by Wanda | Mar 26, 2013 | News
Currently, I am really interested in using different materials to make my work. I try to get inspiration from anything and everything. One thing I admire is what artists who work with paper can do. One artist I am totally vibing on is Jen Stark. Her work, Abyss, is pictured above. It’s made from cut paper, wood, foamcore and light. I’ve never seen any of her work in person, but the photos are fantastic! Her sculptural pieces are so fun and cool to look at. I imagine that her personality could be like a laid back, hippie love child. I write this because she mainly uses the bright intense colors of the rainbow. Make note artists, you just can’t go wrong when you utilize rainbows in some way!
by Wanda | Mar 24, 2013 | News
We all hit that point in our lives where we simply just don’t know what to aim for next. I am at my personal crossroads. I’ve accomplished some wonderful things in my art career so far, but I can’t seem to shake this nagging thought saying ‘What now?’ or ‘Is this it?’ I’ve found in recent years that the more active you are with showing your work, the smaller the art world gets. I met an artist living in Wyoming some time ago who told me that she will only show her work in any art venue once and then that’s it. Why keep showing in the same place? I get it. When it comes to venues, there really are only a finite amount of places worth showing in. I’ve yet to show my work in a major institution like the Guggenheim or Museum of Modern Art, but my work has been in some pretty great gallery and art spaces. Now I’m wondering if I’ve gone as far as I can with my work. I still have work that I want to make, but what else can I do or what else should I be doing?
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by Wanda | Mar 24, 2013 | News
Lately, no.
by Wanda | Mar 22, 2013 | News
I have tried blogging in the past and haven’t been successful. The reason is that I am not an avid writer. I have a lot of interests, but when it comes to regularly writing about these interests, I fall flat. I also don’t have a lot of accountability in my life, so it makes it doubly easy to slack. It is a new year and another chance to change my lazy ways. I have promised myself and my friend Cathy (she’s the mastermind that designed my site) that I would stay on top of my blog. What do I write about today?
I LOVE the porcelain figures of artist Shary Boyle. One of my favorites is Little Brown Bat pictured in this post. I got turned on to her work by another artist, Karen Miranda whom I met years ago when I had a show in Toronto. Boyle’s work is creepy – sexy in a good way. I haven’t been to her site in a while and took a gander this morning. Her work is going to the Venice Biennale this year. Yeah, Shary!
by Wanda | Mar 21, 2013 | News
If you really enjoyed and supported the work of an artist only to find out later that the artist has a personal point of view that offends you, do you no longer like the art?
I am referring to a recent article I read about ceramicist Charles Kraft. I vaguely knew his name and had to look up his work via the Interweb. Yes, now I remember. He uses a lot of Nazi imagery in his work like the one in the picture for this post. I never thought much more about his work. I think the guns are cool and his work in general has this kind of immature boy imagery mixed with a high command of craft. The hand painted porcelain is appealing. According to Jen Graves, art critic for Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger, Kraft disclosed that for the past few years, he has been a white nationalist and Holocaust denier. Now, I am one to always be a bit naturally skeptical of anyone that uses such strong symbols of hate in their work. If you are choosing to cover your work in swastikas or make contemporary vessels of an individual associated with genocide, I tend to think that maybe you’re using this imagery in an ironic way. You must be making some sort of social critique on racism, right?. After reading the article, how can you look at Kraft’s work any other way except for what it is and probably had been from the start – it’s simple hate propaganda. I won’t go into all the things revealed about Kraft, but you can read the article here:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/charles-krafft-is-a-white-nationalist-who-believes-the-holocaust-is-a-deliberately-exaggerated-myth/Content?oid=15995245
So, what do you do if you like an artist’s work and then you find out they have some outrageous belief or behavior that you find completely offensive? Do you get rid of the work? Do you keep it even though now when you look at it, knowing what you know about the artist, you want to vomit? Maybe Kraft is saying this is just some ploy to garner attention. Maybe he has always been a white nationalist and was able to use art as the vehicle for his political agenda. You can’t possibly know the political viewpoints of every artist and if you did, you’d probably enjoy a lot less art. Thanks for that reminder, hater!
