THE TILTED ROOM

Hawhawhawhaw!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for the delay. I've been incredibly busy! I have many, many things to blog about, so stay tuned!

MY KID'S CARICATURES

Haw! Haw!  Here's (above) a Theory Corner exclusive: a drawing of Ben Franklin eating a bug. I bet you won't find that anywhere else on the net!

My daughter drew it for "Be Fat" magazine, which was self-published by my son. It was a whole magazine devoted to what my kids believed was my insatiable consumption of sausages and candy.

Is that a canker growing out of my jaw? Hmmmm...maybe it's a Frankenstein-type electrode.

Here's (above) a woman with a daisy in her hat. She has an electrode, too.  My daughter loved to draw like Don Martin.

Yikes! It says it's a caveman (above) but the "Wow!" identifies it as me. It looks like in my desperation for food I fought a tiger over a slab of fat, and got mauled in the process.

This was an important time for my kid's artistic development. The very week these Be Fat pages were drawn and salted away was the same week she first tried out her new caricature style (above). That would stay with her for years. No more Don Martin!

In the same dated envelope I found this drawing (above) I did of my kid....

...and this sketch (above) that John did of me. I guess we all drew each other in the same week.

WHY I LIKE ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

The criticism of Abstract Expressionism that you often hear is that the painterly examples are just glorified artists palettes, that any competent painter produces beautiful patterns on his palette in the act of painting. The hostile critic asks, "What's so special about that?"

Well, far be it from me to disparage palettes. If artists were smart they'd sell their palettes instead of throwing them away.

Even so, a palette-type painting (above) wouldn't be very satisfying.  It's a limited form of expression. 

But, come on, Abstract Expressionism is obviously more than that. Here's (above) a picture by AE artist-in-good-standing, Willem DeKooning. Okay, it superficially resembles a palette, but surely you'd agree that it's more than that.

These are carefully chosen colors that evoke strong emotions and the blended textures and color fields deliberately prompt questions about how and why color works. I haven't seen such an interesting study of color since Nolde and the Fauves.

Here's one of Frank Stella's three-dimensional Sculpture-paintings. Wow! How exciting! It's a celebration of life and intellect and the senses. What's not to like?

Here's a guilty pleasure of mine...a black and white canvas by Franz Kline. Kline took a lot of flack for being "merely" a calligrapher. He's actually more than that but it's hard to appreciate his work if you haven't seen it large, and in real life.

Kline's work is highly decorative and looks great on living room walls. That's not a Kline above, but it'll serve to make my point.

I shouldn't have to say this but there's nothing wrong with art being decorative. Matisse was decorative. The Cluny Tapestries are decorative. Decorative is fine. A work can be challenging and decorative at the same time.

While I was gathering pictures for this post I did a search for  "Abstract Expressionist Architecture" and was surprised when I came up with nothing. I did find clusters of buildings that collectively seem to make an Abstract Expressionist mosaic, but no single buildings in that style.

I guess AE is a busy style that requires lots of angles and, as any contractor would tell you, the more angles the higher the price.

My guess is that the best real-world place for AE to take root is in landscaping. It's hard to believe that this landscape designer (above) wasn't influenced by that movement.

Haw! Jackson Pollack would feel right at home in this forest.

GARY PANTER AND OUTSIDER ART

Here's my favorite picture of Gary Panter, the amazing artist who did the "Elvis Zombie" picture in my left sidebar. Gary's what you call an "Outsider" artist.

Here's (above) another view of Elvis Zombie, this time darkened and compressed. 

You can see what some of Gary's influences must be: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Picasso, Pollack, underground comics, Punk, Graffiti,  and maybe Leger, Stella, Dufy, Hockney and Basquiet. No doubt I'm missing names. It doesn't matter much because Gary managed to carve out his own style regardless of influence.

Here (above) he tries a crayon look.

Haw! Panter (above) must have been influenced by 3D comics, the way they look before you put the glasses on.

And here's (above) the world as it would appear if we were all made of happy little colored worms..

Ouch! This one hurts! I like Reagan and I hate to see him ridiculed this way. Even so, I simply can't ignore the beautiful technique.  

For those who didn't recognize Basquiat's name (spelled right?), here's an example of his work, above.

I also mentioned Stella. I'm guessing the above picture is his, but there's Lichtenstein and Hockney influences. 

Here's (above) a Leger from 1944. Boy, the roots of Outsider Art go way back, back to Dada in fact.

Despite all its resistance to commerce, Outsider Art also finds its way into fashion photography. I generally prefer happy, cheerful styles but I'm seduced by the cleverness of this approach. It's so...bold!

30S AND 40S FASHION

Right now fashion favors the thin, skin-hugging, emo-influenced look, but amazingly it also favors...or at least tolerates...the opposite (above): the luxurious, wrinkly, over-size, sort of designer baggy look. Baggy's the wrong word but I don't know what else to call it. 

I'm not talking about the baggy that skateboarders wore. I'm talking about something with design and good fabric...something like Hepburn is wearing in the picture above. It looks great. It may never go out of style....a true classic.

That goes for men's fashions, too. Men's suits looked great in the 30s. We should dress like that now.

The 40s look was even better. The shoulders were padded so that every guy looked manly, like Superman, and the pants were wide so you could jitterbug in them.

Not every set of threads was equal, though. There was the upturned sharp-shoulder look, which I find detestable.  The too heavy slacks in those suits drooped like weighted drapes.

Zoot suits were part of this period, and they were hilarious, but covering that would require another post.

GERMAN-AMERICAN RAILROAD STATIONS

I'm a big fan of the German built - North American railroad stations that were all over the East Coast and Canada about 140 years ago. 

Even small towns had terrific train stations in those days. I guess it was a matter of civic pride. 

 I'm curious to know who designed these. Were they built by German American immigrants or by European Germans who came over for specific projects then went back home again?

Surviving European German rail stations from that period (above)...the small to medium ones... don't look like the American type.

If our stations were designed by European Germans, and the Euro-Germans themselves didn't have them, then the good architects of this movement must have been lured over here by money, creative opportunities or by difficulties at home. There's a story there...I wish I knew what it was.

I'll assume that German immigrants built these beautiful things. I don't think most people realize how creative these people were. Look at the German-style "el" stations in New York City. They're first rate.

 I see a dynamic mixture of styles: Arts and Crafts, Gothic, traditional German, Victorian, and another style which I still don't know the name of, which deliberately exposes the structure of a building. It proudly puts the engineering right out there, where you can see it.

Geez, I think I even see a precursor of Expressionism in there (above)!

The German American railroad style even influenced Frank Lloyd Wright. That's his Nathan Moore House, above. It's like a railroad station you can live in...only with sharper angles.

It even influenced his famous Robie House (above). It looks like a train station, doesn't it? The roof especially reminds me of something you'd see on railroad loading platforms.

Why is all this important' you ask? Because the German American rail station style is one of the best wide-spread architectural styles ever invented in the Western World. Maybe the very best. Let that sink in. The very best.

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BTW: Kinkade, a commenter, makes the point that German-American Henry Hobson Richardson (1838 -1886) might have been a big influence on this style. He certainly had a fondness for railroad stations. He was a terrific designer, no doubt about it, but the stations he built were influenced by his take on the Romanesque style, which is different than what I've shown here. But, who knows, maybe Kinkade's right. Anyway try some of the links he sent.  

'JUST FOOLING AROUND