass Yoshitomo Nara Japanese, b. 1959

You can see a much better picture and find out more information about this statute and other items in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ collection on their website.  That’s how I found out it’s measurements.

Have You Seen These Paintings?

Twenty-three years ago, 2 men dressed as police officers tied up the security guards and stole 13 works of art worth $500 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  Yesterday, the FBI announced that they knew the identity of the thieves but the art hasn’t been located. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is offering a $5 million reward for the return of those 13 pieces of art stolen in 1990.

These paintings were among the items stolen.

Edgar Degas, Program for an artistic soiree (1)

Edgar Degas, Three Mounted Jockeys

Edgar Degas, La Sortie de Pesage

Govaert Flinck, Landscape with Obelisk

Rembrandt van Rijn, A Lady and Gentleman in Black

Édouard Manet, Chez Tortoni:

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait

Johannes Vermeer, The Concert

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

More information is available on the FBI’s website.

link via Miss Cellania

Finalists Smithsonian Photo Contest 2012

The Smitsonian has released the 50 finalists

These are my favorite photographs in each catagory

The Natural World

A Man-Made Ice Geyser Photo by Nathan Carlsen (Duluth, Minnesota). Photographed in Duluth, Minnesota, January 2012.

Travel

Musicians Arriving at the Bullring Photo by Raul Amaru Linares (Bogota, Colombia). Photographed in Quito, Ecuador, October 2011.

People

In One of the Small Churches in Nazareth Photo by Ilan Fain (Haifa, Israel). Photographed in Nazareth, Israel, July 2011.

Americana

Apple Guy on Location in the Desert Photo by Ron Henderson (Dallas, Texas). Photographed in the Dumont Dunes, California, May 2011.

Altered Images

Il Duomo di Firenze Photo by Garret Suhrie (Los Angeles, California). Photographed in Florence, Italy, October 2011.

You can see all 50 finalists and vote for your favorite for Readers Choice at Smithsonian. Currently, only one of my picks has more than 1% of the votes cast. And that one is in 10th place. It’s fair to say that none of these will win Reader’s choice. In all but the last group I had one clear favorite. The photo I picked for Altered Images won because it was taken with a point and shoot.