Many artists are collectors of some sort. Whether collectors of the fleeting and untouchable such as memories or moments, or of more tangible things in which they see a beauty that others may not. Artist Susanna Sundman creates the most charming and lovely compositions out of her collections.
While she does lovely work in watercolors, it was these little assemblages that I seemed to keep coming back to and finding so enchanting. There is a careful deliberation about them, yet them seem entirely playful and fun. Each one is a wonderful little mix of texture, color, and story.
To see more of these assemblages by Susanna Sundman, follow her on Instagram. You can also find more of her work on her Flickr.
Flustered. Anxious. Stressed. Extra crabby. These are just a few ways to describe how I’ve been feeling lately. My freelance work is busier than ever, I’m working under a deadline for a project debuting in March that I’m really excited ( and super stressed ) about, and I’ve just added more by creating an Instagram project for the month of February! The work of sculptor Tanis Saxby is just exactly what I need to focus on right now.. pure, flowing, and delicate, they remind me of the fragility of this life.
Life is such a delicate balance. Too much of one thing or another is enough to set us off into dangerous territory. How much I sometimes envy the birds and animals of the woods, how simple their needs and how instinctual their purpose!
Much of Tanis Saxby’s work is an embodiment of the vulnerability of life, the sculptures in her Flow & True series speak to the delicate strength possessed by all life and the movement and transitory forms of every element in nature. Her Dandelion & Bone series continue along this theme, especially focusing on the ethereal dandelion seed. The flower, often thought of as a weed, has held the wishes of many a young child ( and this Artsy adult! ).
So I plan to gaze awhile at these lovely creations and focus on the flow of good coming into and going out of my life. There is so much more to be thankful for than to be stressed over.
Our modern society has such a fascination with speed and we are constantly feeding our need for it with faster internet, cars, food, you name it. But once upon a time, most cultures valued things done with meticulousness and care. Florida based Japanese artist Hiromi Moneyhun hand constructs elaborate and delicate paper cuts using a methodical and time consuming process, hearkening back to the careful artistry and precision long cherished in the Japanese culture.
Drawing upon characters synonymous in traditional Japanese culture for their artful deftness such as the geisha and oiran, Moneyhun carefully drafts these complex paper-cuts first as line drawings. It is only after the initial drawing is complete that she begins the slow, methodical process of cutting around the lines to create sculptural drawings that delicately float, an interesting juxtaposition to their bold lines and composition.
The We Are the Contributors mini project got me thinking recently about the various roles we play. Yet we aren’t just taking on different tasks, we’re often putting on an almost completely different persona according to where we are and with whom we’re interacting. These sculptures by German artist Reinhard Voss, with their Cubist-like style seem to give us a physical manifestation of the various faces we put on.
Voss’s sculptures are created by piecing together strips of wood, leaving our eyes to see the varying grains and planes making up each face. The effect is eerie at times, resulting in a face contorted or seeming to have been erased.
The different “faces” we put on can be so similar, can’t they? We might lose our mouth ( i.e. hold our tongue ) in certain situations or be blinded in others. How often do we are we truly showing who we are? In what company do we feel we can show the most honest face?
One of the things that continues to draw Mr. F and I to the Northwest is the bigness of this world. Everything just seems to exist on a grand scale here– trees tower, mountains loom, rivers stretch far and wide. In his sculptural work, artist Matt Wedel creates fantastical oversized forms and flowers, leaving no doubt that sometimes bigger is indeed better.
Wedel’s larger than life flowers and plant forms spring forth from craggy rock-like shapes, fairly bursting forth as if they simply cannot be contained. Color spills down from their petals, as if the life held therein is overflowing onto the rock below. Exaggerated faces and fantastical forms create a wonderland where we might come to recognize that humans really are so very small.
We’re so casual these days. Heck, all my high heels are in storage, I probably won’t see them again until around 2018! But there are days when I miss getting dressed up. Remember that careful giving I was going on about yesterday? These sculptural floral arrangements by Takaya Hanayushi remind me of our need to present ourselves artfully.
The idea of adorning oneself in a certain way, whether to mark one’s place in society or simply as personal expression is a human trait that seems to have been with us a long time. And although in our dressed down society, such lavish adornments as were once practiced are rare, we still find ways to incorporate these rituals. We pierce and tattoo, we find just the right pair of shoes, we refuse to wear animal fur or skins. Though it may be in more subtle, 21st century ways, we are still each day painting our own portrait of who we are and presenting it to the world.
There is nothing quite like a quiet day surrounded by wilderness to get us in touch with the wildness inside. Even more thrilling is to spot an elusive animal on its own turf. California artist Jane Rosen sculpts wild creatures in all their quiet, untamed beauty.
Rosen’s sculptures have a caged serenity about them, as if reigning in their innate wildness for the spectator. I bet they come to life the minute your back is turned! The artist’s choice of materials bring a purity and etherealness to each piece. They almost seem to be representations not of the animal itself, but of its spirit.
We are in the land of the giants today. Today’s plan includes seeing a bit more of the Redwoods and driving through a tree! I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw a photo of the Chandelier Tree many moons ago. These enormous trees, the huge haystack rocks in Oregon and just the wildness of the Pacific remind us of how very small we are in this large universe. In his bas relief sculptures, Dutch artist Ron van der Ende uses found wood to sculpt and “paint” his own colossal objects.
Bas-relief sculpture is all about angles and perception. When viewed from one angle, the sculpture may not make sense, but when taken in from the front, it seems to float in true 3-dimensional form. As van der Ende is creating his pieces, he uses pieces of painted found wood to create the colors you see– these aren’t sculptures constructed, then painted. The artist is painting with the found wood. Using the existing finishes of the wood in such a way creates a wonderful sense of texture, which only serves to amplify the depth created by the bas-relief technique.
I hope those last two images give you a sense of the enormity of scale van der Ende employs, making these sculptures as imposing as they are impressive, just like our friends the Redwoods.
I’m always fascinated by artists who find inspiration in nature. What excites me even more is coming across an artist who interprets organic forms into work that is decidedly modern. Brooklyn artist Pamela Sunday creates contemporary ceramic sculptures that nod to the biological forms found all around and inside us.
Out of clay, the artist sculpts these magnificently strong yet delicate forms, so much like the environmental elements from which they take their inspiration. Our bodies and the nature around us can withstand so much, but we still have to keep reminding ourselves that each body, each habitat has its own tipping point. Life really is such a precarious balance, isn’t it?
I seem to have a thing for pale, sad faces right now ( Exhibit A ). But just take a look at these wood sculptures by Italian artist Bruno Walpoth and tell me how I could not share them with you? Modern, young faces full of poignant longing, these pieces are the anti-selfie. Representations of true emotions felt by real people, rather than a facade put up to show the world how cool and hip we think we are.
There is such a vulnerability about these gentle wood portraits. That seems to be an emotion we could all stand to use a bit more of in our interactions. To be honest enough, with ourselves and others– to truly be real in the way we communicate with our fellow humans, might go a long way in creating the connectedness that so many of us long for.
While she does lovely work in watercolors, it was these little assemblages that I seemed to keep coming back to and finding so enchanting. There is a careful deliberation about them, yet them seem entirely playful and fun. Each one is a wonderful little mix of texture, color, and story.
