Ancient art meets the mean streets of Chicago… well, the potholes anyway. Artist/designer Jim Bachor and I are talking about his gorgeous mosaic work, his 85 year old lookout, the fact that people are truly awesome, and me possibly dressing up as Jim for Halloween. You can listen right up there under that glass ‘n marble ice cream sandwich, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, “THIS IS NOT A POTHOLE anymore”…

No, it isn’t! It’s an amazing piece of art that I would love to happen upon while out for a walk! Yep, Jim’s ice creams are my faves, of course, and we’ll get back to them in just a moment. But first, here are the portraits of his twin boys (Henry and Ajax), along with two other portraits. If one piece of glass doesn’t transfer, these very detailed faces can end up looking really weird. Luckily all of these beauties worked out just fine…

Wow. Also, I love that he’s using this ancient technique to make Starbucks cups and cigarettes.

So. This is it. Jim’s very first pothole, naturally titled “POTHOLE”…

Ah, yes, art born from necessity. If the city won’t fill the pothole in front of your house, just fill it with art!

He said that he was a little bit scared of getting in trouble for the pothole. He had just won a commission to create a mosaic at Thorndale Red Line station on Chicago’s North Side and didn’t want to risk losing it. Thankfully, he didn’t get in any trouble for his pothole-fixing, and the mural project went off without a hitch. Oh, and it’s gorgeous…

Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful – good friends are beautiful. Enter Pat, Jim’s friend who emailed everyone… including me! Here’s a little bit of that very supportive email…

… Jim studied the mosaic arts for months in Italy. Now he’s not only selling his own pieces, but he decided to share some of  his “mysterious” work with the public. Me? I’m Pat. Never mind about me. I’m Jim’s friend and Jim is a bit flummoxed by this whole publicity thing. So, grub worm that I am, I took it upon myself to promote my pal.

“Me? I’m Pat. Never mind about me.” Ha! I think I may to put that on a T-shirt!

Ok, up next we really got into the whole pothole thing. What do people hate? Potholes. What do people love? Flowers…

… and ice cream …

YES! Oh, I love Jim’s “Treats in the Streets”. That pink and yellow piece just above was the piece he did in Finland. Site-specific ice cream potholes? Fan-freakin-tastic! 

Now, Finland is certainly not the only place he’s filled a pothole or two. The day before we did this interview Jim had been in San Antonio. He’d reached out to his followers there, was pointed to this specific pothole, and while he was there he filled it with a bit of “trash”. As part of his “Pretty Trashy” series he paid homage to San Antonio’s own “Whataburger”. Here he is in action – orange vest, cones, knee pads and all – followed by a few more trashy potholes from the same series…

Love. So, when Jim isn’t filling potholes with very, very expensive glass tiles, he is creating fine art mosaics that can hang on the wall. Once again, ancient technique and pop culture come crashing together. Here are two pieces from his cereal series…

Mmmm… insanely detailed glass and marble Cocoa Puffs!

This is the piece he was talking about, from his latest series titled “Fake”, with the tiny plane in the top corner. Again, his combination of old and new is just so perfect…

That red circle is printed onto the glass that sits over top of the mosaic, bringing your attention to the plane. Graphic. Clever. Beautiful.

And that’s that. Ahhh, I loved that conversation so much! What a talented, smart, funny guy! So how should we leave off? I thought this would be perfect…

He certainly has. One pothole at a time. Thanks so much to Jim for taking the time to do this with me; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE {or to pick up any other book you might want} just use my link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. And you guessed it… thank YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Jim’s store (originals, prints, etc)
2. Jim’s Instagram … so you can see him in action!
3. Map to find the potholes

Hello? allo allo! I wrote about Canadian painter Randy Hryhorczuk just over 7 years ago… 7 years! Well, I loved his billboards then, and I love them now! His portfolio is full of phone booths, abstracts, and airplanes but my heart will always belong to his ice cream colored, clever, beautifully painted billboards. Happy Friday.

What’s the name of that book? You know, the one about the guy with the face? Exactly. These paintings are the hilarious work of California based artist Marina Luz. This ongoing series is titled, IF I DON’T FIND THIS BOOK I WILL DIE, or, How We Describe Books When We Can’t Remember the Title or Author. The idea for this work came to her while trying to track down one of her favorite forgotten books. She searched for “Iceberg Shows Up Overnight in Front of Hotel”, hence the final book above, “ICE was in the title” … and FYI she still hasn’t figured this one out. Any thoughts?

{via Chronicle Books’ blog}

Storyboards for a beautiful, and slightly insane, movie? They very well could be! This series, titled “Jungle”, is the surreal, vibrant, and beautifully composed work of LA based French artist Reine Paradis:

“Each scene is imagined and pre conceptualized before shooting in real locations. All the objects are meticulously designed and placed within the scene, along with Paradis herself as the central figure.”

Aha! I wondered how she got that lady in red to do all of those crazy things. Hm, I wonder what’s going to happen in the sequel.

Dreamy clouds, perfect lines, and little touch of gold here and there… sigh… this is the beautiful work {oil on paper} of San Diego based artist Leah Pantéa…. BUT, she happens to be living/working in Iceland at the moment. I can’t help but assume that this work is inspired by her time in that magical place. These are just a few pieces from her most recent series, titled “Janus”. Stunning. And I just had to get in there and show those close-ups, because, wow.

{You can reach out to Leah directly if you’re interested in purchasing her work.}

Whoa, whoa, whoa… wait. I thought these were perfect key line drawings. They are… except that instead of pencil lines, they’re iron rods. Perfect iron rods welded into line drawings! This is the work of Toronto based artist, designer, and teacher James Maxwell. If you’d like to see these beauties in person, James has a show on now through the end of September at the Elaine Fleck Gallery {1351 Queen St. West,  Toronto}. Metal?!

Pinups and Canadiana, indeed! Today I’m talking to Vancouver based artist/illustrator Ryan Heshka, a proud fellow Canadian, about his sassy, pulp-inspired work. There are mean girls, “Mystery Twins”, and so much perfect found paper I can hardly stand it … we also covered important topics like underage drinking in barns on the Canadian Prairies. You can listen right up there under “The Wood Gang”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Ok, let’s kick things off with a few of my favorite gals:

Yes. I love these! I told Ryan I pictured him being a comic-obsessed kid when he was little. Apparently I was right, and here’s proof… two of Ryan’s “early” works, followed by a more recent piece:

Ha! So cute, so funny! Well, given his love for Batman, it’s not surprising that these masked ladies eventually showed up in his portfolio. Batman + babes =

Oh, the bubblegum… those two might be my favorite set of Ryan’s “Mystery Twins”! Up next, we were talking about a few of his pieces where text, from the found paper he uses, shows through into his work:

So, so, so good. And I can almost smell that old paper from here! Mmmmmm.

There were two pieces I wanted to hear the story behind… they’re the first two below. They kind of led us into a Canadiana tangent, so I put a couple of those here too {note “Rolanda” on the jacket of the Blue Bird on the right}:

Ah yes, makes me proud to be Canadian… I was never Miss.Canadiana though. Well, something to work towards I suppose.

Ok, now Ryan’s books! He’s done a few: “Welcome To Monster Town”, “ABC Spook Show”… but this one has to be my fave:

Smoking, drinking, and stealing bras. Yep, mean girls being mean. If you want your own copy of “Mean Girls Club”, you can find it here.

Oh, and I always like to know what an artist’s studio looks like, so Ryan sent these along for the post. Check out his amazing view of that Vancouver sky:

Wowza! His cat doesn’t seem impressed though.

And finally, after all of that pinup / Canadiana action, I felt like this was the perfect painting to finish with:

Yep, there’s even a beaver. Thanks so much to Ryan for taking time out of his very busy, sleep-deprived day to do this with me; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE {or to pick up any other book you might want} just use my link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. And as always, thank YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Martha Rich  / Mark Todd  / Esther Pearl Watson
2. Kate Larkworthy Illustration, NY
3. IKEA Ribba Frames!
4. Corn & Apple Festival, Morden Manitoba

DRAWINGS. Um, that’s insane. You know what else is insane? This artist is 22 years old. Yeah. This is the work of Brazilian artist Ritchelly Oliveira… I can’t even begin to imagine what his future holds. 22!?

What!? Urban cross-stitching… oh my word. This is the work of Spanish artist/set designer Raquel Rodrigo. Wire mesh and some very colorful rope working together to create lovely gardens on the walls around Madrid. Sigh. Yeah, I need her roses all over the front of my house.

{via Colossal}

Oh my goodness, I love these paintings so much! This is the most recent work from New York based Angela Fraleigh. I’ve written about her before, in early 2015, but I just found out that she has a new show, titled “Between Tongue and Teeth”, opening this coming Saturday. How could I not tell you about it!? Here is the gallery’s description of this exhibition/Angela’s work:

“Combining abstraction and realism, [Angela Fraleigh’s] visually seductive and complicated paintings reflect on art history, literature, and popular culture. For the Everson, Fraleigh presents new paintings inspired by works in the Everson’s collection, women of the Arts and Crafts movement and important female figures in the history of Central New York.”

If you’d like to see these beauties in person, visit Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY – September 24th till December 31, 2016.