| 1. Mark Weaver – Earth |
Earth, pictured above, is an image from his Make Something Cool Every Day project, which took place from March 2008, to December, 2009. Other works that I’ve favorited by him include 1935, Cash, and Untitled (pictured to the right). If you are a fan of Weaver’s illustrations, check out his online shop to order postcards and screen prints.
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Mark Weaver‘s impressive list of clients includes The New York Times, WIRED Magazine, and Dell, just to name a few, and for good reason – it seems as though he’s perfected the display of geometric aesthetics through illustration.
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| 2. Mark Warren Jacques – A Man Thinking About the Idea of Thinking About Things |
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Mark Warren Jacques is a self described artist and amateur philosopher from Columbus, Ohio, who currently “lives, loves, and works in Portland, Oregon.” In Ollie The Mind Gap, a video about Jacques, he explains that he views art as meditation, which is a theme that appears to be manifested throughout most of his selected paintings. A Man Thinking About The Idea of Thinking About Things is a mystic expressionist piece with a simplistic, yet powerful combination of colors and shapes. |
| 3. Nicholas Bohac – Mountain of Sound |
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Mountain of Sound is an acrylic, ink, and photographic collage that depicts rainbow highways that run alongside windmills and mountains. Need I say more? This mixed media painting is among the most striking, masculine works that I encountered in 2009. Other paintings by Bohac that I appreciate include Kansas, A Place Between Progress & Hippie Shift, and Trippin Off the Land. |
| 4. Jez Burrows – Walden |
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Walden is Jez Burrows’ depiction of Walden by Henry David Thoreau, which is part of the Kitsune Noir Poster Club. He describes having chosen the images for this poster, “There are certainly enormous, complex ideas in Thoreau’s writing, but to deal with them explicitly felt incongruous with another dominant theme of the book: simplicity. I love how forested areas are typically represented in maps with miniature pictograms, so I took those as a starting point and developed an entire wood.” I feel that Burrow’s poster is just that: an elementary yet profound representation of Thereau’s shared experiences. |
| 5. Cody Hoyt – Infinite Jest |
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Infinite Jest is Cody Hoyt’s interpretation of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, and is also part of the Kitsune Noir Poster Club. If you’ve read Infinite Jest, you’ll probably agree that this poster serves as an overwhelmingly appropriate representation of the novel. It depicts the mishmash of substance abuse, the trepidation of the unsettled, subconscious mind, illusory flashbacks, and other motifs that are present throughout the book. As described by Hoyt, “The central skull-face is the character James Incandenza, a patriarchal figure who commits suicide by modifying a microwave oven to cook his own head.” |
6. Bjorn Copeland – Money Shot
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Copeland characterizes his artwork as having been influenced by, “mundane pop culture…crappy television, pop radio, [and] advertisements,” but that isn’t apparent to me. I enjoy his glitchy art style, which appears to be anything but mundane. Money Shot is sexy, defected, and creative. Copeland is also a member of Black Dice, an experimental IDM group based in New York. (I recommend checking out his music, too, which includes a noise remix of Animal Collective’s song, Peacebone.) |
| 7. Rocky Grimes – Birds |
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Rocky Grimes, a.k.a. Printdamanged, is one of our very own – he resides in Homestead, Florida. His motto is “do it yourself”, which he applies to all of his screen prints. The most appealing aspect of this screen print is that it “just is” – I’m not sure why I like it, I just do. |
8. Kenji Nakayama – Reflection Returnal
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One of my favorite pieces of art is Dream, by D. Lane Taylor, to whom I’ve been a fan of for several years. Nakayama is the first artist whose works I’ve encountered appeal to me in the same way as Taylor’s, in that it is deep and reflective. Both artists produce the type of work that deserves to be appreciated more than once. Reflection Returnal is dark, mysterious, and beautiful. |
| 9. Psychic Friends Collective – Cats |
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My appreciation of this piece may be a bit biased; it reminds me of Hausu, which is a kick-ass Japanese horror film from 1977. Additionally, Psychic Friends Collective describe their work as, “experimentation in collaboration” – who isn’t an advocate of that? |
| 10. Thom Faulder – Deformscape |
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Thom Faulder describes Deformscape as, “an outdoor extension to a private dwelling in San Francisco….This limited space outdoor sculpture garden inherits a large tree, and uses this sole arboreal presence to establish a gravitational pattern of grooves that are focused towards the tree’s centroid.” I couldn’t have said it better. |
3 Comments
A very enjoyable read! The article represented a cross section of styles and mediums from the entire year – with your fav from each represented? Or were these your favorite pieces from the year period?
Some of the work presented caught my attention.
The image with the link – Kenji Nakayama’s: Reflection Returnal.. Brilliant B&W study in the mysterious. The best work presented in your article (in my opinion). I wrote a long dissertation of the work then chose not to include it.. Suffice it to say – it captured my attention and interest! Such a piece would look very appropriate in this condo.
I also enjoyed Mark Weaver’s ‘Untitled’. He depicts that which many sense, when held in the unblinking gaze of an owl.
Jez Burrows “Walden” caught my eye – then went down in my estimation. At first glance – every tree appeared different, each one unique – a truly industrious effort and creative coup. Closer inspection revealed this was not so and, for some reason, I felt ‘let down’ by the work.
“Money Shot” is the pornography world, being well represented. I felt this was an obvious reflection with little effort towards challenging the viewer. We see the ‘masculine’ art penetrating the woman after that ‘climactic moment’ of distorting her face. In reflection – an excellent representation of pornography itself!
Not in my personal taste unless shared with an equally industrious companion – then only to assist in bring ‘art to life’.
The other pieces held varying levels of interest – is this your chosen profession Nikki – Art Critic of modern works? Do you own/run a gallery in Miami or are you affiliated still with USF?
Earth print is amazing! Too bad it’s sold out… :-/
My other favorite is Kenji Nakayama’s “Reflection Returnal”. My favorite visual art tends to be in photographs and I love how the black and white plays off of the few colors and the beam of light at the end of the alley plays as a visual metaphor for hope and beauty even in the darkest of places.
Very insightful critique/s of each one of your features pieces of art for 2009. Hope you share more of these with me as you continue to find them.
Lots of interesting picks here. This is not something I kept up with throughout time, life has been hectic as it is, so it’s nice to have it simplified a bit and your personal picks shown.
I appreciate Mark Jacques’s stuff a lot. Interesting use of shape and pattern. I ended up clicking into that one first, to check out more by him.
The representation of Infinite Jest was interesting. I recall you mentioning the book before, but I’ve yet to read it.
Thom Faulder’s is neat–trying to use man-made pattern to draw us into the patterns of nature! Very precise expression of a desire!
The Walden one was neat–it would do well as a cover to some edition of the book, methinks.
I am really fond of the cat one too–as well as the owl with the light vision.
Not much else to say at the moment, and Jack says he misses me.
Love you, darl’. Wish I could be showering with you. :p
You are the best thing since sliced sex. :-*