Saturday 10 May 2014

Skull-A-Day

So like... we were screaming our heads off when we found we had been featured on the notorious skull blog "Skull-A-Day"
 
This is what was posted on facebook and this is what he wrote about us on the blog:

Super Sugarskills Saturday

Today's super set of super sugar skulls come from Izzy Cammareri and Lynsey Morgann Laurence. Recently,the girls were featured at a showing at BrickLane Annex Gallery in London. I love the background bio that they included:

"Izzy Cammareri and Lynsey Morgann Laurence met whilst studying Illustration under Bill Wright at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. Between them they have resided in London, Hong-Kong and Australia. A global alliance; when unable to work together they share and plan ideas online. Exhibiting throughout London, in recent years they have forged the art and illustration company; Sugarskills.

Isabella and Lynsey devise sugar skull designs that have the dreams, desires and demons of a departed soul painted and collaged across the forehead. Based on no one person, each skull asks the onlooker to play the part of both dream interpreter and forensic anthropologist. Once engaged with the subject you are challenged to solve some part of it’s identity; to decipher the complex and detailed story of it’s perpetual life. Both mysterious and evocative, disturbing and comical, each skull holds a labyrinth of symbols and imagery that beckons the audience into a wonderland of cavernous questions and profound discoveries.

Together the girls of “Sugarskills” take the totem metaphor of death and dance with it. Their work is a series of appositions; chaotic but ordered; moribund but hopeful; as wise as it is immature. Each canvas is celebratory, mischievous, calculating; sentimentally childish and unapologetically spirited. Impishly waltzing through layers of creativity like a pair of rogue opportunists; Izzy and Lynsey pick up the bare bones of life and puckishly paint them into a myriad of Mexicana colours. With every stroke they dare the on-looker to come and play with them."

Thanks for helping to make this Saturday super skullified, Isabella and Lynsey!

 
The History of Skull-A-Day:

On June 4, 2007, Noah Scalin posted an orange paper cutout of a skull online with the note, “I am making a skull a day for a year”. Within weeks the site gained international recognition and began attracting a dedicated audience who participated in the project by submitting skull sightings (which were posted weekly) as well as taking part in skull themed contests.























Noah made skulls out of a wide range of materials and techniques, rarely repeating one. The skulls generally took 2–4 hours a day to make and photograph, though several took much longer. Many times the finished pieces were offered as free downloads to the community including two original fonts (Skullphabet 1 & 2), a papercraft model skull, a paint-by-numbers, a crossword puzzle, and several stencils all of which are Creative Commons licensed.

On June 2, 2008, Noah made his official last skull No. 365, though an additional skull labeled #365.25 was posted the day after since 2007 was a leap year. On June 3, 2008 the site was dubbed Skull-A-Day 2.0 and Noah began posting original skull art submissions from readers of the site daily.
On October 6, 2008, the book Skulls, based on the Skull-A-Day project, was released by Lark Books an imprint of Sterling Publishing Company, Inc..Skulls features 150 of the Skull-A-Day images, including 4 DIY projects, there is also a small selection of skulls made by fans of the project using stencils created by Noah.

On June 3, 2009 the site entered its 3rd year and became Skull-A-Day 3.0. Two new editors, Citizen Agent and Tatman, were added to the staff. In addition to the regular daily posting of reader submissions each editor also added his own weekly new skull creation. "C-Rations" appeared every Monday and "Tuesdays With Tatman" appeared every Tuesday for the duration of the 3.0 year.
On June 3, 2010 the site entered a 4th year and became Skull-A-Day 4.0. An additional editor, Azurafae, was added to the staff. Along with the regular daily postings are also weekly skulls made by this editor. "Dia de la Abby" appears every Thursday for the duration of the 4.0 year. Tutorials for these weekly skulls are available on her blog, Crafty Lady Abby.

To celebrate the start of the 5th year, June 4, 2011 has been designated by the editors of the site to be the first annual international Skull Appreciation Day.


Since the end of the original project images from Skull-A-Day have been exhibited in galleries and Noah continues to give talks on the project to businesses and universities.
More about Skull-A-Day from the man himself:
 
 

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Respect to: Diego Rivera for Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central

Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central or Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central is a mural created by Diego Rivera. It was painted between the years 1946 and 1947, and is the principal work of the "Museo Mural Diego Rivera" adjacent to the Alameda in the historic center of Mexico City.
The mural was originally created at the request of architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia, and originally was displayed in the Versailles restaurant at the hotel Prado. When the hotel was destroyed in the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake, the mural was restored and moved to its own museum

Rivera's mural measures 15 meters long and it stood at the end of Alameda Park. The mural survived the 1985 earthquake, which destroyed the hotel, and was later moved across the street to the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, built after the earthquake for that purpose.4
The mural depicts famous people and events in the history of Mexico, passing through the Alameda Central park in Mexico City. Behind them float the things they each dream of. Some notable figures include Francisco I. Madero, Benito Juárez, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Porfirio Díaz, Agustín de Iturbide, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Maximilian I of Mexico, Juan de Zumárraga, Antonio López de Santa Anna, Winfield Scott, Victoriano Huerta, and Hernán Cortés. Rivera's wife Frida Kahlo is at the center of the mural, holding hands with a child version of Rivera and the skeleton La Calavera Catrina
Rivera took inspiration from the original etching and gave Calavera a body as well as more of an identity in her elegant outfit as she is poised between himself and Posada. The intent seemed to be to show the tradition of welcoming and comfort the Mexicans have with death and especially the identity of a lady of death, harking back to the heritage of the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl. As explained by curator David de la Torre from the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Catrina has come to symbolize not only El Día de los Muertos and the Mexican willingness to laugh at death itself, but originally Catrina was an elegant or well-dressed woman, so it refers to rich people4, de la Torre said. "Death brings this neutralizing force; everyone is equal in the end. Sometimes people have to be reminded
The culture of La Calavera Catrina's has ties to political satire and is also a well-kept tradition as the original was inspired by the polarizing reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz, whose accomplishments in modernizing and bringing financial stability to Mexico pale against his government's repression, corruption, extravagance and obsession with all things European. Concentration of fantastic wealth in the hands of the privileged few brewed discontent in the hearts of the suffering many, leading to the 1910 rebellion that toppled Diaz in 1911 and became the Mexican Revolution.
She also symbolizes the contrasts between the upper and lower classes for times were cruel. The social classes were extremely segmented and the highest class was the most fortunate and enjoyed many privileges; to the contrary, the lower classes were nearly invisible. To explain and rescue the folklore of worshiping the dead, while showing this off to high society, José Guadalupe Posada made caricatures of Death, one of these drawings being the famous calavera with an elegant hat, though only representing the head and bust with a sophisticated and skeletal essence.
La Calavera Catrina’s today can be found in their more traditional form both in drawn works as well as sculptures made out of Oaxacan wood carvings, paper mache sculptures, majolica pottery and black clay. She is also coupled with male skeletons.
From taking from the political nature of the original pieces, works such as Sun Mad by Ester Hernández. Los Lobos album cover La Pistola y el Corazon, depicting an inspired Catrina in a couples embrace.
(source:wiki)