In: women
Homage II
April 20, 2021Angela Reilly’s Homage II was one of those magical experiences where art can just overwhelm you. Sitting in a pub in Glasgow on my first night ever in the UK, a series of 5 portraits hung around the room had my full attention. From a distance I thought I was looking at photographs, but close up, it was so much more. You can practically see the blood coursing through the swimmer’s veins trying to warm her up. Angela won the National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait Award in 2006 and shows regularly in the UK.
You can find Angela on Facebook, and on Instagram.
~ Mark Walton
Read More
IOWA
April 20, 2021Nancy Rexroth
University of Texas Press, 2017
$55.95 CND
This reprint of Nancy Rexroth’s seminal survey of images, taken with a toy Diana camera in the 1970’s, influenced a wide array of photographers, including Sally Mann, who referenced it as an inspiration in her book Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings. Anyone who adheres to the principal of “less is more” needs to buy this.
~ Mark Walton
Read More
Fractured Flag
April 20, 2021Amy Weil’s Fractured Flag is an encaustic piece steeped in the tradition of Jasper Johns and the protest movement of the 1960’s. It caught my eye immediately as a testament to the events (and those leading up to them) of January 6th. Weil acknowledges “Whenever I put these colors together, it feels political. I don’t often pair them for that reason.”
You can find Amy on Facebook, on Instagram and at amyweilpaintings.com
~ Mark Walton
Read More
Amber Lee WIlliams – Femina Bulla Est #9
August 18, 2021The work of Amber Lee Williams, an artist from the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario, almost always concerns itself with motherhood and children, exploring the concepts of life within, the constancy of change, attachment and removal, and notions of femininity.
Femina Bulla Est (Woman is a Bubble), is a sequence of macro photographs of pink bubblegum. Amber deftly takes the binary state of man’s being, as depicted by the soap bubble in Dutch Renaissance Vanitas paintings (homo bulla est) and turns it on its ear… where man is either strong or broken, women have a strength and flexibility that allows them to persevere.
“I thought I would begin by simply blowing soap bubbles, photographing them, and seeing what happened. I asked (my daughter) if she wanted to help me blow bubbles and she thought I meant bubblegum bubbles. As soon as she mentioned the bubblegum it was a total lightbulb moment, and I have to give her credit for the idea.”
Femina Bulla Est #9 is incredibly organic, suggesting a beating heart, or the crepe-like tissue of placenta. Partially inflated, one gathers that there is life within, flush with blood and good health. One could also perceive the darker top section as a scab, protecting the soft tissue below as it heals from a trauma.
“The original bubble in Vanitas paintings suddenly pops and life ends, but in my version the bubble inflates and deflates again and again. The bubble is both fragile and resilient. Beyond the more obvious, and my personal connections to motherhood (carrying a child within my body, that body stretching…), I also think of the inflated and deflated, not just as physical states but also states of mind and related to mental health.”
You can seem more of Amber’s work at https://amberleeart.com, and on Instagram @amberlee.art. ~ Mark Walton
Read More
Renée Mathews: Fluidity and Intuition
February 10, 2022Renée Mathews: Fluidity and Intuition by Glodeane Brown, Guest Curator SECRETS by Renée Mathews Renée Mathews is an artist currently living... Read More
Shira Gold: Finding her breath
January 25, 2021Drawing on deeply personal and emotional experiences, Shira Gold’s photographs demonstrate grief, loss, identity, and change.
Read More
Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart
June 10, 2020What is not to love about photography in it’s “purest” form (ie: without photoshop tricks)?
Read More
Kasia Piech
May 14, 2020Kasia Piech’s explorations in ceramics evoke a sense of whimsy and darkness in equal measure.
Read More
Ariane Plante
October 21, 2021Ariane Plante is an artist who works in sound, photography, video, and installation. Having completed her studies in anthropology, she brings an understanding of what is actual field work and good methodology, to her sensitive and complex projects. Understanding more about her process, and experiencing the appreciative results, confirms for me a long-standing conviction, having attended, and taught in art schools: the best thing for artists to do is study something else in detail, that can be brought to bear on one’s practice.
Read More
Cree Tylee
April 9, 2021Cree Tylee ``...now I am rampant with memory....`` To be honest, and all the external influences aside, there are some parts... Read More
Recent Comments