I couldn’t decide… should I write about #tarplife, a series filled with blue tarps painted into the photographic interiors of design books, or a bunch of campers who’ve found their way into the pages of outdoorsy magazines from a body of work titled “Encamped” … okay fine, I’ll show BOTH!  This is the work of Seattle based artist JoEllen Wang, and this is part of her artist statement:

“… At the heart of my process, where all my inspiration comes from, is everyday life in an urban environment. I paint images of familiar objects and subjects which for me simultaneously trigger nostalgia and complicated feelings about reality. I like to take my subject out of context, or see it out of scale, as an exercise in questioning the value I associate with it.

I paint diminutive campers in generic settings. The subject matter is homelessness, but the paintings are small and cute, and easily consumed, like candy. I paint campers and tent cities into picturesque landscapes. It’s celebrating the great outdoors, but also seeing the misplaced displaced-the people easily ignored at home…”

Like candy, indeed. Happy Friday.