Art Monday Archives - Page 57 of 58

ARTmonday: Didier Massard

Today I interviewed interior designer Frank Roop at his studio. But more on that later. Since it’s ARTmonday, I thought I’d show you images by photographer Didier Massard, whose work I discovered hanging in Frank’s living room. (He hosted a Boston Home party there last spring to celebrate the cover story about his place, “Material Witness.” I adore Frank’s work and was excited to see his sumptuous showpiece. And I had a small piece in the magazine too – my first for them – “Some Like It Hot.” ) Here is Frank Roop’s living room. Didier Massard’s photograph I fell in love with is hanging on the left.

Photo by Eric Roth

Today I finally had the opportunity to ask Frank about the work and the artist. Turns out Didier Massard’s work is shown in Boston right on Newbury Street, at the Robert Klein Gallery. I haven’t been in there in quite a while, (my husband tends to prefer painting over photographs) but Robert Klein Gallery represents a number of photographers I love, including Sally Gall, Sally Mann, and Tom Baril.

Didier Massard’s photographs are surreal, romantic, otherworldly landscapes. Contrived landscapes. He builds models in his Paris studio, which he then photographs.

Didier Massard Autumn Tree Photo

Autumn Tree, 2001

Spring Tree, 2002

Didier Massard Tree Top Photo

Tree Top, 2002

Photos courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery

ARTmonday: Elisa Johns Bouts of Excess

I love the paintings by Elisa Johns’ in Bout of Excess for their colors, flirtatiousness, and femininity. I am definitely drawn to works that portray two women, or women flaunting their sexuality in a playful, bashful or innocent manner. (I’ll have to scan my postcard collection of such paintings for you.)

Stephanie Walker, who owns Walker Contemporary and curated the show, points out that the two women in Johns’ “Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus” (the third one here) aren’t necessarily in a sexual relationship. I think that’s what I am responding to; they could be lovers, but maybe they are close friends, or sisters. There’s an intimacy with just a hint of sexuality; a promise, perhaps.

When I showed my husband the images, he asked of “English Rose” (the second one here), “Why is there a vagina in the sky?” I see that now. And I had just thought, “What a pretty, rosy sun.”

When I asked Stephanie what attracted her to the artist and these works in particular, she cited the way the artist handles the paint, that she uses oil paint in so many ways. And, although the images are obviously based on historical stories, she points out “they’re so L.A., contemporary and of-the-moment.”

One of my favorites is “Daphne and the Laurel Tree” (the last image), which, at 72 x 48 inches, is relatively large work. I’d love to hang it in the living room at our house on the Cape. I love the colors, and how the tree creates angel wings. She’s so Nadja Auermann at the apex of the ’80s, but warmer and more fun. More like Nadja Auermann meets Stephanie Seymour meets Kate Moss.

She said Cate McQuaid, a critic from the Boston Globe, found them to be sort of “Project Runway” gone awry. But Stephanie sees women that are “playing with fashion, while snubbing what they’re portraying, and pushing boundaries.”

Either way, let them eat cake!

On view at Walker Contemporary, 450 Harrison Avenue, Boston until the end of March.

ARTmonday: Lance Cheshire

Lance Cheshire is a fashion photographer from New Zealand who lives in New York City. He’s assisted Mario Testino, Ellen von Unworth, Michael Thompson, and Steven Meisel, and of course works on his own too. I met him through a friend years ago when I was a fashion editor. We worked together and became good friends. We haven’t actually seen each other in years, but we keep in touch sporadically. He’s a great guy and talented artist.

ARTmonday: Robert Knight

Here are some photos by Rob Knight, a Boston-based photographer, who’s also a friend. (His five-year-old son Harry followed us around a garden center in out on the Cape last summer until we agreed to organize a play date between him and my six-year-old. We’re so glad!) Rob, who recently had a solo show, “My Boat is so Small,” at Gallery Kayafas in the South End. shoots a lot of interiors and quirky still lives. These are some of my favorite works:

ARTmonday: Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand

A few weeks ago I went to the press preview for the Shepard Fairey show at the ICA. I normally wouldn’t have gone – street art isn’t my thing. (Big surprise.) But I had an assignment for Lola magazine on the museum, and the timing worked out perfectly.

The overall museum experience, as always, was bliss. The vast white space, the expanse of glass overlooking the Boston Harbor on a snowy day. There was even swag – a Shepard Fairey tote. What’s not to like? The art.

To be fair, as an exhibit, it was aesthetically pleasing. Very orderly, graphic and color consistent. It’s all carefully manufactured, so expect nothing less.

As for the images on their own, after seeing a few, they’re all pretty much the same. Here’s the “now iconic” (as they never tire of saying) Obama portrait, and an amusing depiction of his charming predecessor:

Fairey’s into images of other iconic, political, controversial, famous for being famous folk, like Andy Warhol, Mao, Lenin, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, and of course André the Giant, whose image he displayed on a homemade sticker in ’88 as a student at RISD. He also fawns over music personalities; the exhibit includes portraits of Jim Morrison, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, and David Bowie.

He said that morning: “I create portraits of people who made a very strong impact on me, but whom I am not necessarily aligned with.”

Fairey seems pretty chill, but it’s hard to tell. For a guy who’s become known for street art, i.e., graffiti, and who is constantly arrested, he’s also a corporate enterprise, with a thriving graphic design enterprise, plus a wife and kids. I can appreciate the graphic design and business aspect of his persona. The “artist” side, I’m not convinced.

The enormous murals in the exhibit are give more of a sense of a person behind the work. He says he works (or at least used to work) on sheets of old wallpaper. You can see the layers of the patterns, the newspaper, the ink. Here are a couple of details from larger works:

As a museum-worthy artist, I’m not sold. But now that I’m in on it, it’s fun to see the works plastered around the city. There’s a few on the side of a building at the ramp onto the Mass Pike at Mass Ave. and Newbury that I noticed immediately after attending the preview. The ICA is actually organizing bike tours around the city to see the on site works. You can see them on Flikr too. That’s probably all you really need.

Spread the style:

Spread the style:

Spread the style:

Spread the style:

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