street galleries

In recent years street art has been refined from the chaotic, calligraphic expressions of the 80s and 90s into many different styles and complex forms. Many people still think of graffiti and other street art as a simple, crude defacement of public or private property.

Graffiti wall on Regent's Canal

travel journal

wonder | wander | women crossed another item off our bucket list: we went to Switzerland! Some dear friends hosted us in the gorgeous city of Bern and we were so excited to explore the mythical land we had only known through media like Heidi and The Sound of Music.

View of Bern from the Rose Garden

Lately we're working harder on keeping a journal while on the move. We love art and travelling, but it's hard to balance both when on a trip. There isn't much time to draw when walking and moving around, but there are quiet times that are perfect for resting and journaling.

Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds

The Surrealist art movement grew out of the lingering horrors of the first ever World War. Artists who dedicated their lives to philosophy and beauty were sent to war, where they witnessed the lowest crimes of humanity and the arrival of death machines like the Gatling gun which could wipe out a whole battalion in moments. They were searching for meaning in the world and their art changed to reflect it, incorporating symbols and mysteries which mirrored the contradictions of real life.

Dance of the Nine Opals, 1942

Hiroshige's sketchbooks

Recently wonder | wander | women saw the British Museum's exhibition of Utagawa Hiroshige, and were so impressed by his virtuosity and artistic sense that one post was not enough to talk about this wandering artist.

Evening Cool at Ryōgoku, 1847-8

Hiroshige: artist of the open road

Utagawa Hiroshige was, with his contemporary Hokusai, one of Japan's greatest artists. He came from a noble but impoverished samurai family in the last decades of the Tokugawa period, one of the most violent and dangerous times in Japanese history.

Drawing master: Picasso and paper

'To know what you're going to draw, you have to begin drawing.' - Pablo Picasso

Nude Resting Woman, 1966

East looks West: Orientalism (part 2)

Last year wonder | wander | women talked about the Western perspective in the British Museum's Orientalism exhibition. Western artists went to Istanbul, Morocco and other Near Eastern cities to capture their beauty and atmosphere, and create a special world from their visits and visions. But many Islamic diplomats and nobility were also travelling and learning in the West, and Islamic artists produced visions of their own.

Artist's depiction of French court dress,
exaggerating the cuffs, wigs and flared coats

Anno Mitsumasa, part 2

We've talked about Anno Mitsumasa's whimsical sense of humour and Western-influenced travel books. This week we look at the illustrator's more traditional work, his sense of drama and awareness of scenic beauty.

Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up at the V&A

"There is art that is so highly personal in nature that it becomes universal."
Carlos Philips Olmedo, Director-General, Museums Dolores Olmedo, Frida Kahlo y Diego Rivera Anahuacalli

Iconic, enigmatic, compelling... Frida Kahlo was one of the most fascinating artists, and indeed, people, who ever existed. One of the original wonder | wander | women!

Image by Nickolas Muray, courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Tunirrusiangit: Inuit artists sharing their gifts

Our identity as Filipinos who grew up on the islands is the bright, distinguishing thread through the creative life of wonder | wander | women - our blogs, our writing, and our art. Ethnicity is not something learned.

We learned to speak English, we learned the Catholic traditions and our history as colonials. We learned how to speak and read Filipino, but Filipino is who we are; that's why we sympathise so much with other indigenous artists of colonised countries.

From the AGO exhibition

The Royal Academy of Arts, London

This week wonder | wander | women paid The Royal Academy of Arts a visit and were greeted by a massive Ai Weiwei installation in the courtyard - an installation funded not by the British government or the artist himself but by Kickstarter.

 

Graduate Show at the Slade

This past week an artist friend invited wonder | wander | women to the MFA degree show at the Slade School of Fine Art.

NATALIA JANULA, MFA

Comicon: costumes, cupcakes and camaraderie

The London MCM Comicon blew by last bank holiday weekend. London HQ of wonder | wander | women exchanged our usual Saturday shift at the museum to go meet some artists and enjoy the atmosphere of pure geekery.

Sonia Leong and Shazleen Khan of Sweatdrop Studios