So, I had a choice… I could wait until Ashley Longshore was back on the podcast in a few months to feature this new series, or I could write about it IMMEDIATELY. I chose the latter. Wowza, this is Ashley’s latest body of work that she just released into the world yesterday! Here are her words about these 60″x48″ beauties:

“When I was little, my sister and I used to play and put makeup on one another… it was always hilarious and funny to see the result… I have taken people in positions of power and “played” with them…… and I love it… this series is about joy and also the subjects were once playful children… I cant describe the happy I felt when I painted this collection… there are 10 subjects… some of the subjects were far more relatable to me after I “played” with them.”

At first the Queen was my favorite {obviously}, but then Wonder Woman took the lead… sorry, Liz. Email sparkles@ashleylongshore.com to get info on purchasing.

ps. Ashley is a guest judge – and is giving the designers an art/fashion assignment – on Project Runway tomorrow night, Thursday January 23rd! Hit record on your VCR, or whatever it is you kids do these days.

Patterns and lines and boldness, oh my! This is the simple yet striking work of London based artist/illustrator Rosie McGuinness. She describes her work as a place “where fashion drawing meets life drawing”… I would like to live in that place.

Ah yes, nothing like starting a Monday morning by falling in LOVE. This is the absolutely gorgeous work of Düsseldorf based artist Vivian Greven… and yes, they’re paintings. Oil and acrylic on canvas, and on MDF in the case of those two fabulous cutouts. Not to play favorites, but they’re my favorites! Here are a few excerpts from an interview Vivian did with Art Maze Magazine that gives a bit of insight into her work:

“I have painted bodies for as long as I can think. The question: “What am I?” has always been my driving force. I am deeply interested in the interaction of body and mind. During the painting process I gently stroke bodies into existence. Thus, I appreciate the body and try to overcome its cruel disregard in contemporary society. The body wants to be our most loyal companion but we want it to look and function like an electronic tool.”

… and in re: those two gorgeous cutouts:

“The busts belong to a part of my work which reflects upon power structures in language and imagery. They represent different Venus portrayals. Each of them has a cutout in the face, showing different punctuation marks. We use punctuation marks to create emojis in order to represent our emotions when communicating via smartphone. The busts are stigmatized with these punctuation marks. This work is about the stereotypical reduction of a human being, inside and outside.”

*Bio photo by Stefanie Stadel

Blurry photographs? Nope. Pastel, pencil, spray paint and ink on paper, mounted on panel… have I said ‘gasp’ yet? Gasp! This is the work of Geneva based artist Eliana Marinari, and this is a description of how and why she does what she does:

Eliana Marinari ‘s practice employs a longstanding discipline of drawing, reinterpreting the genres of landscape and portrait as a means to question our perception of reality. Her work reflects an intense fascination for the power of images and explores the human ability to recall a visual object and generate semantic associations.

Her interest has been formed by current theories on visual recognition to explain the transition from a perception-driven representation to memory-driven elaboration of concepts: meaning is attributed to each feature and translated on assumptions based on previous experiences, cultural beliefs and values.

Eliana Marinari’s two main series Recognition and Recollection borrow details from archives, found images and her own photographs. Carefully constructed by glazing aerosol acrylic on pastel and pencil drawings, the vestigial image mimics the process of creating a visual representation in our mind and brings time, memory, loss and an emotional narrative to the subject.

Beautiful! If you happen to be in Geneva, be sure to stop by her solo show, titled “Recollection Memory”, at Le Salon Vert. The opening event is this Thursday January 16th from 6-8pm, and the show will run until February 22nd, 2020.

Gasp! This is the latest work by San Francisco based, Canadian artist Crystal Liu. I’ve written about her before (2014 and 2010), and clearly I need to again. How can I not share these marbled mountains, delicate flowers, and trees blowing in the wind as the fog rolls in. Are you wondering what, how, huh!? Let me answer that for you… 48″x48″ gouache, watercolor, ink and collage on paper. Oh my word, so good.

Sigh. This is the work of American artist Mya Kerner. The last time I wrote about Mya, her mountains were inky blue… but for her latest show, currently hanging at Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle, her palette is filled with muted, dreamy pastel hues. Here is part of her artist statement for “The Rise and Fall of Stone”:

“My work revolves around ancestral history, storytelling, and ecological concern in an exploration of memory and landscape. The paintings reference specific landscapes, but I work to depict each place somewhere between reality and memory. In the landscapes, white space meets fields of muted color through shattered lines of graphite, suggesting a continuous cycle of transformation …

… My background in permaculture and a lineage of Eastern European foresters first drove me to explore humanity’s relationship with the natural world through my art practice. More recently, I have expanded on these ideas, reacting to anthropocentrism and a sense of uprootedness, both personal and intergenerational, by studying Earth-based traditions. As I reflect upon stories from the spirits of the land, my own memory, and those of my ancestors, I ask questions about how we relate to place through the lenses of wildness, stewardship, civilization, and change.”

Beautiful. This show is open now through the month of January, and the artist reception is tomorrow night, Thursday January 9th from 6~9pm. 

Oil Paintings. What? Yep. Over the weekend, I spotted that mama cat and her sweet little kitten on Create Magazine’s Instagram feed, and my fingers involuntarily started typing this post! SO. GOOD. This is the work of New York raised, LA based painter Matthew Grabelsky. Here is a description of his work via Thinkspace Gallery {LA}:

“… The appearance of the animal head feels distantly totemic, an archetype for something primordial, ancient, and psychologically motivated. Fascinated by the persistence of animal imagery in mythology and communal cultural imaginaries, Grabelsky superimposes its presence onto his depictions of the contemporary world. For the artist, the animal becomes a manifestation of the inner workings of the hidden subconscious, literally revealing the latent identities and motivations lurking beyond the composure of the human mask.

Technically inspired by 19th Century academic and naturalist painters, Grabelsky creates these unlikely, surreal scenes with a staggering degree of realistic detail. The contrast created between the visual verisimilitude of the works, and the surreal improbability of their content catches the viewer in a prolonged moment of convincingly suspended disbelief.”

Yes, I actually experienced several “prolonged moments of convincingly suspended disbelief”. Happy Monday.

Yep, Ashley Longshore is back and she’s ready to fire us up and get this decade started RIGHT!  You know the drill… here’s a peek at the stuff Ashley and I talked about. You can listen right up there under that very festive shot, or subscribe here.

First up, a few of Ashley’s usual muses… one of which could be YOU! What!? Yep:

Um… DO IT!  Email your authentic, colorful and enthusiastic selfies to hollywood@ashleylongshore.com and then cross your fingers. Tight.

Speaking of muses:

This is Ashley with one of her fashion heroes, Japanese designer Tomo Koizumi. His colorful, layered frills could not be more perfect for Ashley. The photo above was just a fun try-on session, but look what she took home for her own closet:

Bahahahaha! HELL YES! Oh, there’s so much to say. 1. The rainbow Tomo is perfection. 2. Yes, Tommy and Dee Hilfiger hosted a show for Ashley’s work during Art Miami at their home (!?) 3. I had to include those two photos of Ashley and her hilarious and talented friend, interior designer Andrew Alford (Note: I need to be friends with him.) 4. The “I’m just gonna do one last pee before the party” shot from Ashley’s Instagram feed during Art Miami. Pure f’n GOLD … just like her shoes.

Oh man, how do you go on after that? Easy, by showing a few pieces Ashley has recently acquired for her own collection:

Yes. All of of it. YES. There are links for all of these artists at the bottom of the post.

And finally, her amazing team. Not only does she work with them every day, sometimes she paints them too:

Ahhhhh! She was talking about Kate Grace … that’s her nursing her baby girl, Coco, dressed as – of course – a masked luchador. And I couldn’t NOT include a shot of Ashley and her Dad. If you see him pop up in her Instagram stories, WATCH.

At the very end of the episode, I asked her, WWALB {What Would Ashley Longshore Buy} – truffle fries or chocolate cake? I liked the very smart reason for her choice. Also, it gave me an excuse to show her sheet cake sculpture one more time:

Thanks to Ashley for being my first co-host of 2020, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more ART FOR  YOUR EAR next weekend.

Other links:

1. Be Ashley’s muse
2. Tomo Koizumi, Fashion Designer
3. Andrew Alford, Interior Designer
4. Little girl dressed like Ashley! 
5. BLOOPERS! Will Ferrell / The Office / Carol Burnett / WestWorld

Links to artists:

1. Elizabeth Barden
2. Nora Martin-Hall
3. Ann Carrington ps. she’s in both of my women books!
4. Tali Lennox
5. CB Hoyo

Gasp! Did you notice that transition half way through the post… from gorgeous collage to gorgeous large-scale painting of gorgeous collage?! Oh my word I love them so much. This is the work of LA based artist Michael Harnish and, yes, I’m officially smitten.

{Thanks to painter Zoe Pawlak for pointing me to Michael’s work.}

Ah, gorgeous! These are the beautiful and empowering paintings of New York based artist Elisa Valenti, and as far as I’m concerned, the perfect way to kick off 2020. I love her work, and I super duper love the reason behind it:

“I grew up in a time when eating in public was shameful, stomach rolls made you unworthy, and shopping for clothes was traumatic. I grew up before being plus size was normal. My work reflects the images I wish I had seen—beautiful, luscious women doing ordinary things, just like everybody else. They are a reflection of my own battle with body image and my journey to mental health. If you’ve ever been made to feel insignificant, I hope they inspire you to own your image of yourself and never give that power to someone else.” 

Hell, YES! Now that is how you start a new decade. Thank you, Elisa.

{Found via Create Magazine}