Steve Hollinger

        Sorry this is late, I'm not sure what was going on but Blogger was NOT letting me post it! Last month I went to the south end for Boston's first fridays and while in the Walker Contemporary gallery one artist's work caught my eye, Steve Hollinger.
        His works are basically alive. There isn't really another way to word it. The couple of his pieces on display were like a small window into some weird 19th century laboratory. Responding to temperature and light, many of Hollinger's works are physically active. The pieces that I saw twirled around in strange vials of water and light (first image), or twitched in a way that was so bizarrely lifelike (his "pods") you probably could have told me they were something alien and I would've been willing to buy it. Another piece had vials of polariod emulsion catching light (last image).
        As someone who is very much into sci-fi, and obviously very much into anything visually pleasing, his works were particularly attracting, as they invoke a sort of eerie feeling of both past and future, while also being really stunning. If you can't see his work in person, you should at least watch the video I've linked here, which shows his pieces doing their thing.

Video of some of Hollinger's works in action
Hollinger's website
Walker Contemporary site




images: stevehollinger.com

Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith 1954-

        I meant to write about Kiki Smith around the time of SMFA's InsideOut sale (as she had a piece in it; Born last image - one of her many depictions of the red riding hood tale) but somehow I managed not to do so.
        Kiki Smith is one of those artists where I've had an impossible time choosing images to put up here. This is not only because I love her work so much (definitely one of the artists I aspire to be like), but also because she works across so many mediums that it's absolutely impossible to give any kind of window into the breadth of her work. Nevertheless, I have chosen some of my favorites, and tried to give a small taste of what she's about.
        Smith has said that she strongly identifies with her gender, and it is definitely clear in her work, which re-contextualizes and reconstructs stories, myths, and histories; through her female eye. The two sites I've included here have way more information about her than I could possibly share or even summarize, so I suggest you take a look at one or both.

-awesome MoMA interactive site from their 2003 show Kiki Smith: Prints, Books & Things with lots of her work and lots of info.
-Art:21 on Kiki Smith (in the "Stories" episode)






images: pbs.org & moma.org

2009 wrap-up

        In case you haven't been following my every move this year, here are my top ten favorite discoveries (all are artists that I had not known of before this year, since I sometimes write about long-time influences of mine):

April 18th : Bianca Casady (knew of her before 2009, but not her artwork)
April 29th : Jan Švankmajer
June 5th : Nadine Byrne
June 7th : Miwa Yanagi
July 24th : Compagnia della Fortezza
July 29th : Andrea Marshall
August 12th : Ali Scarpulla
September 23rd : Bert & Bertie
October 9th : Susanna Majuri
December 21st : Miru Kim




        I realize that the majority of this list is women, and while this did not surprise me (I tend to seek out female artists), I was slightly surprised after a bit of investigation, that the reasoning for this is also partially that the male artists that I've written about this past year are almost entirely artists I had prior knowledge of (and therefor did not include). This coming year I'll try to find some guys who are new to me.

images (top to bottom): Miwa Yanagi, Bert & Bertie, Andrea Marshall & Susanna Majuri

Hans Bellmer

“If my work is found to scandalize, that is because for me the world is scandalous.”
        -Hans Bellmer

        Hans Bellmer is another artist I was turned on to by my mentor (he is very perceptive about what will spark my interest). I realized after trying about four times to write this post that I don't have enough background to analyze his work to the extent that I would like to. I think I will probably end up writing an essay on him eventually. I have looked at his work a great deal, and done a fair amount of background research on both Bellmer and the surrealists, but for some reason I'm just not content scratching the surface with this one.
        Bellmer's work is highly controversial, as it depicts a mutant-like doll that he created, which takes a sexualized female form. While Bellmer was working against what was the then (the 1930s, but very much still) idealized female form, he was also working off of some darker (not unfamiliar in surrealism) concepts. It has been said that his doll series was sparked by three things "the reappearance in his family of a beautiful teenage cousin, Ursula Naguschewski, who moved to Berlin from Kassel in 1932; his attendance at a performance of Jacques Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, in which the protagonist falls tragically in love with the lifelike automaton Olympia; and a shipment from his mother of a box of old toys which had belonged to him as a boy." The dolls become elevated to a level of taboo "inappropriateness" then that is both intriguing and concerning, is it okay to have this insight into what was perhaps a sexual fantasy of Bellmer's? Does it weaken the argument against society's ideal view of the female form? This is what surrealism is all about. Desire, the female form, sexuality, death. Much too much for me to handle in the simple setting of this blog.
        I recently picked up a book Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder, I don't have it with me but I can only imagine that Bellmer is mentioned if not talked about in depth. If I ever end up getting around to that essay I will give Bellmer the post he deserves, but in the mean time I will let you come to your own conclusions.

There's a good essay about him here for all the background information (on Bellmer but mainly his work) that I wouldn't be able to sum up better.



images: ubugallery.com & marvelligallery.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

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/

Liz McGrath

        i read an interview with Elizabeth McGrath in Juxtapoz magazine over a year ago (issue #83 from dec 2007) and immediately fell in love with both her and her artwork, and she has been one of my favorite artists since.
        i was recently at the Harvard Museum of Natural History to look at the taxidermy, and started thinking about her work again (which is not real taxidermy, but definitely inspired by the art of it), and decided she would be the perfect artist to get back to work on this blog with.
        McGrath has not only a talent for making the unpretty pretty and a dark playfulness that i am drawn to seemingly more than anything else in life (which she has in common with Edward Gorey, who she states as one of her influences and was perhaps the most brilliant man ever to live), but also has many thematic elements, or inspirations, that i am also extremely attracted to, such as dollhouses, circus folk, doubles, the cabinet of curiosities, punk culture, and more obviously, taxidermy.
        another thing i love about McGrath's creations is that they exist purely for their own sake. she makes a point of saying (several ways in different interviews) that she is not trying to make any statements, political or otherwise, and that she thinks it is very important to make art for yourself and not anyone else, or you will lose sight of why you are making it in the first place. she manages to put into words (you can see interviews with her here and here, but beware, the second one is partly in spanish- though McGrath's answers are in english) exactly the way that i feel about art, which is extremely refreshing, especially since i am currently in art school and am constantly being questioned about why i'm doing things.

for a more expansive collection of her work, as well as cute merchandise such as butcher's knives with little paintings on them, be sure to check out her website!



photos: http://www.elizabethmcgrath.com

Quickie: Sally Kendall

        mosaics are usually not my deal, but while browsing pictures of altered mannequins (i'm working on a few of my own) i stumbled across the site of Sally Kendall, and her BEAUTIFUL mirror mosaic mannequin. i love the way the glass follows the curves of the form, especially along her spine and breasts. i also think the space she left un-mosaic-ed is effective (particularly the way the mirror only creeps up the back of the neck).
        you can see the rest of her work here (it's all 2d, but there's a dia de los muertoes one!).