Category: Artists I love

Bound

Bound is designer April Rhodes‘ third line of fabrics (she designs clothing patterns too) to be released in a week or so. I usually gravitate towards fairly bright colours, but now and again I crave the softness of a more muted collection. I love the southwestern feel of all of Aprils fabrics. I can picture still mornings with cool sunrises over dusty rock and tough sun loving flowers that prepare for hot dry days.

There are lots of similarities with the colours of Australia too. I love the subdued tones of those warm landscapes that have to reflect sunlight and store water any way they can. No saturated lush greens. But the sky is bright and the red earth is too. I’ll be figuring out a way to incorporate this fabric into my work soon. Especially because they’re made by Art Gallery fabrics, which is great because their fabrics are super soft and easy to work with. Definitely looking forward to this release.

Bound sprung from April’s love of collecting & making woven wall hangings, cozy blankets, vintage macramé and paintings. Stroll to an empowering environment organically colored with brushstrokes of tangerine, soothing sea, malachite greens and autumn sunset.

Gemma Smith

Smith is an Australian artist whose work is totally inspiring me at the moment. I’m loving triangles, as you can tell from my quilts of late and this angular colourful work is right up my alley. It’s always nice to find inspiration right when you need it (thanks Pinterest!!) While I’ve been away my usual sewing weekends, I’m keen to start asap! But it looks like we might attempt to go camping this weekend too, it’s Canadian thanksgiving and probably the last semi-decent weather for camping.

Smiths early paintings have an awesome broken geometry and she made some excellent sculpture to go with the paintings, giant gem-like crystalline formations made from colourful perspex that she called ‘Boulders’. I love the prism-ish forms, the colours look like reflected light. Her later work is much more fluid, but equally colourful. Which I equally like! Check out the gallery that represents her for more.

Boulder 2, 2008

Untitled #1, 2008

Boulder 2, view 2, 2008

Snarl-up, 2008

Beep about, 2010

Boulder 4, radiant, 2010

Even odds, pink/grey, 2013

Big O, red/blue, 2013

All images from Sarah Cottier Gallery.

Gabriele Galimberti

Gabriele Galimberti is an Italian photographer who has worked for many major magazines, but while traveling the world (and quite extensively so) he has worked on a number of his own projects, all of which are fascinating in different ways.  I especially like his series “Toy Stories” which is a collection of images of children from different countries around the world photographed at home with their most prized possessions.  It’s a lovely project, that definitely shows how universal being a kid is. It tells a lot about the parents too, what objects they feel are important to share with their kids.

Puput – Bali, Indonesia

Tyra- Sweden

Maudy- Zambia

Pavel- Ukraine

Virginia- Utah

Naya- Nicaragua

Taha- Lebanon

Mikkel- Norway

Bothle- Botswana

Cun Zi Yi – Chongqing, China

Alessia- Italy

Noel- Sth Dallas, Texas

Tangawizi- Kenya

At age 6 I would have been wearing a pink and purple dress for one thing. Had a lot of gorgeous home-made Steiner dolls from my Mum, a stuffed dog cleverly named “Softie”, some puffy stickers, a stationary set or two and most definitely my marble collection. What about you?

Galimberti has done some other amazing series’ also. Take a look at the “The blonde twins of Mengele” and “Local Celebrities” as well as lots of other awesome work.  Makes me want to pack up everything and go see the world!

All images from Gabriele Galimberti’s website, click on them for direct links.

Jung Eun Park

Happy 1 and 2, Pencil, thread, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

In my quest to feel more comfortable with being away from home.  I have been enjoying the work of Jung Eun Park, a lovely Korean artist who now lives and works in New York.  Her artists statement on her website could have been written for me. Most of her work is about missing home…

Missing Home

missing:
1. lacking, absent, or not found
2. to disappear, become lost

home:
1. a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family or household.
2. the place in which one’s domestic affections are centered.
3. a person’s native place or own country.
4. the dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
5. the place or region where something is native or most common.
6. (in games) the destination or goal.

Mostly my work has been about a relationship with my mother since I moved to New York and being separated from my family in a long distance. It became interests about a difficulty of communication, a fear of unconnected relationship and a burden of being an independent person. I express my mentality caused by these problems with symbolic objects, human body and red thread in my drawing.

Jung Eun Park

I realise that for me – home is where my family is. But it’s very different for everyone isn’t it? Not the same for my boyfriend at all. Home is wherever his house and work are. Which I think is great and must be much easier to move around to different places.  What’s your idea of home? Anywhere you are? Somewhere near a beach? Mountains? Friends? Work? Interesting, I never really thought of a definition for home specifically before, I just thought it was a general feeling you get after being in one place for a while. I guess you could go a lot deeper and talk about general life satisfaction too, but we’ll leave that for another time (phew!)

Healing house 2, pencil, thread, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

Talking to the wall, pencil, thread, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

We want to live in the forest, pencil, thread, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

Grasses are taking me home, pencil, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

 Safe, Pencil, thread, watercolor, coffee on Korean paper

All images from Jung’s website.

Anne Lindberg

zip drawing, 2012 thread and staples

Anne Lindberg is a widely exhibited American artist after my own heart. I first saw her thread installations and loved the feeling her work evokes, the blurred speed frozen in space, the gradual colour changes, the light. Personally, I love abstract installations that create a feeling or overall sense, rather than more literal or pictorial images. Work that surrounds you and makes you feel something you can’t even put your finger on, for me that’s awesome.

 

 

drawn pink, 2012 Egyptian cotton thread, staples

 

canto yellow, 2011 Egyptian cotton thread, staples

andante green, 2012 Egyptian cotton thread, staples

Here she is in her own words:

Neurologists have determined that the old brain holds the seat of our most primal understandings of the world. Goodwill, security, fear, anxiety, self-protection, gravity, sexuality, and compulsive behaviors generate from this lower cerebral core. 

My sculpture and drawings inhabit a non-verbal place resonant with such primal human conditions. Systemic and non-representational, these works are subtle, rhythmic, abstract, and immersive. I find beauty and disturbance through shifts in tool, layering and material to create passages of tone, density, speed, path and frequency within a system. In recent room-sized installations, I discovered an optical and spatial phenomenon that excites me as the work spans the outer reaches of our peripheral vision. The work references physiological systems – such as heartbeat, respiration, neural paths, equilibrium – and psychological states.

Along with her thread installations, Anne also does drawings with thread, 3d wall drawings, sculpture, photography and architectural works.

Thread drawing 16, 2012, rayon thread

Thread drawing 5, 2012, rayon thread

Thread drawing 10, 2012, rayon thread

Her website is clean and informative and has tons of images which are so nice to browse, it’s like getting lost in time for a little while.  Then again I often get lost in time so maybe that’s just me!

Laurent Chéhère

Couscous à emporter

I’m constantly inspired by so many people and lately I’ve found myself staring at Laurent Chéhère‘s work for ages. I just study the images and feel myself transported, I love the feeling I get when I look at them, it’s the same as when I daydream. What a beautiful space to spend some time in, especially lately as I’m not having the easiest week. Chéhère is a French photographer from Paris who worked a lot in advertising before exploring the world and then choosing to work more on his own photographs. These flying houses are a gorgeous series, I recommend his website, there is another series called the Fog and one called Miroir, that is are also both dreamy.

Cirque

Harmonie

Le ballon rouge 

Le linge qui seche

Le Blanchisserie

Le Voyeur

A Vendre

Cinema X

 Hotel le Savoie

Hotel du Lion d’Or

Caravane

All images via Laurent’s website

Elisa Werbler

Elisa Werbler is a designer and maker based in New York City. I saw her work first without knowing in an Anthropology window in NYC. She spent a couple years designing and fabricating window displays for that company throughout the city. Whew – what a fun massive job that must have been.

When I began to research her, I found her awesome birthstone prints, which I just love.  She actually has a BFA in Furniture design from RISD and works on installations as well as objects, but my heart is with these prints.

Aquamarine

Garnet

Emerald

Alexandrite

Peridot

It’s the first time I think I actually like my birthstone. Garnet.  Serendipitously it’s my favourite print of the bunch.  You can purchase your own from her store, or even hire her for freelance design and installation work.