Classic Romantic Paintings Get Subtly Animated in BEAUTY Video by Rino Stefano Tagliafierro

In this 10 minute video, BEAUTY, director Rino Stefano Tagliafierro takes 116 classic romantic paintings (all of which are listed at the end of this post) and slowly and subtly animates them, bringing the beauty in them to life. A slight tilt of the head, a dress raising ever so gently, petals falling from flowers - tiny, almost imperceptible movements, are expertly executed without changing the general composition or color of the original painting.



William Adolphe Bouguereau's original painting of The Nut Gatherers compared to a screen grab of the subtle animation. Note the arms, hands and grapes on the figure on the right:


The Manifesto: The Enigma of Beauty

«Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;»
(W. Shakespeare, Sonnet no. 19)

Over Beauty, there has always hung the cloud of destiny and all-devouring time.
Beauty has been invoked, re-figured and described since antiquity as a fleeting moment of happiness and the inexhaustible fullness of life, doomed from the start to a redemptive yet tragic end.

In this interpretation by Rino Stefano Tagliafierro, this beauty is brought back to the expressive force of gestures that he springs from the immobility of canvas, animating a sentiment lost to the fixedness masterpieces.

Its as though these images which the history of art has consigned to us as frozen movement can today come back to life thanks to the fire of digital invention.

A series of well selected images from the tradition of pictorial beauty are appropriated, (from the renaissance to the symbolism of the late 1800s, through Mannerism, Pastoralism, Romanticism and Neo-classicism) with the intention of retracing the sentiment beneath the veil of appearance.

An inspiration that returns to us the sense of one fallen, and the existential brevity that the author interprets as tragic dignity, with an unenchanted eye able to capture the profoundest sense of the image.

Beauty in this interpretation is the silent companion of Life , inexorably leading from the smile of the baby, through erotic ecstasies to the grimaces of pain that close a cycle destined to repeat ad infinitum.

They are, from the inception of a romantic sunrise in which big black birds fly to the final sunset beyond gothic ruins that complete the piece, a work of fleeting time. - Giuliano Corti (english translation: Thomas McEvoy)

The short film:


The paintings, in order of appearance:

Asher Brown Durand - The Catskill Valley‬

Thomas Hill - Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Albert Bierstadt - Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains

Ivan Shishkin - Forest edge

James Sant - Frau und Tochter‬

William Adolphe Bouguereau - L'Innocence

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Song of the Angels

Ivan Shishkin - Bach im Birkenwald

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Le Baiser

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Nature's Fan- Girl with a Child

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Motherland

Ivan Shishkin - Morning in a Pine Forest

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Nut Gatherers

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Two Sisters

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Not too Much to Carry

Thomas Cole - The Course of Empire: Desolation

Martinus Rørbye - Entrance to an Inn in the Praestegarden at Hillested

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Sewing

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Difficult Lesson

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Curtsey

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Little Girl with a Bouquet

Claude Lorrain - Pastoral Landscape

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Cupidon

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Admiration

William Adolphe Bouguereau - A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Dawn

William Adolphe Bouguereau - L'Amour et Psych

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Spring Breeze

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Invation

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Nymphs and Satyr

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Youth of Bacchus

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Birth of Venus

William Adolphe Bouguereau - The Nymphaeum

Gioacchino Pagliei - Le Naiadi

Luis Ricardo Falero - Faust's Dream

Luis Ricardo Falero - Reclining Nude

Jules Joseph Lefebvre - La Cigale

John William Godward - Tarot of Delphi

Jan van Huysum - Bouquet of Flowers in an Urn

Adrien Henri Tanoux - Salammbo

Guillaume Seignac - Reclining Nude

Tiziano - Venere di Urbino

Louis Jean François Lagrenée - Amor and Psyche

Correggio - Giove e Io

François Gérard - Psyché et l'Amour

John William Godward - Contemplatio

John William Godward - Far Away Thought

John William Godward - An Auburn Beauty

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Flora And Zephy

Louis Jean François Lagrenée - Amor and Psyche

Fritz Zuber-Bühle - A Reclining Beauty

Paul Peel - The Rest

Guillaume Seignac - L'Abandon

Victor Karlovich Shtemberg - Nu à la peau de bete

Pierre Auguste Cot - Portrait Of Young Woman

Ivan Shishkin - Mast Tree Grove

Ivan Shishkin - Rain in an oak forest

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Biblis

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Elegy

Marcus Stone - Loves Daydream End

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Head Of A Young Girl

Hugues Merle - Mary Magdalene in the Cave

Andrea Vaccaro - Sant'Agata

Jacques-Luois David - Accademia (o Patroclo)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - San Giovanni Battista

Roberto Ferri - In Nomine Deus

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Cristo alla colonna

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Incoronazione di spine

Paul Delaroche - L'Exécution de lady Jane Grey en la tour de Londres, l'an 1554

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Decollazione di San Giovanni Battista

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Sacrificio di Isacco

Guido Reni - Davide e Golia

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Giuditta e Oloferne

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Davide e Golia

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Salomè con la testa del Battista

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Davide con la testa di Golia

Jakub Schikaneder - All Soul's Day

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - San Gerolamo scrivente

Guido Reni - San Gerolamo

Pieter Claesz - Vanitas

Gabriel von Max - The Ecstatic Virgin Anna Katharina Emmerich

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Portrait of Miss Elizabeth Gardner

Jan Lievens - A young girl

Johannes Vermeer - Portrait of a Young Girl

Luis Ricardo Falero - Moonlit Beauties

Joseph Rebell - Burrasca al chiaro di luna nel golfo di Napoli

Luis Ricardo Falero - Witches going to their Sabbath

William Adolphe Bouguereau - Dante And Virgil In Hell

Théodore Géricault - Cheval arabe gris-blanc

Peter Paul Rubens - Satiro

Felice Boselli - Skinned Head of a Young Bull

Gabriel Cornelius von Max - Monkeys as Judges of Art

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Medusa

Luca Giordano - San Michele

Théodore Géricault - Study of Feet and Hands

Peter Paul Rubens - Saturn Devouring His Son

Ilya Repin - Ivan il Terribile e suo figlio Ivan

Franz von Stuck - Lucifero Moderno

Gustave Doré - Enigma

Arnold Böcklin - Die Toteninsel (III)

Sophie Gengembre Anderson - Elaine

John Everett Millais - Ophelia

Paul Delaroche - Jeune Martyre

Herbert Draper - The Lament for Icarus

Martin Johnson Heade - Twilight on the St. Johns River

Gabriel Cornelius von Max - Der Anatom

Enrique Simonet - Anatomía del corazón

Thomas Eakins - Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic)

Rembrandt - Lezione di anatomia del dottor Tulp

Peter Paul Rubens - Die Beweinung Christi

Paul Hippolyte Delaroche - Die Frau des Künstlers Louise Vernet auf ihrem Totenbett

Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau - Too Imprudent

William-Adolphe Bouguereau - The Prayer

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Amorino dormiente

Augustin Théodule Ribot - St. Vincent (of Saragossa)

Caspar David Friedrich - Abtei im eichwald



CREDITS

DIRECTOR: RINO STEFANO TAGLIAFIERRO

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: LAILA SONSINO

2ND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: CARLOTTA BALESTRIERI

EDITING - COMPOSITING - ANIMATION: RINO STEFANO TAGLIAFIERRO

MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: ENRICO ASCOLI

ART DIRECTION: RINO STEFANO TAGLIAFIERRO

HISTORIOGRAPHER: GIULIANO CORTI

Artistic Animated Alternatives To That Boring Burning Log - Yule Log 2.0.

First off, I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas. To add to your festive day of good cheer, egg nog and annoying relatives, here's a charming project that encompass the holiday Spirit.

Yule Log 2.0 re-imagines the traditional Yule Log through a collection of short films by illustrators, animators, directors, and creative coders. First televised in 1966 by WPIX-TV as a gift to viewers, the Log has since burned itself into our hearts. Curated by Daniel Savage and built by Wondersauce, the site features the imaginative work of many artists. I have chosen to share most (41) of them with you here.

Andrew Stubbs Johnston - Eames Yule:


Bianca Meier, Michael Fuchs and Daniel Leyva - Candy Christmas:


Brian & Brad Hasse - Splash:


Brett Renfer - Web-Log:


Cesar Pelizer & Ganz Toll - Anybody Home?


Chris Lohouse - Poly for Pyros:


Conrad McLeod - Yule Bonfire & Forest Friends:


Colin Hesterly & Yassir Rasan - Cozy Christmas:


Damien Correll - Reruns:


DIA - History of the Yule Log in 30 seconds:


Emory Allen and Alicia Reece - Cold Night, Warm Light:


Erica Gorochow - 2013 Roast:


Eric Epstein - Virtyule Reality:


Erik Karasyk & Benjamin Gray - yuLED:


Frank Chimero - Christmas Spirit Fingers:


Greg Gunn - Yule Log of Love:


James Curran - Yule Jog:


James Zanoni - YULECRAFT:


Jeroen Krielaars - Open Haard:


Jesse Benjamin - Vince Guaraldi's Living Room:


Jerry Liu - TBD:


Joe Russ - The Cabin and The Woods:


Joshua Catalano - Orange is the Warmest Color:


Joshua Goodrich - Deer Seer:


Julian Glander - Yule Globs:


Laura Alejo - Tio & Flames:


Lee Gingold and Jordan Bruner - Thermophile:


Mathew Lucas - Swissmas:


Matthias Hoegg - Yule Log Gate of Consciousness:


Patrick Finn and Patrick Macomber - Tis The Season:


Paul Windle - Lords of Logtown:


Philip Sierzega - The Luna Park Hearth:


Robert Loebel - Octopusmas:


Ross Philips - Technicolog:


Salih - LogOS 7.0:


Seth Hulewat & Matt Delbridge- Broke Ass Christmas:


Shane Griffin - Orestes:


Skip Hursh - Untitled:


Tricia Desjardins and Daniel Savage - Shhh I think I see santa...:


Will Anderson - L O G:


Yussef Cole - Battlefield Hearth:


To see the animated Yule Logs created by Animade, Charlie Whitney, Chris Kelly, Hush Studios, JK Keller, Josh Parker, Jorge R. Canedo Estrada, Keetra Dean Dixon, Kyle Sauer, Leta Sobierajski, Lucas Redfern Brooking, Lucas Zanotto, Matt Delbridge, Nick Hum, Script & Seal and Yvonne Romano visit here

Animated Christmas Gifs By Various Artists Bring The Holiday To Life.

Christmas Gifs is a festive showcase of animated gifs created by an international group of illustrators, animators and directors; a project curated by Ryan Todd and built by Enjoythis. Some cute, some funny, some stylish, others twisted. They have a mix of illustration styles, yet all add a little fun, and talent, to the holiday.

Here are several of my favorites, in no particular order.

The Christougenniatiko Dentrophobic Bauble by Supermundane:


Chris Robot by UpstartThunder:


Magical Santa Henshin! by Khctang:


Santa's Little Hopper by Versus :


Happy Birthday by Ross Phillips:


Way Home by Cento Lodigiani:


FORE-ther Christmas by Animade:


Väterchen Frost by Finally:


ROUND Christmas by Vagoom:


The Gif That Keeps On Giving by Kristian Hammerstad:


Santa's gotta gun by Jack Hudson:


Sprouts alone by Matthew the Horse & Amy Mackay:


Snow Angels by Tom Mathieson:


Christmas CanCan by Malika Favre:


Merry Saturnalia! by Stephen McNally:


Christmas Puddinged by Rumpus:


Losing Sight of the Holidays by Will Bryant:


Santa's Coming by James Wignall:


To see all of the animated Christmas Gifs, go here

That Dad Who Colors In His Kids' Drawings Is A Wicked Tattoo Artist, Inventor, Philanthropist and Environmental Activist.

We could all use a dad like Fred Giovannitti. Heck, we could all use a friend like him. An inventor and philanthropist, tattoo artist and environmental engineer, Fast Company has profiled him, he has spoken at TED and now he's become famous as a Dad for coloring in his childrens' drawings.



Fred Giovannitti (aka Redditor Tatsputin) trades his quiet, rural Delaware lifestyle for 10 days per month as a high-end tattoo artist in glamorous Las Vegas, Nevada at Tatlantis Allied Arts and Sciences.



above: some examples of Fred's incredible skin art

By digging deep to reveal common interests, Fred believes we can form personal bonds between ourselves and our teammates/partners/clients, allowing us to connect with each other’s personal history and develop ideas that have the ability to take on lives of their own. Giovannitti uses this philosophy to draw inspiration for each project he takes on, and the relationships he has shared with his client have led to many successful ventures—from spiritual enrichment to ocean cleaning innovations. In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, inventors were called upon to develop a mass-scale oil cleanup solution. Fred responded by co-developing an oil-cleanup device at Southern California's VorTek Recovery Solutions.


above: Fred's daughter and son and the first drawing of theirs that he colored in.

The constant traveling to Las Vegas led him to use this time as a personal challenge to see how much he could fill per flight into a single page in his sketchbook. He begins each drawing at take off and ceases upon landing. He posts the results on one of his two Instagram profiles, Mile High Moleskine and his personal Instagram Profile at It's Pronounced Jovaneti.

One of his latest collections of 'Airborne Art' is that of coloring in his children's playful drawings. The compelling side by side images have been making the rounds all over the internet and I simply couldn't resist posting the pics here for you as well. Some of them he drew in with colored pencils, others were done on an iPad:









On the iPad:




images courtesy of imgur and Fred's instagram feeds, information courtesy of his own website, TED and Fast Company

You can follow Fred on Twitter at @FredGiovannitti

Chipotle's "The Scarecrow" : The Film, The Game and A Look Behind The Scenes.

Following up on the success of their 2012 Cannes Grand Prix winner "Back To The Start" (shown below), Chipotle and CAA Marketing have released a new short film and an interactive game that take an ultra-critical look at Big Food in order to highlight its own sustainably-sourced ethos.

Back to The Start:


“The Scarecrow” is at once an addicting game, a poignant short film, and a project that reflects what the folks at Chipotle believe in. The city of Plenty is a glimpse at a future that may not be far off. Processed food, animal confinement, and the use of synthetic growth hormones, non-therapeutic antibiotics, and toxic pesticides are rampant in our food supply. Educating people about alternatives is a journey for the Scarecrow, and it continues to be a journey for us.

The Short Film


In a dystopian fantasy world, all food production is controlled by fictional industrial giant Crow Foods. Scarecrows have been displaced from their traditional role of protecting food, and are now servants to the crows and their evil plans to dominate the food system. Dreaming of something better, a lone scarecrow sets out to provide an alternative to the unsustainable processed food from the factory.




Produced by Chipotle, the film was created by Academy Award®–winning Moonbot Studios and is set to a remake of the song “Pure Imagination” from the 1971 film classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Beautifully performed by Grammy Award®–winning artist Fiona Apple.

The Scarecrow:


Behind The Scenes:






The Game:


The video is accompanies by a game for your mobile devices.



The Scarecrow needs your help to foil the evil plans of Crow Foods and break the crows‘ monopoly on food production and supply in the city of Plenty. Tilt your device to navigate through each level, outsmart the Crowbots, unlock extras, and restore hope for animals, farms, and the environment, while providing the citizens of Plenty a healthy and delicious alternative.






Download the free app at www.scarecrowgame.com and join the quest for wholesome, sustainable food.

The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation is a non-profit organization established by Chipotle Mexican Grill to continue and strengthen its philanthropic efforts.



Dedicated to creating a sustainable, healthful, and equitable food future, the foundation supports farmers, ranchers, educators, and programs that are working to develop sustainable practices and teaching younger generations about issues in the food chain.

Over the years, Chipotle has contributed more than $2 million to fund initiatives that support sustainable agriculture, family farming, culinary education, and innovation that promotes better food.

Chipotle