With 18 thousand Instagram followers, Fly Art Productions is a viral force to be reckoned with. Fly Art is inspired by other art-history-based mini blogs such as Swooshart and Carter Family Portraits. Fly Art Productions wittily combines artistic masterpieces and hip-hop lyrics, and in doing so, helps to bring some fresh life and humor to historically groundbreaking artworks in the digital age. As an art history major who cringes when people can’t immediately recognize iconic artworks, I happily bow down to those who can make Rubens, Klimt and Boucher mainstream again – even if it takes a little help from Beyoncé.
“Madame de Pompadour is sanctified” Madame de Pompadour (1756), Francois Boucher / Sanctified, Rick Ross ft. Big Sean & Kanye West
Twyla Shelmire: Do you have an art history background?
Toni and Gisella: No, Toni graduated with a degree in communication and Gisella with a business degree.
“But I’m down for the night” Wanderer above the sea of fog (1818), Caspar David Friedrich / Lost in the World, Kanye West feat. Bon Iver
TS: What inspired you to start Fly Art Productions?
T&G: There were a couple of blogs already circulating around the time with similar themes: Swooshart, Modern Vampires of Art History, Carter Family Portraits, etc. It was sort of automatic–we were two girls who spent a lot of time on tumblr looking at these art blogs and we had a joint interest in Beyonce and Kanye West, so why not?
“I Woke Up (Venus)” The Birth of Venus (1486), Sandro Botticelli / ***Flawless, Beyonce ft. Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche
TS: What is the process like, finding a piece of art and a musical line that match? How long does it take you to put each mash-up together?
T&G: It depends. It can take days sometimes before we get inspired to do work or we can produce five at a time. Sometimes the artwork comes first, and you try to think about the line that’d go well with it, or the soundbyte comes first then you scour the depths of the internet and art blogs for inspiration.
“Click clack bang bang Judith in dat murda bidnis” Judith slaying Holofernes (c. 1614-1620), Artemisia Gentileschi / Murda Bizness, Iggy Azalea ft. T.I.
TS: Who is your favorite artist? Do you have a preferred time period or artistic style?
Toni: Caspar David Friedrich is becoming a personal favorite. The large landscapes of romanticism really gets me going.
Gisella: Edward Hopper has always been a favorite. His paintings are filled to the brim with mysterious emotions. In terms of artistic style, I do prefer rococo paintings.
“MY ANACONDA DON’T WANT NONE UNLESS YOU GOT BUNS HUN” Lilith with a snake (1886), John Collier / Anaconda, Nicki Minaj
TS: Who is your favorite rapper or musician to pull lyrics from?
T&G: Kanye and Beyonce, based on our shared files.
“two big medallion” Charles I on horseback (1635), Anthony van Dyck / Twerk It, Busta Rhymes ft. Nicki Minaj
TS: I know there are a few other social media accounts that do a similar fine arts + lyrics mash-ups – do you admire any of those in particular?
“Marie Antoinette would much rather spend it all” Queen Marie Antoinette of France (1783), Louise Vigee Le Brun / Crew Love, Drake ft. The Weeknd
TS: Are there any future Fly Art Production developments that we should keep our eyes peeled for?
T&G: We are constantly working with RAD.CO to bring more of our designs to the US, Europe, and the UK. We would really love to find an distributor for Canada, Asia and Australia as well. We’re constantly striving to get Beyonce to notice us.
“The progress of gangsta love” The Progress of the Love Pursuit (1773), Jean-Honore Fragonard / Gangsta Lovin’, Eve ft. Alicia Keys
One of the best things my parents ever did to educate me was start an art collection. While there were numerous artists included in their collection, my favorite pieces were painted by Michael Eudy. I’m not sure if it was the maritime subject matter, the bright colors, or the beautiful combination of detail and abstraction – but Self Portrait as the Captain of an early 20th Century Vessel and The Double Slit Experiment spoke to me on another level. Lo and behold, I went to college, studied art history, and came home with a newfound appreciation for these pieces, for their artistry and for the history from which they sprung. Below you’ll find my interview with Michael Eudy, who is hands down my favorite contemporary artist. He shares how he finds inspiration as a professional creative, advice for burgeoning collectors, and how traveling abroad changed his perspective.
Michael Eudy, Self Portrait as the Captain of an Early 20th Century Vessel, Posed with Certain of My Books 2006 Acrylic and Urethane on Canvas 57″x82 1/2″
Note: Hang one of your favorite works of art in your bedroom, even if it is a reproduction. Self Portrait hangs opposite my bed, and every morning when I look at this painting with fresh eyes, I always seem to find something new to love about it.
Twyla Shelmire: As a professional creative, how do you find inspiration for your work? Are you inspired on a daily basis, or does it come and go? Do you keep track of what inspires you, for instance with a notebook?
Michael Eudy: Inspiration comes and goes like anything I suppose. I’ve never been the type of artist that can be “on” all the time. I need lots of space and time, to idle. It’s in that place that inspiration comes. When I am idle, I can get in the studio and begin to play, with no particular objective in mind. I tend to work with the same images and object over and over, and in trying to find different ways to represent those things I make mistakes and that’s when I get charged up. It’s like finding a secret passage you didn’t know existed. So I walk up and down that passage until it feels old and I begin searching for a new route. I do keep sketchbooks, but I find that because of the way I work, most of the “sketching” and exploration happens right on the canvas in an unplanned way. And much of that exploratory work gets covered up in the process, so each canvas bears a history. Most of it can’t be seen, but it is there – and I believe that the viewer can sense it.
TS: I see in your artist statement that you were in Rome for your last year of graduate school. That’s very 18th-century grand tour of you! How did that experience change your artistic perspective or approach to painting?
ME: I know it sounds a bit cliché but it changed me irreparably. My studio in Rome was just down the street from Piazza del Popolo, and at least a few times a month I would walk down to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo to see the Caravaggio paintings there. For the first time in my life I could see these amazing works in person that previously I had only seen in textbooks. It’s a totally different energy, and as a painter it really made me realize that I was part of this very big tradition. That tradition carries a lot of weight, and at times feels awfully heavy, but at the same time, it gives me a sense of connectedness. I am connected to all that came before me, and all that will come after.
TS: Who are your favorite pre- and post-1950s artists? Are there any in particular that have informed your work?
ME: Hands down, my all time favorite is Manet. Each time I approach a canvas, I am dealing with him. At times he is such a virtuoso, and at other times seems to be struggling so much. You can even see this happen all in one painting, yet he lets it all be just what it is. I love how he can render a flower or a vase with a few perfect strokes of the brush, like he nailed it in ten seconds flat, but only inches away is the most awkward hand you ever saw. I often imagine he was just painting every day, struggling, waiting for that moment to happen. Or maybe that’s actually me in the studio: painting and struggling until I stumble on that virtuosic moment. At any rate, I find it important to leave the not so great elements in the painting. It makes those good moments special.
I’ve got a soft spot for Ed Ruscha as well. His paintings of books especially.
TS: What are you working on now? When is your next show?
ME: At the moment I am just exploring, experimenting in the studio. I put the studio on the back burner for a couple of years so my wife and I could focus on our newest project, a small organic farm. Farming is a lot like art making – you have a plan, but everything you do is so subject to outside forces that you must constantly react to. And the end product is always a little different than what you had planned on. But now that the farm is established I’ve returned to the studio with a new vigor. I don’t have any shows in the near future, but some interesting things are already manifesting themselves on canvas. Exciting times.
TS: As an artist, do you have any preferences on how your artworks are displayed? Do you have any advice for burgeoning art collectors – what to collect, how to collect, etc.?
ME: I don’t have any hard rules how my work is displayed, but I do prefer it to be lived with. And I do like my work to be hung near other works of art. It creates a scenario where works are in dialogue with each other. It keeps all the work in a room alive. As for how to collect, there are so many approaches and I don’t think any are wrong. There are those who collect for purely speculative reasons, and those who just buy what they love. I think though that the best collecting happens somewhere between the two poles. If you’re going to invest in an artist’s work, you certainly want to love the work and want to support the artist. But I think you would also want to know that that artist is going to still be around and working in ten years, twenty years and so on. It’s like any other kind of collecting. Ultimately, I would want my collection of art to have a strong thread running through it, something that showed my intellectual interests over time.
TS: What is your favorite museum in the entire world? Do you have any suggestions for art-novices on how to walk through a museum or even a local gallery?
ME: The Musée d’Orsay is my favorite for obvious reasons. And I go to the Menil Collection every chance I get when I am visiting family in Houston. I like to visit the same places over and over again. Rather than trying to see everything in a museum in one visit, I think its best to give a little focus to a few works at a time. You’ll start to find favorites, and you can go back and look at them whenever you feel the need, like visiting old friends. You start to build intimate relationships with paintings and sculptures, and with that intimacy comes deeper understanding.
It’s a bit different with local galleries, obviously, but the idea is the same. If you go to a gallery often enough, eventually you will get to know its personality and build a relationship with the gallerist and even some of the artists in the roster. It takes time but it’s a lot of fun.
If you have a Pinterest account, admire well-dressed interiors, or have been to a museum, odds are you’ve encountered salon-style art hanging at least once. The salon-style hang originated at Paris’ French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture exhibition in 1667. The floor to ceiling installation of paintings was originally a practical choice to insure that all the artworks of the academy students would fit on the walls of the gallery. Besides from encouraging innovation and discussion, the French Academy’s salon exhibition was a key development in bringing artistic works out of private collections and into the public sphere. Cue the birth of the museum.
In honor of art entering the public sphere (or just because it is aesthetically pleasing), salon-style hanging is one of the most popular modes of art installation today. Keep an eye out, and you’ll see salon-style hanging in museums and domestic spaces alike. Salon-style hanging not only transports the viewer to pre-modern times – when Marie Antoinette was still in possession of a cranium, and indoor plumbing was non-existent – but the closeness of the artworks helps the eye to immediately define the similarities and differences of each piece.
To do the salon-style hang at home, remember that you don’t need a stock of oil paintings to get the look. The first things you’ll need to do are collect a few things you want to put up and find a blank wall (regardless of size, can be big or small). In my opinion, salon-style hanging looks better when you have a variety of objects and textures. My salon wall at home includes an oil painting by Michael Eudy, a small mirror, some porcelain plates, a faux taxidermy head, and a few sub-$100 paintings found at flea markets. For an intriguing salon wall in a domestic space, it is key to display things that are meaningful to you. Below, Marty Walker, founder of the contemporary art gallery in Dallas, Marty Walker Gallery, explains how to expertly arrange and hang a salon-style wall. Marty says that she perfected her salon-style hanging chops while installing Wayne White exhibitions over the years.
Wayne White exhibition, photo credit Stephen Berkman
Twyla Shelmire: Once you decide what pieces you want to hang, how do you start arranging the pieces?
Marty Walker: Arranging is an intuitive process, there are no strict rules. At the gallery, we would normally lay everything out on moving blankets on the floor, arrange it, then take a picture to use as a guide while hanging. We usually leave 3-5 inches between objects depending on size. Larger objects, for instance, require more spacing. Another way of doing this is using existing images of objects and arranging them in Photoshop. However, this is much more time consuming.
TS: Is there a certain shape to aim for when arranging?
MW: Think amoeba-like shape, stay away from symmetry. Use a large piece near center to anchor, or a 2-3 larger pieces to move the eye around. You can also do this by using dark objects as anchor points for movement. It really just depends on size and contrast to move the eye.
TS: Once you have an arrangement you like, how do you hang the pieces so it looks professional?
MW: Tools you’ll need are a level and a tape measure. Eye level is 56-60 inches high depending on wall height and distance from viewing art and personal preference. If you’ve laid out your composition on the floor, take a measurement side to side, and another top to bottom. Then use those figures with your total wall measurements to determine center and also so the entire composition is centered on the wall, or whatever area you have given to the composition. To avoid artwork getting crooked over time, use a couple of hangers spaced apart to use with the wire, or use mirror hangers (d-rings) on the back of artwork (drill required). If you don’t take these precautions, you will be constantly straightening pictures. In general, avoid pencil marks on wall by using blue painter’s tape. If no painter’s tape is available, cheap vodka and a paper towel works well to remove scuffing and pencil marks from light, or white walls.
The salon-style hang is a sophisticated way to display all the things you collect and love, whether it’s an installation over your desk, or over your bathtub. Head over to Pinterest to see a few more DIY examples.
In November, I saw that my favorite, inaccessibly expensive shopping locale in Dallas, Grange Hall, opened a restaurant attached to their store. Grange Hall is a final destination for all things glamorously melancholic. Think skulls, dried roses, colorful taxidermy, and diamonds. In the store, they offer a curated selection of brands in a expertly designed space. The unnamed restaurant addition is no different: the menu entries are few, and the display is beautiful.
Grange Hall suggests you make reservations by calling 214.443.5175. However, I went with a friend on a Friday afternoon within their first week of opening, and we were able to squeeze in at the bar without waiting. Expect: an immersive environment, excellent people watching, and a hefty bill.
Not surprising, but my favorite part of the Grange Hall restaurant experience was the table setting. The mixture of modern graphics, neutral colors, and snippets of 18th-century paintings is spot-on in my book. (NOTE: The sections of paintings shown on the menu and on the bill folder are both of Madame de Pompadour. Pompadour was known as the Queen of the Rococo, and was King Louis XV’s mistress and cultural advisor. I’m reaching out to Grange Hall to ask why they chose her image twice.)
For lunch I ordered the “Snob Sandwich” ($26) – which was filling and rich. In surveying the dishes coming out of the kitchen, it was apparent that the Grange Hall restaurant is all about food presentation … and caviar.
After lunch, my friend and I split the madeleine cookies, which came out fresh baked, powdered in sugar, and served with honey. We also ordered a pot of Mariage Frères jasmine tea ($15). Had the “Book of Teas” not seduced me, I don’t think I would have gone through with such a steeply-priced pot of tea. Grange Hall sells this premier brand of French tea in their adjoining store as well, should you become smitten with a certain flavor in the restaurant.
While the experience was certainly one to remember, the price alone will unfortunately make the Grange Hall restaurant impossible to visit on a regular basis. Ideally, the restaurant would eventually offer $15 sandwiches to those of us who don’t drive Bentleys. So for now, save Grange Hall for (very) special occasions. Dude, no way is right.
To round out your Grange Hall experience, be sure to check out their collection of shop-able oddities, jewelry, and apothecary offerings while waiting for a table or after lunch. Some of my favorite things from the Grange Hall store last week included taxidermy bird vignettes and sampling the incredible perfume line, Les Parfums Historique.
melancholicmagpie 