Um, so I don’t know where American artist Crystal Wagner buys her paper, but MY paper does not do this! Crazy, beautiful, intricate, and in some cases, COLORFUL sculptures made of, yes, paper. My brain hurts. In a really, really good way. If you happen to be in San Francisco, you can see Crystal’s work at Hashimoto Contemporary … Join them for the opening night reception this Saturday, November 3rd from 6pm-9pm {ps. Crystal will be there!}. The show runs until November 24, 2018.

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!

What, how!? Markers. Yes. Paris based Ronan Bouroullec knows how to play with color. By day, he and his brother Erwan design everything from furniture to textiles, vases to lighting … but later that day you’ll find these inspiring curves and lines filling this drool-worthy Instagram feed. I don’t know about you, but I have to go see if I have any markers that aren’t dried out.

I am a sucker for portraits, and these large-scale beauties are no exception! This is the work of Montreal based painter Janet Werner. If any of these women look strangely familiar, this might be why:

[Janet’s] work focuses on the fictional portrait as a vehicle to explore notions of subjectivity and desire. Her paintings operate within and against the genre of conventional portraiture, taking found images of anonymous figures in popular culture and imbuing them with fictional personalities.

LOVE. Happy Monday.

This is the absolutely awe-inspiring work of Madrid born, New York based painter Antonio Santin. Yes, PAINTER. These ‘rugs’ are in fact oil paintings. Figurative oil paintings… except that the figures are all hidden:

“The rug series evolved from his ongoing interest in the opacity of fabric as a device to obscure the body with abstract patterns and textures. Each of these works brings the background into the foreground while a discernible figure hovers beneath the surface.”

Crazy. Beautiful. Happy Friday.

Oh boy, she’s at it again … and now she’s doing it every single day! Yep, the last time I wrote about Canadian artist Andrea Soos, she was painting on the side while running an art workshop business. Well, a few months ago, she made THE BIG JUMP and has officially become a full-time artist. And she is on FIRE. Dots, arcs, dripping color… Andrea is ridiculously prolific and, from what I can tell via her Instagram feed, most likely covered in paint.

ps. Her work sells fast, but you can find both canvas and paper pieces on her site.

Ooh, those lines, color palettes, and sneaky caught-on-camera points of view! This is the work of American painter Mychaelyn Michalec, and this is why (and how) she does what she does:

My work depicts ultramodern scenes of domestic life. Creating large scale paintings (some 7 feet tall), I use family life as a reference. Documenting life covertly,  I use my phone’s camera to capture our relationships with each other and daily life. Social media has idealized family life, but I try to depict moments of both simultaneous disconnect and connection.

Oh my word. So. Many. Knots! Sigh. This beautiful, year-long project is the work of San Francisco based artist Windy Chien… and that’s all I’m going to say, because she explains it perfectly :

I made one new knot every day in 2016: The Year of Knots

On the fourth day of January in 2016, I was at home in San Francisco in my backyard woodworking shed sweeping up sawdust, tidying the workshop, aware of the new year ahead. I wondered, idly, what it might bring. What happened next—in a flash—was completely unexpected: I had an actual ‘lightbulb moment,’ the kind I thought happened only in fiction. In the space of seconds, an entire year of knots laid itself out to me. Yes, knots—as in rope, tied … 

2016 unfurled itself in my mind as I swept: I would learn one new knot each and every day of the year. I would post the daily results on Instagram, not only to keep myself accountable, but as a reference and a record. I would include captions explaining the knots’ names, histories, and utility, so that others could learn alongside me. I had no idea then if others would be interested, but I hoped they might be. I instantly intuited the project’s self-imposed design constraints—such as making the knots out of white rope and photographing them on a white background for visual consistency and in order to emphasize what I find to be the most compelling element of the art of knot-making: the line. 

I would allow myself to fully and deeply explore the aesthetics of objects we usually think of as merely functional. Knots seem humble but are feats of engineering. What is the direction of pull? Is the knot made from a single line, or more than one strand? Does the knot move or is it fixed? Where is its tension?

The Year of Knots gave me many rich things.

1. A daily ritual that allowed me to quickly access the blissful state of flow that had previously been so elusive to me.
2. My art school, where I learned the elemental building blocks of art: line, form, shape, space, texture, and color.
3. A history lesson, where I learned knots’ context in nautical life, the material and physical properties of rope, and how for any given situation there’s a knot that is right while all the others are wrong.
4. Most importantly, the knots are a new language. Every new knot is like learning another letter in the alphabet. Alphabets and letters form words, and words communicate. So the knots are a new form of communication, to make, as Rebecca Solnit puts it, “the mute material world come to life.” 

Love.

{Currently installed at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA}

Wildflowers, mushrooms, butterflies, acrylic, ink, and vellum on canvas. Loooooooove. This is the work of Los Angeles based artist Sage Vaughn. I saw his work in person this week while I was in San Francisco, and loved it immediately. I actually gasped out loud when I came face to face with one of his canvases… and THEN I saw this:

WHAT. A huge, beautiful, drippy, wheatpaste flower-covered mural complete with forest critters? Oh, yes! Sage installed this beauty at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, thanks to the Facebook Artist-in-Residence program (aka @fbairprogram). I love everything about it – the scale, the detail, and the fact FB employees get to eat lunch surrounded by this weird meadow every single day. So. Good. Happy Monday.

Third time lucky! Yep, this is the third time I’ve had New York based artist Trey Speegle on the podcast. We’ve covered his childhood, 80’s in New York and everything in between… but today we’re talking about Andy Warhol! Trey’s new studio/gallery, Gallery 52, has a show up right now, for one more week, filled with all things Warhol… and so is this episode! Also, I could listen to Trey’s story alllll day long… wind him up and let him go! You can listen right up there under Andy’s purple cow, or subscribe on iTunes.

So, let’s not waste any time … here’s just some of the bits ‘n pieces of ‘Warhol Ephemera’ that are part of this wonderful time capsule / show:

Isn’t that crazy? And that’s just the tip of the Warhol iceberg. Thank goodness Trey is a collector, stashing away hundreds of paint-by-number kits for his own work, and also saving all of these amazing pieces of art history.

Speaking of which, here are a few of the photographs he mentioned. After we talked, Trey went through them a little more carefully and look what he found:

Himself! Well, those top two strips are photos of Trey taken by Andy at a party, and the contact sheet below features the shirt Trey designed, being worn by John Sex.

Next, his beautiful new space in upstate New York. Introducing Gallery 52…

How fantastic is THAT? If you find yourself in Jeffersonville NY, stop in and say hello… and then buy some stuff!

Oooh, and I have to show you these… Trey’s flowers, on repeat:

LOVE! Not only do I love that he has used this image over and over in different ways {very Warholian}, I also love how generous Trey is about creativity. He has so many great ideas around getting unstuck and just playing. He even offers his images for people to play with {the folder above for example}.

And finally, I know you want to see this guy:

Ha! Terrifyingly awesome… the clown cookie jar! Thanks so much to Trey for telling me all of his stories, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode {and I’ll see you next week at The Other Art Fair in LA!}; and as always, thank YOU for listening. There won’t be an episode next weekend, but I’ll be back the week after that. See you then.

Other links:

1. Martha Rich
2. Ashley Longshore, Episode No. 135
3. Trey’s Coloring Book + {gift packs etc}
4. Trey, Episode No.4
5. Trey, Episode No.80