American Contemporary Realist - Janet Fish

Janet Fish, Dog Days, 1993, oil on canvas, 46 in x 80 in, Seavest Collection of Contemporary RealismSoHo based artist Janet Fish (born 1938) hails from a family of artists. Although regarded as a realist, Fish’s work also embodies influences from the highly energetic Abstract Expressionism of early postmodernism. Here’s an excerpt from an essay by Virgina A Bonito, that aptly describes Fish’s work.

“In a poem titled “Adam’s Curse,” William Butler Yeats wrote of the task of writing poetry:

 A line will take us hours maybe;

 Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,

 Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

If we apply that measure of success to the visual arts, we can find in the best of Janet Fish the perfection of the dictum....”

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Are We Still in Kansas?

Perched on the corner of the 7th floor of Jacobs Hall above the busy artery through Warren College, the 15-by-18-foot house looks, indeed, like it came crashing down from above. (Philipp Scholz Rittermann / June 14, 2012) (click photo for larger image)Artist Do Ho Suh has created a work that will really leave you asking that question? Two of my lifelong learners--Jerri and Darryl Thomson--came upon this work in their travels and passed the article along to me. I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it.

“Ever since Do Ho Suh left his native South Korea in 1991 to study at the Rhode Island School of Design, he has made displacement — cultural, physical, psychological, architectural — one of the central themes of his work.”

Read More, in an interesting article by Leah Ollman, Special to the Los Angeles Times...

Spectacular Wall Installations Made of X-Rays and MRI Film

Julia Barello - “Swoop” - Installation - MRI film (click photo for larger image)Artist Julia Barello has created a fascinating and quite beautiful series of works using X-ray and MRI film. Check out a recent series she’s created, entitled “Swoon”. True artists can make something out of anything. A wad of spit and a piece of thread can become a great work of art--if it’s in the right hands.

Stunning Portraits Made with a Single Sewing Thread Wrapped through Nails

"Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita creates mind-boggling portraits by wrapping a single UNBROKEN black thread around galvanized nails, on a clear white board." 

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First UK Solo Exhibition of American Artist Nancy Holt Opens At Haunch of Venison

Nancy Holt, Sunlight in Sun Tunnels, 1976. (detail). Composite of thirty photographs of sunlight and shadow in one tunnel photographed every half hour from 6.30 AM to 9.00 PM in 14 July 1976 Composite inkjet print taken from original 35mm colour transparencies; printed on archival rag paper 2012.Nancy Holt is a pioneer of land art--a movement that began in the 1960s. Land art takes art outside of museum and gallery settings--and places it in the natural environment. Of course, land art cannot be bought or sold--and this changed the way people perceive art. Holt is also well known for her film, video and photographic work--related to site specific projects.

“LONDON.- Haunch of Venison presents the first UK solo exhibition of American artist Nancy Holt. Holt is one of the leading artists of her generation and a pioneer in site-specific art and film and video work. She is one of a group of important international artists who initiated the Land art movement in the late 1960s.”

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