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Aaaaaah! They’re doing all of the things we’re not supposed to do! So. Much. Touching … and I love it. This is the beautifully bizarre work of Calgary based artist Katie Green. Washy weirdness and masks that I would happily wear to the grocery store. ps. Katie’s also a puppet-maker, which does not surprise me at all.
You know how I love collages, all things 80s, and amazing painters, right? Yeah. These acrylic & aerosol paintings {that look like collages filled with things from the 80s} are the work of a Melbourne based artist who is “easily distracted by birds, animals and bright bits of pop culture”. His name is Michael Cain aka gnashingteeth, and now I love him. Happy Monday.
Oh, you guys. This is such a lovely episode. If you don’t already know about New York based artist Elisa Valenti, I’m so excited to introduce you! If you do know her work, I’m still excited because I bet you don’t know that she’s a pharmacist, bakes ridiculous kick-ass cakes, and is irrationally afraid of sharks. Yep, we cover all of that AND we talk about her journey as an artist too. Wait till you hear her laugh, and the way she says COFFEE and TUSH. Pure gold. You can listen right up there under “Every Last Drop”, or you can subscribe here.
First up, the painting you might know her for… it’s definitely the first one I saw:
Hell, yes! “Confidence on the Rocks”… and the source photo from her phone. Gorgeous, both of them.
Next, here she is at Superfine 2019. Can you believe she pulled this booth together in two weeks? :
And that, my friends, was the beginning of the whirlwind that has been her past year and half!
Next, these two paintings are the reason I asked her about “baths or showers” in the Not-So-Speedy-Speed-Round. I really just wanted an excuse to show you “Pizza Girl” and “Solitude”:
Beautiful.
Oooh, and these are the line and contour pieces she mentioned:
Yep. People love tush… and you can see why!
We just talked about this quickly in passing, re: the transition from painting herself clothed, to blocked, to nude. This is step one. The nightie:
Isn’t that gorgeous? That piece above is one of my favorites. I absolutely love the sheerness of the fabric, the embroidered flowers, the sunlight, all of it.
Elisa and I also talked a little bit about her color palette, and how she likes to include all sorts of skin tones. Here are a few inspiration shots she’s posted to her Instagram feed:
COFFEE! I could listen to her say ‘coffee’ forever and ever. Also, I want those donuts. Speaking of sweet treats, Elisa’s cakes.
Brace yourself:
WHAT THE ACTUAL Whaaaaa? “Oh yeah, I used to make cakes for my family.” LOOK AT THAT THING!? Okay, I have to move on, even though that cake deserves an episode all to itself.
Finally, here are a bunch of shots of Elisa in action:
Awww, little Elisa with colored pencils firmly in her tiny hands. Ah-mazing. Thank you so much to Elisa for doing this with me, given the week she’s been having. She just told me she’s going to name her inner critic, “Pluto”. Good plan! And, of course, thank YOU for listening. I hope your week has been okay. Stay inside, stay well. There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.
ps. Esther Pearl Watson and I will be doing some LIVE painting/collaging on Instagram next week. Tuesday, April 28th at 6pm PST is the plan!
Other links:
“In Quarantine” is an absolutely gorgeous time capsule that also happens to be a drawing series. This is the work of New York based artist Tiffany Alfonseca. I found her work because of her fabulous paintings {look at this one!?}, but these pieces make up the last several posts on her Instagram feed and, well, I fell in love immediately. Rich charcoal shading mixed with elegant graphite lines… and don’t even get me started on that dog. To be clear, Tiffany does draw the men in her life too, but as per usual, I was totally drawn {pun intended} to the portraits of the women. Go follow her.
Triangles, and embroidery, and toile, oh my! I’ve written about the powerful work of Philadelphia based artist Sarah Detweiler before, but I just had to give you a look at her latest ongoing series, titled “Hidden Mother”. The work is absolutely gorgeous, and as always, Sarah has put a lot of personal thought and reflection into each piece. Here are a few excerpts from an interview she did with Create Magazine:
“My recent work is a reflection of my personal experiences of motherhood, pregnancy loss, and resilience … Conceptually, I have been exploring the rainbow as an archetype and the identity of a mother through the Victorian “Hidden Mother” photography trend, where mothers would drape themselves in cloth to conceal themselves while holding their children still for long exposure photographs.”
Okay, that’s super weird! I want to know more, don’t you? Apparently she’s been posting the behind-the-scenes info to her Instagram stories, so follow along right here.
I like, totally, can’t solve a Rubik’s Cube… but if it had been covered in neon icing, maybe? . The 1980s, cupcake-loving, teenage girl in me has found yet another crush. This is the work of South Carolina based artist Olivia Bonilla, and these are her words about this work:
“I am creating a world where color theory meets sculpture. My work explores personal nostalgia and indulgence through references to sweets, toy culture, and 80’s and 90’s retro flare. I’m interested in the idea of excess in today’s throwaway society. Through my sculptures I convey a “sugar coated” reality filled with over-stimulation and re-appropriated ideas. Sprinkled pills, oversized diamonds, toys of an era, splashed with glitter and a wet gloss finish. My sculptures explore the emotional desire of always wanting more, in combination with glutinous shiny landscapes who reveal childhood colors of cotton candy blue and bubble gum pink.”
Nailed it.
ps. People often ask me how I find the artists I write about, and I always say, “it starts with one artist and then I end up going down a rabbit hole of amazingness”. In this case, I found Olivia via Miller Gallery, while I was over there writing Monday’s post about Angela Chrusciaki Blehm. How could I not come back with these, too!?
Okay, these watercolor weirdos are making whatever day this is a little more fun! This is the work of LA based artist Jon Huck. Not only do I love Jon’s work, but I like his ‘about’ page description too:
“HI THERE … I AM AN ARTIST FROM LOS ANGELES WORKING MAINLY IN WATERCOLOR & INK ON PAPER BUT I LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH LOTS OF OTHER THINGS (PUPPETS, MASKS, ANIMATION, COLLAGE, ETC.).
I ENJOY SWIMMING, CATS, THE LIBRARY AND GOING OUT TO BREAKFAST.
I AM NEITHER A POET NOR WRITER; THAT IS TO SAY, I’M NO WORD ARTIST. YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO LOOK AT MY PAINTINGS NOW. THANK YOU!
… and then he finishes things off with this bit of hilarity:
Oh. My. Word… seriously, my fingers could not type this post fast enough! Cut wood, glitter resin, latex paint, and the occasional yellow lightning bolt? Loooooove. This is the work of Georgia based artist Angela Chrusciaki Blehm, and yes, it was the amazing black & white ribbon that grabbed me, and then that corner o’ goodness finished the job. Happy Monday.
Okay, first of all, LOOK… there are two little legs dangling out from under the ART FOR YOUR EAR bubble. Yep, that seems exactly right for an episode with LA based artist Esther Pearl Watson {there’s always something a little bit weird ‘n wonderful going on in her world}. So, I’ll cut to the chase. Both Esther and I have been feeling a little lost creatively lately, so we’ve got a new segment called, “Hey Mojo, Where’d Ya Go?”. Can you relate? I bet you can. We follow that with a weird art history trivia quiz, then we’ve given you some links to a couple of guilty pleasures we’ve been turning to, and I’ve kicked off the episode with a bunch of projects you can do at home. Listen right up there under the current state of Esther’s dining room table, and an example of one of her recent empty landscapes {that’ll make sense in a minute}, or you can subscribe right here.
Alright, first up, Esther’s pandemic recipe book!
How hilarious/gross is that!? You can find this, and a bunch of other fun stuff, in her shop.
Okay, we didn’t talk about this specifically, but Esther always paints narratives from her own life. A lot of those stories are from her childhood in Texas, but she manages to sneak in current stuff too… like, “Be Nice to Women”, for example:
Ha! Yep, that’s Martha! This is from a road trip that Esther, Martha and their friend Julie took to Texas in 2019. As you can imagine, any trip involving this crew is going to result in some pretty crazy scenarios… perfect material for new paintings? Clearly.
I wanted to include these pieces too… again, we didn’t talk about them specifically, but I love that Esther can be creative no matter what. In the project prompts I gave off the top, I suggested looking for materials that are already in your house. Well, look at this brown paper bag goodness that Esther made in 2018:
Love… and yes, her glittery pink flying saucers are always my favorite.
And finally, I thought I’d wrap things up with Esther working in isolation, and a positive message of hope on the back of a UFO:
Well now, ain’t that the truth! Thank you so much to Esther for adding me to her very long list of online calls she had to make on the day we recorded; thanks to Create! Magazine for supporting this episode; and of course, great big thanks to YOU for listening – there will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.
Other links:
Gasp! These pieces are the latest paintings by UK based artist Lucy Pass… I wrote about her “Lover’s Eyes” series awhile back, but oh my goodness, I saw all of this goodness on her Instagram feed and had to write again. Those inky black graphic lines with the soft pink realistic perfection of the faces? I am in love. Here is an excerpt from Lucy’s statement:
“I try not to impose a clear cut narrative on the viewer. My aim is to illicit an emotional response without dictating to the viewer what they should or shouldn’t be feeling. I have become fascinated by the range of responses to each portrait – what one person perceives can be in complete contradiction to the next. Sometimes these reactions can be clearly explained by the individual and other times it is something visceral that can’t quite be placed. The piece is then no longer about the face looking back at us, but about the feelings that it stirs and what that means about us.”
ps. Some of Lucy’s work is available in her shop.
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