Oh sure, I used to draw on the walls and floors all the time… but it made my mom really, really mad. Clearly German artist Heike Weber has a much more understanding mother. Come on, what’s a little permanent marker and acrylic paint on the floor, especially when it ends up looking like this! These stunning, dizzying, installations have been drawn on the walls and floors of galleries all over Europe… and who knows, maybe even in her mom’s living room.

{I just used one of Heike’s floor installations in ‘the house that jealousy built’ over at sfgirlbybay… come and have a look at my super fancy dining room!}

When it comes to art that I love, I always talk about feeling a rush of uplifting inspiration, and total soul-crushing jealousy all at the same time… well, that definitely applies to how I feel about the work of American artist Trey Speegle. The jealousy part can be found in the two or three posts that I wrote last year, featuring his fantastic “paint-by-number” text based paintings… but today’s post is all about the inspiration.  As you can see from the invitation above, this Thursday night in New York, at Benrimon Contemporary, he’ll be showing twenty pieces from the past five years in order to benefit The Trevor Project – a leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Trey’s goal to is raise at least $1500, which would answer 100 helpline calls, potentially saving 100 young lives. Why not help him do that… all you have to do is buy a fabulous, soul-crushing piece of art. Easy.

{If you can’t be at the show, you can text TREVOR to 85944 to contribute $5 to The Trevor Project. For more information, please visit their website.}

Brian Downey is a curator at The Arts Company in Nashville. Not only does he have an amazing eye for art, he’s also ridiculously nice. We ‘met’ when he made a comment {a ridiculously nice comment, of course} on one of my posts about a year ago. Just so you know, whenever someone makes a comment, nice or not, I go and check out their site, and that’s how I found Brian’s very inspiring blog – Art, Design and Home. It was so inspiring in fact, that I ended up stealing writing about a bunch of his featured artists {don’t worry, I gave him credit… I promise!} Anyway, here is yet another fantastic artist that Brian discovered before I did:

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I’m jealous of Emily Eibel

I’m jealous of Emily Eibel.  As someone who took every studio art class I possibly could in college, I was constantly creating—pottery, sculpture, printmaking, even jewelry.  I’m not sure any of it was that good, and I can tell you with utmost certainty…it was nothing that anyone would ever be jealous of.  I was practically laughed out of my “Drawing I” class, so I have an enormous appreciation for someone who can put pencil to paper and create something that makes me take note and say, “Wow!”  Emily Eibel is one of those artists.  Not only does Emily create unique and quirky illustrations, she takes the process one step further by creating amazing, hand-stitched illustrations, and I have to say… I am in love.

These embroidered creations are sometimes disturbing, but always engaging.  These little gems would speak to anyone with a love of craft, which is one of the reasons I love them so much. Some of the most amazing works of art are the ones that combine fine art and craft, and Emily does this to perfection.  Her work is a more contemporary version of Miriam Schapiro’s “femmages” of the late 70’s, but with a simple style and a distinctly darker point of view.  I have only recently discovered Emily’s work, but I know I will be a fan for life.  How could I not?  She has quite a way with a needle and thread.  If only I had taken that darn embroidery class in college.

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Yes. My thought exactly! Why, oh why, have I never learned to embroider?! Thanks for stopping by Brian… and for being so ridiculously nice ; )

ps. Brian’s latest show, Inspired ~ featuring Julianna Swaney and Jonn Welles Bartlett, is on now until September 25th

Yes. I am going to need these. I will then invite all of you over for dinner. We will eat lasagna right out of the pan, because nobody is puttin’ anything on my pom-pom plates! Sorry, but illustrator/artist/pom-pom genius Lisa Grue worked way too hard for us to mess them up!

Hey baby, what’s your sign? I’m a Taurus. I like champagne, long walks on the beach, and these hilarious little astrological collages by Australian artist Tanya Cooper.

{Ok, Taurus’ are usually very decisive, but I’m obviously not living up to the traits of my sign at the moment… is that red pen or red thread? Anybody?}

Apparently, Droog is Dutch for ‘dry’, as in ‘wry, or wit’… but personally, I think it should translate to ‘love’, as in ‘Oh my word, I love this stuff so much!’ Droog is a design store/studio based in Amsterdam {with stores in New York and Tokyo, and world wide distribution}, that work with amazing designers to create fabulous things! I don’t know what I love most here… an antique chair covered in layers of fibre-glass strengthened polyester, the outermost layer silk-screened with a flowery pattern; or a log turned ridiculously cool bench; no wait, maybe it’s that jumbled up chest of drawers; ooh, or a swing you can hang in your living room that actually grows plants! Yep. Droog should definitely translate to love.

{All of these items can be found on their website. The designers are: 1) Jurgen Bey 2) Jurgen Bey 3) Tejo Remy 4) Marcel Wanders}

After years of commercial illustration {where images always need to be scanned, retouched, digitally altered, and then retouched again} Stockholm based artist Stina Persson has finally had enough. In her new show, Perfectly Flawed, she’s decided to let the paint drip where it may, so to speak… and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such lovely imperfection! If you’re in New York this Thursday night, drop by Gallery Hanahou to see these gorgeous watercolours in persson… i mean, person. Wow. That was a really bad joke. Sorry Stina, I couldn’t help myself! xx

{Gallery Hanahou, New York, September 9 – October 1, 2010 : Opening reception Thursday September 9, 7-9 pm}

…can’t. breathe. so. jealous… man oh man, I love these pieces by American artist Jack Pierson. It has long been a dream of mine to take a road trip down to the sign graveyard in Vegas and load up on, well, pretty much everything you see here… hm, although it looks like Jack may have already taken most of the good stuff!

Amy Kligman is not only the author of a fantastic blog called ARTNICKS, she is also an insanely talented artist. I love, love, love her sweet/creepy/colourful/pattern-filled paintings and am doing everything in my power not to show them right at this very minute… you should know that I really want to though, but I won’t… because this weekend is about who Amy is jealous of. Right? Right… {but if you click here it just might lead you to the post i wrote about her last spring.}

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I’m jealous of… Elizabeth Huey.

Ok, so choosing just one artist to be jealous of was so incredibly difficult. I think at least once a week I come across someone whose work turns my head. There is so much amazing art out there. OH! The options… Christa Donner, Dana Schutz, David Ford, Amy Ross…..the list goes on and on.

But- Elizabeth Huey, you are the one I’m shaking my tiny fist at today.

Huey’s dense visual narratives create epic scenarios in landscapes dotted with universities, elaborate homes, nurses, brawlers, and bystanders (among endless other things). You could spend all day in one image, bouncing around from one vignette to the next, playing out the exchanged conversations between the elements in the painting. The texture and quality of the physical nature of the painting also gets me in the pit of my stomach… a mix of masked acrylic and oil painting, a combination of looseness , visible brushstrokes and intense detail. Its dreamy. And captivating. And I am so, so jealous.

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Well, now I’m shaking my tiny fist at both of you! Thanks for stopping by Amy, and so glad that you brought Elizabeth with you ; )

To say that I’m a huge fan of reality TV would be a slight understatement, but when I came across a reality show about art, I have to say… I was pretty skeptical. How were they going to do this? Great art can’t happen in twelve hours… can it?! Well, regardless of my initial doubts, one episode, and a big bowl of ice cream later, I was hooked! In the first few seconds of Work of Art, I was thrilled to see that Peregrine Honig was one of the 14 participating artists. I wrote about her last November, so obviously she was my early pick as the winner! Well, she came close. She was second, but as far as I’m concerned she should have won. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy for 23-year-old Abdi Farah who won the title, a whole bunch of cash, and a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum {on now until Oct 17th}, but I really, really, really loved Peregrine’s final show {…a sweet, yet dark carnival theme, complete with cotton candy spun by Peregrine herself!} There is an innocence, a beauty, and a sadness to every single piece. The image that gives me a physical reaction every time I see it is the photograph above, titled The Twin Fawns. Under glass in Peregrine’s studio, these taxidermied baby deer are still huddled together. They were found in this position in their mother’s womb, who died just before they were born. See? Such innocence, beauty, and for me, overwhelming sadness. What an amazing collection of work. Congratulations Peregrine!

{She is currently selling prints of ‘The Twin Fawns’ which you can purchase here, and if you’d like to see her latest work in person, she’s having a solo show with Dwight Hackett Projects, opening October 9th in Santa Fe.}