Oh my. This is the insanely detailed and thoughtful work of Brooklyn based artist Meg Hitchcock. Most of her work combines different religious texts, but I just had to include that first stunning piece which is made up of excerpts from her grandmother’s diary and letters cut from the Kama Sutra. Amazing! Here are Meg’s words about this beautiful work:

“In my text drawings I examine and dissect the word of God. I deconstruct a sacred text by cutting its individual letters, and reassemble them to form a passage from another holy book. The Koran is transformed into the Bible, the Bible into the Bhagavad Gita, and so on. I discourage a literal reading of the text by eliminating punctuation and spacing; a sentence from one text merges with a passage from another. By bringing together the sacred writings of diverse religions, I undermine their authority and speak to the common thread that weaves through all scripture.”

Beautiful. What a different world it would be if we could all just appreciate the common threads that connect us.

{A few of Meg’s pieces are currently showing in “Summer Breeze” at Margaret Thatcher Gallery in New York – 539 West 23rd Street – until the end of this week.}

I think I might have dreamt this. Sigh. So lovely and weird. This is the ethereal work of LA based painter Mandy Cao. Apparently her surreal paintings are “inspired by real stories and emotions.” Ok, well now I want to know allllll of those stories… I’m especially curious about that jellyfish being released from his delicate turquoise box… oh yes, I need to know!

Mandy’s work can be seen in a new 4-person show that is going up later this week at the Helikon Gallery in Denver, Colorado. “SUTURE” : NEW WORKS BY YELLENA JAMES, MANDY CAO, SIMON TRAN, & JENSINE ECKWALL. The show opens this Thursday August 4th and runs through until September 3rd, 2016.

Buildings floating in quiet gray spaces, windows lit from within. Yep, I love these paintings by German artist Andre Schulze. Old meets new if you look closely… old architecture with a solid internet connection! Note the @ symbols here and there, the occasional Apple logo on a laptop through one of those rose-colored windows. Love.

{He has a show coming up this fall… it opens on September 15 at F5A by Gallery Z  Stuttgart}

Ink, pencil, torn and perforated paper…. LOVE. So much love. This is the absolutely beautiful work of Melbourne based artist Melinda Schawel. Sigh. I bet they’re even more impressive in person. Well, I can help with that if you happen to be in Melbourne at the moment! Melinda has a show opening TODAY at Flinders Lane Gallery, that runs through to August 6th. There is also going to be an Artist Talk/Presentation this coming Saturday July 23 at 1pm… RSVP by today!

“You can’t be born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and grow up in South Central [Los Angeles] near the Black Panthers headquarters, and not feel like you’ve got some kind of social responsibility. You can’t move to Watts in 1963 and not speak about it. That determined a lot of where my work was going to go…”

Well yes, I guess so! Those are the words of prolific Chicago based painter Kerry James Marshall. His work is so powerful, so beautiful, and there is oh so much of it! I wanted to post about fifty paintings but I tried to show a bit of self-control. Luckily self-control isn’t needed if you’re in Chicago this summer, because there is a huge retrospective of his work currently showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago until September 25, 2016. Go! But before you do, one more great quote: “You can wait for somebody to let you get in the door – or you can assume your place among equals and put yourself in the world too, and put yourself in the stories that you want to see told.”  

Amen.

Mr.Marshall is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

In late 2012, I got an email from an American singer/songwriter named Sally Taylor. She was beginning to plan what she described as “a giant game of telephone, but with art”, and could I suggest a few visual artists that might be able to create something based on a piece of music she’d send them… um, YES! It sounded fun, creative, and amazing… and it was! In 2014 Consenses opened to the public in Martha’s Vineyard, and today I get to ask Sally the ins and outs of this giant project. You can listen right up there under lovely Sally, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First things first, we quickly have to talk about her parents, because:

Yep, Sally is the daughter of American music icons, Carly Simon and James Taylor. For real. As you can imagine, I had a few questions about that too! She obviously comes from an insanely creative family {her brother Ben is a musician too} which I’m sure fueled this big beautiful project. Speaking of which, here’s a peek behind the doors at Consenses. I wish I’d been there for the opening, but my hope is to be there for the closing this coming August {if you’re anywhere near Martha’s Vineyard you should go!}:

Ahhh, so much goodness in one spot! So basically the way it works – there are “chains” of creativity. So a musician writes a piece of music, and an artist would make a painting based on that song. Next, a dancer would create choreography inspired by the visual art. A perfumer could respond to that dance, developing a perfume that would tell the same story, but through scent. This is not one of the official “chains” but it’s a selection of work from Consenses that I LOVE:

Amazing. {Did you see Lisa Golightly and Susanna Bauer in there?!} Each chain was then housed in a customized set designed by, you guessed it, a set designer. Seriously, just the coolest project ever. So, what do you do after you create such a cool project? A TEDx Talk, obviously:

This is such a great talk… and she looks fabulous to boot! Apparently she only got two lunges into her backstage “get the nerves out workout”, but you’d never be able to tell. She did a wonderful job. Watch here.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never sung backup vocals on Letterman for my Dad, or hung out with Oprah and Stephen Colbert with my mom… but Sally has:

Crazy cool! I loved her story about being on Letterman and her “Jolly Green Giant” outfit! Thank you so much to Sally for generously sharing her funny, insightful stories; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting yet another episode; and big thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

ps. I cannot believe I’m willingly posting these, but just so you don’t think my description was off… here’s proof. Me. Age 11. Mistaken for a boy. A lot. *note the white California glasses and yellow terry cloth shorts. Yowza:

Other links:

1. Consenses Documentary
2. Mass MOCA 
3. Consenses School Project
4. Oprah clip
5. Letterman clip

So. Many. Dots. Yep, lots and lots and lots of tiny little dots of acrylic paint. Acrylic paint! All of these pieces are part of a show, titled Splash, that opens later this week in New York… if you can go, GO. This is the art meets technology work of Miami based artist William Betts. I don’t fully understand his process, but I do understand that I’d love to jump in a pool/go to the beach this very minute. Beautiful.

This explosion of nostalgia and color is screaming at the sticker-collecting, rainbow-loving twelve year old in me. The absolutely gorgeous figures and stunning compositions are in a mature conversation with the art-loving curator in me. This is the work of Brooklyn based artist Erik Jones, and this is a description from his latest show, “Twenty Sixteen”:

“Jones challenges viewers to see beauty in his chaotic, mixed-media works that merge nude subjects with nonrepresentational, abstract elements. Describing the human figures in his compositions as “aesthetic anchors,” they are the calming foreground upon which bursts of color, stenciled shapes and custom-made stickers create surreal landscapes. Using multiple mediums, such as watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils, wax pastels and oil paint, Jones’ portraits are technically complex and express a heightened sense of realism.”

And also rainbows, unicorns, and orcas! Sorry, that was the twelve-year old again  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

{Just missed this show… damn. “Twenty Sixteen” was at Jonathan LeVine in New York and just came down at the end of April}

May 4, 2016 – May 29, 2016. That’s how long paper artist Tiffanie Turner will be spending as the fabulous artist-in-residence at the de Young Museum in San Francisco! I had her on the podcast last year, while she was tucked away at another residency in a beautiful barn, and she talked about this… and now it’s finally here! If you’re in San Francisco, you can pop by to see “Nature Constructed”… you can see her giant flowers hung on the walls, watch her working on new pieces, talk about flowers, talk about paper, etc. And if talking’s not enough for you, you can get in on the flowery action:

During her month-long residency, museum visitors are invited to work on a giant communal botanical paper sculpture, learning how to stretch the paper into the proper shape and adhere it to the flower. The first two weeks will be spent creating something vibrant and beautiful, and the last two weeks will focus on taking the piece to a state of decay, inviting visitors to return to the gallery toward the end of the residency to see the piece’s transformation.

Beautiful, on every level. Pop by the museum if you can {tell her I say hi!}, and if you’re too far away then you can follow along on Instagram: #natureconstructedsf

Hand. Cut. Paper. Mic drop.

This is the insanely meticulous work of American artist Maude White... I am completely in awe. Yep, she’s giving Mother Nature a run for her money with the delicate detail in these lovely white blooms. Sigh. So good.

{Some of Maude’s work is currently showing in “Bloom”, at Walker Contemporary in Vermont}