Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
paolo ventura 1:43 AM
about a month ago, i was gallery-hopping [how strange does that sound!] with a friend of mine in chelsea. desperate for relief from the bitter cold, we ducked into the first open door we found, which happened to be the hasted hunt kraeutler gallery. there, we were welcomed by the photograph above. while my art-going companion was less impressed with these than the ed burtynsky photographs in the back, i couldn't stop staring at the photographs, trying to understand them—their stories, their world, their fabrication! something about them seemed unreal to me, but i couldn't figure out what.
as we rounded the corner into the next space of the gallery, the uncanny feeling i got from the photographs was made clear. these are all photographs, yes—but of carefully constructed models, not of people. the focus & extreme care & attention paid to the tiniest details makes the scale seem feasible at a human size, even though the models are no larger than the average child's doll.
paolo ventura sketches these elaborate scenes [some ink & watercolor sketches were in the back area of the gallery], creates models & props, & then shoots large-scale photographs in replication of his original sketches. the world he creates is often sad & lonely: with this series in particular, there is a quiet desolation both amongst & because of the wintry carnival setting. in one particularly striking photograph [which i can't seem to find on the artist's website!], a man floats above a balcony, his body held aloft by dozens of balloons tied to his back. his shoes and arms dangle down in such a way that while this image of flight might seem joyful, it is also possible that this figure has been hanged by the very balloons that lift him up. this kind of beautiful, surreal, quiet violence is typical of ventura's work.
[& from a color standpoint, his carefully controlled palette adds to the surreality of his images.]
Sunday, February 21, 2010
the freedom eagle has landed 8:26 PM
[a flyer / poster i made with thread & paint samples for the gigantic issue 2 release party this weekend.]
oh, & the work in progress:
proof that there is such a thing as creative destruction!
red-orange 1:03 AM
for the color forecasting project in our color workshop class, i was given the color red-orange to work with.
red-orange is one of the few colors that is immediately clear to the mind's eye just from the name. unlike blue, or green, or purple, which can embody a great deal of variation in tint or shade or tone, red-orange is platonically bold, carrying a great deal of energy and weight of presence. it is a color of fire, of warning, of exuberance; it calls out to be noticed in any context. as such, it is rare to see red-orange dominating an area, whether a website, a canvas, a physical space, or a wardrobe. it is a color that is best used as contrast, paired [as shown above] with muted blues or greens, or even with monotone greys.
i was at first surprised and cautious of this color when it was assigned. my personal color palette tends towards blues and greys and browns and golds; i have always preferred deeper colors to the highly saturated brights. red-orange seemed contrary to my sense of color—that is, until i started seeing it more & more. i find that it's a cheerful color, able to break up the muted dullness of greys and slate blues with only a tiny area of application. especially in the middle of winter, a little bit of red-orange can serve as a memory of summer or a reminder that spring is on the way: a small glimmer of hope in a time dominated by cloud and darkness.
perhaps this is a good way to start thinking about this color in terms of forecasting. our world today is full of insecurity and tenuousness. we no longer are sure of our footing in anything. we cling to patterns, shades, and relics of eras past—the bygone days of mad men, the glam & lux 80s—but in 2010, we have yet to define a true sense of style for our era. it seems possible to me that this bold, bright, energetic color with its own form of leadership could bring us closer to a firm sense of something—whatever that something may be.
red-orange is one of the few colors that is immediately clear to the mind's eye just from the name. unlike blue, or green, or purple, which can embody a great deal of variation in tint or shade or tone, red-orange is platonically bold, carrying a great deal of energy and weight of presence. it is a color of fire, of warning, of exuberance; it calls out to be noticed in any context. as such, it is rare to see red-orange dominating an area, whether a website, a canvas, a physical space, or a wardrobe. it is a color that is best used as contrast, paired [as shown above] with muted blues or greens, or even with monotone greys.
i was at first surprised and cautious of this color when it was assigned. my personal color palette tends towards blues and greys and browns and golds; i have always preferred deeper colors to the highly saturated brights. red-orange seemed contrary to my sense of color—that is, until i started seeing it more & more. i find that it's a cheerful color, able to break up the muted dullness of greys and slate blues with only a tiny area of application. especially in the middle of winter, a little bit of red-orange can serve as a memory of summer or a reminder that spring is on the way: a small glimmer of hope in a time dominated by cloud and darkness.
perhaps this is a good way to start thinking about this color in terms of forecasting. our world today is full of insecurity and tenuousness. we no longer are sure of our footing in anything. we cling to patterns, shades, and relics of eras past—the bygone days of mad men, the glam & lux 80s—but in 2010, we have yet to define a true sense of style for our era. it seems possible to me that this bold, bright, energetic color with its own form of leadership could bring us closer to a firm sense of something—whatever that something may be.
