arthinks

The United States Information Service (USIS) was in Beach Street Penang in the fifties. It was a place for many youngsters like me who liked to look at interesting printed stuff. It ran weekly films. Among one of these was a documentary on Dong Kingman, the watercolourist. I just loved the look of his simple drawings and colours. I was about twelve years old. Later on Dong Kingman came in person to draw in situ. Among the crowds, I caught a glimpse of him in Magazine Road doing quick sketches. I was too young to grasp the significance of this occasion. Now I have the opportunity to examine closely the works of the man. What a lively man! Such an eye for the character of place and a situation. Such masterly placement of his shapes. Such playful application of his colours. He can tease out   the glow and caress into being the many nuences of the surface of skin and bark and stones. His clouds whisper. The leaves he brushes rustle. His water dances and excites. All these express...

Where does an artist get his ideas from?  Akira Kurosawa gets his from his own dreams. Intriguing! For me, the process of getting the first idea to the last stage of completing a finished work, is always enthralling. Here is one example of that fantastic journey from start to finish. (It starts with an advert which you should ignore before the first part comes on). Dreams (1990 film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dreams is a 1990 magical realism film based on actual dreams of the film's director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. The film is more imagery than dialogue. The film was screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.[1] From Akiro Kurosawa's DREAMS series: The Peach Orchard Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, traditionally takes place in spring when the peach blossoms are in full bloom. The dolls that go on display at this time, they say, are representative of the peach trees and their pink blossoms. One boy's famil...

The Bee Gees sing ART songs. They developed a special sound with their voice to accompany the original music they composed. Bee Gees From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  The Bee Gees is a musical group that was originally made up of three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a foremost act of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers co-wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists. Here are the songs they sang from my youth which I still love in the twenty-first century:   ...

Modern Art. The BBC Series connecting the various strends of art traditions and new approaches of manipulating materials to express innovative concepts. A well-researched and thoughtful presentation of challenging (infuriating, disgusting, engaging) creations. Here is Matthew Collings' brilliant Modern Art. Enjoy.    

A breathtaking sharing of the sensitivity that the grown must treat the dreams of those who spread them at their feet in trust. Uploaded by TEDtalksDirector on May 24, 2010 http://www.ted.com In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

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Many exciting developments are taking place. All involves creative thinking and applications. Perhaps significant persons in the development of our young ought to pay attention to the missing component of their education. It is glaring: indequate support in creative thinking and applications in the upbringing of our young. This concern is the subject of a talk by a witty and knowledgeable man, Sir Ken Robinson. Uploaded by TEDtalksDirector on Jan 6, 2007 http://www.ted.com Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
 TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Desig...

The beginning of an idea is often simple. This I like, especially with what can be done with lines like the following creations. Heart-warming story simply told in lines and shapes:     A simple animations using cut-outs:    

Another art-thing that has all the elements of composition, texture, colour, space, form, structure, sense, focus, sequence, highlight, feeling, connectivity...plus the element of real time. All integrated and executed with elegant intelligence. This is edutainment at a refined stage!

The following video is too good not to be shared as it is an exquisite piece of artwork. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, starring Clint Eastword, was a breakaway from the standard-cowboy-films. I was young then but the thrill that came from hearing the song then is still the same as when I hear it again today. More, perhaps, when I can see the performance of the music score. Here it is:

There is a thinking that causes quite a bit of arguement: Is art still art when money is involved? Does money corrupt art? Can bad art be still art if money is not involved? When a professional, one who is respected by his peers and the buying public, speaks about this subject about art and money, it is revealing. His attitude influences powerfully. Have a listen-in: About the bridge or chasm between art and commerce, when quietly propounding his personal philosophy, Chwast recognizes the dichotomy: “As for my own work, I am split into two parts. My advertising art has to show how wonderful everything can be, what a good life you can have if you buy a certain product. On the other hand, generally in editorial work, I am asked to expose the truer and less pretty side of ourselves. Does advertising lie? I don’t know, but in a way it shows our weaknesses as well. In any event, while I consider myself a capitalist tool, along with a well-known business magazine, I share the hope of my...

Seymour Chwast, a close associate of Milton Glaser, is another practioner that I admire for his thinking as well as for the imaginative range of his works. Jerome Snyder in an article in Graphis wrote: "Chwast is fundamentally a humorist. His humor is dry, ironic, only rarely sardonic. The play on images is witty, not flamboyant, taking off on human foibles or meanness in a seemingly deadpan banality that is, despite its first-glance ingenuousness, rich in veins of sophistication and subtlety." To disclaim the idea that humor is a serious business misses the fundamental fact that all comedy has its roots in basic incongruity. A deep awareness of life's anomalies detracts not a whit from the widely accepted belief that Chwast is one of the most influential artists of this century and that he has created a style that is synonymous with the most creative and progressive aspects of graphic art and design. Clearly, there is much more to the man than his some...