Author Archives: Aaron Berger

A World of Soft Fantasy in Damien Kamholtz’s Paintings

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Australian artist Damien Kamholtz recently opened Boats Like Feathers, an exhibition of new works at Art House Gallery in Melbourne. From the gallery’s website:

Boats Like Feathers brings together the child and adult in a soft and vibrant world of narrative and metaphor evoked through Damien Kamholtz’s deeply layered and nostalgic work, rich with a story unique to each viewer if they are willing to take part in the journey.

More images after from the show after the jump, and you can check out a video of the artist in the studio here.

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Alejandro Cardenas’ Abstract Figures in Watercolor and Guache

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Alejandro Cardenas, based in NYC, creates watercolor and guache works in which stark, flat figurative elements blend seamlessly with abstract flourishes and branches of washed out color. Set amidst a deep black background, this work stands out well. Too often, water based media is used as a generator of quaint atmosphere; whimsical drawings that take up very little space on paper or canvas. Cardenas’ work, conversely, is bold and fully composed where others may have defaulted into paltry understatement.

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Kara Joslyn’s Quietly Emotional Paintings

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CCA grad Kara Joslyn is based in Oakland. Joslyn works mostly in black and white and mixed media to create stark, quietly emotional paintings. There’s a lot of hardened dignity in the artist’s work. The black and white depictions here of crumbling stone, ancient pottery, and dried parcels of wood can’t help but lend a resolute seriousness to each painting. This (and their stunning visual qualities) allows them to be taken in with purpose, as though something very special is captured and any time spent with the work is not wasted. By rendering material which was once strong and hard in a state of brokenness and neglect,  Joslyn brings us to considerations of the inevitable effects of neglect and time, and the realization that hardly anything remains prominent forever.

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Video Watch: I Am Dain- Senior Citizen Street Artist Is Still At It

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Brooklynite Gallery has been on some sort of weird hiatus for a while, apparently to focus on making arts related films. Well, they do make good shorts. This is one from a while back when they had an exhibition from collage artist DAIN. So there’s this unassuming elderly guy, right? Well he happens to be a fairly prolific street artist who makes collage work out of portrait photography. Just watch the video. And the next time you find yourself in a discussion lamenting what “Street Art” has become, remember DAIN, who pastes work on the street because it’s as natural to him as breathing. To him, it’s not about money or cool factor, this is just something that gives him a lot of satisfaction. Dude knows what it’s all about.

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Humorous Installation on the Street from Leon Reid IV

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Brooklyn artist Leon Reid IV (in collaboration with Poster Boy) is the man behind the “Hot Off the Press” Showpaper distribution box (pictured above), a functional newspaper box that melts into the pavement outside Printed Matter in NYC. Reid, who creates humorous, public installations that have been placed in cities all over the world, is apparently trying to put a giant spider on the Brooklyn Bridge now? Whether he’s manipulating elements already in existence (like the George Washington statue in Union Square Park) or introducing new material onto the street, Reid always brings sharp social commentary with a strong visual punch. While you wait for the spider, check out some of Reid’s past projects after the jump.

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Interactive Sound Sculpture Pavilion for the Olympic Games

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As part of Coca Cola’s Move to the Beat program for the 2012 Olympics, London design partners Asif Khan and Pernilla Ohrstedt put together the Coca Cola Beatbox pavilion in the Olympic Park, an interactive architectural installation composed of 200 translucent air cushions. The cushions respond to movement from pavilion visitors with sound and light, effectively remixing a track commissioned by the bottling company for the Games. Different areas in the structure emit various sports-themed sounds like sneakers squeaking on the court and recorded heart rates. This one’s probably not for the claustrophobic, but London is definitely the place to be right now. Concept sketches and more images of the musical pavilion after the jump. (via)

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Sandra Beer’s Nostalgic Illustration

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I really like these illustrations from Sandra Beer of Frankfurt, Germany. They somehow have a dirty and nostalgic feel all at once. If I encountered the animals and youngsters of Beer’s portfolio in the real world, I wouldn’t know whether to go in for the hug or run to safety. Where others may have tried for crowd pleasingly cuteness on some of her subjects, Beer’s not afraid to bring out the ink splotches and faded palette. Also, this aesthetic carries throughout all of her work, including the digital stuff. (via)

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Masako Miki’s Delicate Animal Paintings

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These works from Berkeley, CA artist Masako Miki (originally from Japan) are fairly on point. Delicately rendered animals exist naturally among fantastical environs full of color. The artist’s ruminations on time, life, death, and innocence would be a big pill to swallow if these paintings weren’t so damn pretty. And it’s not that this stuff hasn’t been done before (Josh Keyes, growing environmentalist concerns, etc.). But in this case cosmic elements enter the mix, allowing us to contemplate the issues of our small planet and the issues of “the Beyond” in one go.

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