Like most of you, I’m going to be knee-deep in holiday cheer for the next few days, but then I’ll be back and more jealous than ever! Until then, let me leave you with these four wintery pieces. The inspiration should warm you up quite nicely, but then you’ll probably want to drown your jealousy in a jug of rum & eggnog… that’s what I’ll be doing!

Happy Holidays!

TJC

{ Images above 1) Amy Bennett 2) Holly Farrell 3) Mikael Kennedy 4) Ilana Kohn }

What an amazing glimpse at a slice of American life during the 1950s and 60s. And what an even more amazing story about this photographer, the undiscovered Vivian Maier. John Maloof, also a photographer, ended up buying a bunch of her negatives {30 – 40,000 to be precise} at a furniture and antique auction in Chicago. The auction house acquired her belongings from her storage locker that was sold off due to delinquent payments. Um, can you say gold mine? And he still has 600 rolls to develop. Who knows what else he’ll find!

Anyway, the story doesn’t end there. About a year after he bought the negatives, as he got more and more involved with Vivian’s photos, he did what any modern day person would do… he googled her. Her obituary had been posted one day before he hit ‘search’. Seriously. She died peacefully at the age of 83. I’m not sure what I love more, her photography or this story. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help wondering how many more ‘Vivian Maiers’ are out there, just waiting to be discovered.

{John Maloof has set up a blog to show her work, and is trying to put an exhibition together in Chicago, the place where Vivian lived for a large part of her life.}

Ok, I usually have a hard time picking just a few pieces of an artist’s work to show. In the case of Mikael Kennedy it was nearly impossible. His Polaroid series, Shoot the Moon, has 500 amazing images that he captured while wandering around the United States between 1999 and 2009. He had no plan, and no money. Picking 4 photos was tough, but I guess my task was easy compared to what he and gallery owner Peter Hay Halpert had to do in preparation for Mikael’s upcoming solo show in New York {details to follow}. They chose these 500 photos out of 3000 that Mikael has taken over the last decade. See… I had it easy.

I’ll keep you posted on show location and date, but you might want to pick your favourites now. The details aren’t even finalized yet and these Polaroids are selling like hot cakes! So, looks like he’s got a plan now, and is about to get some very well deserved money.

Maybe it’s because today was the first time I’ve had to scrape frost off of my car since last winter that I feel the need to share these warm, beachy, end of summer photographs. I love the feeling that American photographer Alicia Bock has managed to capture, well, perfectly. You can almost smell them… fresh air, salt water, and just a hint of Hawaiian Tropic.

{You’ve also got to see her I love Paris in the Springtime series. Be warned though ~ you may want to pack a bag and head for the ‘City of Lights’ almost immediately.}

This is proof that great art is all around us, you just have to look for it… and try not to squish it with your shoe. London street artist Slinkachu has a series called Little People in which tiny ‘little hand-painted people are left in London to fend for themselves’. So cool. I wonder if anyone ever finds them or if they just go unnoticed? That’s it, I’m going to check every pop can I pass from now on.

Where should I start… The stunning color? The crazy fabulous art direction? The super-cool vintage feel? Hmm… or maybe I should kick things off with the fact the 10% of the sales price of these fine art prints goes to ‘a health program designed to promote early detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast and cervical cancer, with special emphasis on the under-served, to prevent and reduce the devastating effects of cancer.’  Oh Star Foreman, so many reasons to be jealous of you.

{Visit her portfolio site, or go directly to her etsy shop and pick up a technicolor print right this very minute.}

I love these photographs by Joshua Jensen-Nagle. I actually thought they were paintings when I first saw them, but they are in fact photos. Maybe the little coloured dots are paint? Well, whatever the technique, the outcome is fantastic and now I want to go to the beach… anyone know where I can get a lot of confetti?

When the moon hits your eye like a big gold couch… that’s amore!

That’s amore alright! I love these photos by 2009 Ryerson University grad Stefanie Fiore. These images are from a series called A New Home in which she explores first generation Italian-Canadian residences. Here’s her insight into their decorating decisions… ‘Using local materials and notions of the baroque to create replicas and pastiche resembling their homeland, the families are referencing the rich cultural history of their homeland in a country in which they have no history.’ Pretty insightful… Um, Stefanie, do you have fancy wallpaper and gold throw pillows at home too? It’s Ok, you can tell me…

Writing about Diane Arbus the other day got me thinking about Cindy Sherman – another female photographer that I love. Cindy’s subject matter? Cindy… kinda. She is the subject of every single one of her photographs, although you might not be able to tell. She morphs herself into all sorts of characters (I love the the B-Movie starlets) in order to make a commentary on the ‘role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.’

{Super cool fact: Cindy Sherman recently bought two pieces from another artist that I’ve written about… Martha Rich. Just one more reason for me to be ridiculously jealous of you Martha!}

I usually write about contemporary artists, but today I’m jealous of an artist from a few decades back ~ rewind to the 1960’s if you will. These amazing portraits are by Diane Arbus, one of America’s most influential photographers. She was best known for capturing the images of somewhat strange people, or to be a little less politically correct… ‘freaks’. Her life story is quite interesting but a bit sad, and her completely made up life story in the movie Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, is even more interesting and even more sad. If you  haven’t seen it, you should! It’s beautiful, very Alice in Wonderland.