Kurt Wenner
I have always been fascinated by optic illusions. Kurt Wenner is an artist who knows well the art of producing sidewalk art that appears as three dimensional treasures.
Wenner is a master artist best known for his extremely high quality street painting and chalk murals using a projection called anamorphosis. These 3D chalk drawings on pavement have been featured in many newspapers and on several television shows. K. Wenner canvas are the streets. Kurt Wenner has combined traditional street painting techniques together with his interest in classical art, to create an art form all his own.
Kurt Wenner was using a born in Ann Arbor in Michigan. He attended both Rhode Island School of Design and Art Center College of Design. He was employed by NASA as an advanced scientific space illustrator, creating conceptual paintings of future space projects and extra-terrestrial landscapes according to the latest scientific information provided by the Voyager spacecraft. His 3D chalk drawings on pavement have been featured in many newspapers and on several television shows. In anamorphic art, paintings are meant to “deceive the eye”. A painting may look ordinary from one angle, but view it with a curved lens and it becomes 3-dimensional.
It may interest you to know that Kurt is the artist who first developed the technique of illusionistic street painting in the early 1980s in Europe. His early work and development of this street painting technique was documented by National Geographic in a documentary film “Masterpieces in Chalk.” He has taught a few artists and has had many others try to imitate the technique, which he considers a compliment.
When working on a project, Wenner usually spends five or six hours each day on the floor, an unusual skill in and of itself. He said there is no exercise that can prepare a body for the time he spends on the floor. When he stands up for breaks, it takes him a while to get moving normally again.
Street painting has been recorded throughout Europe since the 16th century. Street painters in Italy are called madonnari (singular form: madonnaro) because they often created pictures representing the Madonna. In England they are called screevers.
The madonnari were itinerant artists. Aware of festival and holy days in each province and town, they traveled to join in the festivities. They created images in public squares and in front of the local church using bits of broken roof tiles, charcoal, and white chalk. Passersby would often leave a bit of bread or olive oil for the artist along with an occasional coin. After the festivities or with the first rain, both the painting and the painter would vanish. For centuries madonnari were folk artists, reproducing simple images with crude materials, until World War II disrupted their tradition and reduced their numbers.
In 1972 the first International Street Painting Competition was held in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. The goal of the competition was to record and publicize the work of (those thought to be) the last practitioners of this traditional art form. The eldest painters were already in their 90s. The 1972 festival resulted in national recognition of the validity of the art form, causing a new generation of street painters to emerge. Within a decade these artists were using commercial and handmade pastels to create copies of well-known masterpieces. Over the years, the competition has drawn younger painters and larger crowds. The festival remains popular and street painting festivals around the world are modeled on the event.
The first street painter in the US was Sidewalk Sam, who began painting in the streets of Boston in 1973.
Over the past decades various artists have developed new styles based on the work of artists such as Andrea Mantegna, M. C. Escher, Michelangelo, Hans Holbein and others. Today this 3D work in the past it was called one-point perspective.
In 1982 Kurt Wenner began street painting in Rome. By 1983 he took the already-existing anamorphic art form to the street by drawing, then brushing, his home-made pastels into a painting. In 1984 he was documented by National Geographic in their film Masterpieces In Chalk. That same year he won the title of "Master Street Painter" at the Grazie festival.
When working on a project, Wenner usually spends five or six hours each day on the floor, an unusual skill in and of itself. He said there is no exercise that can prepare a body for the time he spends on the floor. When he stands up for breaks, it takes him a while to get moving normally again.
Street painting has been recorded throughout Europe since the 16th century. Street painters in Italy are called madonnari (singular form: madonnaro) because they often created pictures representing the Madonna. In England they are called screevers.
The madonnari were itinerant artists. Aware of festival and holy days in each province and town, they traveled to join in the festivities. They created images in public squares and in front of the local church using bits of broken roof tiles, charcoal, and white chalk. Passersby would often leave a bit of bread or olive oil for the artist along with an occasional coin. After the festivities or with the first rain, both the painting and the painter would vanish. For centuries madonnari were folk artists, reproducing simple images with crude materials, until World War II disrupted their tradition and reduced their numbers.
In 1972 the first International Street Painting Competition was held in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. The goal of the competition was to record and publicize the work of (those thought to be) the last practitioners of this traditional art form. The eldest painters were already in their 90s. The 1972 festival resulted in national recognition of the validity of the art form, causing a new generation of street painters to emerge. Within a decade these artists were using commercial and handmade pastels to create copies of well-known masterpieces. Over the years, the competition has drawn younger painters and larger crowds. The festival remains popular and street painting festivals around the world are modeled on the event.
The first street painter in the US was Sidewalk Sam, who began painting in the streets of Boston in 1973.
Over the past decades various artists have developed new styles based on the work of artists such as Andrea Mantegna, M. C. Escher, Michelangelo, Hans Holbein and others. Today this 3D work in the past it was called one-point perspective.
In 1982 Kurt Wenner began street painting in Rome. By 1983 he took the already-existing anamorphic art form to the street by drawing, then brushing, his home-made pastels into a painting. In 1984 he was documented by National Geographic in their film Masterpieces In Chalk. That same year he won the title of "Master Street Painter" at the Grazie festival.
Enjoy some amazing street paintings by Wenner.
posted by Jim Meads @ 2:00 AM
6 Comments:
I'm not sure if you know, but the rafting work was done at the Appalachian Power Park in Charleston.
Upon further research, It looks like the rafting work was done by Julian Beever. I actually blogged about it in June 2007.
Thanks for sharing, Scott.
Thanks for sharing, Scott.
Such an interesting article. I love both street art & street performers. (We don't have much of either in Spencer!)
Enjoy spring. Susan :-)
you are really great, plz teach me this art... :)
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