Thursday, May 8, 2014

SOME CURRENT OBSESSIONS

Lately, I have been thoroughly enjoying the work of the following artists...

(still from the video for Ready, Able by Grizzly Bear, directed by Allison Schulnik)

Allison Schulnik. At the risk of being hyperbolic, her work is EVERYTHING. I love her paintings, but her animations (like this one, right here) are simply beyond. 

I also am really digging the fictitious histories of Frowhawk Two Feathers... 

Sarah Woodfine's sparse paper dioramas...
Heather Goodchild's beautifully crafted, interdisciplinary work... 

Kim Dorland's sculptural oil paintings...


And finally, Ann Toebbe's flattened, mixed media spaces.
All of this work is so effing good. It just kills me.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

BALLADS OF MURDER, PART 2

The Bloody Gardener, gouache and flashe on paper, 12" x 12" , 2013 (click image to see larger)

Back in March, I posted an illustration I did for a Murder Ballad called Wind and Rain. According to Wikipedia, "Murder ballads are a sub-genre of the traditional ballad form, the lyrics of which form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath."

The moment I discovered that Murder Ballads existed (about 5 years ago), I knew I had to illustrate them. So far, I have completed two. My hope is to one day make an illustrated book of these dark and beautiful songs. Maybe that book will even include a record of the songs themselves. Who knows? 

The illustration above is for a Murder Ballad entitled The Bloody Gardener

It goes something like this: 

THE BLOODY GARDNER

t's of a lady fair and a shepherd's daughter dear,
She was courted by her own true heart's delight.
But his mother laid a snare and false letters did prepare,
Saying, “Meet me in the garden, dear, this night.”
So this young maid arose and into the garden goes
Expecting there to meet her heart's delight,
She searched the garden round but no true love she found
And at length the bloody gardener come in sight.
He said, “My pretty maid, what's brought you here this way,
And have you come to rob me of my flowers so gay?”
She cried, “No thief I am, I'm in search of some young man
Who promised that he'd meet me here this day.”
Then he took out his knife, cut the single thread of life
And he laid her virtuous body in the ground;
And with flowers fine and gay this maid did overlay
In a way her body never should be found.
Her true love lay asleep on a mossy bank so sweet
And a milk-white dove come fluttering round his face;
And with battering wings so sweet all around this young man's feet,
And when he rose this dove she flew away.
This dove, she flew away and perched on a myrtle tree
And the young man followed full of grieve and pain.
Down from the tree so tall right on her grave did fall
The fresh blood from her breast like crimson rain.
Oh, this young man in anger rose and unto to his home did go
Saying, “Mother dear, you've lost me my delight,
You've robbed me of my joy, my jewel and my toy,
And now with my darling I'll take flight.”

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

FOR THE LOVE OF CUTOUTS

Recently, I began making paper cutouts again. I made a series of work using cut paper figures back in 2012. I went back to straight 2D painting for a year or so after that, but now I am back at it. For me, the process of making cutouts is much more tactile and exploratory that painting. It allows me to experiment with new materials and forces me to problem solve more actively. Each cutout has it's own evolution, and it's this organic engagement with the materials that I am really enjoying right now. 

The works in progress...





A couple of the pieces I did in 2012...





(click image to see larger)
Bereaved #3
tissue paper, gouache, graphite & enamel on paper (mounted in wood shadowbox)
31" x 33" 
2012























(click image to see larger)
Hysteric #1
tissue paper, gouache, graphite, enamel & string on paper (mounted in wood shadowbox)
25" x 30.5"
2012

And finally, Some current inspiration...




Detail of To Drown a Rose by Sojourner Truth Parsons, via White Hotel

Flower Construction #39 by Anne Ten Donkelaar, via her site

Camilla Engman, via her site


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

IMAGINARY FOLKLORE, PART 1



Blue Flowers

The old woman had warned the girl to only pick the pink flowers, but she thought the blue ones were the prettiest she had ever seen.
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Imaginary Folklore is an ongoing project in which I pair singular images with ambiguous captions that play with recurring themes from fairy/folk tales. 

The project is inspired by The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, a book that I have loved ever since a teacher based a writing lesson around it in elementary school. 

Blue Flowers (above) examines the theme of the forbidden fruit. You know how it goes, the protagonist can achieve their goal if only they don't open the red door or touch the golden cup (or what have you). It seems so easy, but in the moment, that red door or golden cup is just TOO TEMPTING, and they screw everything up! Silly protagonists. 

Just like any good trope, this one comes in many variations and overlaps with other motifs (curiosity and disobedience to name a couple). So often it is literally fruit that one must not eat. I mean, it does originate with a certain biblical lady eating a certain piece of fruit given to her by a certain reptile. 

My favorite example of this variation is much more recent, however...






















In Pan's Labyrinth (written and directed by Guillermo Del Torro, 2006), Ofelia is charged with three tasks (another big thing in Fairy Tale land), one of which is to retrieve an ornate dagger from the lair of The Pale Man. She is warned that she would see a bountiful feast, but must not eat anything. Seriously Ofelia, DON'T. EAT. ANYTHING. That Pale Man is a nasty child-eater and is not messing around! Does she listen, though? Even when her fairy guides are telling her to stop? Like I said, silly protagonists. You can watch (or re-watch for the two hundredth time) that scene here
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Other times it is a space that cannot be looked in upon, such as a room in the case of one of my favorite tales, Bluebeard by Charles Perrault...










































Bluebeard, his wife, and the keys in a 19th-century illustration by Gustave Doré

...Or a basket, like in the Czech tale, The Wood Maiden. This variable crosses over into the theme of curiosity, and more specifically, female curiosity. This is a whole other conversation, but to touch on it quickly, Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes in Women Who Run With the Wolves, "Psychological thinkers, from Frued to Bettelheim, have interpreted episodes such as those found in the Bluebeard tale as psychological punishment for women's sexual curiosity. Women's curiosity was given a negative connotation, whereas men were called investigative. Women were called nosy, whereas men were called inquiring. In reality, the trivialization of women's curiosity so that it seems like nothing more than irksome snooping denies women's insight, hunches, intuitions. It denies all her senses. It attempts to attack her fundamental power." (page 52)

So put that in your pipe and smoke it...unless it's a forbidden pipe, then put it down and walk away. 

Whichever form it takes, though, the "fruit" in fairy tales always wins. The silly protagonist always falls prey to their greed or hunger or (god forbid) curiosity and then everything is ruined. What's the moral then? If a wizened old woman in the woods or a man with goat parts tells you not to touch something...DON'T TOUCH IT! 

Thursday, April 3, 2014

ORIGINAL WORKS AVAILABLE IN THE SHOP

I still have a number of original pieces available in my shop, including the following...

Up, 5" x 7" , gouache on paper, 2009, available here

Gypsy5" x 7", gouache on paper, 2009, available here

Keepsakes, 6.75" x 8 3/8" , tissue paper, gouache and graphite on paper, 2011, available here

Egg, 5" x 7" , tissue paper, gouache and graphite on paper, available here

Spinster #28.25" x 11", tissue paper, gouache and graphite on paper, 2011, available here

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

CURRENT INSPIRATION

I recently stumbled upon the wonderful work of Josabeth Sjöberg (30 June 1812 – 29 December 1882), a Swedish artist and music teacher. It set off a million little bells inside my head. Like so much folk art, her work shows us scenes of everyday life, but these paintings feel like diary entries, communicating everything from the mundane and pleasant to the difficult and intimate. Each image, with it's beautiful patterns, specific details, simple narrative and composition like a stage set, gives the viewer so much to look at and enjoy. 

So good. 

I have posted some of my favorites below. The titles are translated from Swedish and listed below each image. You can see much more of her work here.

The kitchen UTI house N: 20 at St.Paulsgatan. - The rise to my room. People: Carl Källbom, Mrs. Källbom, the undersigned, Mr. Källbom.
1869 - 1872

Tenth cottage: Renstiernasgränd 17, 1873

Fourth home: My room at Maria Högberg Street, house N Roses 60 Qv. Fatbursbrunnen.Upstairs. People: The undersigned. Doctor Levin.
1847 - 1855

Tenth home: My room at Bell Anders, UTI House No.17 at Renstiernasgränd, Qvarteret Rosary, ground floor into the courtyard
1873

Borgerskapets Enkehus. Sick Room, 1812 - 1882


Monday, March 31, 2014

FOR THE SAKE OF BEINGS(S) closes April 5

This is the last week to catch For the Sake of Being(s), my show with the wonderful Katherine Rutter at LeQuiVive Gallery in Oakland, Ca. If you can't make it to see the show in person, here is a selection of pieces I included in the exhibition:


A Good Milkinggraphite, ink & gouache on paper, 14 5/8" x 14/5"  (click to see larger)

My Ghostie is Gonna Gitcha!tissue paper, gouache, glitter & flashe on paper, 18" x 24" (click to see larger)



The Hoof Situationtissue paper, gouache, glitter & flashe on paper, 18" x 24" (click to see larger)

The Weeping Woman, gouache & flashe on paper, 18" x 24" (click to see larger)
To inquire about purchasing any of these pieces, please contact the gallery

Thursday, March 20, 2014

BALLADS OF MURDER, PART 1


(The Dreadful Wind and Rain, gouache and flashe on paper, 12" x 12", 2013)

Above is my illustration of the Murder Ballad Wind and Rain, also known as The Twa Sisters


It goes like this: 


WIND AND RAIN

There were two sisters of county Clare,
Oh, the wind and rain
One was dark and the other was fair,
Oh, the dreadful wind and rain
And they both had a love of the miller's son,
Oh, the wind and rain
But he was fond of the fairer one,
Oh, the dreadful wind and rain
So she pushed her into the river to drown
oh, the wind and rain
and watched her as she floated down
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
and she floated till she came to the millers pond
oh, the wind and the rain
dead on the water like a golden swan
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
as she came to rest on the riverside
oh, the wind and the rain
and her bones were washed by the rolling tide
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
and along the road came a fiddler fair
oh, the wind and rain
and found her bones just a lying there, cried
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
so he made a fiddle peg of her long finger bone
oh, the wind and the rain
he a made a fiddle peg of her long finger bone, crying
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
and he strung his fiddle bow with her long yeller hair
oh, the wind and the rain
he strung his fiddle bow with her long yeller hair, cried
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
and he made a fiddle fiddle of her breast bone
oh, the wind and rain
he made a fiddle fiddle of her breast bone, cried
oh, the dreadful wind and rain
but the only tune that the fiddle could play was
oh, the wind and rain
the only tune that the fiddle would play was
oh, the dreadful wind and rain

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

BACKSTORY


(Burygraphite, ink & gouache on paper, 9.75" x 11" )

From Ozark Magic and Folklore by Vance Randolph:

"To curse any particular part of a victim's body, the witch takes the corresponding part of an animal, names it for him, and then buries it in the ground..." (page 279)

























Back to the blog...

It's been a few years since I did some proper blogging, and it feels like a good time to get back to it.


I hope this blog will allow me to do any/all of the following:

write about all the odd and esoteric things that I am interested in; share my process and inspiration; explain some of the (again) odd and esoteric things that influence my work; share art news and lastly connect with all of you beautiful folks who might actually be reading this thing!

So let's begin, shall we?