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Hyperrealistic Paintings So Detailed You Can Taste The Honey

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We know our readers love hyperrealistic painting -- those almost realer-than-real depictions of everyday life, captured in granular details that exceed the powers of normal vision. In our humble opinion, the technical art form is at its most divine when accented with conventional materials loaded with textures more anomalous than you'd ever expect.

Exhibit A: honey. The ingredient best known for complimenting a cup of hot tea is a sensual marvel to behold, its viscous, golden, glittering form oozing and undulating at a sluggish yet elegant pace. No one knows this better than painter Mike Dargas -- well, and perhaps photographer Blake Little, to be fair.

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The Cologne-based painter started working on the honey-centric series in 2014, after toying with a variety of different liquids. The unusual consistency of honey caught Dargas' eye. "It's transparency and reflections are perfect for my realistic works," he explained to The Huffington Post.

And thus a hyperrealistic series was born. Dargas painstakingly depicts women's faces drenched in honey, capturing every pore, every gleaming honey drop, every misplaced eyebrow hair and even the occasional taste bud. If you've never been up close and personal with a honey-soaked human being before -- no judgment, we haven't either -- this is probably as close as you'll ever get. "It's a very personal process and I want the viewers to see this emotion," Dargas explained. Consider it seen.

Catch a glimpse of Dargas' incredible works, and some behind-the-scenes shots, below.



h/t Ignant

Adorable Comic Illustrates The Adventures Of A Stay-At-Home Dad

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Dad Salem Wildfire has been a stay-at-home parent ever since his 5-year-old daughter Kenzie was born, and in that time he's picked up a number of funny, harrowing and just plain bizarre stories from his day-to-day life with the little girl.

One night last year, the dad's artist friend Danielle Kukic was lamenting her lack of creative inspiration, and he suggested a webcomic based on Kenzie's shenanigans.Thus Daughter of the Wolf was born. Written by Wildfire and illustrated by Kukic, the comic features Kenzie's character as her alter ego "daughter of the wolf," starring alongside her Poppa and sometimes Momma as well. The title is inspired by a time when Wildfire joked to Kenzie that she was born a wolf pup and later turned into a human. Even after learning that her dad was kidding, Kenzie loved the idea of being little wolf. "She hasn't let it go since," the dad writes on the site's character descriptions.

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"Daughter of the Wolf" takes ordinary playtime adventures and microdramas of parenting and animates them to capture how truly monumental they can feel. As her illustrated comic character's antics demonstrate, "Kenzie is a wild child," her dad said, adding, "Her imagination is incredibly vivid, she's shockingly brilliant, and those two aspects combine in the most amusing ways."

Though Wildfire and Kukic initially started "Daughter of the Wolf" to entertain friends and family, they've been pleasantly surprised by the response from strangers. "The notion that there are hundreds of people I don't even know enjoying our work still blows my mind," the dad said.

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As for Kenzie, she might be the comic's no. 1 fan, Wildfire said. "She loves seeing her alter ego on the screen, especially in various costumes."

Keep scrolling for some samples from "Daughter of the Wolf" and visit the official website for the full collection.



H/T TODAY



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Javier Bardem 'Can't Wait' To See 'Spectre' Either

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The upcoming 24th James Bond film is as secretive as 007's assignment papers. All we know about "Spectre" is that it will involve the sinister organization of its title, there will be an epic action sequence in Austria, and Christophe Waltz' character name is Franz Oberhauser, who may or may not actually be famous Bond villain Blofeld.

We asked one of the best Bond villains ever if he had some advice for Waltz's possible bad guy. Javier Bardem, who played Raoul Silva in "Skyfall," told The Huffington Post over the phone, "I don’t think [Waltz] needs any advice, he’s an amazing actor. I’m sure he’s going to do something truly fantastic." Bardem went on to say that he's looking forward to "Spectre" just as much as we are. "I can’t wait to see that movie."

The Academy Award winning actor also reminisced on his time filming "Skyfall" with Daniel Craig. "I had the best time in my life doing that movie, really," Bardem said. "We had so much fun doing that scene, the presentation of Silva scene. We were laughing."

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Image via Tumblr

But for now, Bardem is promoting his latest film, "The Gunman," which follows Sean Penn as a former Special Forces sniper who goes on the run after threats from a successful assassination. Bardem, who is only in three sequences in the film, said he joined the movie to share screen time with Penn, an actor he's long admired. The two also worked together on "The Last Face," Penn's upcoming second directorial effort.

"There is nothing I don't admire about Sean," Bardem said. "I truly admire so many aspects of him. [...] Working with him as [my] director was like being on a cloud."

"The Gunman" is now playing in theaters.

If You Missed The 2015 Solar Eclipse, These Photos Provide A Stunning Recap Of The Celestial Event

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Millions of skywatchers across Northern Europe and parts of Asia and Africa were treated to a rare solar eclipse early Friday morning.

(Scroll down for photos).


The point of greatest eclipse occurred above the Norwegian Sea around 5:46 a.m EDT on March 20, 2015, with the greatest period of darkness lasting for about three minutes, BBC reported.

Though the eclipse was not visible for those in the U.S., and clouds obscured the skies for some viewers in the U.K. and Faroe Islands, many professional and amateur photographers were able to capture spectacular views of the new moon blotting out the sun.

The next total solar eclipse that will be visible in parts of the U.S. will occur on Aug. 21, 2017.

If you missed the show, check out a stunning recap below.

Annaleigh Ashford Takes 'Lost In The Stars,' Her Glitzy Solo Cabaret, On The Road

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Annaleigh Ashford is honored when friends and fans sum up her new cabaret act, "Lost in the Stars," as "gay magic."

"There are certain performers that the gay community receives and recognizes with love, and my whole life, I've always responded to those same artists," the 29-year-old singer-actress told The Huffington Post in an interview. She pointed out that the first venue she ever performed in was Denver's Theatre on Broadway, which was known for its queer-inclusive shows: "I've always felt very attuned to, and at home in, the gay community."

There's a sassy sensibility in the retro glamour of "Lost in the Stars," which Ashford is taking on the road with her band, The Whiskey 5, after a string of acclaimed performances at New York's 54 Below. The star, best known for her Tony-nominated stint in Broadway's "Kinky Boots" and her portrayal of lesbian prostitute Betty on Showtime's "Masters of Sex," is promising audiences in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Las Vegas plenty of sequins, sky-high wigs and classic disco.

Of course, Ashford doesn't limit her material to the late '70s or, more specifically, the confines of Studio 54. She and musical director Will Van Dyke have crafted an eclectic set including songs by Stephen Sondheim, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper and Alanis Morrisette that they hope will have universal appeal. One highlight is a medley that offers vestiges of Ashford's musical theater roles, including "Hair," "Rent," "Wicked," "Legally Blonde" and, of course, "Kinky Boots."

Annaleigh Ashford poses backstage at New York's 54 Below.

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Although her career has taken her down a more thespian path, Ashford sees "Lost in the Stars" as fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a bonafide cabaret star on the road. Each city on the tour, she says, has special resonance. She was born in Denver, while her husband, actor Joe Tapper, hails from outside Chicago. Meanwhile, she played San Francisco as part of the out-of-town tryout for "Legally Blonde," and participated in dance competitions in Las Vegas each as an adolescent.

"I grew up listening to cabaret. At 7 and 8 years old, I was already singing like a club performer," Ashford, who cites "Patti LuPone at Les Mouches" and Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway's "Sibling Rivalry" as influences, explained. "One of our goals is to bring this art form to a younger audience. I think our generation isn't as versed on cabaret [as previous generations were], so I think it's important to expose younger audiences to the art form."

She and Van Dyke said they aim to keep the show as organic as possible by refreshing or swapping out musical numbers in each new city and "playing a bit off the cuff" throughout.

"She just flies off the handle sometimes, and it's amazing," Van Dyke said. "It's just so fun to be on that ride."

Ashford would ultimately like to expand the show into a full-scale production of "song, dance and epic storytelling" in the vein of Liza Minnelli's famed "Liza with a 'Z'" act. In the meantime, she and Van Dyke plan to produce an album that compiles the best of their live performances on the tour, which they'd like to release this fall.

She also hopes that "Lost in the Stars" will be the first of many cabaret acts, noting that she's currently listening to a lot of New Orleans jazz, Janet Jackson and '80s era Bonnie Raitt.

"My ambition for the piece is that you walk out the door with your heart having been touched by at least one song," she said. "I think that intention has carried us through."

Annaleigh Ashford and The Whiskey 5 will perform "Lost in the Stars" at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse on March 21. She plays the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on April 11-12, San Francisco's Venetian Room April 19 and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas on June 27-28.


Ballerina's Dazzling Photos Prove Her Scoliosis Is Just A Diagnosis

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Gigi Crouch’s gorgeous Instagram photos reveal the life of a ballerina. Her dancing journey, though, has been more than just perfect balance and pointe shoes.

MTV News reports that Gigi has been ballet dancing since she was 11. At 13, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, which meant she'd have to wear a back brace for 18 to 20 hours a day and start physical therapy.






Though the 17-year-old currently has three major curves in her back, she’s never let scoliosis stand in her way. Her Instagram photos prove it.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep Scott Adams

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on






Using the handle @scolerina9247, Gigi mixes her poised poses with elaborate landscapes. She has more than 59,000 followers and recently contributed to Instagram’s blog, where she explained she recently stopped wearing a brace after wearing one for three years.

Hey everybody! Exciting news :) On Wednesday I received an out of brace X-ray. My results were the exact same as they were six months ago! Often times when living and working with scoliosis, no progression in the curve can be as great as decreasing your curvature. This has been my goal for the past couple of years and I'm so happy to be reaching it. For three years I wore a brace designed by Grant Wood for 18-20 hours a day. For a couple of months that time decreased to 12 continuous hours, then just sleeping. I'm so excited to say that I am officially brace free! The battle is not over, as I will continue to do the Schroth method of physical therapy to assure no progression in my curve! comment if you wear or have worn a brace!

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on




pc @annadancer14 check out @brav0ballet

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on









On the blog, Gigi also mentioned expanding her creativity for her photos. The ballerina, who attends Pacific Northwest Ballet's Professional Division, enjoys photography and puts a lot of thought into her poses and layouts. Her photos are visually appealing, but what she really wants her followers to take away is that nothing can stand in the way of your dreams.

"I love to try to explore new angles and poses daily to get an output that is innovative, creative and pleasing to the eye. I hope that my pictures inspire others, and show them that nothing can stop you if you have passion.”

Check out more of Gigi's photos below.

Pc @__anna.k__ ❤️ Comment your favorite movie

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on




The first of many great shots by the fantastic @lindsaythomasphoto

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on




☀️summer☀️ I have a surprise to share with you guys tomorrow! Pc @stateofkate21

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on




Seattle Summer ☀️ pc @hailey__ballerina

A photo posted by Gigi 17 (@scolerina9247) on





H/T MTV News

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Portugal.The Man Helps To Bring $1 Million Of Musical Instruments To Underfunded Schools

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A band is helping bring instruments to schools so students have the opportunity to become musicians.

Indie band Portugal. The Man is working with ticket reseller StubHub and footwear brand Dr. Martens to put $1 million worth of musical instruments in schools across the country, with a focus on underfunded institutions. The initiative, which is in partnership with Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (MHOF) -- a nonprofit dedicated to musical education -- was introduced at South by Southwest, the music, film and interactive festival, earlier this week. Austin, Texas, the home of the festival, will be the first city this year to benefit from the project.

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Portugal. The Man at SXSW 2015.

The band says that they are happy to give students the chance to develop a skill that can have a lasting effect.

"We simply want to put instruments in the hands of children. Every person needs something that they do to push themselves," Zach Carothers, bassist for Portugal. The Man, told The Huffington Post in an email. "Every kid should have access to the tools that will shape who they become as adults. I have no idea where I would be if I didn't have instruments available at a young age."

According to MHOF President and CEO Felice Mancini, the costliness of instruments often proves as an obstacle for many school music programs.

“Sadly, due to the high cost of musical instruments, school music programs around the country are struggling, even when the will to keep them alive is strong,” Mancini said in a press release.

The initiative seeks to remedy this by bringing in funding support from the StubHub Foundation, and involving major companies to donate instruments to schools. Two schools in Austin will receive the first donations, totaling more than $80,000 worth of instruments.

The program will continue over the next year and get more artists and brands involved in the cause, according to the release.

To learn more about the initiative or Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, visit their website here.

H/T Mashable

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Jonathan Groff Honors International Day Of Happiness With A Stunning Live Performance

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"Looking" hunk Jonathan Groff took to the stage of FOX 5's Good Day New York to honor the U.N.-sanctioned International Day of Happiness with a stunning performance.

Groff, who is currently starring in Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" at New York's Public Theater, crooned a tender version of the famous Judy Garland/Barbra Streisand medley, "Get Happy/Happy Days are Here Again," to mark the occasion.

The 29-year-old "Glee" and "Spring Awakening" veteran said he was excited to participate on behalf of his musical director and friend, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, who moderated a U.N. panel yesterday on how happiness can impact global issues. In addition to her work on Broadway musicals like "Finding Neverland," Mitchell is the founder and executive director of Artists Striving to End Poverty, or ASTEP, which aims to "connect performing and visual artists with underserved youth in the U.S."

"Hearing that you bring happiness to people from performing means everything," Groff told The Huffington Post in a statement. He also wanted to get the word out about how everyone can make a difference via the Happy Acts campaign, a Live Happy magazine initiative.

And what makes Groff the happiest these days? "Spending time with my 2-week-old niece."

Mitchell said she wanted to be involved in the panel because she's found that "happiness is a choice."

"People who are happy also have a sense of contentment, and that allows for them to see and connect with others because they aren't as focused on just themselves and their problems," she said. "That connection point is needed for us to start to deal with the bigger issues the world faces."

Groff can be seen in the series finale of "Glee," which airs March 20. The second season finale of "Looking" will air March 22.

How 'Ruby' Author Cynthia Bond Realized Writing Was Her True Calling (VIDEO)

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It took Cynthia Bond a full 10 years to write her debut novel, Ruby -- a feat in and of itself, but especially impressive considering the fact that the author had originally intended to follow a much different career path.

Years ago, Bond seemed poised to become a writer when she won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University. The Texas native had grown up as a gifted student with a love of words, but, in what she calls an act of rebellion, Bond passed up her scholarship and instead moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. She went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and later performed with the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company.

Though she was finding success as an actress, Bond couldn't shake the feeling that something didn't feel quite right.

"I never was completely comfortable as an actress. Never," she tells Oprah in the above video from "Super Soul Sunday." "Before I would have a performance, I would literally just get sick. I just would feel horrible."

Many might walk away from a career that evoked those kinds of feelings, but Bond felt a responsibility to continue following this particular path. "That's what my dream had been, so you have to do this dream," she explains.

Of course, a calling has a way of finding its way to you even when you haven't consciously chosen it. In Bond's case, her true calling was writing.

"I've always written," she says. "Even when I was preparing for a character, I would write an entire essay about them, like a little short story. That's how I made sense of that."

"[Something] that goes beyond whatever the pages of the script say," Oprah says.

"Right," Bond nods.

Bond's novel, Ruby, is the latest selection for Oprah's Book Club, 2.0.

Bond's full interview with Oprah airs this weekend on "Super Soul Sunday," on March 22, at 11 a.m. ET on OWN. You can also stream the program live on Oprah.com/supersoulsunday or Facebook.com/supersoulsunday.



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Viral 'Terre Des Femmes' Photo Series Shares An Important Message, But Not An Original One

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A powerful feminist poster series about judging women by their clothing has gone viral -- but it looks strikingly similar to a project from 2013.

The series, produced by student Theresa Wlokka of Miami Ad School in Germany for nonprofit Terre des Femmes, was picked up by news outlets from Bustle to Design Taxi this week.

The set of three posters shows the words used to judge women as they relate to the length of her skirt, the depth of her neckline and the height of her heels. The concept behind the series is that women are judged no matter what they're wearing, regardless of whether an outfit is considered "prudish" or "revealing." The images highlight the type of everyday misogyny that holds gender equality back.

The series makes an important point about the way people make damaging assumptions about women based only on their physical appearances -- specifically, their clothing choices. However, commenters and Twitter users have pointed out that these posters bear a clear resemblance to college student Pomona Lake's 2013 piece, "Judgments." (See a side-by-side of the two projects below.)

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Left, Pomona Lake's 2013 project, "Judgments." Right, Theresa Wlokka's poster for Femme des Terres.


Lake, who formerly went by the name Rosea, told The Huffington Post that she reached out to Miami Ad School after friends shared the new series with her, informing them that the idea had been plagiarized. Lake says the school never responded, but Wlokka reached out to her personally.

According to Lake, Wlokka told her that she had never seen Lake's work before, claimed that this poster series was her original idea and apologized for the inconvenience.

"Sometimes you can absorb ideas without realizing where it's from, but in this instance, word for word the projects are the same," Lake told HuffPost. "If they had emailed me and reached out for permission and credited me with the idea, I would have said yes."

A Twitter account appearing to belong to Frida Regeheim, who is credited as the ads' copywriter, was deleted Friday. A tweet sent earlier in the day from the account claimed that the posters' creators had been in touch with Lake and received permission to use her idea -- something that Lake claims is untrue.

Terre des Femmes have not responded to HuffPost's request for comment.

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UPDATE: 11:10 p.m. -- Wlokka gave her account of the situation in a statement to HuffPost later on Friday. Regeheim told HuffPost that this statement spoke for her as well:

It started with that we got an assignment in one of our classes to do a print campaign for a charity organization last year. We instantly decided we wanted to do something for female rights. As women we've been harassed several times, in different ways, based on the way we look. From men, but also from women. We're too harsh on each other and call each other names. And I don't know how many times I've read about rape victims that were wearing a mini skirt. Who cares what she was wearing? She should be able to go naked and it shouldn't matter.

We also talked about how we think when we dress and how a lot of women often dress to please someone else rather than themselves.
There's such a big black cloud over such a simple, fun thing as clothing. It should be a way of expressing yourself and something to have fun with. Not a foundation to judgement.

After we made the ads and it spread over the Internet, to an extent we're overwhelmed by, we heard about Rosea's picture and other ideas that also are in the same direction. Of course we wanted to be unique, but we didn't see it as something negative that others wanted the same change as us. And that's something that Rosea agreed on when we emailed with her. We're all fighting the same fight. When it comes to advertising there usually is something out there that's similar to your idea. In this case we see it as something positive since it's for a good cause. We're really happy that the campaign has started a discussion and we hope that it makes people think. About how we treat each other, not about the way we dress.

We were in contact with Rosea yesterday and also tried to reach her today as we can understand her point of view. So far we did not get an answer.


UPDATE: 3/22/2015, 11:30 a.m. -- An email sent to the Huffington Post pointed out that a similar idea has existed since 2010, printed on a pair of tights.

And Here Are You Favorite Post-Punk Rock Stars As Marvel Superheroes

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It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Morrissey, looking so very solemn.

If you've ever experienced a life changing revelation thanks to a weepy moment with The Smiths or [insert your favorite post-punk artist here], you'll certainly get a kick -- and perhaps a POW! and a BAM! -- out of Butcher Billy's series of musicians reimagined as Marvel heroes.

Joy Division, The Cure, Billy Idol, the gang is all here, decked out in primary colors and spandex onesies. We have to say, many of the super suits seem far less out there than the musicians' normal concert attire. Which is why we love them.



h/t Shortlist

This Is What Happens When Art Students Recreate Famous Nude Masterpieces (NSFW)

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"Nudes are hot right now," photographer Matthew Leifheit mused in an email exchange with HuffPost. Leifheit has many titles, among them VICE photo editor and editor-in-chief of MATTE Magazine. Recently, he's taken on a faculty position at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, a role that's allowed him to better explore the beautiful and nefarious world of naked art.

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AFTER HENRI MATISSE. Photo by Noah Boskey, Erin Carr, Emma Castelbolognesi, Crystelle Colucci, Alberto Inamagua, and Allison Schaller.


The fruits of his labor are currently on view at SVA, in a pop-up exhibition titled "Artsy Nudes." For the project, he gave his participating students a simple prompt: choose any nude work of art from all of art history and recreate it. From Henri Matisse's "The Dance" to Diego Velázquez's "Rokeby Venus" to Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase," the appropriations breathed life into nude standards many hold near and dear to their hearts.

Some images appear remarkably similar to their historical antecedents, others take liberties to create a new photograph from an old painting. "I think reverse-engineering successful images to find out how they were made is a useful thing to be able to do," Leifheit explained. "My students are sophomores in art school, and I'd like them to be able to look at an image they like, be able to guess how it was made, and apply that knowledge to their own subject matter."

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AFTER MARCEL DUCHAMP. Photo by Anthony Costa, Jessica Frankl, Mikaela Keen Lumongsod, Frankie Mule, Gabrielia Priyma, Balazs Sebok, and Valeriya Vaynerman.


Leifheit himself is no stranger to reconfiguring famous images. For example, he recently restaged a photo of Rudolph Nureyev taken by Richard Avedon, replacing the late dance icon with gay pornography giant Michael Lucas. He also photographed the contents of David Wojnarowicz's "Magic Box" at NYU Fales Library, turning the results into a deck of oversized playing cards.

"I think there was something to be understood about the impossibility of true plagiarism in photography," he wrote on VICE. "When I was in art school I remember becoming discouraged, believing any worthwhile image had already been made. The goal of this assignment was to teach that even if you try very hard to remake someone else's work, your photographs can only be your own."

"I'm interested in the stuff dead artists leave behind, and how those kind of archives can be reanimated or collaborated with," he added over email.

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AFTER DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ. Photo by Ebb Bayarsaikhan, Hannah Hurley, and Hayley Stephon; painting by Jake Kaplan.


"Artsy Nudes" is on its final leg at SVA (the show closes this weekend), though VICE fans can look forward to a 10-page spread of the works in this month's magazine. You might have missed the show's opening, which featured classical musicians performing in the nude, but it's probably not the last figurative nude art show we'll write about this year. Leifheit cited Art F City founder Paddy Johnson in our e-conversation: "The figure is back." Make that, the naked figure.

Before we ended our chat, we aksed Leifheit about his show's connection to the ever-present world of pornography, since he's rubbed elbows with the industry before. "In my personal opinion, the line between porn and art is slippery, and ultimately unimportant," he concluded. "It's very dependent on context -- if you're in the office bathroom looking at the Matisse recreation my students made, and art historical pastiche makes you hot, I guess it might be porn in that context. If you're in the gallery, it just looks like art."

Well said, friend. Check out "Artsy Nudes" below.

Content Nausea: The Lifestyle Choice You Didn't Know You Were Suffering From

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TK TK gifs





"Content nausea, World War Four / Seems like it all came too soon ... "

If you're feeling an increasing sense of anxiety that you may be streaming your life away, you very well could be experiencing "content nausea" -- a term that stems from a 2014 song and album by the band Parkay Quarts.

Although "content nausea" is new, you've likely heard of cousin terms that attempt to pick away at the same issues. "Unplugging" -- whether it's trying to look at a cellphone less or completely cut out the internet from one's life -- is a concept/movement that has already caught on. That said, the goals maybe haven't totally translated to results. Here are just a few signs we're far from unplugged:

The average American....

*Spends 5 - 11 hours per day with digital media. (For reference, only about 17 hours of our days are spent awake.)

*Dedicates about 2 full days per month to browsing on a smartphone.

*Spends 40 minutes a day checking Facebook.

*Bonus: nearly 20% of young adults may use their smartphones during sex.

More recently, as evidenced by the rise of projects like ContentBot or Clickhole, the fear of being "plugged" has led us to explore the actual content that's keeping us occupied with our "shitphones." For those in media, the threat of content nausea is certainly an old debate, so this is nothing new, but consumers and readers driving the traffic from the Facebook fire-hose seem to be desiring a more critical look at our digital dependence too.

After all, everyone with a Facebook or Instagram or Twitter is a content creator; therefore, a wholly new question exists as to what all these people owe each other, in terms of decency and attention... and sometimes currency.

This is the world in which Ryder Ripps' new exhibition "Alone Together" -- at Red Bull Studios in New York until April 12, 2015 -- takes place. The piece features six internet "performers" creating content live. That content is then streamed into a manageable, but still overwhelming wooden box located a floor above them. Viewers walk up a staircase, look into the content flashing and blinking before them, and decide whether they want to hit a "Like" button.

Of course, six people is just a slice of the content creation world. For the Super Bowl alone this year, there were 71,245 articles, with 7,072 of them being written just about Katy Perry's halftime show. Limiting Ripps' scope to six people allows the audience to wrap its collective head around what it's seeing in just a moment. God only knows how the sausage gets made for the entire internet, but by peering into Ripps' nauseating boxes, for a moment you get to see the light.



"There's no definitive end to any of this."

ryder ripps

Ryder Ripps describes his project as a "mission" and positions his content creators almost in the style of astronauts, giving them uniforms with logos reminiscent of NASA programs. Conquering the Moon was Kennedy's generation. Conquering Mars will be the next. Creating the great American listicle will be our feat. Lately, it's been at least a part of our president's mission.

In the past, Ripps has talked about how gaining the most followers on social networks is a form of "winning," although a questionable pursuit:

We refresh our Instagram to see who follows us. Our value as human beings is about that. And it sucks and I'm a part of that. Maybe I'm perpetuating it, but I'm saying that I personally am a victim of it. My Instagram followers grew from 7.1k to 7.2k today and that actually made me feel good. Like really good. And that's so fucked up. It's so stupid. It means nothing. It has nothing to do with anything. Meanwhile, I didn't call my mom back today after she called. Am I a good person? No, I'm a fucking shit person who didn't call my mom back. I should call her back. But I got 7.2k, I got 7.2k! I validate myself through that.


Talking to The Huffington Post, Ripps walked back that thinking, now believing that it isn't worth focusing on whether you're winning or not on social media as you can't win if there's no end of the game. "Yeah, and the other thing is to what end? There's no definitive end to any of this," explained Ripps. At another moment in the conversation, he said, "it's hard to fulfill if you don't have a goal. Then you never reach it."



"[The content is] not intended to be discussed past a day or two."

TK TK gifs

"Alone Together" is partly about capturing a moment of our time so we can at least have a shot of wrapping our heads around the underlying relationship that causes content nausea. As Ripps explained, "there's a lot about that sort of displacement, the flow of content from a whole collective of users into a singular feed and the things that get noticed."

These are human interactions and creations that, on the internet, are not fated to last. Even websites go dark, deleted completely over time.

Ripps told HuffPost how his piece tackles this hopelessness, noting a focus on how "these items are purely ephemeral." Ripps continued, "They're not intended to be discussed past a day or two that they're posted and none of them are going to be heirlooms that you print out and you show your kids. It's all in the ether. Tt's all just pure entertainment and sensationalist and they really just activate the serotonin in our brain."

Recently, the popular internet writer Safy-Hallan Farah reiterated in a tweet, "Tumblr has made a generation of young people believe their [sic] small, self-validating online spaces make them famous."



"We have a voracious desire for new content."

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Perhaps content nausea comes out of innate human -- or at least American -- desires for more and more. Ripps described a characterization of the typical content exchange between creators and consumers in his mind, "With a smartphone in their hand, they're uploading stuff. They're viewing stuff. They're consuming. They're posting. Reading. Writing."

Ripps continued, "And then a whole other group of people are reacting to that, to those outputs and inputs. Just analytics, how many hits does a blog post get? How many times does this thing share?"

Within the perpetually rolling newsfeed, Ripps admitted to believing only the most sensational content survives. Although "we have a voracious desire for new content" as Ripps claims, that doesn't mean all content is created equal or that all content will go viral. It's hard to emerge from the noise, which begs the question: what are content creators willing to do to get noticed?



"Why do followers fulfill us and what obligations do you have to people you've never met?"

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Ripps doesn't believe that it's worth focusing too too much on what people should or should not do to gain followers, but rather it's more important to take that a step further and ask, "Why do followers fulfill us and what obligations do you have to people you've never met?" This is the "big question" of our era. Ripps explains:

[In the past] people had obligations to their friends and their family but someone you passed on the street you didn't have an obligation to them. But now when you tweet something, or you post something on the internet, you make an image, that has the ability to reach everyone on Earth possibly. So we are constantly considering what obligation do I have to people I've never met.


Some Tumblr stars are teens and it's maybe more questionable whether they consent to public scrutiny -- like it's argued normal celebs have done. Moreover, it's unclear if we can argue and criticize and interact and potentially befriend people without bullying or defying other social norms associated with the non-content world. If everyone is a brand, then certainly there's a new communication struggle. Try to navigate this struggle and you might just wind up with content nausea.



"Reblogging is the new way of showing love."

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One of the ways to interact in the content world is to reblog or aggregate. As Ripps claimed about his art exibit "Ho," based on the Instagram star Adrianne Ho, "Reblogging is the new way of showing love." It's just a bit detached enough and it creates more content for the algorithm. Win win.

Wander back to Ripps' exhibition and you see visitors pressing the like button on Ripps' content box. From their vantage point, nothing appears to happen. But downstairs in the content creation station, the performers see a light start blinking for a moment. Win win.

Although musically wholly unrelated, Parkay Quarts "Content Nausea" may be our generation's metaphorical equivalent of a "Hotel California." The Parkay Quarts song has the line, "Pretty pictures, pretty lives / I peered into once or twice / I'll go back but not today / It's nice to visit but it's hard to stay."

We're building a world that can make you sick to linger in too long, experienced via excessive staring at an artificially lit screen. Maybe we haven't fully traded skylines for timelines, but the more hours and weekends you spend alone together with the new world atop your lap, streaming content, you have to wonder if this frontier is still worth settling and refreshing.

There was an elephant in the room, but it exceeded the character limit.

All still images Greg Mionske / Red Bull Content Pool.




ASSEMBLAGE: Meet Queer Artist And Musician NEOCAMP

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“ASSEMBLAGE“ is an inquiry into the different ways artists utilize performance and technology to explore and express different notions of identity. An effort to push forward marginalized artists with a focus on people of color, non-western nationalities and those along the queer/trans spectrum, “ASSEMBLAGE” provides a platform for analysis of how art and performance intersect with the lives of these individuals who are visibly and openly existing in the digital age. This is the first installment.

Irish-born artist and musician NEOCAMP has an other-worldly, ethereal aesthetic that gently demands your attention whenever he walks into the room. He has spent the past two years living and working in New York City, having never truly felt like his life had begun until moving there in 2012.

Queer individuals have routinely and historically been oppressed by the social and political climate in Ireland and they largely still experience these realities today. For this reason, NEOCAMP had few outlets to connect with other queer individuals or artists throughout his adolescence, except for one -- the Internet.



"Before leaving Ireland I was living purely through my work, which I think is true for a lot of queer artists living in small, repressed countries," NEOCAMP told The Huffington Post. "In Ireland I completely lived through the Internet. My Internet friends were really the only people in my life that I felt a commonality with in terms of what kind of work I was doing and what I was interested in. Then I came to New York and found an incredible, like-minded community and haven’t really looked back."

NEOCAMP is a part of a generation of artists who have found the Internet not only formative to their work, but fundamental to notions of queer community-building on a global level. This loose grouping of artists, who are largely stepping into the spotlight at this moment in time, are responsible for an understanding of cultural production that critics describe as Post-Internet. At its foundation, Post-Internet is a term used to talk about work that moves beyond using cyberspace to just create one's work, but utilizing the tools of the Internet age to provide commentary about other subjects and create tangible work in the real world.



In a similar way to how cultural notions of identity informed and shaped the trajectory of the Internet, the Internet is now informing notions of identity and shaping culture. Creators in specific parts of the world have rapid and instantaneous access to both information and one another. This reality has laid the groundwork for an age of radical agency and self-determination, as well as the ability to craft an idealized version of oneself in an infinite number of ways on the Web. Feeding these ideas back into a real, lived performance framework is at the heart of NEOCAMP.

The name itself -- NEOCAMP -- references both camp and theatricality. It instantly conjures up and activates the notion that the style and sensibility of camp as a mode of performance informs his work as an artist, as well as signaling his queer identity. He explained to The Huffington Post that NEOCAMP functions as a collation of systems of camp -- a way of consuming and performing culture with a sense of irony but also with a sense of sincerity.



"I’m really interested in this idea of traditional camp as being this mode of operation for queer culture as a way of debunking the straight patriarchy," NEOCAMP elaborated. "There's a lot of commonalities between traditional camp sensibilities and contemporary web culture -- using these ironic tropes as a way to subvert these mainstream systems. Meme culture, in particular, is inextricably linked to this history of camp... there’s so many links for me between these kind of drag sensibilities and queer performance as entertainment and this kind of avatar online experience."

In this way, NEOCAMP utilizes the tools of the Post-Internet age to inform his work as a performer and musician tangibly in the real world. Performance, to NEOCAMP, is not only a way of exploring identity in the digital age, but a way to creatively articulate what it means to be queer through a framework of camp sensibilities.

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Apart from this, NEOCAMP's work and performance of camp also serves as a platform for questioning -- a questioning of what an imagined, idealized future could look like for queer people. The tropes of ironic "selfie-dom" and "avatar as god" that are prevalent throughout his work play on, what he views as, prevalent narcissism and self-involvement, not just within the queer community but as a larger social observation informed by the rise of technology.

"For queer performers, it’s often been this kind of play on narcissism and identity that's such a huge topic for queers," he elaborated. "I do feel like there's some sort of power play or an attempt to create this kind of perfected self as a kind of an armor, but also as a futuristic ideal or trying to create a vision of what is possible... I’ve become really interested in trying to play my work into this kind of expected pop language and make it digestible whilst all the while trying to propose a somewhat avant-garde idea of what it is to be a person."



But what about the role of queer performers in the trajectory of the mainstream lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement? NEOCAMP doesn't think that, as a culture, we are anywhere near a nuanced or liberating understanding of queerness.

"I feel like people are willing to tolerate queers but they’re not willing to buy into them. They’re still seen as 'other' and I feel like we’re far away from mainstream audiences being ready to try to understand and identify with queer performers, artists and musicians across the board... That is part of the much larger battle that we're facing now."

NEOCAMP is currently working on an album, "wavewave," with an expected release date at some point this year. Head here to visit his Instagram or here for his Twitter. Check HuffPost Gay Voices next weekend for the second installment in "ASSEMBLAGE" and a continued analysis of the intersections of art, performance, queerness, identity and technology.

Recognize The Importance (And Beauty) Of H2O In Honor Of World Water Day

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"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water," W.H. Auden wisely said. Indeed, the precious resource, as vital as it is beautiful, holds the key to our survival. And yet, all too often, the element is taken for granted, wasted, overlooked. But not today.

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saysthefox/Instagram


Today, March 22, is World Water Day, a time to cherish the water that we have, and formulate a future where we'll continue to cultivate its availability. It's a time to recognize how many around the world don't have access to water, and thus suffer from a variety of water-related issues. It's a time to see how you can help assure a water-safe future for yourself and your planet.

And here, on an arts and culture site, it's a time to acknowledge the visible splendor of the life force, whether spurting from a busted fire hydrant or crashing on the shore of a beach. Today we're celebrating the magic that is water with a series of images that capture both the magnificence and the importance of the stuff.

Instagram launched a Weekend Hashtag project to reflect our eternal interdependence on water. It twas inspired by Hungarian photojournalist Balazs Gardi, based in Oakland, California, who spent the past decade capturing water-related stories worldwide.

Happy World Water Day, readers. May your upcoming year be filled with sustainable choices and bountiful hydration.


Confronting Past, Mississippi Town Erects Emmett Till Museum 60 Years After His Killing

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(Reuters) - Six decades after the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, the small Mississippi Delta town where two white men were acquitted of his murder is dedicating a museum to the event credited with helping spark the U.S. civil rights movement.

The opening in Sumner on Saturday of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center is timed to coincide with the reopening across the town square of the refurbished Tallahatchie County Courthouse, where an all-white jury set Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan free after deliberating for one hour.

The museum's exhibits detail the 1955 murder and key moments in the trial, which attracted wide attention at the time.

Months after the trial, the pair confessed in a paid magazine interview to abducting and killing Till, who had been visiting from Chicago, in what they said was retribution for his having whistled at Bryant's wife.

Work on both projects in the struggling town of a few hundred people began after the Tallahatchie Board of Supervisors issued a formal apology over the Till affair in 2006. It also established the Emmett Till Memorial Commission to bring attention to a racially charged incident that had for decades gone mostly undiscussed locally, said commission co-chairman John Wilchie.

"For a long time, the people in Tallahatchie County were afraid to even talk about it," he said.

A public ceremony to celebrate the twin projects was set to take place on the square, which looks much as it did when journalists from around the world descended on it 60 years ago, and will feature speeches from Mississippi political leaders along with musical performances.

Museum director Patrick Weems said his facility, which features the only publicly available library in town, together with the restoration of the courthouse, has helped foster a long overdue sense of racial reconciliation in the area.

Coinciding with the renovation of several buildings on the square, along with the opening of an art gallery and a restaurant, the projects have also helped rejuvenate Sumner, he said.

"I don't think it's a stretch to say the courthouse has saved the town," he said. (Reporting by Bryn Stole; Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and Paul Tait)

'Beautiful' Stars Anika Larsen And Jessie Mueller Team Up For 'You Can Close Your Eyes'

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Anika Larsen and Jessie Mueller, who co-starred in Broadway's "Beautiful," teamed up for a tender version of James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes" in this heartwarming video.

The duet can be found on Larsen's debut solo album, "Sing You To Sleep," which was released in December 2014. Mueller, who nabbed a Tony Award for her performance as Carole King in the hit musical, will also be on hand to perform at Larsen's March 23 concert at New York's Birdland in celebration of the album's release.

Larsen, also a Tony nominee for her portrayal of Cynthia Weil in "Beautiful," told The Huffington Post in an interview that her new album was, in many respects, the culmination of "an extraordinary whirlwind of a year."

"A year and a half ago, I was really at the lowest place in my life," she said. "On all the major fronts in my life -- professionally, romantically -- it felt like nothing was going right. I felt like I needed to quit the business, because it just felt like it was masochistic and ridiculous."

Just days later, Larsen's agent called to tell her that she'd landed the role in "Beautiful," which turned out to be a smash hit. It was through her dresser on the show that she was introduced to musician Freddie Maxwell, who appears on "Sing You To Sleep." The couple, who are now expecting their first child, married earlier this year.

Although the 12-song collection has been billed as a collection of lullabies, Larsen hopes adults will find "Sing You To Sleep" just as enjoyable as their kids.

"I wanted it to be more Norah Jones than The Wiggles," she said. "I really feel strongly that we don't need to dumb things down for children. My kid is going to be listening to Stevie Wonder."

Anika Larsen and special guests Jessie Mueller and Jarrod Spector will perform at New York's Birdland on March 23. Head here for more information.

SPARK And Google Created An App That Highlights The History Women Made Right Beneath Your Feet

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With some help from Google, a group of women are changing history by spotlighting herstory.

The SPARK Movement has partnered with Google to create a smartphone app called "Women On The Map" that alerts users when they're near places where women made history. SPARK, which stands for Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge, is an organization that encourages healthy sexuality and promotes gender equality in all areas.

The idea for the app first started a year ago when SPARK noticed there were very few women featured in "Google Doodles," the design featured on Google's homepage during certain holidays. So they did their own research and found that only 17 percent of Google Doodles between 2010 and 2013 featured women. The non-profit decided to try to change those numbers. "We like Google Doodles a lot, but we couldn’t help but notice that, like a lot of other places where we learn history, they felt a little…male. And white," a SPARK blog reads.




As it turns out, Google had already initiated a plan to diversify Google Doodles, but the two groups discussed a more general concern for the disregard of women's contributions throughout history. Thus "Women On The Map" was created using Google's existing "Field Trip" mapping app, which alerts users about information related to the locations they are near.

The app was created collaboratively with Google, SPARK and the SPARKteam, which includes young women between the ages of eight and 22. The girls researched the women they wanted people to learn about which included the stories of 119 women from 28 countries with more than 60 percent being women of color, Executive Director of SPARK Dana Edell told The Huffington Post.

"The purpose of Women On The Map is to show the world that there were (and are) so many women whose accomplishments have been seemingly invisible to us," Ajaita Saini, a member of the SPARKteam told The Huffington Post. "We need girls to know that they can be whatever they want, and their contributions are as equal as if a guy did it instead. Likewise, we need guys to know that not everything done in the past was the work of men."

The Women On The Map app will alert users to a major historical event that occurred at that location and the important roles women played in it. To use the app, iPhone users need to download the Field Trip app and can find the Spark: Women On The Map installment in the "Historic Places & Events" tab.

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"This project allows us to bring women -- and especially women of color -- to the forefront of history, where their achievements can be recognized more widely," SPARK's website reads.

The app highlights the achievements of a long list of women such as Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Japanese-American female lawyer to practice law in Hawaii, and Christine Jorgensen, the first person to undergo a sex change operation in the U.S. While the app also includes more recognizable figures like Rosa Parks, the goal of the app is to shine a light on women we don't always hear about in history class.

"Working with SPARK is hugely exciting for us because both companies were working towards the same thing -- raising awareness about the history around us through storytelling and community engagement," Yennie Solheim, Senior Marketing Lead at Niantic Lab (the Google start-up that created Field Trip), told The Huffington Post.




"The whole point of this app collaboration is to inspire girls (and boys too actually), to be what they want, and acknowledge that girls do make a significant impact on the world," Saini said. "We’re giving kids new and different role models, so they can say to themselves 'Yes. I can be like HER.'"


These Are The Revolutionary Women Artists Of The 15th Through 19th Centuries

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They broke the rules. They changed the game. They often had very poofy hair.

These are the women artists who embodied the idea of feminist art far before the term was coined. Whether they were making art during the Italian Renaissance or in 19th Century New York, the following artists prove that women were always just as capable as their male counterparts -- and in our opinion, far more badass.

In honor of Women's History Month, we're honoring 10 of the many revolutionary women artists who did not take no for an answer, and in doing so, made the world a more equal, and more beautiful place.

1. Julia Margaret Cameron

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Pomona


Born:1815
Heritage: British
Medium: Photography
Why we love her: Cameron didn't touch her first camera until she was 48 years old, but once she did, it was love at first sight. "From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour," she wrote upon receiving it, "and it has become to me as a living thing, with voice and memory and creative vigour." Her dreamy portraits reveled in photography's shortcomings, using blur and haze to conjure a distinct essence over a mimetic resemblance. Replicating scenes from mythology, the Bible and Shakespeare in her photographs, Cameron was, in a way, a proto-Cindy Sherman, exploring the roleplaying possibilities of the medium. If anyone on this list would have loved Instagram, it's Cameron.



2. Properzia de Rossi

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Properzia de Rossi. Museo de San Petronio, Bologna. Ca. 1520


Born:1490
Heritage: Italian
Medium: Sculpture
Why we love her: Although well versed in many of the arts in typical Renaissance style, de Rossi took a particular liking to sculpture, beginning with apricot, peach, and cherry stones. (She was most famous for her Crucifixion in a peach pit.) She soon took her talents to more massive materials, becoming one of the few acknowledged women sculptors of the time. Due to the physical exertion needed for the art form, many, such as Giorgio Vasari, considered it a decidedly masculine practice. The exact quote was: "Sculpting is not an art form that women should attempt." Sorry, Vasari.



3. Elisabetta Sirani

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Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664


Born: 1638
Heritage: Italian
Medium: Baroque painting.
Why we love her: Although she died at the young age of 27, Sirani created over 200 paintings in her lifetime, combining dramatic dark backdrops with sharp, vibrant colors and depictions of powerful heroines. She also started an academy for other female artists. Judy Chicago gives her a shout out in "The Dinner Party," which you know is a good sign.




4. Edmonia Lewis

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The Death of Cleopatra


Born: 1844
Heritage: Afro-Haitian and African-American
Medium: Neoclassical sculpture
Why we love her: Lewis, who was born in Greenbush, New York, began learning about art while studying at Oberlin, one of the first colleges to admit women and people of color in the U.S. However, she faced discrimination all throughout her education -- including being beaten and accused of poisoning fellow classmates. After graduating, she moved to Boston to pursue sculpture, namely recreating abolitionists and Civil War heroes. She eventually spent most of her artistic career living in Rome, where she created painstakingly beautiful marble sculptures in neoclassical tradition. She's best known for her 3,015-pound marble sculpture, "The Death of Cleopatra," and we can see why. The behemoth form has all the drama and softness of a Michelangelo sculpture, as well as a truly awesome headpiece.




5. Judith Leyster

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Self-Portrait (c. 1633)


Born: 1609
Heritage: Dutch
Medium: Baroque painting
Why we love her: Leyster, born in Haarlem, Netherlands, became the first female painter to be registered to the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. She's most well known for her "Self-Portrait," renowned for its playful fluidity at a time when most women's portraits were rigid and serious. Also, if she could seriously paint with that massive collar around her neck, that is some serious talent.



6. Sofonisba Anguissola

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Self-portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel


Born:c. 1532
Heritage: Italian
Medium: Painting
Why we love her: Anguissola, the oldest of seven children, was of noble descent, and her father assured her that she would have the best education in whatever passion she intended to pursue. He apparently was a man of his word, and Michelangelo became Anguissola's unofficial mentor. She received great opportunities due to her wealth and status, but she was still denied many possibilities as an artist because she was a woman. For example, because it was deemed improper for women to view nude models, she couldn't partake in life drawing and her artistic scope was limited as a result.




7. Saint Catherine of Bologna

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Madonna and Child

Born:1413
Heritage: Italian
Medium: Drawing, painting, writing
Why we love her: Born Catherine de'Vigri, Saint Catherine was an artist, nun and, you guessed it, saint. She grew up well-trained in drawing and other fields, as the daughter of an aristocrat, and served as a lady-in-waiting before joining a convent. She recollected and mused on her experiences in the convent, at a time of transition, in her writings and artworks. Although she died in relative obscurity, she is now hailed as the Patron Saint of Artists, due to her religious and creative devotion.



8. Levina Teerlinc

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Portrait of Elizabeth I by Levina Teerlinc, c. 1565.


Born: c.1520
Heritage: Flemish
Medium: Painting, miniatures
Why we love her: Teerlinc created portraits of Elizabeth I, many in miniature dimensions. In fact, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London declared Teerlinc responsible for the first group of assembled miniatures. Basically, she invented miniatures, royal miniatures to be exact, and that's pretty badass.




9. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

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Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Self-Portrait with Two Pupils


Born: 1749
Heritage: French
Medium: Miniatures, pastels, oil paints
Why we love her: Labille-Guiard, a daughter of the bourgeoise, was accepted into the Académie de Saint-Luc at only 20 years old. She proved to be quite the revolutionary, later campaigning for the Academy to be reopened to women. Labille-Guiard too made an appearance in Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" installation. And, come on, her hair.



10. Artemisia Gentileschi

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Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614–20) Oil on canvas 199 x 162 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence


Born: 1593
Heritage: Italian
Medium: Painting
Why we love her: Gentileschi, the daughter of a painter, grew up creating art in her father's workshop as a child. At around 18 years old, she was raped by a painter working with her father, and subjected to immense interrogation, humiliation and even thumbscrew torture as a result. The ordeal informed Gentileschi's feminist oeuvre, filled with women protagonists, powerful, violent and united. Her aesthetic was equally bold and strong, eschewing the traditional dominant views of feminine weakness (both in character and skill). Often, her images combine sexuality and violence, such as rendering of Judith slaying Holofernes or a naked Cleopatra being bitten by a snake.




Intricate Wooden Temple In Northern Ireland Burns To The Ground

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DUBLIN (AP) — They came. They saw. They burned it down.

Over the past week, more than 60,000 people have taken turns writing messages — often to loved ones in the grave or still in the midst of suffering — on a hand-carved wooden temple overlooking Northern Ireland's second-largest city, Londonderry.

The 72-foot (22-meter) structure, built to resemble a cross between a Buddhist shrine and arabesque palace, was the brainchild of Californian artist David Best, who is famous for his temples built for the Burning Man festivals in Nevada.

He was invited to build one in Northern Ireland, where bonfires usually are a magnet for community division, and specifically in Londonderry, a city so divided that its residents cannot even agree on its name. While it's legally Londonderry, the name preferred on the predominantly Protestant east side, the Catholic majority insists on its pre-British version of Derry.

Best, 70, spent two months overseeing the Temple project supported by 40 apprentice carpenters drawn from both sides of the divide. It was erected on a hilltop on the Protestant east side overlooking the River Foyle and Catholic Derry beyond.

The result was so strikingly beautiful, many visitors expressed disbelief it was to be destroyed. But Best said that had to be the artwork's destiny.

"It's not a war memorial, or a mausoleum," Best said before his creation was set aflame Saturday night. "It's a place for celebration."

More than 15,000 people bought tickets to stand, from a roped-off distance, as a half-dozen torchbearers came forth at nightfall. Among them were relatives of the 13 killed on Londonderry's Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed Catholic demonstrators.

Many cheered as the flames spread upward into the tower's steeple-like top. The fire's light revealed plenty of weeping faces, too, reflecting how thousands had inscribed hand-written memorials —sometimes accompanied with photos — to dead relatives on the structure.

Best said his biggest fear was that, in the typical Irish dampness, it wouldn't burn at all. But within two hours, the Temple was nothing more than air and ash.
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