Art Monday Archives - Page 44 of 58

ARTmonday: Maissa Toulet

I came across these glass dioramas by Parisian artist Maïssa Toulet when I was sifting through Flickr photos for a story I was doing The Inside Source about displaying white collections. I was immediately drawn into her quirky little worlds, in which mice wear suits, ducks have arms, and where Marie Antoinette finds her fate.

Toulet cites the assemblies of the American artist Joseph Cornell as her initial inspiration. She is drawn to the “eclectic jumble” of curiosity cabinets—the disturbing dimension, sometimes morbid, cabinets of curiosities, which accumulate stuffed animals, skeletons, and organs preserved in formaldehyde.

She views her pieces as miniature museums, and says that though nothing is classified with apparent logic, each object has a distinct place; none are interchangeable. Her most recent works are moving away from the concept of curio cabinets towards pieces that are self-contained stories.

I find them to be part science project, part crazy collector, part artistic effort; all intoxicating.

Ecographie
2007
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A Rodent Trap
2007
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Les Végétaux
2008
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Oral Hygiene in Adults
2008
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View
2008
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The Autopsy of Marie-Antoinette
2011

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The Menagerie
2011
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Under the Sea
2007
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Souvenirs of Youth
2011
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Jeune fille, que vous faut-il pour le printemps?
2010

ARTmonday: Lissy Elle

I discovered photographer Lissy Larrichia, or Lissy Elle, as she seems to go by, on one of my new favorite blogs, The Jealous Curator yesterday. Her work is incredibly atmospheric and angsty. She’s a Canadian teen (or maybe she’s just beyond teendom now; her Flickr stream started in late 2009). I really love her work—the settings, the dresses, the props, the narratives. You should have a look at her Facebook page too, where she’s posted some of her most recent images.

Golden Hours

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The Play Pretend Princess

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Untitled

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Princess Alyssabeth’s Belated Birthday

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The Big Bad Wolf

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The End of Alice
“The Alice in all of us dies sometime. From personal experience, the Alice in all my friends were stabbed to death the moment they got breasts. Breasts suck.”

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The Snow White Dilemma
“I hung up all those apples today during a thunder storm.”

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Butterfly Effect

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Alice Saw Some Shiny Things
“So down, down she fell.”

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Alice in Wonderland
Inspired by the shirt she’s wearing, purchased at Downtown Disney.

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Impossible Things

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Untitled
“Green grass grows all around all around and the green grass grows all around.”

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Spirited Away

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Get Back In Your Book, Belle
Beauty and the Beast edition.

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I act like a child.
In her fort.

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Seven Fragile Things

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Natural Disasters
“The snow melted, and there was fog, so Thy Cornrows looked so mystical today…”

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ARTmonday: Martina Nehrling

Lyrical new works of deeply saturated slashes of color by Martina Nehrling is currently on view at the Zg Gallery in Chicago through the end of this month. Nehrling describes the pieces, which are acrylic on canvas and paper, as “visual rhythms inspired by the cacophony of daily life.” I’m not sure where I discovered her work, perhaps Pinterest. They’re a wonderfully invigorating burst for mid-February.

Leeway

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The Absence of Field

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Solid Sonorous Non-Reality

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Hive

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Surfacing

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Ruse

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Pleat

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Truth and Jest

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Verge

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Of an Evening

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Of the Next Day

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Heap

ARTmonday: Lori Vrba

I discovered Lori Vrba’s magical photographs around the holidays, when I had time to explore. Although I’m not at all a horse person, I was quite taken with the first image here, “Olivia Loves Elvis.” It reminds me of a friend’s daughter who loves to ride. It’s Vrba’s daughter. She has three children, often pictured in her work. Those images are reminiscent of Sally Mann’s, minus the nudity, but with the inclusion of the feminine, yet bedraggled feel of girlhood. As a

The brown hued selenium prints are from the series “My Grace Is Sufficient,” which is “celebrating the quiet power of women.” The gray toned are from the series “The Piano Farm,” shot on the farm where Olivia’s piano teacher works. Vrba recognizes the inherent femininity of her work, and its beauty, and makes no apology. I’m smitten.

Lori Vrba is represented by Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta.

Olivia Loves Elvis, 2010

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Cloverfield, 2010

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Cocoon, 2010

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Butterfly, 2009

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The Hand of Grace, 2009

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Knee Deep, 2009

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Marionette, 2009

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Resting, 2009

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Liv’s Light, 2009

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Goose Feathers, 2009

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Morning, 2010

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Winter Garden, 2010

ARTmonday: Arite Kannovas

During my Sunday afternoon catching up on what’s been posted on design blogs this week, I spotted an image on The Design Files blog that led me to painter Arite Kannovas. It was the bedroom of Melbourne stylist Heather Nette King. Above her bed, she hung a newly acquired painting by the artist. Turns out King’s blog is quite fantastic as well, and promptly added it to Google Reader.

Back to Arite Kannovas. According to Daily Imprint (another blog worth a follow), Arite, who also lives in Melbourne, both paints and designs textiles. Her use of color is fantastic, and King’s crisp white room is just the way to show it off. (My favorite is “Eye Candy”, in case anyone who loves me is reading this.)

The home of stylist Heather Nette King.