Art Series IV, Polish Artist

This painting (oil on canvas) by Jerzy Wołoszynowicz is entitled, "Sunset over Ostrow Tumski, the view from Grunwaldzki Bridge".  The card came through Postcrossing from Dominik who lives in Wroclaw in the southwest of Poland.  Turns out Ostrow ("island") Tumski is an important archaeological site in Wroclaw.

I can't find much about Jerzy Wołoszynowicz, but a tourist guide features an exhibition for him, describing his as "... a painter, draughtsman and industrial designer. Best-known locally for his wild animal paintings on the walls of Wrocław, here you can see works showing the ruins of the post-war city and other later aspects of Wrocław. Also included will be the artist's surrealist paintings and drawings."  The wild animal paintings look amazing.

Here's something I might not have mentioned about Postcrossing before.  People post profiles of themselves, and often name specifics types of postcards they might like.  On mine I mention that I love learning about local music and art, and when I'm lucky, I get music and/or art postcards from a variety of countries.  In this way, I learn about artists I would probably never  hear of otherwise, such as Jerzy Wołoszynowicz.

Art Series III, Art of the Bahamas

Here is "Sacred Spaces", an installation by Antonius Roberts, the most renowned artist of the Bahamas.  In his own words, Sacred Spaces

 "...was born out of my deep-seated respect for the sanctity and significance of our trees and forests. This particular site on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas, has many Casuarina trees which erode our shoreline. Instead of simply cutting them down and discarding them, I transformed them, where they are still rooted in the ground, into the beautiful ‘Sacred Women’ that you see, with the intention to mark the triumph of hope and determination to conserve our heritage over that which is discarded or destroyed in the name of progress.

This site is also of historical significance to us as these cliffs, bordering a former sugar plantation, were the landing site for some of the first African slaves to be brought here. These elegant carvings bend towards the ocean and to Africa. Their eyes delineate the space and the metal bells in the trees, fabricated by a fellow artist, Tyrone Ferguson, carry their voices back to Africa.

It was important to me to create within this space rather than bringing sculptures to it. This place, like others, has its own almost tangible energy and beauty to be discovered, uncovered and tapped into.

To me, Sacred implies not only spiritual inspiration and creative freedom but encompasses all those things that should be left intact to bear witness to the significance of our cultural heritage. It is my belief and my intention, given the opportunity, to continue to create Sacred Spaces not only throughout the islands of The Bahamas, but throughout the world where each site would dictate to me its own unique energy and guide my hands to define the form and shape that it should take."

Not much I can add to that, but here's more on the park itself (Clifton Heritage National Park).

P.S.  Thanks to Jennifer for brining me this card from her travels!

Art Series, continued - Puppet from France

Here we have Gnafron, a classic Lyon puppet and character in the French puppet show, Guignol (also the name of the main character).  From the wiki: 

Although often thought of as children's entertainment, Guignol's sharp wit and linguistic verve have always been appreciated by adults as well, as shown by the motto of a prominent Lyon troupe: "Guignol amuses children… and witty adults".

I suppose Guignol would be the equivalent of an English "Punch and Judy", although unlike any character in Punch and Judy, Gnafron is a drunk.  Leave it to the French. 

A translated wiki shows a little of Gnafron's history, and it appears he is the inseparable companion of Guignol.

It must be time for marionettes to make a comeback, as it's an art form that hasn't enjoyed a resurgence for a while. Hmmm.

Moving on to Art - Yuki Moinuma

Yuki Moinuma is an illustrator in Japan, much of whose work is used on stationery type items.  I could find several fans of her work, but not a lot of information about the artist herself.

You can see more of her work here.  Or the work of another Japanese modern artist, Chinatsu Ban, whom I've blogged about before here.

This postcard was sent by Tomomi from Shizuoka, Japan through Postcrossing.

More Cows

It's a two- fer!  (Two for one, for the non-native English speaking readers.)

Not only does this belong to the animal series, but it also qualifies as part of an art series - "Sofa Art XIII Down on the Farm".

Actually, Sofa Art is an annual art competition in Visalia, California, and recently completed its 16th year. Visalia is in the central valley of California, an area not necessarily known for its art scene. However, you can't beat if for its tree fruit (peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots) and nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts).

 From the website: 

The first Sofa Art Show was held in 1996 as a playful response to an unflattering depiction of Visalia’s local art scene as described by a local newspaper writer. Sofa Art Co-Founder Varian Mace, then an art instructor at College of the Sequoias, shared the article with her classes and challenged them to make some “real sofa art” in response. The resulting exhibition was a hit, to say the least, and has been an annual Visalia tradition ever since.

It sounds like a lot of fun, and I can only imagine what additional sofa art might look like.  Is all sofa art 2-dimensional, or does it include sculpture as well?

P.S.  A shout out to my friend, Steve, who lives in Visalia and is a constant contributor to my ever-growing postcard collection.  Thanks, Steve!