There often two sides to every story. And every place. As we travel and live in so many different places, we see the good and the not so good in each. In his Weaving Landscapes, Toronto artist Shawn Skeir creates dynamic, dual personality landscapes that read as two distinct glimpses of one whole.
To see more of Shawn Skeir‘s work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
It can be strange the way we can move so effortlessly between worlds, blending seamlessly from work to home, city to country. In these paintings by Polish artist Grazyna Smalej, small figures seem to slip in and out of the abstracted backgrounds.
Sometimes it can feel like we’re stuck in one world, unable to move over to the next. Or maybe we’re slowly, imperceptibly dissolving over, the way Smalej’s figures seem to stand alone and yet blend in. They are on the verge.
To see more of Grazyna Smalej‘s work, please visit her website.
All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Saatchi Online.
Our experiences shape who we are. Who we are colors our perceptions. We see the world through a lens tinted by who we are, what we believe, what has happened to us, our fears, our passions.
The paintings of John McAllister with their photo-negative feel and coloration reminded me of how very different our perspectives can be.
To see more of John McAllister‘s work, please visit the website of his representing gallery, James Fuentes in New York.
All images via Contemporary Art Daily.
Melting happens when the ions or molecules in a solid break down to a less ordered state. I feel like we could learn a thing or two from that giving way to a chaotic existence.
The abstract paintings by San Francisco artist Jenny Sharaf with their oozing, liquified color remind me of the freedom to be found in the melting away of our perceived orderly lives.
I’m a list maker. A bed maker. A straighten up before bed type. In some respects, it works for me– it makes me very good at my freelance work. On the other hand, it can make me a bit annoying to live with, but Mr. F thankfully puts up with my quirky type-Aness. Our traveling together has helped me to melt away of some of that. Things can’t always be just so. And I need to learn to enjoy the times when the state of our lives is in a less ordered state. If there were more structure, there would also be less freedom, less adventure. I’ll take the melting.
To see more of Jenny Sharaf‘s work, please visit her website.
All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via SF Girl by Bay.
Busyness. For a long time we seemed to pride ourselves on it, comparing schedules at dinner parties like trading war stories. Somewhere along the line we were brainwashed into thinking busyness = importance, worth, value.
But really the opposite is true. When we are whirring through life, we fail to notice the gleam of the sunlight through flower petals, the slow pace of the clouds, the need in the eyes of a stranger.
The paintings of Albuquerque artist Tracy Rocca arise “from a conscious effort to slow down“. In applying thin glazes of color, Rocca arrives at these luminous, pulsating paintings. Like blown out photographs after a camera shutter opened too long, they seem to take the world in but with a slower, more mindful glance. Our eyes search for their focus, gently, lazily.
To see more of Tracy Rocca‘s work, please visit her website.
All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Winston Wachter Seattle.
Monochromatic. Neutral. Boring. Does it ever seem like life just flows from one ordinary and unremarkable day into the next? In a world dominated by screens and engines, we’ve created a universe that seems devoid of real life and color.
Barcelona artist Yago Hortal embraces the color many of us run from. In fact, his work seems to revel in all its brash boldness and audacity.
It seems like we try to curb the color in our lives, perhaps not literal but metaphorically. That friend, she’s way too “out there”, so we minimize the time we spend with her. We homogenize our relationships so that everyone we interact with looks like us, talks like us, thinks like us. So much sameness that it becomes jarring to encounter anyone who is different. But it is those differences that enrich us and teach us. Let’s embrace the color in our lives, no matter what hue it may be!
To see more of Yago Hortal‘s work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
Philo said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” We all have our pain and struggles that we carry around with us. But some of us are better than others at hiding our battle scars.
These paintings by Brazilian artist Marta Penter called to my mind the thought of the lonely and hurting who walk among us. We can’t see the pain behind their smiles, the wounds beyond the laughter. Every one of us is one of them. Some days we might be carry our blues more prominently than others, but they are always there, just beneath the surface.
To see more of Marta Penter‘s work, please visit her website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
After spending too much time parked in front of the laptop this morning, I took a little break in our backyard. Just looking out the window, the landscape seems silent and still. But one step outside and the realization washes over me that every moment is teeming with sound and movement and life.
It’s happening just like that. We are so often caught up in our own microcosm that we forget there is a macro world happening all around us, in full sound, color, and light. As I type, the branches are softly swaying, acorn shells are dropping from a hungry squirrel’s mouth, clouds slowly pass, the neighbor’s chickens clucks are heard loudly through our little valley.
We’re so self-involved, it’s easy to let opportunities to see and relish the world around us pass by. Staring at our phones, working, going to the gym instead of going for a walk. These paintings by Australian artist Michael Muir drive home for me what a beautifully colorful world is awaiting. We just need to open our eyes to see it.
To see more of Michael Muir‘s work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
You have yours, I have mine. Sometimes they overlap, often times they don’t. Our worlds are made up of our circles– of friends, of family, of colleagues. Some people like to keep their circles separate, no mixing of worlds in their spheres.
With their concentric orbs, these paintings by Benjamin Cook remind us though they may be different in size, form, and shade, our circles reverberate through us and through each other.
Some of my circles are nearly polar opposites– from good ol’ Southern folks to delightfully hippy West Coasters. Each one has their influence on who I am and who I am continuing to become. I love my slight Southern drawl ( I love Mr. F’s even more! ) but my political leanings are very left-coaster. I’m at home in both those circles because I love those people for exactly who they are, even if I may not agree with all they believe. It’s important to spend time among each because although they may not mix often, I am their common denominator and experiencing all sides helps me to become who I truly am, not who I am told to be.
To see more of Benjamin Cook‘s work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day and To-Do list. Weekends can be eaten up with errands and extra curricular work. One thing about our traveling is that in each new place, Mr. F and I make it a point to spend our free time exploring, which helps get us out of that work-work-work mentality.
These paintings by Ellen Levine Dodd, with their chaotic, colorful layers remind me of the way just a little bit of fun and adventure brightens up and enriches the day to day.
I love the mix of large swaths of color and quick, sketchy lines– those little pops of excitement make the ordinary so much more fun, don’t they?
To see more of Ellen Levine Dodd‘s work, please visit her website.
All images via the artist’s website.