Elyse Hochstadt's raven chair

I like this cool feathered chair by Elyse Hochstadt, called "Portrait of George I". She is a San Francisco artist and won the 2008 Pro Arts juried show. Here is an interview with her.

Nick Cave's wearable sculptures

Another exciting discovery for me is the Chicago artist Nick Cave (no relations to the iconic singer). I saw a photograph of one of his Soundsuits, as he calls his wearable sculptures, in a magazine and was dying to see his creations up close. Lucky me, I stumble upon an exhibition of his work in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center For The Arts. They show about 30 of his suits in one giant room. I couldn't get enough of these strange statues that are encrusted and embellished with hundreds of buttons, hand -knitt doillies, embroideries , beads or sequince. Their sever shapes remind one of African statues with elongated rectangular heads or kluklux klan masks. They seem intimidating at first glance, but once you notice the amazing detail of their embellishment and the vibrant colors , you feel they must be part of a Mardi Gras Procession. Cave must have gone through one garage sale too many and stocked up plenty on all sorts of stuff that later finds a second live as decorative elements on his suits. I love this aspect of artistic recycling not only for its own sake, but also because it elevates that which we have discarded to new value. And Cave uses things that are anyway on our B list, handy crafts that have never been considered real art, but just hobbies, like hand-knitt sweater and doillies. Old toys, buttons and beading are hanging on his sculptures like charms dangling off a voodoo statue and evoke a strong tribal feeling, but with a kitschy twist. Don't miss this really fantastic and inspiring exhibition at YBCA through July 5th , 2009.

A modern take on paper cutting by Jen Stark

I saw some of Jen Stark's impressive paper sculptures at Johannson Projects gallery in Oakland. I had seen an image of her work on the inviation card for the show and immediately felt that I needed to see it up close to believe and understand what was going on. Was it really just a stack of paper into which she had cut systemmatical and then bend the paper corners up? And yes, thats exactly what she does. It's simple, but genius. This type of paper cutting is very different compared to the traditional, folk art type that I am usually in love with. For starters Jen's stuff is abstract and colourful, actually bursts of color! The traditional paper cuttings are mostly figurative (or invove at least patterns) and black. I enjoy the aspect of dimensionality she brings to her work and that reminds me of japanese origami. On her web site is a video, where she talks about how she got started, which was on a trip to Europe and she didn't have her art supplies with her. She bought a stack of cheap colourful papers and a pair of scissors and started experimenting.

The art of paper cutting by Nikki McClure

Nikki McClure cuts paper like she would draw with a ink pen. Her images are about the simple, but profound pleasures and wonders of cooking and nurturing and our deep connection to nature. You can see a lovely little video about her life in Olympia, Washington , collecting eggs from her hens, harvesting cherries and hanging up her laundry. All such essential and beautifully simple acts that seem to get lost in our busy city lives. She produces for several years now a calender with her images as well as posters, that she self publishes. Her images are gentle reminder of how to live our lives better and more in accord with nature and the seasons. She is the perfect poster child of the green movement!

Welcome Spring!

I am welcoming spring with lovely paintings by Ann Craven. Wouldn't her birds make great patterns printed on a dress? I envision it somehow in the vain of these last years dresses by Dolce and Gabbana.

Hanna Nitsch

I saw an ink drawing of Hanna Nitsch in a small gallery in Frankfurt. Her slightly creepy pale water color-like portraits of children are somehow dream-like and a little bit unsettling. They speak to me of the fine line between sweet, innocence and bizarr strangeness that makes childhood so interesting and fragile. She apparently paints mostly her own kids. Some of these ink drawings are really big too: 6 x 5 feet tall! So you can imagine their impact.

Artist du jour: Loretta Lux

My friend Joseph introduced me today to the wonderful art of Loretta Lux. We saw her portrait of a boy at the SF Moma and browsed through a book of her photographs. Her depiction of children has always a strange and lonely quality, always beautifully composed. There is a very painterly quality of her choice of colors and set up, reminiscent of Renaissance paintings. Some of the vintage clothes the children wear were saved from her childhood by her mother.
The portraits of these children are haunting and sweet, ready to tell a fairy tale of strange adventures - I just can't stop looking at them and wondering..

Artist du jour: Elizabeth Addison

I just got news that my good friend, the very talented print maker and local Berkeley artist Elizabeth Addison is going to have a show in SF.

Wednesday, October 1, 6 - 8 p.m.

at the reception for

FALL FEATURES FIVE

at Mad River Post

451 Jackson Street, 2nd Floor

San Francisco, CA 94111, 415-693-0713

I love her use of vintage imagery that she up-dates and personalizes by imprinting everyday objects. If you can't make it to her show, check out her work at Kiss my ring.

Artist du jour: Shepard Fairey

I meant to put the art of Shepard Fairey on my blog for over a year, when I first became aware of him. Don't quite know what took me so long. I guess I needed a real life connection, like his up-coming show this weekend in San Francisco at White Walls. Apparently the show is already sold out! This guy has made an amazing career in the art/design world. Quite uncommon to straddle both worlds so sucessfully. He went to Parsons Design School and used Graffiti-Guerilla tactics with his Obey - Andre, the Giant campaign to catapult him to street-fame. His coup d'etat is of course The Obama Poster. He sells his designs on t-shirts, posters etc. on his own web site and in many young hipster boutiques. I love his patterns and the layering of patterns he uses on some of his pieces: very clever, very pretty and definitely catching the zeitgeist of vinatge and whimsy coupled with political criticism.