MICHAEL BELL SMITH

Artist, Michael Bell Smith, recently gave a lecture at the University of Texas which he addressed topics of mass media (specifically the internet), pop culture, and nostalgia. I really responded to his video Up and Away. This video was constructed out of appropriated clips from old video game sources. I think the imagery is really beautiful. The layering and spacial progression abstracts it from the original content and makes something entirely different.

The other videos he presented were really funny, but also valid as a response to internet culture.

R.Kelly's Trapped in the Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously

Chapters 1-12 of R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously (2006) by Michael Bell-Smith. Courtesy EAI. from Why + Wherefore on Vimeo.

I also really enjoyed this: (OONCE-OONCE) a website he created with a looping imagery and sound.

what kind of artist are you?

Looks like I fall pretty far right in the douche category with Art Blogs.

YAYOI KUSAMA

"The dot princess," is a nickname for Yayoi Kusama. Yayoi is a female Japanese artist. She produces extremely beautiful, fascinating, and compulsive work. In 2008 she sold a piece of work for over 5,000,000 dollars, this is a record for any living female artist. She has struggled with mental illness for her entire life. She references her mental instability with obsessive patterning (dots), this has become a trademark for Yayoi. The dots are from hallucinations she had as a young child. Poka dots sound like a really simple idea, but they anything but that to her. She refers to the dots as "infinity nets," they extend across every surface. She talks about dots extending so far they eventually would obliterate the world.

Here are a few images of several of her installation and sculptural work.





You can see more of her work at the Gagosian Gallery.
Yayoi Interview from 2008.

JULES BUCK JONES

Not only does Jules Buck Jones have a great name, he has outstanding artwork. Jules is a former UT graduate student. He shows at ART PALACE as well as many other places around Austin. His work always impresses me. His mark making is bold an uninhibited and daunting in scale. He fuses various animals together in a way that is disorienting and bizarre.

Coyote Serpents

Acrylic on Paper, 80 x 90 in., 2008

Saltwater Crocodile I

Mixed media on paper, 80 x 90 in., 2008

My first experience with Jules's work was a walk- in Space Ship he built from cardboard. BOOZE FOX VIDEO The entrance to the space ship was a ramp, which had large speakers underneath it which vibrated with bass. The space ship included a gun turret, which you could climb into. The gun turret had a view of a large alien (also constructed out of cardboard). I really enjoy the fact that a lot of the sculptures I've seen from Jules rely on cardboard. There is something very humble about this. These sculptures have an element of performance, he moves them or manipulates them by creating layered areas.

MY CATS

My cats are two destructive forces. They have managed to scale up everyone of my paintings, put their paws on various prints and hopped onto and broken sculptures. The advice to be learned is everyone needs an animal quarantined studio. If only I could teach my cats to paint.

WEI DONG

I have recently stumbled upon Wei Dong's work. Nicholas Robinson Gallery.

He is a contemporary Chinese painter. His work reminds me of a lot John Currin's paintings.

Game With a Fish

Playmate

LISA YUSKAVAGE

Pied

oil on linen, 11 3/4 x 9 inches, 2008

Drag

oil on linen, 12x9 inches, 2007

Scarecrow

oil on canvas, 10x 8 1/4, 2006

Half - Family

oil on linen, 16 3/16 x 13 1/16 inches, 1999 -2000