Gah!!! I love, and want, the work of California based artist (and firefighter!?)Burl Vreeland. Yes, you read that correctly. Here’s a bit of info about Burl and his fabulous work:
“Burl Vreeland is a self-taught mixed media artist who specializes in creating images from recycled scrap. He gathers his inspiration from the places he has lived and visited, garnering materials from the natural and unnatural world. (organic/inorganic?) He begins with canvas and then incorporates his reclaimed discoveries with woodwork and painting into movable shapes and tiles. Over the past fifteen years, Burl has hosted numerous shows exhibiting his work across California. Burl has been a firefighter for many years. He also works in demolition, where he seeks to restore that which has been tore down and castaway into his art, proving nothing should be considered disposable and forgotten, only transformed.”
There is literally nothing about any of this that I don’t love.
ps. Some of his work will be in “Manhandled” opening at Good Eye Gallery in LA on April 8th. GO!
So many of my favorite artists in one spot, all working toward the same goal. Yep, in honor of International Women’s Day, Uprise Art and the artists featured {just a few shown here} are donating 100% of proceeds from this online exhibition, titled “For the Greater Good”, to Planned Parenthood. Brilliant, beautiful. #Resist
Perhaps it’s because snow is still falling in my backyard, but these vibrant acrylic paintings are making me long for warm tropical nights… you know, WITHOUT snow. These colorful beauties are the work of Mexico City based artist Javiera da Fonseca. If you want a little bit of warmth, and happen to be in Vancouver, some of her work can be seen in “AURA (A Mexican Experience)”. The show OPENS TOMORROW NIGHT, Wednesday March 8 at Back Gallery Project in Vancouver, and will run until April 1, 2017. Now, who wants a margarita?
“Everything Must Go” … eventually, yes, I suppose so. This beautiful, nostalgic, and kind of funny series of collaged ceramics {love!} are the work of San Francisco based artist Jeremiah Jenkins. Are they fragile? …
“This is a series of commemorative plates, made from broken commemorative plates. Each one is a fragile idea, breaking and gilding highlights the beauty within that fragility.”
Yes. Very. Jeremiah has a show on right now, until February 25th, at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco. Go, and then email me and tell me how fantastic these pieces are in person! Thank you.
Acrylic, airbrush, watercolor, maybe some graphite thrown in for good measure – all of that, or a combo of those ingredients – living happily on aluminum, paper and wood. This is gorgeous work of Los Angeles based artist Carlson Hatton. It’s a like vibrant, crazy treat for your eyes – hm, kind of like LA! So much to see, so much to take in – which is precisely why I love this description so much:
“Hatton’s works humorously addresses the extinction of imagery, or at least the end of our capacity to process it all in a meaningful way.”
Indeed. I’m on my way to LA tomorrow, and cannot wait to see some of Carlson’s work in person at the opening of Saatchi Art‘s latest show, titled “Mark-Making: In House Exhibition”. The show opens on Thursday Feb 16, 5 – 9pm in Santa Monica, and I’ll be there from 5-6pm for a little meet & greet. Come say hi! {more info/RSVP here}
Oh, yes! She had me at ‘blossoms and ladies with moth heads’. Welcome to the bizarre and folk-filled work of Tasmania based collage artist/poet Bethany van Rijswijk. This description of her current show sums things up beautifully:
“Enriched by her studies in world folklore, ritual, and costume, her hand-cut collages and poems create an imagined mythology from found images and phrases. A psychedelic strain of “Eastern European granny decoupage”, her work explores the relationship of women’s folk art and poetry to the other world. Her first solo show, ‘Shapeshifter’ owes much to the scholarship of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and chants of Maria Sabina, as craft comes to be viewed as a vehicle for glimpsing the sacred within the mundane.”
Gasp! Effortlessly loose, precisely realistic … and that dreamy, ice creamy palette … oh, so beautiful. I wrote about the graphite work of Colombian artist Johan Barrios last year, but when I saw these gorgeous, large-scale oil paintings for his upcoming show in Houston, well, obviously post no.2 started writing itself! “Adormecido” will be openingat Anya Tish Gallery, Houston TX. a week from today – Friday, February 10, 6:00-8:30 pm, and will be up until March 11, 2017. Go if you can!
“Lucite, wood, paints and mixed media are cut, assembled, adhered and re-cut.” This is the description of this beautiful, translucent, layered, candy-hued work {that I kind of want to taste} by American artist Michelle Benoit. Quite a few of these pieces are currently part of a two-person show titled, “Dive In”, at Muriel Guepin Gallery in New York until February 11, 2017. If you go, don’t taste them. Apparently you’re not really allowed to do that kind of thing.
Today we’re taking a little trip into the woods, to a magical place called “Yawnder”. I’m talking to Canadian drawist {that’s an artist who draws}, Jay Dart. You can listen right up there under that bearded log driver, or you can subscribe on iTunes.
I’ve been a fan of Jay’s work for years, but I’m embarrassed to say it wasn’t until his most recent show, “Greetings From Yawnder”, that I finally began to understand his work, and more importantly, the secret meaning behind it. The “Field Guide to Yawnder”, a lovely little book that he created for the show, is to thank for this. It’s insightful, insanely detailed, and a true field guide complete with maps, glossaries, definitions and introductions to characters that I want to be friends with… like Jiggs and his trusty dog Floyd, for example. Jiggs is Jay’s muse/alter-ego who travels Yawnder searching for creative inspiration:
I want to go to there. Geist trees growing ideas, “Beyawnder” where you’re free to be as creative as possible, and a land called “The Unknowns” … nobody knows what happens there, obviously. This is the part in the podcast when I made Jay read his own poetry. I love this, especially the bit about the referers:
Hilarious and so smart! If you have no idea what this is about, then you haven’t listened to the episode yet. What are you waiting for!?
Next, this is the self-published book, “Wanderer of Yawnder”, that Jay was telling me about. I have a copy and it’s so lovely, magical, and beautifully made:
Note the author: writing credit to Jiggs! LOVE. Speaking of love… magical mystery beards, and branch libraries:
Oh, the geist trees. The entire idea behind these rainbow-hued beauties is absolutely brilliant:
Sigh. Wouldn’t you love to spend an afternoon in Jay’s mind?
Aaaaand here we are… we’ve arrived in “Beyawnder”. This wonderful, creatively-carefree place is a collaboration between Jay and his little boy. One of them is in charge of scribbles, the other takes care of the wanderers:
Yep, anything is possible in this wonderful little corner of the map.
Now, we thought we were finished and then I realized I forgot to ask about these fabulous album covers that Jay designed for his friend, and talented Canadian musician, Donovan Woods:
Ah! I love all of them, but that geist tree cut-away?! So, so good.
And finally, in case you want to see his ginger beard, a photo of Jay mid-install at Galerie Youn in Montreal {they were the first gallery to represent his work, and he’s forever grateful.}
I think I see a bit of Jiggs in that photo of Jay, can’t you? Thank you so much to Jay for taking us to Yawnder; Thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; and you guessed it, big high-fives to you for listening! Now normally I say, “there will be more art for your ear next weekend”, but I’m in Hawaii at the moment and didn’t get organized enough to have an episode ready for next week… but there will be one waiting for you the weekend after that {I promise!}.
Watercolor, colored pencil, and acrylic on paper … figured I’d put that list out there right away, seeing as that was the first thing I asked myself when I saw the work of American artist Justin Margitich. I would love to jump into one of his magical / weird worlds, but since I can’t, I guess the next best thing would be to see them in person. If you’re in LA you can see his current show that just opened on Saturday January 14. It runs until February 25 at Moskowitz Bayse Gallery. I’ll be in LA mid-February, so that’s my plan!
