NYC [Art] Recap

Baby steps. I'll post at least once a month and work up to higher frequencies of blogging.

On Tuesday my boyfriend and I returned from a trip to New York City to visit some friends and see Beth Cavener Stichter's opening at Claire Oliver Gallery. Chasen (the boyfriend) had just gotten back from a two-month long internship with her a few weeks ago and since we have friends in the city we decided we would make it a trip. I had to take advantage of the opportunity to see her work in person, internet photos just don't do three-dimensional art justice-- or any art, for that matter. I have nothing intelligent to say about her work other than the fact that it's absolutely gorgeous.

And unsettling. I don't normally take photos at gallery openings so I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures there. I'm so glad I did, though. Have a look-see:

More (higher quality) images of her work can be viewed on her website. Downstairs in the gallery were more visual goodies. The pieces that caught my attention in particular were those by Kate Clark and Bernardi Roig.

Work by Kate Clark.

Bernardi Roig

Up close view of the burn and embellishment.

Such unnerving work. I love it. We also visited the Met-- sadly, where I did not bring my camera-- and Neue Galerie where, unfortunately, I did bring my camera and was not allowed to take pictures. I highly recommend anyone with the slightest interest in German and Austrian Secessionist Art visit Neue Galerie if you have the opportunity. The museum is a beautiful mansion that houses works by Otto Dix, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Sheile and Gustav Klimt-- just to name a few. Not only did I get to see work by artists that I greatly admire but also be exposed to ones I hadn't heard of (or at least thought about since some of my art history courses. Man, do I need to brush up on that stuff) like Emil Nolde, Lyonel Feninger and Alfred Kubin. The place also made me want to get back into the printmaking studio more than ever...

just a minute.

I'm doing not-so-good on keeping this blog updated-- sorry. I fail.

One of the reasons I haven't been updating is that I haven't been able to properly document my work, and an art blog with no pictures is kind of boring. My little Cybershot seems to be on it's last legs so I've been keeping an eye out for an affordable DSLR. I'm pretty limited to just scanning in drawings and small pieces at the moment, and I don't usually work within the size limitations of a scanner bed. I've got a couple of models in mind for my next paintings, too, so the sooner I can find a new camera the better (financial aid going through would also be a big help...).

My very last semester of college has begun, and it's off to a slow start. I'm having mixed feelings about it-- sad because I'll miss the place, excitement because I'm ready to get away from it, and of course, fear of the "real world"... I'm only taking two classes which should allow me to focus on my body of work. So far I haven't started any of my big pieces, but I've done a few studies and tons of sketching. I've got five more of the animal-headed women planned and I also intend on doing a short series of etchings following a similar concept. I desperately need to get back into the printmaking studio.

Why does getting started have to be so damned hard? Do you guys have that problem?

The Bounty, 12"x16", oil and acrylic on bedsheet, 2009

This piece was in that show I mentioned last entry at WonderRoot. A lot of the pieces I worked on this summer explored the unfortunate dilemma of mortality. That's another thing I've got to work on-- an artist statement. Mine are always awful.

Annie

After class last Friday we sat outside drinking coffee for at least three hours. Annie was my unknowing victim.

Now if only I could work on something more substantial than sketches and studies.

This summer has been so busy that it almost doesn't feel like a "break." I'd been working on a few pieces for MINT Gallery's Annual Benefit at WonderRoot, which closes with a reception featuring live music on Saturday, July 25th, 2009. I'm excited :)

July has been by far the most eventful and busiest month of this year, and not in the best ways. However, we have moved out of our craptastic apartment and will be finally taking a real vacation this weekend to South Carolina... After I put the final touches on an artist statement today I can relax.

It's been a little while! The semester is finally over (I have mixed feelings about it) and I'm attempting at staying in the groove of creating things. Last Tuesday Chasen modeled at Gaijin studios for their life drawing sessions so I tagged along. I loved it. All I had brought were my watercolors and some crappy mechanical pencils-- which I love to draw with, btw. By the time it was all over I was wishing that I was able to find my sketchbox with all my charcoal, though.

2 minutes.

20 minutes.

20 minutes.

20 minutes.

progress.

I was in the studio from 9:30 am until 6:30pm today.

I'm a lot happier with this piece than I was before. Oil > acrylic. Or I'm just not very skilled in the ways of acrylic. I mostly use it for a quick and dirty underpainting (as seen in the previous post, I think. Did I post an acrylic version of this painting? I hope not, it was pretty terrible.) There's still some tweaking left to do, particularly in the antlers. They've gotten lost in the pattern of the sheets.

This next piece is almost finished. It needs something else, though, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

Re-purposed Bedsheets, acrylic, shellac and a window. This is for Mint Gallery's Windows III exhibition taking place April 25th.

I guess I felt pretty productive today.

Here goes nothin'

First real post. I guess I'm going to jump right in. So... here's some stuff:

Underpainting in acrylic. Those are vintage bedsheets. I couldn't decide if I wanted to add acrylic resin later, so I held off on the oils.

With oil paint. I decided against the shiny resin in favor of buttery oils and rich color.

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