Probably Somewhere in Kansas

I finished this painting a few weeks ago. It's part of a series of paintings based on vintage, found photographs of mothers and children. I'm interested in the apparent disconnect between the experience of the child and the experience of the mother. Of course, I'm also interested in found photography in general, the idea of an event being recoded and then decontextualized. The intended meaning is perhaps lost forever, but by painting the image I have the opportunity to imbue it with my own experience and meaning. I especially love painting from vintage film because the age and quality of the film often gives the image these beautiful, unreal tonalities.

Straight Out of My Sketchbook

Well dears, I've decided to use my blog to share some of my own projects. Of course, I'm not working on anything in particular right now, so here's a taste of what's new in my moleskine. 

Abraham and Isaac

Okay, it's been a while, but I just had to tell you about this.  I was exploring ffffound and found my way onto the illustrator Sam Webbers site.  His stuff is really quite wonderful. It appears that in some of his pieces Webber employs decalcomania (pressing the paint between two surfaces, like Max Ernst), though he doesn't say for sure.  I thought Webber's rendition of "Abraham and Isaac" was particularly interesting as a modern interpretation of a very traditional theme.  You just don't see a whole lot of religious painting these days.  I find the tranquility of this image rather haunting, both Abraham and Isaac seem resolute and calm, utterly faithful.  The delicate surrealism is profound in conveying the mystical experience.

Here's a little Caravaggio (another favorite) for comparison.

Isaac's expression is incredible! Really there's no need for me to ramble on about some old master (doubtless that's been done). I just wanted to point out how different the mood in Webber's piece is compared to the stark realism of Caravaggio's more traditional approach.

Sharp eye

Well, well, well.  I was just checking out www.antigirl.com looking through the collection called "Women" and I noticed this piece.  What made it particularly note-worthy to me was the fact that I recognized the source material as a photoshoot from a W magazine from several years ago with Kate Moss posing as a Marilyn Monroe-esqe character.  I read waaaay too many magazines!  But this shoot was great (I tend to love W fashion spreads) and, in fact, I have also used images from it in some of my own collages (below).  Of course, I hope that pointing out source material doesn't ruin the mystique of collages for you, because for me it's half the fun!

 

More beautiful underwater pictures

Another artist who does fabulous underwater photography has been brought to my attention (thanks D&K Buckmaster).  Her name is Zena Holloway and she is apparently responsible for several ad campaigns (Olay, Nike, Umbro) that involve underwater themes that I have noticed in the last few years.  Her images are really very striking, I remember seeing them in magazines and wondering who was responsible.  I should have guessed it was the same photographer for all of them!!

Underwater photography!

It is a little known fact that I love images (especially video) of people underwater. I have spent many hours hunting such videos down in the interwebs.  Perhaps it is a bit more well known that I also love religious iconography (more specifically the various Kitch incarnations it takes), especially the Madonna.  Quite accidentally I found this photographer who calls themself Gattaldo and did an interesting underwater set which they have posted on behance.net.  This one is called "Madonna." 

How quaint!

From Berlin.Unlike:

"The Porcelain Pistols by Yvonne Lee Schultz (YLS), are replicas of the famous James Bond Walther PPK and it’s sister P99, with friendly permission of Carl Walther Inc. They are hand-painted in the style of classic china motifs. Whether happy strewn flowers, a classic golden rim or the even more traditional blue onion pattern, they will blend harmonically into the perfect table setting, the pride of every house wife."

The write-up gets a bit cheeky if you keep reading (which I love). These are so cute and ridiculous!

Ink and water

I just love meta-typography!  Just stumbled upon Craig Ward's stuff and wanted to share.

Some may never live, but the crazy never die.

Just cruisin' around on Deviant Art and saw this t-shirt design (see the original photo a few posts below).  Hunter S. Thompson was truly a quotable man, my personal favorite being: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

Neat Jewelry

Found this interesting jewelry by Hila Rawet in the archives of Mocoloco.

Trailer for the new Hunter S. Thompson documentary

I found this tidbit on Boing Boing this morning:  Link to the trailer.

Hunter S. Thompson is one of my all time favorite writers/people.  I've read most of his books, his biography, seen the movies, and I can't wait to see the new documentary.

Yves Saint Laurent, RIP

From the Paris Associated Press:

"Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most influential and enduring designers of the 20th century, empowered women by reinventing pants as a sleek, elegant staple of the female wardrobe.

Saint Laurent, 71, died Sunday night at his Paris home after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, said Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's close friend and business partner for four decades."

I hope my blog doesn't seem terribly morbid, but a lot of incredible people seem to be dying.  At any rate, Yves Saint Laurent began creating beautiful clothing in the 1950s and did so until his retirement in 2002.  I am especially fond of his garments inspired by (or appropriated from?) other 20th century artists, like his 1965 Mondrian dress (below). 

Here's Kate Moss in one of the more recent Yves Saint Laurent ad campaigns.

Fun and games with garbage!

Picture of the ball run from art at the dump on flickr.

Ah yes, the joy of being the dump's residence artist.  So Paul Cesewski, San Francisco's City Dump artist (NY has one, too!) has created a bunch of carnival games with scavenged junk from the dump.  Apparently they are opening the dump to the public for some fun this weekend!  This guy has my dream-job!! 

Fine artists and their mainstream commercial endeavors

So last night I'm hanging out at a friend's place and I pick up the most recent issue of The NY Times Style magazine (supplementary reading for those who don't really need to know real news). There I come across an ad (ok, I was looking for the good ones) for Gap, more specifically Gap's new t-shirt campaign (hopefully that (red) crap is over).  So the deal is that Gap has gotten all of these "influential contemporary artists" to do limited edition t-shirts to benefit the Whitney Museum of American Art.  I must admit that the list of artists involved is impressive, some of my personal favorites being Marilyn Minter (the shirt at the top of the post), Jeff Koons, and Kiki Smith.  

I tend to have mixed feelings about established "fine" artists getting mixed-up in mainstream commercialism.  This was a big issue in my thesis.  What does it mean for an artist to create an image for the sake of a product, as opposed to for the sake of the image itself (or an idea, even)?  Marilyn Minter (who shows up in my thesis a good bit) creates these incredible images which seem to be critiquing the beauty industry through these intense paradoxes of beauty and the grotesque.  Is the criticism lost when the image is printed on a t-shirt and sold to the masses?  What about a skateboard? 

(Supreme has a bunch of artists on board, including Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami, designing decks.  The one above is by Marilyn Minter)

 I guess Barbara Kruger puts in her 2 cents right on the Gap T: "Computers, sunglasses, watches, furniture, houses, art" they are all just products for consumption. 

Galliano's Ready-to-Wear for Fall '08

I love when haute couture designers do "cheap" ready-to-wear lines.  I'm not sure if John Galliano knows how to do practical designs, but (if I had the money) nothing could stop me from owning this coat.  His 2008 line calls to mind about a million classic children's story references (from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Arabian Nights"), which I love.  Something about the one above makes me think of the Scarecrow (with a crow feather headdress!!) from "The Wizard of Oz."  The outfit below is so obviously the Mad Hatter.  I'm thinking I could totally knit a hat like that...

Style.com has a slide-show of the whole line from the Paris Fashion Week premier. 

Mondrian-esqe Bookshelf

I was just cruisin' around on the upcoming (NYC, May 17-20) International Contemporary Furniture Fair site.  I like to fantasize about all the wonderful bookshelves I will have in the future.  I like how this one (by Meridiani sas di R. Crosti & C.)  has spots for stacks of books (I bet they would be especially good for magazines), along with the traditional row sections, and little nooks that would fit knick-knacks.  

RIP Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg died Monday night (May 12, 2008) at the age of 82.  First, Albert Hofmann (d. April 29, 2008), now Rauschenberg: this year has already seen the passing of a few of the great minds of the 20th century.  Rauschenberg's art truly mediated the evolution from Abstract Expressionism's formal concerns to Pop Art's inclusion of everyday references.  I joked many times, while working on my thesis, that I was going to track him down (he lived just South of Sarasota) and ask him to be my mentor.  

Here's a link to the New York Times obituary.

Look what I made!

Just testing out my graphic design skillz. Logo for www.sugarpillmusic.com

Testing!

Paloma and I at the opening reception for our Theses Exhibition