This movie was foundational for me. I can't tell you how many times I've seen it. My dad introduced this to me and my brother before I could even tell you how old I was. I've always been enamored with the variety of patterns, brightly contrasting color palette, and outright creativity behind this movie, especially in the varying styles of illustration and animation (and of course the timing to the music).
0 Comments
I met Kathryn Polk at Penland School of Craft during the open studios walkthrough. Obviously her work sells for a *lot,* but I still had the nerve to ask about buying one of her prints, specifically If you see Kay... (2019) (far right image). She said even her discounted price she offers friends is at least $800. Unsurprised but still disappointed, I nodded my head and walked away.
Earlier that week, she presented a video on her practice, set to upbeat music. I was baffled at the sheer amount of work she's created but also the fine quality of it all, the interesting symbols and overlapping figures. I was also just baffled at the process behind lithography, which is her medium. I still can just barely wrap my head around the process. I mean nothing compares to Magritte. I don't just love him because he's also from Belgium... In high school I painted his dove on a tie for my dad. He and I went to the Magritte museum in Bruxelles and it was amazing. I saw original exquisite corpse drawings and soooo many variations of stones, birds, apples, candles, and moons. Several of the works were on loan to SF MoMA, which I actually ended up seeing a few years later after moving to the West coast.
Big thanks to Serene Blumenthal for introducing me to this legend of a filmmaker. Super avant-garde for her time, but even for today I find her films eery, dreamlike, delicate. I was star-struck when I discovered Maya Deren.
Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon Maya Deren - Ensemble for Somnambulists Niki de Saint Phalle was the very first artist I was ever introduced to, way back in preschool. I remember making painting colorful chunky ceramic women and papier-machée inspired by her works. During the first after-school art class I took, one of our assignments was to color in one of her rhinos. That was the first time I was cognizant of different kinds of markmaking with markers, specifically. I've encountered her large-scale sculptures when I was in Paris with my French class and at UC San Diego while touring college campuses. These sculptures looked familiar and I remembered the artist from when I was much younger but I didn't truly realize her impact on me until taking Art 1A at UC Santa Barbara and my TA, Maiza Hixon, posted Niki de Saint Phalle's work on her instagram. That was when I connected all the dots, and ever since then I've had a real affinity for Niki's work. These drawings in particular remind me of stream-of-consciousness drawing. In some of my own work I create portraits out of the things that remind me of that particular person. Or memories of a specific day. I particularly admire her confidence in line, color, and pattern.
Niki de Saint Phalle - Structures for Life |
The ReaderArt that left a mark on me. ArchivesCategories |