Illustration Friday Entry – “Tango”
July 20, 2009
Illustration Friday Entry – “Tango”
I am participating in Illustration Friday, an ongoing, theme-based artistic challenge. Each week hundreds of artists create or submit designs based on the theme. They create a piece of artwork based on that week’s theme.
This week’s theme, ending on Friday, July 20th, 2009 , is “Tango.”
This is a digital collage! A departure from my usual stuff. Fun to make. I used some of my original digital illustrations and digitally altered photos to create a “Tango” of a collage.
Does it really take two to Tango?
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I am a professional artist, writer, and teacher with over 20 years of experience in painting and sketchwork. Lately I've focused on printmaking (lithography, monotype, relief), though I studied Chinese brush painting for a number of years. I have a degree in English (emphasis on poetry and creative writing) and a BFA in Studio Art (printmaking concentration). I am currently pursuing an MFA in Visual Arts from the Art Institute of Boston. I also teach through the University of New Mexico Continuing Education department. A lot of my work focuses on the interconnectedness of all things--and on the Tao, present in everything. Zowie! /end formal-sounding bio.
Hmmm…maybe Tango is a state of mind and all it takes is attitude and confidence…that’s something to think about! Original and different take on the word, Bravo!
Actually it does take two to Tango.
Nice picture, but not really representative of Tango. Might want to read a few Tango blogs to get more inspiriation.
Good luck!
Hi Arlene,
Thanks for your comment. I guess you didn’t realize this was an entry for a weekly art contest–that many artists abstract the subject into things which are sometimes totally incomprehensible in relation to the original topic.
I do not claim this post has anything to do with the real Tango dance, or with how Tango is actually done. Just an explosion of color and a funny question.
It’s a metaphoric piece, taking an unusual angle. As you can see from many of this week’s other Illustration Friday entries (if that’s how you found me), quite a few other artists took their own take on the subject–whichare not necessarily representative of Tango itself.
It’s meant to be lighthearted, and not to insult anyone who does real Tango.
I felt the colors were bright and playful, reminiscent of what I think Tango is. I am only one small person, and my opinion should not really matter.
Nor do I claim to know the answer to the actually tongue-in-cheek question I posted about “does it really take two?”
You can see many other artists renditions of Tango in the contest here:
http://illustrationfriday.com/linkviewer.html
Enjoy.
Hi! Thanks for your comment on my IF entry! I love yours!! I’ve not tried digital collage. I see that you are in Albuquerque – we lived there for 10 years and just came to Savannah three years ago. Still miss NM!
Silke
Thanks gor your comment on my blog.
I love this collage!
Hi Ren,
I came to your blog on the tag surfer as I am primarily interested in blogs about Tango, scuba diving and writing.
I understand the exercise and that it is supposed to be a metaphor. I have looked at the other entries, and bar a few, most seem to represent Tango in some way that would be recognised to the general public, such as dancers or a rose between the teeth, or dance steps, or just that there are two objects in the artwork.
I love your colours, and the fact that you have the word Tango, BUT, you have a figure of a forlorn and lonely looking female in what is otherwise a vibrant picture, which is directly opposed to what emotions you say you are trying to convey through the colors.
I don’t feel insulted as I am not that precious about tango. And I wasn’t trying to be insulting either. I just didn’t get, as with a few of the other works I had seen, what your artwork had to do with Tango apart from the word being present. I would have thought the same thing if you had the word Salsa instead. Couples dancing involves two people. There were two pictures that stood out for me of a single individual: Devil with a rose in his mouth implying that he would have a willing victim and of a woman with a rose in her mouth sitting on the sofa, soaking her feet, after a night of Tango. The rose is a cliche, but a good one.
Maybe your work is too abstract for me?