the fog.

i'm currently in a nyquil induced haze and staying away from anything that makes me lift a wrist. i lost my voice this weekend while i was away near the sea, or rather, my voice is so raspy that my love barely recognized it when i phoned him on my way home. so i give you a quirky kris chau drawing in a notebook that endearingly reminds me of roald dahl's illustrator, quentin blake. 

& a jeanette winterson quote that i've been mulling over whilst working on lookbook text (which has morphed into more of an art project than an actual commercial lookbook. more on that ever so soon i promise!)

my work is rooted in silence.
it grows out of deep beds of contemplation, where words, which are living things, can form and re-form into new wholes. what is visible, the finished books, are underpinned by the fertility of uncounted hours. a writer has no use for the clock.
a writer lives in an infinity of days, time without end, ploughed under.

-jeanette winterson from 'art objects'

ps. thanks to leila for the new buttons. i've been trying to do some fall sprucing up around these parts
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xo,
j

new kris chau.

how many times can i post about kris chau's work before i seem obsessive ?

xo

same same heart

always always love love kris chau.

who has a new blog i like to read everyday.

xo

the pack.

philly native kris chau gets my blood spinning every time.

kris chau sneak peek!

i got a hold of some sneaky sneak peeks of the lovely kris chau's new work from her show 'puppy face' at topstitch this first friday. i love the bright color palette! can't wait to see these in person.

xo

please be welcome.

although i was born and raised in NY until i was sweet 17, my heart mostly belongs to philly. so i'm always delighted when fellow philadelphians make it in nyc, which is exactly what's going down this saturday at fuse gallery. philly artist, space 1026 member and curator damian weinkrantz has collected some of my favorite local artists for a witty show, 'please be welcome', that will feature three different rooms of an apartment, with work respectively fitting into each nook, such as a life size refrigerator made out of paper mache and quirky acrylic paintings on vhs tapes. 

'a loose tooth' damian weinkrantz. this reminds me of the winchester mystery house in san jose. also, i love anything to do with teeth.

jake henry's bronze skateboard. jake had a show at the toothless cat last month and i had the opportunity to see this in person. it is heavy as hell.

kris chau is one of my favorite local artists and i never tire of seeing/speaking of her work.

Ma Vie En Rose

amberella sugary & sweet gallery & boutique that opened up near us in the piazza is having their first opening July 9, 10 & 11. The show, titled french for 'my life in pink', features 4 artists, several of them, including myself (!!!) are local philly painters with the addition of LA power house kime buzzelli. i'm super thrilled to be showing with her along with kris chau, who's been one of my long time inspirations! derek ihnat from curating space 1026 fame and fellow fecal face writer is showing with us ladies too. owner amber lynn is having a slew of special events over the three day opening including a harp player, an opera singer, pink vodka &&& hand rolled cotton candy from the machine we fired up last week. delicious.

if you're in town stop by!

xoxo

the toothless cat

this weekend marks the opening of the project i've been working on for a while now, the opening of 'The Toothless Cat' at The Piazza at Schmidt's in northern liberties. the gallery is owned my myself, Jason Goldberg and Dave Fox, both of whom are amazing painters as well as renown tattoo artists. the opening show 'The Magnificent Egress' features work from over 40 artists, many of whom are tattoo artists as well. the theme is hybrid animals and the work looks amazing! The gallery will also be home to my line of jewelry, 'blood milk'. the grand opening is this Saturday, from 11 in the afternoon to 11 at night. 
also this weekend is the opening of 'hand did' at mew gallery, featuring local artists including one of my favorites, the lovely kris chau, who will have a bunch of black and white pieces like the one below for sale. if you're in the philly area, swing by the both of these events!
xoxo

Hair everywhere

Being a girl with long hair, I feel a kinship will all the new art that's been coming out featuring women with freakishly long hair......(these long haired lovelies even pop up in my own work) 

First is one of Kris Chau's newest pieces: 'Deep Tangle' made with ink and dyes:

Kris Chau is one of my favorite local artists and I try to buy paintings from her whenever I can. This painting features a long haired women coiled up in tangles and tangles of blue hair. The image is at once devious; is the hair suffocating her? and comforting; it appears as a soft bed catching her from a fall.

Next is Frenchy artist Miss Van

This is one of her newest prints, 'Atame 5' available on her webshop . The drawing features one her girls bound with her own hair. The idea of hair, often considered one of women's most powerful seduction tools, as a weapon used against herself is intriguing. The figure here seems to be in distress although it seems that she should be able to loosen her bounds easily. 

In July's Juxtapoz, she spoke of her use of hair in her work: " It is about being a slave to yourself, your own feelings, the idea of not feeling free mentally and being tortured."-Miss Van 2008

This image comes from NYC artist Colette Calascione's 'Rapunzel' painting. 

In an odd reversal, Rapunzel is shown as a feline hybrid, on the verge of cutting her hair. In the old fairy tales, it is her hair that enables her escape from her tower top imprisonment. Instead of choosing the life outside, she is prepared to stay where she is, in an act of defiance?

In terms of jewelry; this is an example of Victorian Mourning Jewelry. When a love one died, it was customary for their hair to be cut and made into small, woven sculptures that could be worn by the grieving left behind. This is a larger example of these sculptures, generally they were small and encased in beautiful lockets or pins, which makes me wonder how they were able to create them. I'm at once repelled and intrigued by them and would like to include them in my designs one day.