Artist Jon Rafman has one of the best collections of images found in Google Street view, and they’re definitely worth checking out. The photos range from artistic and beautiful to bizarre and sad, but all are captivating and left me happy to live in such a strange world. Read Rafman’s essay on the project here.
via yewknee
November 16, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
Ryan Mosley, "George and the Dragon", 2007
I had the opportunity to quickly visit London last week and was able to stop at the Saatchi Gallery to check out the “Newspeak: British Art Now” Show. There were a lot of great artists represented, but my favorite by far was the painter Ryan Mosley. His work is playful yet sinister, erotic yet childlike. The stories that are depicted evoke fairytale and folklore, but leave you wondering what’s actually going on (i.e. Tag Team). Check out more of his paintings at Saatchi here, although, if you get a chance, check them out in person. These photos don’t represent the obvious effort of painting, erasing, scraping, and more that goes into the works, nor Mosely’s subtle color choices.
October 7, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
I’ve been trolling the internet too much lately and keeping track of the fun things I find via tumblr here. Been loving ruraldelia’s blog.
September 2, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
Love the work of Hollis Brown Thorton. I’m a huge fan of 70s wallpaper, permanent markers, and vintage photos, so it’s right up my alley. The work is whimsical, nostalgic, and just plain strange sometimes. Be sure to check out his flickr and if you’re really interested, he explains his pigment transfer process here.
August 18, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
The Cotuit Center for the Arts has a nautical-themed Americana Folk Art show up until July 25. There’s a lot of great stuff, but I’m loving the Sailor’s Valentines by local Cape artist, Gregg Roberts. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but these octagonal pieces are made entirely of tiny seashells and twine. Learn more about the craft, which dates back to the 1800s, or check out more of Roberts’ work here.
July 21, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
Dr. Lakra "Sin título / Untitled (Pedro Infante)," 2007.
At the ICA Boston right now: Dr. Lakra is a Mexican tattoo artist who draws over found images and objects. A lot of his work uses vintage pin-ups, but I love the ones that manipulate the pictures of politicians.
Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area. The Charles LeDray show is equally impressive.
July 19, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
I’ve been interested in Henry Darger’s work for a while now, but I never knew anything about who he was. After watching the 2004 documentary, In the Realms of the Unreal, his paintings have taken on a whole new meaning for me. The documentary does an amazing job (and you can stream it from Netflix) but if you don’t have the time to watch it, it’s worth reading through his Wikipedia page to get an idea of what an interesting man he was. Now I need to get to the American Folk Art Museum—they have a few Darger shows up until September 19.
June 29, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
Not sure where I first found out about Gavin Potenza because I see his work everywhere. I love that he pulls his style from vintage posters and applies it to super-contemporary infographics (including one about the worst oil spills in history that he’s been updating).
June 18, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ NO COMMENTS »
Before I moved out of DC, I made sure to check out “Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg” at the National Gallery of Art. The photos are primarily portraits of Ginsberg’s friends, who were also authors, poets, artists, and musicians, and each photo has some lines of loopy cursive written by Ginsberg. If you want to inspiration to fill your life with more spontaneous creativity and to feel both uncool and full of unlimited potential for cool at the same time, make sure to take a look this summer—the show’s up until September 6.
Food for thought: Kerouac began writing On the Road while living with his parents.
May 30, 2010 ⁞⁞⁞ 2 COMMENTS »