A Trove of Art History, at Your Fingertips

A relatively recent start-up that takes the best of old school art historical research and marries it to the latest in app technology

By Jennifer Landes | July 30, 2013

 

Bridget Goodbody takes her work home to Amagansett, above, and New York City, as well as on the road for research and techie conferences in order to build intensive but fun interactive iPad apps about art and artists. Morgan McGivern

 

Sometimes it can be hard to tell when a project or company has reached a tipping point. So often things can appear just on the brink of a breakthrough and then fall just short of the last leap.

This is not the case with Art Intelligence, a relatively recent start-up that takes the best of old school art historical research and marries it to the latest in app technology to create a seamless narrative devoted to some of the more inventive and cross-cultural artists of the past few decades.

Bridget Goodbody, a Columbia University-trained art historian and former professor, art critic, and manager of Julian Schnabel’s studio, is the founder and curator of Art Intelligence, which has released two apps for iPad, one on Patricia Piccinini and one on Keith Haring, just launched this summer, with two more in the works on Cai Guo-Qiang and Cindy Sherman.

The part-time Amagansett resident has left the classroom behind for a new kind of teaching, one that crosses generational and technological divides to deliver a dynamic and fluid timeline of history focused not just on the artists in the app, but on their milieu, bringing to bear on their work’s meaning the world and cultural events happening at the time of its creation as well as key moments in the artist’s life.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the classroom and as an art critic. When looking at an artwork you need to tell the viewer what it is, but everybody wants to know something different,” she said recently. “It’s not necessarily clear what it is that people are getting from a work of art, but they want it to be meaningful to them.” An app can allow for a personalized experience that can grow and deepen with continued use.

She said she worked with developers to design apps for the casual consumer, who can purchase them in the Apple App Store, as well as for educators who want to incorporate them into the classroom to study art and history and even as a way into scientific concerns. As an educational app in iTunesU, the company can offer discounts to high schools and universities. She said Apple has been very supportive of her efforts because they help raise the standard of what can be done with the format and how its visual and interactive components can be utilized in different ways, such as answering visual questions visually.

“People want an understanding of art. I think a lot of them are baffled by art experiences — ‘What am I supposed to think about it? How am I supposed to think about it?’ — There’s this hunger to ‘get it’ in so many ways.”

The Haring app, for example, incorporates a monograph’s worth of research but in ways that are purely interactive and not didactic. For more information on a particular painting, click on it. Up comes the title, date, medium, and some descriptive context. Then click above it for the historical events that were shaping the artist’s life and point of view at the time. Click below it on the timelime of the artist’s life to see what Haring was doing at the moment he was conceiving and realizing the work.

There is no omniscient narrator prating on about why this or that is important. All of the information presented is important, or at least pertinent. Its actual import comes from the particular interest of the viewers and where their exploration of it takes them on any given day.

The artists she has chosen have been eclectic, but they are tied to each other in that they transcend many genres and cross over into other concerns, be they science or science fiction, human rights, politics, music, popular culture, symbolism, or whatever else comes to mind. She credits her undergraduate work in anthropology for a more global and rounded approach to the artists she has chosen so far.

Ms. Piccinini, an Australian artist, is fascinated by the natural versus the manufactured as it is realized in biotechnology and consumer culture. Her invented cross-species mutations are very popular with science fiction enthusiasts as well as art audiences. “She gets people to think about the relationships between animals and humans. Artists are good at bringing different things together,” Ms. Goodbody said.

Haring, famously, had the whole ’70s and ’80s art and music scene as his backdrop. It is hard to imagine him out of the context of the Village People, Madonna, and Boy George, Danceteria, Mudd Club, and the Palladium. If he wasn’t in the clubs, his art was, and it was everywhere else as well: public murals and his Pop Shop store’s clothing and accessories. He was also an ardent member of the anti-apartheid movement and a voluble spokesman for gay rights and the understanding of AIDS, the disease that took his life.

Cindy Sherman, the latest to approve an app, is a perfect platform to examine the image of women, from the earliest manifestations of her “Untitled Film Series” to her recent “Society Portraits” series. In her long career, she has explored the essence of clowns, classical narrative painting, the fashion world, the semiotic power of mannequins, and other digressions of interest. Her active digestion of cultural norms and historic and current depictions of women can be placed in multiple contexts, shaped by endless events of recent history and should be a natural and dynamic subject for this format.

Ms. Goodbody won’t say which other artists she is working on getting, but she admits she has quite a long list. “The platform can work for a lot of different kinds of artists and even movements such as Abstract Expressionism.” Her work with the artists she has so far is keeping her rather busy these days. Although Ms. Sherman only recently signed, Ms. Goodbody has been in the stacks and reading rooms at Columbia University already, gathering the research that predates the 1990s, which seems to be a cutoff point for a lot of digitization.

She has taken it upon herself to familiarize herself with at least the basics of the technology she is working in so that she can better discuss her needs with developers and make suggestions and describe formats she is reasonably certain can be achieved. She has also been active at various tech conferences and Apple’s own worldwide developer conference, which had 5,000 tickets that sold out in a minute (she credits her old concert-going days to making sure she was able to get one). “I’m the art historian among all of the engineers. It’s great to be around the makers, building and experimenting. . . . They’re really down to earth and interesting.”

What she has learned is that building an app is like constructing a building, and technology needs those with broader insights to help it reach its greatest potential. “You can make it do a certain thing, but will people like to live in it? Will they move around in it? Will it answer their needs? These are all humanities-based questions.”

From the East Hamptom Star

Mosaic Tile Bird Bath using recycled DVD's

A few years ago, we bought a bird bath on clearance at the end of the season. We brought it home, set it up, and within a week, it had fallen over and broken into several pieces. And that could have been the end of the story, except that Hubby decided to glue it back together a couple of weeks ago. He’s a good guy like that.

There were still some pretty big cracks to patch up though.

So in anticipation of all the birds that would be flocking to our birdbath this year, I got out my secret weapon: J-B WaterWeld.

It’s specifically designed to “repair and seal in underwater and wet conditions,” not to mention that it’s drinking water safe, which makes it the perfect repair for a birdbath because it won’t harm the birds.
It comes in the form of a tube of clay. Just cut some off and kneed it together really well, mixing the two compounds so they form a strong epoxy. And no Hubby, that is not one of our kitchen knives. It just looks like it. ;)

Smooth it over the crack, and let it dry for 60 minutes. I probably used way more than I needed to here, but you get the idea.

Next, I sanded it down with my orbital sander to make it nice and smooth. At this point, our birdbath is water-tight again. Yay!

But it wasn’t exactly the look I was going for. Let’s face it, the only way this birdbath was ever going to look good again was if I completely covered it. So when I ran across this Mosaic Gazing Flower Pot by Dannielle at The DIY Show, I knew exactly how I would do it.

Isn’t that pretty? So I went through my stuff and came across some computer backups that I had made on DVD about 10 years ago. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t going to need that stuff again, right?

As I began cutting them apart, I realized that DVDs have two layers, not one.

I decided to pull the layers apart, because they were coming apart anyway.

UPDATE: Because I had so many questions about this part, I posted a quick tutorial showing step by step how I separated the layers, which you can read about here.
For this project, I used the silver part only, and set aside the clear part for another day. (CDs only have one layer, and using them will result in a more subdued color.) I cut each DVD half into 6 or 7 “pie” slices, leaving a little attached at the center to keep them from popping all over the place.

Then I tore each pie slice from the center ring,

and cut the edges off. I didn’t show it, but I made one more cut to the piece shown below, sort of half way across, tilted at an angle.

The side you want showing on your finished project is the part that was inside the two layers of the DVD…that really shiny silvery rainbow stuff. I’m such a sucker for all those colors, they make me want to swoon.

I realized quickly that that beautiful shiny stuff will wash right off if you don’t protect it with something. So I used Krylon Crystal Clear Gloss to spray the individual pieces. It’s non-yellowing and good for indoor and outdoor projects. (This step isn’t necessary if you’re using CDs.) I’m not sure how well it will hold up to constant submersion, but I have a plan to deal with that later. And in case you’re tempted to spray the DVDs before cutting them, I think it’s better to wait so you can get all the edges covered too. Just spray them several times from different angles to be sure.

Next, I started gluing the pieces to the edge of my birdbath. They look really purple-y here, but don’t worry.

I used Liquid Nails Clear Seal. I didn’t worry about getting the pieces completely covered on the bottom, I just dabbed a bit under each piece. Not that I know any better, just that I didn’t think I could do it any other way without making a gigantic, sticky mess. I was trying not to get glue all over the pretty shiny side.
With the rim of the birdbath covered, it was starting to look so much better already.

I covered the edges too, to give it a finished look.

Here’s what it looked like, about 20 DVDs later, when I was done gluing the pieces on. I think I took about a hundred pictures of it like this, because it’s so striking, and looks different from every angle.

As much as I loved it though, I was afraid the bathing birds would get their little feet stuck in between the cut DVDs. And I didn’t know how well the pieces would wear without some grout in between.

I did a lot of research before I chose a grout. And I’ll be honest, I don’t know if what I used will last or not, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I used Mapei Keracolor S Sanded Grout with Polymer in white, with Grout Boost mixed in, both available at Lowe’s.
This was the scariest part for me, because I’ve never done anything with grout before. Nor mosaics for that matter. I just knew I was going to ruin those beautiful rainbow colors as soon as I started spreading the grout over it. And no, Hubby, that is NOT our kitchen spatula. It just looks like it. ;)

But low and behold, the results were exactly what I was hoping for.

It has a much different look from before, with the white grout in between.

And once again, I snapped about a hundred pictures.

I can’t get over how the colors change with the angle and the light.

Here it is atop its pedestal in a little bed of hostas and impatiens.

It has three weeks to wait until I can put it outside for good, according to the instructions on the package of grout.

And that’s fine with me. It gives me some time to do a little more research on whether I should cover it with another layer of protection, and what that layer would be. If you have experience in this type of thing, I would LOVE to hear from you!

Also, I need to decide what to do about the underside of the basin, as well as the pedestal.

Do you think I should do it like the top? Leave it as is? Paint it a solid color? I’m open to suggestions.
http://www.meandmydiy.com/2013/05/mosaic-tile-birdbath-using-recycled-dvds.html

Ten-year old painter: A "mini-Monet" in the UK

As the latest darling of the art world — a selection of his works sold for £400,000 in the past two weeks alone — you might expect Kieron Williamson to be celebrating his success with a whirl of celebrity parties and champagne. Instead, when he isn’t painting, Kieron is at primary school or, now it’s the school holidays, playing with his friends. For the artist known as Mini Monet due to his incredible watercolour and oil paintings is just ten years old. His pictures, sought after by collectors all over the world, fetch up to £35,000 each. Twelve days ago, his earnings surpassed an extraordinary £1.5 million after 23 paintings sold for £242,000 in just 20 minutes in a phone and internet auction.
Meeting Mini Monet is a disconcerting experience. Small and softly spoken, Kieron looks not a day older than his years. His studio is in his parents’ house, next door to the kitchen. Scattered about the room are discarded canvases, paints and, on an easel, his latest work — a delicate pastel of a bluebell wood. Yet how can a child be capable of producing such beautiful, impeccably executed artworks? Could this be merely a clever scam to fool the art world, with a professional artist hidden away in the house, painting away night and day and passing off his work as Kieron’s? Or does Kieron’s dad do them for him? Certainly not. Kieron’s preternatural talent is real, and his proud father Keith, 47, and mother Michelle, 40, are as confounded by it as everyone else.
While Kieron is relaxed and at ease with his genius, it’s a different story for his parents. They appear as tortured as they are thrilled with their prodigious son. ‘I know it sounds good, but we really feel the pressure,’ says Keith, an art dealer. ‘When I sell a painting I know what I’ve paid for it and I know what mark-up I need to put on it. But how can I put a value on my son’s paintings? It’s very difficult. Michelle adds: People say “Oh, their son has a company and his parents are directors”, with the inference that we’re making some sort of business out of him. But we have to be directors: he can’t manage his money because he’s still a child.
‘The money doesn’t mean much to us. Keith and I have never had much money. It doesn’t bother us.’ Indeed, they live in a modest barn conversion in North Walsham, Norfolk. They are ordinary parents with an extraordinary child.Aside from the £800-a-month salary Michelle draws as a director of the business, Kieron’s earnings are put aside for him. ‘At least four times a year, we talk about not doing any more exhibitions or selling any more paintings, but the thing is Kieron enjoys having the exhibitions and selling his work. He likes the idea of people enjoying his pictures.’

 

Preternatural talent: Kieron's pictures, sought after by collectors all over the world, fetch up to £35,000 each. Twelve days ago, his total earnings surpassed an extraordinary £1.5¿million after 23 paintings sold for £242,000

 

And the money has enabled Kieron to acquire a remarkable art collection of his own. Hanging in the living room of the family home are 25 paintings by the eminent Norfolk painter Edward Seago, a favourite of the Queen Mother, with a combined value of £300,000. Though Kieron may have been dubbed a Mini Monet, it is Seago who is his inspiration. Well, Mini Seago doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it? Kieron’s most recent acquisition was a painting by L. S. Lowry. How much was that?  ‘Er, about 30-something thousand, I think,’ he replies casually from the sofa.

Remarkable: The boy first started showing an interest in art from the age of five, during a holiday with his parents in Cornwall

He gave up toys when he discovered art and has no interest in computer games. He even owns a house in Ludham, Norfolk, in which he plans to build a studio when he is older. Kieron is clearly no ordinary child, but there is no clue as to where his remarkable talent comes from. Keith and Michelle are not remotely artistic, though they are keen collectors, and from the age of 12 months Kieron showed an interest in their pictures. ‘He would gesture at the pictures on the wall and would always notice when they’d been moved around,’ says Keith. As a toddler, Kieron, who has a nine-year-old sister, Billie-Jo, liked colouring in pictures of dinosaurs. He was neat and precise, but otherwise unremarkable. In 2007, his father, then a builder, ruptured his Achilles tendon and was told by doctors he would not be able to continue work. Boldly, he decided to have a go at art dealing, selling pictures he bought at auction.
In 2008, the family went on holiday to Cornwall and it was there that five-year-old Kieron first expressed a desire to ‘draw what he saw’.
‘He asked us to buy him a drawing pad,’ says Michelle. ‘He painted a bay we had visited, with the sky, sea and boats on the water. For the rest of the holiday he painted. ‘The pictures were childlike, but with more detail than you expect from a child that age. ‘We assumed that when we got back home he would return to his toys, but it continued. ‘He filled every spare moment of the day painting, and insisted on using artist quality materials.’ In the following months, his parents began to realise that Kieron’s talent was unusual. Baffled and quite at a loss to answer his questions about style and technique, they sought help from local galleries, who helped him to join local watercolour and oil painting classes. Unsurprisingly, he held his own alongside the adults.

 

A little parental encouragement: Kieron's parents spoke to local galleries, who helped him to join local watercolour and oil painting classes. In 2009 he held his first exhibition at a local gallery in Holt, aged only six

 

‘I just wanted to paint,’ says Kieron simply, with an appealing mix of shyness and self-assurance. He knows he is gifted but he isn’t one to boast. In 2009, one year after the trip to Cornwall, Kieron held his first exhibition at a local gallery in Holt. He was just six. Michelle and Keith are acutely sensitive to perceptions that they are ‘pushy’ parents who engineered that exhibition and the others that were to follow. They say they simply thought it would be a nice idea to put up a few of Kieron’s pictures in one of the art galleries for a local festival. When a local newspaper wrote about his wonderful pictures, a TV crew turned up at the door. Word spread — and suddenly there was a rush. All 19 were sold for between £200 and £1,500, earning Kieron £14,000. ‘It hadn’t even occurred to us that people would want to buy Kieron’s paintings,’ says Michelle. ‘It was unbelievable.’

Keith adds: ‘While the exhibition was on, a woman came into the gallery and asked to see Kieron’s paintings. She said she had worked in all the big galleries in London.
‘She took hold of one of Kieron’s pictures and became very emotional. She said: “He’s an Old Master returned.” It was very affecting.’ Mini Monet was born.

Kieron at work on the Norfolk broads: He gave up toys when he discovered art and has no interest in computer games. He even owns a house in Ludham, Norfolk, in which he plans to build a studio when he is older

Kieron paints landscapes, seascapes, fishing scenes, city scenes. He particularly likes rustic scenes, and laments that scenes of old barns and suchlike executed by Edward Seago are so hard to come across. Indeed, there is something about Kieron that seems to belong to another, gentler world. At his second exhibition at another local gallery later in 2009, 16 of his pictures sold for £17,000 in just 14 minutes at a phone auction. ‘We really had no idea what would happen — whether the first auction was a one-off and that no one would buy the pictures second time round,’ says Michelle. ‘Things went a bit crazy.’ Keith says that as Kieron’s painting made quantum leap after quantum leap, there was never any pressure on him to paint. ‘Kieron paints when he wants to. The only pressure he gets from us is to do his homework. ‘He will paint for weeks and then stop for weeks. As far as we’re concerned, during those dry periods, if he doesn’t pick up a paintbrush ever again, that’s absolutely fine. Kieron dictates the pace.’And it is hard to keep up. To date, Kieron has created more than 1,000 paintings. In his studio, he talks me through the process.
‘I usually paint in the mornings,’ he says. ‘It takes between two-and-a-half hours and four hours to do one picture. There’s no plan as such as to what I’ll paint next. I take a photograph and work from that. ‘I like to draw faces with character. Sometimes I’ll get bored or unhappy with a painting and I won’t finish it. I wasn’t happy with the trees on this one (he gestures at the picture of the bluebell wood), but I think I’ve got it right now.’

Moody: Kieron paints landscapes, seascapes, fishing scenes, city scenes. He particularly likes rustic scenes, and laments that scenes of old barns and suchlike executed by Edward Seago are so hard to come across

Kieron's father says that as his son's painting improved in quantum leaps, there was never any pressure on him to paint. 'Kieron paints when he wants to. The only pressure he gets from us is to do his homework,' he said

By 2010, aged seven, Kieron’s reputation had spread worldwide. In July 2010, an exhibition of 33 oils, watercolours and pastels sold within half an hour for £150,000. Collectors phoned in bids from Tokyo, Canada and Germany. Then, in November 2011, Kieron made £106,260 when a dozen paintings sold in ten minutes and 50 seconds. Last July, he sold 24 paintings for £250,000. ‘We were very worried about the responsibility placed on Kieron’s shoulders as this so-called Mini Monet,’ says Michelle. 'Keith and I were very stressed. ‘Keith was getting palpitations from the stress of it all.  ‘For us it was an ethical dilemma, but Kieron wanted it — he was very clear about that.’ To ensure Kieron, who turns 11 next month, has no pressure placed on him, his parents stipulate that he won’t take commissions; nor will an exhibition be organised until Kieron has actually produced the paintings to fill it.
‘There is no timeline, nothing to work to,’ says Keith. ‘If he paints he paints; if he doesn’t he doesn’t.’

'I usually paint in the mornings': To date, Kieron has created more than 1,000 paintings

Sought after: Michelle says Kieron¿s earnings have been a mixed blessing for the family

 

At the sale 12 days ago, which made Kieron £242,000, the pictures sold for between £2,450 for a small watercolour to £30,000 for a winter snow scene near his home in Norfolk. And just last Friday, another 12 went under the hammer, taking that figure of £242,000 up to £400,000. Michelle says Kieron’s earnings have been a mixed blessing for the family. ‘For some reason, people treat you differently when they see you apparently earning big sums. ‘Though we’ve had some incredible support along the way, we’ve also lost friends. People stop calling you. They perceive you differently. But we haven’t changed. ‘It’s Kieron’s money, not mine or Keith’s. We live modestly. But sometimes when we’re out and about and people recognise Kieron, I feel as if I’ve got two heads. We’ve lost our anonymity.‘And the pressure does get to you. We have to make decisions, about Kieron’s finances for example, that no one understands. ‘We haven’t yet got the work/life balance right. We haven’t been on holiday since 2010 because it’s been so relentless.’

The artist at work in his studio: Kieron works in a room in his parents' house, next door to the kitchen

At home, Michelle explains, she and Keith try to create a normal environment for Kieron. ‘That’s when we’re happiest,’ she says. ‘When we’re at home and there’s no attention on Kieron and we can just be ourselves. ‘Billie-Jo idolises Kieron and teases him — she calls him The Golden Child. She is artistic as well, but she is more “normal”, if you like.’ Kieron’s parents’ most recent ethical dilemma has been a decision on his schooling. Last week was his final week at primary school. In September, instead of going on to secondary school, his parents have decided he will be home-schooled. ‘We’ve had criticism about that, with people saying: “Give the boy a childhood,” ’ says Keith. ‘But we’re worried that Kieron will be singled out, picked on, treated differently.

‘I want to carry on painting. I don’t think I’ll go to university, but if I do it will be to study architecture. I also want to be a writer’    Kieron on his future

‘And home schooling will give him the flexibility to carry on painting, which is what he wants to do. He’ll join the local football team — he’ll have friends.‘And if it doesn’t work, then we’ll send him to school.’ And how does Mini Monet see his future working out? ‘I want to carry on painting. I don’t think I’ll go to university, but if I do it will be to study architecture. I also want to be a writer.’ Next month, the family are going on a much-needed holiday, returning to Cornwall, to the place where it all began for Kieron. He says he is looking forward to painting the coves and the fishing scenes. ‘Something happened there, but I don’t know quite what,’ says Michelle. ‘I’m hoping we’ll find out — and perhaps then we’ll be able to make sense of it all.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2378435/Why-Mini-Monet-Kieron-Williamsons-parents-say-genius-burden.html#ixzz2avhSSECJ

American Modern: Hopper to O'Keeffe

At the MoMA from 17 Aug 2013 to 26 Jan 2014

The standard narrative of Modern art’s development begins in France, around 1860, and proceeds from Manet to Monet to Cézanne. Picasso is next in line, followed perhaps by Mondrian, whose abstraction is often understood as the culmination of Cubism. As far as American art is concerned, the story does not usually begin until 1913, with the groundbreaking Armory Show in New York, which is seen as bringing Modernism to the US. Even then, America’s role in the evolution of Modernism is generally considered a secondary phenomenon, with American artists lagging behind their European counterparts until the mid-century emergence of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

Changing Landscape Although this story is broadly true, it is sweeping. That is the argument of the exhibition “American Modern: Hopper to O’Keeffe” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, organised by the curators Esther Adler and Kathy Curry. The show looks at American art in various media from 1915 to 1950, charting the changing visual and intellectual interpretations of modern life through the work of artists such as Arthur Dove, Stuart Davis and Charles Sheeler.

“There is a perception that Modern art lived in Europe until New York became the centre of Abstract Expressionism,” Adler says. “But MoMA had a tremendous history of promoting and exhibiting early American Modernism. In some ways, the exhibition is a way to recapture that past.” In Adler’s catalogue essay for the exhibition (which is supported by the MoMA Annual Exhibition Fund), she explains how the museum’s founding director, Alfred Barr, far from relegating American art to the European sidelines, firmly believed in its independent status.

Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925
 

“Many of us feel today that there is a great virtue in being an ‘American’ painter as opposed to one whose work shows foreign influences,” Barr wrote in a 1933 essay on Edward Hopper. Adler says the artistic and cultural environment of the time was one of “trying to define an authentic national culture”, adding that “there was a great need for American curators and critics to separate this work as being American and only American, as being distant from Europe”. Although nationalism may seem today to be politically suspect, it is to be recalled that America is still a young country with a relatively short cultural history to draw on. The enduring legacy of this art is its contribution to that ever-expanding story.