Did it take you a moment to realize these weren’t actual swimmers? Yep, me too. This is the absolutely gorgeous work of well known American hyperrealist sculptor Carole A. Feuerman... and I’m actually going to see some of her work in person this August at the Venice Biennale! She has several exhibitions happening at one time in Venice. She’ll be showing work at: Giardino Della Marinaressa, Bel Air Fine Art, Palazzo Mora and Palazzo Bembo –  both palazzos will each have a special Feuerman swimmer exhibitions during their shows, called Personal Structures, Open Borders. The course that I’ll teaching in Venice {I’m one of several instructors from Aug 7 – 20} is taking place at Palazzo Bembo through the Academy at the European Cultural Centre – here’s hoping one of Carole’s swimmers is close by!

ps. I just found out that there are ONLY SIX SPOTS left at the academy the weeks I’m there. To find out more, visit the ECC’s site. I hope we can see Carole’s work together! Oh, and stay tuned because I’ve got a collage contest coming up with the prize being the tuition for one week at the Academy … worth EUR950! I’ll talk about this more on the podcast this weekend. 

Flowers and some very odd vases… glue lids, drink spouts, and of course, a soy sauce fish! These are the wonderful paintings {oil on canvas} of Melbourne based painter Jonathan Crowther. I love everything about these – the realism of the flowers, the fact that those flowers are poking out of glue lids, and the flat/colorful abstract backgrounds. Gorgeous. ps. Jonathan has a new show, featuring a different body of work, that just opened today in Sydney {which I guess would be yesterday there?} at Palmer Art Projects. It runs until June 24th, 2017.

And, because seeing scale {and the artist!} is always fun:

Oil paintings. What!? Yes. This is the very analog work of Australian artist Victoria Reichelt, and all of these pieces are part of her latest show, titled Precipice, that opens on June 1st at This Is No Fantasy Gallery in Melbourne {runs until June 24th}. Why hundreds of little stickers and tiny erasers you ask? Well that takes us back to the whole analog thing …

“For this exhibition Reichelt takes ordinary objects and office stationery, strips them of their context and presents them in a fresh tableaux. These items, which were at one time essential to rational organization and workplace efficiencies, are facing redundancy as we turn our backs more and more on the analogue, in favor of the digital.”

Go if you can! In person. Not online ; )

Collections of connections! Sigh… I am never not in awe of German born, UK based artist Susanna Bauer. If you happen to be in Geneva Switzerland at the moment {lucky you} you can see Susanna’s new solo show, titled “Connections”, opening tonight at Le Salon vert {runs until June 10, 2017}. And, speaking of connections, I had to include part of her artist statement because it’s almost as beautiful as her work:

“There is a fine balance in my work between fragility and strength; literally, when it comes to pulling a fine thread through a brittle leaf or thin dry piece of wood, but also in a wider context – the tenderness and tension in human connections, the transient yet enduring beauty of nature that can be found in the smallest detail, vulnerability and resilience that could be transferred to nature as a whole or the stories of individual beings.”

Lovely, on so many levels.

*photos by art-photographers.co.uk

Electric palettes, beautifully painted faces, and oh, that key line kitty! This is the latest body of work from Amsterdam based artist Martine Johanna. All of these acrylic paintings, are from her latest solo show, titled “SOMETHING’S WRONG”. It opens tomorrow night, Thursday May 4th, in New York at Massey Lyuben Gallery.  The opening reception is from 6-8pm, but if you can’t make it to the party, the show will be up until June 10th… but I’d vote for going to the party!  RSVP :  info@masseylyuben.com

Magical forests, triangle mountains, Sasquatches, small towns, a question about beaver tails, AND a fellow Canadian … painter Meghan Hildebrand is my lovely guest today. This is a description of her work that sums it up perfectly: With a unique vocabulary of symbols, she translates her northern coastal landscape into electrifying dreamscape scenarios, each image often alluding to a larger narrative. Exactly. Listen right up there under “If The Flame Rises”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, Meghan’s visual vocabulary that she calls on in all of her work. There are dots, dashes, rainbow-esque lumps, upside down Vs, and lots of pointy Ms. Take a peek:

Sigh. Love.

These are a few pieces from her latest series, titled “Fire Season”. It was the body of work she mentioned that began with a coat of light pink gesso! Gorgeous, and a really smart way of getting around the whole ‘scary white canvas’ situation:

Oh, it’s all just so beautiful! For those of you in Toronto, this is the info for her solo show of this work opening at Mayberry Fine Art on May 6. GO!

Up next, “Giants”. This is my favorite series… Sasquatches staring back at the viewer, dreamy watercolor tree bark, tiny faces hiding in the trees, and oh, all of those patterns! Seriously, just so gorgeous:

Doesn’t that just make you want to make stuff? Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, Meghan lives in a lovely small town on Vancouver Island overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Not a bad place to spend your days:

Ahhhh, that view. I’m kind of waiting for a bear or a Sasquatch to pop up into frame though.

And finally, I’ve always thought Meghan’s work would be perfect for a mysterious, beautiful, fantastical kids’ book… especially her whimsical watercolors. I mean, just look at these:

Right!? Someone call her about this because seriously, these could become one of those books that children remember forever … much like the three books that Meghan and I were reminiscing about – links below. Oh, and btw, I am totally reaching out to galleries in LA and Portland because this woman should be showing up and down the coast, yes? YES. {Watch out Seattle and San Francisco, you’re on my list too.}

Alright, and with that I will say thank you so much to Meghan for doing this with me,  granted I wish we’d been eating ‘Beaver Tails’ during our conversation… next time! Thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and as always thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. “That Night In Toronto” – the show Meghan is doing with me!
2. Mayberry Fine Art
3. The Tragically Hip
4. Madrona Gallery, Victoria BC
5. Martha Rich, Episode 1
6. Kootney School of the Arts, Nelson BC
7. NSCAD
8. “Norbert Nipkin” / “The Rainbow Goblins” / “Swimmy”
9. Beaver Tails!

London based artist Charlotte Keates spent the summer and fall of 2016 on an ‘inspiration trip’ around the USA and Canada. The result? “Sojourn”, a new solo show that opens May 4th at Arusha Gallery in Edinburgh. Now, you’d think I’d be posting all of the Canadian pieces, but weirdly my favorite pieces are the California-esque pieces… this Canadian girl wants to see palm trees!

And for scale…

Oh, YES! Years ago, as in within the first month of launching “The Jealous Curator” I wrote about Mando Marie (aka Amanda Marie in 2009). To say I was obsessed with her work back then would be a massive understatement. Over the years I tried finding her again but her site was gone and I wasn’t sure if she’d stopped making art… thankfully that is not the case! I just discovered that she has a new solo show, titled “Can It Be?” that is currently showing at The Marcy Project, 275 South 2nd Street Brooklyn (co-curated by Darren Johnston of Marcy, and Hyland Mather of Andeken Gallery, Amsterdam). If you’re in New York, please go… these large scale mixed media pieces (acrylic, aerosol, and sewing pattern on canvas) still take my breath away, 8 years later.

ps. I’m trying to book her for the 100th episode of the podcast! … #fullcirclemoment 

FAKE RECORDS! Oh my word I love them so much. Glossy paint on cut wood, and some of the best titles in town! I was lucky enough to see this series, by LA based artist/illustrator Mark Todd, in progress. I stopped by Mark’s studio when I visited LA in February, and fell madly in love with his totally fake record collection… or maybe it was ‘Nick Sweet’ and his mustache that made my heart race {although, I have a feeling he’d really mess things up}. All of these pieces are currently hanging in, “DON’T GO TO HELL WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE” at the Webb Gallery in Texas. The show just opened yesterday and will be up until June 2, 2017. Go if you can because the photos do not do these hit records justice!

I had to include that studio shot so that you’d believe me when I told you these are paintings … aerosol paint and laborious, hand cut masking techniques making paint feel almost digital. Amazing. This is the work of  San Francisco based artist Casey Gray, and here’s why he does what he does the way he does it:

In the internet-age of cultural production, collections of mass objects can often stand in for genuine individuality. As images stream in and out of our news feeds, mobile apps, and internet searches, we are granted access to an unprecedented array of content divorced from its context or origin. Individual images become malleable and interchangeable within this visual framework. Casey Gray is interested in how people process and manage this visual overload. He aims to create work that explores and emphasizes the collision of visual experiences inherent to the contemporary landscape, and in the process find a deeper understanding of himself.

If you happen to be in San Francisco, Casey has a solo show, titled “Double Knotted”, opening at Hashimoto Contemporary tomorrow night – April 1 from 6pm – 9pm {runs until April 22}.