Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: Ambreen Butt, art, Carroll & Sons, Christmas, Parent, Toyota
Well, I made it through the holidays with my sanity mostly intact. WOO HOOOO!!! Now, I just have to make it through this vacation week until January 2, when school resumes. LORD HAVE MERCY. I’m sure that there are some parents out there with easygoing children. We’re not in that category. I keep trying to remind myself how I’ll miss this age in a year, but this thought doesn’t really help much. I just googled “child anger management.” Yes, we’re at that point. Did I mention that he’s only 5? I have gray hairs already set aside for his teenage years.
It’s kind of ridiculous to be “at that point” when we JUST had Christmas and my son’s 5th birthday. I know. Toys won’t solve childhood angst…even this one:
Yes. It’s hungry hungry hippos. LOVE. IT. Who’s world is not made more complete by this toy???? Apparently my son today at 5pm. I think that’s kind of the bewitching hour for kids anyway…that’s why the world created SpongeBob and Happy Hour.
Did I mention that my son has told me repeatedly that my smooches on his cheek are “irritating his skin”? Did I also mention that he walked into the kitchen the other day with his shoes, coat, and backpack on telling me that he was leaving? I fear that my chances for “Mother Of The Year” are slipping through my fingers. I quit my job as an architect to be a better mom. Is it working????? Based upon my recent parental “feedback”, I’d say “no”. I’m just glad that my son doesn’t know how to dial a phone yet, or else DSS might be at my doorstep any minute now.
In order to cope with my child’s angst and anger, I’m reawakening my drug of choice:
Yes…those are needles…but not the heroin kind. That’s knitting. For those of you that don’t knit…don’t start. It can be horribly addictive, socially isolating, and can create episodes of both euphoria and despair. Don’t even get me started on those crack dens called “knitting stores”. How bad can it really be when the result is a handmade woolly garment, right? Don’t be fooled. Just say “no”. The store employees are TOTAL ENABLERS. This is the kind of stuff they think is a good idea:
Hmm.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Ohhhhkay. NOW, I feel like “Mom Of The Year” in comparison to the parent of this poor child. Yes, that’s a HAT with a KNIT BEARD attached to it. No, I’m not kidding. People make these…many people. (None that you should get to know, though.) No, I’m really not kidding. I think that there should be a law against putting beard/hat combos on anyone who is not physically able to remove it IMMEDIATELY. Poor thing. Talk about irritating the skin…sheesh…I should show this to my son and perhaps he’ll consider himself lucky…
Besides not getting any artwork done, as it’s vacation/circus week here, I did manage (or rather, finagle) my way over to the South End to see the last day of a show at Carroll & Sons. I felt that I deserved to do this, as I had been waiting at the Toyota dealership that morning for my 50K tune up for THREE AND A HALF HOURS. You’d think with all of that time they could have cleaned out the explosion of crumbs on my son’s carseat…but I digress…
The show at Carroll & Sons was the work of Ambreen Butt. The title of the show was, “Beyond the Ideas of Rightness or Wrongness There is a Field; I’ll Meet You There.” I loved all of it, and I was so amazed at the breadth of her skill. Here are some images from the show:
So amazing, right? The radiating reliefs of toes and fingers were AMAZING. So beautiful, yet also a bit disturbing. The row of portraits are a sublime transformation of one person into another…brilliant! The huge collages which look like Persian rugs were astounding. As I managed to see this show on its last day, I can’t suggest that you run out and see it yourself. Take a look at the links to her website…she’s uber talented and I bask in her artistic virtuosity. It seems that she can do anything from beautiful paintings to compelling collages, to phenomenal sculpture…sigh. Super inspiring. Definitely check out her website.
Well, 2012 has been crazy, to say the least. I’m not even going to discuss the chaotic world news that puts me in a tailspin EVERY DAY whilst I masochistically tune in to NPR. The horrors. Next time, while I rock in the fetal position listening one of these harrowing stories, I’ll try to remember to bring my knitting. I hope that over the past year this blog has provided you, dear reader, with moments of levity, artistic inspiration, and an occasional, “WOW! There are REALLY crazy people out there!!!!” (I’ll forgive you if you include me as one of them.)
Happy Upcoming New Year’s Eve! (the holiday liked only by people between the ages of 21 and 25…*YAWN*)
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, Baking, Baking and Confections, cake, clock, drawing, Lego
Okay. I’m about to rant about something, but before I do…I’d like to acknowledge how lucky I am to have such problems in the wake of the recent tragedy in Connecticut. Peace be with those tormented families.
My excuse this week for not having interesting content (besides my crying intermittently as a result of the aforementioned tragedy) is that I was responsible for creating/coordinating/conducting my 4 yr, soon to be 5 yr, old’s birthday. I am not a party planner. I stress. I anguish over it. It’s not because I want the perfect party. I want a GOOD party that doesn’t cost me what would be the equivalent of a down payment on a small house. I kid you not…some places charge hundreds of dollars to host your party…and that does NOT include cake/pizza/favors. But, they highlight “FREE paper cups, plates, napkins!!!” Really?
The epic disaster for my attempted DIY party was…the cake. Let me outline for you my series of mishaps. Let me also advise you to always have someone ELSE make your cakes…someone with nerves of steel and a clue.
Things started off okay…I greased and floured a 13×9 cake pan. No prob. I slaved over making the batter. Looks good. THEN, I poured the batter into “the pan”…except that it WASN’T “the pan”…it was a different, UNGREASED pan. And then I baked it. I kid you not. I turned around to grease the pan for the next cake, and I realized my mistake. So, cake #1…ruined.
THEN, I rushed to make the SECOND cake…which turned out okay. As one wasn’t going to be big enough, I needed to make another. Here’s what the first two cakes looked like:
HMMM! I actually contemplated frosting the broken cake. Then, I regained my keen senses and realized that, much like time moving backwards and being in the fast moving lane at Stop & Shop, this was not possible.
Now, of course I’m out of ingredients for a third cake! SO, after getting new ingredients, I bake the THIRD cake. Now, it’s close to when we need to LEAVE for the party. Have you ever tried to frost a warm cake? I hadn’t until then. I thought, “What’s the big deal? Ok…it’s not cooled, but SO WHAT???”
Umm…yes, the frosting MELTED on the cake.
It looked like someone tripped and spilled their orange sherbet sundae all over the cake as the frosting melted into bright orange pools of pure sugar. STRESS. So, I SCRAPED OFF the melted frosting and rushed the warm cake OUTSIDE to cool off. I stealthily placed it UNDER the patio table, thinking that this would protect it from THE RAIN. Yes, it was raining! JOY. My parents were at the house, luckily, so I had my father be on duty to watch that some rabid squirrel didn’t come over and sit upon/start munching on the cake whist I mixed up MORE frosting (which is everywhere, mind you…along with a general dusting of powered sugar). I finally bring in the cooled cake and frost the friggin’ thing. Here it is:
Okay. Don’t laugh. It looked MUCH worse before, if that’s at all possible. Those odd, tulip shaped things are supposed to be dinosaur footprints. I know. How sad. Do you believe that it tasted good? No? Well, I don’t blame you.
ANYHOO…I think that the party turned out okay…and the cake tasted reasonable as well. I have noticed many more gray hairs on my head since Sunday, but no prob! At least I have hair! Action shot at party:
Needless to say, I understand that I do not have a career ahead of me in either: a. event planning, b. baking, or c. photography.
The big gift for my son was goldfish! (no, not the crackers…)
AREN’T THEY SO CUTE???? My son has been asking for a fish for ages. I contemplated the small fishbowls…but as I wanted a goldfish (not a catatonic beta fish), I opted for the slightly larger tank. DON’T YOU LOVE IT???
I’ve come to realize, however, that my gift of fish has not been as met with the same enthusiasm as the grandparent’s gift of Legos. Hmm. Another fail. I should have just stayed in bed that day.
Moving along…tis the season to be receiving packages in the mail, right? I recently ordered a cool clock…one of those old school “flip clocks”. The one I got was pretty plain…but THIS is the clock that I REALLY wanted:
I have coveted this clock for ages. It has different fonts that show up as it flips through the time. LOVE. IT. Here is a link to see it. Did you also see the price tag? $395!!!!! OUCH! So, I had to settle for a more conventional one, which I am very happy with. Still…I hold a special place in my heart for this clock. (any of you Powerball winners out there…I’d love one for Xmas! Thank U!!!!) Anyway, I was talking about packages in the mail. Here is how my clock arrived:
Package Fail
Umm….are you KIDDING ME? It looks like an elephant sat on it whilst eating its 1,000 pound lunch of hay. Wha??? How???
Believe it or not…the clock inside was actually undamaged. Ho Ho Ho! Lucky me!
Just so that you don’t feel that I’ve TOTALLY wasted your time with this post, here is some cool stuff to check out:
Check out the video here of this crazy thing. This is “Firewall” by Adam Sherwood. Please check out his website. AMAZING! I want one for my living room (next to my $395 font clock, which I don’t actually have). Next:
Isn’t that gorgeous???? This artist, Guy Denning. Sooo talented! Please check out his website here. Look under the heading “self portraits”. Amazing, right? I love how he draws. So loose, yet so accurate. BRILLIANT!
Okay, have a lovely holdiay! I’ll be making yet another birthday cake for my son’s ACTUAL birthday, which is Christmas Day. No joke. Oh, continued joy and happiness!!!!
Filed under: Drawing, travel | Tags: art, artist, Baking, Christmas, Gingerbread, Joseph Carroll, Salve Regina University
Why are the holidays always so exhausting? I feel as if I’m at mile 20 of a marathon. (Can I say that even if I don’t exercise / dislike sweating?) Hmm. Perhaps not. I guess that my main stress is that my endless holiday errands are preventing me from getting any work done (I mean drawings, not housework). Take, for example, yesterday…I had to mail a big package off to my nephews. I took the gifts to UPS to see how much they would charge to send them. $20 minimum to ship (as they weren’t packed yet) and an extra $14 if I wanted them to pack it. WHAT???? That’s SO expensive! So, I planned to pack it myself. I asked them how much a cardboard box was. They said $10. WHAT???? Are you on crack? For a piece of CARDBOARD???? Disgruntled, I walked out with my gifts. So, I decided to go to Staples to get my packing supplies…$4 for a box (more sane) and $7 for packing peanuts (eco-friendly-corn-based, mind you, I could have had them for breakfast with some milk…). THEN, I take my self-packed box over to the post office…and it turns out to be $25 to send it parcel post with signature required.
The moral of the story: I should have just paid UPS $35 to send it. I hardly saved any money, and I spent LOTS of time running around like an angry housewife (which I am).
I tried to get into the holiday spirit this week by making a gingerbread house FROM SCRATCH with my son. It started off okay:
Everything was fine…until the pastry bag.
I’ve decided that several things are tools of the devil:
1. pastry bags
2. tinsel
3. packing tape that splits every time you try to peel it off the roll
Notice how they are all holiday related…it’s those three things have made my holiday season MUCH more distressing than is needed. Anyhoo…the pasty bag. The first time that you fill it…it’s sort of ok. Yes, I managed to drop some icing, and YES, there was icing oozing out of the top of the bag as I was squeezing it…but those challenges pale in comparison to this: refilling the bag. HOW ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH IS ONE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT???? Peeling apart the squished sides of the bag in order to attempt to shove in goopy icing, which is simultaneously falling off of the spatula, was a joke. There was icing everywhere. It was: a. in my hair, b. on the dishwasher, c. on the floor, d. on the UPPER kitchen cabinets, and e. partially on the gingerbread. Mommy was trying not to have an aneurism. Luckily, the house turned out fine:
Not bad, right? Notice how the trees in front had no frosting. Forget it. I’d had it by then. Notice also the odd lump of gingerbread in front of the left tree. My son made that. Apparently, it’s a ball. It sort of looks like a present from a large rabbit, but I decided not to tell him that. From reading all of my parenting books, I think that would have been “detrimental to his self esteem”. Needless to say, I’m not eating that thing.
In a fit of desperation, I drove to Newport, Rhode Island on Wednesday. That’s almost a two-hour drive EACH WAY. Why, would I do such an inane thing when I’m so busy, you ask? Because I had to SOMEHOW shoehorn in some “ME” time. I drove there to see a drawing show. Yes, “LocatingPLACE”, curated by Joseph Carroll, was at Salve Regina University. This show is only open until Dec. 19, so HURRY.
I have some images from the show. Generally, I loved the work. Some of it I had seen before, but that didn’t bother me one bit. Here are some of the highlights:
2012, Graphite on paper, 30″ x 40″
Okay. THAT is just plain brilliant. This is an aerial view of the “Mall of America”…drawn in graphite. This is a spectacular drawing. I love how it looks like some kind of Beaux Arts rendering of an ancient Roman ruin…except that it’s a MALL. So soooo brilliant. I even love the title, which is the link to the view. PLEASE look at his website here. This was just a gorgeous drawing that I could have stared at ALL DAY. (I only allowed myself 45 minutes in the gallery, however…I’m on a short leash here).
Next:
Carly Glovinski, Area 8, 2011, ink, graphite, colored pencil on paper, 11″ x 14″
Just look at that for a minute…it looks like an abstract work, almost like a small weaving, right? Well, it’s not. It’s an interpretation of a PHONE BOOK. I love this. How beautiful is that??? She’s brilliant. She has a series of these, and they are sooo fascinating. Glovinski captures so much with this drawing: abstraction…modernity…obsolescence…memory…humanity…
I bask in her artistic brilliance.
Next:
Nancy Murphy Spicer, Biking in Berlin 12, Biking in Berlin 13, Biking in Berlin 15,
2010, Flashe, gouache, collage on guidebook page, 8.25″ x 5.75″
This is a beautiful series created from painted/collaged guidebook pages. Each one is so beautiful and delicate. What you can’t see here, is that some of the colored forms appear to be not just collaged ONTO the paper behind, but they are actually SPLICED in. So lovely. These feel so architectural to me. I think it’s because of the splicing. Look at this lovely way that the exhibition was hung as well:
Nancy Murphy Spicer, Biking in Berlin 28, Biking in Berlin 44, Biking in Berlin 66, Biking in Berlin 79,
2010, Flashe, gouache, collage on guidebook page, 8.25″ x 5.75″
Don’t you love that? I thought that was really brilliant and compelling.
Next:
Andrea Sherrill Evans, Marker #2, 2012, Silverpoint and acrylic on prepared paper, 29 1/2″ x 33″]
This was gorgeous. Not only have I seen her work before, but I actually met her once! Her studio is in the South End, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon it. I love the mix of delicate marks with the splotch of paint. Her work is really delicate and beautiful. I’m sure that she’s getting tired of hearing the word “ethereal”, but too bad. Her work is stunning and ethereal.
Next:
Raphael Griswold, Assignments (46 drawings from the series),
2008 and ongoing, Mixed media on paper, 9.75″ x 9.75″
There were several of these drawings laid out on a table. Each one was colorful and with an amazing mix of media. I love his sense of color and how he uses the disparate materials to create different textures or qualities. He sometimes washed ink or watercolor over a resistant crayon or oil pastel texture, creating really beautiful effects. I love that these are small and not fussy…with a great variety of color and marks. His subject matter seemed to be the built environment in nature. I wish that I could have seen more of them…beautiful!
Speaking of beautiful drawings (prepare yourself for a typical annoying segue…), check out the latest from my son:
LOOK HOW CUTE!!! Those are space aliens. I like how geometric they are. I also like that he’s starting to write by himself. Look at their legs especially…aren’t they great??? I wish that I could get him to stop drawing on the back of each drawing…this is another one:
Apparently, this is a mommy alien and her baby. No, I didn’t reverse the image…my son just wrote “mommy” completely backwards. Should I be concerned? Hmm. Is it dyslexia when someone turns an entire word backwards? Hmm. It may be several years before I give him my car keys.
I’m off to go dream about drawings and distress about dyslexia whilst I grouch my way over to Stop & Shop.
Stay sane…
(I’ll try and do the same.)
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, Dust bunny, Holiday
Okay. Because I’m a strange person, we have a “tradition” of getting a real Christmas tree one year, and then using my vintage fake tree another year. This has not been without controversy. My stepkids refuse to acknowledge my supercoolvintagealuminumsparkly tree as a “tree”. I can’t remember what they call it, but “tree” is not permitted.
Now, I ask you…is THAT really sooooo wrong??? Look how festive and BEDAZZLED it is! (You know you want one.)
December is one of those months that I look forward to, and yet loathe. The holiday nonsense…organizing my son’s birthday party…etc. It’s enough to make my gray hairs breed with reckless abandon. I keep yelling at them to “quit it!”, but to no avail. Nobody listens to me around here anymore. Perhaps it’s my nagging tone of voice, or my incessant whining? Not sure…I’ll get back to you on that. I SAID, “I’LL GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT.”
(aren’t you glad that you don’t live here???)
Despite my holiday angst, check out the favor bags that I started to make for said party:
Not bad, huh? THIS is what I do instead of housework. (Sorry, honey!) Housework is tedious, mind-numbing and soul destroying. Making tyrannosaurus favor bags is uplifting, rejuvenating, and fun. BTW, my son asked “why roar?” WHAT’S WRONG WITH ROAR? He’s soooo nit-picky. I expected an “ooh” and “ahh”, not a scowl. When will I learn that the response that I hope from my son is never what I receive? Sigh. At least he hasn’t started criticizing my lack of housekeeping skills…
This post is not going to be long, as a dust bunny is tapping me on the shoulder and asking when I’m going to get off of the computer. Sheesh! They’re so pushy…
So I didn’t want to bore you with my domestic nonsense ramblings. As a result, I’ve found a few artists that I think that you should check out. I tried to find people who have a similar aesthetic to my own. Why? Because that’s how I learn things. You didn’t think that I was going to draw smashed up pears forever did you? (The correct answer is, “no, of COURSE not…only a moron would do THAT.”) Hmm…maybe that’s not the answer I wanted.
Isn’t that lovely? Check out her work here. I love her series on dry leaves. Such beautiful forms. It’s really great.
Here’s another person who works with graphite:
Her work is pretty impressive all round. Please check out her website. She works in so many different media. Really amazing breadth and quality of work. I bask in her artistic virtuosity. I also bask in her ability to make a beautiful drawing from piles of laundry. I certainly have THAT subject matter at home! It tends to look more like the messy piles rather than the neat stacks…go figure. Maybe I’ll try to create a still life with my dust bunnies as a start…
In the meantime, you have a homework assignment of telling me about other FABULOUS artists that I should know. I don’t see any at Stop & Shop, so I need others to guide me to MORE than just the cracker aisle, which I always seem to lose.
Check out here what those of us who don’t live in NYC are missing (besides a good bagel and just about everything):
Did you watch the video???? If not…YOU MUST. I may set up something like this in our living room. It will entertain as well as distract from the general disarray…a win-win!
(our living room floor’s perpetual state…) See? We have art is the suburbs!!! Except we pronounce it “aht”, here in the Commonwealth…
Brr. It’s cold. I’ve already started working on my winter layer of fat. Last night, I met with my “peer group” of artists to discuss our collective “art angst”. One person brought some holiday contraband…
TRADER JOE’S MINT JO JOE’S COOKIES!!!!
These are disgustingly good with crunchy bits of ground up candy cane in them.
NOM NOM. *wistful sigh*
I know. Why am I writing about cookies? This is not why you read my blog. You read it for my insightful art commentary. Hmm. That argument seems a bit weak. Actually, I don’t know why you’re here, but it’s nice to have you. Did you bring me cookies? No? Oh, okay…nevermind.
So, several weeks ago I went to the Art Complex in Duxbury. I’ll admit…it felt like it took an eternity to get there. It kind of stressed me out. ANYWAY, there was a fascinating show there called “Self/Fabricated“. This show was loosely “textile-centric” (kind of the way that I am loosely “cookie-centric”…but I digress…again), and about domestic life. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I’ll post some images of some of the pieces that I liked (although there were others…but I’m tired, so this is it):
Leslie Schomp, Group of Miniatures, 2012/2011
Okay…I wish that I had taken this picture with my hand nearby so that you could see how absolutely TINY these are. Pay attention: these look like drawings, right? They’re not. The materials are….(wait for it….)
“Hair on cloth in dollhouse frames”
YES!!!! She has SEWN these TINY portraits!!! These were pretty astounding and I totally loved them. I know that it isn’t possible, but I really wanted to hold one in my hand, for whatever reason. So brilliant. Sewing with hair??? Also brilliant. The way that they are displayed makes perfect sense, but now I want to know who these people are. Are these self portraits? Hmm. I might be inspired by her tiny creations…
This is also by Leslie Schomp. I guess I really liked her work! This is made from “embroidery thread and pulled thread on found linens”. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but this piece is soooo delicate and amazing. Here is a close up:
Isn’t that amazing??? I love how wispy the background is. Her work was fascinating.
David Curcio, Happy House, 2008
This piece employs “woodcut, drypoint and stitching on Japanese paper”. I love the patterning, the mix of textures and mediums, and the lovely stitching. I especially like the “baby heads” (my quote) that are around the perimeter. Those are particularly delicate. Love it!
Candice Smith-Corby, Lost in My Chinoiserie Thoughts, 2012
Smith-Corby has many small, intimate gouache paintings on different surfaces in this exhibit. They are always vibrant, but often have an “isolated” feel to them. I loved this one especially because instead of painting on fabric, she painted on paper but detailed it as if it WAS fabric:
Isn’t that AMAZING??? She DREW that!!! So soo brilliant. I love that. She had quite a bit of work at this show, and it was all really interesting. Here is an installation that she made:
Candice Smith-Corby, Rearranged, 2009-2012
I loved how this domestic corner has slightly gone awry. Actually, my living room is not so different than this, except we have more junk and lego thrown around. (we’d no doubt get our money back if I bought a Roomba…we’re probably more in the market for something along these lines…)
I could tell that I was no longer in the Metro Boston area when I was leaving, as I saw THIS posted nearby:
HMMM! MEAT RAFFLE??? What, pray tell, could THIS be about? WHO RAFFLES OFF MEAT??? FASCINATING. I wonder what Girl Scouts sell in this area?
Speaking of meat…(hence the blog title)…my son drew this brilliant creation the other day:
Sigh. I have such love for this. In the upper right…we have a woolly mammoth. Standing on the right side of the excavation is a saber toothed tiger (note the sizable, saber-shaped teeth…nice!). The form on the left of the excavation is a huge digger/excavator working on the hole. Then, in the upper left, is another saber toothed tiger which is pouncing on said digger. BRILLIANT! I hope that he draws forever.
Speaking of…I better get back to my work. The sound of chainsaws and leaf blowers are sending me to the basement, much like daylight driving away Count Dracula…ARGGHHH! The NOISE!!!! The NOISE!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, all! I had a lovely holiday with my husband’s family. We have plenty to be thankful for…friends, family, our health, our homes, and food on the table. We also made it though Sandy without much trouble, which can’t be said for a great many people on the East Coast. Not to be morose, but you can see an interactive map that the NY Times has made here of all of the fatalities. It’s unbelievable. So lucky, we are. (excuse the Yoda talk)
I also managed NOT to eat my weight in food on Thursday, which is a slight miracle…(although I think that peppermint Jo Joes cookies are now at Trader Joe’s…SAVE ME FROM THEM!!!) Not only was my restrained eating a miracle, but…
I ALSO GOT TO ESCAPE TO NYC/BROOKLYN ON TUES/WED!!! WOO HOO!!!!! I kid you NOT! I had to scramble to NYC for the LAST day that my friend had his show up at Agora Gallery in Chelsea. Here are some views:
And more:
OOOOO! I love those last three together. Here is a closeup of one of them:
These paintings are influenced by traditional sari fabric. George is from Kerala, and this inspires much of his work. (what inspires my work? How much I loathe Stop & Shop? But I digress…) Please check out his website, as my photography is shoddy. I was planning on attending the opening, but we had a snowy Nor’easter that day…so it wasn’t in the cards. This show was a big deal, as it’s not every day that one gets artwork in a NYC gallery…WOOT WOOT, George!!!
In my wanderings…here is another artist whom I also found in Agora Gallery:
I really liked her work as well. She was using watercolor on stretched canvas. Detail:
Dreamy! I love the areas of white in the painting. More:
Nice! Aren’t these amazing???
Apparently, lots of galleries in Chelsea are closed because of “super storm Sandy”. There was lots of flooding. Luckily, I did get to Pace Gallery to see the Chuck Close exhibit. A-MA-ZING! Check it out:
Okay. We’re ALL familiar with these works. But sometimes, we think that we know a work just by seeing it in print or on the web frequently. I felt that I had seen lots of Chuck Close’s works, so I wouldn’t be too surprised with what I saw. NOT SO. Seeing these works in person really blows your mind. GENIUS. PURE GENIUS. Just look at these series of self-portraits:
No, those aren’t digital manipulations of photographs. They are paintings. (I know that you know that.) But try to think that when painting these, he could only be at arm’s length to do it. So, he didn’t see this while working:
He saw THIS while working:
I know. Mind boggling, right???? My brain cannot process how he does this. He is totally a master of color mixing. Scroll up again to look at the paintings from a distance. Crazy, right??? I truly could have sat there all day staring at these (especially with a box of mint jo joes). I bask in his brilliance. I need to get out of the suburbs more often. Nothing like this is EVER at Stop & Shop. (and I’ve LOOKED, trust me…)
That evening…a friend’s restaurant was opening in Brooklyn: Root Hill Burger in Park Slope. If you live in the area, please go! I had the p01 burger…DELICIOUS! They also make yummy milkshakes too. Perhaps it was because we eat primarily vegan at home that the burger tasted other-worldly to me? Hmm. Nah. I am wondering if they deliver to Massachusetts, though…
Speaking of other worldly…my luck doesn’t end there! On Wednesday, I got to go to the BROOKLYN MUSEUM!
I had never been there before! I was going to see the work of Mickalene Thomas. But, before I GUSH about her work, I also saw some gorgeous work by Duron Jackson:
Duron Jackson at the Brooklyn Museum
Holy cow…this is GRAPHITE!!! Is it not the most GORGEOUS thing you’ve ever seen??? My photo is terrible. He’s also a genius. Can pencil on black be any more astounding? I think not. The shape is the outline of a jail, somewhere in the US. I apologize for not getting the title. He has a whole series of these drawings, and they are SPECTACULAR. Go. See. Now.
I’m just going to post some images of other cool stuff on exhibit (whilst I fantasize about mint jo joes):
Portrait by Alice Neel
Alice Neel is my portrait hero. I love her work. I was first introduced to her work by a drawing teacher of mine. Please look at her website to see more of what she does. Incredible. Next:
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Precious Stonewall, 2010
This is enormous and it’s made of GLASS. Othoniel had a wide variety of works in glass. Really astounding works. Look at these larger than life necklaces:
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Large Double Lacan’s Knot, 2011 (foreground) /
Lacan’s Knot, 2009 (background)
Also enormous…I can’t imagine how much they must weigh. They were pretty dramatic. I actually like this one better:
Jean-Michel Othoniel, Black is Beautiful, 2003
I like that better because I can really feel the weight of these beads. The previous ones feel odd to me, as they are clearly heavy beads, but the formation appears too weightless. So, my preference is the latter…it’s beautiful.
Okay, so NOW onto MICKALENE THOMAS!!!!!!!! Brace yourself…she rocks.
Mickalene Thomas, Interior: Blue Couch with Green Owl, 2012
LOVE IT!!!!! She has done a huge series of collages of what looks like trendy, 60s interiors. Then, she translates these collages into ENORMOUS paintings on panels with…(wait for it)…RHINESTONES. They are BEDAZZLED, and they are awesome.
Mickalene Thomas, Interor: Green and White Couch, 2012
Sooooo brilliant. She even outlines some of what must be the cut edges of the collage with rhinestones. These interiors are fractured, sometimes flat, sometimes appearing to have depth, with jarring color palettes. This is a detail:
Mickalene Thomas
And here is the original collage:
Mickalene Thomas
I’m so sad that my lousy pictures are NOT doing her works justice. BOO HOO!
Not only did she have paintings of interiors…she also CREATED interiors:
Mickalene Thomas
These “installations” were really amazing too. She creates so much cultural weight with these scenes. They are also collages, much like her paintings. I loved how her visions have become “real” in these works. My living room is just like that, except less hip and with Lego all over the floor…really similar.
Beyond her interiors, she has also done phenomenal paintings of women:
Mickalene Thomas, Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires, 2012
This work is enormous and astounding. I’m sorry that this tiny image can do it no justice. This painting is a “restaging” of Manet’s painting, Le Dejeuner sur L’herbe:
Manet, Le Dejeuner sur L’herbe, 1863
Brilliant! Here is a detail of Mickalene’s painting:
Mickalene Thomas
Here’s what I love about her work, and about art in general. I love that (in spite of her riff on Manet), I feel that I haven’t seen this before. I’m sure some of you are thinking…”duh, it looks like so-and-so”. Fine. But, for me, I was in AWE of the world that they created…a world that I CLEARLY am no part of. But her works allow me a glimpse into it…which I also love.
This is my thinking on her work (which may be wrong, as I am no art critic): All of her women appear simultaneously “powerful” and “feminine” to me. This is what feminine power can look like. Not to be misandric, but I love that no men appear in any of her works. Her work does not need to speak about women in reference/relation/contrast/comparison to men (see the Manet above). Her work exists in a world that eschews men. Men are only part of the diminutive audience that are fixed in the powerful gaze of her subjects. Somehow, I feel that a “YOU GO GIRL!” is in order. Is that too suburban of me???? Probably. (sigh)
I need to try to channel these powerful women as I go about my day…picking up legos…buying cheddar goldfish crackers at Stop & Shop…and cursing at myself for forgetting my grocery list.
She’s a genius. I bask in her glittery glory.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: Boston Globe, Haim Steinbach, Sebastian Smee, Wheelock College
Yes, I did that. I sent a “press package” of my artwork to the ICA Boston. Don’t laugh…I know. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? This wasn’t my idea though. The woman who is the gallery director at Wheelock College suggested that I do this. BUT, I’m to blame for actually doing it.
To the ICA’s credit, they did mail me back my stuff with a nice rejection letter:
I thought that was quite kind of them! Right now, I have my artwork up in two locations. As a result, I have sent many harassing emails and press packets out to people. I have received a response, both negative, from only two individuals/institutions: 1. The ICA, 2. Cate McQuaid of the Boston Globe. On the plus side: even though they both had to say “no”, I do appreciate that they responded to me. On the negative side: now, the ICA may have some kind of restraining order on me…or have put me on the “watch” list of crazy local artists. No matter! I was just happy to have a response, albeit a total form letter. The ICA must know that crazy artists like attention.
I did go to the ICA this week, just to see what was going on there. LUCKILY, they had JUST put up a new show and I got to see it because it was MEMBER PREVIEW DAY. Brilliant! (you can see, though, the slippery slope that is created with such things…those that can afford a membership get treated differently and some may mistakenly think that this makes them more “special” or “important” than non-members…) I’m going to stop myself now from going on a political rant. Here’s the ICA, for those of you who haven’t been:
It’s a lovely building by Diller +Scofidio (now, Diller Scofido+Renfro). I realized that I wasn’t in the ‘burbs anymore when I saw this sign nearby:
Really? This practically warrants an entire blog post, but I’ll spare you THAT nonsense.
The big show that the ICA has now is called: This Will Have Been: Art & Politics in the 1980s. Sebastian Smee, of the Boston Globe, has written a really insightful review of the show here. Please read it. Now, in an artfully planned juxtaposition, if you are interested in a NON-INSIGHTFUL review, read on!
I’ll show some images first:
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983
I love Basquiat. I love his work because I am interested in both how it looks and what I think that it’s telling me. I could stare at this all day (but the previously mentioned possible ICA restraining order may prevent that…) I love how this work seems to me to capture Basquiat’s ruminations…with doodles, overlapping marks, lofty and banal thoughts…LOVE.IT. Why can’t my doodles look this good? I’ll bet he could make my angst laden grocery list look awesome. Grocery lists aren’t edgy though, FYI. Maybe Basquiat’s lists were? I’ll bet that he didn’t go to Stop & Shop, though.
There is a lot of work on exhibit by many of the “heavy hitters” at that time: Richter, Koons, Mapplethorpe, etc. Overall, this is a pretty cerebral show. It seems to be capturing the spirit of that time, without trying to present the “highlights” of art during that period. It’s a culturally centered show, rather than art centered. (is that insulting? I hope not.) I enjoyed the show intellectually (if that’s possible for me to do considering my mild case of mommybrain,) but my general delight in the art itself wasn’t quite there. Probably my lack of cerebral-ness/cerebralosity was the cause. (see? case in point.) Here’s one that made me go, “hmm…”:
Haim Steinbach, Untitled (Cabbage, Pumpkin, Pitchers) #1, 1986
No, that is not one of my shelves at home. Any shelf of mine would have more stuff on it. Hmmm. Who is this making fun of? The art world? The audience? The bourgeoisie? (eh?) Our capitalist culture? Maybe it’s not making fun of anyone??? I kind of want that pumpkin. I wonder where he got it from? I actually like this piece better in retrospect. I guess he’s tying these disparate consumer goods together through form and palette and elevating it to “Art”? Hmm. I’d like it even more if I could take that pumpkin home with me. My take away from that piece of art is that I want that pumpkin.
From a drawing standpoint, I liked this:
Tim Rollins and K.O.S., Amerika VIII, 1986-87
I like the materials, the mix of flatness and depth, the weirdness… This somehow feels less “80s” to me, but that’s because I remember the 80s as an excess of neon, boxy clothing and acid washed jeans.
Kinda like that. What can you expect, though? I was a kid in the 80s. If I wasn’t cerebral then, I haven’t gotten any better on that account. I still love neon, though.
Another show that they had that I REALLY liked was the work of Os Gemeos.
Os Gemeos, Back in the Days, 2008
I love the feel of these paintings. I also love the space that is created inside that subway car. Next:
Os Gemeos, Untitled, 2008
Do you know who owns that one? Lance Armstrong!!! I kid you not. This could be the famous Lance Armstrong, or I suppose it could be some CPA in Hoboken. I’m voting for it being the doping bike guy.
They also have sculptural works:
closer:
Os Gemeos, Os Musicos, 2008
I love that too! Apparently this piece can make sounds, but they only do that on occasion. My membership did not also grant me a turn playing chopsticks on the keyboard.
I sometimes felt that the art looked like illustration to me, except that the content was usually a bit dark. Can someone please explain the difference between art and illustration? Perhaps that’s the difference? Intent? I like that the boundary between art and illustration isn’t clear to me in these works. Yet again, the ICA brings the unexpected to view, and I’m reminded again of how there are no rules, and how the ones that do exist keep changing. (how’s that for nonsense?)
WHEW! That’s enough thinking for one day! Now, I have to go to Stop & Shop and search for a vegan dinner that somehow makes itself…(if you answered PBJ sandwich, you’ve just qualified yourself to be a domestic slacker too! You are now a MEMBER of THIS most prestigious and venerable group of grocery store haters! Welcome! The receipt from your most recent pizza delivery constitutes your membership card, which, of course, has no expiration date.WOO HOO!!!!!!!!)
Yes, we survived Sandy. Unfortunately, NYC and NJ can’t quite say the same. It’s hard to believe what a disaster it is down there!!! The worst that we had up here some raging wind and rain…my parents were without power from Monday to Friday, and a tree fell on a friend’s car. So, we fared better than our hipper neighbors to the South. As if THAT wasn’t enough…we also had a Nor’easter a few days later:
No joke. That white stuff is the first snow of the season. That was last Thursday…it was 35 degrees with snow and sleet, and it was miserable. I was supposed to go to NYC that day for a friend’s gallery reception, but that seemed like a bad idea on account of both the weather and Sandy’s general chaos down there. BOO HOO!
Today, in contrast, it was almost 60 degrees with bright sunshine. Now, is that fair? Hardly. Well, that does mean that I can hold off on my incessant whining about the cold for at least a little bit longer! (Aren’t YOU lucky!) Speaking of cold…I was trapped in the house during Sandy with my sick 4 yr old son, and, naturally, my husband and I BOTH got his cold. Ech.
In a vain attempt to cope with cabin fever and an excess of phlegm, I made a batch of misshapen black & white cookies:
Umm…okay, I know that they look really sad, but they were delicious and I practically ate the batch myself. Aren’t I a good mommy? (I DID share SOME of them…) My stir crazy son drew this on that day:
THAT…I’ll have you know…is a scene with a tyrannosaurs rex, a mastodon, a fortress, and a helicopter with large grappling claw attempting to pick up said mastodon. BRILLIANT! Okay, my favorite part is how he drew the jaw of the T.Rex…sort of with a piranha-like underbite. I’m not sure if he drew this pre-cookie, or post-cookie. Maybe pre-cookie, as he was likely to be tearing the house apart from the sugar rush post-cookie. Joy! I was probably hiding under the sofa at that point with my tray of cookies…
SO, my excuses for this blog post being late (and potentially boring) are:
1. Sandy
2. My son’s gross cold
3. My subsequent gross cold
4. The election
5. The nor’easter
6. My black & white cookie induced coma.
I may be able to finally focus on something other than those six setbacks this week. (Unless, I bake another batch of those cookies, of course!!!!!!)
I did get a chance to go over to the Decordova today. This is a museum/sculpture park in Lincoln, MA. I usually head into the main building to see what the latest show is. Here’s what I saw:
Julianne Swartz, Loop, 2010
This sound/physical sculpture is part of Julianne Swartz’s current show, How Deep Is Your. This sculpture is a a mesh of mostly colorful wires and tiny speakers emitting some quiet sounds that encourage you to step closer to hear better. I am unfamiliar with her work, but I liked this. It’s intriguing how the inorganic became organic…I also liked having to get closer to hear the sounds…almost like putting a shell next to your ear…kind of intimate… Next:
Julianne Swartz, Obstacle, 2007
Okay, this…I loved too. What you can’t see is that the fine, steel wire that is coming from the top of the concrete block is actually rotating slowly. So, the small, paper form dangling from the wire slowly moves around the central blocks. At first glance, you may think, “wha?..” TRUST ME. It’s mesmerizing. I LOOOVE the contrast between the rough, heavy concrete blocks and the metal filament/fishing line/paper object. Watching the delicate paper form slowly meander around, drag itself over the rock obstruction, and continue on was really amazing. In many of her pieces, she has this tremendous ability to play with the feeling/pull of gravity…from the weighty concrete…to the delicate, dangling paper form…to the tenuous movement of this form slowly orbiting the blocks. I was not expecting to be so enthralled by this. Next:
Julianne Swarz, Stability Study (table), 2012
This was soooo beautiful too. Is it not the most elegant thing you’ve ever seen??? Notice the fine wire that appears to be barely held up against the wood by the rough surface of the stone. You can feel it’s tension as it bows either under the pull of gravity, or because it is being held in the bent curve by the rough stone’s surface. Either way, I LOVE IT. I love how powerful it makes these intangibles tangible. All of the pieces on this floor of the museum benefited by having lots of SPACE around them. The first example of her work that I show above I think would have benefited from this. It felt too confined in the small room where it was located.
Anyway, I recommend seeing her work. I think that you need space (and quiet) around you as well to appreciate what she’s doing. Try to go on a day when it’s QUIET. The day I went, there were tons of kids visiting the museum and I think that the staff were either going to flip out, have an aneurism, or pull out their tazers. I assume that the artist wasn’t there, or else she would have been on the brink of insanity with the number of near misses/”DON’T TOUCH THAT!”s/and “JUST LOOK!!!”s. It wasn’t very “zen” today.
This is NOT a kid friendly show. Nor is it a cat friendly show, but hopefully that wasn’t an issue. (Just sayin’.)
Upstairs, there were some other interesting works:
Jean Shin and Brian Ripel, Measuring the Depth of his own Nature, 2012
This was really beautiful. This is an interpretation of Henry David Thoreau’s 1846 survey of Walden Pond. The “pond” is drawn in graphite across these reclaimed wood planks. I know. I’m a sucker for graphite…but who isn’t? (you MUST agree). I love the depth created in this as well. It appears that they have located the pond in perspective from a certain point…perhaps Thoreau’s house? Not sure. Look at the graphite!!!!!
Jean Shin and Brian Ripel, Measuring the Depth of his own Nature (detail), 2012
DREAMY! Maybe this love of the monochromatic is somehow related to my black & white cookie obsession? Probably. Anyway, I loved this and thought that it was really beautiful and compelling. This = the artwork, not the cookies. Well, those cookies ARE pretty compelling…trust me.
There was also a photography exhibit, which was interesting. I’m going to show a few that I especially liked:
The title of the work is either: Untitled (Double Light Leaks 2), 2010, or Untitled (Double Light Leaks 1), 2010. This is a PHOTO! I have to confess…I am not usually too interested in photography. I know. That’s sooo ignorant. I love doing photography, but I am not usually drawn to seeing photography. Very strange. I think because I am so drawn to “mark making” and “texture”, which photography often lacks. ANYWAY, I think this photo is gorgeous. Take a look at his website above, as all of his work is amazing. Next!
Lucas Blalock, Scenario for Barter, 2011
I loved this as well. I love how it seems to be a painting or a collage. I love how it’s a mix of flatness and depth…of abstraction and realism. I love the palette too. Coincidentally, another one of his works also appealed to me:
Lucas Blalock, Brid/Grid, 2011
This is so simple, yet so amazing. It’s basically a photo of some gingham fabric with a clear, plastic sink protector on top of it. BUT IT IS GORGEOUS! He’s brilliant. I love how you can barely see the plastic grid on top…almost like a jellyfish washed ashore. These are mundane objects that have been so skillfully transformed.
Speaking of mundane objects skillfully transformed…GO AND SEE MY ART SHOWS THIS WEEK! Yes, this is the FINAL week that they are open. NO JOKE. RUN…don’t WALK over to:
Towne Gallery at Wheelock College / 180 The Riverway, Boston
Concord Art Association / 37 Lexington Road, Concord
Sorry for the shameless self promotion. The cookies made me do it…
Pencil drawing by the ever-brilliant/slightly unstable E. Kostojohn
Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., painting, travel | Tags: art, berkshires
Yes, we’re bracing ourselves for hurricane Sandy. She’s a-comin’, and no one is looking forward to her arrival. How have I prepared? Umm…I bought a couple of cans of soup? It turns out there are no more D batteries for sale in the entire state. Considering that my 4 yr old son LOVES to play with our ONLY flashlight, we may be in for some lighting “challenges” here when we lose power. I’m also thinking of the general domestic challenge to be locked in the house all day with my 4 yr old. I may have to be like Odysseus and lash myself to the bannister outside the house just to get some “me” time in the midst of this “epic” storm. Did I mention that my son also has a raging cold? Ah yes…there’s a storm of viruses swirling around in the house from his hacking and sneezing. Blech. I can practically FEEL my white blood cells reeling from the onslaught of germs. I think that if there ever is “germ warfare” against our country, it will be the parents and teachers of preschoolers that have a chance of survival from our “special forces” immune system. My throat does feel scratchy. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m getting sick, or if it’s because I just ate a gross quantity of Trader Joe’s “pirate’s booty.” (puffed corn blobs covered with powdered white cheddar….YUMMY!) But I digress…actually, I haven’t really even gotten started yet. Sigh.
ANYHOO, this weekend…my husband and I took our yearly pilgrimage to the Berkshires to the Lodge where we were married. I love going there…it’s so laid back and idyllic. Did I mention that my mother watched my son for the weekend? Yes, we were kid-free for 48 hrs. Did I also mention that my son decided to sleep in until 8am this morning? His normal time to wake up is 5:30. WHY does he sleep in ONLY for Grandma??? But I digress, again.
Doesn’t that look peaceful and dreamy? I love the Berkshires.
One of the decadent things about going to the Berkshires is going to Mass MOCA. This is a large contemporary art museum in a renovated complex of factory buildings. I have to say, I really loved quite a bit of what I saw there on this visit. I’ve got photos of the highlights to share with you. The current exhibition is focused on Canadian contemporary art.
Bloodie is Born, and Born Again, 2009
Angel Trumpet Flower of Death, 2008
Wow. I LOVED these paintings. They are ink and gouache on paper, and they are GORGEOUS. I know that the imagery is disturbing, but I thought that her work was stunning. They have the look of historic book illustrations, but the scenes are bizarre. Her minimal use of color in the predominantly B&W paintings was amazing. I’m a big fan. (Hint. Hint. Just in case any of you have started your holiday shopping early!)
Joking, of course.
Etienne Zack, Silent Frames, 2011, Oil on Linen
This painting was over 8’x12′ in size. It was stunning. I really could have looked at it all day. I love the scene, the color palette, the space she creates, the odd moonlit feeling of it…so gorgeous. It’s hard to tell from this photo, but she also had elements like the wood posts with transparent reddish ghosts of the forms nearby, which almost made the image look like a manipulated photograph in a way. So incredibly brilliant.
Clay slab, 2007, watercolor on paper
Paper #2, 2007, watercolor on paper.
Yes, read that again. Those are WATERCOLORS… and they are BIG. Each one is around 3’x4′. I especially love “Clay Slab.” It’s gorgeous. You can almost feel the cold, wetness of the clay, right? These were outrageously stunning. His technical skill was also mind boggling. I love the limited palette and hyper-real quality. I’m telling you…GO. SEE. THIS. SHOW. NOW. Next:
Chris Millar, 370H55V, 2011, mixed media
This was fantastic. Here is a detail:
Chris Millar, 370H55V, 2011, mixed media (detail)
This was outrageous and amazing. I used to have a fascination with miniature things, and this sculpture was the EPITOME of the kind of miniscule things that I used to love. Here, though, it’s a freestanding agglomeration of childhood curiosities and total excess. I LOVED it. It’s hard for me to know what to say, but it seriously held both nostalgia and joy for me…as if I was stepping into some forgotten recess of my childhood. It’s made so much more perfect with that galaxy background that he created. Sheer genius. Here is another of his works:
Chris Millar, Uncharted Galvanized Hut, 2008, acrylic on canvas
This was also amazing. Again, I loved the density of it. The other thing was that it had almost a 3D/embossed look to it, where different elements were raised and layered upon other elements. It was almost like a painting decoupage. This artist just oozes brilliance.
Uncharted 4 (2011), Uncharted 2 (2011-12), Uncharted 1 (2011-12)
Uncharted 5 (2011-12), Uncharted 3 (2011-12), Uncharted 6 (2011-12)
All are acrylic on panel
Okay. I love her work. It’s SO architectural, but not stuffy or static. I’ve seen her works before at the DeCordova Museum, but this work is even better (IMHO). I love the collage-feel, the layering, and the enormous depth and dimensionality that she creates. These crazy constructs float in a field of color, like some kind of vignettes of part of a building or part of an experience. Gorgeous.
I included this photo just so that you can get a sense of the scale of some of the rooms at Mass MOCA. This room is enormous. See that blurry thing floating halfway up the wall at the end? This is what it is:
Hmm. No comment.
I must admit, I have been to Mass Moca many times, but there has only been one time when I truly loved what an artist did with that huge space. Ann Hamilton is an installation artist whose work was titled, Corpus. Here is the exhibition catalog. She truly made the space into a work of art. She had several tall reams of 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper up at the rafters in different locations. Then, a robot/machine would move along some tracks to a stack of paper, pick up the top paper with suction, then drive back over to a random point on the tracks and then with a “puff” sound…drop the paper to the ground. The entire floor was covered with the paper, and random pieces would be falling intermittently around you. In addition, she had a grid of megaphone shaped speakers which would descend in unison to the floor, then raise again. I can’t remember the sound coming from the speakers, but I remember the “puff” sound when the robot would release the paper. Oh yeah..the windows were all tinted pink. It was brilliant.
Mass MOCA has other amazing spaces:
This sliver of space separates is also amazing. Look at the brickwork! Crazy. The grand finale is, of course, Sol LeWitt.
His work is located on three floors, with the early works on the lowest floors, and then you progress upwards to more recent work. This man could do anything with geometry. I love that triangle wall.
While I loved the walls with the eye-pain inducing colors, I was really drawn to the walls of graphite drawing:
Yes, those are graphite drawings. On the walls. Closer:
Mindblowing, right? These drawings (or whatever I should call them) are stunning. Such beauty in their chaos and order! More:
I know that I’m obviously enamored with graphite, as it’s the medium that I’ve chosen to grapple with. These works really elevate graphite to stratospheric levels. It makes me want to grab a pencil and start scribbling on the walls (at home, of course.) But, as I can’t do that while telling my son that he’s not allowed to, I’ll just have to restrain myself. If you feel that this whole post has been a parade of superlatives, check out the last work that was in an alcove next to these LeWitt masterpieces:
I can’t remember if the title of this was, “Bucket and Mop, Alone at Last“, or “I Thought You Loved Me?“, or “Everything Filthy Must be Mine.” JUST KIDDING! This really was just a mop and bucket in the corner. Fooled ya, right? Just keeping you on your toes…seeing if you were paying attention or daydreaming about all of the better things that you could be doing with your time besides actually READING this blog.
I’m going to post this now before we lose power from raging SANDY. Feel free to send me care packages. I’m partial to cookies and pirate’s booty.
Filed under: Drawing | Tags: art, Cereal, Chex, embroidery, Needlework, Oreo
Has anyone out there ever been to Concord? It’s probably the last place to have “palooza” after its name. It is an immaculate/supercute New England town. Why do I bring it up? Well, because ten of my drawings are at the Concord Art Association!!! The opening/reception was on Thursday night (yes, I had to miss the finale of Project Runway, but I’d like to think that I have my priorities straight.) The show is “Consuming Passion: Food as Metaphor in Art.” (Brief aimless tangent: I arrived slightly early for the opening (try to be surprised), and because I had not eaten dinner…I thought that I’d walk into the downtown and grab something from somewhere. WELL, Concord is so swanky and nice that there WASN’T anyplace to GRAB something. That’s too ghetto. No joke! There were either lovely restaurants…or lovely inedible items, like fancy clothes or jewelry. Sigh. Thus, I had to snarf down lots of snacks at the reception.)
OKAY. End of tangent. Here are nine of my drawings in all of their black and white glory:
WOO HOO! Lookin’ good! My babies! Where is the tenth drawing, you ask? On the opposite wall. He’s lonely and orphaned, but it’s okay. I was really happy to see the group of them on the wall. I saw someone ALMOST touch one of them, but they didn’t. Umm…really? Overprotective mommy here…PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE DRAWINGS, areyoufrigginkiddingme? Some of my big-hearted friends asked why I didn’t bring my son to the reception. Enough said.
But enough about me…I’ve got some pictures of some of the other FASCINATING works (because my stuff is obviously fascinating as well, thankyouverymuch):
Hannah Perrine Mode, Weight and Sea I, 2011, 84″ x 30″, oil on canvas
This enormous and lovely painting is by Hannah Perrine Mode. I actually got a chance to chat with her a bit. She was lovely and friendly and I wish her loads of success, as she has recently moved to NYC. I really love that piece. Must. Sell. Art. In. Order. To. Buy. It. She said that she has to work much MUCH smaller, as she’s got a tiny place in Manhattan. My work, in contrast, is already tiny. See! My work is MADE for NYC! Right??? You must agree.
Some other fascinating work by Judith Klausner:
Judith Klausner, Cereal Sampler #2: The Most Important Meal, 2010, Chex corn cereal and thread
Yes. She. Did. (1 of 3):
She did embroidery on CEREAL. Not kidding. So awesome. Look at the date. IT’S TWO YEARS OLD! Even better. Next:
Judith Klausner, Oreo Cameo #10, 2011, Oreo sandwich cookie
Yes. She. Did. (2 of 3):
She sculpted a “cameo” portrait from an OREO. AN OREO!!!!
Not kidding. Awesomer. Next:
Judith Klausner, Toast Embroidery #1: Egg on Toast, 2010, Toast, thread, paper (structural)
Yes. She. Did. (3 of 3):
That’s EMBROIDERY on TOAST. She is a food + art mastermind!!! That one’s two years old as well…impressive! There were lots of other great work…I just can’t post it all here. Well, okay…I’ll post one more bit of artistic amazingness:
My 4 yr old son drew this today. It’s a building falling down. Look at those action lines! See the sideways door? He said it tipped over. LOVE. IT. Please don’t ask my why my child has done a bajillion drawings of buildings collapsing. It’s a direct result of his mommy letting him watch building demolition videos on You Tube. Sigh. I can practically HEAR his synapses fusing into abnormal arrays. Sigh.
This is a recent portrait, so he can’t be THAT messed up, right???:
See? He looks happy! And relatively calm, I might add. This evidence will exonerate me when DSS comes by.
Speaking of calm…look at the lovely weather we had today!
Did I mention that it was almost 70 DEGREES??? For MID-OCTOBER??? Very strange.
At least the leaves are turning…and I haven’t seen any palm trees springing up yet, or toucans flying by.
Lots of blobby pumpkins, though! Hmm…this gives me the idea of power tools and pumpkins…I may be onto something here… (note: I said “onto” something, not “on” something…) Perhaps I’m channeling my inner Gallagher? I think that I’d better stop while I’m neither ahead nor behind.
Happy Fall! Hakuna Matata! Go see the show at Concord, or else!
slightly wonky 