Art Blog - Art In History

In my last post I dealt with the subject of multiple levels of meaning in an image. I realize that there is another way in which we use levels of meaning which I had not even touched on, the way which is most natural to me: the pun or double meaning. This can be a double meaning between the image and its title - word play - or within the image itself, which I will call image play. I am a punster from my earliest years, much to the dismay and suffering of my friends and companions. The earliest pun I remember (except maybe "what is black and white and red all over?") was the riddle "when is a door not a door?" "When it's ajar". What makes a pun so appealing (to a few of us!) is that we have that moment of connection between "ajar" and "a jar"… Continue reading… 1 comment

The other day a member asked me how she could get more visitors to notice her gallery among the multitude on the site. I gave her several suggestions, including sending people to your gallery through other media such as Facebook, blogging about it, or using key descriptive words in your text. Another way is to have a niche, a little corner of the art scene which, when a viewer is looking for it, they will find only a handful artists who qualify. If you are an Equestrian painter, or a painter of infant portraits, your chances are vastly improved… Continue reading… 4 comments

I recently had a wonderful experience as a volunteer participant in Best Buddies "Artistic Abilities" program. I went in wanting to donate my time to this very worthy organization; I came away with much more than I contributed. "Artistic Abilities" is a fundraising event for Best Buddies , an organization which works with intellectually challenged young people. Artists are paired with a buddy and collaborate to produce a work or works of art together. The main event will be held on Thursday November 5 at CityStage in Springfield MA, and will include an auction of the donated works… Continue reading… 2 comments

The question "Who was the greatest artist ever?" is a kind of idle speculation, an exercise for art lovers with too much time on their hands. To begin with, art and artists have begun from such different contexts, with such different means and intentions, that it becomes impossible to compare across centuries and cultures. Secondly, even to ask the question presupposes some standard of measure, a standard which is inevitably biased by our cultural framework, not to mention our personal taste. However, since we presume to judge the quality of art all the time, the question is almost unavoidable. I will ask the question here based on some very arbitrary limitations. I am going to ask it for the European art tradition which I know best… Continue reading… 1 comment