Illustrated with Ink and Ink-Pens on Paper. Urh.-Nr:1811955 Copyright by Carolina Matthes
Take the Rymans, for instance. There is Robert Ryman (1930 – 2019), the patriarch whose paintings are indisputable icons of the modernist canon. Then there are his wives and children. Ethan Ryman (b. 1964) is the oldest of Robert’s three artist children. Though his mother was not an artist, Lucy Lippard (b. 1937) was still a scrappy and eloquent art critic, a feminist, a social activist, and an environmentalist. Ethan’s meticulously considered and crafted artworks might be characterized as somewhere between photography and sculpture, the abstract and the (f)actual. Though Lippard and Ryman divorced just six years after their 1961 marriage, their son is arguably the closest to his father’s methodologies if not his medium, and was certainly the last to become a visual artist. Robert Ryman went on to marry fellow artist Merrill Wagner (b. 1935) in 1969 and they had two sons. Though Wagner is more quietly acknowledged than Ryman, her boundless practice includes sculpture, painting, drawing, installation, and more. With an emphasis on materiality, her sites are indoors and out, her styles alternating. Will Ryman (b. 1969) is the elder son of Robert and Merrill. He started out as an actor and playwright though he too eventually assumed a visual art practice to become a sculptor. He is best known for his large-scale public artworks and theatrical installations that focus on the figurative and psychological, at times absurdist, narratives. Cordy Ryman (b. 1971) is the youngest, and the only one of the three who knew that he was going to be a visual artist early on. His work is abstract, the sophistication understated, and his output is prolific. With his mother’s DIY flair, his homely materials seem sourced from the overflow of construction projects, lumberyards, and Home Depot. Ethan Ryman said that, when he was young, he didn’t want to be a visual artist. Instead, he pursued music and acting, producing records for Wu-Tang Clan, among others, getting “my ears blown out.” But he was always surrounded by artists—Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Jan Dibbetts, William Anastasi, and countless others at his mother’s place on Prince Street in SoHo and at the Rymans’s 1847 Greek Revival brownstone on 16th Street in Manhattan, where everyone was often seated around the family dinner table. He would spend part of most weekends in the highly stimulating chaos that reigned there—birds, dogs, plants, toys, art, people, everywhere. “While nowhere near as overwhelming, I was also constantly exposed to artists, writers and other creative folks at my Mom’s place.” “While nowhere near as overwhelming, I was also constantly exposed to artists, writers and other creative folks at my Mom’s place.” Ethan Ryman Lippard was “a powerhouse.” She took Ethan on her lecture tours, readings, conferences, galleries, studios, wherever she had to go. And while that almost always breeds rebellion, at some point, he began noticing all the art around them—both what it looked like and how it was made. He began to take photographs of buildings and realized that “abstract color fields were all around us.” He also began to notice his father and Wagner’s work more carefully—how sensitively it was executed and how reactive it was to its surroundings. “Once you’re interested, you notice. When I asked my dad questions, I would most likely get a one-word response. I had to go to his lectures for answers where he broke down modern art for me. After listening to him, it seemed to me we should all be painting, otherwise what were we doing with our lives?” Will Ryman, on the other hand, said that all his work has a narrative component. His background is in theatre and his interests have always been film and plays, his narratives about New York City and American culture and history. “It’s a city I love,” he said. “I try to observe culture in a bare-bones way and I’ve always been interested in telling stories—we’re the only species that tells stories to each other. It comes from an intuitive, cathartic place in me. I want to stay away from preconceived notions, although that’s not completely possible. I have no plan except to do something honest, with a little bit of a political bent and humor but I’m not an activist. I’m interested in exploring a culture and its flaws as an interaction between human beings.” His interests and his work are very different from his last name. There is no connection to minimalism. He didn’t go to art school, drawn instead to theatre workshops and theatre troupes. “I didn’t become involved with the visual arts until my mid-thirties. It’s easy to say what I make is a reaction, but I dismiss that. And I also wouldn’t say it’s rebellious after twenty years.” Of his family, he said, “we’re a normal family, a close family, with all the dynamics and complications that go along with that. And while everyone who came to 16th Street were artists, they were also just family friends. I have no other measure for how a family interacts. It was just the way it was.” Cordy Ryman was the only one of the three who went to art school, earning a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, but it was reportedly awkward for him, since all his teachers knew his parents. “When I started making abstract paintings, it was kind of push and pull but it became more interesting to me than my earlier figurative or narrative work. That’s when I started to know where I came from. I realized that I had a visual memory, and the language was there, a language I didn’t know I knew. We all had different ways of working; our processes are very different and it’s hard to compare us. Ethan and I use a similar inherited language but he thinks about what he does more. I work very fast, the ideas come from the process itself. I work in two or three modes simultaneously and bounce around.” At home, they were around Wagner’s work since her studio was there. “Will and I were always in her studio, helping her, going to her installation sites with her, adjusting her boulders or whatever the project was she was working on. That was special and made a deep impression, but I didn’t realize it then.” All five Rymans have in common an acute consciousness of space and of place as an integral component of their work. For the brothers, part of that consciousness might stem from their parents, but also from their attachment to their family home, which was a crucible of sorts for them, where everyone was an artist. To Cordy, the house was a “living, breathing thing, and the art in it felt alive, growing, and occupying any space that was available. It was the structure of our world. When I’m making work, it doesn’t need to be the most beautiful thing ever, but it needs to have its own life, its own space, like the art we grew up with.” And the next generation of Rymans, also all sons—what about them? Will said his son is still too young to know. Cordy thought the same about his two younger children; his oldest is in the art world, but not as an artist—so far. Ethan perhaps summed it up best: my two sons are artists; they just don’t know it yet.
Illustrated with Ink and Ink-Pens. Inktober 2019 Urh.-Nr:1811955 Copyright by Carolina Matthes
Looking for a movie to watch on the weekend? Well, we’ve got something for you! "The Gentlemen" will definitely catch you with its intriguing plot and entertaining humor. And charismatic Charlie Hunnam certainly won’t disappoint you! So stock up on popcorn and enjoy the comedy with your friends! What's your favorite weekend movie? Feel free to share it in the comments below!
Beginning. The teapot was a great trickster. "CHOO CHOO" - he sang. "All on board!" https://www.instagram.com/p/CQtdb-UB9Zv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
So doodling is truly an obsession w me. I always try to draw w-out thot & w unabandoned freedom... so trying to draw something that doesn't exist or creating odd critter scenarios is the goal yet my wit & craft always get in the way since after seeing things unfold that i can't help but to redefine & give them a definitive humorous caption. My sense of humor is constant. So here r a few things that revealed themselves to me... There's a bullet turtle [Ironic & similar to a bullet train] There's a piece of Indian corn bread which produces popcorn bread; In the back ground is a 'full' moon [Hence the burping & a Moon Wok. I like aesthetic things but my witty mind just won't leave enough alone!
Whenever i hear the word 'graphic' on the news, my mind goes to art rather than the abrupt visual they feel needs a warning [Which i guess is a courtesy for some folks who just might not be able to handle such a site & prefer to look away.] Well, luckily, I'm not Pollyanna about this... As a creative, it is nearly impossible to hear that word 'graphic' & not flex my creative muscle & treat it w an alternative visual thot... 24/6! [I take Sundays off.] I was never fortunate enuf to attend college or to study graphic arts. But I actually think that this is a skill & craft of immense talent. To create aesthetic colors & shapes & beauty & what seems like using the most simplistic of techniques yet w the greatest of impact is simply mesmerizing to me. Why that color? Why that shape? & yet... it works!!!! So here is my attempt to simulate such a masterful profession but w a bit of humor.
It knocks one's the door, go to and see who is it. Bátem á pórta, vêde ôu vêja quêm é. "English as She is Spoke" by Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolina. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKRPu8kB50p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I shall not tell you than two woods. Só vôs dirêi ôu lhê dirêi dúas palavras. "English as She is Spoke" by Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolina. https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6NOMVBnS_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Part of a cartoon strip that I am working on, having to do with a frustrating/humorous incident when I needed to see a doctor.
I wasn't feeling today's theme so I went with some ornithological humor. It's niche, I know.
A humorous take on Elizabeth Warren's plan to erase student loan debt for many Americans.
A3 format, acrylic, mixed technique We sat around the campfire, talked about everything a bit when someone asked: - Can you tell us your thoughts about death? Old Bone is pulled pipe from the backpack, filled it with tobacco and lit. We have been waiting patiently for the response of this unusual being, deep age, and great living experience. - Everyone would like to know the truth about death, whether it is the full end of life or a new beginning, " said Old Bone - It is wiser to ask questions about life, the purpose of life, and keeping the spark. Truly, few are looking for the truth about life. I believe that with only the complete knowledge of life, one can perceive what is happening after death.- - How to explain the messages of the dead through the media, learning religions about reincarnation, heaven, and hell, eternal life, testimonies of survivors of clinical death? - Fraud and delusions, speculation - calmly replied Old Bone - You must know one thing: there are doors between life and death, The Door Keeper will never let the living know what happens after death. The secret of death only he knows - and that's enough. I think life can only survive this way.
A3 format, acrylic, felt pen, colored pencils Visual artists from the World of Fantasy are familiar with these creatures who are alive to every creator. Their court cannot be affected, there is no way to deceive the inner voice that knows the truth, created by the Observers. When the artist starts with some work, they appear, at first in a small number. At the end of their work, eg some pictures or sculptures, and especially when finished, their number is significant, they carefully study the artwork, and if they see a mistake, disharmony, lack of emotions, etc., dissatisfied will grumble somewhere inside artist's insights. The artist will feel that his work is nothing special, similar to many other artistic attempts that disappear in the dark of forgetfulness. Some spark is missing in his artistic creation, which would do its job gave a life that lasts. The disapproval of the Observer, their unpleasant resonance, if frequent, it can make a more sensitive artist to dump the brush and consecrate himself a completely different job, in which self-criticism does not play a significant role.