Freedom is Boring, Censorship is Fun

Farhad Moshiri, Shukran, Installation detail.

 I was recently invited to Farhad Moshiri's show in Dubai that I would have 
loved to have attended aptly named, "Freedom is Boring, Censorship is Fun". Farhad is exploding in the art world right now,and Tehran's art scene is bursting with talent. 
Exploring Tehran's art scene is high on my to do list...
Do you think censorship makes a person more creative? 
Just like a challenge might make people work a little harder for something,
 I wonder if censorship, as much of a nightmare as it is, if it can motivate people/artists to work harder to figure out a way to express themselves?

I feel like it would challenge me in ways I have never known. 

Farhad Moshiri has since been constantly pushing his materials, using cake icing dispensers, Swarovski crystals, and knives to make paintings that incorporate 
increasingly textured and sculptural approaches. 

But it is not Moshiri’s technique that has earned him attention, 

it is his mastery of Iranian visual vernacular, as well as his acute awareness of popular culture and art history.

Whether it is an all-black canvas covered with thousands of sparkling Swarovski crystal diamonds that spell out Eshgh, “love” in Farsi,or a wall installation of found knives arranged in cursive script to read “Life is Beautiful",beneath these banal clichés Moshiri’s work reflects a sardonic desire to preserve ancient traditions on the one hand, while also yearning for something new. More often than not, this longing is for a bright shining fantasy that stands for everything that society attempts to suppress.

Farhad Moshiri lives in Tehran, Iran. 

He studied art and filmmaking at the California Institute of the Arts.

See more of his work- Here

Images Via- Here

Art Exhibit at Home in Seattle...

My friend, April Pride Allison had a great idea to host an event with 4 Seattle artists filling up her beautiful home with great pieces that she curated from their collections. 

I can't even begin to tell you what a wonderful night it was...

 Along with myself, there was Irene Wood, J.P. Canlis, and Jules Frazier also exhibiting.

 I had 2 encaustic pieces, and 2 oil paintings there as well, that is mine under Mr. Gazelle. The other beautiful paintings on the left are by the lovely, and talented, 

Irene Wood.

The colors in the kitchen worked beautifully with my linocuts...

Did I tell you how wonderful this night was???

 April took the time to go around and put black pieces of tape over the eyes of all of the family photographs...It looked really cool...

 My encaustic piece above, and my oil painting below, were pieces she picked from my new work to use for the event.

 Irene Wood's piece above...

 My enormous new piece, above.

This beautiful glass piece on the mantel is by the talented, J.P. Canlis.

 There was art hanging everywhere....It was a 80 degree day in Seattle....

.....In MAY.....

In Seattle.........nuff' said.

 I bought this one above from Irene....Yup....It's mine....and I am thrilled...

 I loaded my artwork onto her pretty shelves... Those are my Eucalyptus prints on the right wall, and a J.P. Canlis glass piece on the desk.

 My art had it so easy, sitting with all of the prettiness...

 There was drinking involved....

  

 Hillard's beer,a new, local company is sooooo tasty, and I love the design.

Bubbles were served...

 I love that there were kids everywhere. April's little guy is teaching 
a 2 year old how to  open his mouth and stick out his tongue...Love it...

There is the lovely Irene Wood  laughing in the white shirt.

My new painting is on the left wall. 

Jules Frazier photographs water and makes it look like this. So cool.

 The Seattle Makers...Horrible lighting...I swear I didn't photoshop this with a fog lens, but it is the only pic I have of us...

Cassie LaValle, me, Irene Wood, April Pride Allison and Leah Ball Steen, and chaps who's names I don't remember (blaming that on the beer) but the chap on the left is Irene's husband and the other chap is April's brother in law.

 Thank you so much to the lovely and talented April Pride Allison for putting this all together so seamlessly! It was a beautiful event...

Hope you are all having a great week!

Photo's by me...Click on the other artists names to see more...

Dieter Roth

Dieter Roth/Medium Sunset 

1968 · sausage on pink and blue paper, edition of 30, numbered and signed · 5 artists copies.

Between 1947 and 1998 Dieter Roth produced 528 prints and created a great oeuvre rich in variety and quality. Many prints appeared as series of unique pieces through ingenious manipulations the artist applied at various stages of the printing process. The finished editions show a tremendous scope within each single series.

The artist used every known printing technique, lino-and woodcut (relief printing), etching (intaglio/gravure printing), litho, offset, serigraph (screen printing) and invented some new modes such aspressing (flattening objects through vertical pressure) and squashing(flattening objects through horizontal pressure). Often times he combined different techniques.

Roths creativity and inventive spirit claimed new areas for printing way beyond the traditional as he also “printed” with materials like sausage, fruit juice, cheese and chocolate.

Because his works smelled so strongly of decay, Roth's studio at the Düsseldorf Academy had to be cleared out and the works destroyed. In 1969 Roth showed work at "documenta 4" and in 1977 at "documenta 7". By then he was a leading German contemporary artist, collaborating on Happenings and other events with the likes of Arnulf Rainer and Richard Hamilton. In 1982 Roth designed the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. As an artist, Dieter Roth was not concerned with beauty. On the contrary, he repudiated aesthetics in his approach to creative work. Roth played on irony, variability and Deconstruction, experimenting with all sorts of media and materials.
Dieter Roth died in Basle in 1998.

New Watercolors for Summer...

 Just had a little show in my hometown of West Seattle, Washington at Capers. They are each one of a kind and sell from 595.00 down to 350.00. They will be up for a month...Hope you are having a great start to your summer! See you at the lake!

Photo's by me.

Artist of the Month - Hope Gangloff

 It is so rare to find a modern portraitist who's work doesn't look amateur, or like a cartoon, way to overdone and polished, or fake...In my opinion, the best portraitists from the days of yore, captured the beauty of normalcy in their subjects.Their facial expressions and poses being all ones we could relate to. And then you may have an artist who come's along and kicks it up a notch with gorgeous colors and backgrounds...That would be Hope Gangloff... 

Could you imagine how cool it would be to BE one of these subjects?




Hope you are about to have a GREAT WEEKEND!!

See more of her work HERE

First seen HERE

Whatever Man

Kind of dreaming of being in "Whatever Man's" shoes REAL soon. I have been working 

non-stop, and am ready to sleep for about a month...

We are getting some serious sunshine here in Seattle and it 

is ...dare I say it....SUMMER!!!!

Art by - Tim Lahan

Pretty On The Inside...

I am so fortunate to have the friends I do, here in Seattle. They happen to be, not only talented, but genuinely good people, who also happen to be fun as hell to hang out with... I was lucky enough to have my work featured in the latest issue of Rue Magazine, and my friend Cassandra LaValle's home. Yup, that Cassandra LaValle. Is there another? Nope.

 Sexy red lips really should be in the bedroom right? Hoping no one puts them above a toilet. That would make sexy red lips sad...

My painting got in their too!

I hope you all are getting as excited about summer being just about here as I am.

Wishing we all could go hang out at the pool and talk art and design...

Let me know if you will be in Seattle!

Photo's by belathee http://www.belathee.com/