Tales of Madness : Adolf Wölfli

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Adolf Wölfli, a former farmhand and laborer, produced a monumental, 25,000-page illustrated narrative in Waldau, a mental asylum near Bern, Switzerland. Through a complex web of texts, drawings, collages and musical compositions, Wölfli constructed a new history of his childhood and a glorious future with its own personal mythology. The French Surrealist André Breton described his work as "one of the three or four most important oeuveres of the twentieth century". In 1972 the Adolf Wöfli Foundation was founded in Berne and since them, its collection is deposited in the Museum of Fine Art Bern. It contains the entire Wölfli estate as well as private gifts: 44 volumes of his writings, 6 notebooks and 250 single sheet drawings. 

More Estrada

Seems like readers/viewers have enjoyed the post on Ms Estrada's designs.... so here are a few more of her fabulous offerings developed for a Brasilian fashion house:

Burn, brightly, Pete

Repeat Pattern

Born in Iceland, Katrin Olina studied Industrial Design in Paris before working in the European design studios of Philippe Starck (Paris) and Ross Lovegrove (London). Since then, she has worked predominantly as a graphic artist and illustrator in the fields of industrial design, fashion, interiors, print and animation. Her work has also been featured in several prominent museum and gallery exhibitions around the world. 

Her imagery and graphics are often centered around natural elements and the imaginary. Olina has also collaborated with high tech companies such as materials producers Dupont Corian and 3M. Her clients have included porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal and furniture manufacturer Swedese.

In this project, of the interior of the Cristal Bar in Hong Kong, Katrin Olina uses film and printing technology to create a huge seamless painting that expands throughout the bar’s four interconnected areas that cover a floor area of 1200 square feet.

The bar countertop is encrusted with more than 300,000 Swarovski crystals, which are illuminated from above by a ripple projector, and below by multicolored LEDs. The counter’s surface changes hues while shimmering in waves over the course of the night. 

Burn brightly, Pete

Pattern goes on...

When I wrote the other day about pattern, I received an email asking where were the female practitioners for comparison in the discussion... and then I began to wonder who I knew? Obviously there are the hundreds of Native American women who practice pattern on clay pots and other decorative artworks.

But there are also contemporary women artists whose works I enjoy that incorporate pattern and so here are some offerings from women working with pattern in their current art practice... most are obviously commercial designers and illustrators rather than fine artists, but their work is inspirational.

Born and raised in Colombia, and living in Barcelona since 1999, Catalina Estrada brings all the colors and power of Latin-American folklore and refines it with a touch of European sophistication. She creates fascinating worlds, full of colour, nature, and enchanting characters. Some of her clients include: Coca-Cola, Microsoft Zune, Sony Music, Nike, Levis, Smart/Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Honda, Paulo Coelho, Lindt, Unicef, Motorola, & Barcelona’s City Council. Not all of Estrada's work is pattern based as evidenced by her client base, but she is in high demand as an international illustrator with her highly distinctive touch.

I'll also add some other women illustrators whose pattern work I admire. These tend to be a little sweet in their imagery, but I do find it difficult to discover women who are working with a hard edge to their imagery when it comes to pattern so if anyone discovers other work out there that may be of interest, please let me know.
Burn brightly, Pete.

Is Pattern Feminine?

I've been wondering lately whether pattern is a feminine trait, ... or more accurately, are women more predisposed to understanding pattern? I know that's a generalisation like " Are the best mystery writers female?", but maybe it bears thinking about, particularly in my line of profession.

William Morris gargoyle wallpaper

Certainly a lot of 'feminine' items have pattern involved  - clothing, underwear, crockery (?) etc. - yes I know these aren't all feminine but I think you know where I'm coming from, so please don't throw stones yet. One would think because of the mathematical nature of the process it may have more appeal to male thinking, but over and over again I see pattern as a method of appealing to the female mindset or as an example of how women work in their art forms. This could be because historically many women's crafts such as basket weaving, knitting and crochet make use of pattern, and throughout history women have learnt to develop and understand the delicacies and intricacies of pattern making.

William Morris wallpaper

I'm not sure if its pattern or decoration that has the appeal, but its something I've been thinking about for a while and want to explore a little further, not only in my teaching practice, but also in my own private art practice. I know when I teach using the idea of pattern in the class room, some girls have difficulty with the idea of the "repeat" part of pattern and tend to head more towards the decorative idea - where pattern is more random and less structured.... something else that I should look at and explore presonally. Interestingly, when we think of pattern in art, two stand-outs that readily come to mind are MC Esher and William Morris - but that may have more to do with patriarchal society and the nature of art history. Even Gustav Klimt (check earlier posts during this month) who has enormous appeal to women and makes use of pattern and decoration in most of his figurative works is once again a male artist.

So, having talked about pattern and gender, here are some images involving pattern and  decoration by a male illustrator, mergs888 akak Ken K Chung from the UK:

I don't know if its me or not, but do you think these have a definite "masculine" approach to their use of pattern? Or is it just the subject matter or use of colour that gives it that feeling? See what you think...

Burn brightly, Pete

World = Village

The Lost Thing

If you saw the Oscars a few weeks ago, you may have seen The Lost Thing  directed by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann pick up for the Oscar for Short Film (Animated). 


The picture book it’s based upon is gorgeous, one of those magnificent picture books that works for all ages, and the ABC is playing the award-winning film this Thursday night (April 21) at 8.15pm on ABC2. Not to be missed!


Burn brightly, Pete

Body and Art

Illustration, Body ArtSince I've been thinking about the body lately, and since today seems to be focussed on art, it seemed appropriate to put up some works by Emma Hack.

Through dedication and a passion for her craft, Emma's 21-year career has evolved from beginnings as a children's face painter and qualified hairdresser and make-up artist, to a body illustrator and visual artist of world acclaim. 

An Australian, possibly more people overseas have seen her work or heard about her three-dimensional wallpaper. She released a limited edition book of her wallpaper works last year.

Burn brightly, Pete