Fatima Mayfield (Renee Stout)

        i just finished an anthropology of religion course at tufts university, with a focus on how witchcraft, magic, and rituals of lesser practiced religions play a part in religion as a whole. it was a really great class, and has opened me up to a lot of interesting ideas and thought processes. one of the religions that we spent a good deal of time on was Haitian Vodou. (in fact, aside from our textbook, the only other reading we did was an amazing book i would definitely recommend, Mama Lola by Karen McCarthy Brown, which is about a mambo (Vodou priestess) who lived in brooklyn).
        i was looking up Vodou imagery the other day (Vodou has a focus on spirit worship, and some of the goddess imagery is really interesting. they also use altars quite frequently, which you may know i am also greatly interested in) and i came across the artwork of Renee Stout -or Fatima Mayfield, her alter ego who she uses "to help confront [the] issues... in a way that's open, creative. and humorous" (see her artist statement for full quote).
        much of her work seems to be inspired or dealing with Vodou beliefs and spirits, and her monoprints and silkscreens in particular are really beautiful. her work is a combination of installation, photography, printmaking and painting. it's definitely worth checking out.

Stout's website



photos: http://www.reneestout.com/

Kevin Scott Hailey

        i went to a Vetiver concert at the MFA on august 1st (it was amazing, i'm not even going to get into it or this post will never end). anyway, i bought a tshirt, and it is so so great.
        observe (image brought to you via the wonders of photobooth):

        i had to know who the artist was that drew it, and after spending more time on google than i should have, i ended up emailing Vetiver, and from them i found out that the artist's name is Kevin Scott Hailey. and his work only gets better. (i like it so much that i had a nearly impossible time deciding which of his pieces to put in this post, so just look at his sites, please. and i am also trying very hard not to blow all my money on his shirts - he has his own clothing company, Coma & Cotton.)
        anyway, his drawings have a definite folk art feel to them, and are pretty intricate and very well done. they really speak better for themselves than i can for them. Hailey also speaks volumes in his brief artist statement, which you can find here.

Haily's website
Haily's Flickr (more works here than on his website)
Coma & Cotton (if you love drawings and clothes, proceed with caution, you could end up losing a lot of money here. the shirts are fabulous.)



photos: http://www.kevinscotthailey.com

Quickie: Tv on the Radio

i ordered tickets yesterday to see my favorite band in october!!!!

for anyone who hasn't heard of/listened to Tv on the Radio, they are AMAZING. they have remained in the #1 slot for me since high school, and that is quite a feat, as i tend to go through phases when it comes to music. i frequently listen to them while doing artwork, and i think they definitely have an effect on it. you may have to take a few listens before you understand what they're doing, but trust me, once you do, it will be a magical moment.

this is their website: http://www.tvontheradio.com/
as of right now you can buy presale tickets there for all of their shows, (normal tickets are also available on ticketmaster).

and, in running with my recent theme of posts on music videos and wolves,
i give you a combination of the two:
the music video for one of my favorite songs Wolf Like Me, by Tv on the Radio. (the video is absolutely BRILLIANTLY made, directed by Jon Watts. not only do i find the song energizing and beautiful, but the music video is incredibly visually stimulating. the combination of the inspiration from the song and the visuals seriously blow me away. i get really excited about this video. i can be a little geeky when it comes to TOTR.)

Danny Clinch

        watch this
        alright, now, what you just saw was a music video (Lie To Me by Tom Waits) directed/shot by Danny Clinch. it was brilliant, no? a relatively simple idea, but not quite as easy to do i'm sure, and wonderfully executed (despite the fact that you can see by the numbers on the film that a little bit of understandable cheating is going on) and definitely inspiring to me, hence my mentioning it here.


(i found this while watching Tom Waits music videos on youtube -he picks GOOD directors, let me tell you. the videos for his songs are all rather strange but very artistic -and thus quite suiting to his musical style and character. another good one worth watching is God's Away on Business, directed by Jesse Dylan. this one is my personal favorite of Waits'; jittery camera work, emus, bubbles, how could they go wrong?)

        anyway, Danny Clinch is a photographer worth checking out. his style is very commercial (he does mostly musician portraits/promo work) but he has an outstanding concept of light and color. he started off interning for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, and has since been published in magazines such as vanity fair and rolling stone, and has photographed greats such as Johnny Cash and Tupac. Clinch also started the film company Three on the Tree Productions (under which Lie To Me was filmed).

Clinch's website (with portfolio of his photography)
Three on the Tree Productions (with more of his videos)



photos: http://www.dannyclinch.com

Cai Guo-Qiang

        this spring i went to NYC for the day with one of my good friends, to go to the MOMA. we finished at the MOMA, and rushed over to the Guggenheim, hoping to get in before it closed to see Cai Guo-Qiang's exhibition, I Want to Believe (if you do not know who Cai Guo-Qiang is, i recommend you look at his website because he is not only internationally acclaimed, but an amazing and unique contemporary artist whose work, i believe, could do anyone well to see). we got there with 45 minutes to walk around, which unfortunately was just barely enough time to see it all, but more than enough to blow my mind.

        i'm going to focus on one piece in particular, but just briefly; a few things. first, if you have never been to the Guggenheim, go. i'd never been before, and the setup of the museum alone intrigued me. second, Guo-Qiang is brilliant. there was not one piece that i didn't notice individually, which is quite a feat, considering my short attention span and my nature of hopping around museums to pieces that stand out to me. lastly, while i simply couldn't walk you through every piece of the exhibition, i wouldn't be doing it justice if i didn't at least mention the centerpiece, Inopportune: Stage One (which you can see a video of here -on the NY Guggenheim website).
Inopportune: Stage One is Cai Guo-Qiang's largest installation to date, and simulates a car bombing. the video really says more than i could, so you should watch that. unfortunately, the exhibition closed in may, but let me tell you, nothing can compare to standing on the top floor of the Guggenheim and looking down on this piece.

        my favorite part of the exhibition however, and the piece that has stuck with me is Head On. i'm not sure if this is because of my current fascination with wolves, the strange beauty of the piece, or the sheer size and feel of it. i suspect it is a combination of these and other things. the installation consists of 99 life-sized replica wolves (made of papier mâché, plaster, fiberglass, resin and painted hide) and a glass wall. the wolves start on the ground, in a small pack, and continue, running in rows, gradually lifting off the ground until they are over the viewers' heads, until they hit the glass wall, and come tumbling back down into a pile on the floor. odd as this may sound (or perhaps not odd, for anyone who knows me particularly well, or anyone who has also seen this installation), it is probably one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. as with any installation, photos do not do it any sort of justice, but here are a couple:


Cai Guo-Qiang's Website
The Guggenheim's information on I Want to Believe (with photos)
Book of Cai Guo-Qiang's work, that i own & recommend

photos: http://www.caiguoqiang.com/

*edit: august 6th
        it was mentioned to me that this installation is much more appreciable after having read Guo-Qiang's intentions for it, and i agree, so for anyone who doesn't want to have to navigate around the Guggenheim's information on the exhibit (although i still recommend you do) here's what it says about Head On:
        "Head On was created for Cai's eponymous solo exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin and exemplifies how local history and culture play a central role within his working process. In this tableau, a pack of 99 life-sized wolves gallops at full force toward a transparent glass wall, leaping through the air in a unified arc, only to collide head on into the unyielding barrier. The wall—first realized to the exact height and thickness of the Berlin Wall—represents society's tendency to search only for the obvious, missing instead what may not be immediately evident but ultimately more dangerous. In Cai's artistic iconography, wolves possess a ferocity and courageousness similar to tigers and achieve heroism through their collective unity. In this installation, however, their cohesiveness leads to their ultimate downfall. Here, through the emblematic imagery of wolves, Cai intends to address the human fallibility of following any collective ideology too blindly and humankind's fate to repeat mistakes unthinkingly. Illusion II—a two-channel video installation that was also included in the Head On exhibition—documents an explosion event of the same title. A German-style house was fabricated by Cai on a lot adjacent to the Anhalter Bahnhof, which was once Berlin's largest train station but almost completely destroyed during World War II. The video's documentation of the small house being decimated by explosives, with the station's ruins in the background, illustrates the artist's ongoing exploration of the contradictions involved in perceptions of beauty and violence. —MICHELLE YUN"

Quickie: Joanna Newsom

        i was reading an interview with joanna newsom a few days ago, when i came across a particularly striking question!

"chickfactor: do you collect anything?
joanna: embroidery, bones, teeth, vintage dresses, flowers preserved behind glass, friends' art, unredeemed gift certificates, diamonds."

        that's right, anyone who has ever come into my apartment for the first time and judged me by my jelly jars of teeth and small bones, i am not alone. and not only am i not alone, but i am in the company of JOANNA NEWSOM. needless to say i couldn't be more pleased.

        if you don't know who joanna newsom is, she is a harpist/singer-songwriter/pianist/harpsichordist. what first drew me to her music were her lyrics, which evoke a lot of imagery/inspiration for me, and are not only (in my mind) absolutely beautiful, but also definitely place her as a storyteller, something i admire greatly. she has two albums, The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004) and Ys (2006), both of which i would recommend.

check her out!
chickfactor interview