My Science School

While most digital artists opt to use Photoshop or other similar digital imaging software, 77-year-old Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi chooses to work with Microsoft Excel to produce his beautiful works of art. His “paintings” are remarkably intricate works that mimic traditional Japanese paintings that offer scenic views of natural landscapes rich with cultural motifs.

The artist says, “I never used Excel at work but I saw other people making pretty graphs and thought, ‘I could probably draw with that.'” He adds, “Graphics software is expensive but Excel comes pre-installed in most computers… And it has more functions and is easier to use than [Microsoft] Paint.”

Horiuchi even dabbled with Microsoft Word, but found it to be too restrictive in its paper sizing. There is far more freedom for the artist to expand on his pieces in Excel. Since his discovery of the program's artistic functions and his ability to utilize the software's capabilities, Horiuchi has gone on to win competitions with his work, most notably taking first prize at the Excel Autoshape Art Contest in 2006.

Having gained worldwide praise over the last few years, Horiuchi has now caught the attention of Great Big Story. The artist invited GBS into his home, offering a behind-the-scenes look at his process. It's hard to believe that these lifelike illustrations were made on Excel spreadsheets, which are typically used to crunch numbers.

Credit : My modern met

Picture Credit : Google 

Sayed Haider was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France from 1950 until his death, while maintaining strong ties with India. Sayed Haider Raza was born in 1922 in the indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He started his career in the 1940s with expressionistic watercolours of his surroundings. In 1950, his life took an unexpected turn, when he won a French Government Scholarship and got the chance to study at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Here, he was exposed to different forms, coloration and composition techniques of the Post-Impressionists and discovered oil painting.

Thereafter, he continued to create landscapes inspired by the works of renowned artists like Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, and began to use colour as a tool of construction, switching from gouache and watercolour to more tactile oil-based pigments.

After his studies, he travelled across Europe, and continued to live and exhibit his work in Paris. He was later awarded the Prix de la critique in Paris in 1956, becoming the first non-French artist to receive the honour.

As one of the foremost pioneers of Indian modern art, his paintings blended Parisian modernism with the colours of Indian Rajput art. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century painters.

Inspiration and Subject Matter

The most tenacious memory of Raza's childhood was the fear and fascination of Indian forests. He lived near the source of the Narmada river in the centre of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. The nights in the forests were hallucinating; sometimes the only humanising influence was the dancing of the Gond tribes. Only the daybreak brought back a sentiment of security and wellbeing. On market day, under the radiant sun, the village was a fairyland of colours. Till his last days, he found these aspects of his life dominate his paintings thematically.

Rooted in his childhood memories over time his landscapes became increasingly abstract.

Progressive Art Movement

He was a co-founder of the Progressive Artists Group (PAG) which was established in 1947, in Bombay. It was a collective of some of the most awe-inspiring Indian artists who diverted from and challenged the conventional artistic sensibilities of the time to espouse a global mindset.

An attempt to break away from the revivalist nationalism endorsed by the Bengal School of Art, the PAG emerged out of the disdain and shock of the brutality that accompanied the partition of India. Its impetus was the creation of an Indian form of modernism that combined pluralism of Indian art history with modern European styles such as post-impressionism. expressionism and cubism.

Apart from Raza the founding members of PAG included F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, K.H. Ara, S.K. Bakre, and H.A. Gade. Author Mulk Raj Anand praised them as the 'heralds of a new dawn in the world of Indian art.

Innovative Ideation

Raza explored the themes of Prakriti (nature), Kundalini (primal energy), Tribhuj (triangle) and Bindu (circle/dot) through his work.

His most celebrated series was Bindu. Conceptually derived from the Sanskrit word "Shunya", which has a spiritual connotation of being in a supreme state of awareness where everything comes to nothingness.

To him Bindu was the centre of all creation, a source of energy and life.

His best-known works are densely geometric, reminiscent of abstract pioneers like Wassily Kandinsky, inviting viewers into complex spatial and emotional interactions with his canvases.

In Passion: Life and Art of Raza, an autobiographical work he co-authored with Ashok Vajpeyi, the artist elucidates how the idea of Bindu which many would agree is the leit motif in his art was introduced to him by his school headmaster.

In the book he recalls, how worried about the wandering nature of his student, Nand Lal Jharia, the headmaster, summoned him and asked him to forget about everything and just concentrate on the dot he made on the board.

Raza returned to India in 2010 after living in France for six decades. France had an important influence on his painting style, but the object of his art remained closely related to India.

The archetypical Indian spirituality and tradition that Raza brought to his canvas by contrasting different colours spoke of the artist's sincere devotion towards his people and culture. His art was his voice, his vision and his legacy.

Picture Credit : Google 

Anonymous street artist Banksy's shredded artwork Love is in the Bin' sold for a record 25.4 million dollars at famed auction house Sotheby's.

Nearly three years before Love is in the Bin was sold, Banksy's original artwork ‘Girl With Balloon’ sold for a record 1.4 million dollars. When it was sold, the artwork immediately self-destructed as a shredder inside the frame activated and sliced the bottom half of the picture. Banksy claimed responsibility for the event and stated that the entire artwork was to be shredded, but the shredder malfunctioned. Thus, he gave his artwork a new name Love is in the Bin.

Banksy himself confirmed as much in an Instagram post where he stated plainly that the piece really was shredded and that the auction house was not "in on it."

After Sotheby's announced that "Love is in the Bin" would soon be up for sale, the piece was taken on a brief global tour before returning home to London. The auction house estimated then that it would go for $5 million to $8 million, a pretty substantial return for a piece of art that was purchased for only a fraction of that price.

Picture Credit : Google

Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France was wrapped in lustrous fabric from September 18 to October 3, as part of a posthumous installation by Bulgarian-born artist Christo and French artist Jeanne-Claude. The monument was covered in 25.000 sq metres of silvery blue fabric and 3,000m of red rope, costing nearly 14 million pounds. Christo Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude were known for their larger-than-life installations where they wrapped many famous monuments and places. The temporary artwork was titled L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped and was completed on Christo's request.

The project was initially slated for April 2020 but was delayed, first to accommodate the kestrel falcons who nested in the monument and then because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work began in mid-July, and the full installation will be on view from September 18 to October 3. It’s fitting Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s first posthumous project is being staged in the City of Lights, where the pair met in the 1950s and where they staged their first “public intervention”: In 1962’s Wall of Oil Barrels - The Iron Curtain the pair blocked off a narrow street in the 6th arrondissement with 89 oil drums as a protest against the then-new Berlin Wall.

The first public building they wrapped was the Kunsthalle art museum in Bern, Switzerland, in 1968, followed in 1969 by the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. That same year Christo and Jeanne-Claude shrouded a 1.5-mile stretch of Sydney’s Little Bay in a million square feet of plastic fabric. In the decades that followed they draped Paris’ Pont Neuf bridge, the Reichstag building in Berlin, a section of Rome’s Aurelian Walls, King's Beach in Newport, Rhode Island, and other locations.

The idea for covering the Arc de Triomphe predates all those works, though—Christo first sketched it out in 1961, when he lived nearby in a rundown apartment—but it wasn’t formally proposed until 2017, eight years after Jeanne-Claude’s death and three years before Christo’s.

Credit : Architectural Digest

Picture Credit : Google

The oldest known animal cave painting was discovered in Indonesia in the Leang Tedongnge cave in a valley in Sulawesi. The painting is that of a Sulawesi wild pig and is thought to have been painted about 45,000 years ago. Maxime Aubert, a dating specialist, identified a calcite deposit formed over the painting and used Uranium-series isotope dating to determine the age of the painting. The painting provides the earliest evidence of human settlement in the region.

The researchers noted that the Sulawesi warty pig painting, dated to at least 45,500 years ago, is part of a rock art panel located above a high ledge along the rear wall of Leang Tedongnge.

“It shows a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes, a characteristic feature of adult male Sulawesi warty pigs,” Mr. Brumm said.

“Painted using red ochre pigment, the pig appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs,” he added.

The previously oldest dated rock art ‘scene’ at least 43,900 years old, was a depiction of hybrid human-animal beings hunting Sulawesi warty pigs and dwarf bovids.

It was discovered by the same research team at a nearby limestone cave site.

Credit : The Hindu

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Tanzanian author and retired British academic Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021. A Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent, Canterbury Gurnah was awarded the prize for his work on exploring the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee. Gurnah has written 10 novels and several short stories.

His most famous novel is Paradise , which was shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1994

"Gurnah consciously breaks with convention, upending the colonial perspective to highlight that of the indigenous populations. Thus, his novel Desertion (2005) about a love affair becomes a blunt contradiction to what he has called “the imperial romance,” the Nobel Prize added.

The twitter page also shared a recording of a near six-minute telephone interview with the writer. "I was just watching the announcement here on my computer. Who are you please?" Gurnah asks as an official from the Nobel Prize speaks. When the person later introduces himself and asks how he feels, Gurnah, sounding calm and composed, says, "I am still settling in, man. This is such a big prize."

Gurnah becomes the first Tanzanian writer to win the Nobel Prize.

Credit : Business Line

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UNESCO late last year added Arabic calligraphy, a key tradition in the Arab and Islamic worlds, to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It is nothing but the practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet.

In total, 16 Muslim-majority countries, led by Saudi Arabia, presented the nomination to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which announced the listing on Twitter.

In Arabic, this practice of calligraphy is called khatt. It is derived from the word line, 'design' or 'construction'. While most use Arabic calligraphy and Islamic calligraphy interchangeably, the two are not the same.

This listing by UNESCO is welcomed by conservationists as many have complained about the lack of people taking to Arabic calligraphy due to technological advancements. Researchers believe that the tag would contribute to developing this cultural heritage

What is intangible heritage?

It includes traditions or living expressions inherited from ancestors and passed on through generations. These may be in the form of performing arts, oral traditions, social practices, rituals, knowledge, festive events and crafts among others. Intangible cultural heritage plays an important role in maintaining cultural diversity in the times of globalisation.

As of 2021, 629 elements from 139 countries have been added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These include, the Kumbh Mela, Yoga, Chhau dance, Kutiyattam, and Ramlila among others from India.

Picture Credit : Google

Italian Johannes Stoetter is bodypainter whose nature inspired paintings featuring hidden humans will make you do a double take.

Stotter said the idea for the project started as a coincidence. He was working on another series when the model's leg reminded him of a frog's leg, so he decided to create a whole frog out of people. Stotter then created a video for the illusion to demonstrate how the frog actually consists of five models covered in body paint. 

The process begins with Stotter having models pose in different positions. He then sketches what he expects the final image to look like. It then takes him a whole week to paint the background. Next, Stotter body paints the animals on his models, which could take anywhere from two to 10 hours. Once the background and models are painted, he takes around 100 photos to get the perfect shot.

Credit : Insider 

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Switzerland-based origami artist Sipho Mabona folded this life-sized elephant from a single sheet of paper (50 feet x 50 feet).

The white elephant stands 10 feet tall and weighs a whopping 250 kg.

Simultaneously quiet and powerful, the towering creature proves, as the artist himself says, "there is no limit in origami".

Mabona financed the project through Internet-crowdfunding site Indiegogo where he raised over $26,000 from 631 funders. A webcam was installed that allowed people to watch the massive elephant take shape. The artist ran into some major challenges like figuring out how to spread a huge sheet of paper, measuring 15 meters by 15 meters (or 50 by 50 feet), in a hall, to transform the sheet of paper into the body of an elephant. Also, there were moments during the folding process, when he had to get the help of up to ten people to lift and fold the paper.

Picture Credit : Google

Swedish artist Cecilia Levy creates teacups, plates, bowls and other forms using paper from comic books and vintage volumes. She leaves the original stains and discolouration of the paper on her works as a testament to the passage of time. Created using papier mâché techniques, her works are more for display than actual use, but for Cecilia, it's a way of giving a second life to an old book.

Previously a bookbinder, Levy now takes the opposite approach to literature by tearing it up and pasting the pieces back together again. It may sound sacreligious to book-lovers, but when you take a look at the pictures below I’m sure you’ll agree that her work is in fact a loving testament to literature.

She first began experimenting with 3D paper objects in 2009. Since then she’s created a variety of different objects including cups, saucers, plates and bowls, and she’s always on the lookout for old books to transform so that their stories may continue in a new and unique form.

Picture Credit : Google