Valentine's Day is in the past, but because I'm a hopeless romantic, I have a few little odds and ends from Valentine's Day I wanted to put up. So here's the love story of Tim and his wife Claire, in pictures, as he's made a beautiful photo card for her each Valentine's Day for the past ten years. And they're each uniquely lovely.
Kendra Binney is part of a show called "Muses" currently on display at the Black Maria Gallery in LA. You can view the entire show here -- it's all beautifully done -- but it was Kendra's work that really stuck out for me. And her artist's bio is the perfect accompaniment to her work:
Kendra Binney was raised in a small mountain town with no shoe stores. Most of her time was spent barefoot treading through the miniscule world of spiders, snakes and all things hiding in the grass. She transfers this closeness with the small and obscure into her paintings. Through scenes of dripping landscapes and insecure, vulnerable characters, she illustrates a world draped in memories, remorse, and fragile realities. Seen through pastel washes and shiny candy coatings of resins, her works evoke both nostalgia and contempt. They are at once gentle and cruel, sweet and unsettling.
Kendra currently lives in Portland Oregon. She spends her days all alone in a small studio with no windows. Here she paints, daydreams, and paints some more."
I like to picture her in her tiny, windowless studio, painting pensive girls with huge eyes to take in all the light.
London-based artist Timothy Carson has an exhibit at Velvet da Vinci Gallery in San Francisco this month called "Timothy Information Limited: Demonstration 2." Here's the description, which I am seriously intrigued by:
"In an unknown place, at an unknown time, on an unknown day, in an unknown year, a demonstration is taking part. The usual cast of characters are there, the battle worn, the naïve, the angry, those carrying agendas, the confused and the passengers. Each badge in 'demonstration 2' portrays someone involved on that day. Some are the demonstrators, some the police, some are the stewards and some are just people caught up in the proceedings. The badges reflect the feelings, thoughts, beliefs and observations of some of the players during that eventful day."
The entire exhibit is a series of brooches -- you can view them all here. I haven't been able to find much about Timothy Carson, but I really like the concept. And apparently he'll be there in person this Friday the 13th from 6-8 PM, if you want to pop in and ask him some questions yourself.
"Pin It Up, Babycakes!", a fabulous collection of art inspired by pinups of the past, is on show at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco through February 28. But for those of us who don't live in San Francisco, we can at least view the pieces here and pretend we're there. And it's awfully nice of them to enable us that way.
Okay, admittedly, when I first saw the title of Natalia Fabia's show, "Hooker DreamEscape," I kinda rolled my eyes. But then I read the description, and I fell in love with the concept just a little bit.
"...Fabia’s second solo show at the Gallery continues her tales of
seduction by revealing the forbidden desires and secret fantasies of her modern-day belle de jours. Providing tongue-in-cheek “dream-escapes” with jewel-toned forests and candy-colored landscapes, the artist creates the ideal environment for her bold seductresses to indulge themselves in life’s little pleasures. As one siren is discovered capriciously binging on pizza in a child’s room, another quietly relaxes alone in a pool at midnight, enjoying a cigarette. Fabia’s unique style evolves for “Hooker DreamEscape”, capturing a more heightened realism in this collection of oil-on-panel works, topped off, as always, by the artist’s signature glitter veneer. The exhibition will also feature a limited edition of fifteen Lucite chandeliers, each baroque design elegantly displaying custom charms and hand-signed and numbered by the artist."
It sounds like a kind of campy and kind of touching examination of a certain type of lifestyle--the paintings I've seen from the show are leering, in a way, and definitely voyeuristic, but also beautiful and revealing. The artist acknowledges the humanity of her subjects in a way I feel a lot of art exploring similar topics does not. Like in the painting above, the setting and the model are gorgeous, but the green, cadaverous lighting covering everything just makes me think of the decay and impermanence of it all. And I like the recognition of the juxtaposition.
Plus, I'm extremely curious about the Lucite chandeliers.
This show runs from February 21 through March 14 at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City.
When art and music collide, the results are often unpredictable and exciting. Case in point: the "Worlds on Fire" exhibit sponsored by Shooting Gallery and Will.i.am, where many prominent artists were asked to paint portraits of famous musicians. It's especially interesting to see how the artists interpret the subject of their portrait through the lens of their own signature style. Seeing Madonna re-invented as one of Lori Earley's typical big-headed, big-eyed girls or Trent Reznor palling around with one of Travis Louie's lovable monsters is definitely refreshing.
The show features a collection of works by four French artists who specialize in artwork centering on doll-like female figures. The characters in these paintings and drawings often show a child-like innocence mixed with a creepier, more disturbing aesthetic--a combination which seems especially popular today, as our culture grows more obsessed with exposing and acknowledging the duality within us all. Sometimes we are all contradictory. Sometimes we are all both pretty doll and blood-sucking crazypants. Right?
Artist Koralie will be bringing her gallery show "HAÏKU" to Upper Playground in Portland this month, with a big opening this Thursday night from 6-10 PM. There will be free music, free drinks, and prints and original pieces galore! To describe Koralie's work, a little snippet from the flyer:
"Inspired by Japanese illustrations from 18th century prints and mangas, she creates characters that reference the unique Japanese culture. Her geishas achieve a graphic iconography, in which sensuality and modesty are mixed with elegance and flashy colors. Highly affected by urban environment, she began painting walls in 1999 while remaining to paint on canvas as well. In 2001 she incorporated a graphic element to her work by throwing a computer in the mix."
Her design is just flawless. It's fresh and the colors are vibrant and eye-catching, and she has this perfect mix of street and fine art happening. Her website even has four different moods to choose from. Below is a teaser video from the "HAÏKU" show when it was in San Francisco a couple of months back.
Will wonders never cease? It's a combination fish tank and birdcage, which allows the bird to fly up from beneath to the same level as the fish, creating the illusion that they're flying together.
Yes, this concept seems like it would be absolutely maddening for the pets involved, but I was instantly attracted to it because I'm of that certain age that remembers the video below ("Breaking the Ice") as one of my very first introductions to computer animation. I used to wait bright-eyed and eager for this to rerun on PBS when I was little, because it was so breathtakingly beautiful in a way I had never seen before. So for the rest of my life, I'll be looking for ways for the fish and the bird to get together and make it work.
"'Hunting and Gaming' explores the nature of sinister play. Vanessa Prager paints starkly lit scenes of surrealistic moments in daily life; untangling holiday decorations, playing with old toys, driving or chatting. But her odd theatrical arrangements suggest something creepy going on behind the innocent façade. Kathy Grayson explores various digital degradations whether with old family photographs re-imagined through early video gaming and green screen effects, with video game "death screens" or with quasi-abstract explosions of distorted video information. Memory and technology infect and distort each other in her uncanny panel paintings."
The opening reception takes place January 24 between 7-10 PM, and the show runs until February 14th.
For some highlights from the show, just click here.
Whither the days of hand-drawn animation? Hither, my friends.
Description:
"When a geometric visitor from another planet becomes your new roommate and shares with you the tragic state of its home world, you drop your guitar and see what you can do. We created this piece in response to the accompanying music track we created in honor of a visiting cat named Leo."
I like to think we'd all do the same thing if placed in a similar situation.
"Stephen Wirtz Gallery is pleased to announce The Last Days of W, an exhibition of photographs by Alec Soth. A visual coda to the presidency of George W. Bush, it is assembled from images made throughout the United States over the past eight years. Presenting a time that could be “either dawn or dusk,” a pervasive metaphor, Soth’s images are a poetic and politically charged expression of collective bewilderment as Americans awake to immeasurable crisis. An informal newsprint publication titled The Last Days of W, created and self-published by the artist, was recently released and accompanies the photographs in the exhibition."
And yes, that really IS an Osama bin Laden piñata in the picture.
This short animated film by Joaquin Baldwin has won reams of awards, and it's easy to see why. Somehow, no matter how often we hear a tale of self-sacrifice, when it's well told and beautifully handled it never gets old. This sweet and scary story of a little voodoo doll with a heart of gold is a prime example.
Please follow the link for a much snazzier and higher quality version of this video.
According to my exploration, billions of persons on our planet get the loans at various creditors. Therefore, there's good chances to get a college loan in all countries.
If you are willing to buy real estate, you will have to get the mortgage loans. Moreover, my father always uses a consolidation loan, which occurs to be really firm.
AntoinetteVAUGHAN32 on 
