Friday, June 5, 2009

Decoding Da Vinci: What Happens When You Twitter the Mona Lisa?

(Extraced from Web Monkey Blog by Scott Gilbertson)

Given Twitter’s 140 character limit, it might seem next to impossible to send something as complex as the Mona Lisa. After all, 140 characters roughly translates to a mere 140 bytes of data, never mind the complexity of stuffing actual image data into text characters.

However, thanks to Mario Klingemann, Da Vinci’s best known work has been revamped into something Picasso might have loved.

Klingemann’s experimental image-encoding technique translates the image into Chinese characters and spits out a version of the Mona Lisa that’s reminiscent of a Cubist painting.



Using Chinese characters allowed him to send 210 bytes of data in only 140 UTF-8 characters — perfect for cramming 50% more data into Twitter. The resulting polygons convey the rough colors and shapes of the Mona Lisa, as in the left-hand image above.

But don’t expect this trick to work on your handy iPhone or Blackberry. Twitter doesn’t have the decoder, so you’d simply see the Chinese characters. But run the data through Klingemann’s decoder and the result and, voilà! — not exactly the Mona Lisa, but very impressive nonetheless.

To learn how Klingemann pulled it off, check out his highly technical explanation on Flickr (and if you like what you see, have a look at some of his other very creative “conceptual experiments.”)

Klingemann plans to release his code-cracking process to the world to see what other curious Twitter experimenters can come up with.

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The 5th Most Expensive Painting in the World

This work by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renior is one of his happiest compositions, as well as one of Impressionism's most celebrated masterpieces. The previous five paintings on our Top 10 List were done by van Gogh (3) and Picasso (2).

5. “Moulin de la Galette” by Pierre-Auguste Renior, sold in 1990 for $78.1 million. Inflation-adjusted price $123.8 million.



Painted in 1876, Renior’s work is a snapshot of real life, depicting the “people of Paris” enjoying a carefree Sunday afternoon at the Moulin, a popular acacia-shaded courtyard in the Montmartre district of Paris. Here, working class Parisians would dress up and spend time into the evening, dancing, drinking, and eating galette, the crusty pastry that was Moulin’s specialty.

Lighthearted and full of evanescent color, Renior’s painting displays a richness of form and a fluidity of brush stroke. The dapple of light is a typically Impressionist feature.

Renior’s oil on canvas measures 52 x 69 in (131 × 175 cm). Nobody before him had thought of capturing some aspect of daily life in a canvas of such large dimensions. In this work, Renior also introduced portraits of friends, family, and other painters.

In 1991, the painting was owned by a Japanese industrialist who outrageously suggested he intended to cremate it with himself when he died. However, when his companies ran into severe financial difficulties, the bankers who held the painting as collateral for loans arranged a confidential sale through Sotheby's to an undisclosed buyer. Currently, the painting resides at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Previous Top-10 Listings:
6. “Garçon à la Pipe” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
7. “Irises” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

About Face: Portrait Exhibit at Mableton Art Center

The prestigious Portrait Society of Atlanta launches its 2009 Spring-Summer Juried Exhibition with a reception at the Mable House Art Center on June 6th, 7-9pm, in Mableton, GA.

Michael Del Priori, the esteemed portrait artist who juried the show will be on hand to help present awards to the winning portrait artists.

More than forty portraits (most of them oil paintings) will be on display. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and it will continue through July 6.

The Mable House Arts Complex is sure to surpise and impresses you. In addition to the Art Center, it also includes a performance Amphitheatre and History Center. Though slightly off-the-beaten-path in South Cobb County, it’s within 30 minutes of downtown Atlanta. And it is chock-full of exciting art events all year-round.

Visit www.mablehouse.org for a map and more information about this and other art happenings at Mable House.

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

Monday, June 1, 2009

This Week @ Binders - June 1-7

ART CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Monday, June 1:
Guided Open Studio with Kay Powell
Every Monday • 10:30am-2pm or 6:30-8:30pm • Fee: $15/session. No sign up needed. Please pay the instructor.

Tuesday, June 2:
Painting - Design and Technique with Charles Y. Walls
Tuesdays, 6 sessions, May 26-June 30 • 1-4pm or 6-8:30pm
Fee: $140 per 6 session series

Bookmaking with Anne Elser
Tuesdays, 6 sessions, May 26-June 30 • 6-8:30pm • Fee: $140

Wednesday, June 3:
Children’s Clay, Painting and Drawing with Rebecca Nagel • Every Wednesday • 4-5:30pm • Fee: $25/session • Sign up now!

Watercolor Landscape Painting with Susan Bradford
6-8:30pm, Wednesdays, 6 sessions • May 20 - June 24 • Fee: $120

Thursday, June 4:
Visual Liberation with Pastels with Ryan Doss
Every Thursday • 6-8:30pm • Fee: $25/session • Sign up now!


Friday, June 5:
No events planned.

Saturday & Sunday, June 6-7:
Beginning Drawing: Values, Tools and Ways of Seeing with Lisa Duncan • 2 sessions: 11am-4pm Saturday and 12-5pm Sunday • Fee: $110 • Sign up now!

Please note: Classes on this schedule are in our Atlanta store unless otherwise indicated. For more information please contact: Kristina Breneman at 404.237.6331 ext. 203.

EXHIBITIONS AT THE LIMELIGHT GALLERY

Thursday, June 4:
5pm-8pm • Videre-Opening Party! • Free!
Welcome to the 5th annual art show featuring Dawn K Martin’s art students. Great opportunity to collect new work by Atlanta's rising artists! Live music by Eddie Varsalona. Show continues through June 30.

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!