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Tag: Artists

Anticipation. Rebecca Mason Adams.

Some occasions in life seem all about the expectancy. When I was young, those days leading up to Christmas or a summer vacation were filled with hope and excitement. Even today, I get giddy thinking about what is just around the corner! For me, these monochromatic paintings by Rhode Island artist Rebecca Mason Adams capture the feeling of those moments in wait.

Whether it is waiting to spring a surprise or hoping for the phone to ring, something about the way her figures are in a sort of tense repose, often receding into their darker backgrounds, as if waiting for a cue to begin. It’s difficult, isn’t it, to push through and stop waiting? Some times we don’t have any choice but to wait, but often we are the ones to hold ourselves back, fearful that the anticipation will be sweeter than the reality.

To see more of Rebecca Mason Adams‘ work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via The Jealous Curator.

February 10, 2015
Awash. Nick Knight.

While much of the country is still slogging their way through snow and ice, here in Northern California, the rains have returned. But the other day, I was caught by surprise by the first cherry blossoms beginning to make their appearance on our backyard branches. I find myself checking every day to make sure they haven’t been washed away with the rains.

These large format works by photographer Nick Knight, with their melting liquidity, seem to be disintegrating before the eye, just as the rain beats upon the new blooms of a coming spring. The colors run with a painter’s touch, some petals fall but others remain strong. We don’t always know why some flowers are allowed to remain on their branches while others spill to the ground before they’ve even had a chance to fully bloom.

To see more of Nick Knight‘s work, please visit his website. More from the Flora series can be seen at Show Studio.

All images via Show Studio.

February 9, 2015
Utopias. Sandra Kantanen.

Mr. F and I chat frequently about our ideal spot. But we often wonder, does our ideal really exist? I mean, I’m sure it does, but will it be in the cards for us when the time comes? The photographs of Finnish artist Sandra Kantanen explore the idea of a vanished paradise.

As the artist’s photographs reference the vanishing idyllic landscapes of China and Japan, often Mr. F and I think about whether a perfect little spot we’ve found will remain that way forever. We have a particular favorite, wonderfully isolated and beautiful, but we’ve seen it gaining exposure and fear what may happen to it. We hope that development may be kept at bay, but we may very well find that one day we return to find our ideal being slowly erased.

To see more of Sandra Kantanen‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

February 6, 2015
Conversations. Robin Feld.

If you’ve ever worked in or hung a gallery, you might be familiar with the way paintings “talk” to each other. When hung in the same or adjacent space, works of art interact with one another, echoing or contradicting each other’s shapes, colors, and textures. In her artist statement, Brooklyn artist Robin Feld describes her desire for “the marks on the canvas to talk to each other..”

Layers in paint parallel a conversation between people– there are quiet whispers followed by bursts of laughter, tension and release, hidden secrets and deep emotion. As some relationships are more tumultuous and passionate, others are more refuges of peace and calm, so too, can paintings be.

To see more of Robin Feld‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

February 5, 2015
Dealing. Ann Woo.

Do you believe in fate? I haven’t decided yet whether I do or not. If it is true that events in our lives are predestined, then it must be true that “fate is a cruel mistress”. This series of photographs by Ann Woo of a facedown playing card drove home to me the idea that we never really know the next card in the deck.

I find, though, that it isn’t the hand we’ve been dealt, but how we play it that is the faithful test of who we are. We’ve watched our best friends deal with crushing blows that might have destroyed others, yet they continue on full of grace and courage and love. Cancer patients unwilling to be a victim fight back with everything they have. A son turns tragedy into a life’s work in order to prevent others from the same pain. We may be dealt a full house or a just a pair, but if we know best how to play the cards in our hand, we can still come out a winner.

To see more of Ann Woo‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

February 3, 2015
Impermanence. Fanny Nushka Moreaux.

These days, I find myself feeling grateful quite often. The fleeting nature of life has never been more apparent, which seems to make it easier to find moments of bliss. Perhaps because the darkness is lurking, the light shines more brightly. The work of French artist Fanny Nushka Moreaux, with faded hues and gossamer figures, reminds me how very tenuous is our own existence.

Perhaps it is due to our transient lifestyle these days, our desire to seize every opportunity. Since we never know when we leave a temporary home whether we will return to the area, we tend to make sure we’ve seen as much as we can. There isn’t much laying around on the weekends– there is too much to do, too much to see! In many ways, we are so fortunate. Living in one place, it is easy to stop paying attention to the world around you, to take it for granted. And the people, too. Live like you never know when you’ll see this world again.

To see more of Fanny Nushka Moreaux‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

February 2, 2015
Aglow. Kate Davis Caldwell.

Every morning lately, somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00am, my eyes are drawn away from the laptop screen and through the windows outside. You see, at this time of day, the morning light becomes its most intense and everything outside seems lit from within! I am powerless to resist. The paintings in the Flux series by Los Angeles artist Kate Davis Caldwell seem to capture that intensity of light, in which everything glows warmer.

That concentration of light creates these beautiful pockets of brightness and deep, dark shadows. But the best part is how much more intensely every color shines. You might think that such forceful light may cause a washout of color, but instead the saturation is amped up to the extreme! The wash of color and light provides warmth on a winter’s day, like the sanctuary of a stained glass cathedral.

To see more of Kate Davis Caldwell‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 30, 2015
Coexistence. Jaime Rovenstine

I’m always amazed by how such a variety of species exist peacefully together in the wild. Why do we find it so difficult to do the same? People seem to revel in their differences, eager to point out the one who diverges from the pack, instead of being content to accept the deviation. In her work, Kansas City artist Jaime Rovenstine addresses a case of coexistence– that of chaos and order.

As she layers the elements of each painting, chaos gives way to order, and vice versa. Neither demands dominance over the other, they tranquilly reside, one next to the other. Actually, they seem to almost revel in sharing the same space. Lines dripping gracefully, even joyously against geometric forms and grids, the shapes not seeming to mind a bit. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from them.

To see more of Jaime Rovenstine‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 29, 2015
Remnants. Marie Thiebault.

One of my favorite things about winter is the bareness of the branches. That may seem strange, I’m sure most people prefer trees full of lively green or technicolor orange. But I love the transparency that the stripped limbs bring. We can see much farther into the forest, the shapes of the individual branches become more apparent. These paintings by Los Angeles artist Marie Thiebault reminded me of the tangles of spartan boughs outside my window.

Although much of Thiebault’s work may be inspired by places of abandonment and destruction, I see a parallel between those and the winter season. Not in a negative way, of course, winter is my favorite! But in how those types of places often cause a hushed reverence, such as the quiet of a snowfall. Shadows grow long and deep and the noise of life is muffled.

To see more of Marie Thiebault‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 28, 2015
Configurations. Sophie Smallhorn.

Who remembers the Rubik’s Cube sensation back in the 80s? I can distinctly remember spending hours twisting and turning, trying to line up all those little colored squares! I always thought the more random arrangement of colors much more interesting than the neatly lined up hues. These sculptures by London artist Sophie Smallhorn how much more interesting things can be when we allow for a bit of disarray.

A life where all is neat and orderly, all black and white, in which we can easily answer any question with this is wrong and this is right is one hardly worth talking about, is it? It is in the missing pieces, in the gaps between where we may not find answers, but will likely find understanding.

To see more of Sophie Smallhorn‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

January 27, 2015

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artsy forager

artistic pathfinding by lesley frenz

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