SOFA

And my last post for this weekend...

I ALSO went to SOFA, Show of Folk and Outsider Art at the Navy Pier. This event was kind of overwhelming at first when walking in, with all of the booths in this huge space, but after the first 5 minutes I became accustomed. There was definitely more sculpture than anything else in the show, but I felt it there was a good balance between all the mediums presented within sculpture. One of the artists shown was Akio Takamori who makes wonderful ceramic sculptures, usually always of figures. I do have to say he is a professor at my alma mater, University of Washington and I had to give him kudos and represent my school! :) I would have to say my favorite part about his pieces is the way he uses color. His application is almost like water colors, very thin and fluid giving off a lighter, muted hue. He is a wonderful person and makes great work. If you have time tomorrow go to the Navy Pier to see the SOFA show and check out Takamori's work. The last day is tomorrow!!!!

MFA Open Studios

Also on Friday night I went to the open MFA studios where I was very inspired and impressed with most of the work, but I also felt let down at the same time in other cases. During this evening that was extremely crowded and slightly uncomfortable, I stumbled upon Adrienne Tarver's studio. She is a painter who also works with paper and fiber on canvas. I enjoyed her work because it was figural but not just representational paintings. She used the silhouettes of the figures, set in a specific setting (ex. a girl sitting on a swing in a yard) and within the the silhouette she depicts a pattern. These images take you back to your childhood and memories arise. Its really quite nice.

Check her stuff out at: www.adriennetarver.com

Faculty Projects

This Friday I went to the opening reception for the Faculty Projects show and I have to say my favorite artist was Gorden Powell. He created beautiful patterns using pencil, ink, and tempura on mylar. His line is quite exquisite as its not too bold or too soft; they felt very figural to me. Two thumbs up for Mr. Powell. Go see the show in the Columbus building. :)

Gerhard Richter

I was excited to see Richter posted on the Top 100 People in the art world list. I have always been fascinated by not only his work but his process. Richter is painter but he uses photography as the outline for images he paints. He also keeps what he calls "Atlas" which is a extensive collection of images he has taken as inspiration for his paintings. Often the viewer can find a photograph that looks almost exactly like the painting. Very few painters work in this way, it appears Richter does because he paints in the style of photographs, he utilizes depth of field, blur and sharp focus. In addition he paints his images to replicate the way that light reads on film. His paintings become oddly liminal, they use painting to reference photography to reference painting. He also is very transparent about his process he shows not only his paintings but the photographic explorations that lead to them. Both are displayed as art objects, and Richter is very transparent about their connection. On his website when you access one of his paintings the atlas page that holds the images which inspired it pops up, and visa versa. Richter wants the viewer to understand the connection between the two, and his process.

http://www.gerhard-richter.com/art/atlas/detail.php?number=445&paintID=7668

the other day I went to the West Loop Gallery area and came across this collaborative exhibit at the Western Exhibition for the Miller & Shellabarger show http://www.westernexhibitions.com/current/index.html. The participating artists, Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger, not only creative partners, but are also husband and husband, an issue which they explored in their Miller & Shellabarger show. Even though the aesthetics and stylization was very reminiscent of the Victorian Era, the show still felt very contemporary. This exhibition was so wonderful to experience and SO romantic and sentimental, but in the best way possible. I highly recommend going to see this show. A couple highlights for me were the sliver-plate couple portraits, where the husband-husband couple (mind you they look like biker dudes) is posed together in a photographic series that reads like hyper romantic couple portraits in gardens and on low hanging tree branches that were taken during the Victorian Era. They are quite intriguing and beautiful. i also adored the monogrammed pillows. Please go see this show next time you are in West Loop its only up until Nov 13th!

art world top 100

Jerry Saltz (position: #75) wrote an article about being on The Power 100 list (read it under "features"). It's about how he knows this list means art is all about how much money you have, being popular, etc., and how he loves being on the list but it's not a big deal. The thing written about him also mentions he has 3,963 friends on Facebook, which is a lot, but he probably accepts everybody who asks him.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman, who ranks No.27 in the 2010 Power 100 List, is one of my favorite contemporary artists. I know Cindy from Art: 21.Most of her works are photography of herself wearing different makeup and costumes. My favorite two series of her works are clowns and social portrays. In the clown series, she wears different kinds of clown makeup. Though the clowns suppose to entertain me, when I look at them, they make me feel there is something behind them and I cannot trust them at all. What’s more, I guess it is not easy for a person to have different clowns makeup and let the audiences believe they are not the same person under the clown makeup. In the series of social portray, Cindy dresses up as people living in different social levels. One of my favorites is a woman wearing a red sweater under a black jacket, sitting in front of a building. The building appears like a fancy hotel to me. Apparently the background building is added after taking the woman’s photo during the post-production period. I can tell the woman is rich from her hairstyle and scurf. Her winkles and lower abdomen show her age and the gesture she poses, makes me feel she is the center of her family. The other thing I found interesting about Cindy is：she leaves her works untitled. To me, it is a good thing. Without descriptive language on her images, I can rely myself to develop narratives as an essential component of appreciating the work. Her playful mixture of camp and horror, heightened by gritty realism—provides a new lens through which to examine societal assumptions surrounding gender and the valuation of concept over style.