pretty and deadly

I've spoken of my love of the works of Kelly Reemtsen's works before, and her new series of paintings has not altered that love in the least.  In fact, as much as I love her colors, textures, and that fabulous mid-century style, I think it's the subtle suggestion of violence in these painting I adore.  They very quietly show the knife edge so often walked by the women who wore those bright and pretty dresses.  I read one review that compared the series to Kate Winslet's character in Revolutionary Road, which I think is pretty spot-on. What do you think?  Personally, I want all of them.

trompe l'oiel is people

Alexa Meade has a way of panting people which is simply something else.  Looking at the above photos, you might think "Sure, they're great and all, but I've seen other artists do similar."  But have you?  Because then you see these:

I say again: Alexa Meade has a way of painting people.

I urge you to check out her portfolio, gallery page, or Flickr portfolio.  Challenge yourself.  I find that the eyes, hair, and surroundings are generally the things that give it away.  But only if you're looking for them.  Because this girl is good.  Plus, she's based in D.C.!  You can bet that I'll be making it to her next show, oh boy.  Here's the statement from her portfolio page:

Alexa Meade has innovated a Trompe-L’Oeil painting technique that can perceptually compress three-dimensional space into a two-dimensional plane. Her work is a fusion of installation, painting, performance, photography, and video art.

Rather than painting a representational picture on a flat canvas, Meade paints her representational image directly on top of her three-dimensional subjects. The subject and its representation become one and the same. Essentially, her art imitates life on top of life.

beasties

I love Angela Kohler's photography, but this month I'm loving her little beasties even more.  Watch her blog or flickr for more.

bewildered

The nightmares continue.  This is how I feel when I wake up most mornings.  However, this is my last week as a dog walker and I OFFICIALLY HAVE A HOUSE!

Painting by N.C. Wyeth.

stress

There are certain things I do well.  Dealing with stress is not one of them.  Despite the fact that I sought out an opportunity to drastically change my life and have high hopes for my rapidly approaching year in VISTA, I am riddled with stress.  My nights are plagued with strange and often terrifying dreams and my days are sometimes one blonde moment after another.  I find I am constantly forgetting things.

It isn't that my days are full of activity so much as it is that my brain is full of a worry which forces everything else out.  I'm giving myself until the end of April before I begin packing in earnest, otherwise I'd probably have a meltdown.

Please forgive my lack of blogging.  Perhaps you will find this painting by N. C. Wyeth as calming and distracting as I do.

24

My birthday this year was all about art and family. The actual day was yesterday, Sunday the 28th, but my friend Christy came down Friday night and my mom came down Saturday morning, so I took Saturday off and we celebrated then instead.

In the morning, Chris and I went to the beach, where we lay about, taunted sand crabs, and were generally sunburned and irresponsible--it was lovely! That evening, we whipped together a funfetti cake, then left it to cool and went to dinner at Barefoot Bernie's, fantastic restaurant recommended by my aunt and uncle, who joined us there. Also--presents!I had asked for a Marc Johns print and suggested a few I liked, but left the actual choosing to my mom. She picked Dessert Fork Incident because, as she put it, it seemed like something which could easily happen in our family. Thinking about it, I'm rather surprised it hasn't! I also received Johns' new book, Serious Drawings, plus Christy brought me this delightfully artistic Swatch watch! After dinner, we frosted the cake (with funfetti frosting, of course!) and dug in.

Sunday, I had to work. Happily, I was able to bring Christy and Summer, my visiting dog, along with me! Sundays are usually pretty lazy at the shop, but the universe was laughing at me, so we were busy all day long. Still, the day ended with a pizza from Cosmo's (honestly the best pizza place down here) and more cake, so it was all good!

Christy went home Sunday, but my mom stayed another day. This morning, we went walking down the beach, then shopping. In honor of my birthday, I told myself I could buy one thing--so of course I fell in love with three, at two galleries. In the end, I decided on a box made by New Hampshire artist Timothy Campbell, which I adore. It came from the Sea Dragon Gallery in Duck, where I was also sorely tempted by a print from local artist E.M. Corsa.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend (I even won a giveaway!) and a great birthday.

mincing mocking

Oh my goodness you guys, these are fabulous. Thanks to i suwannee, I now have The Mincing Mockingbird in my life, and I am so, so glad. The works are still and beautiful, but their titles truly take the cake. Take my dodo friend, above, which is titled "I, Too, Once Keenly Felt The Crushing Monotony Of Existence." I am SO tempted to shell out some of my precious tax return for that fellow. The shop also features lots of beautiful little prints with equally ironic and snort-inducing names. Love 'em.

Oriental Beauty

An Oriental Beauty, originally uploaded by Portrait Artist - Enzie Shahmiri.

I'm in the midst of putting together my talk for tomorrow, and I came across an interesting blog. One of my topics is Orientalism in the 1920s, which led me to The Orientalist Gallery, a blog devoted to showing and discussing the way the West viewed the East in the early 20th Century. Fascinating!

that one

A Little Winter Magic by Aaron Jasinski, one of my favourite artists. Just a little bit of winter joy for you. It isn't snowing here, but I sure wish it was!

On an unrelated note, I started a tumblr blog for all of the little tidbits that catch my eye and make me smile. There might be some overlap with this site, but probably not a great deal.

Burne-Jones at Hammersmith & Fulham

Here's exciting news if you, like me, are a fan of Pre-Raphaelite art or if you, unlike me, reside in the UK. In 1953, Cecil French brequethed 53 works to Hammersmith & Fulham, mainly pieces from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and including such notable works as Edward Burne-Jones's Cupid Delivering Psyche (above), and John William Waterhouse's Mariana in the South (below). The fate of these works has been in limbo for the past few decades, but The Art Newspaper reported Thursday that H&F has decided that they will keep them.

On 17 June Hammersmith & Fulham Council announced that the Cecil French bequest would go on permanent display at Fulham Palace, the former Bishop of London’s summer residence.

Fulham Palace will now be undergoing a restoration, but they hope to have the collection up later this year. Yay!

kelly reemtsen

I don't talk a great deal about painting on here, but I am a fan. I have a nice little collection (considering my age and income level, that is) of paintings, but I am also very, very picky. That said, I've just fallen in love with Kelly Reemtsen's art, and I'll tell you why.

To begin with, there's the subject matter. As such a huge fan of mid-century furniture and other retro ephemera, I love seeing it painted so well. Maybe I can't find or afford a Saarinen tulip chair or Eames rocker, but the paintings are charming and don't take up much space (see top photo).

Next, there's her vibrant use of color. The saturated hues combined with the retro subject matter give an unreal, nostalgic feeling, rather like the memories of a long-ago summer.

Finally, there's her use of space. The unrelenting use of white (she'll often use an entire tube of white oil paint in one piece) and generous negative space are broken only by the ground (an unobtrusive beige) or a shadow, and serve to make the subject pop. Her vibrant colors just serve to enhance the overall composition.

There you have it. Kelly Reemtsen combines retro subject matter with vibrant, saturated color and generous white negative space and the end result is a painting I wish I could step into. There doesn't appear to be a way to buy her works online, but she's listed with Caldwell Snyder Gallery in San Francisco, and you can view a selection of her works there.

via Design FormuLA, photos also from here and here

a good day

I spent the better part of yesterday and last night in Richmond visiting my aunt and the Visual Arts Center, with which she is heavily involved. Fun times. But that's not what made today good. No, today was good because of the furniture I scored for free or cheap both in Richmond and in D.C.

Chair from my grandmother's estate, found in my aunt's attic.

Lamp from aunt's attic which I'm dying to pair with a Mibu lampshade.

Mid-century style table and chair found on craigslist (I wanted to buy everything in that guy's apartment, I swear).

Painting spotted in the fellow from craigslist's apartment, bought for $10!

Now once I finish cleaning and ridding myself of excess belongings, decide on a paint color, paint, find wall shelves, buy frames, and move everything in there, I'm done!

whoops!

A 500-year-old panel painting by Domenico Beccafumi of Marcia was broken in half, in one of the most serious handling accidents known to have occurred in a UK museum in living memory. This happened during deinstallation of the “Renaissance Siena” exhibition, which closed on 13 January. Gallery director Dr Nicholas Penny, who took over in February, admitted that the accident was “extremely serious”.

(via the Art Newspaper)

the artEEst

I'm a major advocate of finding art everywhere in your life, not just on a pedestal or canvas. All the same, I usually find that the artists are human. No more!




from Cute Overload.