Tag: retrospective

The inimitable artwork of Marisol

Post author By Maya Ruel
Post date November 7, 2023
No Comments on The inimitable artwork of Marisol

Hans Namuth (1915-1990), Marisol, about 1960s. Marisol Papers, Buffalo AKG Art Museum. © 1991 Hans Namuth Estate. Courtesy of the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

From her uncanny, colorful drawings to her abstract wooden sculptures, Marisol’s retrospective at the MMFA features the full breadth of the artist’s prolific career.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is currently hosting a retrospective exhibition on the life and work of artist Marisol Escobar, commonly known as Marisol. She was an important figure of the Pop Art movement in the 1960s. She was also a close friend and collaborator of Andy Warhol.

Her nomadic lifestyle might explain why her work is so diversified. Born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, Marisol lived in New York for most of her life and traveled to various corners of the world—each new destination giving her art a new breath. She experimented with all types of mediums; her portfolio includes drawings, paintings, photography, and film, but her sculptures are her most distinguishable creations.

John D. Schiff (1907-1976), Marisol with *Dinner Date*, 1963. Marisol Papers, Buffalo AKG Art Museum. © John D. Schiff, courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York

As a politically engaged feminist, Marisol’s art strongly reflected her convictions. In a similar manner as Frida Kahlo, Marisol often integrated her own face and body parts into her abstract wooden sculptures. Some recurrent themes in Marisol’s artwork are family, maternity, women’s place in society, political conflicts and even gender nonconformity, which was a cutting-edge topic for an artist born in 1930.

Marisol (1930-2016), Thé pour trois, 1960. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, bequest of Marisol, 2016, 2018:16a-d. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Brenda Bieger, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

The retrospective is separated into six galleries, each representing a phase in Marisol’s chronological artistic development. The entrance gallery displays her earlier work starting in the 1950s: mostly colorful drawings and paintings, some bronze sculptures and some small wooden sculptures. This period was during her twenties, when she was making connections with other young New York artists and experimenting with drugs, which is evident in the psychedelic appearance of many of the pieces she created at that time.

View of the exhibition Marisol: A Retrospective. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

Marisol (1930-2016), Face Behind a Mask, 1961. Abrams Family Collection. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Bill Jacobson Studio

Moving into the second gallery, the viewers encounter more drawings and paintings that line the periphery of the space which is otherwise filled with popular sculptures Marisol made in the 1960s. Most are made of wood and stand taller than the average human. The collection includes two gigantic babies with wooden bodies and pencil-drawn faces, a boy sitting on a chair wearing Andy Warhol’s shoes, two naked cyclists and much more.

Marisol (1930-2016), *Baby Girl*, 1963. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1964, K1964:8. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Brenda Bieger, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

The third gallery hosts some of Marisol’s most ambitious works, such as her piece The Party, which is made up of 15 life-size figures all dressed in gowns, a reflection of New York’s social scene in the mid-twentieth century. The works in this gallery also largely reflect Marisol’s concerns with the multifaceted nature of identity, as can be recognized in the many faces of her self-portraits.

Marisol (1930-2016), *The Party*, 1965-1966. Toledo Museum of Art. Museum Purchase Fund, by exchange, 2005.42A-P. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Marisol (1930-2016), Self-Portrait, 1961-1962. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1992.66. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © MCA Chicago, Nathan Keay

The fourth gallery displays Marisol’s work in the 1970s, when her popularity peaked. She started to take intensive diving lessons which inspired her to create pieces related to the underwater world and the ocean environment such as films, paintings of seascapes and a sculpture of a real-size fish-man.

The Louis Falco Dance Company’s performance of *Caviar*, 1970. Décor and costumes by Marisol. Marisol Papers, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Moving on to the fifth gallery, the space is filled with creations Marisol made using different parts of her body: there is a painting she created by pressing herself onto the paper while soaked in ink, as well as some clay hands, arms, feet and faces. There is a shift here between her usual approach of abstracting the female body through wooden sculpture to abstracting it through impressions.

Marisol (1930-2016), *Diptych*, 1971. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, gift of Mrs. George A. Forman, by exchange, 2022, 2022:4a-b. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Brenda Bieger, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Naturally, the final gallery features the work Marisol made toward the end of her life. In the 1980s and 90s, she continued to make political pieces. She created public monuments, which are mostly in Venezuela.

Marisol (1930-2016), *American Merchant Mariners’ Memorial,* 1991. The Battery, Manhattan, New York. Colour photograph, from the Marisol Papers, Buffalo AKG Art Museum. © Estate of Marisol / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

She also met a shaman around that time and was deeply affected by this encounter, which inspired some paintings and sculptures that have a distinctly mystical quality to them. In the 2010s, she went back to colorful drawings, bringing her artistic journey full circle. She died in 2016, at age 86.

Marisol’s retrospective will be on view at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts through Jan. 21, 2024.

Tags Marisol, MBAM, MMFA, pop art, retrospective

Music

Frank Ocean’s Blonde turns five

Post author By Victor Vigas
Post date September 6, 2021

Frank Ocean's Blonde, styled on the physical album release as *Blond*... it's confusing.

The acclaimed album is more than a collection of songs.

The end of August marks the fifth anniversary of Frank Ocean’s 2016 masterpiece, Blonde. The album came a day after the release of Ocean’s Endless, a visual album released under Def Jam Recordings. This was a punch in the gut to Def Jam, seeing as Endless satisfied the conditions of Ocean’s contract with them. The promotion used for it ended up generating attention for Blonde, which was released under Ocean’s own label, Boys Don’t Cry, exclusively licensed to Apple Music for a deal rumoured to be worth 20 million dollars.

Independence plays a large part in both the conception and musicality of Blonde. Throughout the album Ocean has multiple solo writing credits, and most others are just him and a few others –– a feat that is becoming uncommon in an increasingly collaborative music industry (Kanye West’s “Pure Souls” from Donda alone has 11 writers credited, as a recent example). Moreover, there is not a single song on the album that does not list Ocean himself as one of the producers.

On the surface, Blonde is the most airy sounding project in Ocean’s discography, where the majority of the album is upheld by gentle chords, beatless melodies and drum loops. Yet instrumentals are not the focal point of this album: the storytelling is. Still, Ocean’s minimalist approach to the production stretches the definition of R&B pretty thin, creating the ethos of this album with an emphasis on lyrics and story. In this sense, he threads a needle, touching on places and feelings but never giving enough away to the listener for any major dots to be connected.

In a 2016 New York Times interview, Ocean describes his commitment to his storytelling on the album, saying, “How we experience memory sometimes, it’s not linear. We’re not telling the stories to ourselves, we know the story, we’re just seeing it in flashes overlaid.”

Following a strong opening collection of songs with “Nikes,” “Ivy,” and “Pink + White,” Blonde reaches its midway point with “Nights.” The first half is bolstered by an upbeat rap and spoken word track that sees Ocean describing a previous relationship. After the guitar-laden beat switch moves into a calmer, more subdued rhythm, Ocean raps about his history having moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In a BBC interview he admitted that he hated it at first.

Part of what makes Blonde such a complete and cohesive work is its use of skits, interludes, and a reprise to tie everything together. The use of interludes starts as a voicemail on the fourth track, “Be Yourself,” and continues onto the following tracks, “Good Guy,” “Facebook Story,” “Pretty Sweet,” before ending with “Close to You” as the last interlude leading into the album’s final four tracks. What these tracks do is almost equivalent to a palate cleanser before the album progresses into the following songs. Towards the end of the record, the narratives of “Facebook Story” and “Close to You” set up the broken-hearted ambience that is laid down by Ocean’s love story gone amiss on “White Ferrari.”

To put Blonde into words is not an easy thing to do. There’s a lot going on at the same time but it works. It is the sound of a vision fully realized, and there is something ineffable about the way this album felt back in 2016. Around its release was a very special period of anticipation and excitement that brought people together in a way not many artists have been able to match since then.

To this day, Blonde has aged beautifully. It has received widespread acclaim, and has since become the zeitgeist of a special period in music: the 2010s. Considering the story behind the album and how it has continued to inspire musicians since, it’s fair to say that Blonde is a record that will transcend time and continue to be revered as one of the best albums of our generation.

Tags Blonde, Frank Ocean, Music, retrospective, The Concordian

Music

The timeless resonance of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On

Post author By Hussain Almahr
Post date October 3, 2017

A look back at the politically-charged masterpiece that remains relevant to this day

Marvin Gaye is mostly known for his smooth and sexy songs. Due to his sultry and powerful voice, Gaye’s ability to portray sensuality is unmatchable. The instrumentation backing his tracks is always grand and lush. “Let’s Get it On” has soundtracked countless movies and is cliched to the point of parody. Joints like “Sexual Healing,” on the other hand, emphasize the restorative powers, physically and spiritually, of sex. However, arguably, his most seminal album, What’s Going On (1971), has nothing to do with sensuality.

During the late 60s and early 70s, the world was rife with political and social struggle. At the same time, people were becoming more conscious about historical injustices and encouraging many to join movements trying to subvert government monoliths. At the peak of the Vietnam war, the idealistic hippie movement became overshadowed by Richard Nixon’s presidency—and his “Southern strategy,” which targeted white southerners as a way to counteract black voters, who were shifting to the Democratic party. As the world was embroiled in endless political unrest, Gaye released What’s Going On, an album that remains relevant in contemporary culture and political landscapes to this day.

According to NPR, the album was inspired by Gaye’s brother, Frankie, returning from Vietnam. During Frankie’s service in the war, his worldview changed. Gaye decided to write the whole album from his brother’s point of view. The album never becomes disingenuous or trite, but skillfully deals with themes of political discontent, drug abuse, poverty and ecological destruction. Musically, the album’s tracks flow seamlessly from one to the next, highlighting Gaye’s connection to minority communities.

According to CBC Music, the album was released under the Motown label and was its biggest success in terms of sales. While it was initially seen as risky, the album received critical acclaim and mainstream popularity. It’s important to highlight the album’s success, because it exposed many people to the profound perspective of living in black America.

In “What’s Happening Brother,” Gaye contrasts the supposed progress America has made, singing: “Are things really gettin’ better, like the newspaper said / Can’t find no work, can’t find no job my friend / Money is tighter than it’s ever been / Say man, I just don’t understand / What’s going on across this land.” The track astutely illustrates the disparity between people’s experiences and the ideal of what society “should” be. Then, the album transitions smoothly into the next song.

On “Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky)” Gaye explores the pain of drug addiction and the broken psyche of an addict. He sings: “Nobody really understands, no no / And I go to the place where the good feelin’ awaits me / Self destruction in my hand.” Gaye analyzed an aspect of drug use rarely explored at the time: isolation. Soldiers came back from Vietnam physically and mentally wounded, lacking adequate support from the government. This is the case for marginalized war veterans; not many people can understand the trauma of war and the difficulties that come with re-assimilating into civilian life. Some resort to drugs as a vehicle of escape.

“God Is Love” is a short but sweet interlude to the more thematically dense tracks. The instrumentation on this track is smooth and energetic, while the strings and the polished piano sound supplement Gaye’s expressive voice. Gaye’s spirituality can really be felt in this track. It seems like a genuine belief and not an idealistic plea for religion. The track fluidly transitions into “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).”

This track is one of the most predictive cuts off the album. It focuses on climate change during an era when very few artists knew about this issue. Gaye laments the environmental ravages of his modern era: the poisonous winds, our oil-polluted seas, the extinct animals and the overcrowded cities. Instrumentally, the track has a beautiful tenor saxophone lead and swelling strings. Again, Gaye’s vocals are impassioned. The performance evokes an authentic grief about the state of our environment.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned problems detailed in the album have deep historical roots—problems that people still face today. On “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” Gaye sings about systemic oppression and its constricting effects on marginalized communities, specifically black communities. Lines like: “Money, we make it / Fore we see it you take it / Oh, make you wanna holler / The way they do my life” and “Crime is increasing / Trigger happy policing / Panic is spreading / God knows where” are still relevant today.

Many think we live in a particularly unique and challenging time, given the recent rise of ultra-conservative movements and power-hungry politicians. Historically, systematically oppressed people have never benefited from the powers-that-be, but rather suffered under the power of others. Black people and other minorities have experienced brutality, suffering and injustice since the advent of the United States and Canada. Those lived experiences and struggles have been emphatically and systematically ignored by the privileged mainstream news media for years.

Gaye’s album is a dense, breathtaking journey that is as pop accessible as it is artistically poignant. What’s Going On doesn’t preach and never delves into the pompous side of politically-charged music. It’s an account of shared experiences that many people can relate to. Albums like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and its striking political clarity can be traced back to this album. What’s Going On still remains an essential masterpiece and a potent reminder of long-standing struggles.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Tags Classic, let's get it on, marvin gaye, Music, retrospective, sensuality, sexual healing, what's going on

Music

The visual sounds of Radiohead

Post author By Hussain Almahr
Post date September 12, 2017

A retrospective on the band’s album artwork and music videos

Despite the fact that music is primarily an audio-based platform, visuals have always played an integral role in how the medium is consumed. Album artwork, costumes, logos and music videos are important, even necessary. For an artist to cultivate a public image that defines their style of music, they need to display a particular interest in visual media .

Radiohead, for instance, has placed an emphasis on visual aspects. Always working in tandem with artist Stanley Donwood during the recording process to create striking album artwork, Radiohead backs up its music with similarly strong visual elements.

From the 1995 release of The Bends, lead singer Thom Yorke, under the pseudonym Dr. Tchock, has collaborated with longtime friend Donwood on every aspect of the band’s visuals. According to a 2006 The Guardian interview with Yorke, the friends met while attending the University of Exeter in England. They shared a mutual reverence for experimental art and music. Since then, the pair have collaborated on Radiohead’s iconic album artwork and packaging: from the cold, desolate highways of OK Computer (1997) to the colourful and glitchy energy of In Rainbows (2007) and the aged sliver of the recent A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).

Radiohead’s album art manages to capture the mood and atmosphere set out by the ambitious sounds of their albums, creating visuals that enrich the music. Through their artmaking process, Yorke and Donwood capture the full spirit of the music. According to NME, Donwood even painted album art for A Moon Shaped Pool while the band recorded it in an adjacent room. While listening to the band record, Donwood translated the soundscapes emitting from the recording room into visuals—encapsulating the energy of the music through unique and often strange imagery.

For the cover of A Moon Shaped Pool, Donwood and Yorke utilized weather conditions to create living artwork. Earlier this year, in an interview with Creative Review, Donwood said: “I did some experiments with pools of water and paint and wind on quite a small scale, and it seemed to work in quite an interesting way. So I thought, ‘Well this will be great, I’ll just scale up.’ So I bought a ridiculous number of large canvases and paint, and we all went down to Provence, just south of Avignon, to where [Radiohead] recorded—a place called La Fabrique, which is a really lovely place, an old mill where they used to make the red dye for Napoleon’s uniforms.”

This process created truly bold artwork, reflecting the maturity of the band and the vibrant, organic sound of their album. The pair are never complacent in the way they make art, always challenging themselves with new ideas and styles.

Music videos also have the ability to complement the accompanied music, as they pair the songs with a matching aesthetic. Radiohead’s music videos are sometimes dark and twisted, strange and cryptic, emotional and even funny.

The video for “Just” (1995) revolves around a grieving man, laying on the sidewalk. A passersby asks him, “What’s wrong?” with subtitles denoting their conversations. The video and lyrics combine to make an extended metaphor about the systemic disadvantages often faced by minority communities. The video ends with the man telling the large crowd of people what’s wrong, except that part isn’t subtitled. The band, to this day, has never revealed what the man said.

“Paranoid Android” (1997) is a strange animated video, matching the song’s eerily raucous sound. The video follows a boy’s strange day, which includes naked mermaids, a drunk politician who decapitates himself, a man with a head growing out of his stomach and an angel flying a helicopter. It’s a frantic and chaotic video that perfectly captures the essence of the song— encapsulating the disconcerting feeling of being disoriented.

Recently, Radiohead has released relatively subdued videos. As the band has matured, their creative approach toward music videos has matured as well. The video for “Lotus Flower” (2011) features the wild dance moves of Yorke, shot using a simple black-and-white camera filter. For the “Daydreaming” (2016) video, the band enlisted the help of prolific movie director, Paul Thomas Anderson. The video has Yorke walking through different vignettes of people’s lives, eventually receding into a cave, atop a mountain covered in snow. The video for “Burn the Witch” (2016) is a stop-motion film which retells the story of the 1973 cult-classic film, The Wicker Man—about a policeman who is entrapped into participating in a sacrificial ceremony.

The videos are not simple or lacking complexity. For example, stop-motion animation is very intensive work, which requires each shot to be fully realized on paper before shooting in a proper studio. And while the video for “Daydreaming” may look simple, the variety of locations and the ability to light them correctly for a 35mm camera takes a lot of preparation. Nothing a savvy director like Thomas Anderson can’t handle.

Visuals are never an afterthought for Radiohead; the band works tirelessly to produce art that enriches its music. Video and artwork give fans a shared experience, with fans working together to uncover the hidden meaning behind each minute detail. Music goes beyond just sound—when love and care are put into the visuals, something truly special is created.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Tags A Moon Shaped Pool, Music, Radiohead, retrospective