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Described as a “global art project transforming messages of personal identity into works of art,” the INSIDE OUT project encourages any citizen of the world – man, woman, elder, child, religious or not, to share their face. By sharing our portrait, it is believed we are sharing our message.

"Rising Souls, Haiti: the resilience of Haitians," Port of Prince, Haiti, www.jr-art.net

Inspired by renowned street artist, JR, the project brings coworkers, activists, friends and communities together by asking them to create a group action. A statement to define who they are, and what they are standing up for. A group could be as little as five people, or bring together an entire city, like the group action witnessed in New York’s Time Square this past month.

INSIDE OUT Project in Time Square, New York City, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT has reached the far corners of the world. Meaning we, the citizens, are standing up for what we believe in. Some of the outstanding group actions are standing up to issues of oppression, apartheid, gender-based violence, youth-based violence, and climate change.

INSIDE OUT's locations, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT’s project “Esperanza” (meaning hope) was a collective action that brought to light the faces of mothers in Caracas, Venezuela, whose children were victims of violence.

The Mother's of Caracas, Venezuela, www.insideoutproject.net

In Afghanistan, the INSIDE OUT project meant lifting the stigma that the media has laid out of what living in this country is really like. Collaborating with ISAF HQ, the people of Kabul proved that there is in fact happiness in the neighbourhoods – laughter can be heard, and living in Afghanistan is something to be celebrated.

INSIDE OUT Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, www.insideoutproject.net

JR’s innovative project has even landed in the Arctic, as activists of the #savethearctic movement created a massive eye at the top of the world, trying to rid the icy land of the destructive industries that are encroaching.

The Eye on top of the World, the Arctic, www.insideoutproject.net

Another project facilitated by JR, Face 2 Face has been his largest illegal call to action yet. Meeting people on both sides of the separation wall, in Israel and Palestine, JR pasted massive portraits along the separation wall on both sides of the conflict. Groups of portraits were posted together of people – from either side – doing the exact same job. One pasting presents passers-by with the face of a rabbi, an imam and a priest; another with the face of a Palestinian cook, and his equal on the Israeli side.

The Holy Triptych, Seperation Wall in Bethlehem, Palestine, www.insideoutproject.net

INSIDE OUT is putting all of us face-to-face. With our own issues, and maybe the ones we haven’t opened our eyes up to yet. Anyone can take part, so perhaps this is our call to action. What are we standing up for, yelling about, whole-heartedly caring about? Let’s paste!

“I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we’ll turn the world… INSIDE OUT.”  - JR

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"Red, Yellow and Blue" by Orly Genger 2013 photo: flatironhotnews.com

According to the The New York Times: Over the last 10 years, Brooklyn based artist Orly Gender “has become known for creating ambitious installations from seemingly endless coils of rope that she crochets and teases into shapes that recall modern masterworks.”

"Red, Yellow, and Blue" by Orly Genger 2013 photo: flickr.com

“In 2007 Genger filled a Chelsea gallery with 250,000 feet of knotted, paint-saturated rope called “Masspeak”, creating a black, lava-y environment that suggested Walter de Maria’s “Earth Room.”

"Masspeak" by Orly Genger 2007 photo: larissagoldston.com

“The next year, using similar materials, she built an even larger installation entitled, “Whole”, for the lobby of the Indianapolis Museum of Art — a sly take on the aggressive metal stacks and cubes of Minimalists like Tony Smith and Donald Judd.”

"Whole" by Orly Genger, 2009 photo: designboom.com

“In 2010, for a show at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., Ms. Genger used 100 miles of red painted rope to create “Big Boss,” an 11.5-foot-high stack that burst through a gallery wall and bubbled over for 28 feet into an adjoining room — a giant Color Field painting run amok.”

"Big Boss" by Orly Genger, 2010 photo: museomagazine.com

“Now Ms. Genger, 34, has delivered her largest and most labor-intensive work yet, a public sculpture in Madison Square Park called “Red, Yellow and Blue.” On view through Sept. 8, it’s made of 1.4 million feet of hand-crocheted lobster-fishing rope, which she has used to create three towering enclosures, each painted a different primary color.”

"Red, Yellow and Blue" by Orly Genger, 2013 photo: flickr.com

“For the last two years, she and a team of assistants have spent almost every day in her studio cleaning lobster claws and fish bones out of the rope and crocheting it into the chunky scarflike strips, some 150 feet long, that she used as building blocks.”

"Red, Yellow and Blue" by Orly Genger 2013 photo: flickr.com

“Regarding the sculpture, Susan Cross, the curator of Mass MoCA curator who commissioned the piece “Big Boss,” says, “Everyone can relate to it, even though it’s this overwhelming size. You see that it’s rope, but you understand the labor involved. It really pulls people in.” Susan Cross also calls the artist, “a force of nature.”

"Red, Yellow and Blue" by Orly Genger, 2013 photo: flickr.com

“Read more about Orly Genger and her newly installed piece, “Red, Yellow and Blue.” The piece will reinstall it in October at the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Mass., where it will remain for a year.

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The Bedroom by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

According to the Wall Street Journal last week: The modern myth of the tortured artist was launched by the turbulent life of Vincent van Gogh, whose bold paintings have been viewed as spontaneous outpourings of an anguished soul. Now, results of research into van Gogh’s work habits shed new light on the Dutchman, who emerges as less a hopeless Romantic than a diligent technician.

Still life with Carafe and Lemons by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

A research project called, “Van Gogh’s Studio Practice,” culminates on Wednesday when its findings will be incorporated into a new exhibition, “Van Gogh at Work,” which opens the newly renovated Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Prior to this, there has never been such extensive research into van Gogh’s paintings and drawings.

Butterflies and Poppies by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

Among the key discoveries is an understanding of how van Gogh used something called a “perspective frame”—a wooden rectangle, crisscrossed with threads—to help him accurately capture the physical world.

The Sea at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

Head of Collections at the Van Gogh Museum says the frame was threaded like a grid or alternatively, threaded diagonally like a Union Jack flag. Van Gogh would look through these at his subjects, and then transfer that regulated view onto the canvas. New infrared examinations revealed that he actually traced the outlines of the threaded frame right onto the canvas, fixing a sense of order early on, and giving a hidden rigor to paintings that are admired for their wild expressiveness.

show enlargment The Garden of Saint Paul's Hospital ('The Fall of the Leaves') by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

Van Gogh was not the only artist at the time using the device – Degas also used a perspective frame, but Van Gogh used it in a distinct way. Discoveries also show that Van Gogh reused canvases quite often leaving layers of paint on a single canvas.

View of Auvers by Van Gogh http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

Until the mid-19th century, artists made their own paints, using traditional pigments. But van Gogh belonged to one of the first generations of artists who bought mass-produced paints sold in tubes. He then went on to refine his colors by mixing them together.

Van Gogh's palette photo: Van Gogh Museum

Van Gogh experts have long known that some of these paints were vulnerable to fading. Until now, the experts have relied on descriptions in van Gogh’s letters to correctly identify original colors; they have also found clues in the bits of paint on the edge of canvasses, where the frames shielded the pigments from damaging light. Now, using a combination of technologies, the project has determined something like the original appearances of affected major works. Being able to see famous paintings in their original colors can be quite shocking after the public has been viewing them in a faded state for so many years.

Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds by Van Gogh photo: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/

Visitors to “Van Gogh at Work” will be able to compare the new digital renderings [of paintings in their original colors], accessed on computer tablets in an educational section of the exhibition. In September, visitors will also be able to download an app on their own devices. In art history and conservation, fading paint has long been a problem. But now we’ll be able to see these works as the artists meant for us to see them.

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Some of my very favorite children’s books have no words – instead, illustrations tell the story. These books are not only a joy to see and experience, they teach our kids the power of art to communicate and express feeling.

Flotsam by David Wiesner

Flotsam is a book about a magical camera which washes up on a beach and is found by a curious boy.

Illustration from Flotsam by David Wiesner

Barbara Lehman has written several great books in this genre including, The Red Book, Rainstorm, The Secret Box, and Museum Trip.

Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman

Museum Trip tells a story about what might happen if  a boy suddenly became part of one of the museum’s exhibits.

Illustration from Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman

Some of the stories are more intricate than others, but even the simplest stories are beautiful when told via the artwork alone.

Wave by Suzy Lee

Wave is a story about a little girl who spends a day at the beach engaging in imaginative play with an ocean wave.

Illustration from Wave by Suzy Lee

Chalk is a story of three children who find a bag of chalk in a playground. To their amazement, everything they draw becomes real.

Chalk by Bill Thompson

Illustration from Chalk by Bill Thompson

If you know of some books in this genre that love and have enjoyed reading with your family, please share them with us here on WallSpin!

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Claes Oldenburg’s Floor Burger, 1962 photo: Sean Weaver

In 1967, Claes Oldenburg’s big lovable burger sculpture called Floor Burger (1962), was not necessarily well received at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. People stood in front of the gallery with signs reading ‘Don’t Burger Up Our Gallery,’” says Shiralee Hudson Hill, an interpretive planner at the gallery.

Dropped Cone 2001 by Claes Oldenburg Cologne, Germany

According to Art News, “Today, “the burger” is one of the museum’s most popular works. And the painted canvas sculpture, which recently underwent a major restoration, will be among the works included in the show “Claes Oldenburg: The Street and the Store,” opening at the Museum of Modern Art this weekend.”

Garden Hose 1983 by Claes Oldenburg Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

“Floor Burger’s form is very well-constructed,” says AGO conservator Sherry Phillips. “Oldenburg’s first wife, Patty, sewed all the pieces together.” But they needed to address the inside of the sculpture. “The burger’s stuffing—chunks of foam and, surprisingly, cardboard ice-cream cartons—has fared well, but the pieces shifted, leaving the sculpture with an uneven appearance,” Phillips explains. “We used archival images of the piece for comparison, and gently pushed and pulled the stuffing to create a better-defined ‘burger’ shape.”

Spoonbrigde and Cherry 1988 by Claes Oldenburg Minneapolis, Minnesota

Oldenburg admits, “I was more concerned with the effect of the piece as I was making it rather than its future conservation,” adding, “We were careful to use high-grade materials, but still the result is a lot of people work in art restoration now because works from that period are starting to need attention.” The 84-year-old artist explains why he decided to use ice-cream cartons as stuffing. “I started with the foam, but found it was weighing the sculpture down,” he says, “so we used the empty boxes to make it lighter.”

Binoculars 1991 by Claes Oldenburg, Santa Monica, CA

Many urban legends about Floor Burger circulate at the AGO, including early reports of visitors jumping on it, expecting it to be cushiony like a beanbag chair. There are also tales about the pickle that sits on the burger’s bun. According to one story, the pickle disappeared in the early ’70s, and Oldenburg flew to Toronto with a replacement, claiming it was a travel pillow to get it through customs. “The pickle is made differently from the rest of Floor Burger,” says Phillips. “There’s a different type of paint, so it could have been a later addition or substitution.”

Shuttlecocks 1994 by Claes Oldenburg Kansas City, MO

Oldenburg laughs upon hearing this. “That sounds like it could be true,” he says. “But like a lot of things, I can’t remember for sure. I do recall that the sides of the pickle are covered with a shinier paint than the rest, so it looks wet like a pickle. But that is still a very convincing story. I’ll have to look in my diaries.”

Tumbling Tacks 2009 by Claes Oldenburg Norway

Oldenburg is best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife of 32 years, Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009.

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