From childhood stories of beached whales to having her work acquired by MoMA, New York based artist Petah Coyne and I cover it all! To say that this episode has been a game-changer for my own artwork would be a massive understatement. This amazing woman lit a fire under me, and I have a sneaking suspicion she’s going to do the same thing to you! Listen right up there underneath Petah installing her work at Galerie Lelong in New York, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts / Spotify.

First up, here are the images I posted the first time I wrote about Petah a couple of months ago:

The peacocks! I mean, I am in awe. Again.

This is “Dante’s Daphne”. Petah and I didn’t talk about it, but she mentions it in the fabulous video she did with SFMoMA so I thought I’d pop in here for you to see:

Sigh. The detail she puts into each piece astounds me.

Oooh, and this… this is the piece MoMA acquired {that was one of my favorite stories from this episode!}:

I’d love to stand under this beauty so that I could just really, really LOOK.

So yes, Petah often works with found objects and wax, but just look at these absolutely stunning glass pieces:

Gasp! I saw these at “Glasstress” in Venice a few years ago, but didn’t realize who the artist was. When I started down the ‘Petah Coyne rabbit hole’ before I wrote about her last month, I came across these images and realized I actually have seen her work in person! They were breathtaking. Clearly.

Next, I had to include some of Petah’s photography. These are more recent than the photos she showed “at a bank in Dayton”… I believe these are from the late 1990’s – early 2000’s:

Aren’t they gorgeous? See, everything Petah does has a bit of magic to it!

And finally, let’s finish up with a whole bunch of birds:

Love, love, love! I cannot even begin to express how much this episode meant to me and the progression of my own artwork. Thank you so much to Petah for being so warm, generous, brilliant and wise; and of course, thank YOU for listening. There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.

Other Links:

1. Petah on Instagram
2. Galerie Lelong & Co, NYC
3. SVA (School of Visual Art, NYC)
4. Alice Aycock, Artist
5. Donna Dennis, Artist
6. Jodi Pinto, Artist
7. Kenji Fujita, Artist
8. Daisy Patton, Artist
9. SFMoMA video with Petah {so good!}
10. New York Times – Art section
11. Whitney Museum of American Art
12. The Brooklyn Museum
13. MoMA
14. Toby Lewis, Collector
15. Strand Book Store, NYC
16. Chanel
17. My latest work

Oh my. This is the work of Los Angeles based artist Todd Gray. Well, actually, he works between Los Angeles and Ghana, where he “explores the diasporic dislocations and cultural connections which link Western hegemony with West Africa.” Brilliant and beautiful. As a collage artist, I am absolutely in love with these stunning compositions / juxtapositions of images… and all of those found frames? LOVE.

Uh, yep, that looks exactly right. Quick personal aside, this is precisely how I felt when I went from being a full-time Creative Director to a full time At-Home Mama. Oof, it was a tricky transition {I burned a shitload of cookies}. Anywho, this photography series – that clearly strikes a chord with me – is the work of Chicago based artist Patty Carroll. All of these images are from the latest iteration, titled ‘Demise’, of her ongoing series ‘Anonymous Women’. Here is the description from Patty’s site:

“‘Anonymous Women’, consists of a 3-part series of studio installations made for the camera, addressing women and their complicated relationships with domesticity. By camouflaging the figure in drapery and/or domestic objects, Carroll creates a dark and humorous game of hide-and-seek between her viewers and the Anonymous Woman …

In the latest narratives, “Demise,” the woman becomes the victim of domestic disasters. Her activities, obsessions and objects are overwhelming her. Her home has become a site of tragedy. The scenes of her heartbreaking end are loosely inspired by several sources including the game of clue, where murder occurs in one of five rooms of the house: Dining Room, Kitchen, Hall, Conservatory, and Library.”

Domestic disasters… ah yes, I know them well.

Oh. My. Word. This is the absolutely stunning work of American photographer Tawny Chatmon. Yes, photographs. Well, that’s where these Klimt-inspired beauties begin. Here is part of her statement that explains why, and how, she does what she does:

“The primary theme that drives my art practice today is celebrating the beauty of black childhood. I am currently devoted to creating portraits that are inspired by artworks spanning various art periods in Western Art with the intent of bringing to the forefront faces that were often under-celebrated in this style of work. 

My camera remains my primary tool of communication, while my constant exploration of diverse ways of expression moves me to add several different layers using a variety of mediums. After a portrait session is complete, I typically digitally manipulate my subjects and unite them with other components to achieve a work that is a new expression. Often lending to them the eyes of someone their elder and more wise and almost always exaggerating their hair and features in a celebratory way. Thereafter, I may superimpose antique patterns and textures, collage vintage botanical and wildlife illustrations, or add hand-drawn digital illustration. If I feel I am not yet complete, after each portrait is refined and printed, I may combine paint and gold leaf adding ornamental elements inspired by 19th-century artworks. By experimenting with various art practices, I allow myself to follow no set of rules while creating instinctually and fluidly. Each layer serves its very own meaningful purpose.”

Beautiful on so many levels.

 

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A post shared by Karen Navarro (@karennavarroph) on Mar 5, 2020 at 4:30pm PST

You hit play on that video, right? Wow. LOVE. This is the fabulous work of Karen Navarro, an Argentine-born artist currently based in Houston. These pieces are from two different, but similar, bodies of work. The red/pink pieces are from “Deconstruction”, and the more sculptural works are from her ongoing series titled, “The Constructed Self”. So, why does she slice and dice her portrait photography? I’ll let Karen explain:

“I depart from stereotypical photographic portraits of subjects to render them through constructive and deconstructive methods. To disrupt photography’s flat, two-dimensional surface I cut and reassemble the images to build sculptures and collages. I use photography as the basis for the three-dimensional objects as a means to challenge our visual perception. Often implying that identity is, in fact, a social construct while also engaging with notions of existentialist.”

Love.

Ahhh, LA based Stephanie Vovas is one of my favorite photographers… and let’s face it, one of my favorite people. Speaking of people, they are usually her subject matter, but recently Stephanie has also been pointing her camera in a few new directions. Gasp! These landscapes and interiors… but still with that golden, over-saturated, vintage Vovas flare! LOVE. To hire her for commercial work contact Stephanie here, OR purchase limited edition prints from her shop.

ps. Here’s a little reminder of her portrait work. I’m sure you’ll recognize it… I’ve written about her on the blog, curated her work into shows, told her story in my books, and she was guest number 3 on the podcast way back when! See, she really is one of my faves.

Gasp! This is the stunning work of Brazilian-born, US based artist Melissa Meier. All of these wearable sculptures {!?} are from her series, titled “Skins”. Here is the description from her site:

In her current series “SKINS”, Meier has created sculptural clothing hybrids, utilizing natural materials such as leaves, stones, fur, eggshells, wheat, rice, crystals, scales, sticks, feathers, pinecones and shells.

Inspired by Brazilian Carnival and Native American skin-walkers, her wearable constructions blend female empowerment with a self-created mythology, developed around the idea of ancient cultures of female warriors, exemplifying strength, beauty and unity of life lived in harmony with the elements. Her warrior women are breathtakingly sensual, while radiating a searing combination of purity and power.

Meier states, “At first I was inspired by the legends of indigenous people and how they used the skins of animals to transform into them, creating a bridge between the human and animal worlds. But as my work matured, I became equally interested in the future of fashion as an extreme form of kinetic sculpture.”

The costumes are developed into moveable, wearable sculptures that are brought to Life as performance art works, serve as independent sculptures and in their final documented form as archival fine art photographs.

This is where the work creates a bridge to the present and allows us to connect with and find ourselves reflected in her images of hidden, treasured cultures, heroines and spirit guides, imagined and real.

Beautiful. {Also, I want the crystal headpiece.}

 

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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}

Yep. Tiny sets, built in her studio, and then photographed. Thank goodness for that last photo, because I was having a hard time figuring out what kind of cotton-candy magic I was looking at! This is the work of Netherlands based artist Lisanne Hoogerwerf, and these are her poetic words that  explain this world she has created:

“Pictures keep appearing in my head, scenes without any clear relationship to mundane reality, landscapes inhabited by strange figures and filled with peculiar buildings. These images seen by the mind’s eye happen during a relaxed state of mind, also known as the Alpha State. The inner worlds then arising are emptied of the stresses and strains of everyday life. Neither busy traffic and urban architecture nor people to be seen.

In materializing and externalizing these images, I build such landscapes as small-scaled sets on a large table in my studio. By using materials like spray-paint, wood, wire, sand and stone, I transform these fugacious images from a mental into a physical reality. I then photograph and/or film these settings, after which I destruct the created scenes.

The resulting pictures show deserted places including faint notions of (earlier) human activity. There could be a billboard, a playground, or an emptied swimming pool. Almost nothing happens, yet these dreamlike scenes suggest that something has happened or is going to happen still.

I consider art as an important means to deepen the connections within ourselves. The deeper layers of our minds are filled with unknown images and messages. I want to focus on the inner ‘pictures’ and visualize them for you to see, too.”

Sigh. Beautiful.

This is “All the Clothes of a Woman (Hans-Peter Feldmann)” , and it is the washy watercolor work of German artist Manfred Naescher. Yes, he repaints previously created artworks – from Jeff Koons to Leonora Carrington – and I love them all. Here is Manfred’s artist statement:

“There is a paradox at the core of my drawing practice: What I do is both image-making and the avoidance of image-making. I hesitate adding to the continuous flow of visual material that we are subjected to daily, hourly, near-permanently. The creation of images, in my practice, is little more than an intentional side effect of my interest in the reflection on existing imagery: What is the image? Where does it come from? Why do we make it? How does it change in time? My work starts and ends with source material (usually from art history, that is, from the history of imagemaking or its margins): The source imagery remains clearly visible in the drawings, often placed at the center of the composition, isolated from its context, with an outline — a simple handdrawn line — providing clarity and sharp contours against the background of an indistinct cloud, inside of which digital image production is increasing at accelerating pace.”

… and here is the 1973 inspiration for these seventy paintings, titled “All the Clothes of a Woman” – a photographic series by German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann: