Heike Weber‘s installations transform a space in a surprisingly simple (albeit painstaking) medium. Her installations are actually drawn directly on the floor, walls, and ceiling of these locations. The surface is first primed in acrylic paint and patiently drawn over in permanent marker.The drawings are highly detailed abstract line-forms. Each endless series of waves nearly seem to undulate around the room. At other times, the installations resemble an enormous and fantastic topographical map projected directly onto the space.
Australian artist Buff Diss brings an interesting medium to the spray paint dominated world of street art: tape. Intricately cut and stuck, Buff Diss’ often large scale pieces can be astoundingly complex. Some of his work intentionally interacts, even plays with the surrounding environment. At other times his work seems to reference classical sculpture and painting. However, he consistently works in this peculiar medium. Regarding the reasons for using tape in his process he says:
“The functional or practical nature of tape is one of its best aspects as a medium; you don’t have to walk into a snooty, over-priced art store to find it. The linear quality of tape also makes it a quick medium to work with. Only drawback is looking like you’ve got a stationery fetish when you open your bag.” [via]
Photographer Joanne Leah works in “seduction, ritual, and tension”. Her pieces capture relationships, between two people or art and its viewer, as it alternately relaxes and strains. In the series featured in this post the angle of the light is severe recalling the chiaroscuro of baroque painting. The light, though, is cold, almost lonely, emphasizing the solitary figure in each photograph. Whether, the subject holds teeth in her palm or wields a knife a drama is clearly unfolding.
The site specific installations of Magnus Sönning investigate space and the structures that inhabit it. In a way, his Wind Passages bring the outside indoors. The small raised corridors allow the wind (and at times rain) to flow right through a building. His work emphasizes the space that we live in. It encourages us to think about the world prior to the existence of the the structures of everyday life. Other works of Sönning take pieces of buildings – ceilings, floors, walls – out of context and puts them on display. These pieces create further opportunities to investigate structures we simply pass through each day.
Argentinian Street artist Jaz can often be seen at work with an aerosol can in one hand in a brush in the other. He sprays and blends in a way that makes his work especially expressionistic for street art. Jaz’ style and process are more often found on the smaller scale of the canvas gallery. While consciously veering from the typical New York based street art style, Jaz says
“But the main idea about graffiti is to work in the street. It isn’t about the tools you use of the paradigm of signing your name” [via]
Jonathan Schipper‘s work is slowly self destructing. Very slowly self destructing. In this first series of photos, To Dust, two classical sculptures hang upside down from one mechanism. The mechanism slowly grinds the sculptures together. A pile of fine dust gathers beneath the sculptures as they wear each other away. Over the course of several years the sculptures are expected to eventually destroy each other.
Slow self destruction unfolds in another series pictured in this post, Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle Slow Motion Car Crash. A head on collision is almost painfully stretched out over six days. Two cars set on a track slowly advance toward each other simulating an ultra-slow car wreck. Schipper transforms destruction that was once dangerous into a harmless act – a perverse spectacle into a near boring and slow non-drama.
Artist Xochi Solis‘ work combines painting with collage into smartly layered pieces. Rather than spreading the elements throughout the composition, Solis places them all at the center. She layers each piece on the on top of the one before it, revealing only pieces of found images or painterly strokes. The round images almost appear cellular though still resisting easy interpretation or identification. The Austin, Texas based artist’s materials range from acrylic and oil paint to found images and acetate.
It’s difficult to discern whether Lisa Kellner‘s silk installations are natural or intrusive, peaceful or menacing. Her delicate fabric structures resemble jellyfish or coral as much as something cancerous or viral. Kellner’s work intentionally inhabits this duality. Each installation is made out of silk – a medium that is at once organic but also extremely strong. Her sculptures illustrate the curious path of growth organic matter can take. Lisa Kellner says of her artwork:
“The quickest path from point a to point b is a straight line. But nature is filled with curves and crevices. And human nature always seems to prefer a more circuitous path. Whatever means are chosen, the journey one takes presents a perfect painting problem: what is the essence of a moment that took everything to get there?.”