New Photos

I am now the proud owner of a new computer and I should be back on a semi-regular routine of blog posts and will begin re-focusing on art and art-related things. First I wanted to share a couple of photos that I took last Tuesday on the way back from Wyoming. The sun was setting over the rockies and it casts beautiful reflections and long shadows all over the front range:




Looking back on what was my first year of blogging, there were several short-lived features and semi-regular posts that I may be revisiting this year. I had several guest bloggers, a "media Monday" feature - based on actual art mediums rather than artists or works, and a "found Friday" feature where I posted pieces from my ever-growing collections of found photos and papers. I'm looking forward to another year of sharing and I'm thankful for whatever readership may come my way. Thanks everyone.

Media Spotlight Monday - Masking Tape

Rune Olsen, "Installation Samson Projects", 2007

Graphite, masking tape, blue mannequin eyes, newspaper, steel, wire, acrylic medium, glass-fiber and resin

Kayt Hester Lent, "Complete 4x4", 2007, black masking tape

Buff Diss - Masking tape on cement (detail)
Buff Diss - Masking tape on cement
via Wooster Collective

Media Spotlight Monday : Books

Georgia Russell, "Memoire" 2001-2 Mixed media construction 21.5 inches highJim Rosenau , "No, But I Sawed The Book"

Donald Lipski
Blurb No. 2 (A Man Named Ron), 2003
Books, mixed media
147 x 147 x 2 1/2 inches (373.4 x 373.4 x 6.4 cm)

Donald Lipski
The Best Love, The Best Sex, 2003
Books, mixed media
74 1/2 x 74 1/2 x 12 inches (189.2 x 189.2 x 30.5 cm)

Media Spotlight Monday: Chlorophyll Photography

It's spring - and I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a couple of artists using actual plant chlorophyll to make photographs:

Binh Danh, "Found Portraits Collection #7", 2006 20 x 65 inches Chlorophyll print and resin

Binh Danh, "The Leaf Effect: Study for Transmission #3", 2006 17 x 14.5 x 1.375 inches Chlorophyll print and resin

Ackroyd and Harvey, "mother & child", 1998 stay-green grass, clay, wood, 1.2m x 1.8m. 'Out of Sight: Imaging/Imagining Science' Santa Barbara Museum of Art, US.

Ackroyd and Harvey, "the sunbathers", 2000 photographic photosynthesis, stay-green grass, clay, constructed screen. 7.35m x 4.90m. Aberystwyth Art Centre, Wales, UK

According to the scicult site article: ACKROYD and HARVEY: chlorophyll as a photographic medium, "Grass blades have an inherent capacity to record complex images through the production of chlorophyll, and the equivalent tonal range developed in a black and white photographic print is created within the grass in shades of green and yellow"

Instructions on the process can be found here

Media Spotlight Monday : Colored Pencil

Bronlyn Jones
"Deconstructing a Mondrian", 2005
graphite and red colored pencil on Basingwerk paper
Paper: 8 x 6 1/2 inches
(Shown in artist's frame)
Framed: 10 7/8 x 9 1/4 inches
After Mondrian's Oil on Canvas titled #6 Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1937-42

Bronlyn Jones
"Deconstructing a Mondrian", 2005
graphite and red colored pencil on Basingwerk paper
Paper: 8 x 6 1/2 inches
(Shown in artist's frame)
Framed: 10 7/8 x 9 1/4 inches
After Mondrian's Oil on Canvas titled #6 Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1937-42

Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (colored butterfly white background 6 wings)
2004
Colored pencil on paper.

Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (colored butterfly white background 10 wings)
2004
Colored pencil on paper.

Michelle Oosterbaan
"Ah-Ha"
2006
colored pencil, graphite on paper

60 x 51 ¼ inchesMichelle Oosterbaan

"Cut Out"
2006
Gouache, colored pencil, graphite on paper
78 ½ x 51 inches

In place of "New Media Monday" I will be hosting the re-named "Media Spotlight Monday." I realize that most mediums are not "new" and after last week's questionable "latte art" post I decided to spotlight other mediums that may be better known but not of any lesser value. This week's spotlight is mainly focused on abstraction including colored pencil. Take a look at Bronlyn Jone's site especially - her other work is also minimal - it has a certain elegance to it.

New Media Monday : Latte Art

Trying to find art in the everyday brings me to the art medium of espresso and steamed milk; latte art. This may not qualify as art with a capital 'A' in most books, but it's Monday - who couldn't benefit from a cup o' joe?

Click photos for links to several flickr sets devoted to this specialty.

Alex Paik - Nintendo Paintings

Alex Paik, "Super Mario Bros. 2 (Sunshowers)"
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 inches
2006

Alex Paik, "Super Mario Bros. 2 (Mountain of Sound)"
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 inches
2007

See also:
Amy Chan: Works on Paper, and my New Media Monday: Nintendo feature

New Media Monday : Rubik's Cubes

RUBIK KUBRICK-POW POSTER MATRIX -
2006RUBIK'S CUBES ON BOARD 60 x 88 x 5,5 cm

"RUBIK FLORENCE REY "
2005, RUBIK'S CUBES ON BOARD 96 x 72 x 5,5 cm


The artist "Space-Invader" has made some recent mosaics using Rubik's cubes. Via coolhunting

New Media Monday : Projection

Amazing "Laser Tag" - c/o the Graffiti Research Lab - watch the video to get the full effect:

Jenny Holzer's word projections in London

"At night projections from moving cars are shone on the buildings downtown. Each car projects a video of a wild animal. The animal’s movements are programmed to correspond to the speed of the car: as the car moves, the animal runs along it speeding up and slowing down with the car, as the car stops, the animal stops also. " created by Karolina Sobecka from her Wildlife Project - go to the website and watch the video - it's pretty amazing.

other resources:
Urban Projections
Wooster Collective

And now big-budget movies are getting in on the action; like this projection in Brazil for TMNT:

New Media Monday : Nintendo

Cory Archangel reprogrammed an original Super Mario Bros. game for the Nintendo NES system to include only the digital clouds. He's done several other pieces based on vintage video games and clever internet programming.


Ben Fry, "Mario Soup" - click image for link

Other related links include this NES sample art - similar to "Mario Soup"


Also, Ryan Hennessy has been using Nintendo graphics as subjects for paintings like this:



And a hand-painted NES system on eBay

New Media Monday : Insulation Foam

"holeymoley land" (detail) installation by Kim Beck

"holeymoley land" (detail) installation by Kim Beck

Via Kim Beck's website idealcities.com; "In this installation made from laser-cut insulation foam and cardboard, forms from road-side signs, highway pylons, parking lot trees and other peripheral roadside structures grow into a huge pink heap, edged by burnt brown clouds of self-same constructions."

Carol Anne McChrystal

Carol Anne McChrystal

Two views from "bad art for bad people" version 2
4.5' x 8' x 4.5'
insulation foam, black paint
may 2006

Steve Robinson, "Crash Position/ Headphones", 1996.
4' h x 4' w x 17' d.
Insulation foam, wood, aluminum.
foreshortened view

Steve Robinson, "Crash Position/ Headphones", 1996.

Installation view.

Lately I have been growing in my proficiency at packing my paintings for shipping. I generally ship my work between layers of cardboard and pink insulation foam. I've found this to be the cheapest and most efficient solution. I remembered seeing Kim Beck's installations in Art in America not too long ago and later online using the same material and sought out other artists using this cheap, lightweight stuff. I found Steve Robinson and Carol Anne McChrystal.
These artists all use the material differently - installation, sculpture, and installation/painting, but are similar in their basic materials.

On a side note; my exhibition in Savannah, GA at the 2 Car Garage Gallery this last weekend went quite well and I will be posting images soon.

New Media Monday: Legos

Inkie Whang, "Misty Cloud", 2006
silicon and dry pigment on canvas
47 x 33 1/2 in.
119.4 x 85.1 cm.

Inkie Whang, "An Old Breeze" Lego on Plywood, 2004

Inkie Whang, "Autumn Wind", 2004
silicon on canvas
32 1/4 x 81 in.
81.9 x 205.7 cm.

Olafur Eliasson
"The cubic structural evolution project 2004"

Via the Natioanl Gallery of Victoria: "The cubic structural evolution project 2004 is a spectacular installation that invites visitors to participate in the construction of a cityscape using thousands of pieces of Lego. For Eliasson, audience collaboration is of central importance. As he has stated, ‘I see that the person, when engaging in a project of mine, influences the meanings generated.’"

Lego renditions of M.C. Escher images by Lego Escher

"Aztec" by Legolander