digital goes analog

Let's face it, the iphone blows all other smart phone cameras out of the water when it comes to quality and clarity of image. This is more or less set aside with he hipstamatic app. It allows you to mimic the unpredictable results of a plastic toy camera from the past.  You're able to choose what type of lens and film you want to use and what combination of the two to create certain aesthetics: warmer, cooler, distorted, grainy, etc. A friend recently asked why the anyone would want to use this when considering an iphone camera's real capabilities. My guess is novelty purposes.

Here are a couple shots I've taken over the past month or two. The cooler tones remind of how cold it's been so far this winter.

the Pop Stop got a face lift

I just finished designing the packaging for boxes of 4 pops in 3 flavors, which will be available soon locally in some Gainesville markets. Yay! Now you can enjoy these during the winter too.

Art Basel post #2 - The Maze

Another Basel post is overdue! Overall, I thought the actual Art Basel at the Convention Center was more serious, but not necessarily better than the show at Scope/Art Miami in the Design District. The Convention Center was this sprawling art-city filled with names I've only read about or experienced maybe once at the MoMA. The vibe was more conservative and even though there was work by artists ranging from Picasso to Vanessa Beecroft, I felt the quality of the work was more B grade, like their really great stuff was hiding on a wall somewhere in NYC. Not to bash it! It was really good, just not as evocative as I found the work in the Design District to be.

Getting lost in the maze of galleries was essential. I thought I'd throw up some names I managed to jot down from the overwhelming total.

I saw one giant C-print by Ryan McGinley that just floored me! I really love his work. He likes to photograph his skinny hipster friends in a playful and ethereal way. Luckily, the exact piece was the first one that popped up for me on his homepage. Check out his site here.

Olivia (Sparks), 2010

A series of paintings that comes to mind is by Juan Genoves. He paints aerial views of people in crowds resulting in cool, undulating masses. The paint is like 1/4 inch thick on the figures and makes actual texture on canvas.

Gotta love Rauschenberg! I saw at least 5-6 of these.

...and Frank Stella with his Black Series.

...and the ever creepy Mark Ryden

These next artists I picked up from the Art Miami tents at Wynwood. The work there seemed more current and experimental than the official Basel.

Jessica Backhaus

Erwin Wurm

Fat House

Fat Car

Lee Bontecou

Emi Avora

Eric Zener

I wish I had at least 2 weeks to spend inside those galleries. There was so much more! Unfortunately, Basel only spanned a weekend. Thank god, my amiga, Fiorela, snuck her camera in took a ton of photos to help aid in recalling SO MUCH ART. Check out her photography blog Ya Me Pueden Ver.

I was awed, disgusted, curious, apathetic, impressed, bored, confused, stunned. All of the above at some point. I'm looking forward to Basel 2011!

Art Basel post #1

Art Basel Miami this weekend was inspiration overload (as expected)!

I saw pieces from a San Francisco-based gallery by painter, Kelly Reemtsen. There's an unexpected quirkiness with the combination of every day tools and retro fashion. How about that disconcerting mix of pills and candy?

The volume of the paint she uses is fantastic.

More Basel to come!

Christo's islands

I drove past the islands in Biscayne Bay this weekend and wished that I was around to see them when the Christo surrounded them in 1983. He used pink woven polypropylene fabric extending 200 ft to follow the contours of the islands. The installation was meant to highlight the way in which the people of Miami live between the land and water. When large scale outdoor installation comes together like this, it makes you not just appreciate the work, but also how crazy ambitious it is!

These photos make my jaw drop. I can't imagine the effect of one in person.

how perfect-- self-portrait

photogram

I created this little amoeba-jelly fish last year. I have it hanging in my bedroom since it's calming to look at. There's actually a lot more negative space in the original, but I had to crop it to fit in the scanner.

A photogram is made without a camera. You place your objects directly on photo-sensitive paper and expose them to light. The paper is then run through a color processor to develop. The end result is a negative shadow with tones that depend on the the transparency of the objects used. In this case, I used paper collage cutouts, which is why such a range of colors came through.

hunger pains

I have a thing for alternative fabrics, which don't have to necessarily be real life, ready-to-wear by any means. In this series "Hunger Pains",  each model wears the meal they were craving. 15 designers took hours to create, cook, and assemble each one. Once completed, they were photographed by Ted Sabarese. Practicality aside, pretty freakin cool.

everything in its place

As an obsessively organized person,  I'd like to dedicate this post to things alike and neatly organized. My fondness for all things orderly has led me to take pictures like these.

Organized edibles:

Rubber ball typology:

One of my favorite installation artists uses only recycled materials to create magnificent, organized accumulations within the gallery space. Tara Donovan:

For more things neatly organized, check out these sites:

http://thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com/

http://www.featureshoot.com/2010/10/carl-kleiner-stockholm/

Spain from day to night

These were taken in 2009 in and around Barcelona.

hotel down the rabbit hole

The Italian fashion brand Moschino just opened this ethereal hotel in Milan. Predame per favori.

from the garden

homegrown eggplant, heirloom tomatos, and Kentucky pole beans. 

Guggenheim steps it up

The Guggenheim in NYC is both structurally stunning and packed with great art, but lately its been taking on whole new territory. Music, for one. This summer's Dark Sounds concert series featured Beirut, Andrew Bird and Cinematic Orchestra and 3 separate installation takeovers of the lower level to visually complement the music :::drool::: I took some bad quality video of Andrew Bird's performance in August. Cameras were prohibited, so I had to sneak this.

Newer territory? Pop culture video. YouTube Play recently announced their top 25 picks for creative videos to debut in a first-of-its-kind biennial at the Guggenheim. They were selected as the most innovative and unique video work created and distributed online over the past two years. If you have some time, make sure to check them out here. Not only is it groundbreaking that a fine art institution is opening its often crossed-arms to something new like ametuerish internet video. It is once again trying to blur that line between art and life. Thank you, Guggenheim.

doodles