Monday, April 6, 2026

Louped

I don't know Victor Brauner's art that well, in general. From one telling of his life story, I know that he got in the middle of a fight between two other artists and lost an eye, which is an awful thing to happen to anyone, much less an artist. But depth perception or no, he kept painting throughout his life, which you have to respect.

The sculpture above, Wolf Table, is a well-known piece by him. It's also very good. It captures a twoness that can happen in dreams. Also, note that one of the table legs is bent and has a paw. What phase of the moon is it, anway?

2 comments:

susan said...

After looking at several sites that feature his work I can see why Victor Brauner was known as a surrealist who described his work this way: "Each painting that I make is projected from the deepest sources of my anxiety..." Considering he lived through the extreme violence of the early 20th century and then the Cold War it's no wonder his sensitivity led him to make such bizarre images. I think I preferred Wolf Table as paintings (Fascination and Psychological Space) rather than the taxidermied version that features a stuffed fox. I did appreciate the bent back leg and paw. Nevertheless, I'm happy not to have found these places in my dreams.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/victor-brauner-paintings/

On a more upbeat note I wondered if you've ever seen the Strandbeests made by the Dutch artist Theo Jansen. It's a project he began in 1990 that has been evolving ever since.. they live out their lives on the beach.

https://youtu.be/ANhA94ZqnEQ?si=s_I5xh87xuEUABKf

Ben said...

Sorry if this blog post caused any dream disturbance. Hopefully it's subsided by now. There is some rather jarring, violent stuff here. His portrait of Hitler is an apt portrait of Hitler, although the quality of being stapled together from broken pieces would seem more descriptive of Schickelgruber near the end of World War II. On the other hand, there's a painting of an artist whose eyes and nose have turned to brushes which is actually quite funny. The fox/wolf in the paintings gets into some funny situations, too.

I had seen some Strandbeests before, although the name didn't ring a bell on its own. They are very cool. Just imagine being the Dutch beach bum who saw one of those