WOW. you guys sure came out of the wood work for this giveaway. man, you did a number on that blog post! you commented the you-know-what out of it! so awesome! thank you! i've emailed the 4 winners. yay! it was a lot of fun and there will be more give aways in the future, so stay tuned.
i am completely drawn to this gouache painting by brenna burns. check out the entire group of paintings titled chirals online at red cake gallery, they're rather darling.
tonight at tinlark two great shows open, artists saelee oh's tangled tales and drew beckmeyer's real deep thoughts. if you live in la, you should most def check them out. and if you do, tell me how it is, i'm bummed i'm 3000 miles away!
tangled tales is a collection of paintings and sculptural explorations of the sorrows and hopes brought on by love. saelee invents rich imaginary worlds ruled by mythic creatures and flora, as experienced from the eyes of a female protagonist. inspired by folk arts, organic forms, and vintage children's books, saelee creates multi-layered works by integrating traditional painting and drawing with three-dimensional paper cut-outs.
in REAL DEEP THOUGHTS, drew dissects, with an almost anthropological eye, the cultural ritual known as spring break.
i'm an animal lover. big time! every day i walk to work. 2 miles there. 2 miles back. along the way i walk by two ponds and one river (and yes, i live in boston!). it's pretty exciting, i see so many animals you wouldn't believe it! i'm talking: crane, canadian geese, fiches, chipmunks, ducks, trout, just to name a few. that being said, you may understand my delight when i came upon berkley illustration's squirrel lady. how could you not fall, utterly in love w/ that little lady? or for that matter, any of berkley illustration's wonderful animals all dressed up? oh what i wouldn't give to see a little rabbit on his way to a tea party all dressed up. hmmm, that may sound slightly nuts, but just go w/ it...
lisa from atelier gallery shot me an email letting me know that takashi iwasaki has new work available for sale. takashi calls his colored pencil drawings "abbies". if you would like to own a piece from takashi, this is a good place to begin the price is just right. check it out here.
***forgot to mention i will announce the winners on sunday morning!***
advice to sink in slowly is a project which began in 2006 at the University College Falmouth, where 19 graduates were asked to create a poster w/ advice and inspiration for first year students. the project has continued to grow with prints available online. and now, 24 posters from the project have been chosen and made into a postcard book.
john stanbury, the director behind the project contacted me and has offered to GIVE AWAY (yay!!) 4 books to the readers of my love for you! i just received my copy, and i love it. not only are the postcards great to send thoughtful, inspirational mail to your friends, but they also look great just taped above one's desk, or in the hall, or over that hole where you butchered the wall trying to find a stud...so please leave a comment and i will choose 4 readers at random, and you will receive a copy of this beautiful post card book from john himself. a pretty, pretty great way to start the weekend!
i love the work of simon peplow and it's not just because he writes 'toodlepip' at the end of his emails. or because his bio on his blog says he:
lives within a delicately constructed vortex. he spends the majority of his days downloading information from a tiny cabin situated inside the corpus callosum region of his noggin. characters are a fundamental part of his work, described by some as whimsical, cute and sinister in equal measures. he just wishes they were his friends.
however that's just part of it, his bold, colorful drawings of men w/ beards, birds in shoes, and overall groovy pictures make me very happy. w/ sayings like 'let's levitate", "happiness runs in a circular motion" and "increase the peace" are things a girl needs to hear when typhoons, earthquakes and wars are wreaking havoc on this world of ours. looking at simon's work induces delightful feelings. his images are like vitamin d from the sun's rays whilst sitting in the park w/ all your bff's around and it's saturday and you feel like you never have to work again. ahhhh, TGIF my friends! add some sunshine to your home and purchase one of simon's prints from his shop stufferings.
so i joined facebook. i have an aversion to those sites, a love/hate sort of relationship actually. mainly i hate, just because i get lost and lose a fair amount of time, amounts of time that i am mortified to share here. but anyhoo, i'm on. the very first night i was back on (ok, i was on previously and deactivated my account. i know it's pathetic.) i came upon lori field. what a treasure to find while wiling away minute after precious minute.
her encaustic paintings are layers of beautiful dream like scenes w/ hybrid tattooed, animal-humans or as lori calls them: "demimondes peopled with anthropomorphic 'angels with attitude', accompanied by mutants, exhibitionists, seducers, chimeras...and other intimate strangers." stunning. lori has a few shows happening now and upcoming, why don't you become a fan of her on facebook and find out all about it? there, now i don't feel so bad about reactivating my account!
a friend of mine recently sent me a link to melanie bilenker's website telling me to look very closely...i was amazed when i realized the delicate 'drawings' w/in the jewelry are actually melanie's hair. i asked melanie to tell me a little about her work and her inspirations:
"i take photos of my ordinary daily goings on and then make drawings from them using strands of hair set into epoxy resin. if the portraits are of me, then I use my hair. i have done portraits of others using their hair
as well (and several of cats using cat hair).
i am most inspired by victorian mourning jewelry and portrait miniatures, as well as contemporary photography focusing on traces of daily life, including some work by sophie calle, cindy sherman, larry sultan and hans
peter feldman."
loving this video from adam5100. he's a been a fav of mine since i interned at juxtapoz.com back in 2006. adam is an incredibly talented stencil artist from the bay area. check out his website and yes, yes, those are stencils. i'm really excited to see what adam get's up to for his new show the heart vs. the mind on the 21st of may at rowan morrison gallery in oakland, ca.
nature vs. nurture.
here are two images from tiffany bozic's show bedtime stories that opens next week. tiffany was kind enough to send over some images for me to get a peek at. i was blown away by what i saw. i wish i could be at the opening. but alas if wishes were horses then beggars would ride. enjoy!
our land.
the silent dredge.
i was fortunate to meet tiffany bozic at the fecal face gallery while visiting san francisco in march. i have been a huge fan of tiffany's since i was introduced to her work in 2003. tiffany is kind and incredibly warm. we struck up a convo chatting about jewelry, art and the conservatory of flowers. later, when i got back to boston, we corresponded by email and she agreed to the following q & a. she was beyond gracious.
tiffany's show bedtime stories opens at kinsey/deforges gallery next saturday, may 24th. it should be an amazing show. w/ each grouping tiffany's work becomes more incredible and defined. if you aren't familiar w/ tiffany's work, i really urge you to check out her website and view her paintings enlarged just to check out the detail. it's stunning, really.
harpies void.
in your more recent work, you paint subjects that can be scary or phobic inducing, such as rats, eels, snails, etc. you paint them so vividly and exquisite, removing any sort of macabre vibe or cynical undertones, bringing a real beauty to them. can you talk a little bit about your take on these critters and what drew you to paint them?
that's funny. i still find it surprising that some people have phobias for these specific subjects. although you'll never see me paint maggots. i don't have any interest in painting these things to 'shock' people. i paint them because i believe that they are very beautiful. i love them. eel's are so sensual and albino lab mice are so bizarre and 'unnatural'. i also choose to paint subjects that i understand. i grew up with saltwater tanks in my house – we had ribbon eels. i based the sphere of mice painting off of a little white mouse i saved from an owl-collecting trip up north. maybe my adoration comes through – i hope anyways.
the metronome.
yes, I think I am still at that game.
yes, i still long to be 5 again back at that farm in arkansas when all of my friends were animals. i thought i could have conversations with them. they would let me in on their little secrets. i thought it was us against those terrible humans. a strange thought at 5 maybe. though i'm not entirely sure if i have completely shaken that longing to be accepted. as i've grown older i've come to understand more of course. but there is always going to be that part of me when every time i stumble on a critter in nature i so want it to be my friend. but no, they usually run away. this is the price we pay for teetering on the top of the food chain.
barrens of suburbia.
do you have animals?
i grew up with a lot of pets, but wouldn't consider myself a pet person. without any outdoor space, i think it is a little unfair for pets to be in the city. although, i do have a little parrot named kitty. kitty was a gift from a friend. he pretty much rules my house. i live in a big loft space with huge windows and high ceilings where he is given freedom to fly around at his will. i do the best i can, but still wish he could be outside.
untitled.
sure, i can talk about the paintings that i made some time ago. let's see, i created the sphere of mice painting that i just mentioned, to try to describe what i call the "big little dream". where everything seems microscopic and larger than the galaxy at the same time. it's the 4 am dream that some people get.
another example that i like to use is the "best intentions" a boobie bird tied to a heart, which basically illustrates the fears, associated with falling in love. the seahorses in "first frost" represents the end of love. every painting stands for something different, depending on what i seem to be interested in exploring any given day.
with time the truth comes out and i understand what it was that i was going through. i couldn't do this with the current paintings i am working on – i am still learning from them.
the best intentions.
first frost.
it was wonderful. i felt like i was given a VIP pass into a secret nature library. also, i had dr. rich mooi, a brilliant scientist passionately describing the interesting discoveries of how each specimen evolved at my side throughout. when i was designing the exhibit i had to think about what specimens we would be able to put on display. there are literally thousands of specimens in jars. where do you start? both rich and bart shepherd from the Steinhart Aquarium helped me narrow it down to a few of our favorite subjects. in the end i chose to paint a few critters that i knew we would be able to house in the live tanks that i designed. so there was a lot to consider.
sunday mass.
yes, i could spend the rest of my life just feeding off of that experience alone. unfortunately, as far as i know i only have one life to explore these ideas.
more than i can say. from an artistic standpoint i was overwhelmed with inspiration and excitement for the possibilities of new ideas. i also grew from the experience of working with a large team of people at the Academy of Science and the Steinhart Aquarium. i am interested in the motivational power of fear. i felt a bit intimidated by the project when it was proposed to me, and we pulled it off very well. so next hurdle i believe in myself that i can jump even higher.
little things. a film by todd bell.
when i met you recently in san francisco you had just come from the conservatory of flowers. is that a place you go often? where else do you go to be inspired?that was my first time at the conservatory of flowers. i had a couple of girlfriends volunteering there and they would always bring me back beautiful clippings from the plants and tell me that i needed to go there. i suppose i shy away from the city a bit.
i think the biggest source of inspiration, besides the Academy is traveling. throughout the last year and a half i traveled to four different countries. i think every painting i have made recently is laced by those adventures abroad.
song of sound.
what do you listen to when you paint? when you're not?
i've been listening to NPR a lot. when i'm painting i listen to blues (Vaughn, Armstrong, Fitzgerald), old classic rock (Dylan, Beatles), folk etc. i wouldn't compartmentalize Bjork, but she's my favorite.
i am absolutely fascinated with nature. i spend a lot of time outdoors just watching and listening to the wind blowing through the trees and little creatures stirring around me. then i can hear my own thoughts echo inside me. painting is just a medium for me to push these thoughts through. i also love the process of discovery. every time i start a painting it is exciting for me to let my brush lead the way, and i follow my instincts. i learn so much about myself from this process, and in turn feel like i understand the thread that connects all living things to each other. it is a feeling - i can't describe it.
untitled.
i think it is great! i knew i was always going to be an artist, but to make a living as an artist is an entirely different story. i was a pretty isolated girl coming out of ohio with hardly any academic knowledge of what it meant to be an artist. i wouldn't go so far as to say that i thought all artists had to cut their ear off, but instead; play into the system of the 'art business' world. this is not the reality for everyone. it is possible to do your own thing. you just have to learn to stick to your guns, work hard and make sacrifices.
untitled.
we haven't locked down the title to the show yet. i was thinking of calling it "bedtime stories". the show will open may 24th at the kinsey/desforges gallery in la.
and after that? summer plans?
i have plans to travel abroad again and show in sf. but don't have the exact dates worked out.
-Tiffany
lilly piri is part of uncommon gardens the group show that opened at thinkspace gallery on friday. she has been sharing images on her blog of work in the show. her piece on on ur wall is my favorite, it made me laugh out loud. it's no surprise that it sold. i love lilly's delicate palette. see her blog for more or check out thinkspace to see all the work in the show. there are 3 other super, talented ladies.
i just saw this over on it's nice that, one of my favorite blogs...and it really should be yours too if it isn't already. anyhoodles, i'm still laughing so hard over here. i'm sorry, but throw the running man into anything and i could laugh for days on end.
i am always, always drawn to work that brings me back to my childhood. especially work that has a fairy tale likeness to it. i enjoy whimsically, dark work. i instantly fell in love w/ kristen elder's paintings. i love how her girls have these cherubic like faces w/ a glint of catastrophe sparkling in their eyes. check out her website for her wonderful work and glimpse at her sketchbook. kristen also has a blog where she updates about work in progress, her over all process and her kitty named vinnie vinosovich, natch.
little robot's artwork is so lovely. beyond lovely. i'm not sure what else to say. i know that may sound like a bit of a cop out but i think just by looking at them, they say enough. little robot's work is the kind that one gets lost in on their own. at the moment she is offering a little deal-io, if you buy two prints form her shop, you can have the third of equal or lesser value for free! we all like the sounds of that. you can gift the third! two for me one for you!
i'm such a sucker for a nice, natural tote w/ some interesting type or an awesome image. lately, i've been accumulating a lot. which is kind of annoying as i moved cross country and got rid of soooo much stuff, but hell a girl has to have choices and options. i just saw the above tote over on chrissie abbott's blog. she just made them, and the saying in my head i'm clapping makes my heart happy. what better tote to wear as you great the lovely spring weather? hit her up if you want one! she also has tee's over on 2k by gingham. below is one of the images. i don't think i can get enough of her color and words. isn't chrissie just the best? yes, yes, she is.
i saw this wall animation yesterday on wooster collective by blu. ummm, holy mother of god it's one of the most amazing things i have ever seen.
