BEAUTY: Painting--Miho Ichise

Painter Miho Ichise has a fasciation with light and shadow and the way they behave and appear. Her breathtaking Impressionistic images of sunshine dappling through tree branches or glinting off the surface of water capture the immediacy and ephemerality of it all ... ichi go ichi e...

https://mihoichise.com/

"Space Iris" by Rus Khasanov

"Space Iris" by video artist Rus is a mesmerizing sight. He explains:

"This abstract 8K video was inspired by the visual similarity of the cosmic nebula and the iris of the eye.

The iris, with its intricate patterns and colors, shares a striking resemblance to the vibrant and colorful cosmic nebula. Just as the eye is a window to the soul, the nebula serves as a window to the vast universe beyond. Both the iris and the cosmic nebula contain a variety of hues and shades that blend and dance together to create a unique and mesmerizing visual display. The iris's delicate curves and lines mirror the sweeping curves and swirls of the nebula's gaseous clouds. The iris, with its distinctive central pupil, recalls the cosmic nebula's central star or black hole, around which the colorful gases and dust swirl.

The cosmic nebula and the iris share a deep artistic connection, as both offer a glimpse into something beyond ourselves, whether it is the inner world of emotions and thoughts or the vast expanse of the cosmos."

ruskhasanov.com

The Way We See The World Shapes The Way We Treat It

"The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity -- then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective."
--David Suzuki

The Copenhagen Islands

Danish architect Marshall Blecher is planning a new type of public space that will float in Copenhagen's harbor. Called The Copenhagen Islands, the series of floating sections are made of materials that are both sustainable and recycled. They will be an ecosystem of their own, featuring endemic plants, trees and grass above the water which provide a habitat for birds and insects. Underwater, anchor points give seaweeds, fish, and mollusks a new home. The area will be completely free to use and the islands will be moved seasonally between underutilized and newly-developed parts of the harbor.

https://www.marshallblecher.com/copenhagen-islands

Earth, Water, Fire, Air

These are the classical symbols of the four elements.

earth

water

fire

air

BEAUTY: Installation--"Megaliths in the Bath House Ruins" by teamLab

As part of their sprawling digital and light installation at Mifuneyama Rakuen Park on the Japanese island of Kyushu, teamLab recently unveiled their newest addition. Installed in the ruined bath houses of the park, the logically-titled "Megaliths in the Bath House Ruins" features what look like rock formations jutting up through the floor. Within these formations, a digital visual image of falling water and flowers plays in real time. Nothing is prerecorded and nothing is programmed: the images are random and will never repeat. Over the course of an hour, seasonal Japanese flowers grow, bud, blossom, wither and die. Even more interesting, the images are interactive with viewers: if a person moves toward one of the formations, the water changes course, and if a person stays still, the flowers surrounding them grow and blossom more abundantly.

"Megaliths in the Bath House Ruins" as well as the entire installation at Mifuneyama Rakuen Park is on view until November 4, 2019.
https://www.teamlab.art/e/mifuneyamarakuen-ruins

BEAUTY: Photography--Matt Porteous

Commercial photographer Matt Porteous and his team have done underwater phot shoots before but these image for Getty are magical...I love the otherworldly sense with the lighting. It reminds me of growing up in the south and being able to swim at night because the water was still so warm...pool light making the water glow.

http://thestudiom.com/

Monet at the de Young, 2019

I just squeaked in a visit to "Monet: The Late Years" at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and I am so glad I did. The exhibit, as the title suggests, focused on his later work once he was established at Giverny and had created his beloved water lily pond, and the later additions of the Japanese foot bridge and trellis.

It was an appropriately wet and moody day when I visited and the courtyard entrance window featured a wonderful reproduction of one of his many water lily pond paintings.

While several pieces came from private collections and the permanent collections of museums here in the United States, the bulk of the exhibit came from the Musée Marmottan Monet, a museum in Paris dedicated to the works of Monet. At over three hundred pieces, the museum is the largest collection of the work of this Impressionist master. We are lucky that they decided to share the genius of this man. I have seen Monet's works in museums all over the world and there is nothing like standing in front of one of his canvases, seeing the image and comprehending that it is of, perhaps, a pond, or a foot bridge over a pond, but seeing the dichotomy of the colors and brushstrokes, the wild scribbling and glorious caked-on pigments that go to create such an image. It is always staggering to me to see the free flowing colors, and I get lost in the swirl and play of the palette of each painting. You can see some close-ups of some of the pieces interspersed with my photos below.

Via the audio tour (which was peppered with beautiful French Impressionist musical pieces), I learned that the pond at Giverny initially did not exist and he had petitioned the local council to divert water from another source to create it. He was an avid gardener and kept up the grounds of Giverny himself but the growing gardens eventually demanded more attention than he could give, so he hired eight full time gardeners to look after not only the plots and beds and trees and flowers but also the pond itself and the precious water lilies. Men would daily skim the pond and dunk the lily pads to wash off whatever dust or dirt might have accumulated on them. Monet also suffered from cataracts and at one point, his vision was down to only 10%--a devastating debilitation for a painter. But he was persuaded to have surgery and much of his eyesight returned. He spent his final years in a prolific flurry of activity, creating ambitiously large and breathtakingly beautiful canvases.

Of course Impressionists are known as "painters of light" and like many Impressionists, Monet painted the same subject again and again but at different times of day and thus in different light, resulting in almost completely different paintings. I love these four view of a weeping willow tree, but depending on whether the light was indirect or direct, during the morning, afternoon, or at dusk, the feeling and colors change dramatically.

And the same goes for these four views of the main house at Giverny, whose top (seen at left) barely peeks up over the shrubs and climbing roses.

https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/late-monet
https://www.marmottan.fr/en/