February 12, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
Here are a few pieces from a collection by Kennedy James called Serial Bondage. Each chair is tied-up with yarn in the ancient art of Japanese Shibari (rope bondage). There is something delightful and playful about these delicate miniature chairs harnessed with brightly colored ropes.
February 12, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
I love art that can exist as just a beautiful object, no need to crowd the frame with tons of conceptual nonsense. The attractiveness of Justyn Hegreberg’s artwork grabs me through the varied textures, bold colors and asymmetric formats. He both thinks and works outside the frame (even though sometime the piece doesn’t quite stretch to all four sides).
January 10, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
In her series Death of an Image, photographer Andrea Galvani attempts to cross a boundary. Through each image there is a desperate need to cancel something out in order to rebuild it. Objects are cleverly placed within the shot to create a precise perspective, thus cloaking and transforming the subjects. In the image below, the stark black balloons are carefully placed with accurately calculated string lengths to create a visible center point that the dots radiate from. Beyond the conceptual explanation, these images are just stunning. The final image is separate from the collection, but how could I resist an image of cats.
January 9, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
Tim Wirth has really streamlined his artistic process. Each painting is created on a square birch canvas that is cut down from a larger plank, leaving no waste. The paintings are framed and the backside includes the date and place where the painting was completed, as well as the title and signature. Many of the painting’s backsides include a painting of their own.
I like Tim’s work because it’s humorous, non-sensical at times and colorful. It’s that plain and simple.
December 26, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
This is what happens when you drop concentrated liquid drugs onto exposed film. In the series, All you can feel, German artist Sarah Schönfeld experimented with the effects of certain legal and illegal substances. The images reveal the reaction of each chemical as it breaks down the film substrate. Imagine what it might be doing to your body. The image above is Estrogen.
Make sure you click on the images to enlarge and check out the amazing details. The results teeter between ethereal imagery to mineral samplings. Above on the left is Caffeine with MDMA on the right. Below are two examples of Ketamine.
Pictured above on the left is Heroin with Crystal Meth on the right. Below are LSD on the left with a mixture of Speed and Magic on the right.
December 13, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
I’m just gushing over this embroidered Knot series from artist Anouk Desloges. Normally, the holes created by the needle are lost in an embroidered textile, but Anouk cleverly uses plexiglass as her canvas which amplify these gaps between the stitches.
detail of My Sunday’s Mask
The following two pieces are titled Paper Bag; are sewn through plexiglass and include bronze leaf. They both have a very lovely resemblance to the anatomy of the female reproductive system.
December 11, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
A Better Tomorrow has a quiet yet eerie vibe with the use of high contrast black and white fabrics against grainy and blurry imagery. This fantastic collage series is from artist Justin Plakas, whose a multi-media artist living and working in Las Vegas. New Mexico.
August 20, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
The altered bookwork of Andrew Hayes is striking and quite extraordinary. Andrew crafts steel vessels to house and highlight discarded book pages in a manner that is more unique than most altered books. At first glance, these sculptures are not recognizable as books. The pages are tightly sandwiched between steel barriers and fanned out, exposing the interior text and imagery. Andrew embraces the attributes of the pages (i.e., page tabs and painted edges), offering more intrigue and depth to the piece.
June 29, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
Even though many hours of my life are spent watching films, I rarely sit down and write a review about one. But this particular film left an impression on me and would be quite interesting for anyone working in a skilled trade industry–like bookbinding.
In 2010, filmmakers Faythe Levine and Sam Macon began documenting the dedicated practitioners of a somewhat dwindling industry in Sign Painters. The film follows a handful of artistic (sometimes egotistical) and witty characters who are both veterans and newcomers to the industry. The audience gets some insight to an industry that is over 150 years old, how it was affected by the onset of technology and the ways it’s bouncing back.
Sign painters are responsible for decades of hand-painted signs for businesses, in the form of advertisements, announcements and notifications. Not only were sign painters incredibly skilled with a brush, but had a deep understanding of lettering and design. In a culture where now just about everyone has access to design programs and a printer, signs have been less permanent and more unattractive. As one sign painter in the film puts it: We’ve become a culture dumbed-down aesthetically.
The history and future of sign painters is visible through each hand-painted sign, whether freshly painted or aged through decades of wear and to those who dedicate themselves (not to a life of wealth), but to the love of lettering, design and painting.
Snippet from the opening sequence–one of my more favorite hand-painted signs in my hometown!
Finally, another quote from the film that I find to be particularly lovely—“I think that every human being has the capability of altering their environment for the better with their bare hands.”
Now for a documentary about Bookbinders!
June 20, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
Another round of visual candy to satisfy your creative appetite; the work of illustrator Andrew Holder.
