Self-awareness.

Mono No Aware, Marco Mazzoni. 

“Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony.” 


Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet

Transitions.

"Untitled film still #48", Cindy Sherman

London is calling me back again. New job, totally different part of the city, and new phase in my life. These transitional phases are always a little scary. 

I'm going to try and embrace it as exciting. 

Way Up High.

As ever, I am entranced by these moleskine illustrations by Marco Mazzoni. 

Music for moody autumn evenings from Galaxie 500. 

When the light in your eyes goes out for the last time, When your mind is open.

Crows by Alice Macarova.

From the instagallery of Darby Lahger. 

Pale on Pale by Chelsea Wolfe. 

Darker now; Dima Rebus.

Self-portrait With Cherry.

Enter.

Blogging has become so unfamiliar to me in recent months. But as the days begin to darken with the onset of autumn I'm feeling myself being drawn back to it. Slightly. 

These works by Russian artist Dima Rebus have struck some kind of invisble chord - they're so visceral, with their red rawness, and yet somehow delicate. 

See more here. 

Sunday Soundtrack - Disappear Here.

Disappear here. from raloup on 8tracks.

A short, slightly sinister mix for summer. 

It's been a while since I put a playlist together. 

I have effectively absented myself from blogging of late - life beyond my laptop screen is moving at breakneck speed, and I've had better things to do, really. 

Still, this is a sweet moment of Sunday procrastination. 

Bahrain Art Revolution - Graffiti.

These powerful pieces of street art from Bahrain are only one side of a phenomenal project called Bahrain Art Revolution, tracing protest art since the February 14th uprising of last year. The people's struggle is depicted in snatches on the walls of their cities and towns. See more here. 

Sabrina Brett; Calling For A Media Revolution.

Sabrina Brett was inspired to create this striking piece, titled "Calling For A Media Revolution" after seeing Miss Representation, an amazing documentary which I posted about a while back. In her own words:


I used strips of newspaper to capture a fluid stream of media traveling through one woman’s ear and out through her mouth, into another woman’s ear and out through her mouth. This mixed media painting is a call for awareness regarding the under-representation of women in leadership positions and the misrepresentation of women in all facets of mainstream news media and the entertainment industry.


See more of Sabrina's work here, and follow the Miss Representation campaign on facebook here. 

Shying away with Maurizio Anzeri.

Yvonne, 2011

Lille, 2011

Rita, 2011

I was away for a week and without internet, and as always I found it to be very refreshing. 

I'm back, but going through a particularly ambivalent blogging phase. 

For today, I'm hiding behind the beautiful works of Maurizio Anzeri, who sews directly onto old photographs to create these stunning and sinister works. I was lucky enough to see an exhibition of his work at the Baltic last year, and ended up revisiting it several times before it finished. There is something so engrossing about these embroidered portraits - the faces are both hidden and enhanced, frightening and beautiful. 

Sunday Soundtrack - Such Sweet Sorrow & the Sculptures of Fernando Mastrangelo.

Such Sweet Sorrow. from raloup on 8tracks.

I put together this playlist earlier in the week with relationships in mind; some tracks for savouring bittersweet moments.

Yet after events back in Italy this weekend, sorrow doesn't feel sweet at all. It has been senseless, entirely unwarranted, and horribly inescapable.  

The sculpture pictured in the "album art" is in fact made of sugar, and is by Brooklyn-based artist Fernando Mastrangelo. He works in many unusual materials; over on Hi-Fructose, J. L. Schnabel has pinpointed their striking and strange beauty:

Due to the unique nature of the materials, the sculptures take on a feel of fragility, highlighting the themes of destruction and faith.

Untitled (sugar)

This Too Shall Pass (salt)

See more of Mastrangelo's work and read the full piece here. 

The onset of night; Nick van Woert.

Black Medicine, 2012

Breaking and Entering, 2011 

Untitled, 2010

The evenings are getting longer, the nights shorter. 

As the light begins to fade I'm enjoying these dark works by Brookyln-based Nick van Woert.

See more here. 

Halos Hang Low: Heather Gargon.

Halos Hang Low (from the Evolution of Mary Magafin series).

This evening I'm entranced by Heather Gargon's strange and surreal creatures.

See more here. 

Spaces & Places; Alexi Natchev's Pages on the Cobblestone.

This recent piece by Bulgarian-born US-based Alexi Natchev captured my attention because the building (or thoughts?) in the man's hat reminded me of York Minster, in the city which I now live on the outskirts of.

It made me wonder about what we attach to different spaces and places; or perhaps, as the motion of the ship on the woman's hat seems to suggest, what we attach to journeys between them.

If you're lucky enough to live near Philly, you can see this piece in person as part of Pages on the Cobblestone at Gallery 309. 

Just on my doorstep; Jael and Sisera.

Jael and Sisera, Jan de Bray.

Stepped into the York Art Gallery when I was wandering around town earlier, and it made me wish I'd take the time to go there more often. There is a wealth of wonderful art on my doorstep that I should really explore more fully. 

This afternoon, the small painting above caught and held my attention. I was not familiar with the Biblical story behind it, but was transfixed by the strange tenderness on the young woman's face as she holds the tent peg aloft, and the seemingly complete submissiveness of the bearded man's expression. The positioning of her foot alongside his hand is also striking. 

More artworks from my local gallery can be viewed here. 

Under this weather such shadows are blossoming; Beili Liu.

Aerophyte #1  

Aerophyte #4

Aerophyte #1 detail

Aerophyte #4 detail 

These Wind Drawings by Chinese-born Texas-based Beili Liu, created with sumi ink on birch panels, have me enraptured. 

I believe an aerophyte is actually a plant which derives life force from the wind & rain. Alongside these images, for some reason I pictured them as some sort of mythological wind spirit.

These beautiful works also brought to mind a song by Patrick Wolf, titled This Weather - the title is taken from the lyrics. 

I feel the song below is also fitting - in terms of sentiment, but even somehow through his movement. His slightly torturous twists seem to echo Liu's  slowly spreading dark ink. 

Literal Literary Hideaway; Miller Lagos.

I feel like I've been stuck in front of a screen forever, and now it's the final push as deadlines are almost here.
I would love to hide myself away inside Miller Lagos' igloo made of books, and be surrounded by pages and spines and paper.

These images are from here. See more of Lagos' work here. 

Moving messages from Robert Montgomery.

I can't get enough of his glowing words; spectral sentences that are strangely sincere and moving.

See more here.

The Cruellest Month.

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

— T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland

Blowing Bubbles Soft & Fine, Joe Sorren.

APRIL is the cruellest mon

Bad Luck by Stella Im Hultburg.

Reverie, 2011.

Graphite, Colored Pencils, Acrylic & Ink on Tea-stained Paper.

Originally exhibited in the Bad Luck Club group show (CA & NY).

A loose link to Friday the 13th, but I love this dazed-looking lady disappearing into her own dark locks.

See more of Stella Im Hultburg's work on her website.

See a previous Friday the 13th post, featuring a not entirely dissimilar damsel, here.

Fresh Faces, Deafening Demons; Nimit Malavia.

Deafening Demons.

The Little Things.

Canadian illustrator Nimit Malavia's figures, caught in tendrils of smoke and moments of stress, have captured my imagination this afternoon. There's something strangely transcendental about these moments of sadness.

See more on his website and blog.