All posts tagged: art history

Made-Up History: Gerhard Richter’s “Détail (rouge-bleu),” 1970.

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Yay a new Made-Up History! When I made this series, I set out to do it once a week. Kinda funny (not really) how it all played out, but I am going to try to play a little bit more with this series since I’ve been kind of meh about makeup combinations lately. One of the reasons why I haven’t been doing this is because I haven’t found a really nice work that I felt compelled to use for Made-Up History. If you’re new, MUH is a series in which I kind of re-create an artist’s piece as a makeup look by distilling the elements. It’s not really cosmetic art (like how some people re-do Van Gogh’s work on their face), but just translating a work into a look that I may or may not wear everyday. I have done a few of those, which you can see here. Today, we’ll take on a work by Gerhard Richter, who is one of the most famous living artists (82 years old!) today. Richter, who hails from …

Made-Up History: Chuck Close’s “Lucas,” 1986–1987

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Chuck Close is my freaking hero. If you haven’t heard of him, here is an example of his work: Mark (1978 – 1979) (source) His work is often recognized by his hyper-realist style, by the delicate manner in which he handles the supremely focused photographs of faces. To add to the effect of grandiosity, these paintings are often rendered on an extremely large canvas with all the details zoomed in and exposed to be observed by the viewer. Frank (1969) (source) A funny thing I learned today is that Chuck Close is “face blind.” He is afflicted with a condition called Prosopagnosia, which literally means that he has trouble remembering faces. He could have dinner with you tonight and forget your face the next day. Most of the portraits he has done (and he has done many, in many different ways) are of his friends and family, though this was not a deliberate decision brought about by his Prosopagnosia. Big Self-Portrait (1967 – 1968) (source) This is one of Close’s most recognizable and celebrated works. …

Made-Up History: Robert Rauschenberg’s “Bed,” 1955

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One of my favorite artists is Robert Rauschenberg. The first Rauschenberg that I consciously “saw” was “Bed,” which was on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. It appealed to me in a very visceral and decidedly aesthetic way. I couldn’t explain why I liked it; I just did. “Bed” is a combine which is what Rauschenberg called pieces he made where he brought together the concepts of a found object and a painting (or a flat, wall-bound work). Rauschenberg worked as a costume and stage designer between 1955-1964, which may have had an influence over his work and use of materials. In this particular combine, he used an actual bed or beddings—rumored to be his own—and made it his canvas. This sets it apart from the traditional understanding of a painting or a sculpture. He also makes use of the “paint drip,” which at the time was sort of symbolic of Abstract Expressionism, a movement based on the artist’s subjective experience and arguably popularized and embodied in the world’s …

Made-Up History: Gustav Klimt’s “Judith I,” 1901.

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Apologies for skipping out on last week’s Made-Up History post! I was working on the last minute details of my latest one-man exhibit, which opened on Wednesday, and couldn’t really play with makeup and do other things. But anyway! Here is a peace offering. If you’re new here, Made-Up History is a series I’ve been doing in which I translate some works of art into makeup looks. 🙂 I’ve already made a bunch, and you can check them out here. For this week’s post, I have Gustav Klimt’s “Judith and the Head of Holofernes,” or “Judith I,” which is one of the first works of art that Klimt infused with gold leaf. He popularized this technique and made a name for himself when he created the much-postered-up work, “The Kiss.” I’ve also always been drawn to the story of Judith and Holofernes, because she is definitely a strong woman in my eyes. She is one of the few brave women in Biblical accounts, though her book is part of the apocryphal texts, which means that …

Made-Up History: Claude Monet’s Rouen Cathedral Series

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Hello, everyone! Here’s a really, really (and I mean really) quick look I made for Made-Up History. If you’re new here, Made-Up History is just a series I’ve been doing where I translate works of art into makeup looks. I also take this opportunity to take a bit more about the art. Today, we talk about Claude Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series, this one in particular: I feel like although this series is fairly popular, Monet is still most associated with his waterlily paintings. Monet is an impressionist, which just means that he likes to paint “impressions” of light, instead of copying a scene or a picture in detail. Impressionists liked to paint from life, which explains the appearance of movement in their pieces. They generally liked to explore the influence of shadow and light on objects and environments. Monet painted the Rouen Cathedral in France, across which he set up a temporary studio. Fascinated by the different effects these times made, Monet made paintings during different times of the day and the year, using different …

Made-Up History: Gustave Courbet’s “The Desperate Man (Self-Portrait),” 1845

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For this week’s installment of Made-Up History, I have one of my favorite works by Gustave Courbet. It is a self-portrait done in 1845. I have no idea how the heck he did this in 1845. I have a hard enough time painting from several static and unmoving reference pictures. And the pose and expression! He was just so good, if a little full of himself. Courbet was AWESOME. He took no shit from anyone and was often referred to as a savage. He valued freedom (liberté!) above all else, and was of the belief that artists should paint from their life, thus catapulting Realism as an art movement. Also, he looked remarkably like Johnny Depp and Elijah Wood’s baby. For my look, I did: For the eyes, I used a combination of the white shadow from the bareMinerals READY 2.0 in The Scenic Route (“Breathtaking”), the NARS Duo in Paramaribo, and Galapagos and Night Clubbing from the NARS And God Created the Woman Palette. I made my brows thicker and more unruly than usual. …

Made-Up History: Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn Diptych,” 1962

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Made-Up History is a series I made up in which I try to make looks based on works of art. In this week’s installment, I take on a work by Andy Warhol called Marilyn Diptych. To see the rest of the looks, click here. This work of art was made on the year my mother was born. It was also the year that Marilyn Monroe died. During this period, Andy Warhol created more than twenty silkscreen paintings of her, which remain to be some of his most recognized work. Marilyn Diptych is a duplication of a promotional image of Marilyn Monroe for her film Niagara, which was made in 1953. Setting it apart from the other images, this particular work has two renderings of the same image—one done in color, and one done in black—beside each other. Warhol was famous for the things he would say, one of which was Art is whatever you can get away with. While I don’t necessarily believe that to be totally true, it seemed to be what propelled him …