Today I ordered a rubber stamp with Edvard Munch’s “painted by a madman” phrase. When he painted “The Scream”, the original artwork wasn’t received very well by a critique of local artists. One of the folks at the critique questioned his sanity. So upset by this criticism, Munch went home and hand-wrote “Can only have …
A rubber stamp with Munch’s “painted by a madman” graffiti phrase Read More »
Yesterday I set out to illuminate Homer’s paintings using a silly font-selecting method: Pick the free fonts based primarily on their name alone. What was my motivation? One of my friends asked, “I am curious why you underwent this exercise Matt”. I asked myself the same question as I was doing this. A handful reasons …
Why did I illuminate Winslow Homer with free internet fonts? Read More »
Winslow Homer’s paintings are full of dichotomies. Earlier this week, I uncovered eight paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection with wonderful dual meanings. Themes like life and death captured in one painting. To really punch these double interpretations, I had fun photoshopping two words onto each painting. Each word is really BIG—as in …
Using a silly font-picking method to illuminate Winslow Homer Read More »
Rather mind-blowing that the Art Institute of Chicago has 184 of Winslow Homer’s artworks. Usually when I look an artist in their catalog, there are 4 results. Maybe 10. Sometimes it might balloon up to 16. But here are one hundred and eighty-four! One of the top images is a watercolor of a man rowing …
A long-time art world mystery has been solved. A hidden message exists in Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream”. Written in pencil in the corner of the painting reads, “Can only have been painted by a madman”. Who could have wrote such a thing? A vandal? Someone who hated Munch’s work? Ends up, it’s the …
Put Edvard Munch’s phrase “painted by a madman” on any artwork Read More »
Which of these collages by Tony Fitzpatrick do you like best? One of these collages will become a mural in my town, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Glen Ellyn resident, Diana Martinez, posted on Facebook: On behalf of the DuPage Public Art Committee and College of DuPage, we are working on installing a mural in the new …
My neighborhood will be getting a Tony Fitzpatrick mural Read More »
A man in Estonia spends hours cutting a circle in the bay ice, inserts a boat motor into a hole to make the circle spin.
The man who helped start both the transcontinental railroad AND one of the first famous photographers—his photos were missing for a hundred years, then found in a flea market! One of those photos was the very first photo of the White House. Just mind blowing.
Pick two works of art. Google will find the visual connection between the two artworks. Using several artworks that look visually similar, you’ll see a visual bridge between artworks. What is the connection between a 4,000-year-old clay figure and Van Gogh’s Starry Night? How do you get from Bruegel’s Tower of Babel to the street …
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During the first century, what did the Ancient Romans use to hold their stuff? Answer: Very cute containers! The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection has this adorable 1st century Roman container for personal items: I love how this looks like a ceramic container someone would make in a basic ceramics class. Rough around the edges, …
1st century Ancient Romans held their personal belongings in cute containers Read More »
Poems are stamped into sidewalk squares throughout Appleton, Wisconsin. Any resident are eligible to submit poems to the program. How wonderful! What a great way for people to feel a little more ownership of their community. Resident poets can walk along, and then point out “that’s my poem!” For those who simply enjoy the poems, …
