It’s been two years since I saw the documentary, My Kid Could Paint That, about then 4 year old Marla Olmstead. When I wrote my original post about Marla last winter I said that I was on the fence when it came to knowing if Marla did all of the work herself, but either way I still loved the paintings. I watched it again last night, and I am now firmly on one side of the fence. I decided to see it again just as a refresher for myself, since the post that I wrote close to a year ago still gets a huge number of very ‘passionate’ comments every day. I can safely say I’m no longer jealous of her. I am still jealous of her work, but not of her. I just feel sad for Marla. I’m sure some of you will call me a fool, but after seeing the movie again I absolutely believe that these are her paintings. I’m actually a little upset with myself that I ever doubted it. I think some fancy editing and a father who really, really, really loved the fame and attention that Marla brought, skewed my original view… but I don’t think they defrauded the art world. They never said she was a prodigy, the art world put that on her. And at the end of the day, I really do think her paintings are beautiful. If collectors want to spend $20,000 per painting then by all means go ahead. After all, when it comes to modern art, 9 times out of 10 you’re paying for the story behind the art,or in many cases, the story behind the artist… And let’s face it, this is a really good story.

Another amazing night of button trading at the 6th annual Hot One Inch Action show hosted by Jim Hoehnle and Chris Bentzen. A little too amazing actually. I was so distracted by the hunt for my favourites that I totally forgot to write down the names of the artists whose buttons I was hoarding. Damn. I even had a little note pad with me and everything! Oh well, next year. There were a few extra hot buttons that everyone seemed to be in pursuit of… I got most of them eventually,  except for the elusive ‘Cupcake Zombie’… you’ll just have to imagine what that one looked like. Speaking of cupcakes, one of the best titles of the night was the button shown on the top right – Immaculate Confection. Awesome!

Today I am a Polar Bear is a limited edition run of 225 handmade books by London based artist Hannah Waldron. There are seven different illustrated animal masks that you can cut out to disguise yourself with… and clearly, today I am an owl. It’s a book filled with goodies. Not only do you get the animal masks, but there’s also a hidden poster and a unique handmade finger puppet inside. Saying that though, I don’t think I could bring my scissors near this beautiful book! If for some reason I really need a disguise I’ll just pencil on a faux moustache… that should do the trick.

Felt & Wire. It’s new, and if you love print design, you’ll be jealous too. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what they’re all about. This is their description… ‘a curated collection of printed goods. Great design, direct from designers we admire, via the paper-obsessed folks at Mohawk Paper.’ It’s kind of like etsy in a way, except that you won’t find any felt pancakes or hand made soap here. It’s curated, so you have to apply to have  your designs shown, and your work has to be on, you guessed it… paper.

{The images above are from these three Felt & Wire shops 1) Paper Jam Press 2) Adams Morioka 3) The Store at Grant Design Collaborative }

A cream puff being rescued at sea… Damn, I wish I thought of that. But I didn’t, Steve Bartlett did.

These paintings are so weird, and I love ’em. Not only am I jealous of Steve Bartlett’s painting skills, but I’m also very jealous of his crazy imagination… unless of course he actually saw a cream puff being rescued at sea? Hmm.

I’m not jealous of these sad little pageant queens… well, I’m a bit jealous of their fancy hair. Gretchen Ryan does such an amazing job capturing the ridiculous sexualization / adultification (Ok, I know that’s not a real word, but you know what I mean) of these young girls. But what I find even more intriguing is that they’re sad, well, maybe even angry. Usually when you see tiara tots they’re smiling til it hurts, and you can almost hear their mothers saying ‘We only do this because she loves it so much.’  I love that these girls don’t love it… at all.

{Gretchen is also part of the group show, ‘True Self’, currently on at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.}

Sticking with my mask theme from last week, I thought I’d show these paintings by Luke Chueh, an amazing artist from LA. I went with the tamest ones of the bunch. His ‘cute’ characters are generally in some pretty gruesome situations. If a slightly dismembered bunny, or panda missing it’s eyes doesn’t bother you then you’ll love the dark humor of Luke’s work. I think the description on his site explains it perfectly… ‘cute with brute, walking the fine line between comedy and tragedy’. Exactly!

{Luke’s work is currently showing in ‘True Self’, a group show curated by Gary Baseman at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in NYC ~ October 24 – November 21 2009}

Last  night was a pretty exciting evening for The Jealous Curator. I finally got to meet David Sedaris, my favourite writer ever! Not only did I get to say hello, and have a copy of When You Are Engulfed in Flames signed, I also got to put my Hanging with David Sedaris pitch directly into his hands. At this stage, I don’t even care if he says yes, I was just so thrilled to talk to him about it in person… Ok, who am I kidding, I really want him to say yes! Well, regardless of what happens next, his readings were hilarious, and he was kind and gracious about my idea. Such a fun night!

{Thanks so much to my wing man for coming with me… you know who you are.}

Three lovely additions to the beautifully boring show wouldn’t you say? These serene farmscapes are by Chicago based artist Emmett Kerrigan. I’m a huge fan of everyday subject matter, as you may have noticed by now, but these ones are mundane with a kick. The colour choices are amazing, and I love the big, flat fields of paint… no ‘field’ pun intended (well, ok, maybe a little intended).

I honestly have no idea what it is I’m looking at here, but I know that I like it… especially that red and yellow mushroom type thing attached to an old beige phone cord. Oh, and I love the colour palette. Stephanie Cormier, if you’re out there, would you care to shed a little light on these weird and wonderful, um… sculptures?… digital prints?… whatever they are!