A Lyrical August Gift: Tam Van Tran
I’m always wowed by color. And when I found out that the landscape-like backgrounds of this artist’s work are derived from pond scum powder (spirulina is the source, considered a healthy a ...
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Curator's Corner
Artists with August Birthdays: Sakai Hōitsu and George Bellows
Monthly artists’ birthdays are a good way to introduce you to a variety of artists I actually adore, while contrasting art from vastly different cultures. I’m not going to call it “i ...
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Curator's Corner
Architecture as Sculpture: Hoysala Empire
When Western art history books talk about “architectural sculpture,” it is usually in the context of Romanesque and Gothic churches/cathedrals in Europe. When one is looking at temple arch ...
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Curator's Corner
Self-Taught Artists
I was recently studying the insanely wonderful art of contemporary artist Carmen Cartiness Johnson, and I noticed that her artist’s statement said right off the bat that she is “self-taugh ...
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Curator's Corner
Women's (Art) History Month: Kajiwara Aya
I like to feature pioneering women during National Women’s (Art) History Month. The arts are obviously no exception to the fields in which women have pioneered and excelled. This is as true in J ...
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Curator's Corner
Temple on Active Volcano's Slopes! Pura Besakih
I’m naturally concerned for Pura Besakih (Mother Temple). It is situated on the slopes of Mount Agung, which is currently causing havoc with its eruption in Bali. It survived a major eruption of ...
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Curator's Corner
The Iconoclast (?): Zhan Wang
It would probably take me forever to be able to say that I had “seen it all” in the world of art. You know the old expression, “just when you thought you’d seen it all,” ...
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Curator's Corner
An Art Ode to Labor Day Week: Kim Deuk-sin
I often marvel at how hard producers of the TV show M*A*S*H tried to faithfully depict everyday life in Korea. Of course, looking at this scene from the turn of the 1800s is an unfair comparison to 19 ...
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Curator's Corner
An Art Ode to Labor Day Week: Okumura Masanobu
My Labor Day Week series continues with this ukiyo-e woodcut. ...
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Curator's Corner
An Art Ode to Labor Day Week: Majapahit Empire
I know that Labor Day is past, but we can keep it going throughout this week with a few works of art that represent the working class. The subject of labor has been a trend in art going all the way ba ...
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