Yep, I love everything about this project, titled “Low Supply”, by US born / Vancouver based artist Katherine Duclos. There are so many things – from emotions to politics to opinions – that come up when the topic of how women should feed their babies comes up. Well, I think Katherine is using this latest series {featuring cement sculptures and ink, acrylic, gouache paintings on Yupo} to explore this very personal subject in such a beautiful way. Here is her description of how it started, and where it’s going is fantastic:

“This project began with breastfeeding my now 11mo old, though in retrospect, the emotions and experiences driving this work began with my first child, who is now 4. This body of work is about breastfeeding, pumping, the trappings and accoutrement of sustaining a life with your body, and the emotional weight we carry as mothers, vessels, food source. For a long time I’ve made very different work that wasn’t particularly personal to me but this body of work is my soul laid bare, all of my anxieties as a mom, all the feelings of inadequacy as I feed my daughter with a low milk supply.

But my experience and emotions are not enough to sustain this work because I had a hunch the emotional weight of this experience was carried by many, many moms. So, I reached out in my online mom’s groups, my neighborhood groups, my friends’ groups, and I asked them to contribute. I asked for pumps, bottles, pump parts, nipples, expired frozen breastmilk, anything to do with feeding a baby. And the response has been overwhelming and positive. In a little over a month I’ve collected from moms as far as New York and as close as my neighborhood. I come home to bags of pumping supplies on my porch, left by moms I don’t know, who heard about my project. And I took those materials and started making work with them and about them. This project is just beginning. Please get in touch if you’d like to participate.“

{found via Pennylane Shen}

Sigh. This is the lovely, domestic inspired work of LA based painter Hilary Pecis… quite appropriate at the moment, no? Chess, crosswords, books and coffee. Works for me. Unfortunately, Hilary has a solo show happening right now at Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York that I would normally tell you to go see! Check out the work online, and reach out to the gallery right here. “Come Along With Me” runs until April 26, 2020. Happy Friday. Stay home. Save a life.

As promised, I finally have a new episode for you … and it’s another old school edition! In fact, it’s super duper old school because we’re both children of the 70s and 80s, and I don’t think we left one retro stone unturned. I just wrote about New York based artist Tara Lewis a few of weeks ago, and I loved her work so much that I just had to reach out and see if she’d come talk to me. Luckily, she said HELL YES! Listen right up there under that “TROPHY WIFE”, or you can subscribe to the podcast right here.

First up, a whole bunch of Tara’s gorgeous portraits, most of which we talked about specifically … starting with the Lone Ranger:

… and finishing with “PREP SCHOOL”. ps. This is the painting Ashley Longshore bought!

Next, the installation Tara was talking about at her most recent show in New York {Lyons Wier Gallery}:

Text wallpaper! And, I absolutely LOVE that she included these artifacts from her studio as part of the show. Socks, ping pong paddles, pageant banners and, of course, TROPHIES! Yes, it’s true… Tara loves trophies, and always has apparently {she won her school’s Spelling Bee year after year only because she really liked how the trophy looked!}. Look at these beauties:

HELL YES, indeed.

Speaking of which…

 

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A post shared by Tara Lewis (@taralewisstudio) on Sep 9, 2018 at 9:39am PDT

Tara’s art walking down Michelle Smith‘s runway! Definitely a “pinch me” moment.

Ooh, I had to include a few of these Instagram shots of Tara’s models showing up to stand beside themselves on the gallery wall:

 

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A post shared by Tara Lewis (@taralewisstudio) on Jul 2, 2019 at 7:19am PDT

Um, what? Yes, that is Brooke Shields – posing/blowing the best bubblegum bubbles ever – in Tara’s studio. Here’s the first of at least eight or nine paintings of Brooke that will be in an upcoming show:

So cool… especially for those of us who grew up in the 80’s and most likely had these magazine pages on our bedroom walls:

See, she was a top-notch bubble blower back then, too! Also, how dreamy was Christopher Atkins in Blue Lagoon? Sigh.

And finally, Tara and I, official “Rainbow Girls” forever:

Hahahahaha! I had to. Seriously, it was physically impossible for me not to put this in the post. Thank you so much to Tara for coming on the podcast, and huge thanks to you for listening … and while I’m saying thank you … great BIG thanks to all of the health care workers out there who are putting themselves in front of this virus every day in order to help other people. Help them do their jobs. Stay home if you feel sick, and wash your hands like someone’s life depends on it.

Other links:

1. Tara on Instagram
2. Phillips Exeter Academy (where Tara teaches)
3. Lyons Wier Gallery, NYC
4. Michelle Smith, Fashion Designer
5. Brooke Shields
6. Stephanie Vovas Photography
7. Will Cotton, Painter / Katy Perry album cover

Oh. My. Goodness. This is the bold, jaw-dropping work of Japanese-Brazilian artist Asuka Anastacia Ogawa. She studied in London, and is now based between LA and New York. I looked all over the interweb for a description of explanation behind her striking work, but according to this article from Artnet, “she seems comfortable letting viewers come up with their own interpretations of the evocative narratives in her work.” I’m on it! Happy Friday.

Lovely woodland scenes… with perhaps just a bit of something not quite right just under the surface. This is the strange/lovely narrative work of London based painter Eleanor Moreton. A little bit folk art-ish, perhaps a nod to a disturbing old nursery rhyme, and just a touch of family dysfunction… perfect.

{These paintings, and more, are available via Arusha Gallery}

 

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A post shared by Jess Cochrane (@jesscochrane____) on Dec 4, 2019 at 2:20pm PST

The palettes, the scale, those loose brushstrokes over dreamy female portraits… and clearly I had to include that video, which by the way, I could watch on repeat all day. Sigh. This is the gorgeous work of Jess Cochrane, an Australian artist based in London. Here are the words from her ‘about’ page:

Cochrane’s work questions the relationship between society, consumerism and pop culture. Her focus is on feminine beauty, illustrated through the application of paint over photographic images. Cochrane reflects upon insecurity and perfectionism in the modern age. Connecting the history of art, design and advertising, she plays on the idea of pop culture and its roots that are planted in both displaying and disguising parts of ourselves.

Beautiful. Be sure to follow her on Instagram too, because she posts a lot of mesmerizing ‘in progress’ videos {like the one above that I’ve watched 23 times}.

{found via Create Magazine}

Oh, American artist Phyllis Bramson …♥! I absolutely LOVE the weird and wonderful mixed media worlds she creates. In fact, I featured Phyllis in my book, A Big Important Art Book – Now With Women … how could I not, after reading her artist statement:

“I use images that are infused with lighthearted arbitrariness and amusing anecdotes about love and affection, in an often cold and hostile world. Mostly, I am making work that percolates forth life’s imperfections: that doesn’t take decorum all that seriously, refusing to separate matters of taste from larger questions about “good behavior.” The paintings are reactions to all sorts of sensuous events, from the casual encounter to highly formalized exchanges of lovemaking (and everything in between). Miniaturized schemes, which meander between love, desire, pleasure and tragedy; all channeled through seasonal changes. Burlesque-like and usually theatrical incidents, that allow for both empathy and “addled” folly, while projecting capricious irritability with comic bumps along the way.”

Her most recent work {yes, the unicorn!} is currently in a group show, titled “Round Hole/Square Peg”, that opened this past weekend at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts. The show will be up until June 6, 2020.

{Round Hole/Square Peg also features the work of Lisa Marie Barber, Erin Hayden, Cody Hudson, Janis Kanter, Sheida Soleimani, Chris Uphues, Caroline Wells Chandler and Wendy White.}

I always like to keep an eye on what Australian painter Wanda Comrie is up to! While she usually paints plants beautifully arranged on pattern-covered tables, she’s recently started expanding her view. Hello, domestic interiors… I like your weird ceramic dog.

ps. Follow her on Instagram because she’s always posting videos, closeups, and lovely works in progress.

Ahhh, LA based artist Seonna Hong, one of my favorite artists… and she happens to have a new show, titled Liminal Space, opening THIS SATURDAY, March 7th at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York. I’m lucky enough to be seeing them in person later this week {I’ll be filming part of my upcoming Skillshare class there!} The opening is on Saturday from 6-8pm, and Seonna will be there… you should be too!

GAH! How am I just discovering this work now!? These fantastic mixed media pieces are the work of Austin-based American artist Deborah Roberts. She is smart, talented and prolific, with her works being included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art just to name a few! I’m going to include her entire artist statement here, because, well you’ll see:

“Whether I was aware of it or not, otherness has been at the center of my consciousness since the beginning of my artistic career. My early ideals of race and beauty were shaped by and linked through paintings of renaissance artists and photographs in fashion magazines. Those images were mythical, heroic, beautiful, and powerful and embodied a particular status that was not afforded equally to anyone I knew. Those images influenced the way I viewed myself and other African Americans, which led me to investigate the way our identities have been imagined and shaped by societal interpretations of beauty. Having one’s identity dismantled, marginalized and regulated to non-human status demands action. This led me to critically engage image-making in art history and pop-culture, and ultimately grapple with whatever power and authority these images have over the female figure.

My art practice takes on social commentary, critiquing perceptions of ideal beauty. Stereotypes and myths are challenged in my work; I create a dialogue between the ideas of inclusion, dignity, consumption, and subjectivity by addressing beauty in the form of the ideal woman, the Venus. By challenging Venus, my work challenges the notion of universal beauty—making room for women of color who are not included in this definition.

Wading through my work, you must look through multiple layers, double meanings and symbols. My process combines found and manipulated images with hand drawn and painted details to create hybrid figures. These figures often take the form of young girls. I’m interested in the way young girls symbolize vulnerability but also a naïve strength. The girls who populate my work, while subject to societal pressures and projected images, are still unfixed in their identity. Each girl has character and agency to find their own way amidst the complicated narratives of American, African American and art history.”

YES!

{discovered via Art She Says’ Instagram feed}