I always love checking in on Pakistan born, Vancouver based artist Sara Khan because, clearly, she never disappoints! Almost as good as her modern day mythical creatures, are the comments she writes along with them. Read this one she posted with the two-headed bull:

Bullheaded. Everyday there’s a new question in my head about my work.. Is this painting, is this an illustration, is this too design oriented, are the colours too bright, are the colours too specific, am I making any sense, am I making too much sense, am I not being serious enough, is this ridiculous, will this survive me, is this a cartoon, is this repetitive, is this too preemptive, is it too contained, and the answer is always it doesn’t matter. It used to be harder to arrive at that answer, but somehow it keeps getting easier. I hope I’m not becoming bullheaded.
This reminded me to re-read Sol Lewitts letters to Eva Hesse:
“You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to
DO”
♥️
She died at 34. How lucky to be alive and be able to do.

Amen. Let’s all DO. Ready? Go! ps. As an added bonus on this Monday morning, here’s Benedict Cumberbatch reading that letter from Sol to Eva.

Sigh. These gorgeous mixed media pieces by London based artist/illustrator Rose Blake make me want to cry. I miss galleries, and everything in her “Now I Am An Artist” series makes me miss them even more… art, people, actual clothes, leaving my house in actual clothes to see art and people. You get it. Speaking of galleries, Rose’s fine art pieces are available through Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London.

ps. She is represented for commercial illustration worldwide by B&A Reps, and for children’s books by Bell Lomax Moreton.

Okay, I think I just found a new thrift shopping friend! This is the work of Australian artist Edward Waring. Vintage Crystal and Glass. Epoxy Adhesive. Acrylic Paint. Hard Acrylic Extender. Yep, that sounds like my kind ‘o materials list! These are all from his series titled “Memory Sticks”, each one named with a woman’s name … from Betty to Mabel! Here’s part of his artist statement that focuses on these candy-colored towers of repurposed crystal goodness:

Currently, Waring is utilising vintage crystal and cut glass, repurposing and altering the once cherished tableware to create pieces that require the audience to re-explore what could be considered old fashioned or ‘passé’. Waring’s work reclaims old traditions and old fashioned ways of life and creates a space for them in the contemporary. His use of tableware once saved for ‘best’ in households gives new life to forgotten pieces, and asks the viewer to reflect on feelings of childhood, memory and family.

Absolutely! I’m quite sure my grandmother, Blanche, had most of these vessels, and all of them were filled with colorful Liquorice Allsorts or fruity Jujubes. Ah, good times. Edward’s work can be found via Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Sydney.

I have a personal obsession with everyday objects, I have a soft spot for ceramics, and I love large-scale murals… sooooo the work of Spanish artist Manolo Mesa is obviously my new favorite thing. Oh my word, so good! He paints his pots & pitchers on walls all over the world, each one with its own story to tell. Follow him on Instagram to see where the next wall will be.

{Found via Designboom}

Whoa. This is the striking portraiture work of New York based artist Idris Habib. Those eyes, the subtle textures, all of that fabulous negative space … sigh… love. Here is a little snippet from his bio/artist statement:

Self-taught, the world was indeed a classroom in which Idris drew his inspiration, labeling himself a “citizen of the World”. Traveling often since childhood, especially abroad, he was influenced from street art, to galleries and museums in Africa, Europe, and here in the US. In addition to the artwork, he has always been motivated by a challenge. This is evident in his sense of adventure and experimentation with various mediums and diverse approaches to application, often using his hands and fingers, rather than traditional brush strokes to obtain a desired effect. 

Idris’ work is available via Saatchi Art.

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.

Gasp! I love absolutely everything about this work by Seoul based artist June Lee. Beautiful broken shards, hand-painted patterns, and tufts of colorful yarn (!!!) working together to tell an entirely new story. All of these pieces are part of a much larger series titled “Today as History of Tomorrow”. Here is the full story behind this work, in June’s words:

“I was on a residency program in a remote rural town in the US, 16 hours away from Korea by plane, where I discovered a miniature pottery shaped like an old Korean artifact of Goryeo celadon. I was both blown away to find this small, palm-sized pottery shaped like a relic of the Goryeo Dynasty in such an unexpected place, as well as curious as to how this piece of pottery could have made its way to such a far distance as a countryside in the United States. Thinking that it’s probably a gift from someone or a souvenir, I also began to wonder if such an idea as an indigenous culture of a country actually exists.

I regard pottery as an indicator of history. The first art history class in university begins with the Altamira cave wall painting. The beginning of Korean history class begins with the Paleolithic period where pottery begins, which continues to the comb-patterned pottery in the Neolithic Era. As such, pottery is an indicator of history, and we learn about history based on the pottery discovered, because we can assume what region, cultural sphere and period it comes from just by looking at its shape, pattern and color.

However, would people living 100 years from today in year 2019, be able to assume the region, cultural sphere and period of the pottery of today? Would they be able to say that something that’s unique and indigenous to a certain area exists like it did in the past? In the present age, we can fly anywhere in the world, and live through various cultures we have never physically been to, vicariously through the internet, books and media. Elements indigenous to particular cultural spheres or specific regions are gradually becoming blurred, and slowly mixing with the present culture.

Through this project, I propose to produce pottery works that can function as indicators of the past in the future, when today becomes the history of tomorrow. My work involves researching indigenous patterns of cultures of different countries in the past, and applying it to contemporary shapes, patterns and images of contemporary art widely used today by searching on the internet. Such patterns and images are individually drawn by hand on fragmented pieces of pottery using thread and under glaze. Finally, these broken fragments are put together into the final outcome of a pottery (Korean crock), which will signify today as a history of tomorrow.

So beautiful. Happy Monday.

You guys… ART FOR YOUR EAR is back! Yep, here we are at the beginning of Season No.5, and I could not be more thrilled to be kicking things off with this talented, insightful, soft-spoken artist. American artist Ronald Jackson is my very first guest back… after a much longer than planned break. I’m sure you’ll recognize his work as I’ve written about him before, but hearing his self-taught story {he had a 20 year career in the military before becoming a painter!?} makes me admire him more than I already did. Ready? You can listen right up there under “Some Wore the Skin of Invisible Men”, or subscribe right here.

First, a few of his most recent paintings, along with a shot of Ronald in the studio so you can, A. see the man behind the voice, and B. understand the scale of these masked beauties:

Gasp! So. Good.

I thought I’d include his work from 2018 as well. This is what he was doing when I first reached out to him about being on the podcast:

Yep, those are all stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous, too. And yes, that’s NOLA based artist Ashley Longshore with two pieces of Ronald’s that she now owns. LOVE!

Now, what did his work look like before he started adding masks to his subjects? I’m so glad you asked:

Again, so beautiful, but isn’t it so interesting to see the evolution? Speaking of which, here are the narrative paintings he was working on before that big show that required a lot of BIG work:

So different, yet you can absolutely see his hand in these paintings too. I wonder if he’ll head back in this direction at some point? We’ll have to keep an eye on that!

And finally, this is his painting that was recently acquired by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas:

“In a Day, She Became the Master of Her House”. Beautiful, on so many levels.

But wait! Before you go … I found this photo on Ronald’s Instagram feed and just had to include it… he’s 1 of 11 children! Can you spot him? Hint: he’s the baby of the family:

Awww, so cute! Thanks so much to Ronald for taking the time to share his stories with me, and thank YOU for coming back for season no.5 … there will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.

Tape. Paint. Corrugated board. What? This is the mind-bending work of New York based artist Aakash Nihalani. I featured his work waaaaaay back in 2010… now here we are ten years later, and his work is even more wonderfully confusing! Happy Friday.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Facebook Artists in Residence (@fbairprogram) on Oct 13, 2020 at 9:45am PDT

South Korean born, Portland based artist Samantha Wall is an “Immigrant Korean-Black-American” who creates art to express herself and find wholeness. “I am all of those things and none of those things, and I’m more than those things.” I discovered her work, that quote, and the video above, because of the mural she did for FBAiR {Facebook Artists-In-Residence Program, Redmond WA campus.} There is soooo much about her magical work that pulls me in… the washy ink, insane amounts of gold leaf, and don’t even get me started on those haunting eyes. ps. those eyes are drawn with graphite, not cut ‘n pasted photographs. What? True story.