Jason Russell Ceramics

How awesome are these ceramics by Portland based Jason Russell ?
Bowls, mugs, vases.... So simple and just plain beautiful.

Deconstructing the Habit at Spattered Columns

Deconstructing the Habit, a group exhibition curated by Angela Washko that opens today at Spattered Columns, investigates how advertising and media have influenced routine, lifestyle structures, and the personal search for fulfillment.


Participating artists include: Pauline Bastard, Yana Dimitrova, Hannah Heilmann, Ann Hirsch, Zehra Khan and Tim Winn, Kristoffer Orum and Anders Bojen, and Nathaniel Sullivan

Drunk Drunk Bed Rat by Zehra Khan, 2010, inkjet print, 20” x 27”

There is also going to be a video festival "HABIT" featuring works by 
Pauline Bastard, Mike Bonanno,Kerry Downey, Ann Hirsch, Jaime Iglehart, Sunita Prasad, Robby Rackleff, Nathaniel Sullivan, and Angela Washko. 
There's a 5$ suggested donation and considering that won't even buy you a movie ticket in NYC anymore you should definitely check it out. 

Spattered Columns 
491 Broadway, Suite 500, 646-546-5334
Soho
June 6 - June 28, 2012 

Abdolreza Aminlari

Another great artist who uses thread and paper in his works: Abdolreza Aminlari
Born in Tehran and now living and working in Brooklyn, Aminlaris work is concerned with identity, home and culture, ideas which he mostly explores with needle and thread.
I especially love his "Fabric Studies" series in which he stitches the silhouettes of Iranian women on paper, leaving the faces blank. The women wear a chador, the head covering that women are forced to wear by the Islamic Regime following the Sharia law. Aminlari shows how something like the chador that is intended to mask can still be subtly used to create individuality.

"In Fabric Studies I draw women without the face, leaving only the chador to define the individual. At first the faceless drawings seem indistinguishable, but upon a closer examination the differences in these woman begin to emerge. Each fold and drape describes an individual, her subtle personal preference in how she chooses to cover herself, how she decides to frame and present her face. I use a needle and thread as a tool to recreate the fabric onto paper. I use this feminine technique of needle work to examine and highlight how something intended to mask, can be subtly used to create individuality."

Check out this and other work on his webpage: http://abdolrezaaminlari.com


He is also currently featured at StoreFront Bushwick, together with Drew Shiflet.  This exhibition just opened yesterday and will run through July 1st .
So go check it out and then hit up Roberta's for an amazing pizza afterwards.

Nuala O Donovan - Fragile Nature

Nuala O Donovan, based in Cork, Ireland creates stunning sculptures made from sculpted unglazed porcelain.

I love how pure and delicate her pieces look and how incredibly intricate they are.
She finds inspiration for her work in the patterns and forms found in nature:

"I have used the characteristics of irregular/fractal patterns in nature as a system of constraints or guidelines when making decisions about the forms: The patterns are regularly irregular. The patterns and form are self-similar. The pattern records a response to random events during the making process. The result of using the characteristics of fractal geometry in making decisions regarding the form of the sculptural pieces, is that the form is resolved but retains a sense of potential change. The viewer engages with the piece by allowing their own visual experiences to influence their view of the outcome of the form and its future possibilities. I hope that this aspect of my work also evokes the transitory quality of living organisms, combining traces of history, the present and the future, in the patterns that make up their surfaces and forms."

Bunny Dee

I have a secret obsession with bunnies. I do and I am not ashamed to say it.  Lucky for me the artist Danielle Gundry-Monji seems to share the same love for those furry creatures and incorporates them frequently into her stunning work.

Although she grew up in a small town Gundry- Monji lives and works in San Francisco today where she went to art school but her love for bunnies started when she was just a baby: 

"When I was born the first stuffed animal I was ever given was a bunny. I think that imprinted on me from the very start. This lovely creature with long ears and smile that made me so happy. Even as I got older that love of rabbits never went away. I am still given stuffed rabbits and rabbit type things for birthdays and presents. I have come to identify with rabbits in many ways.When I moved to SF nearly 7 years ago I brought that rabbit, my first stuffed bunny that I attached too. He is always in my apartment. Several years ago when drawing animal characters for my family I drew myself as a rabbit and my brother started calling me Bunny Dee. I was given the chance to go to art school and I jumped right in. It really wasn't until my final two years at school that I found my voice in art. That was after many trials and a huge heartbreak. From that came what is now the style of my art. My art speaks from my experiences, emotions, dreams and history. I'm a day dreamer at heart so most things come from that realm."

                                          

I love the colors, the fantastic dreamlike shapes and of course... the bunnies.

Check out her etsy shop "Bunny Dee": http://www.etsy.com/shop/bunnydee

Opening today

Another Thursday I won't be able to attend one of my my favorite NYC activities: Gallery hopping in Chelsea. This is what I am missing tonight:

Marco Pinter, Reflections and Object Permanence

"Marco Pinter explores the fusion of physical movement with visualizations in the virtual world. He finds inspiration in dance and sculpture, but also in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and mathematics.  His work frequently has two manifestations: one in performance; and the second as an installation, where the public can interactively experience the piece.  This process becomes cyclical, wherein Pinter can observe participants creating new ways of interacting with the installation, which can later be integrated into the evolving piece. "

AC Institute

547 West 27th Street, 6th floor
Chelsea
January 12 - February 4, 2012
Opening: Thursday, January 12, 6 - 8 PM

Ai Weiwei, Wang Xingwei, and Ding Yi: Persona 3

"First exhibited in Beijing in 2004, Persona 3 is an audacious experiment in which the three artists agreed temporarily to exchange artistic profiles in a demonstration of their mutual admiration for the Chinese art scholar Hans van Dijk who had died in 2002. "

Chambers Fine Art
522 West 19th Street, 212-414-1169
Chelsea
January 12 - February 25, 2012
Opening: Thursday, January 12, 6 - 8 PM

Spacepod II

"The Spacepod is a chamber that projects auditory architecture around a listener.  Using an omnidirectional array of speakers, it produces a sensation of auditory surfaces using ambisonic localization, psychoacoustic cues, and parametric mapping. Effectively, one finds oneself navigating by ear a world in which every surface is covered in sound-emitting pores."

Eyebeam
540 West 21st Street, 718.222.3982
Chelsea
January 12 - February 4, 2012
Opening: Thursday, January 12, 6 - 8 PM

Aa

Today is a good day. A giant pack of papers, pictures and letters was sent to the USCIS. Now all we can do is wait...