Olé -

"Picasso's Bull"
manipulated fractal flame by Mick Mather

As I am wont to do, I was just frittering away a bit of time and playing about in one of my digital drawing programs. The results of that playtime were minimal as regards posting here so I grabbed an old fractal flame and layered it into the drawing. Still not much to see so I passed that fractal through one of my plug-in filters and, hello! What have we here. A tweak here and a stretch there and what we have is a bit of the Spanish spectacle of bullfighting as well as an interesting bit of symbolism of the sort that informed the sub-conscious thinking of Picasso - Jackson Pollock as well now that I think of it. Whichever way you like it, here 'tis!

It's What?

"One Spanish Shoe"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I liked the filtered effect of this piece from the moment it was layered into the mix of things. Even so, I've been holding it back without really having a very good reason. It finally hit me today while I was doing a bit of research on traditional vs digital collage. Sad to say, I've lost the site between yesterday and today but the drift of the discussion centered around cubism and the collage of Picasso and Gris, to name two Spanish artists who may have defined the movement. From collage to painting, leavened with a few hundred years of cultural memory seems to have led these two men in particular to the wonderful invention. Hand in hand, thereto, went the assertion by Gertrude Stein that, "cubism is Spanish." Whether you or I agree with those assumptions isn't the issue other than the fact that tonight's post has its roots in that ism. Gee! Who'd a thunked it?