Ambigram after Jackson Pollock

I hacked and wrestled the old furnaces out of the studio the other day, and decided I deserved a day off.

Mastur Browsing the internet today, I noticed this new “Ambigram Challenge“… I didn’t win their last one, but this one is mine, I tell ya!

The theme is “Art and Artists”, so I came up with these two three.

Ambigram after Anthony Caro

Anyone else up to the challenge?

“The ambigram has to be the name of an artist (Dali, Bosch, Beardsley, etc), the name of an art period (Dada, Surrealism, Renaissance, etc.), or the name of a specific artists’ masterpiece (Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Thinker, etc.)…

Ambigram after Juan Gris

For this challenge, your ambigram will also be judged on how closely it reflects the style of the artist/art period. Of course, if your ambigram is ‘SalvadorDali’, it would still need to be as ‘surrealist’ as possible while still remaining legible and reflecting Dali’s style.”

I came across a page of ambigrams the other day, web browsing, and thought I’d try making some of my own. I started on paper, using the kitchen window as a lightbox, but then decided it was easier to try out ideas on the computer. After playing around over the course of a couple of days, some of the best I’ve made are seen here.

Now, I find out there’s an automatic ambigram generator. I should have guessed there was an easier way.

Ryan McCourt
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, by the Grace of God and the Constitution of the Dominion, Prime Minister of Canada, Protector of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Calgary Southwest, Mediator of the Notwithstanding Clause.
2010
ink-jet print on glossy photo paper
8 ½” x 11”

National Portrait Gallery

Reading that the terracotta warriors of Emperor Qin are coming to Canada (from Washington D.C., to Toronto ON), I was reminded of the first time I saw them, back in 1989, at the site of their discovery, in Xi’an, China. Despite the signs in English forbidding photography, I ‘accidentally’ snapped off this flash-shot with my snappy new camera with the digital date-stamp feature. Happy April Fools, terracotta bitches!

I didn’t make any notes on my travels, but I took many pictures (on real 35mm film- only the date stamp was digital), which I thought I’d go through, and scan some of the shots I took of some of the numerous sculptures and monuments I saw on my trip.

This one, the Statue of Five Goats, is a famous local landmark in Guangzhou. “Legend has it that 5 celestial beings brought 5 goats into Guangzhou. The goats were all carrying rice, which symbolized that they would make sure that the area would always be free of famine. Guangzhou has paid tribute to these benevolent goats by making them the symbol of the city. There are many goat statues in the “Goat City” and the Statue of the Five Goats is the most impressive.”

Sculptural menageries of mundane and fantastical creatures are a common artistic theme, with these leonine beasts serving the typical symbolic ‘guardian’ role, placed at important entrances within the Forbidden City in Beijing.

A varied assortment of other exotic beasts, such as the golden elephant the younger me sits next to, line the pathways. [Yes, thank you, I realize I look very dorky to 21st century eyes. Actually, this look was very cool in 1989.]

Tiananmen Square; an overwhelmingly huge paved open space, home to the columnar ‘Monument to the People’s Heroes’, and the figurative monument at Mao’s Mausoleum seen here; was eerily empty and peaceful when I was there, considering, in hindsight, the events of just a few weeks later.

Chuck Redd Presents the Ladies, featuring Chuck Redd on Drums, Amy Shook on Bass, Leigh Pilzer on Sax, and Jen Krupa (with the genes of Gene) on Trombone. Bootleg recorded at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. on Friday, October 30, 2009.

My renewed passport came in the mail the other day, and I had been thinking about a trip to Washington D.C. to tour the museums, with a few current exhibitions particularly in mind.

So, I cashed in a whack of aeroplan points, and flew out here today. Some scheduled sights include: ‘Anne Truitt: Perceptions and Reflections’ at the Hirshhorn, ‘Sargent and the Sea‘ at the Corcoran, and ‘The Art of Power: Royal Armour and Portraits from Imperial Spain‘ at the National Gallery.

See you next week…

Aware that I had let my own website languish over the past few years without an update, and lately having a bit of free time on my hands, I finally got around to a complete site renovation.
The modest result of my efforts, done with the help of Apple’s iWeb software, ain’t too fancy, but it works.
If you’d like to judge for yourself, go to ryanmccourt.ca… and if you’ve got any comments, come back here and leave them below.
Happy surfing!

The Edmonton Arts Council, on behalf of the City of Edmonton, recently invited all Canadian and international artists to submit proposals for a public artwork at Fire Station No. 5. This open competition is held in accordance with the City of Edmonton policy “Percent for Art to Provide and Encourage Art in Public Areas”. With a budget of $60,000 (maximum, all inclusive), the deadline for submissions was 4:30 PM Friday, August 8, 2008.

Unfortunately, I had the date wrong in my head, and got folked up all weekend, so I plumb dang forgot to mail my submission in on time. Too bad, it was a goody: based on the famous Charles Demuth painting, inspired by the William Carlos Williams poem, my large glass-tile mosaic would have carried along in the ongoing tradition of works like Robert Indiana’s “Demuth American Dream, No.5”, or Jasper Johns’ “The Black Figure 5”. As Henry Geldzahler observed in an essay in 1965, “The Figure 5 in Gold [is] a work with a past and a future”.

Oops. Better luck next time…

Starbucks Trail, felt on paper, 2006 (private collection)

Autograph: Sculpture and Drawing by Rob Willms
N.E.S.W. Common Sense
February 29 – April 30
viewing by appointment (or door-buzzer)
482-2685
10546-115 Street