Week 9 - Episode 49 - Possible Worlds

Why are we willing to pay more for a view?

Why is it preferable to gaze at the sea rather than a cement wall?

The idea of freedom and possibility - without actually having to move an inch or break a sweat.

If we want to, we can go out, move into that view, into the promise it makes.

But we don’t have to risk it to enjoy it.

We can stay safely inside - and dream.

Windows with views in art tell multiple stories - about the in- and outside. And therefore are a much used and powerful visual element in painting and photography.

Raoul Dufy, Window opening on Nice, 1928, Shimane Arts Museum

In ‘Window on Nice’ Dufy even adds a mirror, cleverly spaced between two large windows looking out on Nice, to reflect more of the interior and, in a way, keep us inside. Munch, on the other hand, uses the view as contrast. The cool snowy trees juxtapose the fiery red of the painter’s head. Here, it is not the bright mediterranean sea that beckons us but the cold.

Edvard Munch, By the Window, 1940, Munch Museum, Oslo

Today, look for windows with a view - whether in real life or in art.

Capture both frame and vista - inside and out (whether promising or distressing).

And do share your framed views on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #kramerseye.

Listen to today’s podcast.

Week 9 - Episode 48 - Looking at Windows

Windows tell stories.

They can make us a voyeur, invite us in, keep us out or, if we’re on the inside looking out, provide a perfect frame for what’s happening outside.

Woman at broken window, photographer unknown (please let me know if you made this work so I can credit you)

Windows add layers to art - if there is a window, there is another world to see, to long for, to escape to.

Display windows give us aspirations and desires and at the same time separate us from them - as they do for Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

All week we’ll be looking at them, in them, through them.

For today, simply start observing what windows you come across on a regular day.

Small windows, large windows, dirty windows, shiny windows.

Windows seen from the outside, or from the inside out.

Spot them, capture them and share them using the hashtag #kramerseye on Twitter or Instagram.

Listen to today’s podcast

Week 8 - Episode 47 - Spiral Magic

“This spiral lies at that very point where inanimate matter is transformed into life.”

“I am convinced that the act of creation took place in form of a spiral. Our whole life proceeds in spirals.”

“The Spiral Is The Symbol Of Life And Death” - Friedensreich Hundertwasser

We’ve been spotting spirals all week, and maybe you, like me, have been mesmerised by how magical they are. This weekend, let’s make some magic and create our own spirals. 

Creating spirals using mixed media

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, The Big Way, Belvedere Museum, 1955, Belvedere Museum Vienna

The easiest way to start is to create spiral doodles. Get a small piece of paper and a pen, and fill the page with small two-dimensional spirals. 

Like to think big? Then get out a paint brush and paint large spirals - a rather zen exercise in itself. 

If you prefer to work with paper, why not create your own spiral collage? Take Matisse’s snail as your inspiration, and see what kind of colour spirals you can create. 

Want to co-create with kids? Why not hypnotise them (and yourself) by creating colourful paper twirls to suspend from the ceiling. Get some poster board, or other solid paper, and draw a spiral on it. Decorate it with crazy colours, cut it out, make a small hole on top so you can suspend it from the ceiling. This blog has some beautiful instructions and inspiring photos to do just that. 

Creating spirals with your camera

Get some tin foil and carefully pin prick a spiral pattern in it so the light can come through in a spiral shape. Experiment which scale, size and distance from your lens works best. 

Work in the dark (your bathroom if you can’t wait until nightfall) and create your own spiral light paintings, setting your shutter speed to bulb and drawing spirals using a small torchlight.

Creating your own land art

And, seeing that it’s Spring, why not combine your weekend walk with some land art and create spirals on the beach, or in the woods, using found objects like shells, acorns, small twigs, etc. 

Have lots of fun and do share your creative spirals using the hashtag #kramerseye on Twitter or Instagram. 

Listen to today’s podcast

Week 8 - Episode 46 - Ornamental Spirals

Spirals shapes are very decorative, and it should come as no surprise that you can find them everywhere in applied art - across continents, styles, ages.

Watercolor of the Great Minoan S-Spiral Frieze, ca. 1400-1200 BC, by Emile Gilliéron père, 1911 or early 1912. Metropolitan Museum

Ancient Greeks used them on their columns, vases and friezes. You can see a stunning example of a Minoan spiral frieze below - or rather, a watercolour copy. The brightly coloured spirals and shapes seem involved in a happy dance in this very dynamic decoration.

And speaking of dynamic: how about this stunning Mexican plate?

Dish with spiral monkey tail, between 300-850 A.D., Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico

“In the Mesoamerican imaginary, small spider monkeys with long tails are considered emissaries of Quetzacóatl, deity from central ancient Mexico, created -according to an ancient tradition- during the second age or Wind Sun. Quetzacóatl, in this case Kukulcan, in his advocation of Ehecatl known among Mayans as Ik, has a close relationship with the wind as an element whose basic expression is movement. Thus the representations in spiral, like in this example, are related with the characteristic whirls during the Wind Sun. At the same time wind is an element that sweeps the way and sown fields where the rain will fall. His action can be beneficial as well as destructive.” -Google Arts and Culture

In this myth, again, we have the beautiful paradox of the spiral.

And spirals weren’t just used on surfaces: sometimes columns became spirals, making the eye dance up and down, as in this early 18th century chair used by the Dutch East Indies Company in Indonesia.

Rechtsstoel van VOC op Ambon, 1709, Rijksmuseum collection

Spiral columns aren’t just restricted to wood or stone - glass artists used them to amazing (and sometimes somewhat over the top) effects, as you can see in this crazy goblet with intertwined snakes.

Glass Goblet, C.H.F. Müller, Hamburg, c. 1865 - c. 1870, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Today, look for spirals applied on ornaments. Whether it be on buildings or bowls, in churches or casino’s: what ornamental spirals can you spot?

Capture them, and do share them using the hashtag #kramerseye on Instagram or Twitter.

Listen to today’s podcast