artist crush: mark newport

several of Newports Handknit Costumes including Naftaman and Valuesman (third and fifth from left)
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My introduction to Mark Newport began a few years ago when I was looking for ways to spend my eekend, I came across a small write up about an installation called "Self-Made Man" in the Riverfront Times.  The exhibit was being shown at the museum at the Laumeier Sculpture Park, now one of my favorite museums in the area.  The write-up described an engaging exhibit full of Newport's hand-knit superhero costumes, as well as embroidered comic book covers and digital prints which promised to compel exhibit attendees to ponder fundamental questions about masculinity, bravery and courage.  Sign me up.



Batmen
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 When asked to describe the superhero costumes he knits, Newport comments that they “combine [the superheroes'] heroic, protective, ultra masculine, yet vulnerable personas with the protective gestures of my mother – hand knit acrylic sweaters meant to keep me safe from New England winters."* The costumes he creates are life-size, but are not built for the stereotypical superhero with bulging muscles.  Instead, most of of them look like they were made for someone lanky and hang lifelessly on hangers in the exhibit, which Newport did intentionally so that those attending the exhibit could imagine themselves donning the costumes and taking on the persona of the superhero. 



Newport knitting a Spiderman costume
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Newport goes on to say that he did not only draw on images of popular comic book heroes for the inspiration for these costumes but also his "childhood memories of the ultimate man – the Dad every boy wants, the man every boy wants to grow up to be. In these I work to forge the link between childhood experience and an adult understanding of protection, masculinity, and heroism.”

Freedom Bedcover: Zachary (detail). Embroidery and ribbon on comic book pages, 2006
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If you ever have the chance to check out Mark Newport's work in person, dont miss it.  Attending one of his knit-ins would likely be just as cool (and something I regret not participating in when he held at least one during his exhibit's run at the Sculpture Park).  His exhibit remains one of my favorite shows to come to in St. Louis.  I appreciated that it challenged conventionally held concepts of masculinity and laid bare the complex nature of real manhood.

AlterEgos: Practice Digital Print
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Do you seek out exhibits to go to that challenge you to think about social issues?  Do you appreciate art that is visually beautiful, impressive or interesting and has a social mission?

*excerpts from a write-up by Oregon State University on a recent exhibit he installed at the Fairbanks Gallery

artist crush: lulie wallace

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 Lulie Wallace's paintings are some of my favorites.  I love how cheerful they are, the bright colors and the beauty and dimension in the flowers.  I also love that they are reasonably affordable. I recently bought myself one as a Christmas present.  As you might imagine, I think it is even more beautiful in person.  Here are some of my favorite Lulie Wallace paintings.

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Lulie paints out of Charleston, SC at a studio space at the non-profit community art center, Redux with 26 other local artists.  She also works at Indigo, a local gift store.  She started painting florals during her senior year at the College of Charleston and has been painting flowers ever since.  She used to purchase local flowers from a florist, but soon tired of painting the same types of flowers for a month at a time.



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She has expanded her subjects to include pictures of wedding bouquets.  She also takes commissions, and some women send in pictures of their own bouquets for her to capture on wood panels.  The wood panels that she paints on provide a texturized foundation for each painting.



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Lulie hopes that people will look at her artwork and feel that it represents "something they never would have pictured in still life. I want it to make the viewers think, ‘That’s something I never would have expected.’”


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Check out more of Lulie's work here and here.

*Biographical information and quotes from Lulie's personal blog, or the Charleston City Paper

artist crush: francoise nielly

An artist I am totally digging right now is Francoise Nielly.  Her portraits are gorgeous and haunting.  I love the realistic look she gives to each face in contrast with the bright, unrealistic colors she uses to paint them.  I love portraits, and I think part of it is because I can never imagine being able to create something half as realistic or poignant if attempting to draw or paint a human face.  I don't know what it feels like to be able to look into a person's face and translate their soul onto canvas.  I don't know how, but I want to.

 I do, however, know how it feels to be painted by someone who does.  How it feels to look at a painting of you and feel like someone has captured a piece of you, simply using oils and a paint brush.  Its an eerie feeling. A feeling of being disrobed, but at the same time understood.  Understood by a stranger and exposed to whomever comes across the canvas.  Laid bare for me and anyone else to see.

 

Nielly paints in Paris, but grew up in South France. She says, "all of that classical imagery of South France is very alive as an experience inside of me. Maybe it is what led me to the use of fluorescent colors in my paintings."  She considers the Internet and the dishwasher to be the greatest inventions of the past 100 years. When speaking about her life and painting, she says, "I am a passionate woman and i am passionate about my life, about doing my life with intensity. That is the way i approach painting, traveling, reading, etc. Somehow, painting may be the love of my life; and as in every couple relationship it's a moving territory with high and lows, fights, weariness, desire, fire and water. It can be exhausting, exhilarating, boring, fun, sparkling... whatever i go through with it, i just can't stop loving it."* You can view more of her work here.

*pictures and excerpts from the biography on her painting website