Filed under: In the Studio, Los Angeles, Q&A, San Francisco, Studio Visit | Tags: 73, Catherine Clark, Ellen C. Caldwell, Ellen Caldwell, Elyse Pignolet, graffiti, Great War of Californians, Jacques Callot, NAP, Paul Mullowney, Pignolet, Sandow, Sandow Birk, Temporary Permanence
Husband and wife team Sandow Birk (NAP #73) and Elyse Pignolet are solo artists in their own right, but they also form a dynamic collaborative art aesthetic in ambitious projects ranging anywhere from large-scale woodblock print series, to painted ceramic murals, to hand-drawn maps. - Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet
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Filed under: In the Studio, Los Angeles | Tags: 73, Ellen C. Caldwell, Ellen Caldwell, jen pack, Los Angeles, NAP, NAP 73, pack, Q&A, studio
Jen Pack (NAP #73) deconstructs, reconstructs, sews, and stretches fabric onto frames and into large masses in a way that creates something at once familiar and yet also new. Her works resonate with viewers and remind them of a variety of other arts and images, creating a kind of cyclical “trialogue” – a dialogue between artist, art, viewer, and back.
From her nuanced and detailed stretched chiffon pieces to her large installation work with kite-like nylon, Pack’s work is both moving and provoking, aesthetically and mentally. – Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
Scrap 1, chiffon/thread/wood, 31.25″ x 19″ x 3.5″ 2010
Filed under: Alabama, In the Studio, Q&A | Tags: 94, Alabama, Beta Pictoris, Birmingham, Bonard Hughins, Boutwell Studios, CMYK, Ellen, Ellen C. Caldwell, Ellen Caldwell, Hughins, NAP, NAP #94
In a time when technology is changing and morphing around us so quickly that we are all in a steady state of flux and perpetual catch-up, Bonard Hughins‘ paintings (NAP #94) offer us a respite.
In his portraits, Hughins mimics the CMYK color process that was used to increase printing speed and efficacy, but in painting it by hand (his process averages a couple of weeks per painting), he also reverses this technological development as if to slow down the rapid pace at which our iPads, iPods, and phones seem to lull us with their siren song…If technology is constantly propelling us to the Land of Two Steps Forward, then Hughins is consciously looking and taking one step back. - Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
Hughins in his studio
Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, Seattle | Tags: Broadway Boogie-Woogie, Howard House, Joey Veltkamp, Ken Kelly, Piet Mondrian, Seattle, Woodside/Braseth Gallery
Studio view. Ken Kelly, work in progress.
Ken Kelly‘s studio is a quick walk from his Seattle home. Sandwiched between two freeways, it’s a surprisingly quiet enclave of artists (Gretchen Bennett, Jeffry Mitchell, Matthew Offenbacher, and Jenny Heishman) that occupies the top floor of Roy McMakin’s Big Leaf Mfg shop.
Kelly was primarily known for his 15-year run of heavily patterned paintings, full of hidden angular skulls and third eyes created through faux symmetry. The work felt ancient and a bit mystical. Then in 2007, in what seemed to be an overnight change, Kelly abandoned his trademark calligraphic curves for freehand strokes of angular fields rendered with a minimal palette. The new work pushed his previous mysticism into a state of vibrancy that shimmers, hums and pulses.
More after the jump! —Joey Veltkamp, Seattle contributor
Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, Seattle | Tags: Derek Eller Gallery, Greg Kucera Gallery, Joey Veltkamp, Philip Guston, Picasso, sculpture, Tang Museum, Whiting Tennis
A mid-career artist who shows with Derek Eller and Greg Kucera, Whiting Tennis was kind enough to spare a couple of hours to show me what he’s been working on lately, and I stopped by his North Seattle home and studio last week.
As we opened a couple of tall boys, Whiting began talking about what’s on his mind, and what he’d like most right now is time and lots of it. He explained that he’s got three months to prepare for a big Fall show at the Tang Museum. Tennis has tons of great ideas but worries about having enough hours to execute each of them. Like many artists, when pushing in new directions, doubt can creep in. One might think, ”Will this work? Is this any good?” I’m a bit more confident in Tennis—I predict his solo show for the Tang, Opener 22: Whiting Tennis, will be one of his best shows yet. —Joey Veltkamp, Seattle contributor
Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, Q&A, San Francisco | Tags: Luc Tuymans, Marlene Dumas, Nadiah Fellah, Pamela Wilson-Ryckman, Paule Anglim Gallery, San Francisco, UC Berkeley
Pamela Wilson-Ryckman, Looter, 2010 | Watercolor on paper, 22.5 x 30 inches. Courtesy the artist.
I recently caught up with San Francisco-based artist Pamela Wilson-Ryckman in her studio—one of many housed in converted horse stables that still bear the high ceilings and large wooden barn doors of their original structure.
A native New Yorker, Wilson-Ryckman discussed her process, the inspiration for her watercolor paintings, and her recent solo show at Paule Anglim Gallery in San Francisco. Her paintings are particularly engaging for their technical mastery and temporality—two components we can expect to see from the artist in future works. Images and our conversation after the jump. —Nadiah Fellah, SF contributor
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Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, Seattle | Tags: Erin Langner, Kirkland Arts Center, Margie Livingston, sculpture, Seattle
Margie Livingston, Study for Spiral Block #2, 2010 | Acrylic, 5.75 x 6 x 6 inches. Photo: Richard Nichol.
Overlooking Seattle’s industrial, corporate SoDo neighborhood, Margie Livingston’s long, spacious studio rests in a building of independent, office-like workspaces. A canopy of overhanging grid sculptures and an adjacent geometric bookshelf at the studio’s entrance reference Livingston’s grid-based paintings of several years prior. Her most recent three-dimensional Paint Objects appear with greatest frequency at the opposite end of the room. Moving through her space, from entrance to window, Livingston’s studio offers an unconsciously structured progression of her approach to painting, beginning with the most theoretical objects and ending with the most physical. —Erin Langner, Seattle contributor
Filed under: In the Studio, Q&A, Seattle | Tags: Joey Veltkamp, Philip Miner, Seattle
I recently stopped by the studio of Philip Miner, located just blocks away from one of Seattle’s working waterfronts. On the way in, an elderly gentleman stopped me and asked if I might let him and his sister in because they wanted see the saw blade that almost killed him years ago. After they located the saw blade and chatted for a bit, Philip and I sat down and talked about his work, his move from New York to Seattle, and how location can influence work. —Joey Veltkamp, Seattle contributor
Filed under: Art World, Atlanta, In the Studio, Q&A | Tags: Atlanta, Craig Drennen, David Robbins, Gretchen Bender, Paul Boshears, Shakespeare, Supergirl, Timon of Athens
Craig Drennen, Dramatis Personae, 2010 | Oil and alkyd on canvas, 72 x 80 inches. Installation view from Craig Drennen: Timon of Athens, samsøn, Boston.
Currently an artist in residency at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, and recently named a Dean at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Craig Drennen has a jocular manner and earnest articulation that made for a cheerful studio visit. For the last several years, Drennen has taken vaguely-familiar staged cultural artifacts (the Supergirl movie from the 1980s, Shakespeare’s most obscure play Timon of Athens, or David Robbins’ Talent) and built challenging hyperreal canvases that invite the audience to reconsider the nature of representation. Our conversation, and more images, after the jump. —Paul Boshears, Atlanta contributor
Filed under: Art World, In the Studio, New York | Tags: Evan J. Garza, Peter Opheim, sculpture, Steven Zevitas Gallery, VOLTA NY
For all the implied detail that jpegs provide, there’s nothing quite like seeing a painting in person. I was certain that when I set out to visit German-born artist Peter Opheim at his Chinatown studio in New York, I had a pretty good handle on what I would expect to see. But appearances can be deceiving, and a closer inspection of the surface of his works was not unlike being whispered a very important secret, with all the weight of the work carried with it. The surface quality of these paintings is both remarkable and remarkably important to the understanding of his work.
When viewed in their entirety, or seen from a distance, Opheim’s large-scale paintings reveal very little about their surfaces. Based on individual sculptural maquettes made of clay (which I had the rare pleasure of seeing in the studio), the artist’s colorful subjects are rendered with a very small brush, effectively making his painted works seem more like hand-made objects. Each tiny brushstroke appears as if Opheim has instead sculpted the paint with his fingers, casting a very sculptural glow over his oil paintings.
For Opheim, the result is less about an accurate representation of his clay maquettes and more about the careful abstraction of his compositions. For decades, the artist worked almost exclusively with abstracted imagery, and his recent work deeply recalls that spirit. I caught up with Opheim as he was preparing for a solo show at VOLTA NY with Steven Zevitas Gallery. More after the jump!
—Evan J. Garza, Editor-at-large
