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World Press Awards

February 10th, 2012 // View Comments // Paper Boat Creative

Professionals, amateurs and photography enthusiasts alike will be eagerly awaiting the results of the 55^th World Press Contest as it reaches a verdict for the photojournalist of the year on the 10^th February 2012.

The competition which is run by a non-profit organization, founded in the Netherlands in 1955, is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest in the world; the role of photojournalism highlighted to an audience of millions.  2011 also saw the first additional contest for Multimedia submissions.

The travelling exhibition of the prize winning photographs reaches 45 countries and is an opportunity to not only showcase talent, but highlight the human condition.

Jodi Bieber won the Photo of the Year, 2011 with her portrait of Bibi Aisha, 18, whom ‘was disfigured as retribution for fleeing her husband’s house in Oruzgan province, in the center of Afghanistan’.

Any guess on who the winners might be this year?

Street Art

February 7th, 2012 // View Comments // Paper Boat Creative

Whether you agree with street art or not, there is no denying that the movement is creating waves with visually stimulating adornment of our concrete and brick cities. Even more importantly, freedom of speech has found a contemporary niche; encourages a broader audience to question the reality of our fishbowl urbanization through art.

For some artist whom have been elevated to an iconic status amongst art critics and collectors –such as London’s own Banksy– the streets have become a platform to raise awareness of social and political issues.  A contemporary hybrid of graffiti, it finds its origins in Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and Urban Gangs to mark territories or broadcast social and political views.  Historical cave drawings throughout the world suggest an inherent desire to communicate through art as far back as up to 35,000 years.

While there is no question that illegal street art is vandalism, according modern artist Bansky “You live in the city and all the time there are signs telling you what to do and billboards trying to sell you something. I always felt that it was all right to answer back a little bit, I suppose. That the city shouldn’t just be a one-way conversation. ”

What do you think? And although it might upset Banksy, you can brief your other commercial artwork requirements now!

Paper Boat Creative

Illuminating the Void – Eugene Wood

February 3rd, 2012 // View Comments // Paper Boat Creative

Amidst London’s maze of unconventional warehouse style accommodation, a new talent is emerging from the underground art scene with a force to be reckoned with.

Eugene Wood’s studio, a large classroom in an old run down school building distinctly smells of wet oil paints and is cluttered by random curios, such as the stuffed fox that greets you at the entrance.  The large canvasses that fill the room entice and hypnotise; transporting you into a dark and mysterious world.

‘Illuminating the Void’ couldn’t be a more befitting title for this body of work which is currently being exhibited at Art Work Space, London,  till the 4th of March 2012.   Wood, a graduate of the prestigious Institut Supérieur de Peinture Van der Kelen-Logelain (Brussels), combines classic ninteenth century art methods with contemporary surrealism to explore a balanced fusion of colour, form, composition and technique.

With the distortion of patterns inspired by isolating objects and surfaces–which within context could go unnoticed–Wood draws the viewer into a new perception of reality.  A subtle sense of tension and fear is coupled by the duality of soothing, fluid beauty, evoking emotions buried deep within one’s subconscious.

Paper Boat Creative

Learning From Tuscany

January 31st, 2012 // View Comments // Kathleen Delaney

Tuscan furniture is based on the Italian style of furniture design. Its origins come from the ancient culture and heritage of the Italian city of Tuscany. Tuscany is situated in the northern region of Italy, and it is a simple town in the outskirts of the countryside. The furniture manufactured in this region is inspired by the events that took place during the Renaissance period. The interior pieces being manufactured today have a unique blend of modern trends and the basic folk culture of Tuscany. Hand painted works of art and ancient veneers add to the beauty and finesse of Tuscan furniture design. Contemporary designers can learn a lot from the intricate craftsmanship found in the furniture of Tuscany. Designers also do well to incorporate Tuscan pieces into their interior design projects.

Materials Used for the Furniture of Tuscany

Various kinds of material are used for designing and manufacturing Tuscan furniture. The most frequently used material is wood collected from a wide range of cyprus, fir, and chestnut trees. Other materials that are commonly incorporated into the design include leather, iron, steel and other metals. Wrought Iron is often used to create intricate leaf and vine designs.

The furniture of Tuscany can look a lot like Spanish creations when the piece incorporates leather. Contemporary Tuscan furniture designs include materials like polished marble and tiled mosaics. Interior pieces contain colors that allow ancient Tuscan designs to blend in with a contemporary environment. Thick red marbles add rust undertones, and blue gives the piece of furniture a more contemporary look. Tuscany furniture doesn’t compromise on quality, so keep that in mind as you design your interior project.

Why is the Furniture Design of Tuscany So Popular?

Not only can Tuscan furniture be customized, but it can easily alter the look of various interiors that are found inside and outside of Mediterranean culture. The look of a house or a business that is decorated with Tuscan furniture can be enhanced with the use of complementary accessories. Of course, the personality of the business or the homeowner should be considered before any final design decisions are made. For an extra unique look, designers may also consider incorporating furniture that contrasts with Mediterranean décor within their interior project.

Another reason the furniture of Tuscany is a popular choice for designers is because it is versatile. The furniture of Tuscany has various themes. The themes represent elegant pieces of interior art.  It’s the job of the interior designer, however, to arrange these various pieces into a space with a central design theme.

It’s worth taking the time to appreciate the furniture of Tuscany.  If you are interested in making your interior design project look classy and modern, then try keeping it simple and colorful with furniture from Tuscany. A perfect blend of ancient heritage and modern design makes the furniture of Tuscany an excellent choice for your next project.

A little different from our usual art focus – so let us know what you think!

Kathleen

The Art of Fashion

January 24th, 2012 // View Comments // Kathleen Delaney

Alta Roma is an artistic fashion show with all of the qualities of a traditional cat walk event. In addition to fashion, it features many other events. This amazing show is in collaboration with the famous fashion magazine, Vogue Italia. Alta Roma is aimed at launching new faces in the fashion industry, and it receives its contributions from well established designers and new designers. Exhibitions of clothing, fashion conferences, and photographic galleries are also held at this event.

Where and When

Alta Roma is a biannual event held twice a year during the winter months of January-February and the months of July-August in Rome, the capital city of Italy. Like the previous years, the first event of 2012 will be hosted in Saxia at the Complesso monumentale Santo Spirito. The event has to be scheduled from January 28th to January 31st, 2012.

Enjoy Fabric and Have Fun

This year’s event includes ventures like Ethical Fashion. Ethical Fashion is a project between the Alta Roma Franchise and the International Trade Center. Its purpose is to equip the fashion industry with the best possible tools to maintain standards of the highest quality. This year’s event will also feature an exhibition called Limited/Unlimited. Limited/Unlimited will showcase the talent and enthralling works of new designers in collaboration with Swarovski and Yoox. The Alta Roma will conclude with the presentation “Who is on next?” from Pitti Imagine Filati and Vogue. This popular event will be a highlight for the third year since 2009. “Who is on next?” will feature renowned personalities in the prestigious jury for judging the best designers from the group of upcoming designers in collaboration with Italian magazine Vogue Italia.

A Show Packed with Dazzling Events

Fashion on Paper is an event organized by Maria Luisa Frisa.  Fashion on Paper will engage the fashion-minded individuals in round table discussions. Their discussions will be based on the current artistic events and scenarios in the fashion world. Popular fashion magazines will be organizing musical events along with debates and presentations on fashion. This event will also mark the advent of a new dawn in local fashion.  Mainstream technology will play an important role in Alta Roma in the form of social media and new fashion blogs. The biannual magazine, Artisanal Intelligence, will also be featured. ‘The Tailor Made Tour‘ is another notable feature that will take place during this event-filled fashion show. Features will also include the much anticipated Vogue Talents Corner. The beloved Vogue Talents Corner features 14 budding fashion designers who are taking the art form to a new level.

If you have a passion for the art of fashion, then be sure to get the most out of Rome by taking the time to enjoy The Alta Roma. Mark January 28-31, 2012 on your calendar. You will not want to miss the fashion conferences, clothing exhibitions, and detailed photographic galleries that The Alta Roma is famous for. Visit this amazing event and immerse yourself in the art of fashion. For more information visit: http://www.altaroma.it/

An Amazing Night of Art

January 18th, 2012 // View Comments // Dorothy

For lovers of history, artifacts, sculptures, coins, and various others forms of art, the Long Night of Museums is full of golden opportunities. This amazing art event spans for about 400 sq kilometers. The strip of artistic exhibitions is between the Waterplant Friedrichshagen museum and the Local History Reinickendorf. About 100 different museums will offer free visits to visitors. The museums are offering visitor access to their unique museum collections and featured exhibitions. This unforgettable event is hosted twice a year in the capital city of Berlin, Germany. The next event takes place during the months of January/February 2012. This amazing night of art not only features a variety of exhibitions, but it also features recitals, performances by well known celebrities, theatrical performances, and much more. This event is a highly anticipated night of enjoyment for local people and visitors from all over the world.

© PhotographerPaul Prescott

Where and When:

The Long Night of Museums is a biannual event that will be held in Berlin on January 28, 2012. The participating museums will remain open from 6 in the evening until 2 in the morning for visitors. All visitors will receive a significant discount since the tickets will be priced at an equivalent to that of a single visit. Tickets, directions, and bus routes are available online. The tours through these museums offer an excellent ethical and artistic evening of enjoyment to visitors. Though the time span for the complete tour is 8 hours, you will probably want far more time than that in order to enjoy each museum’s exhibition to your heart’s content. There are many collections and exhibitions to see, so choose wisely. Each museum has an enthralling display and its own unique permanent collection.

An Occasion for Art Enthusiasts

There is nothing more frustrating for an art enthusiast than to be surrounded by inspiration and not have the chance to take it all in.  Each visitor can get the best out of this event by learning about each and every museum exhibition and making a list of the ones they want to visit.  Visitors can also chalk out a suitable route that will allow them enjoy each of the museums on the list. The museums in Berlin are based on various themes and topics. Some of the museums depict a particular culture, while others may depict a particular period in history. The museums that deserve special mention include the Natural Museum of History, the New Synagogue at the Jewish Center, and the National Gallery. The Long Night of Museums is held in remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin wall. This amazing evening signifies artistic unity.

Enjoy the Night Out

There are also venues that show movies, hold concerts, and present dancing shows. There will be buses carrying passengers between the museums. Your ticket gives you free access to local transportation. So whether your passion is of sculptures, history, artifacts, coins, or other forms of art, be sure to take advantage of this amazing night of art. For more information visit Berlin’s site dedicated to the event.

This is the first blog post from one of our new bloggers, Kathleen Delaney. Kathleen had her first literary work published in 1990. Since then, she has been published in various publications and blogs. Delaney won a Georgia writing contest for 3 years in a row, between the years of 2001-2003. After 2.5 years of study, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 2003. Delaney is finishing a Science Fiction novel for young adults, and she is writing and illustrating several children’s books. She writes fiction and non-fiction on a regular basis, and she stays busy with creative projects through her freelance business, Mimosa Creations.

Rubbish Art

January 13th, 2012 // View Comments // Paper Boat Creative

Collecting junk from the local dump and bringing it back home as ‘art’ might make most people hold their breath and politely ask you to return it, but upcycling is a booming trend. Dutch photographer Alexandra Brand is an enthusiastic fan, claiming that she enjoys the idea of creating harmony from chaos.

Arranging her found objects into a harmonious whole in preparation for a photograph is a meticulous process, each shot requiring considerable effort to set up – often an entire day. But Brand’s selective colour palette and meticulous positioning of objects makes her work both intriguing and easy on the eye.

17^th Century Dutch art is known for its soft colours and lighting, reflecting the character of the Dutch landscape itself, but in the 19^th Century Van Gogh upturned that tradition with his bold colours. But in Brand’s work at any rate, Holland’s flat landscape and delicate light have reasserted themselves.

Brand is a fine artist reflective of her Dutch artistic ancestors, except she uses very modern tools – and what we could controversially call a modern trend – as her chosen medium.

East meets West on canvas – Yang Na

January 11th, 2012 // View Comments // Dorothy

As the West focuses ever more intently on doing business with rising superpower China, attention is also turning to Chinese art. It would be unfair to call China ‘emerging’ artists, since the nation’s practitioners have been creating highly sophisticated art for a lot longer than Europe.

But it must be admitted that when we think of British art, images by – or possibly of – Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin will probably spring to mind, while when asked to think of Chinese art, our mind’s eye will conjure up a Ming vase. In fact, China has been busy creating contemporary art for a several decades, although it is only in the past ten years that Europe and the US has started to focus on such works.

Aesthetics of Christmas Past

December 21st, 2011 // View Comments // Katherine Sola

Deck the halls with boughs of holly fa la la la la la la la…… What makes you feel Christmassy? Is it the transformation of familiar space into a winter wonderland? Decorating the tree, putting up lights, hanging a wreath, making paper chains – these are the rituals of Christmas, the traditions that centre us down the years. The whole family or office or class participates in making over their surroundings, bonding as they do. Then there’s the food. To you, Christmas might taste of mince pies and turkey. It might smell like pine. It could feel like an itchy jumper. Christmas is a familiar feast for the senses.

But the sensual worldof a 21^st century Christmas is a rather new invention. What told the Jacobeans or the Georgians that it was the most wonderful time of the year? What were their traditions? Neon reindeer and the X Factor single didn’t feature. A seasonal show at the Geffrye Museum of the Home celebrates British Christmas traditions in Christmas Past: 400 Years of Seasonal Traditions in English Homes. The museum’s eleven period rooms are painstakingly decorated and marvellously evoke long gone Christmas aesthetics.

One room shows a feast in the hall of middle class London family in 1630.  The table’s set with the second course, comprising sweet and savoury foods. Sugar was an expensive commodity in the 17^th century, so the family might have looked forward to this meal all year. Some sweets were made to look like boiled eggs, bacon and walnuts instead. You can also see crystallized fruit and a silvery chequerboard of leach, a milk jelly sweet not unlike Turkish Delight. Ancient pagan traditions still informed many of the major Christmas celebrations at this time. For example, Britons used to celebrate the end of Christmas at Twelfth Night with elaborate games and role-reversal. Cooks would prepare a Twelfth Night cake containing a bean and a pea. The lucky man and woman who discovered the hidden prizes became the King and Queen for the night, served by the other revellers.

The 1695 room looks rather different. Christmas was banned by the Puritans between 1644-60 and many ancient customs had fallen out of favour. Celebrants munched anchovies and olives and drank punch as they listened to flute music. One pagan symbol of eternal life had survived the Puritans – decorating with evergreen branches.  By 1745, Christmas was still an austere affair. People drank cordial, received guests and went to church instead of holding raucous feasts. Christmas presents became popular during this time, supplanting the earlier practice of giving alms to the poor. A 1790s parlour is also on display, but with no turkey and stuffing in sight. The traditional Christmas meal of this period was roast beef served alongside plum pudding.

In the 1830 room, you can tell that the Victorian era saw a revival of the old customs. For example, there’s a pack of Twelfth Night cards. Celebrants picked a card at random and played the character on it, turning the role-reversal into a game similar to today’s charades. The Twelfth Night cake has become an elaborate Christmas cake, decorated with a sparkling crown and plaster of Paris.

Then you come to the 1870 room, which the viewer recognizes immediately. Many of our modern-day Christmas traditions come from the Victorian era. Although Britons had always decorated with evergreen, it took Queen Victoria’s German husband to popularize Christmas trees. Christmas cards are often on display, written in beautiful copperplate handwriting. Parents used to send them out as proof of their children’s penmanship, not unlike today’s parents displaying their charming offspring in card form. It would take another thirty years for the Dutch tradition of leaving out stockings to reach Britain by way of America.

Christmas Past is a fabulously nostalgic exhibition. As we bustle into the next few days of chocolate and Downton Abbey, it’s interesting to look back on how much we’ve changed. Merry Christmas from blur. And if you want a historically aware piece of artwork, you could be choosing pitches before Twelfth Night if you brief the Exchange.

Wild and Wonderful Winter Art

December 19th, 2011 // View Comments // Katherine Sola

Baby, it’s cold outside. For centuries, the harsh beauty of wintry weather has inspired artists. Here are our favourite winter artworks.

Avalanche in the Grisons Here, Turner shows us the awesome power of winter. Tonnes of snow cascade down the mountain, ripping up trees and smashing boulders. The pine trees give us some idea of the scale of the avalanche. Turner is well known for his depictions of the sublime, extreme forces of nature, which I explained earlier. The snow is moving at such a steep angle that it looks as if it’s coming directly out of the sky, about to crush the viewer. A stimulating antidote to twee winter scenes.

Piss Flowers When it snowed, Helen Chadwick didn’t roll snowballs or build snowmen. She made sculptures. Chadwick urinated into deep snow and made casts of the melted spaces. It’s a rather disgusting methodology, immediately bodily. But the resulting forms are abstract and beautiful, like alien fungi or underwater growths. Even if you don’t how they were made they’re recognizably organic. A great example of how art can make the familiar strange.

Blotter I’ve been a fan of Peter Doig ever since his 2008 exhibition at the Tate Modern. Doig is fascinated by reflections in water and ice. This painting shows a typical Canadian winter scene. See more here. But Doig puts his own unsettling twist on the composition. Off-kilter horizontal lines dominate the composition, with clashing patterns in between. There’s no easy place for the eye to ‘rest.’ The horizon is also unusually low, forcing our attention on the lake. Although the boy appears to be standing on the lake, ripples run out underneath him. Is the ice solid? Is the boy about to fall through, or could he be walking on water? Doig’s paintings toe the line between fantasy and realism, so anything is possible.

Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch Clearly, Rev. Walker takes skating very seriously. No slipping or flailing for him. He skims along in perfect balance, arms folded in, looking off into the distance. The indistinct wilderness in the background emphasizes the precision of his clothes and movement. Henry Raeburn transforms the fun and comical act of skating into a controlled meditative exercise. Guardian critic Jonathan Jones wrote that this reverend represents the Scottish Enlightenment, the triumph of Protestant reason over Catholic superstition.

Lavacourt Under Snow What colour is snow? You’d probably say white. But in this painting, Monet shows us how colourful snow can be. Amazingly, there’s no pure black or white here. Instead, Monet uses blues and pinks and greens to pull out the different tones and shapes of a country snowscape. His impression of the frozen Seine, the bleak sky and shuttered cottages make the viewer feel cold over a hundred years later.

Do you need seasonally-inspired artwork? You can have a piece before springtime when you Brief the Exchange.