Underwear/Underneath...

The underwear has become more of a focus, a vehicle for the exploration of the notions of intimacy and the hidden...what exists underneath the surface, mining for something precious and sustaining, sharing our dirty laundry....cloth is also an interesting surface to explore, the texture, shape and its limits...what has to be done in order to make the surface "usable" and available for art making...

MIA Art Fair will feature a new piece from this series, the work will be less sculptural/object oriented and more a flat surface for viewing...more images and ideas will be forthcoming!

Day of the Dead Icons

Inspired by the Day of the Dead celebration and art, these works combine that genre with the iconographic world of orthodox Christianity. Where the worlds intersect this pieces reside. I have always been mesmerized by the decorative and death, how to create beauty out of the unknown...a central figure, the common man...featured and an icon, hero...the tooth references both dream death imagery and the reliquary which were elaborate containers to hold the bones of saints...these were featured at the Day of the Dead celebration this past weekend at For Art Sake in Hollywood Florida.

My Little Monsters

These ideas came about while working on my new book, not sure if they will ever manifest themselves into a children's book, but they were challenging to create! Here is an acrylic painting of one of "my little monsters," much in the style of contemporary west coast art scene....This piece will be in an exhibition entitled "Smal World, Small Works 2010" at the Chico Art Center - Chico, California - November-December 2010!

Dark As the Darkest Night

This piece is the culmination of a series of small steps documenting memories from my past...Sifting through the thoughts and attempting to find visual representations of those moments...the image above is a top view of the work and I have also inlcuded via the title link, a video that documents the installation with commentary...

Another kind of invasion

From specificity to general....this Madrid, Spain installation work invades the city space and produce a unique combination of technology and nature...the bird forms reside in an industrial form...they adapt and grow on the scaffolding...instead of just having these birds sitting and separate from the space they are integrated through the lights housed in their nests...the yellow is caution and also draws attention to the works themselves...

A beautiful way to take something temporary and make the transition decorative and complete...why wait for the construction process to be over before beauty can come alive...create interest and beauty in the process of change...Have these ideas co-exist...living and breathing in an ever changing landscape...aged and dieing...born and growing...

Controlling a dream

Several years ago an amazing event occurred...while being pulled into a cave, running away from those dark thoughts in my subconscience, my dream was interrupted...the anxiety and stress of what was yet to come seemed to slip away in favor of my need to see other things in my dream landscape. I have yet to speak to anyone who has completely controlled a dream, from the inside out, but I am sure there are more...the move Inception brought this back to life for me...In my dream, the interior of the cave had these amazing cave paintings and my conscious had to see what my subconscious had created...

As I broke away from the flow of the dream, I walked over to the wall and began to visually document it's surface and the images. Human face drawings, severed at the neck, floated along the rock wall...I did manage to do several drawings from the experience...I also woke up feeling incredible, like I could take on the world!

Contrasts and Juxapositions

Playing with cast teeth I explore the macabre in a decorative context...I truly enjoy this juxtaposition...attracting the viewer with something seemingly beautiful, drawing in them in with not only the shininess but also the scale...these works literally need to be seen in close proximity...forcing the viewer to confront concepts and meaning they may not be ready to address...teeth are dream imagery for death...they have personal meaning for me in this context, but they also take on a possible universal meaning for my guest...loss...pain...breaking down of sustenance...class...culture...and human evolved existence...

The form is beautiful and clever...functional...with a distinct top...the business of the tooth, above the surface of the gum...visible and clean...Below the surface is the root...the protected, messy part of the form...twisted, jagged, rough in texture...this contrast is visually compelling and at the same time, horrifying in its possibilities.

NEW Children's Book!!!

Details on my new children's book...the book is an exploration of coping with fear that children can use to deal with those feelings...the idea came from several years of reading to my son and daughter and watching them struggle with normal developmental issues...a unique book that is also fun and interactive! To purchase the book - it is listed at Etsy and on my blog... www.animalsgetscaredtoojustlikeyou.blogspot.com ...also feel free to email me if you have questions... jalzoartist@gmail.com.

Southernisms Part 2

An image of my Uncle Bill who was a coal miner in the southeastern most corner of Kentucky...many of my relatives have worked the mines...it's a hard existence and a thankless job...many have died from black lung because of horrible conditions and inadequate safety precautions...many individuals taken advantage of because of their economic situation...would this be happening if they were wealthy???

Southernisms

Exploring the past...the loss and the turmoil...the joy and the pain...sifting through the memories and those things profound...the symbols of that history are teeth and coal....names and underwear...music and light...the out-house...arranging these symbols in an installation to capture the essence of my past...show the emotion of the time and embody my mood at the time...

My Third Eye

I wanted the tops of the heads and space behind the ear to all line up and freat this horizon line...as if the faces were mountains...a bright and cheery landscape upon first glance, but as you delve deeper into the image you see something else is happening...a sequence of time as you move from left to right...following in the western tradition of reading...scanning the document for meaning...an idenfication, an exorcism and the repair, brought back from the brink of death...it is a documentary, based on the truth but utilizing the beauty of watercolor and the sensation of organic flowing lines...My Third Eye is explored.......

So easy and so difficult

The simple breaking of the curved plane over the lip by the figure...it is so easy but visually, still feels like the first time I have seen it....the paired shadow carrying the viewer into the bottom of the picture plane and the balance between the large light tan area and the blue sky with the line of orange, a complementary color, cutting right through the horizontal orientation....

I ask again, how much tan will it take to balance the blue? In this piece by Aaron Farely, it's just the right amount! The figure is well placed, off to the left and not in the "dead zone" at the center of the picture plane...a moment in time, kinetically set up, with the main element dropping down conceptually but fixed visually to the lip of the pipe, and ground at the bottom edge inside the shadow.

Digging for round dirt

A modern day low relief, the work by Louise Nevelson concentrates on surface, texture and formal qualities. The absence of color focuses on what she feels really matters, the arrangement of space and world of visual language. The way the elements react to one another on a physical and visual level make for interesting conversation....

Contrast of long linear shapes in the background against the repetitive oval forms creates motion. The eye flows from the large circular form on the left, back across to the right following the half circular marks made by the loops. She plays with our sensibilities but using similar but not the same elements. The viewer has to dig into the details to really discover the meaning...

A mouthful

Some much can be said through line and symbol...changing direction and creating patterns that demarcate areas in a space...the figure in the forefront with its densely populated circles...visually pushing the image forward through activity...all areas connected by thick dark marks...the open white figure on the left creates a visual rest stop in this Keith Haring piece...

The angularity of the figures and their pose suggest an aggressor and a submissive...what does the "X" mean on each testicle? And how what is their relationship? The figure on the left is expelling varied organic lines, black flames out at the surrendering white figure...the horizon is cut low and also uses dots to describe the space...the wall or background utilizes long horizontal lines to exhibit space, but these marks also provide an active space to energize the overall composition...balanced activity, positive and negative spaces...

Order out of chaos

A texture novel...a search for meaning in a dimensional surface, moving through the subtle rhythms, tints and tones of a vast open landscape....This book by Anselm Kiefer represents one of an entire library of lead books...these mammoth, coffee table size texts are purely visual and in perfect harmony and parallel with his paintings...

I love these objects individually and in context to the whole...everything Kiefer does is monumental...and the contrast of the scale to the subtlety and conservative palette create visual and conceptual beauty...harmony where harmony doesn't exist...order out of chaos...

Peter Too

Peter Beard's journals are powerful statements of a land that is in the process of radical change...I have talked about his work before, but I love his sketchbooks/journals so much....They have texture and vivid imagery...strong visual relationships and do an excellent job of documenting his time in Africa...

This piece is a good representation of his journals...dimensional and tattered...defining age...parts of the day are attached to the large pages...incorporating his on photographs and trial attempts...these pages show his creative process...seeing them in person is the only way to really appreciate the work...but I guess I would have to say that of all art!

Dark blue hue

The motion and frenetic activity...balanced by large, monochromatic forms....the injection of color and contrast add energy to this painting by Italian artist, Sandro Chia....Repetition of the figurative element, large and close to the viewer on the right side of the picture plane and smaller, off into space just left of the middle...

The small figure glowing and isolated, floating in the middle of a sea of marks, active and warm colors balanced by dark areas and shapes in blue...the contrast and scale variations exhibits visual movement and engages the viewer....the large table, blue vase and dark background on the right hand side of the picture plane.

Contrasting spaces

A defining of color and patterns...rectilinear structures and references that are eventually re-referenced...the repetition of the patterns the green cross-hatching in the wall, image on the wall and the floor...the large scale figure is the central image in this environment...Lego man riding on a naturalistic, to scale horse...

The works of Tomokazu Matsuyama, merge the decorative with the whimsical...the playful and the trendy....this mixed media sculptural installation utilizes many of the same kinds of ideas and imagery as in his two-dimensional works. Black and white add areas of contrast, in the Lego-like man and in the striped, flat panels...a nice contrast to the greens and tieing in nicely with the white walls...another device of extremes to carry the eye around the space.

Chance and purpose

Loose, open and atmospheric environments from Kevin Taylor...Animals and humans merged together in the narrative...these characters personify the human experience, the darker sides of our existence...Kevin sets up these scenarios in a provocative and challenging visual way...with the fox dropping in from the top of the picture plane...hovering over a mystical glowing ball...

Death has been controlled and shrouded with a red cape...the bear man has taken control...a horned skull...fallen friend...found acquaintance...lost stranger...the placement and characters come together in an nondescript scene...found together by chance or purpose?

I like squares!

Squares, squares and more squares...grid patterns of color and images...tight composition with several re-references and a balance between the long rectilinear image on the right and the square of child like drawings and notes on the left...areas of related color on the left with blue, red, white and yellow tie the two sides together...

This painting by Tad Lauritzen Wright looks at the contrast of random patterns of abstraction against representational imagery...I like the edges created by one drawing next to another, one color next to another and a series of lines next to an open space...these implied areas are set up in the grid…simple and childlike.

Wood cut party

The amazing things Mike Houston can do with wood cuts...the details and rhythms of the objects...defining intimate spaces with intense line and cut...the ideas and imagery are not traditional, they cover contemporary ideas, social identity, indulgence and characters...the black in the work move the eye around and act as a respite for all the visual activity...

The women's dress and heels in the lower left...the arms, legs and fingers acting like arrows to move you over to the lower right, black dress and then up the pants to the top of the beer bong (never thought that word would enter this blog!), across the hair of the man and women, down to the man's shirt and back again to the lower left...visual association creating cohesion and unity...

Beauty and the beasts

Long horizontal narratives, exploring ideas of man verses nature...these collaged images by Josh Dorman are subtle and layered...many of his works incorporate maps and contemporary collage materials...but the context is often ancient, aged and worn...setting up a juxtaposition between those elements we recognize and a time that feels foreign.

This uneasiness plays on the viewers emotions and sets up the imagery nicely....this piece explores the mass exodus of birds and animals from an every encroaching environment dominated by machines and man...scale is important in this work, extending the horizontal picture plane, pushing space back through tiny elements, gradually getting larger as they move forward into the space.

Pig Tattoo Taxidermy

Okay, these are some tough works to wrap your mind around...which is the main reason I decided to write about the work of Wim Delvoye, a Belgium artist...These were tattooed, live pigs that became art...the emotional relationship between a live animal and the owner...a decision to kill this animal for its skin or stuff the animal for its value...

Choosing to make art on an animal that is used as food, complicates for some, the idea of cruelty and making something beautiful but accomplishing this in a painful/cruel way...a unique concept and a challenging work, even for the most open of art connoisseurs...pushing the lines of acceptable forms of creation

Decoration stand

I really like the works where the figure becomes mutilated by decoration, as if the human form splits and color explodes from the waste...I want to see little or no remnants of the individual...these figurative/organic works use the leg shapes as stands for the mountain of objects and materials.

Faceless and ambiguous in structure, these pieces are visually interesting through contrasting color, texture and scale...some are delicate, some are cleaner in presentation with more similar objects adorning the armature...these beautiful works by Chicago artist, Nick Cave hit the visual and emotional sweet spot!

Animal subtleties

Traditional context in the Renaissance and Audubon tradition...the long, extended background space...low horizon line...a defining of a region to give clues into the central figures background and class...The exploration of animals in a scientific way, detailed and illustrated to articulate its visual genus, species and phylum.

The work of Walton Ford plays in these traditions but something darker is also present...the noble qualities are pushed aside for the more aggressive...the disharmony between species and the dominance of the turkey to the weaker, bird...taking advantage of its scale and weight...this relationship is subtle and represents only a small portion of the picture plane...this is purposeful and calculated.

Densely put

More and more intense patterns...they follow a landscape format and create areas of visual rest utilizing repetition of forms and large swaths of color...the amazing details in the collage work, each element carrying its own individual identity but connected through a conceptual and visual relationship.

The idea of proximity and human manipulation plays out in these works by Simmons & Burke...I once read, "we must take a closer look at works by artists who have invested their entire life exploring ideas." I think about this when I see stretched conceptual relationships. The "whys" of the work, there must be reasons for these choices, experience has taken over to create something unique and full of possibilities.

Soft and light

Unique combinations of repetitive forms and relationships, the work by Bruce Conner...soft and layered, using shadow and objects to carry the eye around the picture plane and provide contrast to the white ground...objective and recognizable imagery combined with monochromatic shapes and texture tie this beautiful collage piece together.

The Christ and crucifix are separated and pulled apart...Jesus balancing on the wire...segmented, narrow, long rectangle on the top and large vertical rectangle on the bottom create individual segments of interest...these areas have their own dynamic, but are interesting in total...the artist breaks the picture plane with texture and fabric...flowing down the sides and softening the hard edges of the picture plane.