Disney-Britton

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." - CONFUCIOUS

Baroque art, with its heavy senseof theatrics was a powerful weapon of the Roman Catholic Church in its Counter Reformation war. Carvaggio, Rembrant, Peter Paul Rueben and Diego Valazquez were some of giants used in this war of rich, stage-like aesthetics. It was a time of great wealth in the western work, for the church and for individuals.

Like the subtitle of this blog, "Renaissance" means "re-birth" and the Italian Renaissance (1400-1600) marked a renewed interest in the classical values of ancient Rome and Greece. It marked a return from flat stylized works of the Middle Ages (and still maintained by the Orthodox) to a naturalism. Important artists of this period included Botticelli, da Vinci. Michelangelo and Raphael.

"The world is but a canvas to the imagination" - HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Widely considered to be one of the artistic wonders of the world, Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" (1512) was not a labor of love. Painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it took his 4-years laying on his back on top a scaffold to complete, all at almost 70-feet in the air but it wasn't the physical strain that pained Michelangelo. It was that this was a forced commission by Pope Julius ll (the pope who established the vatican museums).

"Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all come." - MICHELANGELO (Re: Creation of Adam)

With a collection larger than NYC's Museum of Modern Art, but smaller than NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago's 300,000 piece collection is best known for its impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB La Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudí, 1882 - present, Barcelona SPAIN---A contemporary of Vincent Van Gogh , Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi began his church in 1882 and it is still uncompleted (projected 2033). The mammoth church (Sagrada Familia) is a towering gothic expression that melds with art nouveau and surrealism. Gaudi was consumed by the project and was buried inside in 1926.

"But what if man had eyes to see true beauty--the divine beauty, I mean, pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colors and vanities of human life..? - PLATO, Symposium

Michelangelo Buonarroti was an explosive personality and unlikeable genius. He preferred sculpture, as in his greatest work, "David" (c. 1504) but may be better known for his two paintings, "The Last Judgement" and "The Creation of Adam" which are both at the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

"...generally art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish, and partly immitates her." - ARISTOTLE, Ethics, Book ll

"...to us is promised a vision of beauty -- the beauty of whose imitation all other beautiful things are beautiful, and by comparison with which all other things unsightly." - AUGUSTINE, De Ordine

The 52 galleries of the Vatican Museum's in Rome, Italy attract over 4 million visitors a year and they cover over 2,000 years of religious art history. It was begun in the early 16th century by Pope Julius ll. It is rumored that portions of the collection will travel to the US this year. I will keep my eyes and ears open.

A small chapel located beneath the Roman Catholic All Saints Church in Praque is made of human bones. Yes, it's made out of the remains of people--40,000 of which contributed to the construction of the chapel's architecture and furnishings. Created back in 1870, its formal name is Sedlec's All Saint Ossuary but its nickname is "The Bone Church."

"Beautiful art must look like nature, although we are conscious of it as art." - KANT, Critique of Judgement

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton INDIANA - After a $10 million rehabilitation, a 1922 Indianapolis United Methodist Church will become home to the state's preservation group . The building, vacant since 2008 but considered a gem because of its Romanesque Revival-style has been using a grant of $150,000 to stabilizd the building's foundation. The church building will be renamed, "Indiana Landmarks Center."

Joe Carter's post in First Thing s on "Religious Art for the Non-Believer" alerted me to Aaron Rosen's piece in The Humanist . Rosen is an author and art critique with a special interest in jewish art. I beleive he is also a secularist but that's just a guess based on this post. He begins his piece with: Next time you’re taking a Sunday stroll into the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, be sure to cast your eye upward. As you ascend the grand staircase to the main floor, you’ll find your gaze drawn into the heavens, where it’s returned by no less a security guard than the enthroned Christ, encircled by his ministering angels. ( Read All )

I am sad and wonderful tonight. The musical, "Passing Strange" was amazing. It made me weep, laugh, sway and sing in astonishment. It could have been anyones life, but it was mine, as it was millions of other people. The line that grabbed both me and mom was the same, "Life is a mistake that can only be corrected by art. It was amazing. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

"I am interested only in expressing basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom," Mark Rothko (1903-1970) said of his paintings. "If you are moved only by their color relationships, then you miss the point." ( Read All )

"Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches." ~ ANDY WARHOL "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." ~ ANDY WARHOL "I never think that people die. They just go to department stores." ~ ANDY WARHOL "When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships." ~ ANDY WARHOL

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest  Disney-Britton INDIANA---From vampire movies to the Roman Catholic Church, I've always been excited to see the "Cross". So, imagine my excitement traveling along I-70, when a huge 20-story cross appeared on the Green Acres horizon! Sadly, they won't let me take it home to Hooterville; and Greg won't let me build a 198-ft tall replica in our front yard; so I've begun collecting much smaller versions. I have only have a few so far. If you have a Cross to spare, send it my way!

From vampire movies to the Roman Catholic Church, I've always been excited to see the "Cross". So, imagine my excitement traveling along I-70, when a huge 20-story cross appeared on the Green Acres horizon! Sadly, they won't let me take it home to Hooterville; and Greg won't let me build a 198-ft tall replica in our front yard; so I've begun collecting much smaller versions. I have only have a few so far. If you have a Cross to spare, send it my way!

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest O. Britton GEORGIA--- Although many people became familiar with the Reverend Howard Finster through his 40,000 late-20th century paintings, the centerpiece of his work was Paradise Garden. This outdoor museum was built to celebrate all the inventions of mankind, but dedicated to the glory of God. His oeuvre is best considered as an installation and performance piece, of which the paintings are the extant artifacts. Thanks to my niece Tambra Smoot, I found out that Atlanta's  High Museum  is the repository for a huge portion of the Finster collection.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton INDIANA---I finally stumbled upon a home for weekday noon mass, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church is within a block of Indy's downtown shopping center. There's even a line for confession, and it's starting now. Since there's only Sunday mass in Green Acres, I'm finally free of Mother Angelica's EWTN ! Yesterday, I worshiped at  SS Peter and Paul Cathedral . They have some impressive sacred art, and I made some new friends.

I finally stumbled upon a home for weekday noon mass, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church is within a block of Indy's downtown shopping center. There's even a line for confession, and it's starting now. Since there's only Sunday mass in Green Acres, I'm finally free of Mother Angelica's EWTN ! Yesterday, I worshiped at SS Peter and Paul Cathedral . They have some impressive sacred art, and I made some new friends.

In their stunning simplicity, the famous colored rectangle paintings by Mark Rothko suggest, evoke, and endlessly enthrall. This richly illustrated book reproduces in full color one hundred of Rothko’s paintings, prints, and drawings. The volume features four commentaries by art experts who explore various formal aspects of Rothko’s work, interviews with contemporary artists who reflect on Rothko’s legacy to post-New York School abstraction, and a chronology of the Russian-born artist’s life from 1903 to 1970. ( Read All )

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest  Disney-Britton KENTUCKY---Covington, KY artist Frank Duveneck completed murals the murals on the east wall of his hometown's Blessed Sacrament Chapel in May 1910. The triptych depicts the mysteries of the Eucharist. We were there for Easter.

Covington, KY artist Frank Duveneck completed murals the murals on the east wall of his hometown's Blessed Sacrament Chapel in May 1910. The triptych depicts the mysteries of the Eucharist. We were there for Easter.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest @DisneyBritton My resolution is to finish my book on the Freedom Center years, and to find the right financial model for Alpha Omega Arts that leads to opening an art gallery. [ Resolutions! ]

Spanish artist, Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is best known for his portraits including his masterpiece of Pope Innocent X (1650), this work was was later re-appropriated by contemporarypainter Francis Bacon in a series of paintings attacking the abusive power of Popes.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS  By TAHLIB Adoration of the Magi Albrecht Dürer (Italian 1471-1538) Created 1504 Location: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. For  more on Blacks in Western Art, see The Image of the Black in Western Art