Happy Tuesday, Artsies! Make sure you check out my post today over at Escape Into Life, featuring artist Christina Foard.
Now I know I’m probably not supposed to play favorites, but I can’t help it. Christina is definitely a fave! Check her out on EIL today!
My hubby and I have the best conversation over drinks. Not necessarily alcoholic beverages, coffee will do. It’s something about being out and having nothing to do but sit and sip and talk. A recent conversation led us to the topic of art. Now, my husband is kind of new to this whole art world thing but he is a voracious student and always eager to learn something new. His great love is music, so naturally he made the connection between the evolution of art and the evolution of music. Artist Amy Mass, like many artists, listens to music while she paints. What sets Amy’s work apart is that she paints to the music. So each piece is a direct result of the music being played during the painting process.
Like the musical scores which inspire them, Amy’s paintings are filled with rhythm and expression. You can almost see the staccato of the notes, the resounding beat of the drum.
Layers of color and texture mimic the overlapping cacophony of sounds inherent in a symphonic composition.
To see more of Amy Maas’ melodious work, please visit her website. Have some fun and put the inspiration tunes on while you peruse her work!
Featured image is Celtic Woman, acrylic on canvas, 48×36. All images are via the artist’s website.
Many folks are using the advent of the new year to organize and simplify their world. Editing can be one of the most difficult tasks, especially for visually creative types, who find such stimulation in what we take in with our eyes. San Francisco artist Mia Christopher creates interesting, elegant compositions by sticking to simple shapes and a limited palette. In this work, less is most definitely more.
Stacks of simple shapes call to mind fantastical characters, books, organic forms or whatever might come to mind.
The beauty in these works is in the color combinations, the fluid visual texture of the ink, the whimsically natural feel of the forms.
To revel more in this gorgeous simplicity, please visit Mia Christopher’s website.
Featured image is Mia Christopher, ink on paper, 11×9.25. All images are via the artist’s website.
If you are an artist, you know the joy and delight your materials bring. The smell of fresh paint, the glow of molten glass, the feel of earthen clay. Seattle artist Margie Livingston is one artist who obviously enchanted with her unique properties of her chosen medium– paint.
Her paintings are not only explorations into the characteristics of the paint– color, texture, sheen, etc., but also studies in shape, form, line and space.
She’s also taken this investigation of medium a step further– creating actual sculptures from paint, genius!
To see more of Margie Livingston’s adventures in paint, check out her website. If you’re in Seattle, you can see her work in person at Greg Kucera Gallery.
Featured image is 414 Angles, Mostly Red and Yellow, acrylic, 32×24. All images are via the artist’s website, unless otherwise stated.
In our modern and sleek world, we find fascination in old things and places. These are objects with a story, subway walls wallpapered with layer upon layer upon layer of poster ads or the stratum of paints on a bedroom wall, showing us the history of its owners. These are the ideas New Jersey artist Jill Ricci strives to convey in her work, those hidden discoveries.
By combining elements of advertising ephemera, fabric, wallcoverings and abstraction, Ricci’s work manages to feel at once ancient and modern.
With contemporary graphics layered under the patina of paint, these pieces almost feel like we are peeling back the scales from the antiquated to find that what is hidden beneath is not obsolete, but avant-garde.
The artist’s layering collected materials mirrors society’s ever abiding search for the next big thing. We are constantly looking for the latest gadget, fashion or whatchmacallit that will give us joy. But perhaps, joy doesn’t come from the newest thing, but looking back with fondness and learning from what has come before.
To see more of Jill Ricci’s work, please visit her website. Her work can currently be seen in shows at Jules Place in Boston, MA and at Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, NJ. Check these artsy spots out if you’re nearby!
Featured image is Cherish, mixed media on canvas, 48×30. All images are via the artist’s website.
I am busy spreading holiday cheer today ( OK, actually running around like crazy trying to get stuff done ), which is kind of fitting for the work of today’s featured artist. Sarah Spitler’s abstracts come from the artist’s concern with chaos manifested. And because of aforementioned chaos of my own today, I’m going to let Sarah’s work speak for itself.
Be sure to check out more of Sarah Spitler’s work on her website and don’t miss reading her artist statement— deep stuff there, definitely read it and then go back and look at her work again.
Featured title image is Monomythical Geopolitika, ink, acrylic, spray paint and graphite on Mylar, 28×22. All images are via the artist’s website.
This Fall, the leaves in Oregon have been full of riotous color, bursting forth in celebration of the last days of sunshine and warmth. But to find happy energy in the long, grey days of winter, one only need look as far as Dutch painter Guus Kemp’s work.
Thick bursts of glossy paint almost leap of the canvas, like fireworks in the sky. This is an artist using the properties of paint– its colors, texture and sheen to bring joy to the viewer. The works elicit emotion, excitement and energy.
A Dutch-born artist, now a resident of Houston, Kemp began working with oils in 2008, opening up a whole new means of expression. According to the artist, “My paintings are a reflection of who I am . . . an extrovert who takes life by the horns!”
Indeed, these large scale, intensely hued works are no shrinking violets. These are pieces that demand your attention. And once they get it, you can’t help but be happy and energized.
To be enlivened by more of Guus’s work, please take a peek at his website. Thank you to Gallery Orange for introducing me to this artist, if you’re in New Orleans, be sure to check them out!
Featured image is Carpe Diem, oil on canvas, 48×48. All images are via the artist’s website.
The moment I walked through the doors of Davis & Cline in Ashland, I fell hard for the work of Haley Farthing. Immediately, they drew me in, I had to take a closer look. What exactly was I seeing? Her palette is so subtle, the shapes so fluid, these are works that are best examined at close range.
For Haley, “abstraction and ambiguity of a subject is much more powerful when it is a part of it’s inherent nature”. She takes organic subjects, such as driftwood, plants, etc and magnifies the view, creating a perspective that highlights their intrinsic abstraction.
Her limited, neutral palette allows the texture and pattern of these natural materials to be showcased and celebrated. Mere leaves appear to be angel’s wings or folds of rich satin flowing from the bodies of ancient Greeks. She constructs her work in such a way that these organic forms take on classical compositions. While allowing the grain of the wood surface to show through reminds us that these are earthly manifestations, their beauty inherent in their creation.
Please take the time to check out more of Haley Farthing’s work on her website. Her Out of the Woods show can be seen at Davis & Cline until November 26th. It is a beautiful, inspiring show– I highly recommend checking it out if you’re in Southern Oregon.
Featured image is Nestle, pastel and ink on wood, 60×24. All images are via the artist’s website.
I have a confession to make, Artsies. I have been remiss. Since the beginning of Artsy Forager, I’ve had Christina Baker listed as a Pick of the Crop artist, and save for a few mentions in Friday Faves and The Artsy Home, I have yet to feature her! Shame, shame, shame!! So to make it up to the lovely and always supportive, Christina, today you’re getting a two-fer!! One now and watch for a special The Artsy Home feature later.
This self-taught artist’s work is ever-evolving and intuitive. One of my favorite games to play with Christina’s abstract work is “What Do You See?”. In every piece, there is something that is familiar, yet fresh. In one instance, I may think I see a representation of one thing, but then I go back, take a second look and see something completely different.
Her use of color and light creates soft, yet powerful imagery, the kind of work that translates easily between contemporary and more traditional aesthetics.
I hope you loved Christina’s work as much as I obviously do. To see more, please visit her website! In Nashville, her work can be seen at York & Friends and at the Southern Living Showcase Home until November 6th ( more on that later!! ). For Atlanta folks, check her out at Gregg Irby Fine Art.
All images via the artist’s website.
Georges Braque said, “There is only one valuable thing in art. The thing you can’t explain”. The best of abstract art is, in my opinion, work that is so ambiguous that trying to explain it is kind of pointless. There are so many “things” it could be, could represent, that trying to nail it down just seems futile. The work of Seattle artist John Dempcy strikes me as just that sort of work.
His caleidoscopic-like imagery brings to mind microscopic organisms..
.. or sea life..
.. or the wonders of the universe..
.. or whatever you would like to see.
If you’re intrigued by John Demcy’s work, as I am, please visit his website. I first saw his work at Augen Gallery in Portland, but you’ll find a list of galleries all over the US in which his work is featured. There’s bound to be one in your path!
Featured image is Deepwater, acrylic on panel, 48×36. All images are via the artist’s website.