Ah, “Lovers’ Eyes”. These modern takes on a classic are the lovely work of UK based artist Lucy Pass. From what I can gather, she doesn’t know any of these lovers, or their eyes. Nope, Lucy uses found images as the starting point for all of her work, “passing [her] own subconscious judgement onto an unknown face, and inviting the viewer to do the same.” Well, we may not know who these dreamy eyes belong to, but to explain the origin of “lovers’ eyes”, I’ll pass it over to good old Wikipedia:

Eye miniatures are believed to have originated when the Prince of Wales (later George IV) felt the need to send the widow Maria Fitzherbert a token of his love. This gesture and the romance that went with it was frowned upon by the court, so a miniaturist was employed to paint only the eye and thereby preserve anonymity and decorum. Reportedly Maria’s eye miniature was worn by George IV, hidden under his lapel. This is regarded as the event which led to lovers’ eyes becoming fashionable, appearing between 1790 and the 1820s in the courts and affluent families of England, Russia, France and more rarely, America.

Gasp! 16,000 paper cherry blossoms hanging from the gorgeous, light-filled, domed ceiling of Frederik’s Church {affectionately known as The Marble Church} in Copenhagen… oh my word, yes. “Cherish” is the installation work of Danish artist Veronica Hodges. Clearly, it’s breathtaking, but her reason behind the project is just as beautiful:

“We want to create an installation in Marmorkirken out of paper, where thousands of pink cherry blossoms will be hanging from the ceiling to remind us of the spring we love, the world we live in, and to cherish it while we still have it. The thousands of cherry blossoms are folded by crepe paper, during a series of workshops and “community-workshops” in collaboration with the church and local institutions and schools. This ensures that the project has a local anchorage so that people will meet and start a conversation. Commitment free perhaps, but carried by the intimacy and engagement that occurs when you sit down with something (other than the mobile phone) between your hands. We want to mix the cards, the generations, the children and the adults, the believers and the non-believers. The cherry blossoms in the installation remind us of, that we are a part of nature and that it may not be so for very long, if we as humans do nothing to slow down the climate change and help the earth to regain its balance. We must appreciate the earth we still have.”

Amen.

{All of these images were found on Veronica’s gorgeous Instagram feed – some photos were taken by her, others were taken by visitors to the installation.}

“Verschnitt Skulpturen”, 2016. Bronze… and paint! This is the work of Austrian artist Erwin Wurm. His portfolio is filled to the brim with amazing work dating back to the early 1980s, so it was very difficult to decide what to show. That said, there was something about these sliced and diced pink men that spoke to me. Well, these pink men and his “Fat Cars” {2001-2005} :

Gasp! So, so, so fantastic!

Sweet and odd … and then you add pottery/ceramics into the equation and I’m alllll in. This is the work of Australian artist Penelope Boyd. The majority of Penelope’s portfolio is filled with paintings and functional ceramics, but I found these new little beauties on her Instagram feed and was instantly smitten.

So weird… so fantastic! This is the beautifully bizarre work of Calgary-based duo daveandjenn, aka David John Foy and Jennifer Saleik. Their newest show, titled “Whenever it Hurts” opens Saturday January 19, 3-6 pm at General Hardware Contemporary in Toronto. Also, if I ever saw that final piece while frolicking on the beach… yeah, I would need to change my swimsuit.

Everything. Everything about the installation work of Argentina born, New York based Liliana Porter thrills me. I saw her work {the last piece shown above, titled ‘Man With Axe’} at the Venice Biennale, and yes, my heart skipped a beat. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my personal work but, to me, these works felt like my 2D collages come to life … x 5000! Here are Liliana’s words about her installations:

“In the last years, parallel to photography and video, I have been making works on canvas, prints, drawings, collages, and small installations. Many of these pieces depict a cast of characters that are inanimate objects, toys and figurines that I find in flea markets, antique stores, and other odd places. The objects have a double existence. On the one hand they are mere appearance, insubstantial ornaments, but, at the same time, have a gaze that can be animated by the viewer, who, through it, can project the inclination to endow things with an interiority and identity. These “theatrical vignettes” are constructed as visual comments that speak of the human condition. I am interested in the simultaneity of humor and distress, banality and the possibility of meaning.”

Sigh. Love.

Whoa. This is the thread/fabric based work of American artist Jen Pack… geometric and soft at the same time. Actually, Jen says it better than that:

“I have always been profoundly responsive to color and the sensations color can provoke. My work has been described as an artistic oxymoron: both loud and quiet, solid and transparent, hand-made and precise, delicate and aggressive, exuberant and restrained, formal and emotional. It is a reflection of me, an artist of blended culture who is both loud and quiet, urban and rural, delicate and aggressive, masculine and feminine, adventurous and routine.”

See? Beautiful.

Embroidery that makes me not hate snakes… now that is something special! This is the colorful, hilarious and wonderfully weird work of Canadian {France based} artist Patricia Larocque. Are you wondering, “What? Why? Where?”… I’ll let Patricia explain:

“The designs stem from my over active imagination that braids in imagery from horror films and the stranger-then-fiction stories of reality TV.”

Ahhhh yes, that makes sense. That description also explains why her Instagram feed makes me happy and scared all at the same time.

Today, January 6th, would be my dad’s 74th birthday. He died suddenly and unexpectedly just over a month ago, and I wish so much that he was here to celebrate his birthday. Instead, I will make art in his honor … and I’d like to invite you to do the same! When I wrote my book, ‘Collage’, a few years ago, I asked my dad if I could use this hilarious picture of him {mustache} and his brother, my Uncle Bill {cowboy}, as the starting image for a challenge I’d be giving all thirty artists in the book. As usual, he said yes! So, today, on his 74th birthday, I’d like to give you the same project I gave all of those amazing collage artists from around the world:

Create a new collage from photograph, circa 1958. Use some, or all, of this image of a little cowboy and his accordion-playing brother. Print it out several times, or use this as the base on which to work. The exciting thing about collage – while the starting image is the same for each of you, every single result will be completely different. 

Right click on the photo to save it to your desktop, and then do what you will! Hashtag your final pieces with #DanCummingCollage and I’ll share them on Instagram over the next month or so. Have fun!  ps. Here are a few examples from the book. The first one below is mine … because I can never resist a good art challenge:

Happy Birthday, Dad ♥ xo

Feather-covered, rainbow-hued, life-sized polar bears… oh my word, yes! This is the work of Italian artist Paola Pivi, from a 2013 show at Perrotin, New York. The solo exhibition was titled, “OK, YOU ARE BETTER THAN ME, SO WHAT?”, and yes, I love everything about it.

ps. This is some of Paola’s newest work, seen in Miami December 2018 {fabulous gifs via Designboom}

Feathers and bicycle wheels! LOVE. Happy Friday.