I admit it. I love a pretty fashion magazine as much as the next girl. Pages and pages of beautiful people contorting their bodies into strange positions to sell gorgeous clothes can sometimes enthrall me for hours. But then, I find myself needing a break from the beautiful. That may sound strange, but so often, the perfectly styled and photoshopped images create an unreal world, one that I can only take so much of. El Salvadoran artist Luis Cornejo takes these idealized images as his inspiration but infuses them with cartoonish humor.
Paff!, oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 51×75
Isolating the figures gives each painting an almost classical composition, seeming to compare the fashion models of today to the artist’s muse of the past.
Untitled ( #5 ), oil and acrylic on canvas, 47×58
The models retain their “fierce”, pouty poses, while Cornejo’s added illustrative elements remind us to not take this artificially created world too seriously.
Untitled ( #6 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 31×39Untitled ( #7 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 35×53
To see more of Luis Cornejo’s work, please visit his website.
Happy Memorial Day, Artsies! Hope you are out celebrating with friends and family. Chances are if you aren’t completely land-locked, you’ll be spending some time in, on or near the water. Hubby & I are spending the holiday moving from our temporary rental in town to our summer rental on Hayden Lake here in Northern Idaho. It’s still been pretty chilly here, so we won’t be doing any in-water activities, but I’m sure we’ll find ourselves soaking up the sun and just enjoying lake life. Columbus, Ohio artist Laura Sanders perfectly captures the wonder of water-logged summers.
Obstructed Horizon, oil on canvas
I was immediately drawn to Sanders’ work, not just because George & I will be enjoying lake life this summer, but also because her work beautifully portrays the joyful memories of my own summer lake experiences as a young girl. My older brother, Jason & I used to spend a few weeks of every summer at the home of our great aunt & uncle, who were active retirees living on small Hall Lake in Northern Florida. Aunt Helen & Uncle Vernon were still fairly young, but had no grandchildren yet, so we filled the void, spending lazy days swimming, fishing, biking and just generally having the time of our lives.
Untitled, oil on canvas, 36×36
Jason was into taking my uncle’s little johnboat around the lake for a spin and biking up and down the clay road, while I, like the girls Sanders’ paints, was more the little mermaid. I loved being in the water, the feel of it on my skin, the sun beating down, heating up the inner tube until it got just hot enough to need to dunk under for a bit of relief. Uncle Vernon loved to swim, too, and spent hours in the lake with us, while Aunt Helen was the disciplinarian. She firmly believed in the no swimming just after lunch rule.. much to our chagrin. But she always brought us Fla-Vor-Ice’s while we swam, so all was forgiven.
Noon, oil on canvas, 25×27
As we grew older, our time at the lake grew shorter. We became busy with teenage life and Aunt Helen & Uncle Vernon finally had a grandson of their own to spoil. We moved on, but they held a very special place in our hearts. They’ve both passed now, Vernon several years ago and Helen just last year. But the memories we made with them live on. Every once in a while, a breeze stirs up or I’m near the water, or see paintings like Laura Sanders’ and I am immediately transported back to Hall Lake. I can feel their presence and hear Aunt Helen scolding Uncle Vernon for keeping us in the water too long, just before she rings the old dinner bell by the back door.
Cloud Cover, oil on canvas, 52×42Later Summer, oil on canvas
I hope you’ve spent this Memorial Day making some wonderful memories of your own! To see more of Laura Sanders’ work, please visit her website. For a little bonus, scroll down to the end of this post to see a special photo from my days at Hall Lake. 😉
Featured image is Girls and Plastic Floating, oil on canvas. All images are via the artist’s website or the website of her representing gallery, Rebecca Ibel Gallery.
Here’s your bonus pic!
Hall Lake, Summer 1982 l to r: My brother Jason, our friend & lake neighbor Glenn Hayhurst, his sister Shelley, yours truly
Every family has an unofficial photographer. That one person you can always count on to be there, camera in hand, to capture milestones, special gatherings and stolen moments. My maternal grandmother played the role in my family. She filled album after album of memories to leave behind and those photographs are among my most treasured possessions. They are a visual storybook of our family history. Greenville, South Carolina artists Signe and Genna Grushovenko find the precious memories of strangers and translate them into paint.
Horizontal Wine, oil on linen, 36×36
Though the source photographs themselves have been abandoned by their owners, whether by choice or loss, the artists capture the moments and further anonymize them, erasing faces of features and expressions. Thus they become instantly relatable. The faces could be you.. your brothers.. your mother.. your grandmother.
Beach Friends: Process Colors, oil on linen, 30×40
The husband and wife painting duo collaborate on each canvas, husband Genna supplies the underlying layers of color, pattern and texture onto which wife Signe applies the inspired composition of color blocked figures and settings. The use of a vibrant, limited palette allows the eye to focus on form and depth– and there is plenty of it to be had!
Urban Stroll, oil on linen, 30×40
We always tend to look back on “the good ol’ days” with fondness. Whether or not the days were really good is debatable, I suppose. But I think there is much we can learn by looking back on the imagery of our past. How to be content. Living with less but living more. Enjoying simple moments with family and friends.
Little White Dress, Little White Dog ( Large ), oil on linen, 36×36Four Layered Lounge: Citrus, oil on linen, 48×48
I hope your weekend was filled with simple, blissful living! To see more of Signe & Genna Grushovenko’s work, please visit their website. Oh and be sure to check out one of their gorgeous pieces hanging in the 2012 HGTV Green Home! PS– My hubby is convinced that we’re going to win one of the dream homes. 😉
Spring has finally taken hold and color is exploding everywhere! And speaking of bursting color, make sure you go over to Escape Into Life today to see the work of German artist Markus Linnenbrink. He is masterful in his use of bright and brilliant hues!
Sammy Davis jr, Kee Joo and Peter Lawford by Markus Linnenbrink, c-print, epoxy resin and wood, 31×24
Body language speaks louder than words. Many times, our posture and expression may belie what we’re really thinking, despite the words coming out of our mouths. The paintings of Santa Fe artist Ali Cavanaugh shout with quiet profundity.
I’ll Smile As I Wait, 12×12
Cavanaugh’s inspiration comes much from her dependence upon visual language, due to the loss of much of her hearing to spinal meningitis at a very young age. Utilizing simple compositions with bright palettes and extraordinary light against white backgrounds, Cavanaugh tells visual stories not only of what is meant to be communicated, but also what is kept hidden.
Ply, modern fresco, 12×12
Her figures employ their bodies to communicate– folding their arms and hands to tell the world what perhaps they dare not speak.
Place One End On My Memory That Holds An Imperfection, 30×22
Even these tools of communication are often concealed, hiding behind brightly colored socks, as if performing in an impromptu puppet show. They are trying to convey truth, yet it still remains obscured.
An Arc, Placing Me in a Vivid Illusion, modern fresco, 16×20Divide the Timeline Into Then.. and Now, modern fresco, 22×30
Be sure to visit Ali Cavanaugh’s website to see more of her incredible work and to find out where you can see her work in person.
Featured image is Place One End on My Memory That Holds an Imperfection. All images are via the artist’s website.
I absolutely adore work that is marries striking visual elements and imagination stirring imagery. Come and take a magical ride through Geoff Mitchell’s work with me over on Escape Into Life today!
With the increasing sophistication of technology, we have become more and more aware of the realities of what was once mysterious. We know what the inside of our bodies look like, it’s even possible to see an unborn baby in 3-dimensional form. We can know what our children will look like before they ever take their first breath. Yet, what remains to be revealed is their personality. How they will evolve spiritually and emotionally remains a mystery. Sculptor Christina Bothwell‘s figures illustrate for us the metamorphosis of our beings, our deliverance into who we are become.
In her cast glass sculptures, Bothwell incorporates figures within figures. We see smaller figures nestled into the glass, most often in the shape of a newborn.
Octopus, cast glass, raku clay and oil paint, 48x23x23
From the artist: “I think of these pieces as souls, each being pregnant with their own potential, giving birth to new, improved versions of themselves.”
Hair, cast glass, raku clay and oil paints, 10x31x8
As long as we are breathing, we are constantly evolving, hopefully into a better version of ourselves. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to know that at the end of your life, you had become your most strong, your most loving, your most compassionate, the very best version of you?
Centaur, cast glass, raku clay, oil and found objects, 21x21x11Phoenix, cast glass, raku fired clay, oil paints and wood, 33x60x21
Bothwell’s work shows us, not the end result, but the transformation. We see the adaptation and evolution of the spirit as translated into the material. To see more of Christina Bothwell’s work, please visit her website.
Featured image is Dawn, cast glass, ceramic, wood and oil paint, 38x10x7. All images are via the artist’s website.
As I mentioned before, there were certain shows I knew I wanted to see while we were in Seattle last weekend. I’ve loved the work of Seattle artist Anne Siems since first seeing it online and was excited to get my chance to see her work up close and personal. Her solo show, Guidance is showing at Grover Thurston Gallery, just up ( or down? Still don’t have my Seattle geography down pat ) the street from Foster/White, so away we went.
Wolf Girl, acrylic on panel, 48×48
Siems’ inspiration behind the show was the evolution of her daughter from childhood into adolescence and the idea that wild animal spirits may help children navigate their way through this transition. In each of us there is a wild, animalistic-like spirit that, as we grow up and grow older gets buried under years of suppression and training in proper behavior.
Antler Girl, acrylic on panel, 40×52
In Siems’ work, we see children taking on historically grim expression and formal, constricting garb, reminding us of centuries of children whose innocence is lost all too soon. Children whose natural wild spirits may fight against the constraints of social tradition and custom.
Bison Boy Drawing, mixed media on paper, 38×50
I was particularly drawn to Bison Boy ( above ), perhaps for the way the figure is isolated starkly against the white paper background. He has been taken out of his environment, out of his element. His garments are in the somewhat effeminate style of his era, yet his bison head & skin seem to be reminding us to not forget the wildness within.
George’s favorite work in the show was Lynx Cap ( below ), as this figure retains a sprightly, little girl expression in contrast to the other figures’ more suppressed, even haughty countenances. She is still an innocent.
Lynx Cap, mixed media on paper with embroidery, 22×30Guidance Tree, mixed media on panel, 48×48
I could go on and on about these and talk about every one– they are so interesting, visually and spiritually. If you’d like to see more of Anne Siems’ work, please visit her website. If you’re in Seattle, I highly recommend a visit to Grover Thurston to see these in person, a truly stunning show.
Featured image is Heart Branches, mixed media on panel, 30×30. All images are via the artist’s website.
When I launched the Artsy Forager Facebook Featured Artist program this month, I was thrilled when Steve Williams agreed to be my inaugural artist. Like me, Steve is a native of our hometown, Jacksonville, Florida and has long been a fixture on the art scene there. Steve, along with his then gallery partner, Jim Draper, encouraged a young Artsy Forager to continue painting just out of college. Even though I allowed myself to get sidetracked, I never forgot their kindness.
Marco Polo, mixed media
As he splits his time between being president of his family’s successful sign business, Harbinger Sign, the gallery he has created at the business’s headquarters, Florida Mining, his own work as an artist AND being a devoted father of three, Steve is a busy soul. Which makes it all the more amazing to see the quality of thoughtful work he creates.
Jackson, mixed media
His experience in the sign business is evident in the strong graphic quality and balance evident in his compositions. His most recent Money series ( images above ) explores currency as symbolic of all that we strive for as a society yet ensnares and imprisons us.
Into the Goodly Land, mixed media on panel, 60×72
While I love this current direction, my personal favorite works of Steve’s are those that incorporate layers of texture and color in which graphic signs and images are enshrouded. These works, as well as the Money series, invite us in, asking us to look more closely at not only the world around us, but the motives and desires within us.
TV Exploration of Mars II, mixed media, 12×12Revolutionary Exploration: Shallow Discovery, mixed media, 11×19
I hope you’ll check out more of Steve Williams‘ work on his website. And do yourself a favor– don’t miss his blog, Making Cheddar, or his Twitter feed. He’s as hilarious as he is insightful.
Featured image is Grant, mixed media, 60×36. All images are via the artist’s website.
