Pablo’s Pablum # 9

Today on Pablo’s Pablum, with your favorite art-history humorist, Pablo V III MFA, we will be discussing the subtlety of color and light that are, frankly, overt! For what is light without dark, or red without blue? Or even gray without… grayer, for that matter! The good folks over at Natural Palettes have apparently been asking this question, and answering it with beautiful images and gifs, but they have not factored into their equation the depth and breadth of knowledge that I have earned from my many hard months of community college! Take, for example, the foreboding scene below:

On the forecast for today: Grayscale!

I recall one of my professors–well, actually she was a T.A.–speaking about the psychological effects of color upon the brain, but I hated her navy blue pantsuits so I never listened to her. Perhaps there’s a connection… At any rate, the above image of a beautiful bolt of lightening set amidst a threatening sky is, as we can see, composed primarily of gray and black tones. It’s no coincidence that it evokes feelings of danger and discomfort: gray and black tones were the “it” colors for last winter!

Paint by Numbers: so that’s what they were going for!

The above image of colored blocks reveals a sense of warmth and familiarity, in no small part due to the chromatic scheme the artist chose to somehow turn into a picture of open country. Truly incredible what CGI is able to recreate from Microsoft Paint these days… Throughout history, we have had a rich variety of shades and hues at our disposal, which have been provided by the very Earth itself. In nearly every way, our rejection of differences based on visual cues has no precedent in nature. Just imagine the drab, mundane existence of a monochromatic world. Or, better yet, see for yourself!

DRAB!

The effect of uniformity upon the senses often creates a feeling of melancholy. Poetic imagery calls upon gray skies, dark clouds, and the like, for a reason! I’m getting depressed just looking at the image above, despite the beautiful juxtaposition of the correlating color palette. The intimation of cool temperatures and damp conditions is perfectly encapsulated by the intermingling of grays and blues… And also the cold, wet landscape pictured.

Pablo’s Pablum # 8

Hello and welcome to another installment of my illustrious illustraion elucidations! It is I, Pablo V. III, MFA, back for another brave, daring, witty post regarding today’s most esteemed artists that you’ve never heard of! I’m excited, if not trepidatious, to present the startlingly gentle works of digital collage created by Jennis Cheng Tien Li!

I’ve never been any good at these Magic Eye things, but I think it’s a 3D panda…

What we are looking at is… Well, I don’t know, but it’s evocative. The muted color palette belies the subdued tensions at play between the organic and the digital, the natural and the manufactured, the je ne sais quoi and the joie de vivre…

I’ve got that same sweater!

Pablo’s Pablum # 7

After a short hiatus, I, Pablo V. III MFA, have returned for another astonishing segment of cunning criticism and profound postulation! Today we’ll be looking at Michal Janowski’s chilling paintings, which seem to be pulled straight from the headlines of the collective unconscious’ favorite zine. This first piece by Janowski, entitled, “It Is Hard To Tell Which Part of a Dream Could Be Real; Man With The Melted Ice Cream” seems to deal with neither a man, nor melting Ice Cream. Unless, if by “man” you mean “horrific goat monster,” and by “Ice Cream” you mean “please stop gazing into my soul with your empty, nightmare eyes.” Nevertheless, it is evident that Janowski’s work draws heavily on the amalgamated memories of dreams long forgotten.

I’ll never be able to eat Ice Cream again.

With this second piece, “Shape Shifting as Favourite Method of Deception” a sense of mischief and dubiousness arises in the gentle smile of the beak. The color palette is brilliantly augmented by the inclusion of the two floating clementines behind our figure. And the brush strokes that Janowski employs are both seamless and overt, dancing between photo-realism and expressionistic… expression.

Clementines are so much more than tiny oranges…

Pablo’s Pablum # 6

The autumn chill is upon us and I, Pablo V. III MFA, wanted to join in with Comedy So Serious! for a seasonally appropriate post. Enter the dark and familiarly foreign world of Karborn and his series of pieces entitled, “Evidence of Time Travel.”

Looking more accurate by the day!

Through a multi-phase process, (involving Amiga 1200’s, a series of scan converters, VHS formats and Wobulators, among other phenomena I’ve never heard of…) Karborn is able to render these eerie images that beg the question: WTF?

“I saw a man who wasn’t there…”

The effect of Karborn’s process produces a vintage, antiquated look with a surreal and modern update rendered in the form of technological distortion.  The result, at least for this art critic, is a persuasive call to return to the subconscious, its collective memory banks blurred by our fast paced, digital world. Also, it’s kinda Halloweeny…

Pablo’s Pablum # 5

Welcome back to Pablo’s Pablum with me, your host, Pablo V. III, MFA. This edition of my recurring art critiques presented a unique challenge, to say the least. I want to go on record as saying that I initially spoke with Comedy So Serious! intern Q to ensure that we had been sent the right materials, and despite multiple assurances I’m still skeptical. Why? Case in point:

This piece is just so… You know?

If you’re anything like me–a highly trained, keen-eyed, professional artist–then you might be asking yourself, “Why am I looking at a blurry photo of a muddy boot print atop a frozen lake?” However, if the information I’ve been given is  correct, then this is, in fact, a multi-media piece, including photography, digital manipulation, and painting. It’s no wonder then that the artist, Mr. Eberhard Havekost, achieved such accurate representations of things never before seen.

The colors in this piece are bringing up a lot of… And they’re just… But, that being said, yes.

Though I have exhaustively studied the arts, I have never seen or heard of anything quite like this. You’d think that somewhere on the long road of art’s history, some arteest, at some time, would have experimented with abstract imagery and amorphous compositions. But no such art or artists exist, and you can take my word for it because I’m an MFA (editor’s note: he’s not).

Pablo’s Pablum # 4

Editor’s Note: This post may rightly be considered NSFS (Not Safe For Sanity), but as that is not a widely recognized term, we’ll opt for NSFW, almost exclusively due to extreme WTF’ery. 

Dear returning readers, your illustrious illustrator hath returned for another essay containing the secrets of what is widely known among the elite of the art world. Today’s critique took me on a psychological journey that I haven’t traveled since Yoko Ono’s shell-shocking performance of Katy Perry’s, “Fireworks.” Seriously… take a minute… go there.

Talk about a palette cleanser!

Now, just when you thought it was safe to go into the art-world… Bart Hess! 

I actually sort of liked “Prometheus…”

The following images, as well as the above, are from a series aptly titled, Slime, by artist Bart Hess. An extraordinary interplay of medium: photography, textile, horror, nightmares… The list goes on and on!

Pablo’s Pablum # 3

Jet-setter Deborah Stevenson has traveled far and wide, both geographically and artistically. Having lived in Washington, Japan, and both the west and east coasts back stateside, it’s apparent from these photographs that she has seen some of our planet’s rarer delights.

“Take your stinking paws off of me, you damned dirty ape!”

Even after years of Academia and personal involvement in some of the art world’s most elite circles, it’s refreshing to know you still haven’t seen it all. Miss Stevenson uses a rare form of art called collage, which I have to admit, I’ve never heard of.

Pablo’s Pablum # 2

Rudolf Stingel’s, “Untitled”

Ladies and Gentlemen, Artists and Arteests, there is a first time for everything, and today I’ve had a first. In preparing this article on Rudolf Stingel’s aptly titled, “Untitled,” I found myself at a loss for words. In my seven, nigh on eight, years as a liberal-arts undergraduate student, and thirteen months in my local community college’s “Master’s” program, I have never seen anything quite like this. My sources tell me Stingel’s work is largely abstract, but I don’t find his work annoying at all… Evocative of a throw-pillow, rather. Or, perhaps an appropriate reference considering our topic of artistic excellence, the sentient ecto-plasm from Ghostbusters 2…

Free Fireman Friday at Moma!

As I mentioned, Stingel’s work had a singular effect on me. I have never seen any artist, living or dead, destroy the preconceived notions of art with such bold timidity. His work reminds this critic of the movie Ghostbusters 2 in that regard, as well.

Pablo’s Pablum # 1

Seattle, WA based artist, Kelly M. Cook has done it again for possibly the first time. Merging the traditional Japanese ukiyo-e style with a contemporary depiction of the undead is a surefire hit. For connoisseurs of art, note the impressionistic hughes… the dance of light and shadow betwixt the rotting flesh of the cheek… the evocation of the senses that almost conjures the aroma of decay. A genuine delight. I highly suggest this to academics in the field of art and art-professorship, such as myself. Thanks to Zombie Research Society for their dedicated work in the field of the fine arts.

By: Pablo V. III, MFA