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Rawr. Ok, just to be clear, Italian born, Berlin based cross-disciplinary artist Michela Picchi does paint more than tigers, but I couldn’t control myself. Can you blame me? Her tigers, and tigers ‘n girls, and more tigers are fan-freaking-tastic … clearly, a perfect way to end the week ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
“Between Red” is a gorgeous, albeit scary, oil painting series by South Korean artist Sea Hyun Lee. The reason I say scary? He served in the military, and these insanely detailed mountain views are what he saw in the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea. Next question… why red?
“I would wear night vision goggles, which coated everything in red. The forests and trees felt so fantastic and beautiful. It was unrealistic scenery filled with horror and fear, and with no possibility of entering.”
Beautiful, while absolutely terrifying.
Oil pastel on paper. Ah-mazing. The work of Minneapolis based artist Terrence Payne always blows my mind, and this new body of work, titled “Family Fremds”, is no exception. Here’s what it’s all about:
“Family Fremds examines the ways in which communities of faith can be turned against one another by exploiting their differences and diminishing their common values.”
Sad, true, powerful, and beautiful. Some of his work is currently hanging at Rosalux Gallery {Minneapolis} in a two-person show titled “Feral Fables”. It will be up until the end of this month.
ps. There won’t be a podcast episode this coming weekend as I’m knee-deep in my very exciting “visiting professor” role at the University of Wisconsin, BUT may I suggest you listen to the episode I did with Terrence awhile back. It’s hilarious and one of my favorites. The episode is titled “Pastels, Perfection, and Prince”, which pretty much sums it up!
Super beautiful / bizarre porcelain? Nope, even better… oil paintings of super beautiful / bizarre porcelain. This is the weirdly wonderful work of Canadian painter Ambera Wellmann. She also happens to be the 2017 winner of the RBC Painting Competition, a prestigious {and lucrative} award given to one Canadian painter each year. Excellent choice jurors, excellent choice!
Oh, the paintings of Baltimore based painter Amy Sherald. I love her work, and guess who else does? Michelle Obama. Yes! On October 13th, it was announced that the former first lady has chosen Amy to paint her official portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery! Amazing, and literally the perfect choice. I cannot wait to see the final painting. Can. Not. Wait.
ps. President Obama made a wonderful choice too… Kehinde Wiley will be painting Barack’s portrait!
So, that’s a painting. Yeah. I’ve been dying to talk to Canadian artist Lindsay Arnold about this ongoing series for ages. It’s titled “Tedium”, and in case you haven’t listened to the episode yet, I read her artist statement about this work. I’m going to post it here too because it’s just too perfect to be missed:
“In my grandmother’s time the doily was required for protecting surfaces, concealing imperfections, ornamenting surroundings, and measuring status. Today doilies are found in abundance at thrift stories, auctions and forgotten linen closets. Hours of female labour are represented in these worn, stained and unfashionable objects. The imperfections which have rendered the doilies unusable for their original purpose inspire narratives which are further explored through interactions with objects such as scissors, pins, and utensils. The doilies are stretched, torn, and misshapen, such as we are by marriage, illness, motherhood and more. “Tedium” is way to honour the difficult experiences which leave us worn, acknowledge thankless repetitive labour, and reveal a part of the anonymous doily maker’s story.” ~ Lindsay Arnold
See? Beautiful, and it sets up everything you’re about to see. That said, here are a few of my favorite paintings from this gorgeous series:
Oh my word. They’re just too good. Paintings. How are they paintings?
Now, before I show you all of the other pieces I’m in love with from that series, I want to show you a few of the drawings from one of Lindsay’s earlier series, titled very appropriately, “Rooted”:
Ah yes, I remember all of that from those first few years as a new mother. Sigh. So lovely, so smart … and fantastic that her mentor at the time, Canadian artist Holly Fay, encouraged her to turn these from something she did while her baby napped, into a full project bound into a gorgeous “artist book”.
And now, back to “Tedium”! This is where it began… perfect doilies drawn with a dip pen and white ink. And those shadows… oh, the shadows {they’re what made me assume these were photos during a quick scroll-by}:
… and then things started to get not so perfect, because imperfection is so much more interesting {and real!}:
Seriously. Paintings. Now, how about watching some real doilies in action! Here’s a trailer for the video Lindsay created using her delicate muses:
So fun! If you’d like to see the full video, you can find it right here.
Speaking of fun …
Yes, both Lindsay and I in all our catty / Halloweenie goodness! Meow. Thanks so much to Lindsay for answering all of my prying questions; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting yet another episode; and HUGE thanks to you for listening. I’m on my way to the University of Wisconsin for the entire week, because they’ve invited me to be a visiting professor – obviously I’ve tried desperately to buy a corduroy jacket with elbow patches, but alas, nothing. Anyway, all of this to say there won’t be a podcast this coming weekend, so have a great Halloween {I’m sure we’ve inspired you with our costumes}, and I will be back with a new episode on Saturday, November 4th!
ps. If you want to listen to an older episode while I’m away, you can find all one hundred and ten of them right here.
Other links:
… and the winner is… Ngaio Blackwood! Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and of course thanks to Jane for being so generous!
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Ooooh, brand new EMBROIDERY work by New Zealand based artist Jane Denton. Yep, I had to put that in caps so you’d realize this is in fact EMBROIDERY, not graphic prints. I’ve written about her before {and she was on the podcast}, and her colors were much brighter back then. These dreamy, quiet, barely there beauties are my new faves! Now, are you thinking to yourself, “wait, isn’t the first photo in this post the same as the last photo?” Why, yes, yes it is. That’s because Jane would like to give that piece to one of you! Oh Kiwis, they’re so sweet. Just leave a comment below and I’ll select one winner on Monday October 23rd. Good luck, and happy weekend!
What? Acrylic paintings, that’s what. This is the very precise work of Canadian artist Laura Payne. I feel a tiny bit dizzy, but in a really, really good way. I’m not sure how this is the first time I’m seeing Laura’s work, but thankfully, she was a finalist in the RBC Painting Competition and so her stunning work showed up in my inbox this morning. Now I want one.
In case you’re wondering, yes, those geometric bits are embroidery surrounding those beautiful washy women… GAH! So beautiful. This is the work of American artist Sarah Detweiler. Some of her pieces are available in her Etsy shop. After you pop over there, I’d highly recommend following her on Instagram. Gorgeous finished pieces, works in progress, and lovely little videos of both. Dreamy.
Ok, let me begin by saying that photos do not do the work of American artist Lindsay Jones justice. I held some of her tissue paper pieces in my carefully gloved hands the last time I was in LA, and they’re so, so lovely! Speaking of which, her latest show, titled “Pattern Recognition” was just showing at Carbondale Arts in Colorado. It came down a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve done my best to give you a glimpse into the world she created. Here is a description of the show, found on the gallery’s site:
“Abstracting images from architecture and landscape, Lindsay Jones creates drawings, small sculptures, and installations out of materials such as paper, collage, and balsa wood. Her work is the result of her observations of the landscape; the rural, the urban, the exquisite, the boring, the natural, the unnatural, etc. Lindsay says she finds herself both in awe of, as well as disturbed by, the way that we build, and transform our environments, and believes that humanity will always be trying to figure out how to negotiate our life in this shared environment … This collection of drawings by Lindsay uses imagery from the Western Colorado and Utah deserts, whose environments she finds to be valuable because of their lack of human development.”
Beautiful. Now I have to go and make stuff.
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