Ron Mueck - Hyperrealism

 Mask II (2001-2)

Hyperrealism is one of the most innovative and interesting contemporary movements. It is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high-resolution photograph. Hyperrealism is considered an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting paintings or sculptures. The term is primarily applied to an independent art movement and art style in the United States and Europe that has developed since the early 2000s. Ron Mueck is an Australian born and London based sculptor who reached popularity in mid 90's and he's considered one of the movement's most representative artists. You can see some photos of his sculture's making process here

Colleges and Academies of Fine Arts

I'm not really sure if arts can be taught. You can learn the history of art, the artists, the past movements, but you can't learn how to make a work of art. You can learn all the techniques and become a good painter or a good illustrator, designer or drawer, but that won't make you an artist. Of course I do realize that studying is a good start point (after all I'm an art student myself...), so I've decided to dedicate a post to the most renowned schools, colleges and academies of fine arts around the world.What you think? Is art a matter of studying or not? Can someone be an artist without ever studying it?

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze was founded in 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. While the Company was a kind of corporation which every working artist in Tuscan should join, the Academy was constituted only by the most eminent artistic personalities of Cosimo’s court, and had the task of supervising the whole artistic production of the medicean state. The extraordinary contribution of academics including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Francesco da Sangallo, Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Giorgio Vasari, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Giambologna, increased the prestige of this institution.

Robert Capa

 

Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann 1913 -1954) was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist; On June 6, 1944 (D-Day) he swam ashore with the second assault wave on Omaha Beach, but instead of guns and weapons he was armed with two Contax II cameras mounted with 50 mm lenses and several rolls of spare film. Thanks to him we have today one the most real and intense war reportage of all times. There are different explanations about why his photos are so blurred, the official story is that most of his photos appears out of focus because a darkroom assistant in London, when processing Capa's images, had used too much heat and the emulsions melted.  Because of that error, of the 106 photographs Capa took that day only eleven survived. Someone says (and Capa himself) that it’s a stylistic choice, since the out of focus best represents how those moments were lived by the american soldiers; That is also why he decided to call his book “Slightly Out of Focus”. Someone else explain that Robert Capa's hands were badly shaking in the excitement of the moment (something which he denied). This is one of these cases were reality mixes up with legend, and we probably won’t ever know the truth about this, but what we surely know is how important his photos are, as historical documents and as photographic and artistic works. Director Steven Spielberg used Capa's photos to depict his WWII scenario in "Saving Private Ryan". More in the next page.

Robert Capa | Magnum Photos | Slightly Out of Focus

Sepe

As well as painting in the street polish artist Sepe works for galleries. He created this beautiful paintings between 2009 and 2011. Not much of him is known except the fact that he's collaborating with Intoxicating Demons, a german organisation for management of young and talented artists worldwide. His works reminds me the expressionism of Egon Schiele, particularly those in black&white . Enjoy more of his works after the jump.

Sepe | Intoxicated Demons

The Eternal Flame of Mother Russia — t-radya

T-radya is a street artist from Russia, who made these great paintings of dead WWII russian soldiers. He placed bandages on wooden boards and ignite them to obtain this particular burned effect. They used molotov to ignite the boards...

 

via | t-radya

David Lachapelle

David Lachapelle is an american photographer, who reached popularity in the early 90’s, after he’s offered a job by Andy Warhol himself at the“Interview Magazine”.  At the end of the decade, Lachapelle was already the “It” photographer of the pop pantheon, while every pose of his photos was becoming more outrageous."I'm sure there are people who are shocked by his work, or remain uncomfortable by his work. It's loud and brassy and it's in-your-face"  director of the International Center of Photography, Willis Hartshorn, said. He has made portaits for most of the living artists like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Elton John, Keith Richards, Christina Aguileira, Gene Simmons, Micheal Jackson (well this one not really living) and many many others. Postmodern, provocative, sensual and someone would say blasphemous, he's for sure one of the most visionary photographers living. More after the break, If you like his works you can always check his rich galery

Amon Tobin - ISAM Audio/Video live performance (2011)

On May 2011 Amon Tobin released his new album "ISAM". I really loved his last work in 2007 "Foley Room", and I awaited this new one for a long time. It's quite different from what I expected, and even if I'm still not totally convinced from this new album, I must say that the audio/video live shows he has recently done are truly amazing and breathtaking!
As I can read visuals are designed in conjunction with Blasthaus, VSquared Labs, Vita Motus Design, Leviathan and others.
Click read more to see two videos of the A/V performance and listen to the album.

BLU

Blu is an Italian street artist. His real identity is actually unknown since many some of his early works were illegal (and smaller I suppose), or made withouth permission. Astonishing!! After the break more of his works.