Sweets, Scooters, Sunshine, and a Wonderful Whimsical World
Welcome to your July 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?
Remember the Boost! đ
Signifierâs consistent quality has been recognised and our editor, Remy Dean, was invited onto the Medium Boost Nomination Pilot team. Although Remy may nominate art, design, and media articles from across Medium, writers submitting to Signifier are more likely to attract his editorial attention. So, if youâre a writer with a story that would sit well in Signifier or a creative wishing to showcase your art in our : six : shot : gallery, you can find brief guidelines of how to do that at the bottom of this newsletter â
Announcing the July exhibition at : six : shot : gallery
Katie Hone on âOut on a Whimâ
As a young girl, I loved reading The Beano, especially the comic strip Calamity James. The artist who drew him back then had a brilliant sense of humour and detail. He would add hilarious and unnecessary things to the background, like a million-dollar bill lying on the floor next to James, who would ignore it. The joke was that James was so unlucky that he always missed out on huge piles of gems, diamonds, moneyâŠ
Continue reading and see the art at : six : shot : gallery
Recently Boosted in Signifier:
Depletion to Completion
This untitled, participatory sculpture by artist FĂ©lix GonzĂĄlez-Torres is in constant flux, developing dialogue with other works in its vicinity as dimensions and balance incrementally change through an encouraged erosion: Gallery visitors are invited to remove the top sheet from the tower as a keepsake for themselvesâŠ
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The Dreamy Realism of Kawase Hasui
The art of Kawase Hasui may seem familiar, even to those who have never seen it before. The meticulous and prolific artist produced more than 600 prints, spreading an influence through twentieth-century media, graphic novels, and animation that remains evident today. The distinctive graphic clarity of his work directly influenced the gorgeous backgrounds of anime films created by Studio GhibliâŠ
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Buzz On, La Vespa!
Italy was another country responding to the need for post-war economic recovery by offering its workforce better mobility in the form of cheap vehicles when raw materials and fuel were in desperately short supply. The nationâs infrastructure was broken. Roads were still being cleared and rebuilt. Many routes were not always reliable for the few carsâŠ
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Donatelloâs Humanity
I knew I had to visit the Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance exhibition at Londonâs V&A Museum from the day it opened. Instead I found myself there on its final day â nothing like leaving things to the last minute. It was well worth the wait, if only for the sheer number of artworks on display, by Donatello himself as well as his contemporaries and successors. The show certainly succeeded in giving a sense of the collaborative workshop culture of sculpture production in fifteenth-century FlorenceâŠ
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Popular Signifier (ICYMI)
Spotlight on one of our most popular or trending articlesâŠ
Writing is Visual Art
Lines drawn with a pencil can be just simply that â nothing more than marks on paper â yet, through some subtle act of transformation, they can become art⊠and also, lines written on paper can be just simply that â nothing more than a bunch of words â though a collection of words can somehow become more that their collective meaningâŠ
Estival Festival: 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. Having just past the Summer Solstice, we look back at some celebrations of sunshine and summertimeâŠ
Drawing Down the Sun
In the remote Utah desert lie four huge concrete tubes, large enough to walk through. They are arranged in a cross and each is 18-feet long, 9-feet in cross-section and weigh 22 tons, yet they are dwarfed by the expanse that surrounds themâŠ
The Poppy Field, a Celebration of Summer
Claude Monetâs Poppy Field, painted in 1873, is one of the worldâs most famous landscape paintings. The expanse of scarlet poppies grow among high summer grasses below a backdrop of blue sky and white cloud. The rhythm of a treeline, complete with villa in the distance, divides the canvas horizontally. Four indistinct figures share their celebration of an idyllic summerâs afternoon...
The Latter Days of Vincent
Vincent Van Gogh painted many of his best known works during the last two years of his life. They range from delicate nature studies to euphoric celebrations of the landscape, from brutally honest self-portraits to penetrating portraits of others that manage to mirror the artistâs moods, from intimate illustrations of his private spaces to paintings of the world he saw around himâŠ
Signifier can only go forward with your support
If you enjoy our thoughtful articles about art, design, and media, but havenât subscribed yet, please consider doing so via this link â 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. Itâs a great deal! (And would also make a great gift for the art lovers in your life.)
Remember to tap the âclapâ button a few times for articles you enjoy.
Whether youâre 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 doesnât cost you a penny. Always appreciated.
Our Redbubble online store offers three collections of artistically taste-tested objet and thereâs 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 âimaginative fiction at its bestâ, 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.
âBursting at the seams with magic!â
ââŠwill be enjoyed by fans of fantasy of all ages, particularly those who like classics, like the âNarniaâ saga.â
Attention Writers!
âŠpropose 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 â demonstrated by following, claps, and comments â is advisable.)
Calling All Artists!
âŠsubmit 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 â 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 artistâs statement that does not necessarily explain the work but lends insight into meaning that informs deeper engagement.
You can read an overview of the galleryâs 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 âvirtual hanging feeâ is charged. Artists may include a single link to their personal website, agent, dealer or preferred sales site â 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, artistsâ 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 â demonstrated by following, claps, and comments â is advisable.)
Please note that there is a maximum of 12 exhibition slots available per annum, so donât 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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