We have featured the work of Portland based Adam Friedman on the blog (here) in the past. He has just opened a new solo exhibition at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in San Francisco entitled Space and Time, and Other Mysterious Aggregations that is on view through March 2nd. From the press release Friedman explains, “In my work, rules of perspective, distance, and light are bent. Space can become a solid object and places are folded on top of one another. Millions of years are compacted into a single instant and rocks become fluid. I strive to present a moment that defies human intervention in the landscape, and pays homage to the potential in the inexplicable.”
Berlin-based artist Sebastian Bieniek‘s double-faced girl portraits are a little humorous, but they also provoke a more menacing or unsettling feeling. With an eye pencil and lipstick, Bieniek draws a face onto each side of the model’s face, using one real eye for each face. After her hair has been strategically placed around her face, Bieniek photographs this subject in the context of daily routines, thoughtfully using objects that appear in everyday environments. For this series as well as his other work, Bieniek enjoys creating a narrative that contains absurd elements and surprises viewers. Junk Culture notes, “Bieniek first came up with the idea one morning while playing in the bathroom with his son. He explains, ‘Wet hair covered one of his eyes, soap covered his ear, he looked in the mirror and said, dad look my face moved!'” This creates a manufactured or mannequin like image, with a hint of humanity evoked with one eye.
Bieniek enjoys engaging and provoking responses from his viewers, something his Facebook page of 54,000 fans attests to. He notes, “Art will be consumed differently, the market is constantly changing. Nearly every day, I make an artwork and post it on Facebook. You no longer have to see art in a gallery or see the original.” (via design boom)
Beautifully shot videos in conjunction somehow for YEASAYER’s new Ambling Alp single. You use your mouse to pan around this camera that in the first video is propped up by all the members in unison in some sort of boxed with mirrors all around. The second video is more voyeuristic. You can move the camera around however you like- you don’t always have to be looking at what they want you to see (the band running around in a desert) so it has this first person exploration/Myst/Second Life feeling. Sort of reminds me of this Flash video Black Mother Super Rainbow did.
Among abstract, disarrayed brushstrokes; faces emerge. Meredith Marsone depicts pure and flawless bodies and faces. The characters, calm and haggard; holding onto impalpable silhouettes are merely looking at us. The expressions on their faces translate deep and intense feelings.
New Zealand based artist Meredith Marsone uses oil paint to blend irregular lines and portraits onto a board. The features are perfectly detailed and their skin is softened, giving her subjects a subtle glow. The palette of colors is comprised of pastel tones. Rose, ochre, washed out browns, the shades coalesce with the nudes of the bodies.
The evanescent stream of flesh disappearing into the layers of paint are reminiscing of Klimt’s art. An influential source of inspiration to Meredith Marsone’s work.
The feelings encountered when looking at the paintings come close to sadness and melancholy. In the ‘Loveloss’ series, a woman and a man are holding each other, as if they only had few seconds before they being a part. We are looking in ’Intimate Series’ at snapshots of a woman’s delicate expressions. Her eyelashes, lips and look confer a strange aura to the whole picture. She seems to be out of this time, not present. We are drawn into her soul, terribly attracted to the moment she’s in, wondering what she could be thinking about and what could possibly bring her back to us.
Meredith Marsone’s series will be displayed as part of group shows at Haven Gallery in Northport NY until December 23rd 2015. And at Smash Gallery in San Francisco until January 2nd 2015. (Via INAG)
Dutch photographer Arjen Born has a hell of a sense of humor which is perfectly displayed in this series of hilarious photographs of imaginary robots that help out senior citizens with all sorts of mundane yet challenging tasks such as getting out of a chair, eating breakfast, or simply seeing. I’m not sure if these robots are created digitally or if Born literally builds these futuristic creatures but either way there is a humorous charm to them that carries throughout the entire series.
Azuma Makoto creates elaborate floral installations, and has now added an impressive new endeavor to his portfolio. The artist’s most recent project sent a bonsai tree and an arrangement of orchids, lilies, hydrangeas, and irises into space! The results are breathtaking. The bouquet is full of colour, and floats free, contrasting against the deep darkness of space and the effervescent blue glow of the earth. It’s an extremely poetic gesture, and somehow it feels like no matter how skilled someone might be in photo editing, they could never build these images synthetically to have the same impact. Maybe this is because the images that document Makoto’s process are of almost equal interest. Seeing the plants from start to finish – as they are bought, assembled, and rise to the sky – reveals the unimaginable procedure to be almost within reach of anyone. It’s still completely awe inspiring, either in spite of or as a direct result of this transparency.
Makoto has a great deal of interesting projects with plants, many of which involving bonsai’s. One is a bonsai tree made of lego, which is an uncharacteristically playful creation, although it still holds much of the seriousness present in his other works. In another sculpture project, Makoto created two containers each with a bonsai inside. In one the tree was completely submerged in water and in the other the tree was burned. As in the space project, Makoto seems interested in the subjections the plants may endure, and experimenting with containment and environment. (Via Fastco Design)
