Category: {fantasy}

Fantasy

The art of Arnau Alemany

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La raffinerie.

Since his first exhibition in Barcelona in 1978, Spanish artist Arnau Alemany has dedicated himself solely to painting. In recent years, he has shown in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Lyon, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Valencia, receiving second prize in the 1991 Montecar Biennial. A collection of his work also hangs in the prestigious Museum of Spanish Contemporary Art in Japan. Beginning the creative process, Alemany creates an imaginary urban landscape, either with signs of destruction or general abandonment, which are the artist’s expressions of the incompetence of city planning. Above all, he hopes to show that visual surprise is possible, through the use of magical realism.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The fantastic art archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Gérard Trignac
• The art of Jean-Pierre Ugarte

Giant mantis invades Prague

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Viriconium comes to life… Or should that be VR-conium? 360º panorama of this event.

A giant praying mantis invaded Old Town Square in Prague today at 8:15 pm to the delight of hundreds of human onlookers, and a few horses too. The humanoid invaders, on extended springy legs, drove their giant insect through the Old Town amid fireballs and deep heavy funk grooves. The police stood by, trying to direct the bug to more peaceful environs, as many of the grumpier tourists nearby were rather put off their expensive goulash and roasted duck.

The Letni Letna circus theater festival has come to Prague again! If you are in the area, the giant bug will be making another appearance, as well as plenty of other slightly perverse and zany acts.

Via Boing Boing.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The panoramas archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Paris III: Le Grande Répertoire—Machines de Spectacle

The art of Gérard Trignac

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Gérard Trignac produces etchings of a kind I’d most likely be doing myself if I wasn’t otherwise occupied, detailed architectural fantasies that owe a lot to my sainted Piranesi and (I’m guessing, since they’re both French) Charles Méryon. As usual with contemporary artists of this nature one can find the pictures but information about the artist is harder to come by. A web search reveals this:

Gérard Trignac was born in 1955, and initially trained to become an architect—training which is evident in his imagined cityscapes. Each of his prints begins with a detailed sketch, which is then fully developed on the copper plate. Each print can take months to complete. Besides individual prints, Trignac has often turned his talents to series of prints used to illustrate classic texts by authors such as Calvino, Borges, and others. His work is in the collection of numerous museums and public collections in Europe and the United States.

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The wonderful (French-only) Egone.net has an artist’s quarter with two Trignac portfolios (scroll to the bottom of the page—and look at some of the other work while you’re there). Work by Gérard’s sister, Colette, is also featured. Other print collections can be found here, here and here.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive