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 The Art of Lauren Martino

 

lauren painting

 

Lauren Martino Art

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Lauren Martino Art

 

Women We Worship

by Lauren Martino

 

we worship the women who are barely there
pigment void eyes
and platinum white hair
her torso is so thin she threatens to disappear
her skin is so white it’s verging on clear
she is a silent image with no voice of her own
she is an object of perfection — a capitalist drone
she is the height of Dennett’s zimbo —
the disengaged bimbo
and we’ll never hear her theory of mind
and she’ll never skull-crushingly illuminate humankind.

But there are these women who are filled to the brim
with pigments so demanding —
as to color the passion within
with voices so loud your brain will vibrate
and you will thank her out loud for showing you heaven’s gate

Her curves are fierce with unapologetic life
and her enormous dark eyes strike like an amorous knife
We must worship the earth as we worship the air
we must worship the women who are actually there.

 

 

The Vision of Collision

We are perched on a peak as we watch it collide,
deep and destructive.

The static in our veins
is the wreckage of the week
and the avalanche has become conductive.

We will see it unfold
before we have time to catch up
and the bottom falls out all over.

We crack like eggs into a syrupy glue,
the contents of our souls simmer out like steam.

We are but a dream in the land of a baffled philosopher.

And so we lay naked,
confused,
soulless,
in the contents of one another
hoping to make something more than a child.

More than another one
of what we are
or always were
or became.

We are the seams of dreams
meeting as one defies
the Other
and we seek to retreat
from the hearts pulse
into the cosmic beat.

 

Internal Battles

Claustrophobic thoughts, I must be insane
Packed tight in the tousled tubes of my brain
Electric, shaking, wild, and dense
A vicarious vacuum of intangible sense.

Conflicted and raw, my heart beats in my eyes
Pick the wrong card and the fantasy dies.
Muffled truths cry out in dirty-rotten air
You’ve said it before mama, you sincerely don’t care.

But ill stand idle in the night neglecting the drowning hours
Dismal and dead are their strong standing forever-powers.
Callous deceiver,
Your mind is so weak.
Notorious griever,
Your moans are so meek.

Now picture this

Without word or a rhyme

You drop into space

One inch at a time.

Give me your eyes
I can give them true vision

Now give me your heart
It’s not your decision.

 

 

Artist Statement:

It feels as if I am filling in an impulse, or a beat, what feels like an intuitive template or scaffold that I never asked or looked for. The process of my work often feels more like an unfolding rather than a directed venture there is never a point A to B, Its a point A to which ever point feels natural. My portraits are all informed by the psychology and personality of the subject as well as my own state. I strive to find an integral balance of external and internal impressions, a marriage of the objective and subjective. I would consider my photography to be an attempt to use my perspective and addition of various edits to reconcile the objective information a camera provides with the subjectivity of the shooter’s perspective and imagination. Finally, my abstracted pieces are the expression and solidification of something that I cannot verbalize, they are physical imprints of my innermost personal interpretation of reality. All of my pieces are learning experiences, I have mastery over none of them nor do I attempt to, i wish only for my pieces to reflect intentionality and to have autonomous agency.

 

BIO:

Lauren MartinoMy name is Lauren Martino and I refuse to write about myself in the third person. I paint, I write poems, I take pictures, I draw, I sculpt, I build sets, I make things. The day I stop learning is the day I die. I am the daughter of two painters who gave me the experience of a lifetime by raising my twin brother and I in a building called Westbeth Artists Housing. I pray one day to be at least half as talented as they are. Taking summer classes at FIT throughout my adolescence had an enormous part in shaping me into who I am today. I am currently embarking on a new journey as a part time student at the New York Studio School. I have shown at Westbeth Gallery under the alias of Heather Bridges because if they knew how old I was they wouldn’t have accepted my work. I have worked as a Set Designer for the ID channel and other independent projects. I am young, with time I will collect more anecdotes to inspire and impress perfect strangers, but for now this is me and that is all.

 

To view more of Lauren’s work:

 

 

I Spy Cameras:
Intriguing Cameras of Intrigue

Story and Photos by Paul Garson – Cameras and documents from the author’s collection

 

francis x bushman

 

Shoot Bullets and Photos

Sometime in 1933 the famous screen actor/director Francis X. Bushman seen here came up with the idea of melding an actual gun with a camera that could shoot bullets as well as still and motion pictures as an aid to law enforcement. The idea was even if the bad guy escaped the bullets, he couldn’t avoid getting his mug shot taken and thus sealing his eventual captured. Something smaller and less noisy was needed by real world spies which prompted inventors around the globe to search for the perfect spy camera. As a result untold variations were created, a few literally shaping the history of nations and wars, cold and hot. As an offshoot, “spy camera” compact design eventually entered the consumer market, some basically toys, others hi-tech wonders. Here are a few from the author’s collection of vintage cameras, but only touching upon the tip of the spy iceberg.

 

TheHitwasit

The HIT – Was It?

If you were a kid growing up in the 1950s and read comic books, you saw an endless flow of ads, small ones, for The Hit…and you just had to have one because it was so “spyish” and cool. Your parents probably tried to explain that it was a toy and you couldn’t photograph a barn door with the Honey-I-Shrunk-a Real-35mm Camera. But no doubt you pressed on as I did until you had one. Okay, so it took 40 years before I added a Hit to my current collection and now you many find many for sale on the Internet, some with their original cases and even film. In any case, The Hit seems to remain on the hit list of spy cameras even if no self-respecting agent would use one.

The Hit was the product of the Tougodo Optical company founded in Japan in 1930 and named as things often were at the time after a military personage, in this case Admiral Tougo of the Japanese Navy. The camera relied on 14x14mm film.

Actually there are several variations of sub-mini 1950s cameras from Japan, the prices ranging from $10- $3,000 depending on their level of rarity. This one cost me $3 at a garage sale.

 

mec 16 camera

MEC-16 SB – History Maker in Miniature

The MEC 16 was produced by Germany’s Feinwerke Technik around 1957-60. This example, an SB was updated in 1960, and gained milestone status as the first TTL Camera (Through the Lens Metering system) by incorporating a Gossen Selenium Exposure Meter in its subminiature design, no mean feat as the camera in closed position measures only 4 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches. It utilizes a high quality Rodenstock f 2 22mm lens, making it one of the fastest subminis ever made. Its “Cats Eye” pupil diaphragm is adjustable f 2.0 to f16 with focal plane shutter speeds from 1/30 sec. to 1/1,000 sec. with a range of focus form 1ft. to infinity. Considered a top of the line “mini,” they are considered rare, prices reaching $250 and beyond.

 

universal 16 mm

Universal Minute 16

Produced apparently for only one year, 1949, it was designed to mimic the shape of a movie-camera. While certainly spyish in appearance and size and all metal in construction, the optical performance of the f6.3-11.0 Anastigmatic fixed-focus lens with a fixed shutter speed of 1/50 second, was mediocre at best. It did sport a pop-up viewfinder, flash synch and provided 14 exposures per magazine. A later version included an f8 lens and a slightly fast single speed of 1/60 second. Boxed sets include the camera, flash and spare bulbs, negative holders, tripod and film and still have good cool factor.

 

mamiya super 16

Mamiya Super 16

Post-war Japan produced a slew of high quality cameras of various formats and sizes. One major company, Mamiya, made 16mm subs from 1949-62 and judged as exceptional in design and performance. This model, appearing in 1959, was its built-in selenium meter is actually larger than the original Mamiya 16 that came without the meter. As far as being “automatic” it was actually a matter turning various dials that provided for a quality image. The lens was either an f2.8-16 25mm with speeds up to 1/200 sec. It was also the first Mamiya 16 with a flash shoe.( I got lucky and found this one for a grand total of $18.10. It pays to stay up to 3 in the morning scouring the Web.)

 

true spy camera

True Spy Camera

Popular with the KBG and other international espionage organizations up until the 1990s when digital took over, the incredible Minox was actually designed and first built in Riga, Latvia, then later in Germany. This example, a Minox-B literally fits in the palm of your hand at least without its various attachments as shown here including flash and binocular mount. Production started in 1958 and ran to 1969 when it was replaced by the improved Minox C, but it never surpassed the popularity of the Minox-B.

The Minox B features a Complan 15 mm f/3.58 4-element lens with shutter speeds of 1/2 – 1/1000 seconds with a focal range from infinity down to eight inches. A special braided metal chain allows for precise distance measurements for documents being photographed. The Minox B is capable of producing up to 50 photos using a single cartridge and still a highly usable camera, film and processing available, though not cheap.

 

norton univex camera

Norton/Univex/Universal Micro-Mini

There are miniature cameras, sub-miniatures and micro-miniatures…all based of course on size and weigh though not necessarily quality of images produced, such is the case of this camera that wore several brand names.

Founded in New York City in January 1933, The Universal Camera Corporation was the brainchild of loan company exec Otto Wolff Githens and his partner, taxicab insurance agent Jacob J. Shapiro, both believing Americans needed a very affordable camera. With that idea in mind, they approached the Norton Laboratories requesting they design a small Bakelite camera, simple to use, and cheap to manufacture. Naturally, seeing a good thing, Norton started selling the camera under their own name. Not giving up, the original Universal company went on to manufacture the Univex Model A themselves as well as several other cameras.

Although most people have no recollection of the camera today, Universal eventually sold more cameras per year than any other company in the world, at least for a time. Keeping to their prime directive of affordability, the Univex Model A sold for 39 cents with over 3 million purchases in the first three years. Boosting the sales was the inexpensive six-exposure rollfilm that was packaged in Belgium and sold for only 10 cents in the United States. 22,000,000 rolls where sold in 1938. However, it was the monopoly on the special Univex film that contributed to the collapse of the company in 1958.

 

micro 16 camera

Whittaker Micro 16

Described as the size of a deck of cards, it was actually much smaller and could be concealed inside a pack of cigarettes, apparently a popular combination with detectives of its day. Using 16mm film via a 24 exposure cartridge, it appeared on the “spy camera” scene in 1946, just after WWII’s end, the design of a Hollywood, CA concern named after its founder, It relied on an achromatic doublet f6.3 lens with fixed focus and a single speed although the aperture could be adjusted for lighting conditions and color film usage via 1:11 (bright), 1:8 (dull), and 1:6.3 (color). Production ended in 1950, a short run for the popular mini that sold for a relatively expensive $30 in the 1940s, about what people were earning on a weekly basis at the time. Today prices range from $25 to several hundred for very rare editions.

 

last camera

In closing, if you’ve got the bug for vintage cameras, small or larger, remember condition, condition, condition….and keep both eyes open on the Web, at garage sales and swap meets. You may just find that treasure. But remember, the value is in the history, the quest and the kinds of cameras that open wide your own apertures of interest. Do your research by surfing the Internet or purchase a couple quality camera collector books as resources. Happy hunting!

 

 

BIO

Paul Garson SelfiePaul Garson is a writer and photographer. He has contributed to many magazines and periodicals, and has published both fiction and nonfiction books as well as written two screenplays that have been produced. He served as a university instructor of composition and writing, as well as a martial arts instructor. His public relations and marketing projects included several for national and multinational companies.

His previous books include Album of the Dead, concerning WWII in Europe, available through Chicago Review Press, and New Images from Nazi Germany available through McFarland & Publishers.

 

CORNERS

by Sarah Katharina Kayß

 

Corners Series 1

 

The World

we are surrounded by it
though
we sometimes forget
it is not only in front of us,
to our left and right, or behind
it is also above

 

Corners Series 2

 

Corners Series 3

 

Corners Series 4

 

Corners Series 5

 

Corners Series 6

 

Corners Series 7

 

Corners Series 8

 

Corners Series 9

 

Corners Series 10

 

Corners Series 11

 

Corners Series 12

 

Corners Series 13

 

Corners Series 14

 

Corners Series 15

Photography locations: Bremen (Germany), London (UK), Vienna (Austria), Bochum (Germany), Oxford (UK), Bath (UK) and Dresden (Germany)

 

BIO

Sarah by Ian ForknallSarah Katharina Kayß is winner of the manuscript-award of the German Writers Association for her poetry and essay collection Ich Mag Die Welt So Wie Sie Ist (Allitera, Germany 2014). She edits the bilingual literature magazine The Transnational (www.the-transnational.com) and works on her doctorate at King’s College London. Her artwork, essays and poetry have appeared in literary magazines, journals and anthologies in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

WEBSITE: www.SarahKatharinaKayss.com

 

Photo of Sarah by IAN FORKNALL (London)

The Art of Hudson Marquez

 

little richard art

 

ike devil art

 

incident dew art

 

freddie king art

 

huey frankie hair

 

high hair heels

 

conking and stepping

 

robert pete williams

 

cruel shoes

 

strapped

 

mix and match

 

BIO

Hudson by Coop

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.
I’m old.
Dumped art school after a semester. Got out and finally settled in LA.
In between I worked for rock ‘n’ roll bands traveling the world and discovered Professor Longhair and Papa Lightfoot.
Drew a picture everyday.
Dumped it during the Manson fun.
Partnered up in ANT FARM
Made tons of art, life art, video.
Dumped it and retired to Mendocino.
Partner and co-founder of TVTV.
Made a ton of TV shows and video.
Sodbuster on the heliacal scan trail.
Dumped that when I was stabbed in the back.
Joined 695 and did a picture a year and had a show a year.
Still painting and trying to perfect ways of making sealing wax.

Most people know my work, but not my name. I created the Cadillac Ranch. You know that big bunch of Cadillacs buried in the Panhandle? Just outside Amarillo, Texas? 10 cars 10 sets of tailfins depicting the Rise and Fall Of The Tailfin.

That was a smart thing to do. The second smart thing I did was COPYRIGHT the piece in the name of Ant Farm. People pay for the image. Sometimes.

I have been a polltaker, a commie campus arsonist, an LSD purveyor, van customizer molten zinc wrangler, front man for Zep and Peter Grant, record producer, car washer, weed seller, cook, pornographer, resale rag runner, father to Terraplane Leander, road manager, boom man, mixer, cable puller, alleged artiste, magazine writer, Negrobilia collector, fly fisherman and a lot of other things that I forget.

My current painting are about Great Moments in RnB and high heel shoes. Wimmens’ shoes. They are imprinted on me from the Bourbon Street strip joints and childhood. All women wore heels. I just love shoes.

R&B illustrated stories are all true … Imprinted on me since hearing Little Richard on WBOK as a child. Wop Bop A Loo Bop Wop Bop Bam.

 

VITALS

From New Orleans, Louisiana
Education, Newcomb College
Partner, ANT FARM group
Creator, THE CADILLAC RANCH
Co-founder, TVTV Video Collective

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Whitney Museum of American Art — Young Printmakers
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas — Inaugural Show
20/20 Vision: Ant Farm
Museum of Modern Art — Video Eye
Mail Art Show
Documentaries Now
Houston Museum of Fine Art — Texas Landscape
Berkeley Museum of Art — ANT FARM, traveling retrospective

GALLERIES and SOLO SHOWS

Zero One, Los Angeles
Swope Gallery Los Angeles
La Luz De Jesus Los Angeles – January 9  – February 1, 2015
Diverse Works, Houston, Texas
Redbud Houston, Texas

Represented by Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles

 

For more information, visit: Hudson Marquez

The Drawings of Hilda Daniel

 

Willie Mae Thornton by Hilda Daniel

Willie Mae Thornton by Hilda Daniel

 

Martha Promise by Hilda Daniel

Martha Promise by Hilda Daniel

 

Gladys and the Infant by Hilda Daniel

Gladys and the Infant by Hilda Daniel

 

Willard Mayes by Hilda Daniel

Willard Mayes by Hilda Daniel

 

Ike Zinnerman by Hilda Daniel

Ike Zinnerman by Hilda Daniel

 

Big Maceo by Hilda Daniel

Big Maceo by Hilda Daniel

 

Clifton Chenier by Hilda Daniel

Clifton Chenier by Hilda Daniel

 

Vernon Presley by Hilda Daniel

Vernon Presley by Hilda Daniel

 

AP Carter by Hilda Daniel

AP Carter by Hilda Daniel

 

Otis Span by Hilda Daniel

Otis Spann by Hilda Daniel

 

Gid Tanner by Hilda Daniel

Gid Tanner by Hilda Daniel

 

Artist Statement:
These drawings were inspired by the music, stories and photos I’d seen of the subjects in them. They were all made with charcoal, graphite, chalk, eraser and masking tape on paper. I used eraser almost as much as charcoal and graphite, and the masking tape used in service of sharp edges, flatness, and graphic effect added an element of chance – which was often a total joy. There was a point in working on each of these when likeness was achieved – verisimilitude, though, was not something I was going for, ever (it always felt empty, exhaustive, enervating, sinkingly depressing when it was just likeness). I find there can be far more pathos in a bulge or curve or a movement or sound or the voluptuous blackness of a charcoal line. In this way, the drawings usually didn’t feel right until they looked “wrong” (as portraits, right as drawings). Working on these was intensely arduous but intuitive and completely immersive in an uncanny way that, when completed (and despite my being covered in charcoal dust), often made them seem more like alchemy than the result of hard work (I think this is an experience familiar to most creative people).

 

About:

Willie Mae Thornton – Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was a rhythm and blues singer. She taught herself to play the drums and harmonica when she was a young girl.  She and her sisters sang with her mother in church, where her father was a preacher.  Hound Dog, later made famous by Elvis, was written for her and she recorded it in 1952, with her friend Johnny Otis on drums.  Her rendition is definitely worth seeking out.   Ball N’ Chain, written and recorded by Willie Mae, was later made famous by Janis Joplin. Willie Mae often dressed in men’s clothes and her performances often subverted the traditional roles of women in the blues industry.  She died at age 57 in Los Angeles in 1984, going from 350 to 95 pounds, suffering complications exacerbated by alcohol abuse. She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984, Ball and Chain into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Willie Mae Rock Camp for girls ages 8 to 18 was named after her.

Willard Mayes (Pete’s brother) – Willard was the brother of Pete Mayes (here pictured behind Willard), and a blues guitarist and singer.  Willard and Pete were raised in Double Bayou, Texas, a town with a dance hall (something significant in the young lives of so many musicians of the era). The brothers likely taught themselves to play.  There was little information I could find about Willard, but he has a credit as the bass player on one of his brother’s recordings.

Gladys Presley and the Infant – Gladys Love Smith eloped with Vernon Presley in 1933.  She was Elvis Presley’s mother.  Here she is pictured with the infant Elvis (it is perhaps too macabre to say I sometimes think of the infant in this picture also as Jesse Garon Presley, stillborn 35 minutes before Elvis – I find it haunted in that way….) At the time of her pregnancy with Elvis, Gladys was earning $2 a day at the Tupelo Garment Company.  Elvis and Gladys had a very close relationship and she remained at the center of his life.  She died at age 46.

Vernon Presley – Vernon Elvis Presley was Elvis Presley’s father.  He eloped and married Gladys Love Smith, Elvis’s mother, when he was 17.  Vernon was a deacon in the Assembly of God Church in East Tupelo and worked at various odd jobs.  He has described his life with Gladys and Elvis as close and happy, despite their struggles with poverty – “There were times we had nothing to eat but corn bread and water.  But we always had compassion for people”.  He remarried after Gladys’s death, to Davada Stanley with whom he had three stepsons, who Elvis always considered brothers, and not stepbrothers.

Martha Promise – Martha Promise was the wife and widow of Huddy Ledbetter (Lead Belly) and known to be the inspiration of some of his songs. In a Life magazine feature about Lead Belly, Martha is identified in a photo as his manager.  She performed with Huddy at his final concert in 1949 at the University of Texas at Austin.

Ike Zinnerman – [Ike Zimmerman] taught Robert Johnson to play guitar, and harmonica.  He was born in Grady Alabama, spent his early life as a farmer, and eventually moved to The Quarters, a small area in Beauregard, MS by a crossroads and the Beauregard Cemetery.  As a boy, Ike played in juke joints in surrounding towns.  He taught many people to play – many of them women, one remembered as being as good as Robert Johnson.  He met Robert Johnson at a store.  His family took Robert into their home, where Robert learned from ike. They often practiced in the Beuregard Cemetery. Ike later gave up the blues – but not the guitar – and became a pastor in Compton, California. His children remember some of the songs later attributed to Robert Johnson, being played by their father in their home before Robert ever came to stay.

Big Maceo – Maceo Meriweather, born Major Meriweather in 1905, was a self-taught blues pianist and singer. His song, Worried Life Blues was later recorded by Chuck Berry, and among the first to be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He made over 30 recordings and is considered one of the most influential blues pianists of the 1940s.  In 1946, Maceo suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed. He died in 1953.  In 2008 an event was organized to honor Meriweather and raise funds for a headstone for Maceo’s grave.

Clifton Chenier – Clifton Chenier is a Creole French-speaking musician from Opelousas, Lousiana.  He is known as the King of Zydeco (a highly infectious (joyously danceable) mix of Cajun and Creole, R&B, Jazz and Blues music (it is one of my favorite forms of rock and roll).  He is also credited with redesigning the tin washboard, a staple of zydeco bands, into a more easily playable vest frottoir.  “What I did was to put a little rock’n’roll into the zydeco to mix it up a bit. You see, people been playing zydeco for a long time, old style, like French music. But I was the first one to put the pep to it.” Chenier toured extensively throughout his lifetime, until his death (brought on by diabetes and kidney related illness).

A.P. Carter – Born Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter in Poor Valley, Virginia, AP was an American musician and, along with his wife Sara Dougherty, a founding member of The Carter Family.  AP suffered from physical tremors as a child (which his mother attributed to nearly being struck by lightning during pregnancy), but was an active violin player and singer in church choir.  AP expected to live as a farmer (like his family); he also worked on the railroad, and traveled the country selling trees (when he met Sara).  He is known for collecting folk songs, particularly Appalachian ones, during these travels.  Despite being among the very first to have made recordings of “country music”, The Carter Family’s seminal influence in the form, being posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame, and his image appearing on a postage stamp in 1993, he died in relative obscurity.

Gid Tanner – James Gideon Tanner was a fiddle player.  Along with his band, The Skillet Lickers, he was an early country music star, making some of its earliest recordings. He learned to play the fiddle at age 14 and was known as one of the finest musicians in Georgia.  Gid worked as a chicken farmer for most of his life.  He stopped making records in the 1930’s but continued performing.  His grandson and great-grandson continue to play in the Skillet Lickers; they host an open jam session on Friday nights in a refurbished chicken house on the family farm in Dacula, Georgia.

Otis Spann – Otis Spann was a blues pianist. He began playing piano at age 7.  His father, Friday Ford, was a pianist, and his mother a blues guitarist who played with Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie, among others.  Otis replaced Big Maceo Meriweather as Muddy Waters’ pianist.  He had recordings in his own right, working with other greats such as Howling Wolf, and worked as a session pianist. He died of liver cancer in 1970.  He was buried in an unmarked grave until a fundraiser in 1999 raised money for a headstone.  This drawing was inspired by a very moving account by Peter Guralnik of his visit with Otis just before his death, in which he recounted that the walls in Otis’s room was covered with dog pictures.

Information on these subjects was gleaned and paraphrased from verbal histories, books and internet sites (including Wikipedia, Elvis.Wiki, biography.com, coldbacon.com, aaregistry.org, tdblues.com and as very beautifully related by Peter Guralnik in Lost Highway and other publications, among others).  No copyright infringement is intended; absolute gratitude for sharing the history is. While I was familiar with the music of most of these people when I made these drawings during the 1990’s, information on these people at the time was much scarcer – the obscure seemed much more obscure.  In researching them again today at Editor’s request for some additional bio information, I find so much more information is available, and that those that seemed to be living in relative obscurity are now written about very differently, their influence and life’s work perhaps finally given its due.

 

 

 

BIO

Hilda Daniel is a multi-media artist based in New York City.  Her work has been exhibited in New York, London, Berlin, Oslo, Marseille, Dublin and other cities in Europe, the US, Canada, Mexico – including the Anthology Film Archive, NYC, the Oslo Screen Festival, and most recently in the MoMA’s curated SoundCloud site for its exhibition on John Cage’s 4’33” and in Kinokophonography at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. Her work has also been written about in The New York Times, Performance Art Journal, New Art Examiner, artnet.com and other publications.

 

 

Allen Forrest

Graphic Artist and Painter

 

 

raymond carver

Raymond Carver

 

 

Berlin in the 1920s - Taxi Fare © 2013

Berlin in the 1920s – Taxi Fare © 2013

 

Philip K Dick

Philip K Dick

Lillian 2010

Lillian © 2010

Berlin in 1920s - Dancers © 2013

Berlin in 1920s – Dancers © 2013

Berlin in the 1920s © 2013

Berlin in the 1920s © 2013

Real Characters - the Days © 2013

Real Characters – the Days © 2013

Old West Gunslingers - Billy the Kid © 2013

Old West Gunslingers – Billy the Kid © 2013

New York Noir © 2013

New York Noir © 2013

ARTIST STATEMENT

Painting is a cross between a crap shoot, finding your way out of the woods, and performing a magic act. Each time I begin to paint I feel like I am walking a tightrope—sometimes scary, sometimes exciting, sometimes very quiet, and always, always surprising; leading me where I never expected to go. Doing art makes me lose all sense of time and place and go inside one long moment of creating. Whenever I feel a painting in my gut, I know this is why I paint. The colors are the message, I feel them before my mind has a chance to get involved. Color is the most agile and dynamic medium to create joy. And if you can find joy in your art, then you’ve found something worth holding on to.
Website: http://allen-forrest.fineartamerica.com/

 

BIO

allen forrestBorn in Canada and bred in the U.S., Allen Forrest works in many mediums: oil painting, computer graphics, theater, digital music, film, and video. Allen studied acting at Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, digital media in art and design at Bellevue College, receiving degrees in Web Multimedia Authoring and Digital Video Production. Forrest has created cover art and illustrations for literary publications: New Plains Review, Pilgrimage Press, The MacGuffin, Blotterature, Gargoyle Magazine, his paintings have been commissioned and are on display in the Bellevue College Foundation’s permanent art collection. Forrest’s expressive drawing and painting style is a mix of avant-garde expressionism and post-Impressionist elements reminiscent of van Gogh creating emotion on canvas.

The Art of Joel Nakamura

 

Samurai Dreams

Samurai Dreams

 

Godzilla Rules

Godzilla Rules

 

Tori Ich

Tori Ich

 

Kotegaeshi

Kotegaeshi

 

Gummy Octopus

Gummy Octopus

Denver Museum Sea Turtle

Denver Museum Sea Turtle

Robot Ride

Robot Ride

Dreamy Octopus

Dreamy Octopus

Watermelon Octopus

Watermelon Octopus

THE ARTIST

Award-winning artist Joel Nakamura is known for his unique style: a blend of folk art and sophisticated iconography rendered in a neo-primitive technique. He is known for his numerous commissions, his knowledge of tribal art and mythology, and for his ability to convey stories and information in an intricate and engaging manner.

Nakamura’s talent for rendering humanity with such primal, edgy hues has captured the attention of publications like Time magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and the Los Angeles Times. His paintings have enlivened the pages of many other books and publications, as well as the 2002 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies programs. Nakamura has been profiled in Communication Arts, Step Inside Design, Confetti and Southwest Art magazines. He is proud to be the recipient of over two hundred awards of excellence.

Nakamura splits his time between commercial and fine art projects. His work is in numerous private and corporate collections, including Wynonna Judd, Chick Corea, and U.S. embassies around the world. Nakamura resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife Kathleen and children, Paloma and Kai.

View more art by Joel Nakamura

To purchase his work, contact:
Pop Gallery Santa Fe
jonaka@nm.net

 

CURRENT SHOW

La Luz de Jesus Gallery

4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Joel Nakamura with Jasmine Worth, Chris B. Murray and William Zdan

June 6 – 29, 2014
Artist Reception: Friday, June 6, 8-11 PM

The Art of Margo Herr

I first discovered Margo Herr’s artwork through my friend, Paul Garson. A book he wrote, published in 1973, had a cover designed by Margo. The book, The Great Quill, was his first novel—a science fiction story published by Doubleday. When he decided to publish the book again as an ebook, he wanted to use the same cover art. I did some research and discovered that Margo Herr had designed the covers of dozens of books over the years. I contacted Kate Misset, the woman who runs the Margo Herr website, and received permission to use the artwork again. Below are some more great examples of Margo’s art and design work. She had a definite style all her own, and the work still holds up today. Margo passed away in 2005.

 

Wilson Library 1969

Wilson Library 1969

 

Collective Memory

Collective Memory

 

Last Fall

Last Fall

 

Rimbaud

Rimbaud

 

Man Who Broke The Bank

Man Who Broke The Bank

 

The Great Quill

The Great Quill

 

SHE

SHE

 

Supernatural Cats

Supernatural Cats

 

The Quiet River

The Quiet River

 

The Unholy Bible

The Unholy Bible

 

Myths Rites Symbols

Myths Rites Symbols

 

From Honey To Ashes

From Honey To Ashes

 

Margo Herr focused on forms that were personal metaphors for change and the inner spiritual journey. Her work traces the development of symbolic imagery from early road paintings past standing stones which disintegrate into melon slices which transform into boats. Although her paintings derive from different objects, her work was always a balance of pure abstraction and identifiable subject matter. She didn’t feel she had to choose.

Poised between these two ideas she expressed the mystery of forms that inspired her through the intensity of her painting technique. By repeatedly applying, scraping, and layering paint, gold leaf, metallic oils, and varnishes, Margo released the mysterious inner energy of images, ever seemingly as unchanging as stones. Her study of Carl Gustav Jung led to a fascination with symbolism and iconography that culminated in the depiction of Egyptian sailing vessels that carried the soul from life to death.

Her use of watercolor, collage, and typography in her book jacket designs led to the continual reappearance of these same techniques in her paintings and drawings, epitomized by the joyful exploration of transformations in nature in her flower series.

Margo said, “Nature is the source of everything I desire to make. At its best it is the thing itself (a flower, stone, road, or landscape) made by me—imbued with the extra feelings that I cannot place in the world in any other way.”

by Kate Missett & Tommy Miller

 

BIO

Margo HerrMargo Herr was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1937 and grew up in the Midwest. She studied painting with Ruben Tam at the Brooklyn Museum School and received her BFA and MFA degrees from Syracuse University.

Her paintings have been exhibited at the Brooke Alexander Gallery, 55 Mercer Street, Smith Barney, C.W. Post College, and Parsons school of Design.

She was an art director at Doubleday & Co., Harper Collins, and Macmillan; designed book jackets for the Beacon Press, E. P. Dutton, Schocken, and time life; and taught at Temple University, Hunter College, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design.

She received grants and awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, Yaddo Foundation, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Art Directors Club of New York, and Society of Illustrators.

She died in New York in 2005.

 

SEE MORE WORK BY MARGO HERR

 

 

The Art of Melinda Giordano

A Garden

A Garden

Scarf and Wine

Scarf and Wine

Shadowy

Shadowy

Shell Dollars Image

Shell Dollars

Shell Spiral

Shell Spiral

Shell Study

Shell Study

Shell Wall

Shell Wall

Shell Well

Shell Well

Dried Flowers

Dried Flowers

Scarf And Stripes

Scarf and Stripes

 

Scarf and Leaf

Scarf and Leaf

Shell Inside and Out

Shell Inside and Out

BIO

Melinda GiordanoMelinda Giordano was born in Los Angeles, California, and will probably stay there. However, there are times when she finds herself missing London terribly.
 
Her artwork has appeared in publications such as Pearl, Amelia, Rag Mag, Stone Country, new renaissance, The Written River and The Bellowing Ark. She specializes in pen and ink drawings, investigating the shadows and textures that have the potential of making any earthly object a beautiful thing. The passage between light and dark is as tremulous and lyrical as a written paragraph, and just as difficult—yet rewarding—a study. This is why a small thing—a leaf, a scarf, a shell—is seen as worthy subject matter and is as vast and complex as any landscape.
 
Melinda is also a published writer, writing flash fiction that speculates on the possibility of remarkable things. Her writing has appeared in Lake Effects Magazine, Written River, River Poets,  Scheherazade’s Bequest, dansemacabreonlinemirrordancefantasy.com among others. Melinda is interested in history—art, fashion, social—(everything has a past) and anything to do with Aubrey Beardsley, her favorite artist/author/bon vivant.

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