MOMA

Wasciwy Wabbits

I'm hunting wabbits.

One of those days.

Found this trolling the internets. If anyone happens to know the artist, shoot me a line and I'll give credit where credit is due.

Stephan Balleux

Those of you that tentatively keep an eye on this blog may have suspected that I have a fondness of skulls. I'm not quite sure where it came from, but I can promise that it's not going anywhere anytime soon. During my search of images for use in the creation of cell phone wallpaper, I came across and artist worth bumping to the forefront of this blog at the very least.

I present the dramatic work of Belgian artist Stephan Balleux.
He appears to be currently represented by Think.21 Contemporary Gallery (Brussels, Belgium). 
My Blackberry is going to look so badass.

Hitchin' a Ride

I'm moving down south in less than two weeks, and our transportation has come into question because my Mini's transmission was allegedly made by German children. That being the case, I am looking into alternate means to the aforementioned end. After much search and debate, I'm pretty sure that I've found a best case scenario in the work of Robert Nightingale.




From the Designer:
"For best results position yourself at traffic lights, railway stations or air hangers. Subtly wait for the opportune moment (which is precisely 7 seconds before the initial point of acceleration) and attach the product as firmly as possible to the host vehicle (a brief run up usually does the trick), paying attention to ground clearance for ones feet and enjoy the ride…"

The Birdman

Artist Benjamin Verdonck is currently nesting on the Rotterdam Weena Tower. His week long performance “The Great Swallow” involves a nest, man, and a gaint egg.

*Spoiler alert Rotterdam*
"It's the tragic story of a man who comes, sees and in a final attempt to embrace his audience eventually falls." - via

He came. He saw. He nested. He laid an egg. He then plummeted 500 ft and asked people how they felt about it. They should have asked Knol Tate.



For the Fierce! arts event in Birmingham four or so years ago, a similar cage was affixed to the Rotunda.
Before THAT, the Birdman was hooked on the Anspach in his native Belgium.

Lace Fence

"LACE FENCE is a high-end metal fabric that gives new insights in how we can create unique environments.

The design, quality and density of the patterns are flexible. Meaning that for each application we create according to its function. For example to prevent climbing on, to hide or enhance its surroundings. To deal with harsh weather or to give an unique custom made look."

Seriously, if you can crochet a fence we need to be friends. Stat. I'm having trouble with HATS.

Jennifer Maestre

"My sculptures were originally inspired by the form and function of the sea urchin. The spines of the urchin, so dangerous yet beautiful, serve as an explicit warning against contact. The alluring texture of the spines draws the touch in spite of the possible consequences. The tension unveiled, we feel push and pull, desire and repulsion. The sections of pencils present aspects of sharp and smooth for two very different textural and aesthetic experiences. Paradox and surprise are integral in my choice of materials. Quantities of industrially manufactured objects are used to create flexible forms reminiscent of the organic shapes of animals and nature. Pencils are common objects, here, these anonymous objects become the structure. There is true a fragility to the sometimes brutal aspect of the sculptures, vulnerability that is belied by the fearsome texture."

"To make the pencil sculptures, I take hundreds of pencils, cut them into 1-inch sections, drill a hole in each section (to turn them into beads), sharpen them all and sew them together.
The beading technique I rely on most is peyote stitch."

"I’m inspired by animals, plants, other art, Ernst Haeckel, Odilon Redon, mythology. In fact, it isn’t easy to specify particular sources of inspiration. Sometimes one sculpture will inspire the next, or maybe I’ll make a mistake, and that will send me off in a new direction."

VIA

Mark Khaisman Mixtape

"I work on the light easel, applying translucent brown packing tape on clear Plexiglas panels, the layers built up to create degrees of opacity. My main motivation is my love for classics. The images are archetypes derived from the cultural heritage: art, architecture, movies. I am trying to be faithful to the source, but in the process of interpretation all kinds of things happen. The reason is submerged in the shadows, the purpose is absorbed by the light, the cultural icon has become the personal experience."



via

Tom Sachs

Skull, 2003
Foamcore and hot glue

New York born artist Tom Sachs is something of a troublemaker on the art scene. Focused on critiquing fashion and street cultures, he manipulates our ideas of consumption, branding, commercial imagery and objects of money and power. Addressing the mania around fashion and attempting to change viewer's perceptions of precious items and revered brands. His pieces have a very "do-it-yourself" quality, made from mundane materials: foam core, Sharpie markers, duct tape and hot glue.


Chanel Chainsaw, 1996
cardboard and glue




Chanel Guillotine (Breakfast Nook), 1998
Mixed media



via

Paper Cuts

The work of Peter Callesen, who lives and works out of Copenhagen, has been catching my eye as of late. His sculpture is bewildering.

He writes:

"My paper works has lately been based around an exploration of the relationship between two and three dimensionality. I find this materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form almost as a magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is as well an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts".



What I find so smart and compelling about it, beyond the obvious mastery of the technique, is the fact that the process of making is revealed by leaving what's cut. Not only do we see the amazing composition and story of each piece, but we also get to see what's taken away to make it. The connection between the two parts is not severed, which makes each piece a bit more tense and provacative.

He also creates large scale installations that boggle the mind.

Xia Xiaowan

Born 1958, Beijing and currently a professor of Stagecraft at the Beijing Central Academy of Drama, Xia Xiaowan surpasses the boundaries of painting. He draws his inspiration and method from X-ray photographs, giving two-dimensional painting a three-dimensional effect. He combines material, technology and painting, thus maintaining the hand-made qualities of painting while adding elements of installation and sculptural art and displaying the cold, absurd and strange qualities of realism.

Achieved via an arrangement of glass panes, varying from 14 to 21 depending on the work, glass paint and pencils, the recent works of Xia Xiaowan involve a different pictorial process - a process of analysis, construction and re-assembly of the image that implies a multi-faceted vision and a new psychological approach. Different from sculpture, Xia Xiaowan's suspended paintings are not molded from any rough material and, as the artist says, "despite this overwhelming sense of mass, they still maintain that 'emptiness' of painting or drawing, and that's because these glass works are also the result of mental or emotional projection".

In this sense, his painting installation alters the way the audience views art. The audience is encouraged to appreciate the artwork from different perspectives and to think about the method by which the work was created. As an integration of sculpture, painting, installation art, photography and medical technology, Xia Xiaowan’s works exude an air of ambiguity. His distinct artistic approach represents the trend of China’s contemporary new painting.