Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Sadly, World War II bombers left a wake of damaged buildings behind them in Palermo, many still not renovated. Blank walls, even crumbling ones, are magnets for street art.
Some of these photos from our explorations are authorized works; some are enormous murals attempting to humanize housing projects; and others are found in random spots within the city’s labyrinth of narrow streets.
Continue reading “Postcard from Palermo, Sicily: Artists color bombed-out and new walls”
“My spirit that is upon you,” Isaiah 59 verse 21, translation of one of the Latin phrases floating around the canvas of “El Obispo Juan de Palafox y Mendoza” by Miguel Cabrera
As in Europe, art served as a primary tool for friars to introduce the mysteries of Catholicism to those of other beliefs. Consequently, religious paintings from that period form the core of the collection of Museo de Arte Colonial. The works are displayed in a house of the Colonial period which was renovated in 1984.
Continue reading “Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Foreign beliefs transform both faith and art”
Above: “How To Enjoy the Battle of the Sexes,” The Guerrilla Girls, London’s Tate Modern
Flash back to 1984 and the International Survey of Recent Paintings and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Women artists did the math: Out of 165 artists, a mere 13 were women. The Guerrilla Girls were born. They picketed MOMA. As “the conscience of the art world,” they’ve been battling gender inequality and racism entrenched in it ever since.
Why masks? The protesters’ anonymity achieved by guerrilla masks puts the spotlight on the issues instead of the individual women artists or their talents.
The Tate Modern currently has a large wall dedicated to Guerrilla Girls’ posters stridently illuminating gender and race gaps throughout the world.
Continue reading “Postcard from London, England: Women-splaining Guerrillas at the Tate”
Postcards from Barton Springs 