CONTENTS
Page One:
- Introducing Dragos Ciutacu
- Vladislav Kostenko: Fine Knives
- François Peeters: Pyrography in Bas Relief
Page Two:
- Antique Plaque of a Young Lady at Graduation
- Abdulwahab Mihoub: Looking Back and Going Forward
- Michael Janson: Experimenting with Variations on a Theme
- Abby Levine: Delving Into Political Satire
Page Three:
- Adriano Colangelo: Applied Art
- Dino Muradian: Music Fest in Germany
- Paul Chojnowski: Solo Show in New York City
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Young Lady at Graduation |
The antique plaque above shows a young woman holding a bouquet of roses and wearing the traditional cap and gown that signify graduation. At this time of year in many parts of the world, the tradition lives on as young men and women once more don cap and gown to march up to the stage and receive their diploma.
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Rest |
While Houba continues his endeavor to 'look back' with nostalgia to
record the traditions and past of his beloved city of Touggourt in the
Sahara Desert in Algeria, his work is progressing beautifully and his
career is pressing forward.
He was first introduced to the readers of WOM in the May 2002 issue of
Pyrograffiti
17 and, within months of that, already reporting new successes in
Algeria and France in Pyrograffiti 20.
He is back again, bringing many new works (Rest above
being one of them) depicting the Sahara Desert and his city of Touggourt
for posterity. He has once more had a television interview and recently
enjoyed another successful exhibition in Algiers. He and his wife
Farida have another project in the works as well, but we'll leave that
as a surprise for a later issue of WOM.
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Pyrogeometric |
Posing with his stepdaughter Olesja in the picture above is Michael Janson. The occasion is Olesja's birthday
and his present to her is the framed pyrographic art work behind them on
the shelf in her room.
Michael and his abstract works on paper are displayed in the Michael
Janson Salon in the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art and were introduced
here in WOM in the summer of 2001 when he explained his methodology in
Pyrograffiti
12. He later contributed his own article on working with computer
variations of original pyrographs in WOM a year ago in Pyrograffiti
22. He has once more been experimenting and his new
Pyrogeometric work--Olesja's birthday present shown below
in a close-up view--is the first part of that experiment.
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Pyrogeometric |
From a digital image of his original Pyrogeometric work on
paper, Michael generated four computer variations, each with a distinct
look and character. Here is Michael's introduction to the experiment:
"This work consists of 49 different patterns, each of which forms a
square 7 cm by 7 cm. I want to explore the brown-scale possibilities of
pyrography. It's impossible (I think) to qualify this [the original]
pattern as one belonging to a specific culture."
The display of the original and the four computer variations with
Michael's commentary can be viewed in the Michael
Janson Salon No. 2 in the E-Museum.
Michael concludes his experiment with these words:
"One picture generates numerous others. But it can be seen
through 'layers' of
transformations in each case. Thus, playing with the pictures, we learn
to see the
Creator's Plan through the infinite forms of objective reality."
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Golem |
Multimedia artist Abby Levine is back again in WOM where she was
first introduced in May of 2002 in
Pyrograffiti
17 with some of her colorfully painted wooden constructions, such as
a big souvenir 'postcard' of Big Bend, Texas and other souvenir,
historical, and biographical pieces for which she is so well known. By
November that year there was already an update on Abby in Pyrograffiti
20 as her works and those of other artists in the Big Bend area were
getting a lot of publicity in the art world.
Since then she's been branching out in various directions. She created
her first installation at a place called Project Rowhouses in Houston
last October. It turned out very well, and got her an interview on the
radio (Pacifica station on a show called Go Vegan Texas).
Here are Abby's own words about her current art, which in format is
similar to what she was doing before, but which, as the example above
shows, has changed in focus and content:
"My work has gotten more political over the years. I usually make
painted wooden constructions, which use a sort of metamorphic visual
poetic to convey my ideas. I attempt to cloak my somewhat rigid
ideology in humor, so my pieces often function as candy-coated pills or
Trojan horses. Lately I've been concentrating on the evils of the
current U.S. Administration."
"I also did a number (over twenty) of wall decorations [painted
only] for a special needs school in Albuquerque. I really enjoyed doing
them since I've been doing all these nasty political pieces lately.
They were a real change of pace."
"I recently hosted an art tour from Dallas, . . . and enjoyed
showing the people in the group my work and fielding their
questions."
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2004, Kathleen M. Garvey Menéndez, all rights reserved.
