talons & tulle.

last week i journeyed into nyc to spy miss van's new solo show 'bailarinas' at jonathan levine gallery. i try to make it into nyc at least twice a month to drown in the art, visit friends, & to pretend things come alive at night in the natural history museum whilst peering at the taxidermy (which truly scared the hell out of me when i was a kid). last week was particularly fun and i managed to snag some great shots of the exuberant, talent filled crowd a jlg: take a peek over here at hi-fructose to see what i'm up to besides collaging jewels...

xo

miss van does the sad clown/priestess

although i will forever & ever love the increasingly dark miss van, i have mixed feelings on her new show, lovestain @ stolen space, i think due to that it is part retrospective & part new work. my favorites pieces are the ones executed on unusual surfaces (such as the top leather piece & coffin shape). They even were a few surprising pieces where miss van painted over existing photographs. take a peek for yourself & let me know your thoughts!

x/x

miss van has some new beauties in her shop, princesas market, including these two wood pins featuring new images from her 'still a little magic' show which may be my favorite works of hers thus far. she's pretty selective about what she allows her work on so, if i had money i'd hop right on this. since i don't, maybe you do and can send me a picture of yourself wearing such lovelies.

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.