Envelopes Project Take 4!

After – David Bollinger, 2011

I decided that I wanted to send David some stuff after seeing a crazy self-portrait that he painted, where his mustache took up half of his face (in real life it seems pretty under control) and his eyes didn’t match at all. It was great. Then I saw him on Christmas night and he bought us a pitcher to share, and was telling me that everyone should paint, even if it’s bad. David’s also one of those super rare people that doesn’t use facebook, which might seem unrelated but (at least in my mind) says a lot.

Unfortunately, I think this was the last one he’ll be sending me. Hopefully I’m wrong and there’ll be something in my mailbox tomorrow…either way, thanks.

Another New One! / Thank You Hannah Robertson / Ye

God Defend New Zealand

After annoying everyone at the post office with my mountain of envelopes, it’s nice to see some finished products. It’s also been a nice surprise to learn that everyone else seems to finish stuff way faster than I do. Hannah Robertson sent me this last week, complete with a title: God Defend New Zealand.

If you’d like to see a slightly smaller version of this image, or lurk her blog that I just lurked, CLICK THIS ALL CAPS SECTION.

More. Art. Soon…Probably.

The Mark Bradford Project at the MCA

My current job has involved many unrequested days off. Contrary to my wishes, I have most of this week off. I could use the money but I’m making the best of it – which brings me to my rant.

I went to the MCA today to see the Mark Bradford exhibit, knowing little to nothing about him. The first thing I saw was a short story etched into the wall. On first glance the size of it was overwhelming and it looked (to me) a little too cutesy with so many colors. It turns out the reason it’s so colorful is that workers cut and peeled through years of paint, forming the text through removal, rather than addition. The colors throughout the text are bits of everything that has ever been painted on that wall. This installation represents the heart of Bradford’s approach – he works in mixed media collages/décollages, in a constant cycle of building up layers and removing them. Time, its effect on social/political conditions, the tension between identity and expectation, are at the center of his “paintings” which he says “can be seen as a layering of present experiences over a past that either fades or is reconstituted.” I can already feel this turning into an essay, but I can’t help but ramble. The scale, the detail, the complexity…so good. See it if you can!

Black Venus, 2005

Strawberry, 2002

The Devil is Beating his Wife, 2003

Click here for his website, or here for a link to a sorta spinning preview of the MCA exhibit.