I dare say this might be bit intense of a graphic to hang on your wall, but that doesn’t mean this Blik Graphic by Hannah Stouffer, entitled Darkest Night, doesn’t really, really rock. It’s almost Escher-ish in its lines… minus the skulls and shadows, of course. Buy that design and more here. (And below is a slightly more commonly appropriate piece available by Stouffer!)
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Head over to the Fulcrum Gallery in Tacoma tonight for the closing night of Monument, Troy Gua‘s current amazing show exploring the effects of war on, well, the human body. There’s also an artist talk going on tonight, which should be interesting. Reception starts at 6:00pm, but though it’s the closing reception, closing night isn’t until March 13th! Be confused!
Gua says:
“This installation is my memorial to loss. I’m not a soldier I have never seen war. How do we reconcile this experience? How do we grieve loss?”
We’re going to save you from all of the Valentine’s Day hearts we just posted, and simply go with some good, neutral, non-love-related art.
Lissy Elle‘s most recent works seem to combine fantasy stories and fashion to study the contours of the human body in a fanciful setting. But she’s not all pretty things, either; her older pieces can get quite raw. It seems that she is on a photo-a-day 365-day photo journey, and it’s astounding how far she’s come in that time period. You can go through her Flickr to see the progression.
Below is another recent piece of hers, of which she says:
“My Sunday school teacher once told me when I was little, that she always pictured God as just hands, holding the universe in his palms.”
Stuntkid throws female illustrations into clean, vibrant worlds with gentle linework. Mmm.
Fabulous wood-burning art on paddles, by Onionize.
This is an amazing show poster by Charles Bergquist. It is highly, highly recommended that you visit his website and view his other print works as well as videos of projections he has made.
Photography by Alex MacLean, who takes truly astounding aerial photographs which make us realize we truly underestimate how much we know about our world.
An image by Aurel Schmidt, who doesn’t seem to currently have a website — and frankly, she doesn’t really need one. She’s shown at the Saatchi Gallery, has been featured on Fecal Face, and was at ArtBasel.
Ah, Valentine’s Day — a dreaded holiday for some and the ultimate heart-warming day for others. In either situation, though, viewing some diverse art is a good remedy. Here are some good shows taking place on Friday the 12th, in Portland and Seattle. They’re group shows that show that it’s not just about selfish relationships on Valentine’s Day! Community love’s worth something, too.
Yet another event from Seattle art collective Artifakt
Damager by Grym.
Terror by BeeryMethod.
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Lutjanus campechanus by Crystal Barbre. Oil on canvas. 42″ x 72″.
Matroyshka Dolls by iamintricate.
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For the fifth year in a row, the Portland Love Show will be taking place this year at the Olympic Mills Commerce Center (107 SE Washington St.) from 7:00pm to 12:00am.
Here are just some of our favorite pieces showing this year.
Inevitable by BMAC. 16″ x 20″, $100.
Love and Lust Contemplating Their Predicament by Chuck E. Bloom. 14″ x 18″, $950.
Tied by Kindra Crick. Encaustic mixed media. 10″ x 8″, $180.
last of the famous international playboys by John Gajowski. 17″ x 22″, $250.
Portland photographer Tyler Kohlhoff explores Inland Empires, the spread in Southern California out east when you’re headed to Nevada or Arizona. Now at The Tribute Gallery, the images stand in stark contrast with the white walls of the gallery space and seem to stand still in time, capturing littered remains of home and memories faded into the past. For all who are interested in urban or rural decay, Kohlhoff’s photographs are little slices of grimey beauty.
A diptych by Levan Kakabadze
Hydrogen, by Schühle Lewis, which Lewis says is good for Physicists and Scientists and bad for Creationists. The image is based off of a quote by Edward R. Harrison, which can be found here.
Artist Morgan Blair is all about bright colors and abstract shapes. Her website is dizzying, but a lot of her pieces intersperse geometric shapes with well-drawn figures, and it is these that are most interesting. See below.
Recoat‘s Good Wives And Warriors.
Caitlin Hackett combines beauty with decay in this amazingly illustrated Vulpes Masquerade.
Digital collage by Katty Bouthier that is simple but otherworldly.
A drawing by Chris Scarborough that turns this deer into quite a mound of shapes.
Mover and shaker Jim Denevan sees the big picture. Like a movie director, all of his works — whether they be manipulations of sand and earth or more human-oriented experimental projects — seem to share a common thread of small details benefiting a larger whole. His food project, Outstanding In The Field, features a world-wide moveable feast that takes place in rural areas and unlikely scenery.
Visit his website for notes on how he accomplishes all of his projects.
There’s a lot of crap on Tumblr. Here’s our weekly update that sorts through the crap to bring you the best of the week. (Click here to add us on Tumblr.) This is a big week for photography, so hopefully you like that!
There was a time when 3-dimensional-crafted shapes were all the rage on the internet and gracing the covers of electronic albums everywhere. For large part, that trend died down due to the fact that the shapes started looking much too artificial; they were unsophisticated polygons with no real textures or moods other than “metallic” or “clean.” Paul Lee has managed to take these polygons, manipulating them in a way that keeps them current.
Photography by Swedish multi-disciplinary artist John Falk Rodén, who runs his own creative company with his partner, Andreas Lewandowski, called Ajja.
Minimalistic photography that will take your breath away, by Thorsten Konrad. Oceans are frequently calming, but this takes that almost to another level.
Buttonmooon weeds through vintage cameras and film to create images like this that are basked in saturated colors. This could quite possibly be the album cover for the latest indie singer-songwriter.
Al Magnus combines photography with manipulation to create that walk the line between fantasy and reality. (And maybe gives a heads up to Wizard Of Oz?)
Gunta Stölzl, German artist. This is a wall hanging from 1931; she was ages ahead of the current hipster trends in textile art and patterning. Ages!
