Beautifully absurd bookcases

Can you believe this? I love it.

Pez, Remixed

Look at these funny, sometimes ugly, and often politically incorrect pez dispensers:

From "Sweet World Pez"





And this, my favorite, a nod to Christo and Jeanne Claude:

OMG

The Guest Critter speaks!

Alright ladies....

Your friendly neighborhood critter is finally showing his face! :)
I have been carefully observing... taking time to consider my responses...

And... I should note that for many of you I have no prior point of reference for your work. I have only seen a couple of Jamie's and Libby's works before this, so I was sort of waiting to see a little of what you had to say about each other before jumping in without a compass.

So here we go...


Jaime...

First off... Bravo! ...on the crazy-obsessive time consuming process front.
I mean that as a compliment! It is a testament of your commitment to the work!

The swarm (such a great word... swarm!).... a writhing mass moving, not aimlessly, but with direction... Lots of tensions!!... Are they chasing the lead?? Or has the lead been forced out ahead of the pack, a sacrificial avante garde pushed forward to explore new territory?? ... the light paper plane is covered in heavily grounded house paint... free forward movement tethered by threads... suggested motion arrested and frozen... weightless flight weighed down by heavy mass... And perhaps... the implied future to come contrasted to a history traced in thread...

Even the title is full of tension!!
An urgent cry for escape and relief followed by a staid statement fact... or a play on two states of being ("The plane is..."): "...on fire" - full of action and change; "...paper" - a still and stable nature... I like tensions; they provide endless hours of contemplation! ;)

However...
Among these tensions, the weight and the stillness usually wins out... I like exploring these tensions, and to really hold you there I think it could have been even better... In this regard, I agree with Sydney that "the front half (flying upwards) is much more successful than the portion piling on the ground." I, like Sydney, also have the feeling that the upward momentum could have worked all the way from the ground up "if the planes were pooling more on the ground, spilling out and then forming into the object." I think this would help hold me in these tensions for longer, instead I feel resolved on the weight too quickly.

And lastly...

What genius of a photographer took your photos?
Cause all I gotta say is... DAMN HE'S GOOD! ;)



Libby...

I have been continuously impressed with your innovative use of materials! And specifically using them in a way that is very sensuous. The constructions do not necessarily appear to be particularly delicate, but they almost seem to possess life; accordingly, I want to handle them delicately for fear that I may hurt them and somehow they may feel the pain!

I felt this previously with your heart and hand pieces, and I feel it again with the piece that Sydney called the "caterpillar." It feels so organic as to possibly be alive! I think a whole community of these caterpillars could be super interesting! Perhaps they could inhabit and interact with the pods that you have discussed making! (Which by the way I think you should definitely make them! You've tackled human life and "caterpillar" life so effectively, why not tackle plant life next!) The one item of this "caterpillar" that I don't really like is the tinselly pipe cleaner at the top. It ruptures the soft organic quality of the rest of the piece... that kinda bugs me. :/

As for the other piece...
I'm not so sure that I'm diggin' it... Certain elements of it are nice... the sewn paper has a nice quality to it, and the color relationships of the oranges vs. the paper feels nice, but somehow the rest of it fails to capture me... maybe it just feels unfinished, maybe it could be a part of some bigger whole like Sydney suggested... I'm not sure...

On the whole question of abstract vs. "realistic" objects... I think your skill is in "lifelike"... whether they be abstract or "realistic" is perhaps inconsequential... for example the "caterpillar" is not exactly a realistic representation, and yet we cannot help but relate to it as though it has some life quality, and I long to either interact with it myself, or to observe it interacting with others of its kind... This reminds me of the Surrealist painter Yves Tanguy, his paintings are generally viewed as "landscapes" of a sort that are populated by "figures" but neither the landscape nor the figures have any recognizable "realistic" representation, they are all abstract forms but they seem to possess a lifelike quality and they seem to interact with one another and with their environment in ways that we can identify with. You could perhaps create the same types of "figures" and "environments" of sculpture. Abstract, but lifelike!



Sydney...

The great variety of materials and surface treatments is really interesting overall... but generally... I like the pieces from your "1a" posting better than "1b"... I think that 1b feels very disorganized... the colors are nice, and the surface is really interesting to explore (looking at the larger resolution photos and detail image I liked it much better than the small representation), but all in all I don't sense much of a movement in the piece it kinda feels haphazard (at least to me).

On the other hand... I love the sense of movement and connectedness among the forms you posted in 1a! These are much more engaging for me... they still have the same variety in surface texture and treatment, but with much more organized forms... I love it! :)



Elly...

Regarding the self-portrait... Libby put it best when she said "the 'self study' didn't surprise me when I first saw it (save for my continual awe at your sheer talent woman! You can draw!)." Damn girl! You got skillz! Not a real ground breaking sketch in my estimation, but executed excellently! To engage with some of the comments others made about it... Sydney mentioned your giving the figure a lot of room on the page, and Libby talked about the highlights on the face (her comment was desirous of more depth in the face)... I think that the space around the figure and the bright highlights on her face contribute to a very isolated feeling... I think this works well, and it leads me to interpret the stern expression as the focus of perseverance in the face of opposition (after all, judging by the interrogation light you are enduring, it is some other force that has isolated you). In this context I read the doll as a source of comfort for you as you are bracing against exposure of some sort, but of course I know nothing of the history with the doll that Libby alluded to, so I could be way off. All in all... I like it.

But I like Pink Line even more!! YAY!!! I love the structural organization, the repetition of forms, though often these repeated shapes hold a slightly different relationship to other forms in each occurrence. Do the forms on the left represent the same figures multiple times, or are they each representing a different set of figures, what is the relation of the figures (it seems very familiar, or rather familial)?? ... and what about the forms on the right?? ... are they floor plans?? ... different possibilities for the same space?? ... maybe one massive interconnected space?? ... or maybe not even floor plans, but a mechanical schematic representing a machine of sorts... and under this mechanical interpretation, are the figures to the left the product of this machine??

It reminds me of mechanized production (perhaps relating it to familial production/reproduction), or maybe the corrupt nature of memory (altering slightly at each remembrance). Maybe you have created a memory machine that plays off of both these ideas?! In any case... there are systems at work here... relational systems, spatial systems, mechanized systems... oh my! ... we could explore for hours! YAY!!


There we go... That's my 2 bits... I hope you like it!


Thanks for inviting me to participate!

Jeff.

p.s. - Please feel free to disagree or comment on my comments!
I don't like to make declarations, I much prefer 2 way discussions! :)

Sydney's Response...

Hello all,

Here is my somewhat scattered critique of the work posted. I did not read anyone else’s comments and I tended to go for more “constructive criticism”-you all know I really enjoy your work so I figured I didn’t need to do any “fluffing.” Please feel free to comment on or question anything I say...okay, here we go:

Jamie-
In matters of form I believe the front half (flying upwards) is much more successful than the portion piling on the ground. I think I would be satisfied with most of it cut off. I am not getting much of a thrust, or directional force, from the bottom, it starts more in the middle for me-the rest seems impertinent. I think it would also work better if the planes were pooling more on the ground, spilling out and then forming into the object.
As I contemplate this piece I am also wondering why such thick paint application...? When I think of paper planes I think of a lightness, an airiness, ready for liftoff. These planes seem to be struggling and I am more aware of the gravity pulling them down than the space they are circling into...perhaps this is a good thing...?
I think this piece is successful in that you have an intriguing form from far away and then as you approach, you are drawn in by the details-the millions of planes and thread. Very well done.
However, I am not sure that I am sold on the haphazardness of the colors, they seem too random, I could use some order.....but that may be because I am a judger....
All in all, this piece was a huge undertaking and successful-I am intrigued to see what comes out of it.

Libby-
I will begin with the orange pipe cleaner piece; I am more interested in the second photograph taken of the piece because the form seems more contained. Seen in its entirety, I do not think all areas have been fully considered (i.e. the way the paper trails off and since there is so much hanging thread it just seems like you didn’t have time to trim or take care of it.) I also think the pipe cleaners could do something beyond curving back up the wall; maybe that would be simply one more curve or an extension into another material etc... With this piece I get the sense that you laid it all out for me-there is nothing surprising after the first look...I need something more to come back to and wonder at.
I am going to call the next piece the “caterpillar piece”...the yellow seam is really working for me-it is an interesting detail that reminds me of the handmade and calls attention to the craft. The color palette is harmonious yet strange and the sparkly pipe cleaners poking out the top provide a nice little punch. I would like to see ten more of these arranged in relationship to one another-perhaps hanging from the ceiling, or moving from the wall to the floor/ceiling. I think it would also be more successful if you made of curve of the cylinder more deliberate.
As for the bean pods i think they are an interesting subject matter and you should explore them. I would try making them very delicate and then also really heavy, depending on the materials...experiment! Make ONE HUNDRED! Go!

Eleanor-
I think your self portrait would be pushed further if you combined the pencil lines with the wash over the paper. That sort of liminal space, pushing back and being pulled up could be interesting. I know this is just a study but I think it could be worked more; what would happen if you vigorously erased? I would also like to see a more up-close view, more cropped...you tend you give your figures a lot of room-why?
As for the pink/line painting the areas where the lines overlap and intersect make me want to look closer. Otherwise I take one look and understand that those are figures...But the surface is not worked enough for me to comment very much-you should be more aggressive in layering the images, and experiment with blocking in areas....go at it!

And that is all, for now.

...and go!

so uhh we're supposed to crit each other now.