Well, THIS is terrifying… perfect for Halloween Eve! This is the wonderfully weird work of Israeli artist Ronit Baranga. She describes her work as “figurative art on the border between living and still life.” Oh, I think it might be a little past the still life border… shudder. All of these pieces are part of Ronit’s current show, “All Things Sweet and Painful”, at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, Australia {Oct 17 – Nov 8, 2020}. Here’s the description of the show:

“Life-like sculptures take a twisted turn into the world of food and more specifically, sweets and desserts. But the treats have their own mouths, awaiting their chance to bite. Who eats whom?”

We got our first snowfall this weekend, so obviously I felt that a post filled with buckets of summer flowers, and bees on books was necessary! This is the mixed media work of Minneapolis based artist Amy Rice, and this is her artist statement:

“I am as inspired in my art as much by childhood memories of growing up on a Midwestern farm as I am the urban community in which I now live. I am influenced by bicycles, street art, gardening, and random found objects, collective endeavors that challenge hierarchy, acts of compassion, downright silliness, and things with wings.

I use nontraditional print-making methods–including hand cut stencils and a Japanese screen printing toy called a Gocco printer–as a starting point for original mixed media pieces. I use spray paint, acrylics, gouache, and inks, and print on a variety of surfaces including wood, fabric and antique papers (preferring handwritten love letters, envelopes, journal pages, sheet music and maps).

I am most satisfied when I can make a tangible or visceral connection between the materials used and the image rendered. My work is deeply layered, often both literally and figuratively. My imagery–nostalgic and wistful–is largely biographical and reflective of my pensive nature.”

Amy’s newest show opens this Friday, October 30th, at Outsiders & Others in Vancouver, BC. Take a peek right here.

Now this is some very exciting art news! It was announced yesterday that Simone Leigh has been chosen to represent The United States at the Venice Biennale in 2022. She will be the first Black American woman to showcase her work in the US Pavilion {Shocking? Yes… but also no. Sigh.} Simone’s work is “informed by her ongoing exploration of black female-identified subjectivity. Leigh works in a mode she describes as auto-ethnographic. Her objects often employ materials and forms traditionally associated with African art; her performance-influenced installations create spaces where historical precedent and self-determination commingle.” {Hauser + Wirth}… I cannot wait to experience those spaces in person! Here’s the message Simone posted on Instagram yesterday after the announcement was made:

To be the first Black American woman to occupy the American Pavilion for the 58th La Biennale di Venezia is a great honor. I acknowledge the paradox of my position during this time when the depth of white supremacy in America is in full view. I also recognize that this is a time when black artists and intellectuals of the diaspora are flourishing and have reached critical mass.
My show, comprised primarily of sculpture, will engage the work of black feminist thinkers who have enlarged and transcended the limits of this democracy. Thank you Eva Respini my curator @curator_on_the_run  @icaboston , my gallery @hauserwirth , and Spelman College @spelman_college

Congratulations, Simone… so exciting, and very well-deserved. {Both bio photos above by Shaniqwa Jarvis.}

Nothing says IT’S FRIDAY like a porcelain eyeball floating in an Old Fashion! This is the most recent work of Brooklyn based artist Genesis Belanger. I wrote about her in late 2019, but when I realized her first major solo museum exhibition opens this weekend, clearly I had to write again. ‘Through the Eye of a Needle’  will be installed at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut. Here’s their description:

“Anthropomorphizing common household objects–lipsticks with wagging tongues, lamps with ladies’ pearls, and tins with doey-eyed sardines–Belanger’s methodology blends Surrealism and Pop art with a self-possessed feminism informed by a career inside the fashion and advertising industries. Debuting an entirely new body of work specially conceived for The Aldrich, Belanger will create her largest and most elaborate mise-en-scène to date: dozens of animated objects arranged on ghostly furnishings that suggest narratives about our anxiety afflicted present. The artist’s first museum publication, featuring an essay by the exhibition’s curator, Amy Smith-Stewart, will accompany the show.

The show will be open for a Members-Only Preview Day on Saturday, September 19 and there will be a private opening on Sunday, September 20. The first day the exhibition will be open to the general public is Monday, September 21. To book your timed-ticket for September 21 onwards, click here. To register for the Members-Only Preview Day, click here. Not a member? No problem, you can join today and see the exhibition early!

Oh my word, I love these weird ‘n wonderful things so much! These sculptures are by American artist Joe Davidson, and yes, that final piece is sitting beside a painting by one of my favorite artists (and people!), Samantha Fields. You’ll see why in a minute… So, I asked Joe what these squishy but not squishy at all, pastel-hued, plaster balloon/sausages were all about, and this is what he told me:

“I love the fact that these have obvious references to Koons (for the acidic celebratory balloon sculptures) and Bourgeois (for the anthropomorphic nature of the forms). My forms are obviously quite phallic, and it makes me think about our notions of masculinity, emasculation, age, etc. As I recently hit my 50’s, these things are creeping in to my mind. What I like about pairing my work with Sam is it puts these works in a larger, less personal conversation about the idea of the male ‘take-the-land’ attitude under which we live, and our collective questioning of that principle.”

You can see this group show, titled “Personal Contacts #3″, until September 5th at Durdan and Ray in Los Angeles… and TONIGHT, Monday August 31, Joe will be talking to Samantha via a live Zoom talk, about this six-part series titled ‘that explores novel approaches to community curation.’ It starts at 7pm, Joe & Sam will be on around 7:45pm. Here’s the Zoom link.

Quiet Listening. Serenity. Pause. These are a few of the titles from above… just imagine what a different world we’d live in if everyone embraced that state of mind. This is the beautiful and striking work of Nigerian born, Germany based artist Peter Uka. His latest show, titled “Inner Frame”, opens TODAY, August 28th (till Oct 24) at Galerie Voss in Dusseldorf.

Happy Saturday! This feels like an intro to the podcast, but it isn’t {the podcast will be back this fall though}.

I don’t usually write about my own work here, but I’m pretty proud of this feat … I’m not sure how I pulled this off, but somewhere between having major surgery and now, I made 18 new small pieces {15 panels, 3 sculptures} for an art show at Ian Tan Gallery in Vancouver. It’s titled “appreciating the little things” because, well, 2020. If this shit show of a year has taught me anything, it’s to embrace the joy that comes from things like baked goods, pets, and the couch.*PLEASE NOTE: all tiny people in the pieces are socially distanced! Here is my artist statement and some of the work. You can see the entire show right here.

DANIELLE KRYSA
appreciating the little things
Aug 20 – 31, 2020 {preview is on as of Aug 15!}

Walks around the block, perfectly pink sunsets, freshly baked pie, and actually being home to water the plants. Before March 2020, most of us took these simple pleasures for granted — and then, whether we liked it or not, we were forced to embrace them… sourdough bread, anyone? While this new ‘normal’ has caused a rollercoaster of emotions for the entire world, there are silver linings. We’ve slowed down. We’ve discovered how much we love hugs. We’ve given Mother Nature a chance to catch her breath. We’ve taken our dogs for walks, watched the sun set, baked everything, and watched our gardens grow.

This show is filled with 18 small mixed media pieces — both panels and sculptures — that celebrate all of ‘the little things’ I overlooked while being too busy to notice. Tiny people snipped from the pages of old books, explore each of these wonders, marveling at their magnificence. There truly is so much beauty surrounding us all the time, we just have to stop long enough to see it. Here’s to appreciating “the little things”.

And that’s that. Thanks for looking/reading. Have a lovely weekend ~ Danielle

Well, she could not be more correct about that … this shit IS bananas. Ah, gorgeous work featuring a lot of bananas, punched paper circles, french knots as far as the eye can see – not to mention all of those smiley faces – all with an underlying message about the current state of the world. The hanging, for example, is titled “Was Happy Cancelled?”  This is the most recent work of Philadelphia based artist Kelly Kozma, and is currently part of a group show {with Sarah Detweiler and Han Cao} at Paradigm Gallery. Here are Kelly’s honest and beautiful words about this body of work, titled “Yesterday, Ten Years Ago”:

“Since the beginning of quarantine I felt the need to create bright and happy work. It seemed like that was the ticket to successfully convince myself that things would be ok. It would work for a while, and then another news cycle would unfold and the sparkle would dull. So I’d throw more color and shiny bits at it; think a superhero with glitter lasers coming out of the fingers. It got a little harder to get knocked down, and a little easier to get back up. This work became a shelter when I needed a place to hide and a shield when I felt strong enough to fight.

Even though my process is about adding on and building, conceptually it was more equivalent to chiseling. I slowly removed layers of loss, uncertainty, and anxiety to try and find some nugget of truth, comfort and stability. I never found those things, or at least not in a concrete way. However, I discovered that the search itself (ie: the process of making) was the most helpful way to alleviate the pain I was feeling. The slow nature of stitching and knotting thread is my way of marking time and I often found myself thinking “Things will be better when I’m done with this piece, things will have changed.” Sometimes they did, sometimes they had gotten worse, and other times I noticed I had just gotten better at adapting. But regardless, there was a physical object where there once was not; a record of that moment in time.

The radiant palette and light hearted imagery are a reflection of both my deep sadness and my highest hopes. On one hand, this work is about the facades we put up to protect ourselves and the faces we wear to create an idealized version of how we want to be perceived. However, there is also an intention to simply create a lightness and allow time and space to gaze upon something joyful and whimsical. I made bright and happy work from a dark place. My goal is not to disguise our experiences but rather channel their energy into something beautiful.” 

Love, love, love. Happy Monday. {These original pieces are currently available through Paradigm Gallery.}

Bowling pins! This is the funny, kitschy, and beautifully painted work of Toronto based artist Bernice Lum. Her current solo show, titled “A Spoon Full of Sugar”, is filled to the brim with altered bowling pins and is showing at Galerie Youn in Montreal until July 18, 2020. Here is Bernice’s statement, which sheds a little light on all of this fabulous nostalgia:

“Bernice Lum has been telling stories through her work by revealing a little bit of her story through a sense of humour, play and wit.  

Born in 1963, bowling and Wednesday evening drives to Dairy Queen were a weekly event for the family. Even her older brother was born while her father was playing in the finals of a bowling tournament which became the inspiration to her new series … a diary of stories within every pin, and a body of work that pays homage to her late brother and father.” 

So beautiful. And, as Galerie Youn so perfectly says, “A spoonful of sugar may not be the cure for COVID-19, but will help bring a smile, ‘In a most delightful way.'” Ah, yes, we could all use a little sugar.

Ahhh, the dreamy work of Toronto based painter Janna Watson. I have loved Janna’s work for years, and every time one her new paintings scrolls by on Instagram, I gasp! That said, seeing her work online just doesn’t do it justice… her WIP images help though! So. Big. If you happen to be in Toronto you can see her work in person right this very moment. Her latest solo show, titled ‘Falling Forward’, is currently hanging at Bau-Xi in Toronto from June 4th till June 20th, 2020. Janna’s work is always very personal but mysterious at the same time, hence her description of this show:

“This body of work represents the movement of energy from the mush of the unconscious, and translating this into some kind of human reality.”

‘Mush of the unconscious’. Nailed it.