I have coveted “Herringbone Floor” by Rachel Whiteread since I first laid eyes on it. Oh, how I wish I’d scraped the money together when the edition first appeared at Serpentine Gallery. Perhaps one day, the art gods will take pity on me and this artwork will find it’s way into my collection. Once can dream!
I love keeping tabs on former classmates from graduate school. I enjoy seeing what they are working on since we parted ways from the University of Iowa. Hayley Barker is someone that I am so happy for. We were not in the same program, but met through mutual friends. She has been busting out some seriously gorgeous paintings. Her latest work for me is spiritual, psychedelic and about nature. The way she applies each individual dab of paint to the canvas is reminiscent of Seurat. Looking at her work is a great way to start the week!
Thank goodness for PBS and Art21. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored seeing the artists that are featured on each episode. The thing I appreciate the most about this show is the variety of artists they are interviewing. A lot of the artists I’ve heard of. Quite a few I hadn’t. Josiah Mcelheny falls into the latter category.
Funny enough, I had seen his work before at the Des Moines Art Center. I thought it was interesting, but didn’t really spend a lot of time with the piece. After seeing his interview on Art21, I better appreciated it. I liked how he spoke about his investigation of reflective surfaces, modernism and infinite space. He is also very concerned with craft like glass-blowing. In the past, he had made a series of bottles mimicking designer dresses. They are elegant and gorgeous! On my next visit to the Des Moines Art Center, I will spend more time with his piece and enjoy the infinite reflection.
I live in Nebraska. The weather is unpredictable. It’s a way of life, but come on! It’s the middle of April and the newscaster said possible snow?! Where is Spring?! Where are the flowers?! I am escaping into one of Polly Apfelbaum’s prints for the day!
I found myself thinking about friendships last night. I thought about a former friend that I lived with for 9 years. He was fun, impish and a total Goth He introduced me to bands like Bauhaus, Nitzer Ebb and Sisters of Mercy. While we lived together, I was totally interested in the work of Joel Peter Witkin. His controversial photographs were haunting, sexually disturbing and uncomfortable at times to look at. I realized that I haven’t looked at Witkin’s work in a long time. I went on line and looked over some of his images. Yep, the photos are still haunting, sexually disturbing and uncomfortable at times to look at. The work that Witkin did is sometimes dismissed as being shock. He also got into some trouble with how he obtained some the bodies he used in his still-lifes. No matter the controversy, his work occupies a space in art that dares you to confront images of less than “perfect” bodies both alive and lifeless. The environments he creates for his subjects are sexually charged in taboo. His photos harken to the days of the traveling freak shows by photographing subjects sure to shock and amaze.