Roadkill Couture.... I love

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"Insectes" by Laurent Seroussi

I came across this stunning series a week or two ago.As I mentioned in my previous entry, I would like a way to combine my work with fashion. This seems to be Laurent Seroussi's take on that, and I really enjoyed seeing it. The lighting and execution of connecting the bug and woman is flawless. A person might think it is really a creature if they didn't know any better! 

Source: Hi-Fructose

Published Work for TRIM Magazine

This week has been pretty exciting... I mentioned previously that I did a shoot for Ancho Poncho. Last night it was published in TRIM magazine (a magazine put together by a some mason gross kids.) I also did another makeup shoot for them. I have discovered I definitely have an affinity for retouching (which is funny because it is the only thing in life i get OCD about/most people don't like using photoshop). Here is a link, and shots of my pages!Definitely different than my art, but I would really love to find a way to combine my art work with fashion.

TRIM magazine

Zoe Leonard Exhibition

I had the change to visit the Zoe Leonard exhibition in Chelsea which spoke a lot to my work.

Upon entering the gallery there was a giant white room; on each wall hung one or two faded looking photos. There was a giant white circle in the middle and faded gray around it. The images were of the sun. They had a thin almost black boarder surrounded by another two-inch boarder around the entire thing.     

      

            When entering the second room, it was extremely dark and had a hole in the wall with a lens in it. It was the camera obscura. We were encouraged to sit in the room and as our eyes adjusted, we saw the images of the world surrounding the building on the walls projected from the camera obscura. It created a very relaxing and meditative environment; watching the movement from the outside world in the dark room was very serene.

            After leaving this room and coming back into the first light room, the images on the walls looked very different. They no longer looked washed out, but had much more contrast in the tones that created them. Though the two rooms were very different, yet they had a deeper connection than one might have originally thought.

            The camera obscura has been seen many times before in different exhibitions and throughout history in general, so some visitors might question why Leonard decided to revisit it. Being prepared for this, she explains this answer in her press release, stating that at this point in time, we all constantly seeing images. She is asking questions about sight, and the camera obscura is a different way of seeing an image- “it does not have to result in a fixed image”. She continues on to explain that it creates a space and an experience; the viewers are inside a camera.

            The press release definitely helps hold the exhibition together. Since it is such a simple subject, the explanation really added dimension to the experience. I really enjoyed reading her thoughts on the question of digital vs analogue. Her response was “…I think the artist should choose whichever medium works best for them.” This is a question I always debate (which I should be using), and it was enlightening to read her thoughts, and how it lead her to create a camera obscura. She also goes on to relate the camera obscura to the unconscious and what happens inside of a person’s head. This is an interesting concept for me to think about, since a lot of my pinholes are dream like. 

Ancho Poncho

Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and photograph the talented and beautiful gal behind Ancho Poncho, Annie. Annie is a prat student with many artistic accomplishments. Though she goes to school for illustration, what we were focused on during this shoot was her jewelry. She welds together unfinished metals to create beautiful, often geometric, earthy pieces. My favorite was gold cockroach earrings. Her paintings, prints and drawings were hung around the house, the girl is truly an artist. 

Will post some photos from the shoot as soon as I finish editing! (above found from internet)

Stray Light Grey: Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe (exhibition)

During a trip to Chelsea last week, we went the exhibition Stray Light Grey. These two artists did an incredible job forming a dream like, surreal journey for the viewers.

 The first thing you see when you enter the gallery is a tiny room. There are a few silkscreens and paintings which are interesting, but nothing to write home about. My professor, who was our tour guide through this experience, called to us from another room and told us to follow her. No one knew what to expect; she led us into a bathroom with a hole in the wall! She began to climb through and encouraged us to follow. From there, we entered another (different) bathroom. It was dark, but light was flowing into the bathtub; it was another hole. We went through into a hallway and through another hole. The journey continued through all of these different holes and rooms. Each had a totally different feeling than the one before it. It seemed perfect for a pre-halloween adventure! My favorite room was the last. We climbed through a hole into what appeared to be the study in a very nice house. The walls were beautiful wooden shelves filled with psychedelic book covers. There were sculptures and photos on the wall, all created by the artists, and then the next door spat out the viewers back into reality. 

Photos I took recently...

After Effects/Graphic Design

This is half of a graphic design project assigned. I don't usually discus graphic design being the other half of my concentration because I do not plan on pursuing it in the future (though the knowledge has come in very handy so far on my photography path!) But this is a project I am very proud of. I had a week to create an animation as well as teach myself after effects. The assignment was to "redesign" a book and make a video for it... I took it down bit of a different path but here it is!

Decolonization a Class Project by JC Lenochan

Picture taken from internet

... was my favorite piece in the current show. When you enter the room there are rows of antique desks just like a classroom with a blackboard and a front and "school like" (at first glance) art on the walls. Strangely, the next time I entered the room the desks were all piled up in a sculpture-esque way. Upon further research I discovered it was a performance (that I had sadly missed). The use of the desks was very nostalgic and reminded me of when I was in elementary school. For any viewer, the antique quality could have made it feel like it was the same desks from their school days! The many school like things, upon closer look, were not things that would have been in a classroom, and were most likely the reason the show was titled "Decolonization". There was a picture of George Washington that would be found in any school, but it was created out of crackers. Books were on shelves, but decorated and drawn in. There was a picture of a man's feet standing on a stack of books. In the back on two chalkboards were two rather violent images. One of the blackboards was titled "Is slavery dead? Emancipation Proclamation". The scene was clearly early America, but containing a lot of violence. The chalkboard drawing on the other side of the wall was artists who had their heads cut off by a giant man with a sword. A table of elements was present too, but it spelled out the alphabet. Some of the example words were certainly not kid friendly! J stood for Jackass.

Picture taken from internet

The nostalgia of this piece mixed with the well thought out surrounding artwork made for a very interesting instillation. 

I love this...

....Stan Brakhag film "Burial Path"

It's nostalgic, soft, and lacks sound allowing the viewer to use the soundtrack of their own thoughts and memories. The quickly changing movements feel like eyes flickering as they struggle to bring a clear memory to the surface.

With my own work, I'v been asked why I don't make films and why my images need to be still. This film really makes me think about it. The film stills would all be beautiful images on their own, but together as a film they feel so much more intimate. I want to make a film!

Photographer: Alison Scarpulla

One of my favorite current photographers, who I discovered a few years ago in my internet travels, is Alison Scarpulla. Scarpulla's dark, surreal, world of strange figures and beautiful colors immediately drew me in. Every time I look through her work, I want to jump up and run into a forest with my camera. As a photographer myself, I sometimes have a hard time figuring out i she uses film or digital/ darkroom or photoshop. Maybe this is part of the magic of her incredible body of work. 
Link: http://shuttermade.com/alisonscarpulla

Fashion Week

Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to attend a few Fashion Week shows in Manhattan. Unfortunately, since I was a first-timer, I did not know what the protocol was on bringing a camera, and only was able to borrow an iPhone to take some quick shots at 2/4 of the shows I attended. (I'v been beating myself up for not bringing one!)

The first show I attended (camera less) was Rag and Bone. The fashion was overshadowed by my excitement; all I noticed were a few neon numbers and what the models look like in real life (skinny as expected!).

The second show (still camera less)I was more composed and able to look at the clothing. It was a men's designer N.Hoolywood. Being an artist, this was my favorite presentation. I saw it as more of an art piece than a runway show... The models stepped onto the "runway" (which was really a giant canvas) after stomping in black paint. Each model did this, and at the end of the show the designer ran out and signed his name across the bottom of the foot-printed canvas with spray paint. 

The last two shows were Robert Geller and Tibi. Robert Geller had some pretty cool mens designs, and Tibi was pretty basic women but I enjoyed it anyway. (Sorry for the bad photo quality!) 

Robert Geller

Robert Geller

Robert Geller (That's his wife and little daughter in front!)

Tibi

Tibi

Interview with Eli Holvey-Slifer

My interview with Eli Holvey-Slifer!

J- Is there a specific art movement that has influenced your sculptures?

E- Yes, cubism is definitely a big inspiration for me. I am pretty close to where street art has gone lately, like cubes, clearly defined box of polymer, that’s what I’m into I think that’s beautiful you know? It has the same swiftness that I’m into. The cubists are pretty sharp.

J- What’s your favorite medium to work with sculpture wise?

E- Definitely woodwork, it’s natural and hard enough but still malleable. It’s manipulated fairly easily but hard enough to withstand time. There is a certain swiftness I enjoy in my work, and wood makes it relatively easy to achieve.

J- You said you like wood because it’s something natural. Do you tend to create natural forms in your work?

E- Yeah, I like the teardrop a lot. It’s a good natural form. I made one wooden piece using the teardrop form. I hung it from the roof, and it ended up swinging and creating a pendulum.  I didn’t plan for that to happen, but it was one of the larger scale pieces that I did. I find myself drawing teardrops sometimes…. A lot of the time.

J- (Laughs)

J- From looking at your sculptures, it looks like you work a great deal with metal as well. Can you talk about one of these pieces?

E- This was an assignment that we were where supposed to make something related to the body. This is a chest piece, almost. We have all of these resources available to us, but this chest piece isn’t ideal and wouldn’t protect a person from much.

J- Where there any other requirements?

E- Just to make something related to the human body, and that’s the direction I decided to take it. It actually fell apart.

J- It fell apart?

E- Yeah you can’t put that in the interview. (Laughs) I had it outside and it started rusting. It looks kid of cool I have a photograph. 

J- Do you generally photograph your work?

E- Yeah, I don’t do a ton with photography but it’s interesting to me to photograph my paintings and sculptures. I like taking close ups of the different materials I use as well as parts of my work; the photos end up very abstract. I could see myself continuing with this. Photography is important to me, I would like to do it more and learn more about it.

J- I can teach if you if you need to learn! (Laughs). Yeah the pictures look really cool! That one looks kind of like fish guts.

Do you enjoy working in any other mediums?

E-  I draw and paint. Honestly, I would like to be able to just paint skateboards and sell them for a living. I’m always painting my boards. I like bight colors in my paintings, so…my paintings are mostly about form. As a sculptor, it feels natural and it’s very planned. But not completely planned

J- Do you feel like your photos, paintings, skateboards, and your sculptures all kind of relate in that way?  What other ways do you think they do?

E- Well a lot of my work is about form as I said. I also think they would all be able to exist together in an interesting environment that no one has seen before …they would be a collection of pieces that are something new. I am concerned with the synergy of objects and how my pieces can act as one or stand on their own.

J- I know your brother and your dad both sculpt as well. Is this how you got involved in sculpture?

E- Yeah definitely. I didn’t do too much woodwork as a kid though. My father was always dragging cedar trees out of the woods and this cool, big arbor in the backyard that he made with all of the plants in the backyard climbing up that. He always has trinkets around.

J- That he made?

E- Yeah, I actually have a cool one in my room, its kind of like what I’v been doing lately its like a synergy of objects, he has that going on too. It’s a seashell with a piece of wood coming out …like a tree branch growing out of it. And he has river stones with a ceramic leg, like a baby’s leg, just cool stuff like that.

J- Do you find your work relating to his?

E- We both have a natural, primitive, fascination. I guess I want to do two things I want to make something that’s primitive and back to the roots and natural but I also want to make stuff that’s alien, swift and modern. And it’s interesting to think how those two can relate together.

J- Is your brother’s work like yours at all? I’v seen his jewelry, but not much of his other stuff.

E- I wouldn’t say they’re too much alike, but they have a similar sense kind of because he’s working with his jewelry and metal stuff he’s bee doing lately, the uniformity of all of these things, so in that sense yeah.

J- I enjoyed hearing about your work, thank you!