Purlieus of Milieus: Anamorphic Art: The Art of Arrangement

I honestly feel there is nothing cooler, more beautiful or inspiring, and certainly more difficult, than art. Incidentally, there are many forms of art--much of which defies beauty; much more defies modern conceptions of "art." (Which is good; it breaks down current conception, opening the door to new modern conceptions).

The Mona Lisa is considered art by everybody and is revered by everybody, most often because everybody has grown up able to identify The Mona Lisa, and told to revere it, without actually revering it, and often less impressed by its petite size. Conversely, the apartment building across the street may appear as art to few, and revered as art by few--indeed, perhaps only revered by a handful of tenants, impressive only to an architect. Two different examples of art, and the conceptual differences surrounding them. But, periodically, a piece emerges that only most convulsive contradictors could deny as art, and not revere or be impressed by as art.

The openminded French artist, Bernard Pras, recently created such a piece. And, because it's nothing if not downright cool, I felt the need to pass it through the milieus. It's impressive--nay, it's epic!

Pras' piece is an anamorphic portrait of Malian actor Sotigui Kouyaté. It's the product of assemblage art--hanging, propping, laying, balancing, placing, setting, standing, etc.-ing often random materials in just such a way as to create an image -- In this case, a bloody cool one.

Anamorphosis, we read in our handy-dandy Apple Dictionary is "a distorted projection or drawing that appears normal when viewed from a particular point..." FYI, dudes.

Anamorphosis in the Art World is most frequently observed in street-chalk drawings, pictures colored and drawn in such a way that they look 3D.

This article is comprised of things I learned on the suspiciously similar website/blog: 5 Things I Learned Today: Discovering the World Bit by Bit (which I only just discovered today, but will, of course, be twisting more topics from later on).