Looking & Seeing

The Lost and Found Photographs of Vivian Maier

2012-01-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

Not a lot is known about European-born Vivian Maier other than that she moved to the United States in the 1950s and lived in New York for about five years before moving to Chicago, where she worked for the majority of her life as a nanny. By day she may have been working as a caretaker, but she was also privately becoming a very gifted photographer. She spent countless hours scouring the streets with her Rollei camera, practicing the art of documenting her surrounding, urban environment. It's a shame that her photographs did not come to light before she passed away in 2009. It is also no wonder that in the three short years since her work was discovered, it has quickly gained great esteem. When John Maloof bought a storage locker at auction without knowing its contents, he stumbled upon a treasure chest, a time capsule in the form of thousands of prints and negatives, providing a glimpse of the faces, places, and essence of a bygone era.
Her work has been likened to that of all-stars of the medium, such as Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Garry Winogrand, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. These are some very large boots to fill, but after seeing her photographs one can see that Vivian Maier fits snugly within the cannon. Her carefully composed portraits of people, places and passing moments of everyday, urban life capture everything that we love about street photography.

Vivian Meier's photographs are currently on view at both the Howard Greenberg and Steven Kasher galleries in New York.
You can also see and learn more at www.vivianmaier.com

"The World Belongs to You" at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice

2011-09-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

On view at the Palazzo Grassi, The World Belongs to You, is an excellent group exhibition of contemporary art from across the globe. The international scope is notable, with forty artists from six continents, fitting the spirit of the concurrent Venice Biennale.

There is a lot of good work and many great artists in this exhibition, making it difficult to choose what to focus on here. I admired maps of Alighiero e Boetti and I enjoyed photographs by Sergey Bratkov and Boris Mikhailov. I was alternately intrigued and disturbed by Nicholas Hlobo's stitched sculpture and I am always impressed by El Anatsui's fabric-like draperies made of bottle neck wrappers. And of course there was work by the ubiquitous Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.

Below I've given extra attention to some things I especially liked.

Upon entry into the museum's atrium the viewer finds Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos' Contamination, a creature-like plush sculpture of staggering proportion. A seemingly organic form with many protruding bulbous, pointy, and tubular shapes sprawls out upon the floor. From the floor a central axis grows up to the building's second level. Sprouting from the main trunk are tentacle-like limbs that have climbed across the floor, up the stairs, and around the balconies. The title Contamination proposes the invasion of an unwanted presence. The soft construction weaves and roams and takes over in a way similar to kudzu. It is pervasive, yet this massive growth is extremely inviting and cheerful. The title suggests something ominous and it is eerie how the crocheted, knitted, and stitched mass weaves its way through the museum. However the majority of surface area is joyously decorated, with diverse shapes, bright colors, variegated patterns, textured fabrics, and applique details, all creating whimsey, as opposed to impending doom.

Joana Vasconcelos, Contamination

Vasconcelos has chosen to work in a medium that has often been relegated to the realm of craft, a 'minor art' traditionally practiced by women. However, there is nothing minor about this work. The scope is incredible and the ingenuity and detail is fascinating. By stitching and sewing this massive sculpture she has reminded us of the high level of respect that craftsmanship deserves.

I also found the Ivorian artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré interesting. I could not help but be drawn to a collection of simple and colorful drawings, called Voitures Partout, (Cars Everywhere). On a considerable portion wall space there is an installation of individually framed drawings, all of little cars driving in various directions. Each drawing is approximately 4 x 6 inches, done in ball-point pen and crayon. They all have a border with a textual explanation of what is happening. The only real difference between the drawings is that the cars of each composition are decorated with the colors of different flags. Voitures Partout was inspired by the many traffic jams that occur in the city of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

from Cars Everywhere

"Cars Cars Everywhere: A Traffic Jam Right in the Heart of Rome or The Exposure of the Rich"

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré was born in 1923 in Zéprégüuhé on the Ivory Coast and belongs to the tribe of the Bété. He was one of the first Ivorians to receive a French colonial education, learning to read and write in a catholic school. He was one of the first of his generation to be exposed to written language. One project of his was to create a visual language for the Bété. He formulated an alphabet with 440 monosyllabic ideograms. He says that his art began as a vision in March of 1948, where he saw seven suns orbiting round the known sun. Since then he has called himself a searcher who records his observations in books and drawings.

He always made drawings for himself and for his tribe, until 1989 when his work was included in the exhibition, ´Magiciens de la terre´ (Magicians of the Earth), at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Since then he has become quite a presence in contemporary art.

You can see more of his work here.

Another favorite is Maurizio Cattelan's In Bed with Lorca, a double self portrait of the artist side by side with himself in a neatly made wooden-framed bed. It is a hyper realistist sculpture just a fraction smaller than life size. The diminution makes the subject humorous and curious, but there is also a morbidity, as the suited men look like they are at their own wake.

I was interested and delighted by the sculpture without knowing anything about it, but after reading the text I came to find out there was something happening on another level. This is an artwork referring to an artwork, referring to an artist. Cattelan's work is a reference to a photograph by the British duo Gilbert and George. In 2007 a photograph by Gilbert and George was included in Everstill, an exhibition celebrating the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. In their photograph the tweed suited pair are seen lying side by side on the poet's narrow wooden framed bed. Gilbert and George's In Bed with Lorca is a nod to García Lorca’s homosexuality, something he never publicly acknowledged. In Cattelan's version, he continues this reference to include himself. All of the men have deadpan expressions and one feels the same witty, snide, and almost silly sense of humor.

Lastly, I have to mention the work of Charles Ray. He carves meticulous reliefs and makes hyper realistic sculptures of people. In Family Romance he realistically depicts each member of the nuclear family in complete detail, but uses scale and proportion to alter the sense of reality.

Two Boys looks like a snap shot photograph of two smiling adolescent boys. It is an obviously sweet and heart warming image, but Ray has made it ghostly and distant. This portrait is warm and engaging, yet unsettling. It is oversized, colorless, and the boys are conspicuously missing the pupils of their eyes. The happy, impressionable young subjects look out from hollow eyes, amused and content in their position as silent spectators.

Venice Biennale 2011

2011-09-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hello again after a (much too) long time away. I was lucky enough to spend my summer in Italy. Seven fabulous weeks. Everything is beautiful, the food and wine are delicious, the history is rich and long and, best of all, there is so much spectacular art! I wanted to keep up with the blog, but I just wasn't able to find the time, but now that I am back, I want to at least post a few pictures and comments here on the Venice Bienniale, so here goes.

There are two main exhibition sites for the Biennale, where visitors pay for tickets and are inundated with hours worth of art viewing. These are the Giardini and the Arsenale, both in Venice's eastern Castello district. The Giardini, the word itself meaning gardens or park, is a lush environment with permanent pavilions scattered about the grounds. The permanent pavilions are testament to the site's long history as host to one of the artworld's preeminent exhibition events. The Giardini hosts thirty nations, from Australia to Venezuela. The Giardini is also the location for the Bienniale's Central Pavilion, a very large, curated collection of work by individual artists, around this year's theme, Illumination.

Giardini, approaching the Central Pavilion

The Arsenale is a vast sprawl of former ship building facilities converted into exhibition space. The fortifications of stone and brick are still in various states of disrepair. These buildings are dilapidated remnants of Venetian naval power. It is an eerie place that somehow proves to be an apt exhibition space for contemporary art. The ghosts of Venetian fleets still linger in the immense spaces and though water is always nearby, there is the strange feeling of being in a barren desert.

one building on the grounds of the Arsenale

Along with the Giardini and Arsenale spaces, there are pavilions scattered all over Venice that are open free to the public. These are various indoor and outdoor spaces temporarily hosting art from many more countries, not included in the two main exhibition sites.

Like any large exhibition where thousands of artworks are on display, one is bound to see a wide variety of the good, the bad and the ugly. I also found myself in front of or surrounded by things that were just plain weird. One thing I was very aware of was the proclivity for new media and video art. I am still coming to terms with my feelings about the profuse amount of video work, but some of it was interesting. The masterpiece of the medium was The Clock by Christian Marclay, winner of the prestigious Golden Lion Award. The film is 24 hours and it plays in a darkened space at the Arsenale, peopled with lounging visitors in an array of comfy white couches. In The Clock Marclay has meticulously collected and edited together clips from various films that have one thing in common - all have a clock or watch telling the real time. As you watch the clips flowing seamlessly into one another you are taken into another reality while continuously reminded of the actual passage of time. There is not a continuous narrative, but the film holds viewer attention with moments of suspense, drama, comedy, and heartbreak. One cannot help but feel a sense of intrigue and it is compelling to sit for long stretches of time in anticipation of what will come next. It is an commentary on the concept of time, its passage and how we use it.
Here's a link to an an obviously bootlegged video on vimeo

There was so much to see that I could really go on all day. However, I will try to keep it short here and just list a few of my favorites:
At the Giardini there was Christian Boltansky at the French pavilion, Sigalit Landau at the Isreali pavilion and a cool animation by Tabaimo at the Japanese pavilion. Also interesting were the pavilions of Great Britain (installation by Mike Nelson) and Denmark (a curated show called Speech Matters with work by various artists.)

I liked a number of things in the Central Pavilion. A couple of things I took special note of were the poetic text-based work of Swedish artist Karl Holmqvist as well as the detailed stitchery of outsider artist Jeanne Natalie Wintsch. A highlight was the display of masterpieces by Ventetian Renaissance painter Jacopo Tintoretto.

Karl Holmqvist, fragment of a full room installation

Jeanne Natalie Wintsch

At the Arsenale my favorite works were the melting sculptures by Urs Fischer and Marclay's The Clock. The Indian pavilion really stood out for me with its illustrative installations by Praneet Soi and elegant woodblock prints by Zarina Hashmi.

Praneet Soi, detail view

Zarina Hashmi

Zarina Hashmi, Stars

As far as photography, I enjoyed seeing the work of Luigi Ghirri, David Goldblatt, Elad Lassry, and Taryn Simon, but was kind of disappointed that I only discovered one photographer that I had not heard of before, that being Annette Kelm.

Annette Kelm

Michael C. McMillen, Train of Thought, at the Oakland Museum of California, 16 April - 14 August 2011

2011-04-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

Southern California artist, Michael C. McMillen is an engineer of space and a visual commentator on the passage of time. Hailing from UCLA he began with works on paper and painting, but soon realized that those media were not adequate enough for his means.

His sculptures, installations and films are multi-sensory experiences momentarily enveloping and transporting the viewer from their present realities.

Early sculptures as well as work recently on view at LA Louver Gallery are architectural hybrids or transportation devices that seem to have had their day. The vessels especially evoke the passing of time and of decay. These machines were once on the cutting edge of technology, markers of the new, modern advances of man. However, as time passes the cutting edge becomes mundane, common place, and sometimes slips into the realm of the obsolete.

Now on view at the Oakland Museum of California, McMillen's artwork from the last 40 years is available to see for the first time as a complete exhibition. The exhibition includes drawing, painting, sculpture, film, as well as two large scale installations, The Pavilion of Rain, first installed in 1987, and Lighthouse, a more recent work.

Pavilion of Rain, 1987

On the eve of this important retrospective, Mr. McMillen takes a moment to answer some general questions about himself and his work.

What is your birthday and where did you grow up?

I was born in Los Angeles in 1946 and grew up in Santa Monica when it was still a blue-collar town. Lots of light manufacturing, the aerospace industry and motion picture production were big employers at the time.

What are some of your major influences or inspirations?

I initially wanted to be a scientist or inventor so followed that path into college but at a critical point had an epiphany that what I really wanted to do was to invent experiences, to tell stories in effect through the medium of art. Both of my parents were artists, so I grew up surrounded with the materials of the craft. Drawing was a common language that I learned along with writing.

What drew you to sculpture and installation art specifically?

Although I love to paint and draw, I found that three dimensional work allowed me to address more senses than a painting allowed me to. Also, I really love the physical elements of construction. In recent years I have utilized film making as a way to introduce a time based element into my work. I utilize sight, texture, scale, sound, smell and movement to transport the viewer out of their 'comfort zone' and into unexpected settings and situations. A new way of seeing, a sort of time travel.

What gives you ideas for your work? How does a new project evolve?

The ideas are constantly flowing through my head. To state the obvious, we are all affected by our time and history- but it is out of this inescapable milieu that I find the situations, stories and paradoxes that I want to share and present. A project can start with a word, phrase, image, or concept- each one is different.

Can you tell me a little bit about your working process?

My working process is fairly simple. I design the work to utilize available materials when possible. It is a combination of fabrication and assemblage work which, if done properly, produces a seamless experience for the viewer. The viewer is the last element in the process as it is they who must experience the work and finish the equation with their unique response to the object/experience. My narratives are open and are not locked into a single reading.

____________________________________

In conjunction with the exhibition, a comprehensive catalog has been published by the museum in association with DelMonico Books, Prestel Publishing, New York.

Oakland Museum of California website

Bryan Baker, Printmaker

2011-03-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

Named for constellations, Bryan Baker's new series of limited edition prints are intricately designed patterns made from dice on Vandercook presses.

Enthralling designs in vibrant color, almost exclusively in the red family.

And the technical details are precisely executed.

Byan is originally from Ohio. He went to school at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and worked at Yee Haw Industries.

He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, where he teaches printmaking classes at the arm in Williamsburg. He can also be found doing workshops at the Center for Book Arts.

www.bryanchristopherbaker.com

available for purchase here

Petits chiens pour la nouvelle année!

2011-01-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

Marketa Luskacova

Unknown

Mark Cohen

Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork At the Whitney Museum of American Art (Nov. 2010 - Feb. 2011)

2010-12-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

workworkworkworkwork is a retrospective exhibition that brings together numerous bodies of work by New York artist Charles LeDray. Master miniaturist, LeDray, has spent the last two decades creating an arsenal of intricately crafted, everyday objects on a very small scale. The title of the show refers to an earlier project. In 1991, after creating a trove of handmade miniature items like clothing, magazines, books and many other household items, LeDray displayed the work on a Manhattan sidewalk. He presented the items randomly, like someone’s possessions in a sidewalk sale. The work on view at the Whitney Museum also includes hand-stitched clothing, paperback books, and daily objects, as well as wheel-thrown tiny ceramics and meticulously carved human bone sculptures such as buttons or furniture. The featurepresentation of the exhibition is the artist’s most recent work, Men’s Suits, (2006-2009), an installation of three vignettes of second hand shops.

Upon entry into the exhibition the viewer confronts Village People (2003-2006), little hats of all kinds lining the length of the wall, high above eye level. All kinds of hats in miniature are represented such as the sombrero, cowboy, safari, or Indian headdress. These hats obviously refer to the different roles we play in our lives. Our identities become presented through such roles, developed through our professions, interests, or responsibilities.

Not all, but most, of LeDray’s works are experiments with men’s clothing. Lining the gallery walls are miniature outfits, suits, and uniforms, tailored to perfection. But this is not a fashion show. Surprisingly, LeDray never had formal training. He learned to sew from his mother as a child. The work he creates is scaled down, perhaps so the objects are not mistaken for commodities, but, instead, are subjects for introspection. The clothing we wear is the way inwhich we present and protect ourselves in the world. These works serve as substitutes for human presence, almost breathing on their own. Clothes that have been through life do not stay pristine. LeDray’s articles of clothing show such signs of life as tatters, stains, holes, missing buttons, and patched denim. Much of the work is quite literal, while other clothes are wittily or humorously abstracted or altered.

The series Men’s Suits (2006-2009), is a presentation of three small-scale scenes of second-hand clothing shops. One scene presents what looks like the back room of a store with hangers, laundry bags, a ladder and piles of clothes in disarray. The second is a public second hand or vintage shop, fully stocked, with coats, jackets, pants, shirts, gloves, belts and more. The third is a specialty section of a men’s shop, featuring an array of tiny ties, each a different pattern, from paisley to plaid. For this project LeDray spent three years painstakingly hand sewing miniature suits, shirts, and accessories, as well as crafting furniture, clothes hangers, laundry bags and shopping carts. The work is astounding in its realism. The miniature adult clothes are small - too small for any real person to wear - but they are not so small to seem like toys. The fabrics are not cheap and flimsy like doll’s clothes. One can tell that the materials have been carefully chosen, cut from real clothes. Small and wonderful, the work is delightful, but not necessarily cute. Blue jeans and jackets look worn, as if real life had been carried out in them. The vignettes are startlingly believable, causing a suspension of disbelief. One wonders about the lives of people who might have worn these clothes or who might choose to purchase them. This sensation is reminiscent of visiting preserved historical places, such as Versailles, Monticello, or the Anne Frank house, as they manage to transport the viewer to the environment and give a realistic sense of the lives that were lived there. This sensation, however, is momentary. The viewer is not completely enveloped, but towers above the scenes. One quickly returns to reality and the vignettes begin to feel like oversized dioramas.

These installations give an eerie perspective into human experience and our everyday lives. First, the scale (about one–third the scale of actual life) evokes the loneliness of knowing how small our lives are in comparison to the immensity of the universe. Second, one cannot help but feel a sense of futility. These coats, gloves, pants and collared shirts are so perfectly made, but no one will ever actually get the pleasure of wearing them. One thinks of the hours spent toiling away - planning, cutting, folding, ironing, and stitching…stitching…stitching. It brings to mind the hours and hours we all spend at work, or school, or on hobbies or projects - the labors of love and necessity. But when a task is complete, then what? It’s done – on to the next thing. One cannot help but sometimes wonder, what is it all for?

Wonder and disbelief are heightened when viewing Charles LeDray’s intricate ceramics. Presented in 6-7 ft. tall multi-tiered vitrines Throwing Shadows and Milk and Honey show thousands of delicate, porcelain vessels. The shapes of the vessels vary greatly and no form is spared. There are amphoras, urns, decanters, carafes, jugs, bowls, etc. One wonders what these tiny containers hold. Are they vessels for the hopes and dreams of the living or little reliquaries for something lost?

Lastly, there are the sculptures, such as an ivory finger bone with a gold wedding band or stacked furniture, carved from human bone. Again these inspire feelings of loss or futility. These types of objects may be the most morbid in his oeuvre, yet they do not fail to fascinate.

Witty and humorous, though often melancholy, the work is a delight. Though we are mortal, the gift of life is for living. Each person finds meaning in their own way, through how they choose to live and spend their time. One must do something to keep busy and Charles LeDray’s hands have not been idle. He has created an entire tiny universe of objects that manages to give grand insight into real human experience.

Venezia

2010-10-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Giovanni Canaletto

Gaspar Vanvitelli

Francesco Guardi

Michael C. McMillen - Now Showing in Los Angeles

2010-09-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Lighthouse, an exhibition of work by Michael C. McMillen is at LA Louver Gallery. Currently running through October 30. That's not much time, so if you're in Southern California get on over there.

McMillen is currently preparing a retrospective catalogue to accompany the upcoming exhibition at the Oakland Museum of Art, running May-Dec 2011.

See it at LA Louver Gallery online

Read the LA Times review by Leah Ollman

Interview with Steve Galloway

2010-09-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

Sip

(click to enlarge)

West Coast artist Steve Galloway is a talented and humble man with a slightly wry sense of humor. He draws and paints strange, humorous, mysterious, sometimes dark, often irrational scenes with a very meticulous hand. Odd and compelling, these surreal landscapes envelope the viewer into the frame. The grittiness of the sand is palpable as you empathize with a lone hare in the desert. It is dry and at least 115 degrees - his thirst poignant, as is the weariness and skepticism about the reliability of the spicket having water and that snake minding its own business. In another work is unfortunate roadkill victim, Arthur. He is dead but alas, you cannot resist a smile and feel compelled to dance with the armadillo's spirit, accompanied by the skeletons of the men who killed him.

Steve Galloway has exhibited extensively and has work in many private and public collections.

He kindly answered some questions and here I share them with you.

Great Basin

(click to enlarge)

Jessica Kloville: What is your birthday and where did you grow up?
Steve Galloway: I was born in Los Angeles on March 10, 1952.

I grew up in New York with the majority of time spent in the greater Los Angeles area, mostly in the San Fernando Valley.

What first drew you to art? Was it a natural inclination beginning in childhood?

I loved to draw and can remember back for most of my life that I did so. I am not sure where, or why, this desire to draw comes from, however, in my case, it might just be some kind of escape mechanism. And maybe, a way to rearrange the world as I see it. I was always interested in the peculiar and the distorted as a child, and still am, I guess. Little eccentricities and quirks are things that seem to find their way into what I do. The play of light also had a strong influence on what interests me and how it appears as imagery.

Ghost House

(click to enlarge)

Would you mind describing some of your experience at the California Institute of the Art in the 1970s?

When I entered Cal Arts back in 1970, I was fresh from high school and about as naive as one could be. I thought I wouldn't last a week. Everyone else was more experienced and older, or so I thought. I made it through that first week. I was a delusional kid, but it worked. The first day we had an orientation of the whole school and we chanted the aum. We joked about it a lot, but later on you learn to appreciate symbolic attempts like that. The school was definitely unorthodox and rough around the edges, and that made it a perfect fit for me as I moved along. The art school was a great laboratory of possibilities, if you were self-motivated. If you needed technical instruction, Cal Arts was the wrong place. It turned out to be the right fit for me. The amount of talent at the school when I was there was very energizing. The school was very much influenced by artists and teachers from New York, so there was a sense of dynamism and rigor that we might not have had otherwise. It was place of freedom and high expectations.

Found

What is your process or the stages of a painting?

When I want to start a new work, I usually build it up from ideas that are circulating in my head. A bit like daydreaming, I suppose. If the idea works well enough, I draw it out in thumbnail form and later turn it into a larger final piece. I edit things in or out as I see the piece take form.

Some ideas need a little trimming. In retrospect they can sometimes seem born of a drunk's folly. The rest of the work on a painting or drawing is fairly simple - fill it in without falling off. Maintaining balance along the way.

How long do you tend to work on any one thing? Is it one thing until its done or many things going at the same time?

The length of time any one piece takes depends on the complexity of imagery and the size of the work. Smaller pieces, drawings in particular, take much less time than do paintings. A painting can be frustratingly slow in the manner I work, but it is a choice. Some paintings take a month or two, and some drawings might only take a day or two. In the main, I work on an individual piece solely until it is finished.

I keep a better focus on the work than shifting gears and juggling several works at the same time.

Where do you get your inspiration?...epiphanies, dreams?

Inspirations for my work come from the daily bits and pieces of life. Visual ideas, nature, news events, cultural absurdities, humorous quirks, architecture, folk stories, etc. are some things that help to form ideas for me. I have never found sleeping dreams to be of any help for my work. My ideas are waking thoughts.

Are there themes that you slowly work through?

There are some themes that course their way through my work. Some that have continued for decades and others that have dropped by the wayside.

The challenge is trying to find something new I've not done before. However, as I have gone along, I have realized that one pilfers and adapts much of what one

has done before, while still attempting some new angle conceptually. You have to be a demanding critic of your own work while allowing for audacious possibilities. It is a constant process of breaking down and building up again.

Rebelliousness is good.

(click to enlarge) (click to enlarge)

It seems like there is a personal narrative or mythology being played out. Who is B. Wilbur and what can you tell me about some other characters that appear in your work, as in Cave of 3 Bats?

Buddy Wilbur, or B. Wilbur, is an alter ego. A swamp rat and a self-taught entrepreneur of the illogical and the absurd. He came about when I needed a name for a proprietor of a swamp museum set in a drawing I did a few years back. I mumbled this name and it stuck.

The Mystery of B. Wilbur and the Swamp Bottom

(click to enlarge)

In the Cave of 3 Bats I used a guy on a lighted-sign platform that represents a well known art patron, who, when I was introduced to him while I was really in a slack period career wise, said, "You're Hot!" Nothing at that moment seemed more preposterous and ironic. He was speaking of my current career as much as he knew, I think. I laugh when I think of it. So, I placed him in the painting. The 3 bats are Cliff Westermann, Otto Dix, and Pablo Picasso. Three artists I think of often for various reasons. They are fruit bats waiting on a painting of peaches.

Cave of 3 Bats

(click to enlarge)

Some pieces are more narrative than others in that they imply human interactions, while others are made to convey more reductive ideas.

Load

All images courtesy of the artist, RoseGallery, Santa Monica, CA, and Galerie Eric Mircher, Paris, France

Marketa Luskacova

2010-09-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

While looking at book titles by Gerry Badger recently, I came across a monograph of Czech photographer Marketa Luskacova.

Her life as a photographer began with a chance encounter. In 1965 she met with a group of pilgrims near Levoca, a town in Eastern Slovakia, and spent the following years recording the Christian peasant culture of Slovakia. In 1975 she moved to England, where she became absorbed in the immigrant communities of London.

The photographs are familiar, though I have never seen them before. The compositions are reminiscent of such great Magnum photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, and Elliott Erwitt. With a photojournalistic approach she captures moments and makes formal portraits, showing people as they are - with all of their sadness, despair, humor and joy.

The eye is drawn to the qualities of composition, graininess and high contrast as the heart responds to the the vacillation between whimsical and serious subject matter.

- Luskacova's photographs can be found at Stills Gallery, Australia

- the artist's website: www.marketaluskacova.com

Lucy WIlliams

2010-07-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

I just discovered British artist Lucy Williams. Her work is unbelievable in its craftsmanship. These tediously constructed pieces are paper or board cut in low relief. She may include other elements to the paper sculptures to create collages with string, paint, or pillow stuffing. In all of the work she depicts architectural interior or exterior modern imagery that one generally sees in architecture books or in the likes of Dwell Magazine.

So flawless is the depiction of the scenes within, these works could easily be compared to photography or photo-realism painting in their ability to transport the viewer to the given location.

Lucy Williams artwork can be found at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London

as well as at McKee Gallery, NYC.

Richard Learoyd

2010-07-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

Exquisitely intimate. These sitters are obviously vulnerable, many are completely bare, yet they seem defiant in their determination to face the world with fortitude.

Learoyd's prints are large format, the images painstakingly made with a camera obscura.

- Richard Learoyd at Union Gallery, London

- works also available at McKee Gallery, NYC

- See the article in Aperture Magazine, #199.

New York

2010-05-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

Now that I have arrived to New York I have been able to frequent some of the many venues for viewing art. Here are a few highlights of what I have seen so far:

Tomoko Sawada at Zabriskie Gallery

from Mirrors

David Goldblatt at Howard Greenberg Gallery

from Particulars, South Africa, 1970s

George W. Gardner at Deborah Bell Photographs

San Francisco, 1970

Henri Cartier-Bresson at MoMA

Easter Sunday in Harlem, 1947

Romania, 1975

Telavi, Georgia, 1972

Trine Sondergaard at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

from Strude, 2007-2009

John Wesley at Fredericks & Freiser

read about and see it on Artkrush

Spring

2010-03-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is the second annual posting of photographs of children in honor of spring.

Here's to new life, a fresh start, and new beginnings...

Nicholas Nixon, Covington, KY, 1982

Jacques Henri Lartigue, Dani, 1922

Emmet Gowin, Nancy, 1967

David Trainer, Untitled, 1991

Colin Jones

Benoit Aquin: Chinese Dust Bowl

2010-03-21T15:26:00.001-07:00

Montreal photographer Benoit Aquin's photography explores the perils of our contemporary world, especially focusing on human actions and issues with the environment.

His subjects have included Indonesian and Sri Lankans affected by the 2004 Tsunami, Inuit hunters in the Arctic as they struggle with the warming of their frozen surroundings, and surviving Central American victims of noxious effects from pesticides used in the 1970s-80s.

The following images are from his series, Chinese Dust Bowl.

Currently in China, massive acreage of formerly useful land is becoming barren desert at a devastating rate. Deserts now cover almost 20% of China, mostly caused by the human exploitation of arable land. This current dust bowl is comparable to the North American dust bowl of the 1930s.

The dust, picked up by the wind, has given these photographs a palette that draws the viewer into a desperate situation in a subdued and soothing way. The landscapes seem magical and otherworldly. Though one is confronted with an inherent heartbreak, these are quiet images, from which haunting beauty inspires a sense of awe.

Compact Spaces: Christine Hill and Andrea Zittel

2010-03-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I am about to move from Los Angeles to New York, with a short pit-stop in my hometown of Memphis, TN. To prepare for the huge move across the country I have been packing up my worldly possessions (books; artworks - mine, others', framed, flat, rolled; sewing, knitting & art supplies; books; bedding; spring and summer wardrobe-as is suitable all year round in LA; more books) and coordinating for the transport of these said items.

As I struggle with the complications and burdens of owning stuff I am attracted to a simpler way of life. I have been recently intrigued by Andrea Zittel's compartments and Chritine Hill's trunks.

Andrea Zittel

If only it was so simple to own next to nothing and to have all the basic necessities for living; an apartment and all the tools and clothes needed for your career; all folding neatly into an oversized suitcase. You can basically fit these under the plane on your next flight to anywhere!

Christine Hill

Change is hard because of the difficultly in giving up comfort in order to jump into the dark waters of the unknown. Though I admit that my possessions are important to me, I think change would be somewhat easier if it wasn't for the 2000 lb crate full of stuff hanging on when you jump.

Scott Conarroe: By Rail

2010-02-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

Canadian photographer Scott Conarroe's recent series, By Rail, examines the North American rail system.

Bow River, Alberta, 2008

Beautiful landscapes are poignantly paired with the ever presence of the railway system. The train cars and the veinous track wind throughout the North American landscape, invariably reminding the viewer of our presence within industrialized society. One immediately recognizes the railroad's place in the history of American expansion and its influence on our romantic ideals of adventure, travel, and progress.

The Coaster, Southern California, 2008

Patio Set, Thomasville, GA, 2008

Hobo Camp, Reno, NV, 2008

Nickel Mining, Sudbury, Ontario, 2008

See more:
www.scottconarroe.com

2009 exhibition at Stephen Bulger Gallery

Cut + Paste: Kim Rugg and Chad Person

2010-01-12T11:22:00.001-08:00

KIM RUGG

Kim Rugg reconfigures newspapers. She doas similar work with postage stamps, comic books, and cereal boxes.

CHAD PERSON

In Chad Person's series 'Tax Cut,' he uses US currency as his medium.

(click images to enlarge)

Both artists are represented by Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica.

You can also find more by Chad Person on his website.

and more by Kim Rugg at Nettie Horn Gallery, her London representation.

Holly Briggs: Animal Drawings

2010-01-12T10:22:00.001-08:00

My friend Holly is a great artist, but for some reason she does not have a website. Hopefully, I can persuade her to get something online, but in the meantime, here are some recent drawings.

Holly will be featured in Knoxville, TN's Metropulse for the next few weeks.

Here's a link to a recent interview.

Irving Penn 1917-2009

2009-11-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest studio portrait photographers.

Joe Lewis

Simone de Bouvoir

Yves St. Laurent

Duchess of Windsor

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Rudolf Nureyev

Balloon Seller

New York Times obituary, published October 8, 2009

Irving Penn: Small Trades at the Getty

Hellen van Meene

2009-11-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hellen van Meene is a Dutch portrait photographer who focuses her camera predominately on young women. Slightly haunting, honest, tender, beautiful.

-Interview between Hellen van Meene and Joerg Colberg
-Hellen van Meene's website

-Yancey Richardson Gallery

Les Animaux

2009-11-05T11:53:00.001-08:00

Emmet Gowin

Christer Stromholm

George W. Gardner

Alen Mac Weeney

Garry Winogrand

Asako Narahashi

Jessica Lange

Peter Mitchell

2009-10-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

I first heard about Peter Mitchell when I received these postcards from a friend who was lucky enough to attend the exhibition How We Are: Photographing Britain at the Tate in the UK.
I have since tried to find more images and information, but unfortunately to no avail.
I am happy to at least share what I have found. (click images below to enlarge)

In the 1970s, Peter Mitchell worked as a truck driver for Sunco, and photographed the sights of Leeds on his journeys around the city. He is now well known for his 1979 landmark color photography exhibition in York, UK. Held at Impressions Gallery and titled ‘A New Refutation of the Viking IV Space Mission’, the show depicted the factories and small shop owners of Leeds, all photographed in a very formal manner with the aid of a stepladder. The idea was that this is how Leeds might be seen by aliens departing from their spaceship when the Mission from Mars finally lands on the unsuspecting city.

Family

2009-10-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Walker Evans

Russell Lee

Malick Sidibe

Diane Arbus

Mark Cohen

Andre Zelck

Robert Bechtle

Homage to Polaroid

2009-09-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wendy Ewald

Ralph Gibson

Gail Bryan

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Walker Evans

Links:
- Recent article in The Observer- View and share on Polanoid.net
- Nobuyoshi Araki Polart 6000

Selections from Northern Europe

2009-09-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Joakim Eskildsen

Milja Laurila

Preben Holst

Susanna Majuri

Anna Linderstam

Anni Leppala

also see the Helsinki School

Young Ones

2009-09-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Masahisa Fukase

Augustus F. Sherman

Dorothea Lange

William Eggleston

Mark Cohen

Joel Sternfeld

Pablo Ortiz Monasterio

Ingar Krauss

Bicycles!

2009-08-30T10:13:00.001-07:00

Dorothea Lange

Graciela Iturbide

Daido Moriyama

Seydou Keita

Evelyn Hofer

Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe

2009-08-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

Studio portrait photographers Seydou Keita(b. 1921) and Malick Sidibe (b. 1935) each captured people of Bamako, Mali from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Seydou Keita

Malick Sidibe

Recomended publications:

-Seydou Keita, Scalo, 1997

-Malick Sidibe: Photographs, Steidl/Hasselblad Center, 2004

Ed van der Elsken: My Amsterdam

2009-07-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

Ed van der Elsken (1925 - 1990) was a Dutch photographer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

He travelled all over the world and published many books of his photographs:

Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint Germain des Prés 1956
Bagara (1958)
Jazz (1959)
Sweet Life (1966)
Eye Love you (1977)
Hallo! (1978)
Amsterdam! Oude foto's 1947-1970 (1979)
Avonturen op het land (1980)
Parijs! Foto's 1950-1954 (1981)
De ontdekking van Japan (1988)
L’amour!
Hong Kong (1997)
Once upon a time (1991)

Links:

www.edvanderelsken.nl

www.mireillemoslerltd/edvanderelsken

Memphis

2009-07-08T23:35:00.001-07:00

Hernando de Soto Bridge, Memphis
photographer unknown

William Eggleston

William Eggleston

Alec Soth

Alec Soth

Christian Patterson

Published for the First Time: Color Photographs by Chris Killip

2009-06-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Killip is widely known for his gritty and alluring black and white photographs, especially those published in In Flagrante (1988).

If you've ever wondered what his color work would look like, you'll be happy to peruse Thames and Hudson's Here Comes Everybody: Chris Killip's Irish Photographs.

Less raw and less gritty, these color images are quiet and contemplative, providing more of a sense of calm in contrast to the angst of the Seacoal pictures.

The hills, the roads and the sea are perfectly bare in all of their color, yet the landscape somehow maintains a mystery. You want to go into these places and explore.

Printed small (only about 4 x 6 inches) the viewer is immediately drawn in and left wanting more.

Lost

2009-06-02T21:32:00.001-07:00

I lost someone important to me recently.

It is not easy to come to terms with the fact that we will not be able to share our memories together or get to create any more for the future.

I am so sad, but I am so glad that I knew you, Jim.

You were the best story teller that I know

and you had the finest taste.

An Eerie Selection of Photographs by Bruce Davidson

2009-05-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Some Portraits by Anders Petersen

2009-05-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Swedish photographer Anders Peteresen was born in Stockholm in 1944. In the 1960s he became a student and friend of Christer Stromholm. He is known mostly for his series Cafe Lehmitz, where for three years he photographed the visitors to the bar by that name in Hamburg, Germany. With his gritty and dark 'diary-like' style he has continued to capture raw and unlikely scenes from everyday life as well as documented members on the outskirts of society such as those in prison, mental hospitals, homes for the elderly, as well as workers at an amusement park in Stockholm.

Here are some portraits that I have found and felt that I needed to share. They are less gritty and perhaps more formally composed than many of his photographs, but they still seem to leave you with a mysteriously eerie feeling.

Amelia's World by Robin Schwartz

2009-01-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

Strange and Compelling

Obama

2008-11-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

Rinko Kawauchi

2008-10-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Simply Beautiful

Rinko Kawauchi likes to capture the little details of everyday life that often go unnoticed. Her eye endows ordinary objects and situations with a unique quality that infuses them with beauty, poetry, and emotion. Whether in her books or her exhibitions, Rinko Kawauchi groups her works together in ways that reveal unexpected combinations of forms, moods or atmospheres, and elaborates subtle narratives that invite us to meditate on the infinite wonders of the world and the finite nature of all beings.

-Fondation pour l'art Contemporain

The Artist as Subject

2008-10-12T16:32:00.001-07:00

Yasumasa Morimura

from "A Story of M's Self Portraits"

from "Requiem for the XX Century"

"Red Marilyn"

Andy Warhol

Tseng Kwong Chi

from " Self Portraits"

Martin Parr

from "Autoportrait"

Edward Gorey

2008-10-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Parabolas Opticas

2008-06-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Irving Penn

Optician's Window, New York, circa 1940s

Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Parabola Optica, 1931

Graciela Iturbide
Benares, India, 1998

Jaromir Funke
Z Cyklu Cas Trva, 1932

Daido Moriyama

Aomori, 1971

Hiroh Kikai
Tokyo Labyrinth, 1986

Spring

2008-03-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

In honor of the first day of spring, here are some beautiful portraits of children. There are so many great ones, but here are just a few.

August Sander
Group of Children, Westerwald, 1913

Helen Levitt
New York, circa 1940

'
Bruce Davidson
Untitled, 1960

Christer Stromholm
Paris, 1962

Pablo Ortiz Monasterio
Socios, 1987

Identity Crisis

2008-03-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

From birth it is a constant question that we all ask ourselves.
Who am I? What does it mean to be me? How is my experience different from or similar to yours?

In answer to this in my own way I wanted to know what it means to be a person in the world, so I studied cultural anthropology as well as sociology in college. Mostly, there was a lot of discussion about what culture is.

Culture (from the latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures and systems that give activities meaning. Often even the creators contest the meanings of such systems, which tend to lack fixed boundaries and are constantly in flux.

So, people constantly create and recreate themselves and this seems to be reflected in individuals and groups alike.

Culture is manifested in such things as language, style of dress, eating practices, celebrations, arts, science, as well as political and religious systems.

Essentially, what I came away with upon leaving college was the overwhelming sense of the human condition. A life on earth as a human persists to be just as heavy as it ever has been in the past, regardless of any agricultural, technological, or scientific advances. Though life is lived and perceived differently from whatever perspective one is given at birth, ie: time period, location, economic status etc., each person is born with the same guts and emotions as anyone else. We all need to come to terms with our individuality and sort out the feelings surrounding the loneliness of mortality. We also need the comfort and safety of identifying with and interacting with others.

What makes the human condition so utterly overwhelming and amazing is the expanse of possible permutations of the experience of a lifetime on earth.

Cultural anthropologists tend to use the term culture most often to refer to the universal human method of classifying and communicating experiences symbolically - which is also what art is all about.

___________________________________________________________

Here are some artists who explore concepts of identity in their work.

Claude Cahun

various images, circa 1930s

Claude Cahun was a French artist, poet, playright, activist et al. who often used photography in her exploration of concepts of gender and sexuality.

One non-photographic, but very compelling body of work was a series, called Heroines, of which she would perform monologues based upon female literary or mythic characters. Her characters included Sappho, The Virgin Mary, Helen of Troy, Eve, and Salome. She would combine such iconic characters with the contemporary image of women of the day. The result produced a social commentary on the portrayals of identity and sexuality.

Cindy Sherman

Untitled Film Still #21, 1978

Since the 1970s Cindy Sherman has continued to explore identity roles. In my opinion her work has never topped her Untitled Film Stills taken from 1977-79.

Tomoko Sawada

from ID400

Tomoko Sawada is a contemporary artist from Japan who has done a number of photographic series in which she is the sole subject, playing various roles. (ie: ID400, School Days and Omiai) She explores the concept of one's own identity, exemplifying the numerous characters one person could create by merely altering their appearance. Her work, especially ID400, stirs up questions of what it means to be an individual in this age of overwhelming population, ever growing urban centers, and where the mass media is a persistent force.

Nikki S. Lee

Skateboarders Project (14), 2000

Seniors Project (14), 1999

Hispanic Project (11), 1998

Nikki S. Lee is a Korean born artist who has two well known series, Projects and Parts. Projects is her first body of work, in which she explores identity by adopting the personae of various subcutures.
In her conversation with Gilbert Vicario in her book, Projects, (Hatje Cantz, 2001), she says "Changing myself is part of my identity. That's never changed. I'm just playing with forms of changing. My work is really simple, actually. I wanted to make evidence as John Berger calls it. I always feel like I have a lot of different characters inside ands I was curious to understand these things. I wanted to se some sort of evidence that I could be all those different things."

I would also recommend looking at artists:

Yasumasa Morimura

Miwa Yanagi

Tseng Kwong Chi

Martin Parr Autoportrait

Twins

2007-12-11T13:29:00.001-08:00

Here I have posted some of my favorite photographs of twins. It is almost a given that when I see images of twins I love them.

Louis Faurer, Twin Sisters, New York, 1948

I think I am particularly fascinated by twins for two reasons:

One.) My mother is one of a pair of fraternal twins. Mom is Carol. My aunt is Cheryl. Cute names were a trend in post WWII baby booming America.

Here they are at age 12

From what I have gathered about being a twin is that the part that seems to be problematic is that one's particular identity is sometimes uncomfortably overshadowed by the phenomenon of the pair.

Another thing about my mother's being a twin...there is a possibility of myself bearing twins in the future.

Two.) My astrological sign is Gemini.

The astrological sign of gemini gets its name from Greek and Roman mythology. Kastor and Polydeuces (Castor and Pollux) are twin sons of Leda. Leda was their mother, who had been seduced by Zeus while he was in the form of a swan. Zeus then became the children's "divine" father, while the twins went on to live with a "foster," mortal, father, Tyndareus.
The interesting part about the detail of the fathers is that in the stories about the twins, they are inconsistently referred to as divine and/or mortal.

Therefore, twins are often cast as the symbolic representation of duality.

Diane Arbus, Identical Twins

Disfarmer, Untitled, Heber Springs Arkansas, circa 1940s

Since ancient times in religions and philosophies all over the world, dualisms in life have been major sources of inquiry, thought, and debate.

Common dualities include :
Mortal / Divine
Sacred / Secular
Physical / Mental
Emotional / Logical
Reason / Passion
Nature / Nurture
Body / Soul

____________________________________

Where is the line between the body and the mind?

Where the body is a collection of organic and physical elements, chemicals and sensory systems, the mind is one's internalization of environment and circumstances into consciousness, awareness, and creation.

Joaquin Trujillo, from the series, Los Ninos

How do two individuals, borne from the same substance, live in, react to, and understand the world differently?

Mapping

2007-11-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

cartography - mapmaking -combines science, aesthetic and technical ability to create a balanced and readable representation, capable of communicating information effectively.

I am very interested in maps. I love them.
I understand them and I make them.
I especially like how maps can be very organic, sometimes resembling root systems of plants or the veins of a human body.

Maps are also an expression of a particular point of view. In this case maps can be works of art as they are just another avenue of interpreting the world. In an episode called Mapping of This American Life, Ira Glass says, "Every map is the world seen through the filter of a different lense." Like a photograph the composition of a map may be documentary, scientific, aesthetic or poetic. They can also be altered to tell a story or express an opinion.

I have in the past year been working on a nine foot timeline/map of history of which I will divulge no more details at this time.

Until then, here are some artists I have found that are making maps:

Paula Scher

Manhattan

Manhattan (detail)

Tsunami

See more at Maya Stendhal Gallery

Nina Katchadourian

World Map, 1989

Coastal Merger, 1993

Look very closely.
Nina Kathchadouorian reassembles paper maps to create new and witty constructions.
Also see more here: Geographical Pathologies

View officialthisameric anlife's map

Taken in (See more photos here

Dennis Wood
is a cartographer that I heard on This American Life's recent show called Mapping(listen free).
He did a project where he extensively mapped his neighborhood of Boylan Heights in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Boylan Power is a map of the neighborhood’s phone, cable, and power lines.

Photographs of Jeff Charbonneau & Eliza French

2007-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that my friends Jeff Charbonneau and Eliza French have received a fine review by Peter Frank in the current issue of Photograph Magazine (click images below to enlarge):

View their wesite
Artwork can be seen at Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica

Neil Farber

2007-10-25T22:44:00.001-07:00

Upon first introduction to the artwork of Neil Farber, one may immediately notice a sense of fun brought on by the cartoon-like drawings and bright colors. When inspected more closely, however, the viewer will find that the compositions often evoke a feeling of sickness or impending doom. Farber's work often employs horror vacui (the often disturbing method of meticulously filling empty spaces), which adds to the darkness and disorientation. In one piece, a sea of people is literally a sea.

Untitled, 2005

In Neil Farber's artwork, one will most often find the repeated motif of a black haired male figure. These repeated figures seem to represent the human condition as an anonymous experience with the goods and bads of life sparing no one.

I am reminded of an image that was on the wall of my childhood home for years and years. It is an image of an acrylic painting by Mark Sabin.

Mark Sabin
Rush Hour, 1979

Though Sabin's piece focuses more definitively upon business men crowded into the streets of New York City, the feeling is similar. The viewer is situated in the midst of an anonymous crowd. Though surrounded by people, one feels isolated and alone.

The repeated male figure is sometimes a Dracula (see below). This is at once hilarious while simultaneously creepy. These denote a somewhat sinister view; that perhaps of a capitalist society where the business-suited individuals are frowning, bloodsucking monsters, only out for their own gain.

Untitled, 2005

The multiplicity of the black-haired male in so many of Farber's compositions may be a reference to our modern, technological age. An age in which there is an explosion of population and where distances between peoples are rapidly shortening. People are crowding into cities and becoming reliant on technology, but somehow there is a vast sense among individuals of isolation and depression. Be it to technology, expansion, exploitation, or trade, there is a shrinking of differentiation between peoples and cultures around the world, which seems as though it can only lead to very nefarious ends.

Untitled, 2005
All images copyright the artist.

Don't Miss It:
Neil Farber

New Works

at Richard Heller Gallery

January 5, 2008 - February, 2 2008

Opening Reception: 5 - 7 pm

The Strange and Beautiful World of Amy Cutler

2007-10-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Saddlebacked, 2002

I would like to write today to bring some attention to the artist Amy Cutler. I first came across her when I found Lisa D. Freiman's book (Hatje Cantz, 2006) and immediately I was fascinated. Something about her artwork is so alluring. It must be the combination of the artist's brilliant attention to detail and the peculiar and confounding predicaments the characters find themselves in.
Her characters, all female, are confronted with situations in which they are physically bound to any number of scenarios. Any daily task, whether it be ironing, tending to chickens, or having a dinner party, becomes confounded by the fact that for those involved, one becomes a physical part of any action. The line is blurred about whether the woman or the task at hand is in control. Campers are wearing skirts that are the tents; A face is a potential birdhouse for dozens of birds; Fist fighting schoolgirls are entwined by their hair, as if they are conjoined twins from their braids' growth into one another.

detail from Two Girls and a Potbelly Stove, 2000

Cutler's precisely drawn lines and bright colors aid in illustrating a sense of whimsy. This is heightened by the fine attention to fashion, focusing on traditional and earlier styles of dress.
Whimsey contrasts with an eerie surrealism as one clearly sees the futility or ridiculousness of a given predicament.
The characters' impossible situations are almost real enough to feel and one can momentarily share in sensations of anger, frustration, or melancholy. Meanwhile, the details and colors are delightful and the compositions leave you entranced.

Sweepers, 2001

See more HERE.

First Time

2007-10-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings. This is my very first blog. Welcome.