Arty Farty Friday ~ Quartet of Cancerian Painters

There are other painters whose birth dates fall during the next 4 or 5 days, but I've chosen the following for their diverse styles. (Hat-tip to Wikipedia.)

Félicien Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) Belgian artist whose best known pieces are erotic or pornographic in tone and depict an imaginary underworld or subjects of social decadence.

Pornocrates, Pornokratès, La dame au cochon, or The Lady with the Pig

Artemisia Gentileschi (8 July 1593 – c. 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation following that of Caravaggio. In an era when women painters were not easily accepted by the artistic community or patrons, she was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence.

My archived post on her is HERE.


Judith & Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes

David Hockney, OM, CH, RA (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. An important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.

My archived post on him is HERE.

A Bigger Splash

Giorgio de Chirico(10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978), an Italian artist and writer. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. After 1919, he became interested in traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.

The Song of Love

Arty Farty Friday ~ BMW Car Art & Jeff Koons

Some photographs of BMW Art Cars sparked my interest. It appears that since 1975 when the “BMW Art Car Project" was launched by racing driver Hervé Poulain, famous artists from all parts of the world have been invited to use the BMW car as their personal canvas. To date 17 such cars have been created, the latest, for 2010, by Jeff Koons - he of the blow-up dogs sculptures and wildly expensive "Hanging Heart" (see below).

I've chosen 4 previous Art Cars from the current 17, the chosen ones painted by artists about whom I've blogged in past posts. A link to relevant pages is included, and a note of the artist's Sun and other signs. I notice a trine Sun to Uranus in each. They're all considered "modernists" and Uranus is nothing if not modern.

Photos of all 17 BMW Art Cars can be viewed HERE.

Starting with the most recently painted car:

The latest BMW car artist, for 2010 and #17 is Jeff Koons
Sun 00 Aquarius opposite Uranus in late Cancer. Well....he would be a quirky Sun Aquarius person wouldn't he? I mean....look what he's famous for!
















JEFF KOONS' BMW Art Car # 17



Jeff Koons' art creations may look like a lot of kitchiness, but....

NEW YORK, 15 NOVEMBER 2007—A new record for a living artist at auction was set when Jeff Koons’ stainless steel Hanging Heart brought $23.6 million yesterday at Sotheby's evening sale of Contemporary Art in New York. Sold to Gagosian Gallery to applause, Hanging Heart, 1994-2006 is considered one of the most important works by Koons ever offered at auction.

The bright magenta heart and gold undulating bow, which took ten years from conception to completion, is one of five uniquely colored versions of this work from Koons’ Celebration series. The perfect surface is coated in more than ten layers of paint. Executed in high chromium stainless steel, Hanging Heart weighs over 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg), is almost nine feet (2.7 meter) tall and took over 6,000 man hours to produce. (Here.)

More detail on this artist and photos of his work at The Skinny:

Jeff Koons is, depending on who you ask, the visual maestro of the contemporary period, or a self-aggrandizing provocateur whose work is ultimately populist and meaningless. He himself has admitted that Pop-Art sensibilities and a strong attachment to the world of marketing and advertising have influenced him tremendously: “I believe in advertisement and media completely. My art and my personal life are based in it. I think that the art world would probably be a tremendous reservoir for everybody involved in advertising. Whatever your beliefs about how future generations will perceive Koons’s work, the sense that he has captured and articulated something vital and significant is undeniable.

Ahem!....."ultimately populist and meaningless"?? Now that remark raises my hackles!
What is meaningless about something that is "populist"? Populism, as opposed to elitism is what the world needs more of. So there!

And back to #1.....

ALEXANDER CALDER painted the very first Art Car. Sun Cancer close trine Uranus Scorpio. Moon Virgo.




ROY LICHENSTEIN
Sun Scorpio trine Uranus Pisces. Moon Taurus or Gemini


ANDY WARHOL Sun Leo trine Uranus/Moon in Aries.


DAVID HOCKNEY
Sun Cancer sextile Uranus Taurus. Moon Cancer or Leo

Arty-Farty Friday ~ David Hockney

I'm not sure how I've managed to avoid David Hockney in the Arty-Farty series 'til now - a "Yorkie", like me. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, UK on 9 July 1937. Cancerian influence is prominent in his chart, Sun and Mercury conjoined are in Cancer along with Pluto. If he was born before 6am then Moon also would have been in Cancer. (12 noon chart below).
It's interesting that so many of his paintings feature water - Cancer being the Cardinal Water sign of the zodiac.

Without a time of birth for Hockney we can't know his ascendant. He's described as "gregarious" and an "ebullient" personality, which brings to mind Sagittarius or Leo rising - but that's a wild guess.

David Hockney has been described as
"The most highly publicized British artist since the Second World War, he occupies a position analogous to that which was once accorded to Augustus John - one irony of this being that for John's exuberant heterosexuality Hockney substitutes a publicly acknowledged homosexuality."
(Augustus John was featured in a post here).

"About David Hockney (republished from brain-juice.com)~~~
David Hockney has often been regarded as a playboy of the art world. He has had lascivious relationships, and he has run among strange and crazy artistic circles. Yet he has always retained a sense of stability in his life through his constant and tireless devotion to his work. Hockney is an artist that has always enjoyed success and praise, facing little to no hardship in his career. What is interesting about his life is not the problems he has encountered, but the strides he has taken to bypass much human suffering and malaise."

Hockney's Moon at 12 noon was quite close to Pluto - it could have been much closer if time of birth was early in the day, and would connect to an emphasis on sexual matters.

A Grand Trine in Earth signs (right) in his natal chart links to his "sense of stability", as mentioned in the above extract.




It's possible to see Uranus sextile Sun/Mercury represented here:
"Hockney made a series of discoveries. He visited New York, and was struck by the freedom of American society - it was at this stage that he bleached his hair and began to present a new image, fuelled not only by the United States but also by his discovery of the poetry of Whitman and Cavafy."

"Hockney's life and all his loves are always on display to the public. By embracing all sorts of technology and media, Hockney has made his art accessible to people everywhere. He has used art to express the love he has felt for others, and consequently, his works show personal stake and personal meaning. Ironically, his artwork caused much personal suffering and strife in the making and breaking of his romances, while at the same time, garnering him much respect and admiration. Hockney has truly made art a form of real human interaction and communication."

The painting below is my favorite Hockney - it's of Garrowby Hill in East Yorkshire. This is a very long steep hill with a twist in it. I've travelled up and down the hill countless times, in all weathers - when icy it's treacherous. Several fatal accidents have happened there over the years, including a runaway bus filled with passengers, 13 of whom died. There's a big wooden crucifix at the side of the road, near to the top of the hill, which is actually a memorial to King George VI, but most travellers see it as a memorial to all who have died there, and a protection to drivers.


More at
http://www.davidhockney.com/bio.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hockney.html
http://www.davidhockneythecolorsofmusic.com/