My favorite art gallery, Thinkspace, just revealed, online, the art pieces that they’re currently selling at the LA Art Show. Running from January 27 to January 31, The LA Art Show is one of the world’s largest and longest running events with 150,000 square feet of exhibition space and close to 60,000 attendees last year. This will be LA Art Show’s 21st edition.
Thinkspace will be showcasing a wall of thirty 12×12 inch works from various Thinkspace artists. You can buy these right on the spot. As they say, “These are cash and carry and we’ll be refilling the wall throughout the weekend.”
The full digital catalog for Thinkspace’s booth can be found here. I’ve selected a few of my favorites.
Above: Jacub Gagnon, “Royal Circus”, (2015), Acrylic on wood panel
Casey Weldon, “Swimsuit Issue”, (2015), Acrylic on wood panel
Isaac Cordal, “American Dream”, (2015), Acrylic on resin sculpture
Cinta Vidal, “Thinking Neighbor”, (2016), Acrylic on wood panel
Mario Bellem, “My Strange Relationship With Art”, (2016), Acrylic on hand carved wood and laser cut wood sculpture
The scene is set! On February 6, American artist KAWS debuts his first UK museum exhibition at none other than Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I remember first coming across YSP back in July 2011 when Spanish artist Jaume Plensa had his stunningly surreal show there. Now KAWS has stepped up to the plate bringing six massive sculptures, made of natural and black-stained wood and measuring between six and 10 meters tall, to their outdoor grounds.
Judging from the first images, you can see that the sculptures all display a wide variety of emotions. As YSP states, they “are simultaneously spectacular and plaintive. Once bright, iconic characters are rendered in disheartened, world-weary poses; imposing yet full of pathos, they point to an array of psychological narratives, suggesting compassion, surprise and despair.”
KAWS will be showing over 20 works. There will be sculptures in bronze, fiberglass, aluminum and wood alongside large canvases in acrylic paint. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of KAWS’ ten-meter-tall sculpture Small Life (2013) come to life, below. The show runs from February 6 to June 12, 2016. This is a must-visit!
Artist Gavin Worth just sent word that he’s created a whole new series of wire sculptures called “Flora.” Made completely out of bent steel, figures are beautifully wrapped around in an array of flowers. I first discovered Worth’s work back in September 2011, when he was bending back black wire to create freestanding line drawings. Since then, he’s refined his process, using heavier metal. I love that, this time, he shot each piece with and without its shadow.
Read my short interview with Worth, below.
Where did the inspiration for this series come from?
These pieces are rooted in the exploration of the fragility, of that delicate tipping point, between beauty and decay. When does growth become decline, and what is the ambiguity between them?
I suppose these were inspired by big changes. I moved from Egypt to Switzerland. I’m living close to nature again, where the cycle of life is very pronounced. I’m married to the love of my life. I’ve experienced profound illness and lost loved ones. These things alter the lines you draw.
Visually, I’ve been obsessed with the work of the Vienna Secession artists. The way that Klimt, for example, was so successful in creating such beautiful decorative pieces that combine forms from nature with an intimate psychology has been a huge influence on me.
How long did these take to create?
The design process for each sculpture is intensive and takes quite a while, but once the concept is roughed out, worked through, and refined, it takes roughy 2-3 weeks in the workshop to bend the steel, cut the rods to precise fits, weld them, and grind them to a finished state. The bases for these pieces are also shaped by hand, so in total, each piece takes roughly a month to make.
I noticed that you are now showing the shadows on the wall. Why?
To me, the shadows emphasize the fragility and transience of the pieces. The medium echos this. The sculptures are largely empty space — steel lines barely and briefly defining air and light into something that resembles a form. The shadow of something so intangible is even more fleeting, and I hoped this would underscore that sentiment.
What do you hope others get out of these works?
Simply and truly, I hoped that people would find some beauty here. And I hoped that I might explore a small aspect of how things pass away, and perhaps capture a glimpse of the quiet, languorous melancholy that resides in the heart of that.
Worth will be showing this body of work at his first solo show in Milan, Italy beginning this Thursday at Barbara Frigerio Contemporary Art. The exhibition has been aptly titled, “Sketches in the Air.”
I’ve always loved quirky street photos that have been taken at the right place and at the right time. There’s also a hidden story that’s up to you find. Vienna-born photographer Robert Rutöd has a photo book called Right Time Right Place that shows the world with a skewed lens. Wandering through Europe for a few years, Rutöd took strange and sometimes surreal photos of people and animals in unordinary circumstances. A helpless swan finds itself frozen in a vast stretch of ice while a young girl reaches for the sky to touch flowers hanging high above her.
Right Time Right Place is a collection of photographs I made in the last few years on my travels through Europe. The images revolve around the question of whether it is possible for a person to be in the right place at the right time. Is the ideal state of space and time something we are awarded or is it a state we have long been living in without being aware of our good fortune? I hope I have not succeeded in answering this question. Nothing fails more pathetically than an artist’s attempt to explain the world and its relationships. Rather, my work leads to the conclusion that the world cannot be explained. Once an exhibition visitor in New York told me that, when viewing my photos, she felt that the protagonists seemed to be kind of disobedient. I really liked that interpretation.
Right Time Right Place received several awards including the New York Photo Award, the Special Prize of the Czech Center of Photography, and most recently Artist of the Year at Dong Gang International Photo Festival 2015 in South Korea.You can buy Rutöd’s photo book on his website.
It’s been quite a week! Just when Logan was starting to feel better, Parker came down with the flu and Sam and I got colds. I had to take a “sick” day yesterday just to get my bearings. Looks like we’ll be in hibernation mode this weekend so we can all get some much needed rest. February’s filled with lots of weekend trips so we’re all trying to get healthy before the excitement hits! Have a great weekend, everyone. Oh, and enjoy these fun links of the week.
February 8th, 2016 kicks off the Year of the Monkey. The Aquamarine Fukushima in Japan has opened a must-see exhibition.
Tips on the art of collecting. “Buy what you love, but really look and see what you like. Ask lots of questions and don’t be put off by snotty gallery owners.”
Today we’re making an easy Korean dish that just requires a few ingredients. We start with sliced potatoes and then we add in some onions, green onions and garlic to make this side dish that’s best served with warm, white rice. This is great to make for when the kids get home from school, Parker loves eating potato banchan after it’s been cooled down. You can serve it right off the stove or you can chill it in the refrigerator and eat it cold.
1. Slice the potatoes into thin strips.
2. In cool water, wash the potatoes and then drain.
3. In a medium saucepan, with the heat on high, add the olive oil and then add the potatoes.
4. Add in the water and salt.
5. Saute the potatoes, mixing them into the olive oil and making sure to not let the potatoes stick to the side of the saucepan. You don’t want the potatoes to burn.
6. Chop the onions into thin slices.
7. Chop the green onions finely.
8. Add in the minced garlic.
9. Now reduce the heat to medium and add in the onions and green onion. The potatoes should be tender now. Add in the sugar.
10. Optional, add in the perilla oil, sesame oil and sesame seeds.
Serve!
Potato Banchan Recipe:
3 medium sliced and washed potatoes (like french fries)
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 medium-sized onion, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp perilla oil (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp hondashi (optional)
1. In a saucepan, on high heat, add in the olive oil and potatoes. Stir occasionally so the potatoes don’t stick to the pan and burn.
2. Add in the salt, water and minced garlic.
3. Once the potatoes are tender, reduce heat to medium, and add in the onions, green onion and sugar.
4. Optional: Add in the perilla oil, sesame oil, sesame seeds and/or hondashi.
France-based artist Xavier Casalta just completed a stunning floral composition called Autumn. It took him an astounding 370 hours to complete and it contains around 7 million small inked dots. Using the stippling technique, where tiny dots made of a single color are applied with a pen, he created this breathtaking piece that consists of flowers, fruit, and even a pumpkin. You have to look at the close-up, “making of” images to really appreciate all the work that went into making this composition, the attention to detail is astounding.
I caught up with Casalta to ask him a few questions.
How did you decide on which flowers to use?
I collaborated with Swallows and Damsons. She is an amazing florist from Sheffield, England. She has an incredible knowledge about nature and was able to select the elements that represented this season at its finest.
Where did you take inspiration from?
I had a photograph taken by Swallows and Damsons that I was able to use as a basis. It contained the most important elements like the big flowers and the figs, I then worked on different elements to create the entire composition, to get something really homogeneous.
What’s the next season you’ll take on?
I plan to do the winter one now. As it took me a few months to create the first one, I’m guessing that the full four drawings will be completed in one year.
What was your greatest challenge in creating this?
I think the most difficult part was to keep motivated. I watched the same piece every day, for weeks. Sometimes I felt discouraged by the amount of work that still remained.
She’s called “Mary Poppins with a camera.” I came across the incredible story of photographer Vivian Maier back in October 2011. The Chicago-based street photographer, who worked as a nanny for forty years, amassed a body of work comprising over 150,000 photographs but, during her lifetime, she did not share the pictures with others. When she died, in 2009, she left behind over a thousand rolls of undeveloped film. You could say that it was collector John Maloof who eventually brought her name to fame, after acquiring a box full of Maier’s negatives for $400 at a local auction house in Chicago. Soon after, Maier became an internet sensation and received posthumous fame. The press likened her to such greats as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank.
A new photo exhibition of Maier just began in Los Angeles at Merry Karnowsky Gallery. From now till February 27, come to the gallery to see Maloof’s collection of Maier’s lifelong work. Here are a few of the photos that they will be exhibiting, for the very first time. Can’t get enough of the street photographer’s images from the ’50s and ’60s. They’re classic photos that will live on forever.
Though he didn’t nab the Golden Globe, Rami Malek shined bright last night as he won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. I’m over the moon for him and the Mr. Robot cast for winning three top prizes: Best Drama Series, Best Actor for Rami Malek and Supporting Actor for Christian Slater. Rami gave a short but sweet speech where he thanked his mom (“she’s fearless”), his cast, the crew and the writers. He gave special shout-outs to fellow actor Christian Slater and show creator Sam Esmail. He then ended his speech with a beautiful line: “It’s not just good to be different; it’s better to be different.” Right on.
On a side note, did you catch Rami on Ellen? It was his “Ellen” debut. So great that Ellen’s a fan of the show. Watch the video to the end. (Loved how he gave Ellen a sweet walk down memory lane. I had no idea that she was the first female comedian to be invited by Johnny Carson to chat on the The Tonight Show‘s couch.) Rami’s such a class act. I can’t get enough of him.
How was your weekend? Parker came down with a fever and a nasty cough on Saturday so we had to take it easy. His fever spiked again last night so he’s at home resting. Sam also caught this “bug” so my whole family feels like it’s down for the count. When it rains it pours, right?
Today, we take a moment to remember the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr. While we’ve all heard his “I Have a Dream” speech, we know that King’s legacy included much more than that. Buzzfeed put together a list of 17 Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes you’ve never heard. I like their last quote the most, which was pulled from his sermon on February 4, 1968 called “Drum Major Instinct.” To give you some context, “Drum Major Instinct” was first told by J. Wallace Hamilton, a well-known, liberal, white Methodist preacher in 1952. They refer to as King put it, “a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.”
Now here’s part of King’s sermon, where he imagined his own funeral. This powerful speech, spoken from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, would be told just two months before his assassination.
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)
I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)
I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.
I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)
I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)
And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)
I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)
I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that’s all I want to say.
If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.”
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
