Los Angeles-based Apenest, a publishing/ printmaking project created by Cody Hoyt and Brian Willmont, presents Plain Air. Plain Air is the second in their series of exhibitions focused on showcasing talented emerging artists at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Plain Air is running from Oct 15th – Nov 14th, so if you’re in the neighborhood don’t miss out!
Choreographer, Willi Dorner, brought together a group of artists in New York to participate in his performance piece, Bodies in Urban Space. The artists go around to different parts of Manhattan to confine themselves together into architecturally specific shapes, conveying the idea of the restrictions we face physically, emotionally, and spiritually living in such a structure dominant space.
[ via fecal face ]
We are enjoying some of New York based artist Austin Power’s recent work. His focus on the human expression, and his interest in wanting to fully understand another human being has us interact with his work by filling us up with empathy.
Though New York based artist, Kiki Smith, works with various kinds of materials, she is most widely known for her sculptures. Kiki works with many topics of which include shame, our relationship to nature, and she is even considered to be a feminist artist. But if you must define what she is “about,” I would say that she is very interested in humanity as natural creatures and our inner conflict with wanting to suppress natural urges. Even when crude, her craftsmanship exhibit so much beauty, that I am always consistently filled with feelings of whimsy.
Nina Chanel Abney, a New York based painter, creates these amazingly bold, and politically charged pieces of work. Incredibly blunt with a mix of clever symbolism (such as rubber gloves to represent “dirty work.”)
New York based Korean artist, Do Ho Suh, creates beautifully detailed installations where he constantly has us question the identity of the individual in modern day society. Those of you who live here in Los Angeles, might have seen a few of his sculptures at LACMA where he worked with the idea of the clashing of culture and identity most Korean-Americans face by crashing a traditional Korean house into a modern day American house. Inside, traditional Korean furniture spilling into various rooms of the American house, all mixing into one chaotic mess. I have always genuinely enjoyed the way Do Ho Suh communicates his concepts, and his painfully close attention to detail.
New York based artist, the theatrical Cai-Guo Qiang, is yet another artist I dream of to meet one day. He is mostly known for his gunpowder explosions, where the guided impact of exploded gunpowder creates beautiful marks on the paper it is placed over. Proof how beauty and violence are sometimes intertwined with each other, a concept Cai-Guo works with often.
We are really enjoying Nolan Hendrickson’s recent work. They remind me of the dirty side of city life – but through a colorful, and naive window. The bold colors remind me of electrical signs that pollute the city at night. But the style of which Nolan approaches these paintings are so fun and dreamlike that it feels like I am experiencing these environments as a child.
