Peter Beard

Last night I was given a belated (but so totally worth the wait) Christmas gift. I had no idea what it could possibly be, but when I saw the name "Taschen" I knew it would be good.

It was a boxed set, encased in a navy blue fabric slipcover, engraved with a gold silhouette of an elephant and above that, "Peter Beard". I wasn't familiar with his work but from the first page I could see it was right up my alley...





Peter Beard is a photographer from New York City. He was born in 1938, and attended Yale. By the time he graduated, he was obsessed with Africa, and in his words, "escaped to" the dark continent. He spent decades in Kenya, documenting extreme conditions, from the population explosion to the tragic starvation of tens of thousands of elephants. He also worked as a Vogue photographer, taking legendary model Veruschka to Africa and bringing back future supermodel Iman. He toured with the Rolling Stones, made diaries with Andy Warhol, books with Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, embarked on more tours with Truman Capote, was Salvador Dali's living canvas, and on and on.





His book is a reissue, following the sell-out success of the first publication in 2006. The first volume is 500 pages of images, nearly 300 of them his collages. He kept diaries since childhood, and the volume is filled with them. The second volume includes a photo index, personal photos and interviews, and early work. Essentially a retrospective in book form, this is more than just an art book, it's a detailed history of fashion photography, African culture, and American popular culture.

Harmony Korine

This reminds me why I love this man and why I used to have his picture posted above my bed. Poor quality, yes, but worth watching.

Art Books or Book Art?

While shopping in Anthropologie today, Rachel and I stumbled upon the incredible world of Book Art! It began with ingenious decorating ideas, and a Google search soon turned up really fascinating artwork created by manipulating books.

Artist Su Blackwell makes "Book Cut" sculpture. Shown below: The Secret Garden, 2006.



Brian Dettmer creates "Book Autopsies", which he enhances with mixed media.



Scottish artist Georgia Russell is responsible for the next image. To me, it is like a car wreck. I'm so fascinated yet utterly disgusted. (I have a very difficult time looking at finely shredded things, or tiny holes.) Russell uses a scalpel to cut book jackets, texts, record covers, maps, photos, you name it.



One of my favorite examples of book art was installed by San Francisco artist Chris Cobb. He organized all 20,000 books in his friend's bookstore according to color. (The link is to an interview on McSweeny's where Cobb discusses different pieces. He made sculptures out of mashed potatoes. It reminds me of the time I made a bust of George Washington out of masking tape in the sixth grade...)



What did we learn today, class? Books are good for more than just reading, bonfires, and self-defense. Let's hope this doesn't close the chapter on literary art.

Ruth Asawa

Back in January 2007, I happened upon the Ruth Asawa exhibit at the de Young in San Francisco. Asawa's sculptures seem lighter than air as she weaves metal into seemingly impossible shapes, creating a lace-like appearance from crocheted wire. The sculptures appear deceivingly organic and are endlessly intriguing. Asawa's own life story augments the beauty of her work.
Asawa in her home surrounded by her sculptures.
Interned at 16 in a camp in California, Asawa honed her art skills among the droll of the internment camp. She then studied at the experimental Black Mountain College, where she gained confidence in her work and eventually met her husband, artist Albert Lanier. They married against the wishes of their families (interracial dating was still frowned up in the 40's, tisk, tisk) and had six bouncing babies while struggling as starving artists. Gradually Asawa began exhibiting her work and experimented with wire and other mediums. An advocate for the arts, she has also championed various public art schools. She is one progressive, incredibly talented lady. And I think everyone should know about her.

Henry Darger

Henry Darger (1892-1972), a creative genius, took nearly 11 years to finish handwriting his masterpiece. No one knew that this seemingly mentally disturbed recluse was creating awe inspiring work in his second-floor Chicago room. 15,145 pages long, the The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, recounts the tale of seven sisters who are princesses of Abbiennia. And as Raquel pointed out to me earlier today, "his artwork is full of religious imagery from his Catholic upbringing, and...in his drawings, children of both sexes have penises, because he wasn't aware of the differences between men and women." The illustrations are innocently beautiful, entwined with a kind of naivete generally reserved for children's drawings. They are provoking and utterly accessible. If you haven't already, I suggest you netflix the 2004 documentary "In the Realms of the Unreal".

Artist Spotlight: Alex Steckly

On the aforementioned Portland vacation, I was introduced to the work of 21-year-old visual artist Alex Steckly. His large-scale paintings are described as "a take on early formalist aesthetics". While I'm not positive what that means, his gorgeous and effortless works have me itching to take an art history class to find out. His last series featured rectangular canvases painted with large circles, paint drips, and feather light lines suggesting abstract planets. All of his paintings are covered with a thick coat of resin, creating a glass-like surface reminiscent of still water. I was lucky to see some other pieces from a different series, including a beautiful cream-colored square canvas with burgundy swirls, splatters, and drops, one of which is his blood. Biological art... the next frontier?