Gasp! This is the colorful, beautifully composed, mushroom-filled work of American artist Jill Bliss. She draws and paints as well, but it’s her “Art Medley” photograph series that has my heart. She clearly knows how to seek out the best bits of the forest, and then arranges them into vibrant odes to the great outdoors. And it turns out, Jill is truly committed to being one with nature:

“I spent my seminal childhood years on a plum and walnut farm in northern California, while my adult life as a designer and artist took place in the big cities of New York, San Francisco and Portland OR. In 2012 I sold most everything I owned and bought a van, embarking on a year-long self-imposed west coast sabbatical to reconnect with the slower natural pace and living things I knew and adored as a child. That sabbatical year has stretched into a new life chapter – I’ve been living, working, traveling and exploring amongst the Salish Sea islands of Canada and Washington State ever since.”

Sigh. So dreamy.

Yes, the island vibes continue this week… well, with a little nod to my fellow snow-loving Canadians. This is the work of UK born, LA based photographer Lukas Griffin. I was immediately pulled in by his color palettes, his absolutely stunning use of negative space, AND there is an entire section of his portfolio dedicated to Hawaii. Ah, a man after my own heart. Okay, I’ll be spending this whole week recreating three of the four images above, but will be back with fresh posts after that … aloha!

Okay, yes, I am totally dating myself by admitting that all of these could easily be my childhood photos. This embroidered pixel magic is the work of LA based artist Diane Meyer… and clearly the perfect choice for my Christmas Eve post. I will be hibernating with my family for the next week or so, and I hope you are snuggled in with the ones you love. Thank you for being part of my artsy world this year, and I will see you again – for a fresh start filled with creativity, new projects, and oh so much art – in 2019.

Special bits from 2018:

• ‘Worthy of Worth’ {post}
• ‘Big Picture, Baby’ {show}
• A BIG IMPORTANT ART BOOK – Now With Women {book}
• Venice Biennale {teaching / gelato eating}
• Amy Sherald on ‘Art For Your Ear’ {podcast}
• Ashley Longshore on ‘Art For Your Ear’ {podcast}
• Judi Cumming, aka my mom, on ‘Art For Your Ear’ {podcast}
• ….. Allllll of the podcast episodes!
• ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get’ ♥ {post}

ps. My first Christmas / proof that Diane could easily use my photos in her work … there’s even a Raggedy Ann!

Happy Holidays to you and yours, from me and mine ~ Love, Danielle xo

Have you ever wondered what ghosts do when it’s not Halloween? Well, American artist Angela Deane has allllll of the answers for you… turns out they ride bikes, float in pools, and go on cruises {obviously}. Have a safe and happy Halloween, everyone!

Oh my word… all hail New York based artist Mickalene Thomas. Patterns, women, jewels, glitter, more patterns! All of her work is so rich, not only with visual treats, but also with power and meaning. Here is a perfect description found on her “about” page:

“Mickalene Thomas makes paintings, collages, photography, video, and installations that draw on art history and popular culture to create a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power. Blurring the distinction between object and subject, concrete and abstract, real and imaginary, Thomas constructs complex portraits, landscapes, and interiors in order to examine how identity, gender, and sense-of-self are informed by the ways women (and “feminine” spaces) are represented in art and popular culture.”

YES! And those “feminine” spaces are FANTASTIC! If you ever get a chance to immerse yourself in one of Mickalene’s installations, DO IT. Here’s a little peek:

Love. Happy Monday.

Oh my word… found fashion! These funny, beautiful, quick ‘n clever collages are the work of an artist named Martha, known as @smallditch on Instagram. That’s all I know for sure, and so I’ve decided to imagine the rest. Here we go … Martha heads out on her lunch break {because on one of her posts she said “this helps me get out of the office”}, carrying a little box of tiny, stiletto-clad legs in her bag. As she walks down the street to pick up coffee – and or lunch – Martha keeps a lookout for the perfect leaf, feather, or piece of trash. And she finds it. Every damn time. The end.

ps. If you are a fashion brand, please call her because how cool is this!? Also, they look fabulous when blown up to large-scale!

Okay, who wants to go on summer vacation with this guy? Me too! I often post about painters whose work looks photographic… well today I had to do double-take for the opposite reason. Yep, these saturated dreamlands are photographs, not paintings. This is the work of Australian photographer Ben Thomas, and yes, I would happily plan my next holiday using his colorful portfolio as my itinerary … looks like we’re going everywhere from Coney Island to Dubai! Happy Friday.

psst… Some of Ben’s work is part of a summer group show currently on view at Duran | Mashaal in Montreal.

I can already feel this post being ‘flagged’, but that’s kind of the whole point. Why should breasts be flagged as upsetting or scandalous? Anywho, I digress. This is the work of Berlin based photographer Annique Delphine from her series titled, “Objectify Me”. I absolutely love this work, and the artist statement that goes along with it:

“As women we are conditioned from an early age that what’s most important about us is the way we look and the way our body feels in someone else’s hands. We are nothing if we aren’t aesthetically pleasing and act humble about it. 
Breasts are the most objectified and sexualized part of women’s bodies. You can literally buy breasts as objects in novelty stores, on amazon, in sex toy stores, etc..
 When I came across these rubber balls made to look and feel like the real thing (only perfected in an eery unattainable way) I knew I had to photograph them. It is a playful way for me to explore my own internalized sexism, and how it has shaped my relationship with my own body. Because even though I know all images of women’s bodies I see in the media have been tampered with I’m still trying to look like those images. I know they aren’t the real thing but that doesn’t stop me from hating my body for being “just“ that.
 Media constantly dismembers, packages and displays women’s bodies for the purpose of selling really anything: cars, burgers, beer, weapons, … body issues, self-hate, insecurity … 
We have been objectified to such an extent that we are no longer seen as human beings but as sexual gadgets. We have been separated from our whole. Turned into a commodity. Femininity has been so far removed from our nature that it has become alien to people. Something they are afraid of. Something that needs to be controlled, censored or concealed as if it were a looming threat. But I believe the real threat is the imbalance that has been cultivated from this patriarchal society.” 

Bravo!

{Found via ‘The Other Art Fair”... btw, deadline for “The Other Art Fair” coming up in both LA and Brooklyn, is July 30th!}

Oooh, well hello “Rainbow Road”! These are just a few of my favorite pieces in this series by American artist Daniel Mercadante. He and his wife Katrina are filmmakers, and run “The Mercadentes” together, but these rainbow roads are Daniel’s still photography work. Well, kinda still…

“Using long exposure photography and a  custom built lighting rig covered in colored gels, the process of creating the images is surprisingly simple: the roads are created by Daniel running around with the lighting rig. No other post-production manipulation occurs, other than basic color and exposure balancing.”

Running around making rainbow roads in the woods? Hell, YES!

{I discovered Daniel’s work, and the quote above, via Colossal.}

“Icy Blondes” is a series by Norwegian photographer Ole Marius Joergensen… yes, photographer. Did you think these were paintings? Me too. In this series, his bizarre, narrative, painterly photographs capture what appear to be some very intense cinematic moments inspired by Hitchcock’s femme fatales:

“The well-know US film critic Roger Ebert observed that Alfred Hitchcock’s leading ladies, ‘reflected the same qualities over and over again. They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion and fetishism. They mesmerized the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps.”

Well, beware the icy blonde, I guess. Happy Monday.