Postcard from London, England: Street art in Shoreditch, Part 2

Above: “Future,” mural by Mr Cenz (Julian Phetean) with typography by Lovepusher in Shoreditch neighborhood

I just see the space and just do it. There’s no tricks. There’s no projectors. No apps, and no grids. What you do have is a building that has its unique architectural features.”

Matthew A. Eller interview of ROA, Belgium artist who tucked the pig below tightly in a space between a windowsill and the sidewalk, in Street Art News

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Japanese woodblock prints at Blanton reflect ‘Floating World’ values

Above: “Shadows on the Shoji,” Kikukawa Eizan, 1815

The two fashionably dressed courtesans in the foreground appear to have just stepped away from a lively party and are chatting on a veranda. The drinking and flirting figures inside cast shadows against the shoji (lattice-and-paper screen doors) of the brothel behind them.”

Curatorial notes for “Shadows on the Shoji,” Blanton Museum of Art

1815. The date surprised me, due to my lack of understanding the accepted restrictive roles assigned courtesans and geishas in Japanese culture. The witty social commentary and humor contained in Edo-era (1603-1868) woodblock prints in “The Floating World: Masterpieces from the Edo Period” on display at the Blanton Museum of Art prove captivating.

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Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: Picasso’s sculptures reflect women he loved

Above: Museum-goer interacting with Pablo Picasso’s “Head of a Woman” made from sheet metal

Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs.” 

Pablo Picasso

And Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) loved a number of women, many of whom served as temporary muses appearing in his work until his romantic attentions turned elsewhere.

He once famously said, “For me, there are two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats.” Some of his goddesses soon found themselves in the role of doormats.

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