March 5, 2012 • 1 note • idaapplebroog.com

Ida Applebroog is the second artist I chose to profile for this week. Applebroog is an American artist, born in the Bronx in 1929 and living and working in New York today. Applebroog specializes in drawing and painting, often focusing on the human figure and various distortions thereof. Her work covers a variety of themes such as sex gender, personal and political power struggles, and the media/violence. I really like how there is always a clear humanity present in Applebroog’s work, even if the figures she creates are very plain, lacking faces, or otherwise somewhat inhuman. I feel like her work always conveys a really strong emotion when you view it too. 

March 5, 2012 • mayalin.com

For this week the first artist I researched is Chinese-American artist Maya Lin. Lin was born in Athens, Ohio (1959) and is known most famously for her work on the Vietnam War Memorial which rocketed her in to the spotlight when he was a senior at Yale.  However, Lin works on a variety of different projects such as sculpture, parks, monuments, and other architectural projects. 

I really enjoy Lin’s ability to convey important ideas and concepts in a way that makes the viewer feel such strong emotions. Many over the years have testified to the emotional power of the Vietnam War Memorial. With this post I have included several images from Lin’s “What is Missing” memorial (2010). I really enjoy this series first because I think it hits on a very important issue, our environment. But the way it is executed is what really intrigues me. By placing these environmental images in urban areas and asking “what is missing?” it uses the contrast of the image, the question, and the environment to make the viewer truly feel the lack of these natural features in the urban environments humans have made for themselves.    

February 13, 2012 • pinocchioisonfire.org
Mark Bradford is an American artist born in LA in 1961. Bradford’s work uses scavenged materials to create a commentary about urban life and race relations, creating giant collages that show the different type of personal networks that emerge in daily city life. I feel the way in which Bradford executes his work is really cool — he uses materials that he finds in the environment that he is trying to communicate about with his work. When you look at Bradford’s pieces it is likely they may look like organized chaos, which is also very much what cities, and the complex systems within them are like. Click on the photo to be redirected to Mark Bradford’s personal website. 

Mark Bradford is an American artist born in LA in 1961. Bradford’s work uses scavenged materials to create a commentary about urban life and race relations, creating giant collages that show the different type of personal networks that emerge in daily city life. I feel the way in which Bradford executes his work is really cool — he uses materials that he finds in the environment that he is trying to communicate about with his work. When you look at Bradford’s pieces it is likely they may look like organized chaos, which is also very much what cities, and the complex systems within them are like.

Click on the photo to be redirected to Mark Bradford’s personal website. 

February 13, 2012 • 1 note • pbs.org
Janine Antoni is performance/sculpture artist originally from the Bahamas, although she both studied and currently lives in the U.S. Arguably the most interesting part of Antoni’s work is that her body is the main tool used to create her sculptures, using her teeth to chip away at materials, or maybe using her hair to paint such as in the included photo. I feel like this really brings a whole different level to the ‘artist experience.’ Seeing the photo above makes me think about how something, like painting, even though one may be thinking of it as a very direct way of translating a thought or emotion, is still mediated by the tools one must use to create the artwork, such as a paintbrush. I also think that in using her own body, Antoni expresses how all artists put some part of themselves into their work, she just shows it in an extremely litteral way.  Click on the photo to be redirected to Janine Antoni’s Art21 page. :]

Janine Antoni is performance/sculpture artist originally from the Bahamas, although she both studied and currently lives in the U.S. Arguably the most interesting part of Antoni’s work is that her body is the main tool used to create her sculptures, using her teeth to chip away at materials, or maybe using her hair to paint such as in the included photo. I feel like this really brings a whole different level to the ‘artist experience.’ Seeing the photo above makes me think about how something, like painting, even though one may be thinking of it as a very direct way of translating a thought or emotion, is still mediated by the tools one must use to create the artwork, such as a paintbrush. I also think that in using her own body, Antoni expresses how all artists put some part of themselves into their work, she just shows it in an extremely litteral way. 

Click on the photo to be redirected to Janine Antoni’s Art21 page. :]

February 6, 2012 • 4 notes • art21.org
Next for this week, I researched Robert Adams, an American artist born in 1937. Adams works in photography, using black and white photographs to show the clash between man and nature, although rarely using actual human subjects. Often the beauty of his photographs is juxtaposed with the dark relationship man has with nature which Adams works to critique. I think the issue Adams chooses to address with his work is extremely important, as the marks human society have made on the planet are so frequently overlooked. Considering most people have lived their whole lives being very familiar with buildings, highways, etc. it makes sense that these features would strike many as being natural, even though they are not. Adams’ work takes images and objects that would be considered by many to be normal, and singles them out and puts them in a figurative frame, compelling the viewer to think more carefully about why this seemingly everyday scene is worth a second look. Click on the image to be redirected to Robert Adams’ Art21 site. 

Next for this week, I researched Robert Adams, an American artist born in 1937. Adams works in photography, using black and white photographs to show the clash between man and nature, although rarely using actual human subjects. Often the beauty of his photographs is juxtaposed with the dark relationship man has with nature which Adams works to critique. I think the issue Adams chooses to address with his work is extremely important, as the marks human society have made on the planet are so frequently overlooked. Considering most people have lived their whole lives being very familiar with buildings, highways, etc. it makes sense that these features would strike many as being natural, even though they are not. Adams’ work takes images and objects that would be considered by many to be normal, and singles them out and puts them in a figurative frame, compelling the viewer to think more carefully about why this seemingly everyday scene is worth a second look.

Click on the image to be redirected to Robert Adams’ Art21 site. 

February 6, 2012 • 13 notes • art21.org
“Nude With Starcut” First for this week, I discovered and did some research on Marina Abramović. Abramović is a female performance artist from Belgrade, Yugoslavia (born 1946). Her performance works frequently involve repetition, endurance, and pain (see the star actually cut into her stomach in the image) as a way of pushing her own limits to learn more about herself, transform herself, and expand her own consciousness. The often somewhat violent, morose, or pain-related aspects of her work are frequently her ways of expressing such larger themes like life and death. I think her work is pretty intense. The whole idea of using your body as the artwork (and potentially harming your body in the process) to express larger ideas as well as go on your own spiritual journey is pretty crazy to me (crazy in the mind-boggling way, not the I-think-she’s-crazy way). To use these types of methods in artwork must take the emotional experience that so many artists go through and make it much more intense/litteral. Using these types of methods also takes what would normally be the inner feelings Abramović has, and puts those feelings in a much more litteral/physical form that thus has more resonance with the audience viewing it.  Click on the photo to be redirected to Abramović’s Art21 page, which is where I also obtained most of the biographical information. 

“Nude With Starcut”

First for this week, I discovered and did some research on Marina Abramović. Abramović is a female performance artist from Belgrade, Yugoslavia (born 1946). Her performance works frequently involve repetition, endurance, and pain (see the star actually cut into her stomach in the image) as a way of pushing her own limits to learn more about herself, transform herself, and expand her own consciousness. The often somewhat violent, morose, or pain-related aspects of her work are frequently her ways of expressing such larger themes like life and death. I think her work is pretty intense. The whole idea of using your body as the artwork (and potentially harming your body in the process) to express larger ideas as well as go on your own spiritual journey is pretty crazy to me (crazy in the mind-boggling way, not the I-think-she’s-crazy way). To use these types of methods in artwork must take the emotional experience that so many artists go through and make it much more intense/litteral. Using these types of methods also takes what would normally be the inner feelings Abramović has, and puts those feelings in a much more litteral/physical form that thus has more resonance with the audience viewing it. 

Click on the photo to be redirected to Abramović’s Art21 page, which is where I also obtained most of the biographical information. 

January 30, 2012 • littlewoodenhell
Second for this week I am profiling Kolbeinn Karlsson a 28 year old artist from Malmo, Sweden. (Recommended to me by our GTF Sam!) Turns out, Karlsson’s work is pretty amazing, relying on line, intense detail, and color palettes that look like something out of a disturbed childhood dream to create images in a style somewhat reminiscent of many underground comics. (Which makes sense, given that he also writes Graphic Novels!) I really enjoy how each of his works feels like its own, slightly disturbing, universe and how the people he draws often dance the line between looking like humans and beasts. Click the photo, or go to http://littlewoodenhell.tumblr.com/ to view his tumblr. 

Second for this week I am profiling Kolbeinn Karlsson a 28 year old artist from Malmo, Sweden. (Recommended to me by our GTF Sam!) Turns out, Karlsson’s work is pretty amazing, relying on line, intense detail, and color palettes that look like something out of a disturbed childhood dream to create images in a style somewhat reminiscent of many underground comics. (Which makes sense, given that he also writes Graphic Novels!) I really enjoy how each of his works feels like its own, slightly disturbing, universe and how the people he draws often dance the line between looking like humans and beasts. Click the photo, or go to http://littlewoodenhell.tumblr.com/ to view his tumblr. 

January 30, 2012 • 2 notes • charmaineolivia.com
‘Amara’ 30”x40” oil on wood panel For this week I am first discussing an artist named Charmaine Olivia. Olivia is a female artist from San Francisco. The majority of her work is either in ink or oil, and many of her oil paintings are done on wood panels rather than typical canvas. Her work frequently juxtaposes traditional beauty with more morose elements, often with the subject being a beautiful girl who has multiple eyes, skeletal features, etc. For me as a viewer, looking at Olivia’s work makes me think about what constitutes our traditional standards of beauty, the place of women in our society, and what a loaded concept our traditional standards of beauty are and how that affects many women mentally. Anyway, everyone reading should check out more of her gorgeous work by clicking on the picture to go to her website, or by following her on tumblr at: http://charmaineolivia.tumblr.com/

‘Amara’ 30”x40” oil on wood panel

For this week I am first discussing an artist named Charmaine Olivia. Olivia is a female artist from San Francisco. The majority of her work is either in ink or oil, and many of her oil paintings are done on wood panels rather than typical canvas. Her work frequently juxtaposes traditional beauty with more morose elements, often with the subject being a beautiful girl who has multiple eyes, skeletal features, etc. For me as a viewer, looking at Olivia’s work makes me think about what constitutes our traditional standards of beauty, the place of women in our society, and what a loaded concept our traditional standards of beauty are and how that affects many women mentally. Anyway, everyone reading should check out more of her gorgeous work by clicking on the picture to go to her website, or by following her on tumblr at: http://charmaineolivia.tumblr.com/

January 23, 2012 • 9 notes • thomasdoyle.net
The Reprisal, Mixed media,10 x 12 inches diameter, 2006 The other artist I’m choosing to profile for this week is Thomas Doyle. I love Doyle’s work (here in particular I am talking about his “Reclamation” series) for how it uses an unexpected and typically innocent media to show something so morbid. With this piece, it makes me think of the moments in life that have traditionally been commemorated or idealized, and how in many ways those moments are not consistent with: a) what the majority of life is actually like and b) the moments that are idealized (or at least glamorized) in modern media today. This piece also makes me think of how most children will be exposed to the idea of murder through T.V. or videogames, yet seeing that same idea in the form of something that looks like a children’s toy is much more disarming. Why does the media through which we receive an idea effect how we view that idea? Anyway, Thomas Doyle is a sweet modern artist full of way more cool, quirky stuff like the piece above that is stimulating for both the eyes and the mind. As usual, just click on the picture to be re-directed to his website. 

The Reprisal, Mixed media,10 x 12 inches diameter, 2006

The other artist I’m choosing to profile for this week is Thomas Doyle. I love Doyle’s work (here in particular I am talking about his “Reclamation” series) for how it uses an unexpected and typically innocent media to show something so morbid. With this piece, it makes me think of the moments in life that have traditionally been commemorated or idealized, and how in many ways those moments are not consistent with: a) what the majority of life is actually like and b) the moments that are idealized (or at least glamorized) in modern media today. This piece also makes me think of how most children will be exposed to the idea of murder through T.V. or videogames, yet seeing that same idea in the form of something that looks like a children’s toy is much more disarming. Why does the media through which we receive an idea effect how we view that idea?

Anyway, Thomas Doyle is a sweet modern artist full of way more cool, quirky stuff like the piece above that is stimulating for both the eyes and the mind. As usual, just click on the picture to be re-directed to his website. 

January 23, 2012 • 3 notes • banksy.co.uk
For this week I decided to first talk about the artist Banksy. (Click the photo for his website!) Banksy is basically a household name at this point, but for a long time I’ve really enjoyed his work and how it combines his bold, graphic style with political issues and a cheeky sense of humor. I also have to admit being intrigued by the mystery regarding his identity.  The image I’ve included with this post is a piece Banksy painted on the wall dividing the occupied West Bank territory and Israel. Location is often a huge part of Banksy’s work, and this piece is no exception. I just find this image so incredibly poignant — emphasizing how the presence of the spanning wall prevents so many Palestinians from living a life that could be considered ‘normal’ (with that normal life being symbolized perhaps by the living room scene), showing the beautiful homeland just on the other side of that wall, and symbolizing the peace that could could be achieved once both the conflicts that have caused the wall to be put in place and the wall itself are no longer existant. 

For this week I decided to first talk about the artist Banksy. (Click the photo for his website!) Banksy is basically a household name at this point, but for a long time I’ve really enjoyed his work and how it combines his bold, graphic style with political issues and a cheeky sense of humor. I also have to admit being intrigued by the mystery regarding his identity. 

The image I’ve included with this post is a piece Banksy painted on the wall dividing the occupied West Bank territory and Israel. Location is often a huge part of Banksy’s work, and this piece is no exception. I just find this image so incredibly poignant — emphasizing how the presence of the spanning wall prevents so many Palestinians from living a life that could be considered ‘normal’ (with that normal life being symbolized perhaps by the living room scene), showing the beautiful homeland just on the other side of that wall, and symbolizing the peace that could could be achieved once both the conflicts that have caused the wall to be put in place and the wall itself are no longer existant.