Author Archives: Aaron Berger

Claire Morgan’s Crazy Installations Use Weird Materials Like Taxidermy and Dandelion Seeds

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…My attention has been drawn to the cheap distractions we choose to place in our immediate vicinity, with which to screen us from the overwhelming facts: that we are nothing; that our only certainty as individuals is a life, of unspecified duration, and then a death.

Seeing some crazy output from London-based artist Claire Morgon. Using a lot of unusual materials, she’s put together some really huge (both in scale and technique) installations. Dandelion seeds? Taxidermy? Yes please.

But to get the full Morgan effect, you have to click to her website. She’s got some awesome works on paper too. And if you’re anywhere near Cologne, Germany, head over to Galerie Karsten Greve, where the artist is currently showing a new batch of work. (via)

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Christopher Kline Makes Art with MMA Fighters and Battering Rams

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Christopher Kline is a Berlin-based artist doing some pretty interesting stuff with installation and performance pieces, collage, textiles, and limited-run publishing. Kline’s works, though disparately mixed in scale and platform, maintain a common thread through his personal, vibey folk mysticism and material-based focus. From his “Holy Ropes” zine to elaborate performances involving MMA fighters and battering rams, the artist’s particular vision is a constant presence. Kline’s art finds comfort in the unfamiliar by exploring far out subject matter through down-to-earth means.

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Mark Benson’s Flu Shot Art

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Reservations are now being accepted for limited edition flu shots; each shot comes with corresponding certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

-That phrase is taken from the press release for Get the Flu, Mark Benson‘s current exhibition at Ever Gold Gallery in San Francisco. A registered nurse was on site during the opening to administer real flu shots as part of a symbolic gesture to accompany the show, which focuses on themes surrounding the human need for control. It’s too hot?- turn on the air conditioner. Don’t want to get sick?- here, have a flu shot. Benson’s ability to present his commentary in such a unique, but direct way is really impressive.

Find some images from Get the Flu (on view til the 27th), below. And if you’re hankering for a further dose from the artist, you can still pick up a copy of Beautiful/Decay Book 7 right here which features a spread by him.

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Franco Recchia’s Urban Skyline Sculpture Made from Recycled Computer Parts

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Really cool cityscape sculptures created from recycled computer parts by Italian artist Franco Recchia. The cold mechanics of the dead computer hardware bring a strange quality to the works. And the claustrophobic elements of urban life are nicely captured in how compact each piece is. The sculptures give off a haulted vibe- it’s as if someone pulled the plug out of life itself and all that’s left is a series of plastic, green shells. See more from the series after the jump. (via)

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Shawn Brackbill on Finding Unique Ways to Photograph New York Fashion Week

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As part of our ongoing partnership with Feature Shoot, Beautiful/Decay is sharing Roger Kisby‘s interview with photographer Shawn Brackbill.

Shawn Brackbill is a Brooklyn, New York based portrait, fashion and music photographer.

I first came across your work a few years ago on Flickr. It seems like you were shooting mostly musicians then. How did you come to be involved in shooting fashion week?
I was shooting mostly musicians up until my first Fashion Week. I pitched a shoot to Dazed and Confused in July of 2008 to cover an event called Boadrum 88. It was started the year before by The Boredoms, a Japanese band, and that year Gang Gang Dance would be leading the performance of 88 drummers here in Brooklyn. I covered the event using multiple Polaroid cameras and Yashica Electro GSN rangefinder I had acquired from Ebay and refoamed.

A few weeks after delivering the images from that shoot, Dazed contacted me about covering the Spring / Summer 2009 New York Fashion week for them. They basically sent me out with a list of shows to cover and not much direction. That season I started to figure out what and how I wanted to cover Fashion Week and was hooked.

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Nintendo Characters Done In the Style of Japanese Wood Block Prints

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Illustrator Jed Henry is pretty deep into this series. Using characters from Nintendo video games, Henry creates digital works in the style of Japanese woodblock prints. The pairing makes sense. Nintendo is, after all, a Japanese company. These lend a certain gravity to the characters, which were originally designed to be animated and simple. They establish the narratives behind the games as some sort of Aesopian fable. Donkey Kong is ten times more badass in this version than the actual games. (via)

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Beauty is Embarrasing- Documentary On The Life and Work of Wayne White

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Beauty is Embarrassing is a newly released documentary film chronicling the life and work of California artist/designer/madman Wayne White.  Last weekend, I was lucky enough to catch a screening of the doc and a Q&A with White and the film’s director, Neil Berkeley. White, who’s worked on countless design projects including Pee-wee’s Playhouse, spends a large portion of his time these days making “Word Paintings”- humorous text-based works done on recycled thrift store landscapes.

White’s had quite the career, and it’s great to see him getting some much-deserved recognition. The film takes you through his childhood all the way up to the present day. A pretty epic life. He’s spent time as a struggling cartoonist living in Lower Manhattan, done a stint working on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, burned out trying to make it in Hollywood, and raised a family. But he’s still just a Southern-bred outsider compulsively making art to deal with the crazy world we live in.

A really great watch. Check out a trailer for the film and some of the artist’s paintings after the jump.

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Modern Celebrity PhotosTransformed Into Vintage 1920′s Mugshots

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New project from Michael Jason Enriquez, who brought you Cholafied a couple months back. Enriquez, still a student in advertising, is quickly developing a strong track record within the visual realm. It seems that he is able to communicate his pop culture impressions with enormous clarity and ease. Pretty unique quality of execution from someone in such an early stage of his career. Big ups.

The new series is entitled Mugshot Doppelgangers. Enriquez has taken some fairly ubiquitous celebrity mugshots and inserted them into an early 20th-century context:

…Our current mugshots of the rich and famous are plastered with every article, and blog these days, but look uninspired and cheap.  That’s why I wanted to bring our celebrity mugshots back to a time when love and care was taken to compose a more artful mugshot – back to the 1920′s…

…We’re so used to seeing celebrity faces on our tv, on blogs, and we even know what their mugshots look like. The tacky looking mugshots we have today are in stark contrast to the mugshots taken in the 1920’s. Vintage mugshots have an eerie beauty to them that’s lost in current mugshot photography…

Definitely someone to keep tabs on in the future. See more Celebrity Mugshot Doppelgangers after the jump.

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