Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall (Yiddish: מאַרק שאַגאַל‎; Belarusian: Мойша Захаравіч Шагалаў Mojša Zaharavič Šagałaŭ; Russian: Марк Захарович Шага́л Mark Zakharovich Shagal) (7 July 1887 – 28 March1985) was a Belarusian-French painterJewish origin. He is associated with several different Modernist art movements of the 20th century.

Marc Chagall was born in Liozno, near Vitebsk, now in Belarus, the eldest of nine children in the close-knit Jewishherringmerchant, and his mother, Feige-Ite. This period of his life, described as happy though impoverished, appears in references throughout Chagall's work. Currently the Chagall's house on Pokrovskaya Street in Vitebsk is restored as part of the Marc Chagall's Museum.^[1] family led by his father Khatskl (Zakhar) Shagal, a

After he began studying painting in 1906 under famed local artist Yehuda Pen, Chagall moved to St. Petersburg some months later, in 1907. There he joined the school of the "Society of Art Supporters" and studied under Nikolai Roerich, encountering artists of every school and style. From 1908-1910 Chagall studied under Leon Bakst at the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting.

Voutch ! Nouvelle année, nouveau site !

Voutch. This Is as Bad as It Gets.This Is as Bad as It Gets should get the ball rolling for the French humorist. Voutch discovered his knack for cartooning relatively late in life; lucky for us, he didn’t miss his window altogether. This amusing and witty American debut flaunts 150 beautiful, full-color gouache painting cartoons. In a world populated by long, thin characters with tall faces and prominently exaggerated noses, Voutch’s humor is both cynical and sardonic—nothing is lost in translation. The irony of contemporary civilization shines through via tactless doctors, human clone relationship issues, and other dysfunctional personalities. Despite the sarcastic nature of Voutch’s humor, his illustrations are filled with vibrant, life-affirming colors. He is constantly aware of color scheme and has a wonderful sense of space, especially when it comes to vast skies and soaring, expansive walls. Strongly recalling mid-century stylings, Voutch’s single frame cartoons are pure works of art. It’s refreshing to see such a strong debut from a relative unknown. While the collection is not essential, it certainly could be a worthwhile experience for most readers—not bad for a one-time boomerang throwing cochampion of the world.—David Garza, AWBERC Lib., U.S. EPA, Cincinnati Andrews McMeel. Oct. 2007. 125p. ISBN 978-0-7407-4672-7. pap. $16.95. F Just who is this Voutch fellow? While I wouldn’t vouch for Voutch’s celebrity, at least not in the United States,

Found Here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6486076.html


and Here: http://www.voutch.com/

GOEFF KERN

final fantasy

California based artist Geoff Kern prefers cabin fever and loud heavy metal music to the limitations of art school. The self-called "mountain-man" has become indispensable by creating stunning paintings and collages of mystical scenes depicting archetypal imagery. He incorporates complex pencil drawings, old periodicals and watercolors into conceptual mandalas and cosmic, psychedelic landscapes. "I think there are good ways of describing medieval fantasy in basic iconic form. Not necessarily Barbarians hammering it out, but in the idea of "the quest". I'm refering to the broad genre referencing imaginary worlds based on pre-medieval and medieval Europe." His series of four images is loosely based on the idea of the quest-traveling through different landscapes and describing that epic moment when this strong, archetypal event occurs. "When the night rainbow leads into the cave at the top of the mountain, or when the secret portal is opened in the midst of an empty wasteland as in "Gateway To Valhalla" (which is typically a place only entered into by dying in battle), this is like some secret doorway into the afterlife. "Forest Encounter" involves the meeting with a forest goddess, ruling over the waters of the night, holding a sword with a crescent moon. "Viking Sunset", which represents travelling to the end of the earth, out of the setting sun, coming from the past." Besides taking inspiration for his Viking imagery and arctic landscapes from the Icelandic Eddas, his work is apparently influenced by one of the most emulated fantasy and science fiction artists in the world, Frank Frazetta (whose "The Sea Witch" painting was recently used by Wolfmother as the cover for their self-titled debut), Geoff indulged himself in the dakini tarot-design of his idol. "He is, in my opinion, straight-forward, well-done fantasy art from that period. The Dakini for example has these tripper collages involving stellar photography and ancient Dakini symbolism. It's what got me into that collage style. The borders I used for my posters are similar to those of 70's and 80's medieval fantasy covers." The border frames it, gives it a type of window to look through that presents the idea of a quest, a journey, a window into this other world. Kern´s "Cosmic Landscapes" painting references this other-wordly quality, and notes the astrological vibe associated with this dimension of the supernatural. Also, the writer Joseph Campbell has solidified the idea of archetypes and the quest, in particular "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". Geoff´s past works have included ancient ceremonial jewelry prints that were featured on a limited run of LA's Cerre t-shirts. Most of the images are graphit drawings, but he also designed a wall mural as well as some skateboard art. Finally, Geoff will be featuring his recent works at his premier solo exhibition "Talisman" at BBlessing, NY.

www.geoffkern.com
www.bblessing.com

words: christoph rambow

Found Here: http://www.lodownmagazine.com/index.php?page=13&modaction=showItem&id=683

Hand-made cardboard model by Dan McPharlin

Hand-made cardboard model by Dan McPharlin.
These miniature cardboard models of vintage audio equipment are the brainchild of visual artist and sound designer Dan McPharlin according to Dan they are “an interesting experiment to render hi tech objects in a low tech medium such as paper or cardboard.” Each one is painstakingly made by hand in limited production or as a commissioned work. With prices starting at $60 this is the kind of art that‘s well within reach. Check out more pics of Dan’s work in his Flickr photoset and email him (purpleowl [at] primus [dot] com [dot] au) for inquiries.

Found Here: http://www.coolhunting.com/

Barnaby Ward pixel art

barnaby ward

Following on from Dan McPharlin here’s two samples from another contemporary Illustrator Barnaby Ward, Dick Hogg’s put me on to these examples so I’ll add his notes here:

“This is one of those illustrators who pops up on ffffound every now and then. Not strictly a science fiction illustrator all of the time but the stuff that I like are the ones that have strange robot-like things going on in them. And, erm, girls. Always girls. This bloke has got a one track mind! I love the girls in his drawing. as someone who constantly draws quasi-porn in my sketchbook it makes me sick to find someone who is better at it than me. Ah well, good luck to him. Apparently he lives on an island. Perhaps he is somewhere with a low female population like Alaska!”

See more of Barnaby Ward here: http://www.somefield.com/

and Dick’s work here: http://h099.com/

Found Here: http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/

Winsor McCay

Winsor McCaySeptember 26, 1867(?) – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. (

A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades. His two best-known creations are the newspaper comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, which ran from 1905 to 1914, and the animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur, which he created in 1914.

His comic strip work has influenced generations of artists, including creators such as Moebius, Chris Ware, William Joyce, and Maurice Sendak.

Biography

McCay was the son of Robert McKay (later changed to McCay) and Janet Murray McKay; Robert at various times worked as a teamster, a grocer, and a real estate agent. Winsor's exact place and year of birth are uncertain — he claimed to have been born in Spring Lake, Michigan in 1871, but his gravestone says 1869, and census reports state that he was born in Canada in 1867. He was originally named Zenas Winsor McKay, in honor of his father's employer, Zenas G. Winsor. He later dropped the name Zenas.

In 1886, McCay's parents sent him to Cleary's Business College in Ypsilanti, Michigan to learn to be a businessman. While in Ypsilanti, he also received his only formal art training, from John Goodison of Michigan State Normal College (now known as Eastern Michigan University). Goodison taught him the strict application of the fundamentals of perspective, which he put to significant use later in his career. Goodison, formerly a glass stainer, also influenced McCay's bold use of color.

In 1889, McCay moved to Chicago, intending to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, but due to lack of money had to find employment instead. He worked for the National Printing and Engraving Company, producing woodcuts for circus and theatrical posters. Two years later, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and went to work as an artist for Kohl and Middleton's Vine Street Dime Museum. While in Cincinnati he married Maude Leonore Dufour.

Found Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsor_McCay

circos - visualizing the genome, among other things

Circos is designed for visualizing genomic data such as alignments, conservation, and generalized 2D data, such as line, scatter, heatmap and histogram plots. Circos is very flexible — you can use it to visualize any kind of data, not just genomics. Circos has been used to visualize customer flow in the auto industry, volume of courier shipments, database schemas, and presidential debates.

The creation of Circos was motivated by a need to visualize intra- and inter-chromosomal relationships within one or more genomes, or between any two or more sets of objects with a corresponding distance scale. Circos is similar to chromowheel and, to a lesser extent, genopix.

Found Here: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/circos/?

European Parliament

The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentaryEuropean Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.^[1] The Parliament and Council form the highest legislative body within the Union. However their powers as such are limited to the competencies conferred upon the European Community by member states. Hence the institution has little control over policy areas held by the states and within the other two of the three pillars of the European Union. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament), who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (342 million eligible voters in 2004).^[2][3][4] institution of the

It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above do not possess, it does not have legislative initiative, as most national EU parliaments do,^[5] but it does in a de facto capacity (see Powers and functions] below)^[6]. While it is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level^[7]), the Council has greater powers over legislation than the Parliament where codecision procedure (equal rights of amendment and rejection) does not apply. It has, however, had control over the EU budget since the 1970s and has a veto over the appointment of the European Commission.^[5]

The European Parliament has two meeting places, namely the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg, France, which serves for twelve four-day plenary sessions per year and is the official seat, and the Espace Léopold complex in Brussels, Belgium, the larger of the two, which serves for committee meetings, political groups and complementary plenary sessions. The cost of having all MEPs and their staff moving several times a year from one place to another is of concern to some. The Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body, is based in Luxembourg.^[8][9]

The President of the European Parliament (its speaker) is currently Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP), elected in January 2007. He presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the Party of European Socialists (PES). The last Union-wide elections were the 2004 Parliamentary Elections, however Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 and elected their members in that year (see European Parliament election, 2007); the next union-wide parliamentary elections are in 2009 (see European Parliament election, 2009).

Found Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament

European Parliment Propaganda Poster

The European parliament building in Strasbourg, France, is “an enormous replica of the unfinished tower of Babel,” called the “The Tower of Eurobabel” by the European press, Dr. David R. Reagan, wrote in the Dallas-based Lamplighter Magazine.

An EU poster shows the people of Europe rebuilding the Tower of Babel. The text on the poster says, “Europe: Many Tongues – One Voice.” The stars on the poster are inverted into pentagrams, a recognized occult sign.

Found Here: http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=35729

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525 – September 9, 1569) was a Netherlandish Renaissancepainter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (Genre Painting). He is nicknamed 'Peasant Bruegel' to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty, but is also the one generally meant when the context does not make clear which "Bruegel" is being referred to. From 1559 he dropped the 'h' from his name and started signing his paintings as Bruegel.

Themes

Bruegel specialized in landscapes populated by peasants. He is often credited as being the first Western painter to paint landscapes for their own sake, rather than as a backdrop for history painting.

Attention to the life and manners of peasants was rare in the arts in Brueghel's time. His earthy, unsentimental but vivid depiction of the rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games—are unique windows on a vanished folk culture and a prime source of iconographic evidence about both physical and social aspects of 16th century life. For example, the painting Netherlandish Proverbs illustrates dozens of then-contemporary aphorisms (many of them still in use in current Dutch or Flemish), and Children's Games shows the variety of amusements enjoyed by young people. His winter landscapes of 1565 (e.g. Hunters in the Snow) are taken as corroborative evidence of the severity of winters during the Little Ice Age.

Using abundant spirit and comic power, he created some of the early images of acute social protest in art history. Examples include paintings such as The Fight Between Carnival and Lentsatire of the conflicts of the Reformation) and engravings like The Ass in the School and Strongboxes Battling Piggybanks. On his deathbed he reportedly ordered his wife to burn the most subversive of his drawings to protect his family from political persecution.^[1]

Polish Riot Police Try New Mindf*ck Technique

"Polish Riot Police Try New Mindf*ck Technique"

Found Here: http://incredimazing.com

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) -- A Polish court on Tuesday acquitted 22 former riot police

The verdict in the southern city of Katowice ended a two-year trial, Poland's second attempt to convict the officers for their role in the most deadly incident of bloodshed during the 18-month crackdown.

Judge Aleksandra Rotkiel said prosecutors failed to provide ``indisputable proof.''

Chief prosecutor Piotr Skrzynecki said he would appeal.

It was another setback in a decade-long ...

Polish riot police used batons to break up a protest by nurses in Warsaw on Wednesday, escalating an already bitter stand-off between the conservative government and health workers demanding better pay. charged with gunning down striking miners during the old communist regime's 1981 martial-law crackdown on the Solidarity movement.

Hundreds of hospitals have been affected by strikes for six weeks. Strikers are also calling for reform of the creaking state health service and threaten to join the exodus of Polish workers to Western Europe if their demands are not met. Police forced several dozen protesters, mostly women, off a street in front of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's office, where they had camped in tents overnight. A police spokesman said minimum force was used to clear the illegal protest.

"They treated us like hooligans in a stadium," said Izabella Szczepaniak, president of the Association of Nurses and Midwives. "They pressed us against the barriers so hard we could hardly breathe ... police should not treat health workers like criminals."

Protest leaders said several nurses had been roughed up.

On Tuesday, several thousand doctors and nurses marched through Warsaw, waving signs reading: "Protest of white slaves" and "We want a decent wage".

The prime minister, who met union representatives on Tuesday, has offered pay rises of 15 percent per year over the coming three years, but protesters say wages were low to start with and those for other professions are rising faster.

A wave of young Poles heading west since Poland joined the European Union in 2004 has already created bottlenecks in other professions and that could easily spill over to healthcare. Polish doctors and nurses earn salaries way below counterparts in Western Europe.

Kaczynski has said he is ready to negotiate but would not deviate from "economic realities". Polish wages rose almost 9 percent year-on-year in May, raising expectations that interest rates would go up again soon.

Opposition leaders said parliament should investigate the police action against the protesters.

"Sending police at nurses is not the way to solve this conflict," said Donald Tusk, comparing it with the way armed riot police dealt with protestors under the communist regime.

Found Here: http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=55135

Cremation of Care

Cremation of Care

The Cremation of Care ceremony was devised in 1893 by a member named Joseph D. Redding, a lawyer from New York.^[9] It was originally scheduled to follow the serious "High Jinks" dramatic performance (later known as the Grove Play) on the first weekend of the summer encampment, and served as a catharsis for pent-up high spirits. In 1913, the ceremony was separated from the Grove Play and moved to the first night to become "an exorcising of the Demon to ensure the success of the ensuing two weeks". The Grove Play was moved to the last weekend of the encampment.^[10]

The ceremony involves the poling of a small boat across a lake containing an effigy of Care (called "Dull Care"). Dark, hooded figures receive from the ferryman the effigy which is placed on an altar and at the end of the ceremony, is set on fire. This "cremation" symbolizes that members are banishing the "dull cares" of conscience.^[2]

The ceremony takes place in front of a 45-foot (14 m) high hollow owl statue made of concrete over expanded metal framing and steel supports. The moss- and lichen-covered statue simulates a natural rock formation, yet holds electrical and audio equipment within it. During the ceremony, a recording of the voice of Walter Cronkite, a member of the Bohemian Club, is used as the voice of The Owl. Music and pyrotechnics accompany the ritual for dramatic effect.

Found Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove#Cremation_of_Care

James Whíte

James White has been drawing since the age of 4, scribbling down his favorite characters such as Superman, Batman, the Dukes of Hazzard, etc. Being from a military family, he made 3 big moves through childhood but never strayed from his colored-pencils.

After going through school constantly being yelled at for drawing in class (by teachers, not parents) he applied and was accepted in 1995 to the Graphic Design course at a community college in Truro, Nova Scotia. Graduating with honors he proceeded schooling by taking Interactive Technology.

Upon graduation in 1998 he landed a job immediately in the website/graphic design field, all the while keeping up on his traditional drawing, painting and digital creation.

James allowed both sides of corporate design and personal art to feed each other, and on his own time he has created logos, flyers, posters, CD covers and websites for various local music and entertainment companies. Today, James works on personal posters and art prints while still working fulltime in the graphic design industry for a company called Raised Media in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Found Here:

http://blog.signalnoise.com/

TOTALLY RAD! Errol

Something Secret is a bunch of people who make things all day and all night. Limited edition zines, records, shirts, prints and one of a kind items will be posted here upon availabilty. We accept cash, cheques, Paypal and we especially like trades. If you'd like to get multiple items, we suggest emailing us first, and we can work out a deal.

Something Secret is about making friends and perpetuating creative endeavors.

Totally Rad is a brand new collaborative zine curated by Greg Durrell and Errol Richardson. It features the work of Scott Barry, Siggi Eggertson, Jon Vermilyea, Michael Perry, Jessica Williams, Mario Hugo, Andreas Banderas, Matthew Boyd & River Jukes-Hudson, Damien Correll, Melvin Galapon, Marcus Oakley and many many more!

Specs: 8x8 Inches, 76 Pages, 32 Artists, Hand-Numbered, Limited Edition of 200 copies, 2008.

Found Here: http://www.somethingsecret.ca/

Chen Zhun for FHM China

Photographer Chen Zhun for FHM China. More visual pleasure inside!

Via etoday.

Found Here:

http://www.etoday.ru/