Eugene Richards

        i was actually pretty surprised to learn after viewing them that these pictures were taken by photo great Eugene Richards (i'll have to give him a proper write-up some time) but it certainly explains why they're so beautifully composed. (though, i have to admit, a lot of the credit goes to the subject matter itself).
        if you are at all familiar with me you will know that i have a deep interest in abandoned buildings and ghost towns. i was doing some research on North Dakota (which apparently has multiple ghost towns) and came across this National Geographic article and accompanying images. you really just have to look at the photographs. they're quiet and beautiful, in a very lonely and somber way.
        anyway, i believe the images speak for themselves, so i simply wanted to point them out. you can read the article and see the rest of the pictures here.




...what i wouldn't give to have national geographic pay to send me to photograph such places...
images: nationalgeographic.com

Reversing Vandalism

        i learned about this project in one of my classes during the fall semester of last year, and not only do i think the outcomes are really beautiful, but i think that what the project stood for is really important and inspiring.

        in 2001, the staff at the San Francisco Public Library started finding books shoved under shelves. all of the books related to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, women's issues, HIV/AIDS, and in some cases even authors whose last name was "Gay". all of the hidden books were torn and sliced, amounting to over 600 books damaged beyond repair. (the vandal was eventually caught, arrested, charged and found guilty of a hate crime)
        rather than throw the destroyed books away, in response to this hateful act, the library called upon artists and interested individuals (spanning from the direct area to as far away as Japan and France) to give the books a new life as works of art, and markers of the way this sort of fear, hate, and intolerance will not be ignored. the project was named Reversing Vandalism, and the books went on display for three months in 2004 (all remain visible online). it was the largest exhibition ever taken on by the library.

        the pieces range from simple book alterations and repairs to entirely transformed pieces (bowls, a working clock, a bottle of page-stuffed pills), but they are all entirely unique.
        in a time where people continue to be treated unequally, i believe that using art as a medium to fight is extremely important, as well as effective. so please take the time to look at these pieces and the battle they represent.

it was nearly impossible to decide which ones to show here, because they are all so different and meaningful, but i did my best to pick a few. you can see the full gallery as well as a description of the show on the San Francisco Public Library's website page for the exhibition.



images: http://sfpl.lib.ca.us

Jamie Caliri

        i was reliving the 90's via youtube the other day, when i found myself watching Marcy Playground's Sex and Candy music video for the first time. i was sucked in by the moody color palette, giant Louise Bourgeois-esq spider, and general weirdness of it. i of course immediately went to find out who had directed it, and found Jamie Caliri.
        while Caliri has directed live-action music videos for a couple other music groups, what i find most exciting is his stop-motion animations using paper cutouts. i usually find myself annoyed with this sort of stop-motion (probably because when i see it all i can think of is scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) even when its used by some of my favorite directors. something about Caliri's i love though! if you've seen The United States of Tara, you've surely noticed how cool the opening credits are, which were done by Caliri. he also did the end credits for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate events, and oh my GOD. they should have entrusted him with the whole film. i am an enormous fan of the book series, and was so horrified with the film adaptation that i left before the credits even started, and i love them! they are in so much better keeping with the feel of the books. what a loss. anyway, you should absolutely watch that, and also his short film "The Sun and the Seed", which is really beautiful and strange.

you can find a list of all the videos he's directed on Caliri's website
and here are a few of his animated videos on youtube:
The Sun and the Seed
A Series of Unfortunate Events end credits
United States of Tara main titles



images: screen grabs from A Series of Unfortunate Events end credits

Maurice Sendak/Fanja Ralison

        i was tooling around the world wide web a while back, and though i can't for the life of me remember (or imagine) what i was searching, i somehow came across and bookmarked these cute rag dolls by Fanja Ralison, which reminded me of one that i had growing up of Maurice Sendak's character Rosie.
        though i recently wrote an essay that touched on female characters in my childhood that helped form who i am now (this included Rosie) i had completely forgotten about the doll! this of course then prompted me to go dig out my old copy of The Sign on Rosie's Door and pour over it for a while.
        with the Where the Wild Things Are movie coming out soon (!!!!!!!!) it seemed only appropriate that i call some attention to one of his other pieces, which influenced me even more greatly than his more well known book. i'm not sure how popular The Sign on Rosie's Door was or is, but the few people i've talked to seem to know her character from Really Rosie, a musical which is based off five of Sendak's books, including The Sign on Rosie's Door. the musical was apparently made into a thirty minute animated special on CBS in 1975, which is what the people i talked to remember (and there are parts if not all of it on youtube) but i have no recollection of it myself.
        Rosie is supposedly based off of a real girl who would sing and dance on the steps of her building that Sendak would watch growing up in Brooklyn, and she was someone i could really relate to growing up with her larger than life imagination.

        what i realized looking at the book again, some fourteen or so years later, is that i didn't remember the storyline, or any of the side characters, i remembered Rosie's spirit. i also remember ALL the illustrations (which of course Sendak did himself). i don't care how childish it makes you feel, you must find a copy of this book and at least look at the pictures.

Fanja Ralison's flickr (lots of adorable rag dolls)
aaaand be SURE to head to a bookstore or library and take a look at The Sign on Rosie's Door!!



images: flickr.com/fanjaralison & randomhouse.com

Elena Kalis

        just a quick one!
        my family just recently got a pool, so i've been trying to figure out what kinds of photographic experiments it holds for me, and i came across (via the free people clothing blog) Elena Kalis' underwater work. her other work isn't exactly my cup of tea, but she takes the most amazingly ethereal underwater photos. her colors are fantastic and she seems to capture her models at JUST the right moment. just really visually fun. take a look.

Kalis' website




images: elenakalisphoto.com

Solveig

        this ten year old female graffiti artist has been getting a lot of attention in the UK. the reason i find Solveig's work noteworthy however (putting all gimmicky aspects of her age aside), is her style, which in my (limited) view is pretty unique. her recurrent imagery ranges from things as badass as skulls and zombies to as quirky as fried breakfasts. her work is very bold and clean for typical street art (it actually reminds me a little bit of dia de los muertos related art). she often signs her works "SOL", and puts the age she created the piece at as well (some dating back to when she was eight). she seems like a pretty normal ten year old (aside from that fact that she has even tattooed people) stating that she "started watching people doing paintings and asked them if I could have a go", and that she plays with barbies. she often poses for an energetic photo in front of her finished pieces.
        anyway, it's not so much that i'm inspired by her artwork, more just that she has found a voice in graffiti and that her work is so recognizable at such a young age, and in a field where it is so easy to pick up influences from the style of other artists.

short article on Solveig (with a slide show)
Solveig's flickr account (lots of pictures)



images: flickr.com/photos/supersolveig

Todd Selby

        this post will be pretty quick, because i don't have much too much to say about this artist, only that i think what he's doing is really cool.
        Todd Selby photographs, films, interviews and sometimes paints "interesting people and their creative spaces". as a person with plenty of weird things in my apartment (and as someone who has always peered into other people's windows) i absolutely love seeing what other artists/collectors of oddities/otherwise interesting people have in their spaces. He posts everything on his website TheSelby.com and i could spend (i kid you not) hours looking at all the spaces he has photographed. some truly, genuinely quirky people. so, i will leave you with that link and say CHECK IT OUT.



images: bella howard and rosa connell's apartment via theselby.com

Richard Greaves

        I was browsing the Edlin Gallery website (the same gallery that represents Jessie Dunahoo, who i wrote about on saturday) and came across these otherworldly creations by Richard Greaves. (they're credited on the site under Mario Del Curto, who is an internationally known swiss photographer and represented by the gallery, so this initially created some confusion for me.) anyway, though the photographs are very nice, and certainly add to the mystique, i'm definitely much more interested in the structures themselves.
        Greaves (nicknamed the "Anarchitect") says, "I very much liked and observed old objects, used objects, objects worn down by the force of time and human history. I am a being that has served, been transformed, an object that wants to be understood and enlightened, and that likes to be used.” it is not a surprise then, to learn that in the early 80's he traded in his traditional life as a chef and graphic designer for one of building structures of found/recycled wood and metal that seemingly defy all laws (for example, gravity). i think they look like they are straight out of an old fairy tale (like from before even the brothers grimm, who did some cleaning up of their own if you'll believe it).
        my town is full of old barns (which Greaves frequently uses for materials) and now all i want to do is go take them apart and build myself a crooked little house! somehow i have a feeling it would be less beautiful/stable than Greaves'... (what a corny last paragraph, i am SO sorry)

i was unable to find much information on him, or many images of his work other than the few Del Curto has taken (which are the last 6 photographs on his page of the Edlin Gallery site) so if anyone finds anything new definitely let me know!



images: http://www.edlingallery.com and http://www.rawvision.com/environments/environments.html

Miwa Yanagi

        i found this photographer while google image searching old illustrations of little red riding hood (if you're not familiar with the original fairy tale i suggest you do some research, it consists of seduction and cannibalism). i saw Yanagi's image of little red riding hood from her series Fairy Tales, which focuses on fairy tales involving young girls and elderly women, and was directed to a german gallery that represents her.
        Yanagi was born in Kobe City, Japan and has had solo shows at the German Guggenheim, the Chelsea Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, among others. her work revolves around the female identity- and this is where i find i am most intrigued with Yanagi; the way she is dealing with and blurring this female identity. she has created three main series, Fairy Tales, Elevator Girls and My Grandmothers.
        in Fairy Tales (first image) she uses only young girls to represent both the young and old women the fairy tales she has chosen require, having the girls playing old women wear masks, creating both complex and haunting images.
        in Elevator Girls (second image) Yanagi explores the role of Japanese "elevator girls", women who operate the elevators in japanese department stores. the piece was both a performance and a photographic object, and acted as a social commentary, of which she says "It represented myself and my circumstances. A young woman who operates an elevator works in a narrow, box-like space, which elevator girls call "the basket." They have to repeat the same gesture over and over all day. I felt that the Elevator Girls series was very cynical in the beginning when I started it as a performance, not as photography. I had a woman sit still in the same posture smiling in a narrow space wearing an elevator girl's uniform. I also had women keep sitting or smiling in a real-size elevator hall which I created." the colors and eerie surrealism of this series are astounding and effective.



        in My Grandmothers (third image) Yanagi had 18-34yr old women describe what they imagined their lives would be like in fifty years and created images (using straight photography and computer generated images) based on their descriptions, creating her "own fictitious grandmothers". the resulting images create an oddly calming potential future.
        i was initially struck with her disturbing and beautiful fairy tale images, but the more i looked through her work the more involved i became in all three of her series. her handling of the female identity is truly intriguing. it's truly amazing that i happened to just stumble upon her, as i can really relate to her work, and i think she has found her way towards the top of my list of photographers.

to read a really interesting interview with Yanagi, click here
and to view her website (lots of images) click here

images: yanagimiwa.net/e/

Jessie Dunahoo

        I admittedly found out about Jessie Dunahoo from an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The team was building a house in kentucky for the family of a blind, wheelchair-bound college aged musician, and they often try and get a local artist to create something for the new home. They chose Jessie Dunahoo. I was not only sucked in by what a genuinely sweet man he appeared to be, but by the delicateness and beauty of his work.
        Dunahoo has been deaf since birth, and blind since his teen years, so he communicates with gestures, some sign language, and by tracing words numbers and letters into palms with his fingers (translators sign back into his hands for him to feel the signs). This makes communication slightly difficult, so much of Dunahoo's would be "artist statement" for his pieces is speculation. He creates what he refers to as shelters (structures he has been creating since his childhood - partially as a means to navigate the woods of his family farm), delicate installations made from sewing together trash bags and scraps of fabric. Though Dunahoo himself can perhaps not appreciate the delicate visual beauty of his pieces, or the soft wrinkling sounds I would imagine they create, he is attracted to his fabrics and plastic bags for their tactile nature.
        Bruce Burris, director of the Minds Wide Open Arts Center, where Dunahoo often creates his structures, has said, "He has a rip-roaring imagination. Everything implied by shelter is what I'm getting. That's what makes his work so darn interesting. It's all about environment. My guess is that for him, it's about having control and empowerment by creating an environment.''
        Dunahoo is represented by the Edlin Gallery, which manages some extremely talented "outsider artists", including the estate of famed Henry Darger. He is also a Latitude Artist, an artist community in Lexington, Kentucky, where the members of EM:HE met with him and received the quilt he created for the new home.
        His work is currently on view at the Lexington Public Library (for anyone who happens to be traveling to Kentucky anytime soon), a set of two+ story quilts (shown in following image).


for those of you not in the Kentucky area, you should check out his work at the Edlin Gallery website, and read this great article on Dunahoo.


images: bruceburris.com/, edlingallery.com & latitudeart.blogspot.com

Leonard Baskin

        anyone who knows me knows that i have a deep love for and fascination with birds, and i have recently been admiring the prints of Leonard Baskin, for whom birds are a reoccurring topic. he is perhaps better known for his sculpture (which was indeed his original passion, which he discovered at age thirteen, his sculptures can be seen in the D.C. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and the Holocaust memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan), but was also a printer, illustrator, typographer, writer and teacher. best described by the gallery that represents the now deceased (1922-2000) artist's estate, Galerie St. Etiene (they represent a lot of amazing artists, particularly now big-name outsider artists, definitely take some time on their site),
        "Each of Baskin's works reveals an artist in possession of enormous visual and literary vocabularies. The pluralistic nature of his abilities is echoed in wide-ranging (and often recurring) subjects. Baskin's attraction to Old Testament themes perhaps comes as no surprise, considering that he was the son of an orthodox rabbi. However, Greek mythological personages, predatory birds, Native Americans and figures of death and the dead also number among Baskin's considerable cast of characters. Social consciousness and a high regard for humanity connect the numerous and apparently diverse artworks that comprise Baskin's oeuvre."

        though some of his images of birds are slightly more humorous (a few of the particularly colorful or fat ones made me giggle), a handful of them are so dark and captivating that i can't let them go.

two good sources for his work are here and here.



photos: http://www.rmichelson.com/Leonard-Baskin.html and http://www.gseart.com/

Nabil Elderkin

        annnnd just real fast because i know i've been posting a lot of music videos, i have to say that this one is worth watching. if you're not familiar with older horror/thriller film effects this video may seem lo-fi in a somewhat hokey way, but if like me you've watched a few too many old horror films, you may find yourself somewhat enchanted and charmed as i was. (i will apologize for the music, for as much as i like him i'm not entirely sure how kanye gets away with this lyrical situation he has going on here...)

Kanye West's Paranoid, directed by Nabil Elderkin.


        and i'd promise that i'll chill out with all the werewolf-related artwork after this post, but that probably won't happen. i'll do my best to break it up though. bear with me loves!

photos: screen grabs from Paranoid

Tunde Adebimpe

        i was under the impression that i had already written this post, so you can imagine my confusion when i realized i had not. i'm done with school now, so my hope is to begin updating this closer to daily again! so gear up... and without further delay... cool things!


        if you know who Tunde Adebimpe is it's probably by his position heading up TV on the Radio. you may not have realized that Adebimpe is a true renaissance man. he acts (Rachel Getting Married) and, more importantly, has created the BAD. ASS. music video for the song Pin by another of my favorite bands, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. according to interscope, both the animation and direction are by Adebimpe! i'm on a stop-motion kick, so seeing this was really exciting! anyway, check it out. i promise you won't be disappointed.

watch the video here!


        another beautifully done music video featuring some stop motion (that i posted a while back) and is co-directed by Adebimpe (with Jon Watts) is his own band TV on the Radio's Wolf Like Me. i'm of course biased in my excitement because it's my favorite band and about werewolves, but it really is a beautiful video, so check it out!

photos: screen grabs from Pin