Nature Morph

sketchbook

I finally dug into my first moleskine sketchbook.  Where have I been all these years???  I love this product!  The creamy pages, the perfect size, and of course that initial thrill/apprehension of starting a new sketchbook.  It still feels very precious to me, and I'm sure the more I get into it, the messier and looser I will get.  But here's a first look.  I've been collaging images that are too fragile/flimsy to turn into "real" collages.  There is nothing better to chop up than the New York Times Magazine.

 

 

Happy new year, everyone!

Richmond art

I went to Transmission Gallery today to catch the Amanda Marie show and drop off some work for the flat files.  The director, Bret Payne, is the kind of gallerist that I love working with.  He is a straight shooter and is committed to the gallery and his vision for it in a really honest and down-home way, if that makes sense.  The paintings up in the gallery are spray paint and acrylic on vintage patterns on canvas stretched over wood panel.  They were fun and pop-y, and I liked them and bought one.

I tried to visit Ghostprint Gallery around the corner on Broad Street, but they were closed for the holidays, as I had expected most places would be.  I got to see ADA Gallery in the flesh at last; I've seen them at so many art fairs, but never in their actual space in Richmond.  They had a massive group show which was fun; my favorite pieces were the whimsical wall-mounted sculptures by Roberley Bell.  I just went on her website, which you should visit, and saw that these sculptures are part of her "Flower Blob" series.  Love it!  Here's one:

(Image from www.roberleybell.com)

Bret also recommended that I stop into Quirk, which is a fun gallery and shop selling work from indie designers.  The gallery scene around Broad Street in Richmond reminds me a lot of how things are back home in the South End of Boston, where there are galleries, cafes, and indie shops mixed into a gritty, rehabbing neighborhood.

I'm heading back to Boston tomorrow, eager to start on my artist book/zine project that came to me in the middle of the night when I had to put my daughter back to bed for the millionth time (sleeping in an unfamiliar bed does not equate sleeping through the night) and couldn't fall back to sleep myself.  See you then! 

Richmond redux

OK, that photo post I just uploaded so depressed me that I had to post something else a bit lighter.  So: mushroom forest drawings I made this morning with my daughter and her new set of glitter gel pens (like mother, like daughter), and a pile of new loot from Barnes & Noble. 

 

postcard from a seedy part of Richmond

Well, that was depressing!

spotting art

Greetings from Richmond!  It's a treat to escape from the snow and ice in Boston, though my mother set the oven on fire when she was cooking a turkey yesterday, so things have managed to be eventful here in a whole different way.

A few days ago, I finally went to see the Art Spotting show at the Distillery Gallery in South Boston.  The Boston Globe gave the show "gallery pick of the week" honors, which was pretty exciting.

So the art (all 5x5 inch pieces, which is really small in such a cavernous gallery space!) is installed all over the place, and you grab a pair of binoculars and start searching for it.  Here I am in action:

And this is the equipment provided:

One of my pieces was installed up by the ceiling pipes:

Here are some other views of the show:

 

In retrospect, this is one of those shows that really needs to be seen in person.  The activity of searching for art with binoculars makes the viewer become part of the exhibit and almost seems to turn the whole thing into one big participatory art project.  The viewers scattered through the gallery, frozen in place with binoculars, become inadvertent performers.  I would have to agree with the Globe's Cate McQuaid that the conceptual underpinnings of the show trump the actual artwork, but I think that's OK.  It's a fun show -- unique and unusual and clever.

I'll be back in a day or two, hopefully with some pictures of the show at Transmission Gallery here in Richmond. 

The week before New Year's is always such a weird time; I feel like everything is on hold until January 2nd, and then life resumes normalcy and starts rushing forward again.  I'm trying to lay low and be OK with doing that, even though there are a ton of things I need to begin preparing for.  I even did the unthinkable and went shopping today...

mega collage post

This is the last batch of collages for the year.  (Yes, I know there are only 9 days left in the year!)  Maybe I am done with them forever.  All I know is, I need to put the scissors and adhesive down and start painting again.

These are all 6x4 inches:

These are 7x5 inches:

 

On an unrelated note (though I've been appropriating his imagery here and there), have I mentioned that I'm totally obsessed with Goya these days?  More on that later...

catching up

I'm trying to get a million things done before my daughter's school is off for the holiday break.  I'm heading down to Richmond for a few days, where I'll be checking out the legendary Tacky Light Tour, as well as the new show at Transmission Gallery (where I'll be exhibiting with the fabulous Ryan McLennan in late '08).  Transmission has a new blog you can check out here.

My art brain is still pretty much fried from Miami, so I've just been making some fun little collages until I'm ready to kick things back into high gear and work large-scale again.

 

fight for flight show

Readers of this blog probably realize that I have a bit of an obsession with mushrooms and birds.  So when I was invited to be part of a show to benefit National Bird Day and the Animal Protection Institute, I was all for it.  The show, called "Fight for Flight," will be at Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles opening January 4. 

I am secretly hoping that I will magically materialize in Los Angeles along with my artwork...  In any event, these are the two pieces I made for the show, an owlshroom and a bunch of woodpeckershrooms:

They are smallish (9x12 inches) collages.  I am going to ship them out first thing in the morning and then work like crazy to finish a few large watercolors that have been stuck (ha! Freudian slip: I first typed "sucked") in a very sad and unfinished state for weeks.  And then Santa needs to go shopping! 

just can't get enough

Can you tell that I love making these?  All are collaged paper, 12x9 inches.

Studio time today was stymied by the snow storm.  So: I spent the day working at the kitchen table and shoveling out the driveway.  With Miami out of the way, I am now getting ready for a group show called Zoologia Fantastica, which should be great just based on name alone.

Miami one more time

OK, I lied, there are some more photographs from Miami.

My pal Steven Zevitas, of osp gallery and New American Paintings fame, as well as an all-around great guy, gave me a perfect "I am only tolerating you taking my picture because you are my friend" face in his room at the Aqua hotel fair.  Note the fabulous Chuck Webster drawings installed behind him.

I realized that I only posted pictures of one half of the Skirts who run Allston Skirt Gallery.  Now that you've seen Beth Kantrowitz in a prior post, here's Randi Hopkins with me, toasting the fair and our mutual successes, with two bottles of the ubiquitous free beer that Aqua Wynwood had on hand. 

It was Day One, and we had already inadvertently dressed ourselves in the standard Miami uniform for women: tight and black.

More art at the Aqua hotel fair: Beverly Rayner's Compound Eye from G. Gibson Gallery.

Also at Aqua, Haydee Rovirosa Gallery had Maximo Gonzalez's room-filling, site-specific installation of collaged bits of foreign currency that, according to the gallery's website, address "the cruelties of colonialism, notions of racial supremacy and sexual abuse."It was heavy stuff, but also beautiful.  Lots of trees and wolves.  There was a sign on the door warning visitors that the contents of the room were not suitable for children.

Here is a detail shot of a wall piece, along with some smaller works on paper that were on a table in the middle of the room.

Over at Aqua Wynwood again: Carl Berg Gallery had up Lynn Aldrich's Reclamation Project (Sea Cave), a sculpture made of sponges, scrubbers, brushes, and scouring pads.  I've seen some of these before at Carl Berg, and I love them every time.  I just think they're so damn clever, and I love the idea of turning the unexpected and mundane into art.

I sort of liked these Miron Schmuckle watercolors, but then I started seeing them everywhere, in practically every fair, and I thought: enough already.  Here they are anyway:

San Francisco gallery Bucheon had these soft sewn sculptures by Martha Sue Harris that I just loved for their smart combination of whimsy and creepiness.  And, you know, I do a lot of sewing, mostly for my daughter in the form of clothes, quilts, stuffed animals, and other things that a five year old girl loves, and I haven't made any Art with a capital A that has incorporated sewing since my first year of art school, which was, uh, ten years ago.  So there.

Also at Bucheon were other fabulous art objects, including these painted brushes.

I just realized I have no idea who the artist is, and I checked on Bucheon's website to no avail.   I should probably not post them until I know the artist.  Anyone know?

That's all for tonight.  There are more photos from Miami that may or may not get posted later this week.  I think I'm done, I've had it, I'm over Miami.  Kaput.

But wait!  The artist Chris Nau is not escaping undocumented: