Visual Art

Hailed by readers/listeners and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky; her association with the Communist Party.

Art-Write:The Writing Guide for Visual Artists has a single intention: to teach artists how to write about their own artwork. This concise and current career resource is filled with achievable advice on how to write for art promotion and sales. The audiobook offers a step-by-step approach to create a professional artist statement, with thinking and writing exercises to ease the process and develop authentic and clear content.

Cv/VAR series 52 features an interview with American artist James Turrell recorded at Michael Hue Williams London in June 1996.

A follow-up to the bestseller Sigil Witchery, Visual Alchemy takes a deeper look at the extraordinary connection between art and magic. Laura Tempest Zakroff expands on her signature sigil witchery method, an accessible and intuitive approach to crafting effective sigils. She covers numerous topics, including how to connect to the artist within, draw inspiration to you, and easily incorporate art into your ritual practice. Featuring more than fifty shared magic sigils, this book empowers you to put aside fear and unleash the full potential of your imagination.

Cv/VAR 50 publishes an interview with the artist Helen Chadwick (1953-96), recorded at her Beck Road studio in 1989. It explores the body-action-photographic works distilled in installations such as Ego Geometria Sum and Of Mutability, and the cromalin prints of 1989: Viral Landscapes, prepared for exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford in 1990.

To this day, mention the name “Andy Warhol” to almost anyone and you’ll hear about his famous images of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. But though Pop Art became synonymous with Warhol’s name and dominated the public’s image of him, his life and work are infinitely more complex and multifaceted than that. In Warhol, esteemed art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions.

Listen as descriptions of human physiology are illustrated in the eBook edition with 80 panel paintings by Philip James ROI. A viscous surface of pulped and washed colour interprets the intricate framework of muscles, arteries, bone and soft tissue, all infused with an internal dynamic of potent nervous energy. First published in 2001, the volume carried 80 colour plates of art works with descriptions of the location and function of portrayed parts.

A study of Aubrey Beardsley's work exhibited at Tate Britain until May 25, 2020. The author considers the darkly vigorous imagery of the short lived genius, his graphic work for the notorious Yellow Book, and sublimely erotic illustrations for Lysistrata by Aristophane and Salome by Oscar Wilde, which frank imagery even shocked the author.

Somewhere within the iconic images, carefully made personae, star-studded milieu, million-dollar price tags and famous quotes lies the real Andy Warhol. But who was he? With Andy Warhol, Robert Shore unfolds the multi-dimensional Warhol, dissecting his existence as undisputed art-world hotshot, recreating the amazing circle that surrounded him, and tracing his path to stardom back through his early career and his awkward and unusual youth.

An essay by Edward Lucie-Smith explores aspects of the mysterious and private character of the renowned American society artist John Singer Sargent.

With a unique blend of self-help, career strategy, and memoir-like elements, Vicki Lau speaks to the core of what it is like to work behind the scenes on some of your favorite Hollywood titles, covering strategies employed in order to maneuver her way into the upper echelons of the industry.

The Anatomy Series of 2001 was made in a quantity of eighty panels, taking three weeks to complete. The set considered the landscape of the human physical system. The panels were worked on flat, painting twelve at a time in rotation. They were laid out on an old framed work which also served as a container for the pool of colour washed over the textured surface. Two inch square wooden cubes were used to stack the panels in small towers to dry out.

The YouTube money craze is on. Because of this wonderful innovation, ordinary individuals can now upload their own videos and monetize that through the number of viewers. But as more people join in the money tree, the competition has become very stiff. The explosion of videos taken by ordinary individuals has taken the world by storm and the formula for what would make the next YouTube viral video is on.

He was the original 20th-century enfant terrible with the looks of a Greek god who blazed like a comet across the worlds of art, photography, and fame. The scion of several old WASP fortunes, he was by instinct an adventurer, and the more dangerous the escapade, the better. Journalist and author Graham Boynton was a friend for more than 30 years, spending time with Beard at his bush camp in Africa, in London, and at his Long Island home. From hundreds of Boynton’s interviews with Beard’s closest friends, former lovers, and fellow artists comes this intimate portrait.

Cv/VAR series 146 reviews the work of Damien Hirst (b.Bristol 1965), presented in a retrospective exhibition spanning 20 years, held at Tate Modern, April to September 2012. It explores the development of his art - from the controversial animal vitrines and beautiful butterfly composites, to an extensive series of spot paintings, where the artist engaged in a complex invigilation of coded systems that govern daily existence.

A study of Giacometti portraits at the National Portrait Gallery London and Frank Auerbach at Tate Britain.

Cv/VAR no.103 publishes an interview recorded 2010 with American artist John Dugger (b.California 1948) in which he gives an account of his art and development. He recounts 1960s America and arriving in London 1967: pioneering The Exploding Galaxy with David Medalla; 1970-2, their travels in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, then the China Journey of 1972 into Mao's Republic. The monograph documents the artists work for Banner Arts and other projects to date.

Eye Contact is the story of a photographer's decade-long journey in search of meaning and manhood. An experienced freelancer with the New York Times, author Luke Sharrett treats listeners to a behind-the-scenes look at covering the White House and flying aboard Air Force One. Despite achieving professional success at a young age, he is haunted by a feeling that he simply doesn't belong. He can't seem to outrun a nagging fear that he doesn't have what it takes to succeed in life. As he navigates his career, he begins searching for answers. Who am I? Where do I belong?

Cv/VAR no.100 publishes an interview with the American artist Jim Dine, recorded by cell phone from Wales to the artists Paris studio on May 11th, 2010. In this, he discusses his beginnings as an artist, his work with Claes Oldenburg and the Happenings, the Pinocchio series, 52 Books at Pace Gallery, New York, and the relationship of drawing to his graphic work.

A collection of reviews and studies of photographers published since 2001. Includes David Bailey, Horst, Cecil Beaton, Don McCullin, Lee Miller, Francesca Woofman, E.O.Hoppe, and others.