Happy 4/20, Happy Birthday, Joan Miró
 

Happy Birthday, Joan Miró





The Birth of the World
Joan Miró. (Spanish, 1893-1983). The Birth of the World, 1925. Oil on canvas, 8' 2 3/4" x 6' 6 3/4" (250.8 x 200 cm)

According to the first Surrealist manifesto of 1924, "the real functioning of the mind" could be expressed by a "pure psychic automatism," "the absence of any control exercised by reason." Although he was never a card-carrying Surrealist, (thank goodness) Miró was influenced by Surrealist ideas, and said, "Rather than setting out to paint something, I begin painting and as I paint, the picture begins to assert itself...the first stage is free, unconscious." ...but, he added, "The second stage is carefully calculated."
The Birth of the World reflects just this combination of chance and plan. Miró primed the canvas unevenly, so that paint would here sit on the surface, there soak into it. His methods of applying paint allowed varying degrees of control: pouring, brushing, flinging, spreading with a rag. The biomorphic and geometric elements, meanwhile, he drew deliberately, working them out in a preparatory drawing.
Miró's works in this vein suggest something both familiar and unidentifiable, yet even at his most ethereal, Miró never loses touch with the real world: we see a bird, or a kite; a shooting star, a balloon on a string, or a spermatozoa; a character with a white head. The Birth of the World is the first of many of his works that deal metaphorically with artistic creation through an image of the creation of the universe. In Miró's words, it describes "a sort of genesis."

google's homage from earlier today

Saw it on the google page. I've never heard of him...His stuff seems pretty interesting though. I'll check it out.

miró is pretty cool

I noticed the Miro-esque Google logo earlier, it looked nice.

I was properly introduced to him in 1996 when Tate Liverpool held an exhibition called 'Joan Miro - Printmaker' - he's not an absolute favourite of mine, but I like a lot of his stuff.

Great thread, atari.

Miro is definitely one of my favorites. My two favorites of his are Ballerina and Dog Barking at Moon.

Blaze one down.