Hedendaagse kunstThe here and now
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Norman Rockwell
Triple Self Portrait
Oil on canvas. Hangs at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass.
There is nothing art snobs hate more than a talented man who uses his talent to appeal to the people, hence why many seem to hold Norman Rockwell in such a low regard. We will not be engaging in anything of that sort, thank you very much!
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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Barnett Newman
Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue III
Oil on canvas. In the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Someone was, apparently, afraid of red, yellow, and blue: in 1986, a vandal disfigured the painting with a knife. It was “restored” in 1991, but the contractors coarsely applied xylene to Mr Newman's original red pigments, rendering it, in the words of one conservationist, an artwork "lifeless" and "forever destroyed".
acquired MMXX.IV.XXI
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Dysphoria
Oil on canvas. Hangs at the Laing Gallery, Newcastle.
This painting really speaks to me every time i go back to the Laing — alas, the digital form doesn’t do justice to Ms Rowe’s coarse brushes.
acquired MMXX.IV.XXI
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Ken Currie
Shot Boy
Oil on canvas. Hangs at the Laing Gallery, Newcastle.
Haunting.
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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Yiannis Moralis
Erotic
Acrylic on canvas. Private collection.
Whatever do you mean? It’s just some shapes.
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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Paris of the Future
Screen print. Private collection.
Better known as Mœbius, French cartoonist Jean Giraud was a master of the strange and fantastic (and a great inspiration for The Fifth ELement, one of my favourite films).
This poster about sums up his whole ethos — an odd, surreal, but optimistic vision of the far-off future of France.
acquired MMXXIII.I.XXVII
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Wes Anderson
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Film.
If i could hang any film up on my wall, frame it, and just leave it playing on a loop forever — this would be it. There are films i like more as a whole, but so far as æsthetics are concerned, nothing beats Mr Anderson at his best.
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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City Lights №2
Oil on canvas. Once hung at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.
It’s funny — the building in the background here doesn’t even exist any more. Cities change, but paintings don’t…
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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Cinnamon Roll
Oil on canvas. Private collection.
Glad to see a modern artist carrying on the tradition of still lives.
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII
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Jason M. Allen and Midjourney
Théâtre d’opéra spatial
Image diffusion.
It was always going to come to this. After learning how to make cars, coffee, and campaign adverts, the machines have decided to try their hand at the arts. (I dare say they’re not half bad at it.)
This piece caused quite a stir when it won the grand prize at Colorado’s state fair in 2022. Trained on billions and billions of images, our Turingian-American friends have a perhaps unfair advantage, one which many are eager to nerf — but the genie is out of the bottle now, and Gods only know where the nascent form is headed.
acquired MMXXIII.I.XXVII
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And Life is Over There
Bronze statue. Stands along Kalvermarkt, The Hague.
I began this gallery with a depiction of Hermaphroditos, and it seems fitting to end it with one. No longer confined to comedic frescos in the houses of the ultra-rich, They now stand proudly in the middle of a busy Den Haag street.
And yet, despite all the strides in progress, it’s hard to shake the feeling that one day, it might again all come crumbling down. A transphobic backlash from religious bigots? Might its subject fall afoul of “progressive” purists? Time will tell. For now, we can only hope that the long arc of history will continue to trend, as it always has, towards freedom.
acquired MMXXII.XI.XXIII