Life, Death, Light, and the Big Boost
Welcome to your June edition of Signified
Art is a great talking point. Why not start a conversation by forwarding this newsletter to someone you know who shares your love of art?
First, Some Super Signifier News:
Boost! 🚀
You may have heard about the new-style Medium Boost — it’s a curatorial system intended to help match the writer's words to the reader’s interests and to ensure great quality stories get the exposure they deserve. The programme involves a team actively seeking-out quality content and making it more visible across Medium. Of course, this benefits both the writers and the readers. At present, Boost involves selected publication editors scouting for articles related to their topic of expertise and nominating those articles to the Medium Curation Team for a Boost that promotes the content far and wide to target audiences.
Signifier’s consistent quality was recognised and our editor, Remy Dean, was among the first 30 invited to join the Boost Nomination Pilot team. Although Remy may nominate art, design, and media articles from across Medium, writers submitting to Signifier are, obviously, more likely to attract his editorial attention. So, if you’ve been thinking of submitting a story to Signifier or showing your art in our : six : shot : gallery, now’s as good a time as ever! (You can find brief guidelines of how to do that at the bottom of this newsletter ↓)
Navigate!
Our regular readers may have noticed the introduction of new navigation tabs in our ‘masthead’. After more than four years of publishing new articles at least once a week, we’ve built up a rich ‘back-catalogue’ of quality art articles that our newer readers may just be missing-out on. The broad topics are there to help find our older significant content. We hope to refine how the tabs work as we go and populate them with relevant features. At present, they’re little more than vague directions to help our readers navigate their own journey to the areas that interest them the most. The tabs are a brutal break-down of a timeline that spans more than 40,000 years, from pre-history to the present day, charting the development of key ideas and major concepts along the path. Enjoy exploring!
Announcing the June exhibition at : six : shot : gallery
David Armes: ‘The MEHRFACH series’
Meaning ‘multiple’ in German, ‘Mehrfach’ literally translates as ‘more subject’. The works in the series are driven by Armes’ observations of his young daughter acquiring language. The repetitions, oppositions and overlaps of this constant development are reflected in simple words or subjects overprinted multiple times on the same sheet…
Continue reading and see the art at : six : shot : gallery
Recently Boosted in Signifier:
Ghost Paintings of Ubume
Ghost Painting is an ancient and enduring genre of art closely linked with literature, regional folklore, and religious beliefs. It’s so interwoven with the cultural fabric of Japan that it’s impossible to discuss with brevity so, as a way in, we shall focus on the beauty, horror, and poignancy of Ubume paintings which, across the centuries has developed into a subgenre of its own that still has a place in today’s art and media…
“Horseman, pass by!”
This equestrian portrait of King Charles I, painted around 1637 by Anthony van Dyck is larger than life, measuring more than 3.5 metres high and nearly 3 metres across. It was a time when the King reigned without a Parliament, and is one of the many portraits van Dyck made as Court Painter to King Charles I. The King is in full armour with sword at his side as he grips the reins in his left hand, while his right hand rests…
Let the Light Come In…
It can be argued that all visual artists use light. Otherwise their work wouldn’t be visible, right? Of course, the entire media of film and photography rely on light from source, through process, to finished work. Some artists, though, have explored light and its effects as the work in itself. Here, we’ll take a look at just a few key examples that represent some of the varied approaches to light as art…
Paintings Undone
When is a painting complete? This question clearly haunts artists, as some will continue to work and rework the same piece over and over again. Some even attempt to make alterations after the work has been sold or collected, with English painter Francis Bacon being notorious for altering works during the course of an exhibition. Other artists never get the chance, and leave masterpieces behind, incomplete…
Popular Signifier (ICYMI)
Spotlight on one of our most popular or trending articles…
Lady of Light
Clementina, Lady Hawarden, was among the first female photographers and forged her own genre to light the way for fashion and fine art. In the mid-1800s, becoming a photographer was like joining a cult. These new alchemists shared their arcane knowledge and put each other in touch with suppliers of strange and dangerous chemicals. Joining the cult and acquiring one of the little magic boxes wasn’t cheap either…
Science: from the archives of Signifier
In this regular feature of our Signified Newsletter, we select a few choice articles from our archives linked by a monthly theme. Inspired by our latest article on the Natural History Museum’s first public art installation, ‘Tree’ by Tania Kovats, we look back at a few notable overlaps of art and science…
Art, Science, and Darwin’s Great Tree of Life
To commemorate the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth, London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) commissioned its first permanent installation of contemporary art. In 2009, Tania Kovats was selected from the shortlist of 10 contenders. The artist had long been fascinated with the links between landscape and culture, and often took a scientific approach to her work, fascinated by the way scientists document their experiments…
Devour, Digest, Defecate
Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is the ‘bad boy’ of contemporary art, an agent provocateur who became notorious in the early twenty-first century when he built a machine that mimicked the human digestive system. The Cloaca is a large contraption that he developed after much research with biologists, chemists, medics, and manufacturers. It was a process of collaboration that extends beyond the artist and across several…
Science Through the Art of Glass
It’s hard to believe that the super-detailed scientific replicas, collectively known as The Blaschka Models, are made from glass. Firstly, the mind boggles at the sheer skill and precision. Secondly, one wonders how they’ve survived for a century or more. I mean, imagine handling one of the life-size jellyfish models, or the magnified models of microscopic single cell radiolarians with their hair-fine spines. Imagine making one!
Signifier can only go forward with your support
If you enjoy our thoughtful articles about art, design, and media, but haven’t subscribed yet, please consider doing so via this link — we receive a small referral fee and you get unlimited access to The Signifier publication and Six Shot gallery, plus all the quality writing across Medium. It’s a great deal! (And would also make a great gift for the art lovers in your life.)
Remember to tap the ‘clap’ button a few times for articles you enjoy.
Whether you’re a Medium subscriber or not, you can also help spread the word by sharing the articles you enjoy on your social media. A little reader support goes a long way and doesn’t cost you a penny. Always appreciated.
Our Redbubble online store offers three collections of artistically taste-tested objet and there’s even a button badge of our distinctive Signifier/Signified dynamic diagram for all you media theorists and students of semiotics!
If you know anyone who enjoys reading “imaginative fiction at its best”, you can further support our editor and curator by recommending or purchasing their latest novels in the series, This, That, and The Other, written by Remy Dean with Zel Cariad and published by The Red Sparrow Press.
“Bursting at the seams with magic!”
“…will be enjoyed by fans of fantasy of all ages, particularly those who like classics, like the ‘Narnia’ saga.”
Writers
…propose an article for Signifier. The Signifier is a not too complicated, yet not too simplified, look at the evolution of art in short bites and bigger essays taking in art history, design icons, media theories, analysis of great works, think-pieces around art, the signifiers and the signified… from professional writers with art-related backgrounds.
We welcome proposals from Medium writers for suitable articles. Best way to get a feel for what is suitable is to read a range of our articles. The best way to make contact is to leave a comment on a recently published article written by our editor, Remy Dean. (A familiarity with the Signifier publication — demonstrated by following, claps, and comments — is advisable.)
Calling All Artists!
…submit your visual art to The Signifier : six : shot : gallery. Every month we showcase just six images by each artist, or creative entity. These six images are linked in some understandable way — perhaps from the same project, series, or dealing with related subjects. They may be linked by aesthetics, techniques, processes, philosophies, formal or conceptual elements. The six images are accompanied by an artist’s statement that does not necessarily explain the work but lends insight into meaning that informs deeper engagement.
You can read an overview of the gallery’s first two years here.
The art must be the sole creation of the artist, or creative entity, and intended to be viewed as a 2D image. No sculpture or 3D work will be considered at present. No NFTs. Acceptable media include, fine art, photography, drawing, painting, collage, prints, illustration, mixed media, digital, etc. The curator favours concept-driven work that is visually adventurous.
The Six Shot Gallery is hosted on the Medium platform, so the administration and maintenance costs are met by the reader and member contribution, not the exhibitors. Therefore, it will remain free to submit for the foreseeable future and no ‘virtual hanging fee’ is charged. Artists may include a single link to their personal website, agent, dealer or preferred sales site — we charge zero commission for this.
If accepted for exhibition, the six images should not appear elsewhere in the digital realm for the first month of their online exhibition. Exemptions to this rule include social media promoting the exhibition, artists’ personal websites, and any related press coverage. Apart from this agreement, Six Shot Gallery has no further control outside of the scheduled month of exhibition and copyright always remains with the author of the works. Layout and presentation is at the sole discretion of the curator.
The host and curator is Remy Dean and initial contact should be made by leaving a comment on the most recent exhibition showcase published in The Signifier : six : shot : gallery, or leave a private note on a recently published article written by our editor, Remy Dean. (A familiarity with the Signifier : six : shot : gallery — demonstrated by following, claps, and comments — is advisable.)
We welcome proposals from Medium writers for suitable articles. Best way to get a feel for what is suitable is to read a few of our articles and the best way to make contact is to leave a comment on an article recently published in Signifier or leave a private note on an article written by our editor, Remy Dean. Alternatively, use the contact form via Remy’s website to send an email. (A familiarity with the Signifier publication — demonstrated by following, claps, comments — is advisable.)
Please note that there is a maximum of 12 exhibition slots available per annum, so don’t be disappointed or discouraged should your work not be selected.
We look forward to receiving some exciting art from you!
There are example exhibitions to see here.
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