Flowers. Oh, so many flowers…

Flowers in place of faces.

Flowers all alone in a quiet forest.

German photographer Amira Fritz grew up with parents who ran a plant nursery & flower shop {clearly}, and so large floral arrangements have become her choice of subject matter, as a reminder of home. I love both of these series so much {Alle von Denen & Spaziergang im Käferwald }, and could not decide which images to show. They’re all so lovely, eerie, and sort of sad in a strange way – a perfect combination as far as I’m concerned.

Kelly Lynn Jones is an artist and curator living in Oakland, California. She received her MFA in May 2010 from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and has shown her work all over the US, and UK… so, obviously, I’m totally jealous! Her own work is fabulous, and if that’s not enough, she just happens to run a little online gallery you may have heard of called Little Paper Planes… yeah, I know! And wait til you see who she’s jealous of – it’s a fascinating story:

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I am jealous of Bas Jan Ader

I think I am really just fascinated by his whole persona. Bas Jan Ader appears to be nothing but a myth, even though he was an artist living in the 1970’s whose life was cut tragically short as he searched for the miraculous.  We all have moments where we want to believe in the romantic ideas of the sublime.  We listen to pop songs about love on the radio and let ourselves get swept away in what could be our life, even though those are calculated songs, not reality.  He framed all of his works within a conceptual lens though the underlining themes are still universal in the simplistic ways of showing emotion and longing for the past and future.  Underneath the guise of generalized images of the romantic tragic hero, was an artist/person who had his own personal tragedies and experiences though through art translated the personal into generic cultural references.  Ader was successful where he could take the vernacular within Pop culture and transcend the commoditization of the romantic notion into something that felt real yet not personal.  He essentially became a “persona” or “myth” of the romantic by carrying out the actions that portrayed his ideal.

I often romanticize what life should be like, what an artist’s life should be like and am often stuck in some state of nostalgia; longing for something I have never actually experienced.  So when I view Ader’s work, I empathize with how he may of felt.  He was so successful in portraying this “persona”, that I wonder where he as “Bas Jan Ader” fit into the scenario.  Was he really and actually the tragic hero?  Did he begin to believe the myth he was creating or was this actually he all along?  In his final piece, In Search of the Miraculous in 1975, he left those questions with the answers deep into the vast Atlantic Ocean.  So we will never know.

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Thanks so much Kelly. What a lovely, thoughtful post.

I think it’s safe to say that American artist Seth Clark likes houses almost as much as I do. The layering, the detail, the stories behind each home… whatever they might be. Personally, I want to know what’s happening inside that pretty pink window.

I just wrote about American artist Beth Hoeckel in December… but these collages seemed absolutely perfect for a mid-summer post! Sundresses, midnight swims, mountain hikes, and of course, what would summer be without picnic treats that go straight to your hips… literally.

Ahhh, does this make anyone else want to go swimming… in a room filled with floating furniture? Me too! This installation, titled Green House, is the perfect combination of surreal and serene. It’s truly amazing what Korean artist Kyung Woo Han has done with some old furniture, an empty room, the most lovely shade of green paint, and just a touch of optical illusion.

Sigh. Yes. I absolutely love these simple, yet striking, drawings by Tel Aviv based artist Ofra Lapid. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must take a nap in the most minimal bedroom I can find.

I know girls… I’m just as sad as you are about your shows coming to an end. Luckily for me, Heidi Montag, Whitney Port and Lauren Conrad have forever been captured knee-deep in the drama of their MTV lives. Yep – tears, betrayal and shock abound in these pastel portraits by Vancouver based artist Karin Bubas. I wrote about this series over a year ago… that was back when I was happily, and faithfully, watching this junk high-quality programming every week. But now it’s been taken away from me, and all I’m left with is “Teen Mom”. I should get Karin to capture my sadness in pastel.

It’s kinda hard not to have a design crush on Kelly Beall of Design Crush. She is a graphic designer, based in Oklahoma, with impeccable taste, and a great sense of humor. We “met” through Twitter, but I was so excited to see her pretty face, instead of a teeny-tiny icon, last January at Alt Summit. She is sassy, funny, & oh so fashionable… yep, totally crush-worthy! I knew when I invited her over for the weekend she’d show us something amazing… and she did not disappoint!
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I’m jealous of Kate MccGwire

The first time I saw Kate MccGwire‘s feathered works I literally had to stop and catch my breath. I’d never seen art that felt like it was breathing until that moment. I’d never been intimidated by a mass of feathers that somehow managed to feel both evil and serene. And I’d definitely never had to look away to gather myself because something was so horrifyingly beautiful. Kate’s work does all that to me and more. The labor of love that lies behind every time intensive piece inspires me to persevere, while the juxtaposition of menace and beauty has me looking at everything I see through a different set of eyes.

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Whoa. Gorgeous! Thanks so much lady! Hope to see you in Salt Lake City again in 2012 ~ xo

What’s Your Power Animal?… American artist Kellesimone Waits wants to know. Hm, ok, I’m going to go with flamingo. I don’t know why, it just seems right. Anywho, these delicate, washy, slightly bizarre images {gouache and blak sumi ink on watercolor paper} are from her latest solo show, titled, you guessed it, What’s Your Power Animal, at Fuse Gallery in New York. Unfortunately it just closed earlier this week – sorry! I totally dropped the ball on that one… maybe it was the flamingo in me? It’s very difficult for flamingos to hold balls, no?

Oh my word. I love every single one of these ceramic faces… who knew that beady eyes, big foreheads, and thin lips could be so beautiful? Well, British artist Claire Loder, that’s who!