Art Styles
Adjective
relating to hearing and sound
The Wave Organ is an acoustic sculpture that amplifies the sounds of the waves from the bay, creating low, gurgling notes that ebb and flow with the ocean.
Adjective
pleasing in appearance
With the precision and deadly beauty of a mushroom cloud, Luke Jerram’s glass sculpture of HIV evokes both horror and the feeling of appreciating something for aesthetic geometry alone.
Noun
exaggerated representation of someone for humorous or grotesque effect
Wes Naman, whose portraits of people with faces wrapped in Scotch tape went viral, is at it again, and this time he’s using rubber bands to create creepy caricatures.
Verb
form by pouring into a mold
In 1493 Leonardo Da Vinci finished a 24" clay model from which the bronze horse could be cast. However, the fragile statue was destroyed by invading French archers in 1499.
Noun
collectible items that were originally designed to be short-lived
The MoMA launched the first major retrospective of Tim Burton's work --more than 700 drawings, paintings, storyboards, puppets, costumes, and cinematic ephemera.
Phrase
art produced since World War II
Breaking another contemporary art auction record, hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen privately scooped up a de Kooning “Woman” painting for roughly $137.5 million.
Adjective
representing natural forms as geometric shapes seen from several angles
This 1941 painting, sold at auction for $95.2 million, is a large luminous Cubist-style portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso's most mysterious and challenging lover.
Noun
writing, drawings, markings on walls or other surfaces in a public space, often illegally
Banksy's work sells for hundreds of thousands of pounds and he has become a cult figure in the art world. In July his famous early piece, Gorilla in a Pink Mask, was mistaken for worthless graffiti and painted over!
Adjective
not prepared or planned in advance
Turning the kitchen of his family home into an impromptu set, Ben-Ner and his young daughter reenact the novel Moby Dick.
Adjective
characterized by motion
Renowned kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson creates mechanical art with existential themes. The former MIT artist-in-residence has a permanent exhibit at their museum.
Noun
work of art that imitates the style of some previous work
The original piece by Damien Hirst comprises a life-size cow and calf each cut in half and displayed in formaldehyde. The zoo's pastiche has a tank housing mother and chick toy penguins.
Noun
display of a number of small areas put together to produce a picture that is not clear
Most spec projects never see the light of day. Here's a notable, wonderful exception. Italian designer Marco Sodan received global praise for his creative pixelation of famous paintings remade with Lego.
Noun
Japanese graphic novel read from right to left
Hayao Miyazaki, prominent Japanese animator and manga artist, has wide appeal. His movie “Spirited Away” was the first anime to win an American Academy Award.
Noun
art style that stresses expressive possibilities of form and color
Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin went to Tahiti in search of a tropical paradise of voluptuous, bare-breasted women. That's not what he found, but it didn't stop him from painting it.
Noun
cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries
When sketches of the horse were found among Leonardo Da Vinci's "lost notebooks," Charles Dent, a collector of Renaissance art, decided to complete the story.