AJ Fosik

Dare Nothing, Hope for Nothing

2010

Wood, paint, nails

In the Teeth of Stupefying Odds

2010

Wood, paint, nails

Embracing Stochasticity

Wood, paint, nails

The Shepherd Inevitably Consumes the Flock

Wood, paint, nails 

AJ Fosik was born in Detroit, Michigan. In 2003, he received his BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. Since then, he has participated in a number of solo galleries, as well as group exhibitions. Fosik primarily works with wood, and his themes are reminiscent of native american culture and religious deities that live within the human mind.

Fosik is a big inspiration to me; I could look at his sculptures all day. The use of color is one of the strongest points in his work. While some of the palettes remain safe and warm, one such as Embracing Stochasticity take a risk and combine many different vibrant colors, and end up working quite well. No color is ever dull or muted; even the browns and grays tend to pop in contrast with the colors around them.

The taxidermy-like busts of these beasts all have reoccurring qualities to them: multiple facial features such as sets of eyes and mouths, uniform scales, teeth, geometric face structures, and a very tribal aspect to them. Fosik once said that these characters were representations of religious manifestations of human spirituality, and that the beasts were the appearances of things that we fear. With that in mind, the figures become much more menacing and intimidating. Representational of religion or not, these sculptures definitely get the audience unnerved, and thinking. Imagine if they all came to life, what would they do?

Laurent Minguet

KAMI

RACING

Table D'appoint UNIT

POP

Cendrier UNIT

Laurent Minguet was borin in 1968 in south france. He has designed street furniture for he past 15 years. He has over 150 pieces in 400 different cities. His slf publishing brand is MIING which he started in 2009.




I choose Laurent Minguet as one of my artist because his geometrical designed furniture. My favorite piece of his is the "racing" chair. The only thing I don't like about that piece is that it looks slightly uncomfortable. I like his ideas he has for the units, they are really functional and can be set in a household.

Christopher Duffy

Shadow Sofa 

Upholstery fabric: wool, wood, powder coated mild steel

Box an plank

Wood

Lab lamp

 eco bulb, sand blasted pyrex 

UP coffee table 

Toughened glass, metal resin composite, toughened steel rod. 

Swing Table 

Walnut, powder coated mild steel 

Chris Duffy is the founder of Design studio Duffy London. He makes lighting, tables, other small furniture pieces, and other interior products.  His favorite piece creating was the shadow chair and calls it his 'signature' chair.

I choose Christopher Duffy because I love all of his work. I have a three way tie with which one is my favorite. My first favorite piece of Duffy's is his UP coffee table table. I like how he used them to hold up glass and make it look like it was floating, his color choice matches well. My other favorite piece from him is his shadow sofa. I just think it's cool how he plays with shadows, something so common and so known yet it looks just enough foreign. My final favorite piece of Duffy's is his Swing table, i like this because it looks so fun and i just imagine this in a fun office with people swinging generating ideas. I also like the way he framed the table slightly and the shape of the chairs.  He makes everything so fun and playful, as well as functional. I like his use of colors and shape and his work inspires me with ideas and how to think of furniture out of the box. 

Daniel Arshman

DIG in collaboration with Snarkitecture,

 Stonefront for art and 

2011  

Mirror Error 

2012 

Vent Anomaly 

Plaster, aluminum, paint

2006

Light Thread

Plaster, EPS, wood, fluorescent fixture 

2008

Jonah Bokar preforming during "the fall, the ball and the wall" opening,

OhWow gallery Los Angeles 

January 2012 

Daniel Arshman was boring in Cleveland Ohio, OH and lives and works in New York, NY.

Daniel was awarded the  Gelmen Trust Fellowship award in 2008. Daniel works in more than jus sculpture, he does performance art, 2d art, public art and installations. Daniel does a lot of calibrations with many different people including dancers and choreographers.

I choose this artist because I like the way he uses plaster. He uses it in different ways and makes not look like plaster. His performance art also interests me, he keeps sculpture in it which makes it awesome. I can see his Light Thread piece in my room as a cool lighting. Daniel's work gets me inspired and gives me ideas for furniture pieces.     

Valerie Hegarty

2011 Autumn on the Wissahickon with Tree

Paper tyvek, paint, glue, gel mediums, wood, foamcore, epoxy,

 wire, tape, sand, plastic, artifical leaves.

2010 Break- Through Miami

Paper, Tyvek, paint, glue, palm fronds,

tin foil, wire, wood, feathers

2012 Watermelon Tongue 

Canvas, stretcher, acrylic paint, modeling paste, 

paper, glue, foil, guaze, glue, thread 

2009 Teetering Trees

 Foamcore, canvas, acrylic, paper mache,

 wood chips, molding, sand

2011 Autumn on Hudson Valley with Branches

2006 Seascape Early American Chair (Mud Pedestal)

Foamcore, paper, paint, glue, gel medium 

Valerie Hegarty works and lives in Brooklyn New York. She centers her work around politics of the American myths. Valerie is represented by Nicelle Beauchene gallery and museum 52. She has shown in may places including MOMA and Museum of contemporary art


Valerie Hegarty makes an atmosphere for her painting and framed work. Valerie crosses painting into sculpture. Valerie's work is kind of what I want to do, sculpture/furniture with photography. I like how she transforms spaces into something totally different then what it was like before. Her creation of work is more then just a painting it brings the viewer in to the painting, literally. Valerie keeps a nice balance between torn up, wrecked, work and modern, classic, functional work. It amazes me how she can take something right to the line without crossing over to making it look trashy.

Claude Lèvêque

2012 We're a Happy family

Framed embroidery canvas, white neon.

Writing Romantic Etienne

2006 Le Grand Sommeil 

Site- specific installation MAC/VAL Virty- Sur- Senie.

36 PVC bed frames, white polystyrene balls, acrylic hemisphere, Black light.

  

1986 La Fontaine d'argent, le château d'eau, le chemin de fer

Inscription on chair, back removed, profile spotlight projection. 

Collection Mudam Luxembourg

1986 Le Trou dans la tête 

Inscription on cot, dangling light bulb, projection

Collection: FRAC Alsace

2000 Herr Monde

Site- Specific installation, Le Creux de I'enfer, thiers

Crumbled metal sheets, strobe lights

Claude Lèvêque was born in 1958 he is a French artist. He is known to use light in most of his sculptures, especially sense the 80's. Claude has been showing in many solo and group shows. Recently Claude has shifted from light sculptures to giant installations that stimulate the 5 senses through sound, mist, and light. He is currently showing in Art Basel. 

I choose this artist because I saw Claude's 2000 Herr Monde installation. It is my favorite work from him. He does simple things with objects and turns them into something interesting. I like how he uses furniture and turns it into sculpture by changing only a few things. I also think it's amazing how he uses light. He uses light as part of his sculpture instead of using it to show case his work. I also like how he incorporates photographs. I'm kind of going crazy over his work. Okay, okay I am freaking out about his work. I love it

Evan Robarts

A New Hope (installation). 2011

Bathroom wall mounted vertically in bedroom

dimensions vary

http://evanrobarts.com/post/26027814059/a-new-hope-installation-2011-bathroom-wall

Maturation. 2012

Found Objects, cement

4'x 2'x 3'

http://evanrobarts.com/post/32911754599/maturation-2012-found-object-cement-4-x-2-x

Molecule #3a. 2010

Found objects, foam, rubber bands

Dimensions vary

http://evanrobarts.com/post/26026892458/molecule-3a-2010-found-objects-foam-rubber

Untitled. Basketball 3/3. 2011

Found objects, glass, solder

14" round

http://evanrobarts.com/post/32912363847/untitled-basket-ball-3-3-2011-found-object

View of Molecule #5a. 2010

Found objects, steel threading

Dimensions Vary

http://evanrobarts.com/post/26026613726/view-of-molecule-5a-2010-found-objects-steel

Evan Robarts was born in 1982 and raised in Miami Beach, Florida. Robarts moved to Brooklyn, New York where he went to Pratt institute receiving his BFA in sculpture in 2008.  Evan still lives in Brooklyn where he makes his work. He focuses on the interplay between science and art. He looks for new relationships with materials, form, and identity. Robarts also uses his childhood nostalgia as a platform for his investigations. His work with melted popsicles, bicycles, basketballs, and found objects all tie back to him trying to hold loosely on to his childhood. 

I choose Evan Robarts because his work is interesting to me. My favorite pieces of work by him are Maturation and Untitled. Basketball. I like the way Robarts pulls from his childhood and still incorporates a modern twist. 

 Artists understand things by making while scientists understand things by analyzing the existence patterns in life. With an emphasis on various non traditional materials and found object, he explores these constructs and interface them with the surrounding world.

Artist Three: Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini is a great big badass.

LOOK AT THAT

(David, 1623–1624. Marble.)

LOOK AT THIS

(Rape Of Prosperpina, 1622. Marble)

LOOK AT THEM

(Apollo and Daphne, 1622. Marble.)

LOOK AT THAT BUTT

(Borghese Hermaphroditus, 1620. Marble.)

(Okay, technically, Bernini only sculpted the mattress, which is apparently so realistic that thousands upon thousands of visitors attempt to touch it every year)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a Baroque sculptor (who also dabbled in poetry, playwriting, painting and architecture). In his sculptures, he specialized in portraying lifelike human figures and dramatic emotion and tension. He was a student of Classical sculpture, who outshined many other sculptors of his time. Bernini was deeply religious-- this is reflected in many of his works involving focus on religious worship or Biblical narrative.

I love Bernini's sculpture because he captures expression fantastically; his sculptures look more human than humans sometimes. He is also a master of the human figure: with The Rape Of Prosperpina, Pluto's fingers dig into Prosperpina's flesh and there are actual marble tears gliding down the side of her face. Impressive, yes. WHAT, HE WAS ONLY TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD AT THE TIME OF COMPLETION? If that isn't the most radical thing you've ever heard then you are not learning art history properly.

There is only one piece of Bernini's I am less-than-fond of, and that is The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa, and that is ONLY because there's a great big mass of cloth there that envelops her figure. The cloth is sculpted well, sure, but I would have liked to see Theresa's body. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW BERNINI'S A MADMAN AM I RIGHT

artist 2: Naoko Ito

Naoko ito is a new york based artist. Born in Tokyo, japan, the artist received her Masters at the School of Visual Arts, and was educated at Musashino Art University in Japan where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Science of Design.

She created a four year long series titled “Urban Nature”, where she combined natural and manmade environments/sculptures.

I love the way Naoko Ito used jars to continue an object rather than strictly contain it. The contrast of natural and manmade materials is really breathtaking. If I ever work with preserving animals in the future, or any other wildlife, I may do so in a way more closely inspired by this artist. 

artist 1: Adrian Guerrero

Adrian Guerrero is a multidisciplinary artist born in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 2006 he received his Masters in Ceramics, and studied social sciences as well.  He’s had a great number of exhibitions in galleries through Mexico, Italy, and the Dominican Republic.

I was drawn to the unique presentation of ceramics this artist used. Ceramics are commonly placed on a pedestal due to delicacy, yet Guerrero decided to install his creations on walls and hang his work. I’m fascinated by the simplicity and minimalism in his color choice/ assemblage, and the unconventional display. 

Artist #1- Anne Lindberg

Anne Lindberg received her BFA in 1985 from Miami University in Oxford, OH and her MFA in 1988 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has an impressive resume with seven solo exhibitions, 19 group exhibitions and multiple commissions and collections (one at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO. Lindberg does thread installations along with graphite, thread, mixed media, photography and 3D wall drawings, as well as installations, sculpture and architectural projects.  She sees her art as a type of self-portraiture.  Lindberg said, "My work is a mirror of how I experience the world and as I negotiate physicality, optics and ideas through drawing languages, my voice withholds, blurs, teases and veils."

I chose Lindberg because I'm intrigued by the use of thread in art.  She uses thread in large scale installations, utilizing light sources to create optical changes in the thread. I absolutely love all of her work because her thread installations are so voluminous and spacious, consuming entire corners of rooms and the lighting creates beautiful patterns and hues.  It's also very textural (especially seen in her work Old Brain).

She describes her installations as states of mind and environment as understood through the body and land.  "They are rooted in the familiar, close to the body, and very personal in connotation and scale."  I could imagine that she shows this in her work because she staples each thread to the wall and all the strands are so close, which imitates her description of the meaning of her work.

Old Brain, 2005. Thread.  650 pounds. 28x5 feet, x 8 inches.

Drawn Pink, 2012. Egyptian cotton thread, staples. 35x6x10 feet.

Canto Yellow, 2011. Egyptian cotton thread, staples. 18x6x6 feet.

Thread Drawing 15, 2012. Rayon thread. 31x28 inches. I'm not quite as fond of her thread drawings, simply because they are flat as opposed to her beautiful 3D room installations.

Websites used: 

• http://www.annelindberg.com/bio.htm
• http://www.annelindberg.com/images.htm

Artist Two: BANKSY

BANKSY

"Cardinal Sin", 2011

Not much is known about UK-centered street artist Banksy. He is a mischievous anonymous critter who's works intend to provoke thought or disgust, and are provocative in nature. He works with animatronics, spray paint and stencil, plaster, live animals, taxidermy, fabrics and blow-up dolls--and that's barely scratching the surface.

Banksy has been one of my favorite artists--if not my favorite--for almost five years. I like how he thinks different about the "vandalism" aspect of street art. He recreates famous paintings and sculptures with his own ideas about today's societal norms and installs his work pretty much anywhere (see the second video above for an example at Disney World, which was only left up for about an hour).

Banksy's responsible for some of my favorite quotes about art and life, including:

"People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done properly."

"Think from outside the box, collapse the box and take a fucking knife to it."

"You can win the rat race but you're still a rat."

Although one of my favorite concepts of his was a gigantic live elephant painted to look like a gallery's wallpaper, the fact that he spray-paints on live animals is a bit disconcerting to me. All in the name of vandalism, I suppose.