While we cannot capture all of the remarkable achievements and creations of the past year, we do believe there is inspiration to be garnered from even a partial overview. Our intent is to provide a glimpse into some of what has captured our attention in the past year. This snapshot provides an overview of the multiplicity of entities sharing ideas that spark our curiosity. We hope this brief exchange will encourage and guide you as we embark into another year of collective learning and exploration.
Museum Exhibition
Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy by the Getty Research Institute
Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy represented a comprehensive overview of the history of anatomical examination through art. While contemporary society may be inclined to take our modern knowledge of the human body for granted, this exhibition demonstrated the lengths to which scientists and artists had to fight and advocate for the pursuit of knowledge. Featuring 150 depictions of the human body from the 16th century onward, the show was open to the public for close to five months in Los Angeles, CA. If you would like a more in-depth look into the research behind this monumental show, you can purchase the exhibition catalog via the Museum Store or listen to this Art + Ideas podcast episode.
Museum’s Statement: “For centuries, the structure of the human body was a fundamental concern for both medicine and art. Anatomy was a basic component of artistic education, and artists were a recognized part of the market for anatomical illustration. At the intersection of art and science, this exhibition looks at the shared vocabulary of anatomical images and at the different methods used to reveal the body through a wide range of media, from woodcut to neon” [1].
Podcast
Arts Week: How Art Can Heal The Brain by Short Wave
Image 3. Francis Collins and Renée Fleming sing a duet. Source.
Short Wave: Episode 792 posted on November 29, 2022
Our understanding of the human body is constantly expanding and this Short Wave episode perfectly encapsulates the wonder that this process of discovery can evoke. With each breakthrough it seems that we realize how much we still have left to learn. This episode engages with a cutting-edge field of study, how Art Therapy can soothe and treat the brain:
“Arts therapies appear to ease a host of brain disorders from Parkinson's to PTSD. But these treatments that rely on music, poetry or visual arts haven't been backed by rigorous scientific testing. Now, artists and brain scientists have launched a program to change that. NPR's brain correspondent Jon Hamilton tells us about an initiative called the NeuroArts Blueprint in this encore episode” [2].
Artist Interview
Marsha Pels: 'My Work Scares People' by Frieze
What perhaps struck us the most in Marsha’s interview was how her work demonstrates the intersectionality of the body within numerous art forms. It functions as an essential framework for connection between the artist and the viewer, especially in a deconstructed state, while its symbolic power radiates beyond the literal structures of form. Marsha also describes the tension created by that which is considered grotesque. All of this is a familiar and inviting dichotomy.
Excerpt: “For the Frame section at Frieze New York 2022, Marsha Pels (Lubov Gallery, FR11) presents four autobiographical sculptures, made using found objects in the Surrealist lineage of the “Exquisite Corpse”. One such work, Écorché, is a monument to loss. Made following her mother’s death — and a lifelong difficult relationship — the work is composed of twenty casts of Pels’s hands and arms, wearing her mother’s satin gloves, inside her mother’s mink coat. Her cast hands are stacked, smallest to biggest, like a rib cage, buffeting an absent spinal column. The title Écorché, refers to the French for 'flayed'; a technique of representing human anatomy without skin” [3].
Article
“What's inside Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks?” by Bulent Atalay and Keith Wamsley
Image 6. Sheet 1A of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester discussing the moon's brightness relative to that of the sun. Source.
“Packed with intricate sketches and detailed notes, Leonardo's personal diaries reveal his countless passions—from the structures of human anatomy to the possibilities of human flight” [4].
Though da Vinci is perhaps most well known for being a painter, from a statistical standpoint his painting constituted an extremely small portion of his life’s work. From inventor and mathematician to anatomy enthusiast, da Vinci paved the way for numerous advances in science and technology. This National Geographic article describes some of da Vinci’s extensive fields of interest and the legacy he left behind in his illustrated notebooks.
Artist Highlight
Nikoleta Sekulovic
Image 7. ‘Coeruleus’ by Nikoleta Sekulovic. Source.
Rather than expressing the contours of the body through extensive shading, Nikoleta conveys form through linear elaboration - the thickening and thinning of a graphite outline. In tandem with this articulation, she brings warmth to the skin in rosy hues that illuminate and enliven the figure. From a formal standpoint alone, Nikoleta’s works are stunning. But the intentionality with which she paints them creates a deeply dimensional representation of human experience and identity.
“Every single woman is different; the way my models pose reflects a part of who they are, expressing their personality. There is no pretence, no trying to act out, they are simply themselves, and that’s great. The way a woman thinks she should look or tries to conform to an ideal of beauty should not hold her back from being who she is.” - Nikoleta Sekulovic [5]
According to the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, “Nikoleta creates in the tradition of Odalisque portraiture and yet redefines her subject as both parent and muse. In a muted palette and void of props and distractions, the artist’s intent is to highlight the female form stripped of external expectations and in a state of authenticity, as opposed to more traditional expressions of sexuality. The looser lines celebrate the imperfections and irregularities of the human body and recall Egon Schiele's Vienna and the minimalism of Gustav Klimt's studies” [6].
Sources
[1] Getty Research Institute. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/anatomy/
[2] Hamilton, J., Scott, A., & Ramirez, R. (2022, November 29). Arts week: How Art Can Heal the Brain. NPR. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/2022/11/10/1135906604/arts-week-how-art-can-heal-the-brain
[3] Marsha Pels: 'My Work Scares People'. Frieze. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.frieze.com/video/marsha-pels-my-work-scares-people
[4] Atalay, B., & Wamsley, K. (2022, August 10). What's inside Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks? National Geographic. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/08/whats-inside-leonardo-da-vincis-notebooks
[5] Nikoleta Sekulovic. Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.rebeccahossack.com/artists/nikoleta-sekulovic/overview/
[6] Nikoleta Sekulovic. Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.rebeccahossack.com/artists/nikoleta-sekulovic/overview/
Image Sources
Image 1. Life-size anatomical figure, seen from the front (one of a set of three), 1780, Antonio Cattani. Getty Research Institute, 2014. Source.
Image 2. Robert, 2018, Tavares Strachan. Photo: Andrea D’altoè Neonlauro. Photo courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. Source.
Image 3. NIH Director Francis Collins and Renée Fleming, who is Artistic Advisor at Large for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., sing a duet. Source.
Image 4. Marsha Pels, Écorché, 2006-2008, Patined cast plaster; 10 pairs of Pels’ arms cast in her mother’s gloves, her mother’s mink coat, Courtesy of the Artist and Lubov Gallery. Source.
Image 5. Marsha Pels, To Breathe, To Walk, 2009-2011, Cast bronze and iron, flame-worked Pyrex glass, found objects. Source.
Image 6. Sheet 1A of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester discussing the moon's brightness relative to that of the sun. Photograph by Seth Joel, Corbis, VCG via Getty Images. Source.
Image 7. Nikoleta Sekulovic, ‘Coeruleus’, 2022, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 163 x 118 cm. Courtesy of the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery. Source.