Cris Brodahl Rocks The Seattle Art Museum

Spent the good part of a cold day strolling around the Seattle Art Museum and was riveted by the works of Cris. Her paintings are based on collages from magazines that she puts together, so from far away they really look like huge collages. Up close it is obviously a painting... They have a great mixed marriage of surrealism and symbolism- added with the dark sepia tonalities, they juxtapose modern day with vintage times, in a strange but beguiling way. Easily the best stuff on display in the museum, better than even the huge Picasso exhibit. Skip the lines for Picasso and go see Cris instead.
SAM link.

Five Stars For Femke! "The Bone Shaped Bone" Exhibit

Made it up to Seattle and was so stoked to be able to go to the opening reception of Femke Hiemstra's new body of work. Rarely do I see a solo exhibit where every single piece is of top notch caliber. 

Her superlative works, currently on view at Roq La Rue in Seattle, fall into every category of excellence possible. The vision, creativity, technique, imagination, originality and presentation - all exceeded expectations and then some. They are smallish, beautifully solid works; so fine was the detail and shading it looked as if it had been painted with a single bristle. In fact,  I can't believe she's not blind. Some were painted directly on vintage book covers or game boxes and some were black and white graphite renderings on paper. The imagery is fairy tale in feel, lots of animal characters and fantasy scenarios. Typographic embellishments  highlighted a few of the pieces - graceful additions of vintage lettering styles, they wove in and out of the imagery, as only a keen eye for design can accomplish.

Roq Le Rue interior

It was rewarding to finally visit Roq Le Rue gallery as it has been on my hit list for way too many years. They have had incredible shows over the years that fill the newbrow art niche for Seattle. A nice space with cool tunes (playing Bowie as I walked in...) and a wide open feel, one couldn't have asked for a better exhibit to see than Femke's "The Bone Shaped Bone". If you live in Seattle or plan on being near there, make sure to put this on your "must do" list! The show is up thru Dec. 4th, 2010.

The beautiful and friendly Femke Hiemstra, love her!

If the images weren't enough to satisfy your soul, here's some more words - a nice take on Femke's works from the gallery site:
Femke Hiemstra’s meticulously tight, jewel like mixed media paintings and exquisitely rendered black and white drawings are homes to a dark fairytale land where inanimate objects come to life and frolic with animal neighbors. Lollipops become ship captains, strawberries become giant wrestlers, and vegetables become Halloween gods with lantern eyes. Femke occasionally uses typography in her work, using words from various languages and letters in her paintings to further enhance the narrative while still retaining a playful sense of mystery, or as a visual device to frame in the scenery, as if you were looking at her world through a secret window. She also uses found objects to paint on, such as boxes and wrappers, to create imaginary products with magical properties. In this series she has several paintings on vintage book covers, which are then tantalizingly sealed up in a frame, leaving the viewer to speculate on the full story.

Links: Roq Le Rue, Femke's site

"Everyday" Exhibit Worth Seeing In Every Way...

This exhibit  at 111 Minna in San Francisco, ends on October 2nd so get your butt in there quick! Wonderful works by the likes of Mike Davis, Mike Giant, Ryan Scott Shaffer, Juan Puente, Regino Gonzales, Daniel Albrigo, Shawn Barber, Henry Lewis, Don Edward Hardy and Edu Cerro.


I have been to Minna many times but never in the daytime as it is also a bar. It was nice to see the space opened up and uncrowded, with the works well lit. With their larger group shows they put up temporary walls to hang the art on and the lighting isn't the best at night. This show is just big enough, big with talented artists and kick-ass art! Have posted just a few pix of some of my faves here...


For all the works at Minna go here.

Lee Bontecou at Moma, New York

Visited MOMA this summer and loved so much there that I got a little behind. Just saw too much art this summer, poor pitiful me! 
Lee's show - "All Freedom In Every Sense" was well worth my sore feet staying earthbound. At first I was hesitant, not being keen on a lot of abstract art, but the elements of figurative surrealism and construction in her works won me over. She is definitely one of those artists whose works you HAVE to see in person, the textures and dimensions just don't cut it in a picture. 
The works were really a mixed media, just about every medium was represented. While her choices were eclectic in materials, they all came together under her eye and vision. Fantastic sculptures, lithos, paintings, light projections, drawings, industrial constructions - some reminding me strongly of Max Ernst and Kandinsky. Some pieces had a wonderfully dark science fiction feel to them and some an organic lightness. Even the shadows cast off from the art were fantastic.  

Shadows from one of her works

If you get a chance to see her work, do it!

25 Years of Pixar, A Review of the Oakland Exhibit That Kicks Ass!

The current Pixar exhibit (at the Oakland Museum) is one of the best I have seen at a contemporary art museum since the Todd Schorr solo in San Jose. This show is a "significantly enhanced" version of the exhibition, which is returning home to Oakland after a world tour that began at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2005. Kind of sad that it didn't begin here, since Pixar is right next door to Oaktown in Emeryville, but it's hard to compete with MOMA's draw. It should have opened right here in their own hood, then it would have been a true homecoming. Hats off to the Oakland Museum curators, for taking the helm to steer this museum in a much needed, fresh and new direction. (Support the place - spend some money there!)

Jessie!.. still in love with her, even after all these years...

This is a large, very solid show - full of room after room of 25 years of wonderful art. Original sketches, paintings, models and storyboards from all the wonderful Pixar animated endeavors. Pencil sketches, watercolors, oils, digital paintings, sculpture, charcoal, pastels - you name it, all your fave Pixar creations in every media imaginable. Beautiful sketches and renderings of tons of characters, from Buzz to Ratatouille.

The darkened room encasing the "Toy Story Zoetrope," (above) is a knock-out, really enlightens one on the essence of animation and how it all works. It comprises a 3D turntable populated by the Toy Story figures in carefully sequenced postures that spring to life when it all spins under the strobe lights. Leave yourself at least 15 minutes to stare in wonder at this puppy.

This Bug's Life art is titled as a pencil drawing!  Unbelievable rendering.

Roz in all her glory... did you fill out your paperwork?

When you go, make sure you leave enough time to see everything, at the very least - two hours...  And you may want to book your tickets ahead, they are admitting in intervals to keep the crowds down. When I went the pace was perfect, not too crowded, although the girl at the ticket desk could have used another helper.

The charcoals by Nathan Fowkes for "Sharks Tale" were jaw dropping.

Can't beat "slinky dog"...

Don't you pay any mind to all those hi-brow art critics out there that refuse to realize animation and cartooning is "real" art.
Just remember the great quote by Anton Ego from Ratatouille -

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

This show is so good I will be going back for a second injection. The amount of Pixar artists and their incredible art here is a true feast. A historical journey thru our joint Pixar past, all the characters, places and life lessons that made us smile, gasp, laugh and cry.