Sunday, October 31, 2010

Life and Art

When I started this blog more than a year ago, I made a vow to myself that I would try to keep my personal life out of it as much as possible. No one wants to read about my aging cat's drooling problem, or how many times I saw my favorite Star Trek movie last year, or whether I think oranges are superior to grapes (I don't.) Boring, boring, boring.


I vowed instead to start a conversation with fellow artists about process, color, technique, tools, expression, and design. I want very much to spend time with others who understand my passion for- and almost constant state of surprise and delight with- art and artistic endeavors. I feel utterly fortunate to have achieved that goal, and I look forward to many more years of dialogue and friendship.


However, I'm about to break my, "Only art; no personal stories," vow and tell you a little bit about what's been happening lately because I feel like it will have a direct impact on my art. In fact, I can't see how it won't. (If this personal stuff does bore you to tears, no worries, I'm not insulted... just scroll to the bottom half of this post to see artsy eye candy!)


During our vacation last month to visit our parents in the NE part of the country, it became obvious that my Dad's memory is failing badly. Doctors and lawyers need to be seen and hard decisions will have to be made. To begin that process, I made another trip up there in the middle of last week which I just returned home from yesterday.  I feel like I've been living on planes for the last three months!




My life can sometimes be an odd mixture of Really Bad meets Really Good and this short but intense visit with my father was an excellent example. While my reasons for visiting were sad and serious and stressful, Dad and I faced those challenges together... and then went and had fun. Fun for us means getting out into the Pennsylvania hillsides and just driving. We talk, we laugh, we ooh and ahh over the stunning natural beauty, I take tons of photos, and when the day is over, we feel a lot closer to one another. Valuable stuff, especially now.


As an added bonus, the fall color was just past its peak and the leaves gave me ample opportunities for photographs. 






The tiny little coal town I grew up in, Tamaqua, was once dirty, run down and depressing. Most of the businesses were struggling, and unemployment was staggeringly high. Today, the town is fighting to come back, and is wisely using its picturesque roots as a jumping off point.




The real jewel of this region, though, lies in its rolling farmlands and forest-covered mountains.


(The graves of two beloved pets, maybe? These were next to a lovely white farmhouse.)

And like the typical up and down swings of Really Bad meets Really Good, the trip came to a stunning conclusion yesterday when, while waiting in the Philadelphia airport to board my flight home, I witnessed Air Force One land right in front of me.


I was sitting in front of a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the tarmac when I heard a tremendous roar. I looked up from my Kindle and saw this magnificent beauty touch down not a hundred feet in front of me and then taxi out of sight. 

Only myself and one other person seemed to notice and he got as excited as me. About two minutes later, the plane taxied back into view, moved around the terminal building I was sitting in, and into a small commercial field, where it parked and presumably waited for President Obama- who was evidently speaking at Temple University- to board. I got the above photo of it as it was pulling into that somewhat distant tarmac. I'm still over the moon with excitement!

I'm sure it's pretty obvious by now that my studio time has been sparse, but I am still faithfully plugging away at my assignments for Jane's class as well as getting a little surface design time sandwiched in between everything else.

This bizarre, circus-colored thing, a 36" x 45" piece of cotton Pimatex, was the canvas for some deconstructed screen printing.


Taken as a whole, it's pretty scary; it's a prime candidate for using bits and pieces of it in fabric collages. 

This piece, a 36" x 62" length of cotton broadcloth, also got the deconstructed screen printing treatment but so far it isn't thrilling me. 


The colors are weak and paste-ly, but it may be an excellent launching pad for more detailed surface design later with colored pencils, pastels and paint. 


I did something quite fun with it, though, and wound up having a bunch of interesting color palettes to aim for in the future: I ran the photograph of the full piece through some of the filters in Photoshop Elements and came up with these interesting variations.






They can be used for all kinds of things, including being printed onto paper and then worked into collaged art. One of them might even end up as my next blog banner, who knows?


Happy Halloween and happy creating!

Liu Wen Magazine Cover for Harper's Bazaar Korea, October 2010

Model: Liu Wen (Marilyn)
Magazine Cover: Harper's Bazaar Korea, October 2010
Photographer: Yelena Yemchuk

Source: Zimbo

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Diptych

Map collage birds
Collage, watercolor & acrylic ink on Twinrocker handmade paper. 6" x 8"

Lee Hye Jung in Editorial for Vogue Korea, August 2010

Is it possible that Lee Hye Jung and So Young Kang are the beginning of a 2nd wave of Korean models to enter the international fashion scene following the 1st invasion with the likes of Hye Park, Han Jin, Daul Kim, Hyoni Kang and Hyun Yi Lee? Only time will tell if they will become as successful as their predecessors.

Model: Lee Hye Jung (MC2)
Editorial: Blooming Garden
Photographer: You Hyung Won
Hair: Kim Seung Won
Make-up: Kim Ji Hyun

Source: Rosalinde @ tfs

Alevtina Kakhidze - Revolutionary Obedience

"Art must concern itself with the real, but it throws any notion of the real into question. It always turns the real into a facade, a representation, and a construction. But it also raises questions about the motives of that construction." - Mike Kelley

Here is how it went:
Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze has been working on value and power for a while. In one of her charming projects (The Most Commercial Project), for instance, she drew objects that she liked, most of them she couldn't afford, and gave the drawings the same value that the objects had. So, a drawing of a Louis Vuitton handbag had the same value as the object itself. And when she brought her goods into her marriage, the lawyers confirmed that her estate was worth much more than her entrepreneur husband's.
In one of her projects, back in 2008, Alevtina drew the earth seen from the sky. No, this needs more precision: the earth seen from an airplane which is not her own private airplane.
Once she made the drawing, Alevtina Kakhidze wrote to some of the richest people in Ukraine - Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk (who has his own adventure in the art world now) - and asked them to make a drawing for her of how the earth looks from a private plane. It was a nice portfolio she sent them, very professional and smooth. She tried encouraging them, telling them it wasn't about drawing well. If anyone can draw, so can you!
This (and the obvious silence afterwards) made for a nice work. A clean statement about what we see and the position we see it from.

But two years later, unexpectedly, an answer arrives. Akhmetov decided to make his huge foundation to support artists' projects. And Alevtina's project was thought perfect for a beginning. Unfortunately, Mr. Achmetov is too busy/shy/untalented to make a drawing, but he will be happy to rent a private plane for Ms. Kakhidze, so she can make her project herself.
And make it she did.
The project, called "I'm Late For A Plane That Cannot Be Missed", started with Alevtina going by collective transport from her house in the suburbs to the airport. She hitch-hiked a little, took a suburban mini-bus, a suburban train, and (as expected) arrived late at the small private airport near Kiev. There was already a TV crew traveling with her by then, asking everyone on the way who they were and if they knew Alevtina. At the airport, there were several more crews, and over a dozen news photographers. After all, this was an important day for art and culture in Ukraine: the richest man around decided to support real artists, and started by allowing this innocent-looking girl to realize her dream.

And off she went. Onboard, she took only a few reporters. (There was even a struggle for the seat.)

The anxious journalists were mad when, upon returning, Alevtina declared only one thing: she will tell the whole story and answer all the questions tomorrow during her lecture performance. That made no news story at all! Disappointed and frustrated, they could do nothing but wait.

However, the next day arrived quite quickly. And here they were, the journalists, and tens of artists gathered at the conference in one of the most prestigious places in Ukraine (a part of the Saint Sophia Cathedral complex). Waiting mainly to learn how to get money for their projects. And, also, to hear what Alevtina has to say. And to see the drawings.
Alevtina starts describing how she prepared for the trip, how she got clothes specially designed for the occasion, she talks about the cost of the plane rental (10 000 euros). And then she declares:
I felt so calm on the way to the airport and in the sky but now I have to account for this tranquility. What have we done on the plane? We were there. There is no result. I have nothing to show for what actually happened there.
The journalists were confused. This is surely a scandal? No drawing!
But also - no demolition! No shocking performance! No reaction! Nothing! Alevtina did strictly nothing - she did not change the game, she did not make the plane fly somewhere else, she did not paint it red, she made no drawing. She took the flight.
Did I say she didn't change the game?
Of course she did.
Her non-action was performative. It created a new reality. It brought about a challenge to the system, keeping up the power struggle between the art and the money. Who is the boss here? And why?
Certainly, they want us to do what we want. But if we do what we want our way, we are the ones defining what they want. And for a fraction, it becomes our game. And this fraction, for me, is the work.

In one of her works, Alevtina writes (or quotes, the origin is unsure): “And do you remember, I found 10 roubles, and ran home to show mom. Not the 10 roubles, but how lucky I am.”
It is not the thing we find. It is about how lucky we are.
And how we subvert this luck.


PS. The struggle continues: in the description of the event on the Foundation's site, the actual request for Akhmetov to draw the earth is not mentioned, making it all seem slightly more like making "Dreams come true in art". What dreams, exactly?

Friday, October 29, 2010

Daniel's blog!

Wild West
The Good, the Mouse and the Coyote"
Colored pencils and ink.
Daniel's Self Portrait
Self Portrait with Turbo. Chalk.
These two
After much pestering by me, my very talented son Daniel (age 12)
finally created his own blog, it's called Daniel Does :)
Check out his super cute ninja banner!

Sun Fei Fei & Du Juan in Ad Campaign for H&M, Holiday 2010

Models: Sun Fei Fei (Women) & Du Juan (IMG)
Ad Campaign: H&M, Holiday 2010
Photographer: Unknown
Stylist: Unknown
Hair: Unknown
Makeup: Unknown

Source: Marie Claire UK via Zinio

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Autumn On My Mind

Autumn
Remember this pencil sketch I did a couple of weeks while ago?
Well I finally watercolored it with a dark blackish indigo last night.
Autumn is just so inspiring to me!

Angie Ng in Ad Campaign for (Hong Kong) Kaprice, Fall 2010/Winter 2011

Model: Angie Ng (Bookings London)
Ad Campaign: Kaprice, Fall 2010/Winter 2011
Photographer: Laurent Segretier
Stylist: Julie Shah
Hair: Jean Tong
Makeup: Candy Law

Source: Angie Ng Blog

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wings

Fly away birdie!
The birdie on the wall is almost finished, I painted the wings a couple of days ago
and I'm waiting for it to dry completely before adding all the white details.
My finger is completely healed, the mud worked like a charm. Manolo was right :)

Charo Ronquillo in Advertorial for (US) Cosmopolitan Magazine, November 2010

Model: Charo Ronquillo (Ford)
Advertorial: Your Perfect Match
Magazine: (US) Cosmopolitan Magazine, November 2010
Photographer: Unknown
Stylist: Unknown
Hair: Danilo for Pantene
Makeup: Unknown

Source: Zinio.com

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Plumeria

Flower study
Watercolor sketch
Flower study
I went with Manolo to buy some things from a little hardware store near here
yesterday afternoon and there was the most beautiful Red Plumeria tree in bloom
just outside the shop. I brought a couple of buds home and made a quick watercolor sketch with a dark navy background on my new handbook journal.

Ming Xi in Editorial for (US) Contributing Editor Magazine, October 2010

Model: Ming Xi (Ford)
Editorial: Go West
Magazine: (US) Contributing Editor Magazine, October 2010
Photographer: Robert Nethery
Fashion Editor: Johnathan Lawhorne
Hair: Marcos Diaz @ Ion Salon
Makeup: Deanna Melluso for NARS at Artlist NY

Source: thecontributingeditor.com