Yep, these words are MATTRESSES. I know, right? I saw the work of American artist Stephanie Patton when I was in New Orleans this past summer, and immediately fell in love {turns out she is from a family of mattress makers so she comes by it honestly!}. Not only are these big cozy words amazing on their own, her artist statement warms my heart too:

“Humor plays an important role in my work. I often use it as a device to bring attention to more critical issues. Over the course of my artistic career I have found that creating humorous objects often breaks down barriers and allows for the beginning of an open and genuine dialog between my art, the audience and myself. In this way, humor transforms my personal experience into something universal.

Issues and elements that remain constant in my work are an exploration of mental and physical health, themes of healing, comfort and self-preservation. As a multi-media artist I use materials and processes that personally speak to my conceptual concerns and often allude to various emotional states.”

Stephanie is represented by Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans.

Curtains, kind of. Delicately balanced and made from polyurethane foam, latex and plastic… but if one of those brightly colored foam circles is removed, so is the tension and everything falls apart. Beautiful. This is the work of New York based artist Eva LeWitt {images from Oslo at VI, VII, Spring 2018}. She did an interview with Artsy a few years ago, and I love this answer about her material choices:

“I work the most freely when I limit my materials and techniques. I have the luxury of choosing this, but the greatest crafts and primitive arts are made only out of the materials at hand. For me this is the most exciting part of making sculpture—what are the inherent limits I can push this material to, how beautiful and interesting is it capable of becoming? What is that sack of sponges and that roll of tape concealing, and how can I reveal it?” 

YES! Oh, and if her last name sounds familiar, Eva’s father is Sol LeWitt. I love that she followed his artistic footsteps, but that she is absolutely forging her own path, pushing her work in new and exciting ways. {I wonder if she was named after her father’s friend, the fabulous artist Eva Hesse?}

{via DesignCrush}

Oh. My. Those colors, glazes, shapes … looooooove. This is the work of Texas based artist Angel Oloshove. While she also makes functional pieces, it’s these dreamy pieces – that seem to be lit from within – that are lighting me from within! I found her work on Uprise Art, and this is part of their description: “Angel Oloshove creates work that often experiments with painterly materiality, using atomized glazes to achieve surprising form and color.”  Yep!

Gasp! From moonscapes to the ocean floor … this is the breathtaking work of Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragao. Not only is she inspired by nature, Vanessa is doing something to protect it as well:

“The textile industry is one of the most polluting in the world. In almost everything process chemicals are used, specially when it comes to the fibers treatment and dyeing. All the machinery used requires tons of energy while producing a lot of waste and disposable trash. It is extremely harmful for our world and it affects all of its different natural environments, particularly the ocean which absorbs 90% of the atmosphere pollution, warming up itself to the point that so many species get threatened, being the corals, who sustain so many other creatures, one of the most endangered ones.

Vanessa believes in an upcycling effort towards the right way to try to fight against this kind of negative mindset described above. All the materials used come from the deadstock of several local factories which is first cleaned and then selected to recycle and reuse in her projects. Her production is completely artisanal and handmade by using ancestral techniques, like latch hook, felt, knitting, macrame and crochet, to create her artworks.”

Gasp! Again.

So here’s the thing… these collages are not collages, they are paintings of collages. Yep. This is the exquisite work of Vancouver based painter Fiona Ackerman. Here’s the other thing. Fiona is so prolific, that you really have to pay attention to what she’s doing, otherwise you might miss an absolutely gorgeous series … like this one, titled “Glasslands”:

“[This series] looks at the garden as both a reflection of the natural world, and an artificial construction. According to Foucault’s concept of Heterotopia, a garden is an other place where the true wild is reflected but subversively controlled. It both imitates and contests reality by simultaneously presenting a wild environment and its opposite, an orchestrated performance of nature, a choreography of growth. 

These paintings [26 in total] emerged from a process of exploration beginning with pieces of painted paper cut in shapes of foliage, placed inside a mirror box (hence, glass-land). The resulting three-dimensional mirrored images shatter, amplify and disrupt conventional views of nature rendered on a flat surface, giving rise to lush compositions with depth and unexpected juxtapositions. In this restrained inventory of sources, the artificiality of the parts contrasted with recognizable flashes of leaves, branches, blades of grass. Though painting, reflection becomes invention.”

Cut shapes in a mirror box? Oh my word, that’s another other thing! Love.

First, if you have a kimono like that, yes, drop everything and paint a self-portrait! Second, in reference to that block ‘o butter: “Yep, that’s a stick of butter. I make no apologies.” Hahaha! That’s a direct quote from the Instagram feed of California based artist Shannon D. Taylor. I love everything in Shannon’s weird and whimsical portfolio … is it any surprise that she also spends some of her time as the Director of Art and Restoration at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland? No, not at all. {ps. she also happens to be a professor in the Illustration Program at the California College of the Arts. Renaissance woman!} 

ps. Speaking of Fairyland, on Sept 28th {6 – 9pm} “Drawn Together” will be happening for the sixth year in a row! Tickets are now available for this magical evening of art, food, drink… and fairies! All of the ins and outs can be found right here.

Yes, I LOVE this. “Doubleface” is the latest series by Brazilian born, New York based artist Valeska Soares. Vintage paintings reversed, re-stretched (I assume), painted, and cut. She says, “these portraits are about creating a relationship with these women – about the history of portraiture, oil painting and abstraction.” Obviously I love the little peek we get of the portraits, but I also love the way Valeska has titled them… each piece named after the paint color featured. For example, the pieces above (from top to bottom) are :  “Nickel Titanium Yellow/Permanent Green”, “Gris de Payne”, “Turquoise Blue”, “Sap Green”, “Deep Cadmium Red”, and “Indian Red/Ivory Black”. Sigh. Here’s to a weekend filled with thrift shops and paint stores!

{Her work is on the cover of the September issue of Frieze.}

Oh, where do I even begin? I saw the work of Cuban-born, Puerto Rico based artist Zilia Sánchez at the Venice Biennale in 2017 and was drawn in immediately. If you’re wondering what you’re looking at, Zilia stretches her canvases (using hand-molded wooden pieces) into these very – I’m going to say ‘sensual’ – shapes. For the past 65 years she’s been exploring “juxtapositions between the feminine and the masculine, the painterly and the sculptural, the personal and the universal, the exterior body and the interior self.” And yes, I said 65 years. Zilia is now 92 and, as far as I know, still working. Inspired? Me too.

{quote via Galerie Lelong’s website}

“Protruding Patterns” by Chinese artist Lin Tianmiao. Wow. This work was shown last fall at Galerie Lelong in New York, and oh how I wish I could have seen this in person – walked on it, sat on it, laid down in and amongst the soft tufted words. What are those words you ask? Well, Lin has slowly been collecting phrases, words, and bits of language from books, newspaper, conversations, etc – all of which are sexist ways of describing women – from several places around the world (hence the various languages in this exquisite piece). Brilliant and beautiful.

{images via Design Boom, courtesy of Galerie Lelong}

Sarah Rayner is an Australian textile artist … who decided to give hand-carved porcelain a try. What!? Wow. Inspired by the local flora surrounding her in Queensland, Sarah now creates this lovely, delicate, NOT textile work. Gorgeous.