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Mirror faces… oh, we’ve all got ’em! Apparently {according to sources who live in my house} I do a pouty lip thing when I’m checking out my reflection. Luckily for me, Chicago based artist Pete Nawara isn’t on the other side of my mirror to capture that embarrassing moment in his gorgeous series, titled “The Mirror Conspiracy”. Those close-ups? So gorgeous. I’d love to see these beauties in person.
Ah, the work of California based artist Kai Samuels Davis… perfect for a rainy Monday. I have loved his paintings for years and just stumbled across that dying rose {which I hadn’t seen before}, and down the Kai Samuels Davis rabbit hole I went! I thought the rose went particularly well with the scotch and dizzying portraits. Sad, beautiful, lonely.
{All of these pieces, and more, are available in his shop}
I am so not into this whole Pokemon Go thing, but if I could hang out with that pink-haired girl and her cat while eating Pikachu donuts… yeah, then I’d be all in. This is kind of a crazy post, but there were so many tidbits in the portfolio of French artist/illustrator Laura Manfre that I decided just to make up my own treat-filled, Pokemon-esque narrative. Happy Friday … I hope someone brings you donuts today.
Oh, this was so much fun… but painful from a technology perspective! Don’t worry, we stitched it all together so hopefully you won’t even notice {thanks Greg!}. Today I’m talking to Melbourne based artist Sandra Eterovic. She paints weird and hilarious things on wood in a folk-artish yet modern way. Sandra went from studying Art History, to designing rude underpants, to making the scary jump to full-time artist… let’s just say her inner critic had an opinion about that. Anyway, you can listen right up there under that amazing pizza t-shirt, or you can subscribe on iTunes.
So, let’s start with a few of my painted cut-wood favorites:
Marlboro. So awesome. Speaking of awesome… paintings on vintage ping pong paddles? YES!
Oh I love them so much… not to mention the salami and lemon growing off that vine! ♥
Up next, the gorgeous cover that Sandra did for Australia’s Frankie Magazine – and a shot of her page in their 2015 calendar:
So cool!
Now, let’s talk art prizes. The piece below, with all of the crazy t-shirts, titled “Read My Mind”, is the piece that Sandra has in the run for the R&M McGivern Prize. $25,000. Yeah. Just think of all of the wooden t-shirts she could make with that! If you’re in Melbourne on September 16th, go and vote for her! It’s a people’s choice award, so let’s get this done people! Here’s her painting, followed by a few of her other ‘funny things on shirts’ paintings that I love:
Come at me bro! HAHAHA! I love that one.
Ok, so in the not so speedy speed round, Sandra said she’d rather be a mermaid than a unicorn. This painting instantly popped into my head… I knew Sandra had painted a mermaid before. Here she is in the form of a sassy tattoo/scarf:
Ok, I’d want to be a mermaid too. And finally, I really wanted to include a photo of Sandra herself so you could see who you were listening to! Here she is in her lovely home {photo via The Design Files}:
Beautiful… Sandra, her work, this conversation, all of it! A lot of her work can be found in her shop, so pop over and pick something up … a flower-covered ping pong paddle perhaps! Thanks so much to Sandra for bearing with me through our technical difficulties, and for being so open and honest. Thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the 66th episode, and thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE just use my fancy link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. And finally, THANK YOU for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.
Other links:
People snipped and cut from their original environments and placed in front of giant crystals, on snowy mountain sides, and deep in outer space… yes, that sounds like collage to me, but these are paintings! This is the work of Australian painter Anna Di Mezza. She says “… the paintings invite the viewer to make up the plot in their own mind as if the images were taken from a frame from a surreal film.” Um, yep! Happy storytelling, and happy Friday.
What? A “Tell Truth Magic Rope” included too? Yeah, I’m going to need this in my collection. Ok, I don’t have an action figure collection, but if I did, this crazy little Wonder Woman would be the STAR! This is the fantastic and hilarious work of LA based artist/illustrator Mark Todd. All of these pieces, and many more, are in a new show that opens tomorrow night, September 2nd 8pm – 11pm, at La Luz de Jesus in LA {4633 Hollywood Blvd}. The show is called “Covered” … here’s the gallery’s description:
“Todd reinterprets comics from his youth, as well as earlier, iconic ‘ultimate collectors items”. Most of the pieces in this show are based on these types of desirable comics, such as number ones in the series, or the first appearance of a character which were often unobtainable for a young, comic obsessed Todd and his small weekly allowance. In Covered he keeps his interpretations of these covers closer to the source than in previous shows, channeling a combination of confidence with playful naivety, injecting humor with purposeful “mistakes” such as misspelled text and truncated sentences.”
So awesome! If you can go, GO. The show will be up until October 2nd.
ps. I don’t have any Star Wars collectibles in my non-existent collection either, so clearly I’ll need to add a limited edition Mark Todd “CHEWBACK” to my list:
So. Good!
Much like a mother who loves all of her children equally, I love all of my podcast episodes equally… but this one is really quite special. New Hampshire based painter Catherine Graffam is only 23 years old. Yeah, 23. She didn’t find art until she was a senior in high school, at a moment when she absolutely needed it. She began painting self portraits as soon as she discovered oil paint and hasn’t looked back. Whether she realized it at the time or not, she would use painting to document the huge life transition she was about to make. Catherine is a trans woman and her paintings, sometimes sad but always beautiful, have been evolving and developing right along with her. You can listen to our conversation right up there under Catherine and her pink hair, or you can subscribe on iTunes.
First up, a few of my favorites to get things started:
Gorgeous. That final piece is titled “Panic”… doesn’t it look like a still from an old movie? Love it. So much.
Next, these are the paintings that broke my heart when she sent me that very sad, angst-filled email while she was still in college:
See? Dark. Literally and figuratively.
Throughout this episode I kept telling Catherine how brave I think she is. Exhibit A, “I Guess I’m Stuck With Me”… the painting she included in a show at college depicting the beginning of her transition:
Beautiful, vulnerable, and BRAVE – whether she’ll admit it or not. The other two pieces are the paintings she mentioned that are also titled after song lyrics: “Head High, Tears Dry”, followed by “Anthem For A 17 Year Old Me”.
Her self portraits are the base of her work, but recently Catherine’s been pushing herself to paint other people. Different faces, different angles, different stories. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ok, so clearly she can paint other people too! Gorgeous.
It wouldn’t be right not to include these beauties… not only does she rock pink hair, look at all of the color and light that has made its way into her work:
Love.
Speaking of love, this is Cat and her cat starring in, “Self Portrait as Madonna and Child”:
Ha! So good. Thanks so much to Catherine for doing this interview with me, and being so vulnerable, honest, funny, and yes, brave. She’s only 23. TWENTY THREE. I am so excited to see what her future holds. Thanks to Saatchi Art for not only supporting this episode, but for also selling Catherine’s work. A big high five to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE just use my fancy link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator … and you know what comes next, thank you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.
Other Links:
Oh. I have loved the sultry, elegant, feminine work of UK based artist Natasha Law for years. I wrote about her in early 2014 and just came across some of her new pieces… and here we are! Her color palettes are perfection, and I’ll be honest, this the sassiest use of glossy house paint I’ve ever seen. Love.
{bio photo via Vogue}
Clay from her yard, rocks from the side of the highway, and random bits of shale all turned into art supplies. Yeah, she MAKES HER OWN PAINT! A few years ago, at an art opening in Tennessee, I met Chattanooga based painter Amanda Brazier. We didn’t talk for long, but long enough for me to find out that she makes all of her own paint. Obviously I ran back to the hotel and looked her up… instant love. So here we are, years later, and I get an hour to talk to her about how she does what she does! We also talk about ice cream and running quite a bit. Brace yourself. You can listen right up there under Amanda’s freshly made paint, or you can subscribe on iTunes.
Let’s start at the beginning… the magical, natural beginning:
Gah! Look at all of those perfect homemade tubes! And yes, there are quite a few Red Bank Red’s in there… straight from Amanda’s backyard. Amazing. And how perfect is it that she’s a trail runner and part-time high school cross country running coach!? She can gather samples while she’s out there ; )
She talked about how she’s able to make the different colors in her beautiful, quiet, natural palette. I wanted to know about this dreamy grey-ish blue:
Oooh. I love them all!
Up next… this is where Amanda’s fascination with structures began, and how it evolved:
Lovely.
And finally, the painted “weavings” that give me a headache just trying to figure out what should go where and when:
Oh my goodness… so so so good!
Thank you so much to Amanda for telling us the secrets behind her beautiful, natural work; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; high fives to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book… to preorder a copy of the audio book FOR FREE, along with a 30 day free trial at Audible, you can use my fancy link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator … and as always, thank you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.
Other links:
YUM. The portfolio of Toronto based artist/illustrator Courtney Wotherspoon is filled with all sorts of wonderful things… portraits, quirky collections, gorgeous lettering… so I had a really hard time deciding which pieces I should write about. And then I found these delicious painted/drawn beauties. Yep, they were screaming my name on this very hot August day. I’ll take one of each, please! Happy weekend.
ps. congratulations to Courtney on becoming a mama for the second time, only two days ago… get that woman some ice cream STAT.
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