Animal Threads of Artist Ana Teresa Barboza

I am not yet very good at reading Spanish but I get the feeling from her work that Ana Teresa Barbosa is interested in the body and animals. Her works are mostly created by embroidery on linen but her subject matter is anything but traditional.

I first saw her work posted on twitter as a woman putting her head into the mouth of a lion. When I opened the image I realized the entire lion was embroidered and after that I just had to know more and when I got to her website there were so many pieces that intrigued me I knew I had to feature her work on the Paper Coyote.


 There are so many aspects of her work that I find interesting and the most difficult part of all is not being familliar enough with Spanish to be able to read  the description on her blog but the bits and pieces I can cobble together from the patchy Google translate indicated that Ana is indeed another artist interested in the relationships between animals and humans.

She seems to take a different approach to her theory and from what I can sort of understand is that she sees the idea of "wild" as a collective Jung-ian dream, some vestage of a memory of when we ourselves were less civilized. and looking at her work it seems obvious that we are the vessels in which the dream of the wilderness is made real. The humans are all simple "empty" drawings in black and white and our true animal nature manifests when we behave in ways that activate that dream and connect us back to the animal part of ourselves: hunting, eating, or mating.

There is struggle present as well depicted in literal wrestling matches or in the act of trying to remove a kitten from your nose. I can't say for sure by I interpret that struggle as a representation of the frustration at species being unable to communicate and the never ending jostling for domination and dominion.

Check out her website and if you speak Spanish please feel free to leave a comment in the comment section if you can elaborate on her theories or artist statement. (comments are moderated to prevent spam so don't panic if you don't see it right away)

You can see more of her work and read about it on her blog.

 

  

 

  

Mitsuko Nagone Visits the Zoo

I was struck by the heart-breaking photographs of zoo animals taken by Mitusko Nagone. As a kid I loved going to the zoo. It was always so exciting to see animals up close and the petting zoo was even better because you could actually physically connect with an animal. There is something ignited inside a person when they make that connection to an animal, the physical contact, the body heat, breath, wet-nosed nuzzle or even a sharp kick or nip or scratch all leave something in us changed.

 

For me I am unsure about what exactly I felt besides excitement when at the zoo but I think there was always some sort of unease, an uncomfortable feeling lingering that suggested something just wasn't quite right. I think that is exactly the moment, that latent childhood image that Mitsuko has captured. These images evoke that same uneasy and feeling as if she has drawn out that single frozen moment from our childhood memories when we could not yet articulate what felt wrong.

I imagine that I saw these images or others like them hundreds of times when walking around a zoo: an animal looking out from behind bars, pacing in it's cage, isolated and surrounded by concrete instead of earth. only now having them frozen in time and re-presented to me can I see what sort of horrors truly exist for the prisoners of many of these facilities.

With so many repeated atrocities occurring against animals around the world I wonder if I will ever live to see their liberation. Will I ever see animals like chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, ravens, or any of the other thousands of sentient beings offered their sovereignty, dignity, and freedom to live by their own will released from the domain of humans. I guess when I look at any work about animals I wonder about that.

Mitsuko Nagone grew up in a small southern city in Japan. She moved to Tokyo and studied photography at the College of Tokyo Visual Arts and then moved to New York City to continue her studies at LaGuardia Community College. Currently, Mitsuko resides in Tokyo, Japan, and works as a freelance photographer. Visit her website to see more of her work.

 

Barbara Heller's Dead Bird Tapestries

I love discovering new artists and despite living in an isolated community with a less than interesting art section at the local library and no public art galleries I seem to find ways to stay connected to the art world. Whether it is through Galleries West Magazine, stumbling through Pinterest or having someone share something with me via Facebook I am constantly inspired by my fellow creators, especially the ones that stray into the realm of morbid decay.

I grabbed a copy of Galleries West Magazine after running a workshop at the local artist community centre and as I flipped through it I happened to see an advertisement for Barbara Heller's show. At first the image didn't register but when I looked again and the threads wove themselves together I was astonished and excited to see more.

Of course I immediately did a search for more images of her work hoping so much that this wasn't a one off. And I wasn't disappointed. I discovered a handful of boldly coloured tapestries with delicate images of dead birds which happens to be one of my favourite subjects.

I find Heller's work interesting on a number of levels. First I love the images, the placement and the fine line work that seems to appear and disappear from the surface. I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been to plan out and create an image with such subtle detail, as if she planned out every single stitch. The delicacy of the decay she evokes in the surface is incredible and I imagine that from afar for just a moment one might mistake them for paintings or drawings.

Secondly I love the ideas that seem to merge in her work. Without having read anything about the artists intention I think of things like death shrouds and historical records, hunting tapestries and flannel sleeping bag linings. I want to imagine these as patterns for some reason.

I look forward to seeing more of this work and secretly hope she stitches up a few more animals.

You can see more of Barbara's work on her website.

 

 

 

 

 

Karin Ceelen

Another Pinterest discovery was Karin Ceelen who makes gorgeous, delicate etchings with intricate line work and subtle tone. I find her work compelling in its texture which remind me a lot of maps and geography. I love the cutout and layering as well which add richness and layers to the pieces. 

She is also a photographer and on her blog you can see the photographs that inspire her print work.

Comments are always welcome.

Lee Bonetcou

I am not sure how or why I never learned about this incredible artist when I was in art school and the more art I seem to "discover" on my own makes me more and more angry about the canon of art excluding and without  mention absolutely incredible women artists. But before I launch any further into a rant about the gaping holes in the canon of western art let's meet Lee Bontecou.

Lee Bontecou was a very successful artist in the late 1950's and the 1960's. She was represented by New York Galleries and her shows consistently sold out. Much of her work is in permanent collections in places like New York, Washington, Chicago, and San Francisco. She disappeared from the gallery world after her daughter was born, teaching at Brooklyn College and working in solitude and isolation for nearly thirty years. A retrospective of her work both the early sculptural work and her later works on paper was exhibited at the Hammer Museum in LA in 2003. The show later travelled to MOCA in San Francisco and to MOMA in New York in 2004.


In the early part of her career she worked mainly in sculpture creating massive pieces which project off the gallery wall toward the viewer. She combines traditional materials of painting, canvas and her pieces hang on the wall like a traditional painting but they are anything BUT traditional. Her pieces include welded and stitched canvas and hide which feel industrial and mechanical yet organic in a terrible haunting sort of way. Each piece contains at its centre a vortex completely void of light – literally a black hole.

She was greatly influences by the trauma of World War 2 and later by space exploration and the world of astronomy but she refuses to label herself or her work. It is very clear that she doesn't care what you think of her work and struggles against anyone who may try to define it.

Lee Bontecou just celebrated her 83 birthday and is still working away in her studio doing whatever the hell she pleases, no doubt. I will leave you with a quote that struck me as vital to understanding the creative process:

"[Drawing] can get your imagination moving and you can work from your inner world rather than always from the external world"

Soot Drawing 1958

 You read more about this incredibe artist and her work here and to see more of her work do a google image search or type her name into Pinterest

Have a look at her work and share your thoughts and comments below.