4-11-10 Artist Blog, Christopher Reiger

Christopher Reiger

"My work is principally concerned with contemporary man's mutable conception of Nature." As a child, "I anthropomorphized animals and cast them as key players in an epic production of which I was a part... As I matured, however, my childhood love of nature evolved into a fascination with biology and ethology, an intellectual ontogenesis like that impelled by the European Enlightenment."

"Incidentally, we've realized that the divide between the imagination and reason is unnatural: We learn an increasing number of facts about Nature, we understand ourselves to be apart from it, and our experience of it is therefore less complete."

"My artwork is born of this apparent opposition. The paintings are celebratory hybrids of myth, natural history, and science; the world they picture stretches between the tidy "truth" and the messy question. They depict a world in flux, a Nature imploding and dissolving. But this dissolution is also an opening of the senses, the seepage of magic and mystery into the picture. The drawings are poetic vignettes that explore the same ideas and questions."

The above are the highlights of Christopher Reiger's artist statement. http://www.christopherreiger.com/statement.html


Synesthesia #1, 2008

This was the first piece of Reiger's that I first stumbled upon at http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/seeing_antlers_feeling_dendrites/. The article explains the fascinating condition of Synesthesia and how art can give the masses a glance into its world of meaning.


Didelphis Virginiana (Virginia's Double Womb), 2006


Canis Lupis (Dog wolf), 2006

In his 2006 work, Reiger combines drawing, scientific classification, and words in his drawings.

4-5-10 Artist Post, ROA

ROA

ROA is a street artist also known as the Gent Zoo Keeper and the King of Doel Jungle who hand paints large black and white murals of animals: rats, pigs, rabbits, and cows (from what I can find). He often targets decaying urban areas, which began with the outlying abandoned buildings and warehouses in the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium (home town). He replicates animals found in the area and seeks to embody their amazing ability to adapt to urban environments and become scavengers in order to survive.

ROA's artwork went global when he ventured to urban New York, London, Berlin, Warsaw, and Paris to paint his often depicted cross-sectioned animals and city scavengers.

A majority of ROA's work shows a transformation, whether it be through his painting of the animal or emphasized in the environment.

A piece that hung in the Gallerie Itinerrance in Paris earlier this year

[From the same gallery as above] The metal pieces in this artwork are on hinges that allow the viewer to alter the work seeing two sides of the animal (interior neuro-structure vs epidermal layer).

Unlabeled location

Unlabeled location

Unlabeled location: In this piece, the yellow door flips open to show a complete rabbit (instead of a skeletal head) as well

ROA's website has very little information and I'm not sure whether the photographs are taken by himself or by fans. Understandably, he wishes to remain anonymous.

http://www.roaweb.org/

3-29-10 Artist Post, Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan

While this artist may seem to relate more to my earlier work at VCU, he is still relevant to my new work and interests.

His series The Message from Gyre was shot at Midway Atoll, a tiny beach near the middle of the North Pacific, and portrays the negative effects of pollution on the albatross population. He photographs deteriorating albatross chicks who have died from eating toxic waste. While the dead birds' stomach contents seem exaggerated, they aren't. Every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from their toxic diet of human waste and starvation.

He explains:
"To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."

"Exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the Grand Canyon, I find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful."

"My hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake."





The Message from Gyre, 2009

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

3-21-10 Artist Post, Tobias Gundorff Boesen & Kate MccGwire

Tobias Gundorff Boesen

I found this artist and his short film on notcot.org. It's a great site to look on for artists and inspiration.

The video below (Out of a Forest) speaks about the domestication of nature in several ways. The animals have been anthropomorphized and their home (the forest) has been domesticated by household furnishings and decorations. Man has disrupted the 'chain of life' as seen in the end of the video for nothing more than a cheap magic trick.

Out Of A Forest from Tobias Gundorff Boesen.

Questions/thoughts I have been contemplating lately:

What are animals? How are they defined? At what point in man's domestication of nature do animals stop being animals? Are they always animals or do we take away a defining characteristic to claim it as our own? Why do we domesticate nature and animals?

Another artist I looked at recently is Kate MccGwire


Her methods of working seem familiar in the sense of my ever growing collection of animal remnants.

"I gather, collate, re-use, layer, peel, burn, reveal, locate, question, duplicate, play and photograph," is how she describes her work.

"Intrinsic to her method is the collecting and sorting of materials from hundreds of different sources over a period of months, even years. In turn, pieces evolve intuitively as if out of the subconscious, the language evocative rather than purely illustrative. As the work takes shape, a new, playful reality emerges, so that the object itself becomes a sort of prism, refracting the layers of meaning and cultural associations buried within, the quantity of materials used sometimes deliberately overwhelming, as if charged with a power and ambition beyond the reach they possess when seen in isolation."
(an excerpt from her artist statement)

http://www.katemccgwire.com/

Retch, 2007

Vex, 2008

Vice, 2009

Urge, 2009

Not only do I appreciate the materials MccGwire uses and her technique of gathering, but I find her choice of installation locations also very compelling. They suit another side of my art as well- the fashion-esque sharp lighting and moody environment.

3-7-10 Artist Post, Lauren Alyssa Howard

Lauren Alyssa Howard

Lauren Alyssa Howard was born in a Southeastern town in Alabama. This 'lower-middle working class' upbringing is reference for her mixed media involving identity, gender, and place.

There's a Special Place in Heaven... is an installation involving the "destructed memories of rural lower class" exploited through texture, color, and commentary on 'southern' gender roles. "By placing objects of the grotesque next to or inside small, decorated spaces, a discomforting tension is created that I explore through the use of drawing, painting, and sculpture."

There's a Special Place in Heaven..., 2009

Detail of There's a Special Place in Heaven...", 2009

Detail of There's a Special Place in Heaven...", 2009

She uses domestic props to imply time period, class, reality and memory. She also relies heavily on symbolism to communicate with her audience. The deer (male symbol) and sheep (female symbol) are used to "create an alternate world where masculine and feminine become both ambiguous as well as polar opposites, as humans interact with and even begin to become animals."

She uses a similar technique in her mixed media Deer Series.

Deer Series, 2009

2-28-10 Artist Post, Neil Pardington

Neil Pardington

Neil Pardington's "The Vault" series is based off the idea behind 'The Radcliffe Camera' building. In Latin, a 'camera' is a vaulted room or chamber, closely linked to the camera obscura and illumination chambers. Pardington views the camera as a miniature room within itself in "The Vault," particularly a "storehouse of ideas and images (or as Kodak would have it, memories)."

"In a somewhat reflexive manner, this series focuses on the places we store those things that are most precious to us, and conversely those very similar spaces we store the obsolete and unwanted."

Pardinton visited archives, libraries, banks, museums and art spaces to photograph spaces of storage that visually "shrink and gleam in their dark stores."

"There is a redolence of a different kind- the collected clture and history of those things we deem important enough to keep, and those we too easily discard. And in the end we may wonder which tells us more about ourselves."

Ornithology Store #2, 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #3, 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #5, 2006

Land and Marine Mammal Store #1, 2006

neilpardington.com

2-22-10 Artist Post, Susan Worsham

Susan Worsham

Susan Worsham's series Some Fox Trails in Virginia is particularly relevant to the work I am developing now. Her photos were taken in and around where she grew up in Virginia. They "act as a metaphorical map of the rediscovered paths of my childhood home."

"At the age of 34, I came back to Virginia to care for my mother, who died shortly after my return. As the last of my family passed, I turned my lens to old friends, and their new families. I photographed the hosue in which I grew up... These photographs are not meant to be purely autobiographical, but rather representations of how I view things based on my own experiences and those of the people that I have met along the way. My work has always been a metaphor for my own growing up, and the small deaths of childhood innocence that occur on the road to becoming an adult."

Susan seeks, most of all, to bridge the gap between her past and present lives by photographing them both within the same frame. In some ways, this approach is very similar to mine. Most of my images are taken at my grandparent's house in Staunton, Va or with objects from their house. The house is a place of many childhood memories and a great influence on who I have become and the art I produce. That house is now a landscape of solitude and family history that gradually seeps into my photography. The condition of the house has been degrading for some time and it now stands empty of life as history is packed into boxes or distributed amongst family members.

Combining this aspect of family history with the influence of animal anthropomorphism is my main focus. Many of her images touch on this subject as well.

http://susanworshamphotography.com/home.html

Window Box Remains, 2008

Untitled, 2008

Lively Little Rabbit, 2008

The Beekeeper's Other Daughter, 2008

2-14-10: Artist Post, Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith


As instructed, I watched the Art:21 episode "stories" featuring Kiki Smith. We have several common interests and concepts of how to make art. "The more you manipulate it (art), the more actual life you put into it," she says. I too am a very hands-on person and feel that my strongest art is that in which physical manipulation can be seen. She goes on to explain that "90% of the time you physically work on the creation of your art." Artist may be 'inspired' and constantly creating, but creation is not momentary and there are many unseen hours. This isn't a concept that is new to me, particularly after I added a craft minor. I have begun to appreciate the amount of time and physical work I put into my art. My time has become more valuable. This physical ability is also very important to Kiki Smith.

We have other similar interests/beliefs such as domestic life, mythological stories, intuition, and the strength of expressing your work and ideas through different media.

I was somewhat disappointed in the short video. She explained some beliefs and ideas in her work, but I would have liked to hear more about the driving forces behind them. What does she want her viewers to take away from her work? I suppose the whole point of the video is to get people interested and inspire them to look her up.

Smith's upbringing in the Catholic Church is an obvious inspiration. Common themes are life, death, resurrection, mythology, folk tales, domestic objects, and animals.

"Born" 2002

"Friend" 2008

"Walking Pig" 2004

2-7-10 Artist Post, Peter Gronquist

Does this font look familiar? I simply love that his home page is titled using the Disney font! Coincidence? I have been running into a lot of coincidences lately. The more research I do, the more interconnected different aspects of my life become.

Peter Gronquist

I found Peter's name in a magazine at Barnes and Noble: "Hi-Fructose". His sculptural work relies heavily on juxtaposition, particularly his Sculpture + Weapons series. Disabled grenades, chainsaws, and guns are embellished with designer fashion labels as humorous commentary on "our culture's [Western culture] glamorization of violence, rampant consumerism, [and] war profiteering."

"I really wanted to make something completely ridiculous. Then people gave me money for them. So, I made a ton of them because I'm a whore. I find that it's a parody of myself because I also like rediculous things sometimes for no logical reason. I'm a victim of the rampant consumerism that I parody. It's all very confusing."
http://lostinasupermarket.com/2009/08/sculpture-weapons-by-peter-gronquist/

Gronquist's weapons have become so popular that Louis Vuitton sent him a Cease and Desist. This doesn't stop his production.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

I am also interested in another series in which he pairs animals with designer fashion labels and guns. One word: juxtaposition.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

petergronquist.com

1-31-10 Artist Post, Josh Keyes

Josh Keyes

I discovered Josh Keyes this past week when I was browsing Barnes and Noble. Several of his illustrations/paintings were in the most recent Juxtapose magazine. I'm seriously considering buying a subscription to this magazine because they had some REALLY great artists and imagery.

Keyes says he likes to think of his work as "a chess game without a board and with very few rules, and instead of chess pieces there are artifacts or specimens" that he uses in juxtaposition to tell a story. His work moves back and forth from political messages involving the urgency of natural conservation, moving images of death, and the coexistence and love of animals.



"I tend to think of objects or structures such as street signs, monuments, mailboxes, and pavement as a metaphor to illustrate the conscious mind or ego... The animals are used to personify and express unconscious drives and energy. The tension that is created when the imagery from the unconscious meets the conscious landscape holds tremendous mystery and fascination for me. It is in this space that I am free to explore the depth of archetypal and mythical potentiality both personally and collectively."

www.joshkeyes.net/biography.htm

Though Keyes expresses the importance of his work being accessible to others, I think he directs his work primarily to the people of North America. The animals he uses are primarily located within North America or along its coasts (accounting for migration), but the animal's interaction with human environments is something that can be understood everywhere.


"Incubate" 2009


"Shedding" 2009


"Burst I" 2009


"Scortch II" 2009

www.joshkeyes.net/paintings.htm

Sometimes life has strange coincidences. I just connected one of Keye's installations to a recent Black Eyed Peas music video, ""I Gotta Feeling." Look his "A Thousand Points of Light" installation (pictured below) in their music video!

1-24-10 Artist Post, Jennifer Khoshbin

Jennifer Khoshbin

“My work expresses the idea of the story, fable, or tale, attempting to sort out the past and create new beginnings. How these stories have affected me and my culture are represented through a combination of book and animal sculptures, drawings and writings. I am artificially re-imagining things in a handmade wilderness.”

Khoshbin creates her animals/insects from paper mache and decoupage covered resin casts. They then get coated with nature, home, or life inspired paper.

She domesticates these animals by transforming their outermost layer with false sedentary, familiarized paper- trapping them and making them safely available for YOUR living room. The truth is, I desperately want one! And so do many other people, as she sells these sculptures on Etsy for a fancy dollar or two.


"Big Bad"



"Deer Trophy Project"


"Ferdinand's Friend"

http://www.jenkhoshbin.com/home

Why the sudden revitalization of taxidermy? I have found myself drawn to it since I was a child and don't see my fascination dying anytime soon (no pun intended). Taxidermy use seems to be growing in many art fields: fashion, fine art, interior design, furniture design. Maybe I only think taxidermy has seen a revitalization because I have been researching it so much lately. What do you think?

11-22-09 Artist Post

I have been doing a lot of searching for images on Google this semester that inspire me. I have collected images of fireplace-mounted taxidermy, taxidermy jewelry, hybrid (or rogue) taxidermy, and now I have images of pelts.

I am particularly interested in the way people take images of their pelts and taxidermy, which are essentially their own works of art. Pelts are usually displayed hanging unless there are only one or two hides that can be stretched out for full view. I'm more interested in the hanging pelts. Not only does it serve as a practical storage method, it also makes a statement about animals. Hanging them in a row is clinical and cold. It gives the viewer an exact number of pelts (or perhaps kills). This method of hanging and displaying pelts relates to the glorification of mounted taxidermy.



On the other hand, the method of hanging pelts in groups gives the hides life and a sense of movement. No longer are they displayed separately, but in a pack- just as if in the wild. Individual pelts are indistinguishable as they all blend into one, moving in and out of the pack, confusing predators, strength in numbers.




Something else that came up a lot in my search was pelt or fur coats. Interestingly enough, a lot of them look similar to the group pelt hanging described above.


I'm not sure what to think about wearing fur. I want to say it's BAD because many people do hunt these animals for the sole intentions of creating fur coats. In this sense I most definitely do not agree with it. On the other hand, furs and pelts are so beautiful. They are a preservation of life, an ancient necessity of survival, primal, delicate, unique, and... (I hate to say it) soft and comfortable. I am torn between my desire for the second and my concern for the first.

Ultimately, looking at these images has given me perspective on how placement of objects can change mood and interpretation drastically. I have been doing a lot of thinking about placement in preparation for the 'ultimate shoot' over Thanksgiving. I still haven't seen the pelts I will be using. They are packed away in a box in my parent's basement. My dad used to hunt quite often when we lived in Alaska. It's interesting how many people hear the word "hunter" and automatically think of an animal murderer. How could I ever think that of my own father? The definition of this word is skewed...

*Note to self*

Idea post: look up definition of "hunter"