Cindy Sherman meets Diane Arbus… with just a hint of ‘The Sixth Sense’. I have to admit, I saw these stunning black and white self-portraits, by Toronto based photographer Rebecca Cairns, last night right before bed. I was pretty sure they’d give me some kind ghost-themed nightmares, but  thankfully I made it through til morning without any sightings. Phew.

Well, I’m back from Washington DC, and it was amazing {I’ll give you all of the details later this week}. I met so many wonderful people… including a fantastic Vietnamese-American artist named Khánh Lê. We started chatting at the opening night of Ben Skinner’s show. He was warm and funny, oh, and also an incredible artist! He was telling me about his work – collage pieces that combined photos from his own family albums and images from the Vietnam war, with beautiful glossy “American” interiors {that as a child he wished were his reality}, from magazines like GQ and Better Homes & Gardens. Oh boy. That sounded like something I just might love – so the second I was close to a computer, I googled him. Yep, I was right. LOVE!

{Khánh is currently part of the artist-in-residence program run by ARCH, and the Honfleur Gallery in Washington DC.}

Yes… so far this experience has been all of those things:  astounding, brilliant, amazing, incredible, fabulous… Washington DC is astounding, Ben is brilliant, the staff at the gallery are amazing, and we got to do an incredible interview yesterday. In short, it’s been fabulous!

The 65′ mural is done. The two storey high foam board scaffolding sculpture has been assembled. The site-specific work is in place throughout the neighborhood {ex. ‘every time you walk by’, shown above},  and there are just a few pieces left to hang at the gallery today… and then at 7pm the doors at Honfleur Gallery will open. I’ll be back with a full report {and photos of everything mentioned above!} on Monday morning – wish us luck! Oh, and if you happen to run into the Obama’s, let them know that they’re invited. Thanks!

There is nothing I love more than a sketchbook so thick with creative goodness, it can’t even be closed! My sketchbook is pretty fat, but thanks to Alison Worman, it’s about to get super-sized… beautiful fabrics, thread poking out the sides, layers of cut paper? Yes, yes, yes!

{via Book By It’s Cover}

I wrote about American artist Skylar Fein, almost exactly one year ago… and it seems quite perfect, given the subject matter shown above, that I write about his fantastic work again today. Why you ask? Well, within a matter of minutes I’m leaving for the airport to catch a plane bound for Washington DC {where I will be hanging Ben Skinner’s show at the Honfleur Gallery!!!}. Ahh, nothing like a few Pop Art-esque American forefathers to help send a girl on her way to the nation’s capital!

YES!!! This is exactly what I was talking about… last year I put together a ‘jealously curated’ show called Comfort Food, that featured a whole bunch of sewn, knitted and crocheted food. I loved them all, but the only thing that could have made those pieces better was scale… and then Melbourne based artist Dawn Tan came along with her giant marshmallows, huge crackers, and insanely big bag of Yorkshire pudding mix! Yep, I’m just going to say it… sometimes size does matter.

{via share some candy}

Part of me really, really wants to visit this farm… however, a much larger part of me is kinda terrified at the thought of spending an afternoon here. Clearly, American artist Andrea Kowch is an insanely talented painter {just look at the detail in the clothes!} who knows exactly how to create feelings of uneasiness… I think it’s probably the tornado-like winds, the abundance of crows, and let’s be honest, those stunned pink-eyed rabbits aren’t making me feel any better about a day trip to the country.

It’s go time people! The work has already arrived at the Honfleur Gallery, and as of tomorrow morning Canadian artist Ben Skinner, and his lovely wife/installation assistant/fellow artist Genevieve Dionne, will be boarding a plane for Washington DC. Ben is creating some of the work on-site {a painted text mural, site specific vinyl text installations, and a 20 foot sculpture} and so, obviously, he needed a few extra days on the ground! I’ll be arriving on Wednesday to do whatever he tells me to do, and of course, hang the show. TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS AS PAINFUL AS IT SEEMS opens on Friday March 4th at 7pm. You really have to see the glitter-covered screen prints, and the pink text coated in candy sprinkles with your own eyes. Yes. I said candy sprinkles.

{I cannot wait to post photos of the final show… stay tuned! If you want to see more of Ben’s work, check out ‘the jealous curator goes to washington (1) and (2)‘. Happy weekend everyone xo }

Paris, Berlin, and New York… completely dissected into little bits, and then neatly organized according to shape and size by French artist Armelle Caron. Ah, oui.

{via CMYBacon}

Oh boy, I think I have a new crush… yep, I do. Brooklyn based artist Javier Piñón {and his cowboys} had me at howdy. These boys are from three different series: Chairs, Chandeliers, and Floods… and I love them all very, very much.

{I discovered Javier’s work through Fine Line Magazine. I wrote about Issue One last November, and as of this Friday (02.25) Issue Two will be out/ready to order… and Javier’s cowboys are in it ♥ Yee-haw!}