stepping into the fire.

burning up by riikka sormunen.

i've started to paint work for a show that has been a year in the making, a conversation of images and text, a divinatory process/ experience / experiment. you may have caught whispers of this before, as this show was set to go on several times before and had always been pushed back, but now will wash ashore here in philly in august. painting in the summer is my absolute favorite. the light lasts longer. everything feels lazy yet urgent. i'm always hot and expedient. turmoil and sleep. endless research & the purging. & so it begins!

xo

the kiss anne sexton

my mouth blooms like a cut.

i've been wronged all year, tedious

nights, nothing but rough elbows in them

and delicate boxes of kleenex calling crybaby

crybaby , you fool !

before today my body was useless.

now it's tearing at its square corners.

it's tearing old mary's garments off, knot by knot

and see -- now it's shot full of these electric bolts.

zing! a resurrection!

once it was a boat, quite wooden

and with no business, no salt water under it

and in need of some paint. It was no more

than a group of boards. but you hoisted her, rigged her.

she's been elected.

my nerves are turned on. i hear them like

musical instruments. where there was silence

the drums, the strings are incurably playing. you did this.

pure genius at work. darling, the composer has stepped

into fire.

riikka sormunen.

i posted about riikka sormunen last year here, but i love her work so much i had to post some new pieces. she also has a new site where you can take a peek into her sketchbook. i'm at once jealous of her skills & in awe of her.

xxxx

Wednesday Lovelies

Riikka Sormunen hails from the magical sounding city of Helsinki and makes some of the most interesting and refreshing paintings I've stumbled on lately. She is an alumni of the sweet Internet magazine, Ruby Mag of Spain.

In the past I admit I was suspicious of digital artists (aside from the amazing! Ray Cesar) but lately I've been enchanted by the work of Natalie Shau, who will have a solo show at the Dorothy Circus Gallery in March of 2009. This portrait is my favorite thus far....I have a thing for the palest and bloodiest of beauties, especially when mixed with a religious vibe.

The lovely Tara McPherson has some new work forthcoming in the group show 'Inside Nostalghia', also at Dorothy Circus Gallery, which boasts, among others, to have work by the apocalypse queen Camille Rose Garcia, who it seems rarely participates in group shows.(Someone get me to Rome!)

I saw Tara's work in person over at Jonathan LeVine gallery earlier this year and was blown away by the near flawless execution of her heartless otherworldly ladies. Via.

*********

Although I don't consider myself a person interested in politics; I find that it mostly distracts me from my inner fictional life, I try to know what's going on during election campaign fever, to have the most educated vote as possible....It may be true that we will all be taking a gamble on our vote, not truly knowing if our elected President will be who he says he will be, I still think, especially as a woman, that its important to go out and vote. 

I find this photo to be incredibly touching and human, a little spy slice of love. 

As for me, I'll be married to my love in ten days!

xoxo