Beth Ann Wilson has a very definite style that I’m kind of on the fence about. However, I love her subject matter.

“Studio”
Oils
16×20

Again it is mundane still lifes, not in the techniques or painting style but of the content itself. I really feel like if you went into her room or studio that this is EXACTLY the kind of mess that you’d see.

Viao
Oils
12×16

I think that the style that I’m so iffy on works very well with the subject matter. Aside for feeling like I’m looking directly at her own environment, I get the feeling of dirty, crazy chaos that is almost expected of an artists environment.

Mirrorland
Oils
11×14

However, like I mentioned before her brush strokes and aggressive painting really help emphiasize the crazy mess that clutters up ones space.

Green and Purple Still Life
Oils 6×9

Antenna
Oils
14×18

What also just really tickles me about these still lifes are the lack of the pretty pink flowers and the normal ornamental items that seem to populate this genre of painting. These are paintings of her room, they could be paintings of my room, or a corner of my room where I throw everything until I decide I can’t live with the mess any longer. These are the items in our everyday lives that we look at and don’t even think of twice.
Clutter on a desk is now a celebration of disorganization and the items themselves, not the mess that you’ve been promising yourself you’d clean up.
This could be anybody’s room, hidden secret or general life, and coupled with her style really drives the point home of glorious mess.

While looking at a lot of Baltimore artists’ work, you can begin to see trends and fads within the arts community, and sometimes it’s good to get a breath of fresh air, and see what other people around the country are doing.

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy is an artist out of Colorado and works with cast urethane or polyester resin to create wall hanging sculptures and installations.  They are whimsical and bright, but still very organic in shape.  They remind me of candies, but her scale is much larger.

Candy Ass
2005

Archipelago
2005

Terrain
2005

Hoochie
2006

I have a special place in my heart for installation work and these are very interesting to me in the continuous variations of shape and form. They almost seem like they could be weeds or crystals growing on a wall, or a mold, but a pretty mold. Which is an intersting juxaposition of something that no one likes, yet her work is visually bright and cheery.

When Lauri first emailed me her link to her web site and I saw these, I immediately thought of two different artists. And although I haven’t spoken to her about it, I think it would be funny if atleast one of these were an influence on her work.

Artist #1- Roxy Paine. Roxy has been in numerous magazines and articles as of late since he just installed “Conjoined” in New York. But his work that has alwasys intregued me has been his automatic sculpture maker.

SCUMAK

SCUMAK Detail

These bulbus shapes are exactly what I thought of when I saw Lauri’s work.

Artist #2- Kaiser Suidan
Kaiser is a Detroit artist who is well known for his ceramic and glass wall installations, and he was the second artist that I thought of.

Laurie’s work is fairly begnin, it doesn’t strike me as having much emotion in them, it doesn’t scream out a message, or try to get someone thinking on a different level, and I can respect that. It is art for arts sake.

Sometimes a work of art can be so horrible it’s beautiful. Horrible in the sense of it’s emotional impact on the viewer. Ryan emgE definately works through emotions and transfers them fantasticaly into illustrations and drawings.

Me visiting Keri, my sister, in the hospital, she was 19, I was 9.

I love and I hate this drawing. I hate it because of the anguish and pain that just stabs you in the heart the moment you look at it. The use of color is overwhelmingly effective and raw. This is one of the most powerful drawings I have ever seen, and I don’t think anyone needs to know the context in which it was made to sympathize with the emotions it gives off. I love it because I hate it.

Stampede
19″x24″

This image is more subtle and calm. But it still reminds me of a worn down feeling, like stress. The elephants, in my mind, are small but heavy duty issues trampling down the figure. Though the figure still stands strong and is rigid, I still can feel the heaviness of it all.

not yet, but already
19″x24″

Again definately more subtle than “Me visiting Keri”, but with all of the movement of tiny little winged amphibious looking animals it makes my skin crawl in a percieved tactile sense. I imagine the figure is standing there as quietly as possible in this awkward position, trying not to move or disturb the commotion around it. Almost as if the threat of a worse creepy feeling would ensue. (flash back to “Fear Factor” and all of the gross stunts that people had to do with tons of insects, ugh.)
It makes my stomach turn.

I know that people would ask “so you don’t like the drawings?” but that’s not true. I really do like these. I think that because the affect that they have on me is so strong that whether the emotion is good or bad is irrelevant. Merely the ability of the work to evoke such a strong response is my basis of rating. I could sit there and cry for hours at “Me visiting Keri” and still hang it in my apartment.
It’s all about what moves you.

Jennifer Hubbards portraits are snap shots taken from a persons everyday life.  The translation from film to painting puts emphiasis on the subject and less on the context of the original snap shot.  However, one really doesn’t need to see the original context of the paintings, since they are so powerful in their portrayal of the commonplace.

Natalia at Grandpa’s Funeral
oil on canvas

Jonna and Ilse During the Snowstorm
oil on canvas

These paintings, because they are taken from the ordinary lives of people, become intimate glimpses of someone in their surroundings.  They are voyaristic in that sense, but a reflection on our own lives.

Judy (Green Tea Mask)
oil on canvas

Catarina on Her Bed
oil on canvas

 They are an affermation that no matter how complex we think we are, or portray ourselves to the public, in our own space we are all the same.  The routines that we go through everyday are the same as everyone elses. 

Jennifer Hubbard was schooled at the Mitchell School of Fine Art and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

I tend to look at digital art work quite a bit just to see what artists of our time have done with the technology available.  It’s quite interesting where everyone goes, and how each person uses it.

Tom Brown is a Baltimore artist who recieved his Bachelors in History from Towson and his Masters in Information Technology from Columbia.  It’s interesting to see an artist rise from a completely non-arts scholastic background and really utilize their schooling to create inovative works of art.

“Taking Over #8″
MS Paint
2007

This is from his “Taking Over” series. It’s the quiet minimalism that I’ve always been drawn to. It takes me to a calm, meditative state, where if looked at long enough begin to trick and move the eye.

“mantra-totem-mandala-spirits-animism”
MS Paint
2007

This one is less my taste but the energy, to me, is pulsating off the image. It also reminds me of areal views of city buildings and streets, or computer chips. (I’m sorry, I just realized I started thinking of the intro to the movie “Hackers”, ugh.)

untitled work in progress

This is a very nice blend between the two above images. The repetitive shapes are still present as well as an interesting palette, but it doesn’t scream as loud as “mandala”.
Tom has another peice in progress much like this one, and I really can’t wait to see what else he does to them, and what others he comes up with.

Call them pretty abstracts if you will, but there is something to be said for work that simply evokes an emotional response simply on its aesthetics.

In a world where everything is a loud statement, sometimes the most powerful and moving are the ones that say nothing at all.

He’s probably one of the most knowledgeable and intellegent artists in the Detroit area, and should be a curator of a museum somewhere.  But he’s just having a show of his work at Detroit Museum of New Art. 

I could have picked any Baltimore Area artist to write about and I will definately do so in the future, but I thought John Cynar would bring some interesting thoughts and ideas to everyone.

There is a dichotomy of concept and composition that John nails sqaurely on the head.  Notions of community, and communication in the past and of today ring clear. 

Churches and community buildings, where people interact physically are juztaposed with cold radio towers, cell phone towers and radars.

For me these are photographs that get me all riled up and agitated at the state of life today, and I’ll go off ranting and raving about people on their cell phones at resturants. But, before I do, I think these are really great images and should seriously be considered. For more information on John Cynar please visit the Detroit MONA.

When thinking of the artist, identity comes out as one of the biggest issues faced.  You are your work, you work is you in one way or another.

Eva and Franco Mattes, aka 0100101110101101.ORG , and their work in the Second Life’s detached reality is a really interesting look at identity and who we are as opposed to who we want to be.  In Second Life avatars of physical people can be anything from people, to birds, to a box.  The idea of identity is skewed into a whole new form, where you may be your art, but your art could be anything, or anybody but you.

Eva and Franco Mattes’ Portraits are less of portraits, but intimate and personal snap shots of a projected image of a physical person. 

Amy Weber   2006
Digital print on canvas
36 x 48 inches
Courtesy Postmasters Gallery

 For more information on artists Eva and Franco Mattes visit http://www.0100101110101101.org.  

 Josh Smith  is another artist who looks at the issue of identity, in a much different aspect.  I never liked Josh Smith’s work, I didn’t like the way he spoke about it either, but again a different aspect of the identity issue.

Untitled
2005
Oil on canvas
152.4 x 121.9 cm

I check back often to Ken’s Art Gallery, I once visited while in Florence, Italy.  Actually it was the only contemporary art gallery that I could find with in decent walking distance of all the antiquity.  Anyways, this peice really struck me, I started to giggle actually, and then felt really bad about it. 

I really like the washed out lonliness that the sculpture invokes.  It’s a definate contrast from the content of the painted shadow.  This was the only image of Viola Granucci’s on Ken’s website, but if you find more let me know, I’d love to post more and discuss them!