Phantasmaphile

Japi Honoo

Japi Honoo  "Feeding"  2006

Japi Honoo creates astounding images which seem to be manipulated photo composites.  Part sci-fi, part sur-reality, the pictures are gorgeous and haunting, like an odd dream. 

Walmor Correa

Walmor Correa  "Ondina"  2006

I am flipping over the work of Walmor Correa.  He creates finely rendered anatomical charts of creatures, both natural and mythical.  Truly ingenious and beautifully strange.  His work can currently be seen in the awesome exhibition CRYPTOZOOLOGY:  OUT OF TIME PLACE SCALE.  (Other Phantasmaphile favorites such as Mark Dion and Rosamond Purcell are featured in the show as well.)  I hope it comes the NY region soon!

Lark and Lotus Jewelry

Suzannah Murray  "Titania"   Lark and Lotus  2006

I love jewelry, but it's rare that I stumble upon any pieces that are special enough to merit my spending money.  As soon as I saw the collection from Lark and Lotus, though, I knew I'd be in trouble!  The designer, Suzannah Murray, has created pieces that are not only works of art, but true talismans.  Her first line contains gorgeous baubles with an art nouveau aesthetic.  Each piece seems infused with magic and memory.  Suffice it to say, I am saving my pennies!

Interview with Carrie Ann Baade

Carrie Ann Baade  "Death and the Maiden"

I had the great privilege of getting to peer into Carrie Ann Baade's mind's eye: 

Phantasmaphile: For starters, when did you begin painting, and more specifically, when did you you develop your signature "painted collage" style?

Carrie Ann Baade: I had a complete collapse in grad school. I could not figure out how to be like all my dead art heroes - Bosch, Fuseli, Moreau, Knopf - but be a part of Now.  During this struggle, I had to start over. I had to go back to the beginning... in search of the armature, I rediscovered the artists’ first gallery, the refrigerator door.  Upon the door were a sentimental photograph of my infant niece and the Christmas gift of magnets made from cut up discount art books.  By moving some of these magnets over the photograph, the child’s eyes were covered with those from a Northern Renaissance portrait.  A Boschian creature was placed on top of her head to serve as an ornamental hat.  Lastly, a Durer Christ child and a Madonna’s hand scaled perfectly to that in the sentimental photo were placed on the arms in the photo.  The completed the transformation was far more interesting than reality.  After several attempts at turning the image into a painting, the foundation for understanding the difference between collage and pastiche occurred.  Through research, I realized that the amalgam of images had precedence in the appropriation art of the 80’s which is described as the advent of the citation style in painting and other mediums.  “Appropriation art” stresses the intentionality of the act of borrowing and the historical attitude of the borrower.  By building upon this accepted practice, my paintings incorporate these purloined fragments and keep the physical identity of the different motifs preserved from the overall unity.   

Ph:  I'm sure you must answer this question a lot, but I would be remiss if didn't inquire about the ubiquity of eyes in your works.  We've all heard the expression "The eyes are the window to the soul."  What is it about eyes in particular that resonates so deeply with you?

CAB: My great grandmother was a doll maker.  I grew up with many unusual dolls…my collection was pretty extensive.  One day when I was about four, all their little starring eyes become too much and when next my mother entered my room, all of the dolls were turned around facing the wall.  Eyes are intense, creepy in their ability to communicate so much of the internal world while simultaneously taking all that they observe. The treatment almost every character in my paintings receives is a new set of eyes.  The eyes share a role in attribute, symbol, disguise, and the telling of a story through a story.  The eye takes the outside world into the inner, and can also project the inner world onto the outer. 

Ph:  You seem to play around with ideas of layering, facade, and adornment.  It's rather incredible, as portraiture tends to be entirely superficial, and yet you have invented this visual language which allows the viewer to mine deeper into the figure's psyche.  Are you ever surprised by what emotions lie within your characters, or do you know beforehand who they really are and how they're really feeling?

CAB: Folks have asked me about the chicken and egg aspect of my work: Do you start with the idea then go make a collage or do you look at your collage stuff and then interpret the meaning? The answer is part tarot and part advent calendar.  I have questions in mind when I am composing, I am searching for a solution to say...this feeling I have about the correlation between women and snakes and the moon. I collect images, I dive into my piles of cut outs that I have been archiving for the past 5 years. The composition of the collage can be immediate or go through 15 hours of revisions.  It is like reading cards, the answer will come as I am searching and the answer is usually visually surprising. The most exciting part is when I am painting and the collage begins to fall apart and elements that were buried under layers start to resurface. The composition changes and new elements are opened up out of the underlying layers like an advent calendar.

Ph:  There are a lot of allusions in your works, both historical and mythological (Napoleon, Venus, Kali, et al).  Why have you chosen to depict the characters you do?

CAB: During the first few years of this series, I was interested in somewhat cautionary tales of figures of power. What makes someone powerful? How do they rule the world?  What are the consequences of ruling?  Do- be- play large means that there are casualties, or someone else will be defeated or hurt. The symbols and myths I am keeping alive provide a cautionary tale of my own.

Ph:  I may be reading into things too much here, but many of your paintings appear to be self-portraits.  Would you say that's accurate?

CAB: My nose and mouth make frequent appearances, which is strange because my eyes are said to be my best feature and I am remiss to make myself that vulnerable. The eyes are often Christ's from Our Man of Sorrow images or the Lady of Sorrow who is Mary.  This opens up a whole new interpretation of images.  I can say this: I was drawn to these images without knowing when or where they were from. Once I found out, then I looked specifically for the early primitive Netherlandish images for more and even traveled to Belgium twice in search of more eyes. Currently, I am creating paintings with no eyes.

Ph:  Can you walk me through your process, from the start of a work to its end?

CAB: Idea!, snip, cut, and collect - with lots of cello tape!, play and laugh at how funny images can be, revisions for 12 years, prepare copper, transfer image, paint in grisaille....totally tonal image with no chroma, paint in color, glaze and glaze, agonize, tell the painting it is the most beautiful thing that I have EVER created, frame, eject from studio to be hung in the gallery never to be seen again....next!

Ph:  You've lived all over the country: New Orleans, Colorado, Chicago, Delaware, and now Philadelphia.  How has your experience living in these locations influenced your work?

CAB: Italy, Amsterdam,but a tourist in Egypt, Ireland, Turkey...if it's in Europe, I think I have been there.  I am a museum geek.  When on vacation, I don't go to the beach.  I own almost nothing, but I have been to many of the major museums in the world, over and over.  I do not know where I belong.  I do not know where I should be.  Up until recently, all the artists I loved were dead and I had no idea why I should be now.  I am still searching for my audience, my collectors, and where I will be most comfortable as a struggling artist.  I suppose I am best described as a “cultural nomad”.  Architecture comforts me, bridges turn me on, museums get my blood going.

Ph:  I live in Brooklyn, one of New York City's five boroughs.  I keep hearing Philadelphia be referred to as "the sixth borough."  What is the art scene like out there, and would you say there's a kinship with NYC?

CAB: I must admit, I need to go to more openings in Philadelphia.  I know Philly is conservative, but the great and awesome Judith Schaechter creates here! I show at Rosenfeld Gallery where I am the only dark, deviant, surrealist in the fold, but I have a small and alert group of collectors. Lineage is the new "Juxtapoz" gallery and Jonathan Levine heralds it as one of the top 5 in the nation for this type of work.  Philadelphia feels like a it is awakening with new potential with several little gem galleries but they must be sought out.  Philadelphia is knowable where NYC feels overwhelming to me.

Ph:  How often do you paint, and how do you make time for it?

CAB: I am unemployed myself - so time but no money. For the last 13 months I have devoted myself 24/7 to my career painting.  I don't recommend it, but it was the jump out of the plane with out a parachute: CAN YOU FLY?  I paint on average 30 to 40 hours a week, but paper work sucks up about another 40.

Ph:  Who are your favorite artists?

CAB: Judith Schaechter!  Kris Kuksi, Liz McGrath, Julie Heffernan, Kara Walker, Dali, and Cathy de Monchaux.

Ph:  What inspires you?

CAB: Jim Henson, J.M. Barry, Cervantes, Poe, Di Vinci, Elizabeth McGrath, Judith Schaechter, Mark Twain, Hemmingway, Virginia Wolf, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth I, Jules Verne, and Madeline L'Engle. J.K. Rowling. Marcel du Champ, Dali, Picasso, Terry Gilliam, C.S. Lewis, Anias Nin, Emily Dickinson, Christ, and all rebelling angels.

Ph:  Are you superstitious?

CAB: It feels better NOT to step on cracks.

Ph: What is your favorite a) taste b) sound  c)sight   d) smell and e) tactile sensation?

CAB: a) grapefruit  b) jazz in resonating in the corridors of city buildings  c) Gaudi's Cathedral, sunrise in cemetaries, and home after being away d) beniets from Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans and e) skin...living skin.

Ph:  Do you have any plans to exhibit here in New York?

CAB: If all goes well I have work in 3 shows: KFMK Galleries, Strychnin, and Fuse Gallery – all this October!

Ph:   Is there any news or work of yours you'd like me to share with Phantasmaphile's readers?

CAB: Metamorphoses is being released soon: a coffee table book of visionary artists put out by Jon Bienart of The Visionary Artist Forum of Australia....has Geiger and Alex Grey and loads of other greats. And everyone come to Strychnin - opening October 27th! The Dark Surrealists will be taking over NYC!

Ph:  Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?   

CAB: My pain that I can not talk about, my sorrow that seems overflow, my rage that cannot be extinguished easily.  Then this raw material is thrown into the machine of cut and paste.  I have read a bit and taught art history so I have a fair knowledge of mythology, religious symbolism, stories of creation so I am trying to tell my own story through old stories and hybrid them into a new one.  I am comforted by precedent and I feel that I am validated in the tragedies, calamities, and general human failure that plague existence.  Also these are so very cliché yet, everyone's individual cliché is so authentic when it is happening to them.  Experience is universal and individual.  I hope my work is a record of my experience but simultaneously speaking to others about their individual human condition.  There are so many powerful things that happen that we can not speak of politely.

Tino Rodriguez

Tino Rodriguez  "Spring Lullaby" 2001

Flora and fauna abound in Tino Rodriguez's lush, curious paintings.  Fantasy and violence are beautiful counterpoints within these opulent settings.  Each piece looks like a still from a giant, unfurling epic. 

Claudia Drake

Claudia Drake  "Athena"  2005

The digital collages done by Claudia Drake are as smart as they are eye-catching.  Drake is a shape-shifter and a graphic wizardress.

Richard A. Kirk Interview

Richard A. Kirk  "Split Infinity"  2006

Canadian artist Richard A. Kirk took time out of his incessant working schedule to talk about illustration, inspiration, and the importance of playtime:

Phantasmaphile:  When did you begin painting, and more specifically, when did you feel you finally had your own voice or vision?

Richard A. Kirk: That is a deceptively difficult question. The easy answer is that I have always drawn.  At some point though, there is a threshold where it changes from an unconscious, playful activity to something more conscious, where you are focused on developing your technique. At the risk of sounding high flown, in some ways my development as an artist is a journey back to that original state of play or at least finding a balance.  The biggest difference between my art production now and say 10 years ago is that I can find what pleases me artistically with a lot more speed and confidence. A lot of that comes from simple experience.

Ph:  Your site says you were born in England, though you are now a Canadian artist.  Did this migration influence your work in any way?

RK: That migration was very early in my life.  It influenced me in that in my imagination, England was a mythical place. I was more likely to draw Daleks than Superman.  I was greatly influenced by English artists, particularly the classic illustrators and the pre-Rapahelite painters.

Ph:  Your site also says that you have been influenced by children's book illustrations and insects.  Which ones in particular (of either) have really left an impression on you?

RK: Wow, there are so many. Sidney Sime, E. H. Shepard, Beardsley and Mervyn Peake immediately come to mind.  Later on Redon and Max Klinger; Symbolists. Klinger's "A Glove" was a huge influence on my work.  I think I was attracted to these artists initially because they worked with an incredible level of creativity with a medium that was readily available to me. They could unleash worlds with a bottle of ink and a pen nib.  I've never gotten over the simplicity of that.  In terms of insects I must admit an affection for the leaf mantis and paper wasps.  Oh yes Rackham, of course, getting back to influences. How could you not love storks with human hands?  Like Rackham, I am all about the line.

Ph:  Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?  And more specifically, does each symbol have rational meaning for you, or is it a more unconscious process?

RK: I am interested in liminal things; protean forms.  The generation of ideas is both conscious and unconscious.  I draw things that I enjoy looking at like birds, insects, trees and books.  Over time, I have developed a kind of personal iconography. I try to develop work that tells a story, perhaps not the same story for everyone, but also leaves many questions unanswered.  I love mystery in a work of art. Have you read Little, Big by John Crowley?  The idea of worlds within worlds interests me very much, like the house Edgewood in the book; a house that inside is many houses.

Ph:  Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

RK: I generally work on one image at a time.  I come up with a fragment of an image and draw it out.  Next I pencil, in detail, what I think will be the key areas of the image.  Following that I begin the time consuming process of rendering the image in ink, silverpoint or paint. I always leave some room for last minute inspiration and compositional corrections.

Ph:  Your work is beautifully meticulous.  How long does it take to create an extremely detailed piece such as "The Stolen Key?"

RK: With ink and silverpoint about 1 square inch per hour. I am not kidding, it's almost that neat.

Ph:   You keep mentioning the technique of “silverpoint.” Can you please explain it for those Phantasmaphile readers (such as myself) who may be unfamiliar with it?

RK: Silverpoint is a drawing technique where you work on a prepared ground with a wire of silver. The ground is "toothy" (imagine a surface like flat wall paint) and in my case comprised of white gouache on a plate finish archival illustration board. It's possible to get very fine lines which can be built up with cross-hatching. Of course, because it is silver it tarnishes over time, developing a beautiful brownish tone.

Ph:  How often do you paint, and how do you make time for it?

RK: I try to work whenever I can.  I've learned to appreciate the value of the cumulative effort.  I have a extremely supportive wife!

Ph:  Who are your favorite artists?

RK: There are many - off the top of my head, Eva Hesse, Kiki Smith, The Brothers Quay, Svankmajer, Eric Dinyer, anyone with the last name Wyeth. I could go on forever. Rosamond Purcell.

Ph:  What inspires you?

RK: I like to see things in ways that are unexpected.  The image that immediately came to mind was a photograph by Rosamond Purcell of an old book with roots growing out of it.  I find the indefinable beauty and unexpectedness of that kind of image to be very inspiring. It inspires me to try and create images that make you pause, that make you uneasy or excited in ways you can't quite put your finger on.

Ph:  Do you have any plans to exhibit here in New York?

RK: Yes.  Absolutely, but it's nothing I can really talk about yet.

Ph:  What is your favorite a) taste  b) sound  c)sight  d) smell  and e) tactile sensation?

RK: Of course these could change in an instant but here goes: a) Indian food, b) wind in trees at night, c) deep water, d) fresh ink, e) old books.

Ph:  Is there any news or work of yours you'd like me to share with Phantasmaphile's readers?

RK: I will be having a couple of pieces of work in the Kunstsalon Berliner in September and the upcoming Arcanum show in NYC in October.  Both of these shows are through Strychnin Gallery.  I am also working on a cycle of work that I am very excited about which is mostly ink and silverpoint drawing, [as well as] some giclee print portfolios of work done originally for the Drawing the Line comic anthology.  The portfolios were created by Luna7.com and all proceeds are going towards cancer research. Interested readers can keep up on general goings on through my blog!

Ph:  Are you superstitious?

RK: No. But saying that made my skin crawl a bit.

Kyung Jeon

Kyung Jeon  "Tongue Chandelier" 2005

Kyung Jeon experiments with scale and space in her work.  Look closer within the expanse, and you'll find children and fairies engaging in dubious activities, and painted like fragile cartoons.  NYC citizens and visitors can check out her new show at the Proposition Gallery, up through October 28th.

Steven Kenny

Steven Kenny  "The Ruff"  2001

Steven Kenny's work is captivating indeed.  Playing with elements of nature and the human portrait, he creates lovely hybrids that are at once poignant and clever.

Via

Le Vampire de Tokyo

Do yourself a favor and watch this awesome flash animation:  Le Vampire de Tokyo.  It was created by Stephane, and it is based on the work of the outrageous Japanese pulp-surrealist, Suehiro Maruo.  Bravo!

Monica Zeringue

Monica Zeringue  "Mound"  2006

I would love to see Monica Zeringue's work in person.  The media are listed as graphic, thread, and silk on paper, so I imagine the pieces must have wonderful texture and sheen.  Her females are studies in vulnerability, mystery, and tension. 

(Thank you, Suzanimal!)

Agnes Boulloche

Agnes Boulloche  "Autoportrait Cochon"

Agnes Boulloche is a delightful discovery indeed.  Her storybook-styled paintings are like little puzzles, or pretty codes to be deciphered.  If my French were better, I could be aided by her Symbol Dictionary, but alas, I'm a bit too rusty to make it all out.  No matter.

Via

Minnesota

Diane Arbus "Identical Twins, Roselle, NJ"  1967

So, I am off to Minnesota today to visit my sweetheart's family.  I'm looking forward to spending time with the crew, as well as getting to explore a place I've never been before.  We're planning on going to the famous Minnesota State Fair (it's so big it has it's own zipcode!), checking out the Walker Art Center and other Minneapolis gems (they've got a Diane Arbus retrospective at the Walker right now which I am psyched to see as I missed it when it was here at the Met), and seeing some beautiful lakes, of course.  On a related note, I just read that there's going to be a Diane Arbus biopic starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey, Jr.  I'm curious to see how such a looming, populist actor as Ms. Kidman will come across in this gritty, visionary role.  Anyway, this is my long-winded way of saying I'll be out of commission for a few days.  Back on Monday.  Have a great weekend, Phantasmaphiles.  XO, Pam