What's up! trouvaillesdujour: November 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

GODDESSES AND SUBDITS; The exquisite artwork of Mariana Monteagudo

This post is my third one on Mariana Monteagudo's stunning doll sculptures. Her latex, ceramic and mixed-media dolls are intriguing and fascinating. Her artwork covers a wide range of expressions, from the pre-Columbian aesthetics, to fashion, pop culture, Japanese manga and mass-market toys.

Mariana Monteagudo is a Venezuelan artist who has been working on various series of Muñecas (Dolls) over the last decade. Muñecas is the generic term Monteagudo uses to describe her creations since 1998. She has received several awards, and her artwork has been featured in solo, group shows and fairs in Madrid, Miami, Chicago, Aruba, Caracas, New York, Sao Paulo, and other venues. Monteagudo's striking and unusual pieces have attracted the attention of many critics and her work is part of the MOLAA Museum in California, Everson Museum, NY, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo Collection, Columbia, among other contemporary art collections.

In my latest 2012 series, Goddesses & Subdits, I wanted to make an interpretation of the power of beauty and femininity over others. These goddesses, queens and princesses are at the top of their society. They look over their shoulders and watch us from another dimension. They are powerful, magnetic, proud, coquette, dominant and they know how to cast their spell....
~~~Mariana Monteagudo

Mariana Monteagudo lives and works in Miami, Florida. Her artwork is on display at JustMad Mia art fair, Soho Studios at The Wynwood Convention Center, Miami.

Mariana Monteagudo

Goddesses & Subdits

Courtesy of the artist

Images © Mariana Monteagudo

Goddesses & Subdits

JustMad Mia art fair 2012, Miami, FL

December 6 - 9, 2012

This post is featured on the Huffington Post

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Gangnam For Freedom - Anish Kapoor and Friends

Leading members of the cultural world gathered at Anish Kapoor's London studio to make a special Gangnam Style film in support of the artist, Ai Weiwei. The film has been choreographed by Akram Khan. Those who took part included artists Mark Wallinger, Bob and Roberta Smith and Tom Phillips, dancers Tamara Rojo and Deborah Bull, Southbank Centre Director Jude Kelly and many others.

Kapoor's film has won support from various human rights organizations, among them, Amnesty International, Liberty, Index on Censorship and The Helen Bamber Foundation. The Gangnam style film has just been posted on YouTube:

" Our film aims to make a serious point about freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It is our hope that this gesture of support for Ai Weiwei and all prisoners of conscience will be wide-ranging and will help to emphasize how important these freedoms are to us all."

~~~Anish Kapoor

Ai Weiwei's parody of rapper PSY's popular music film used handcuffs to comment on the lack of freedom in China. The film was immediately removed from the web by the Chinese authorities.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Frimousses de Créateurs 2012: "YES FUTUR" !

Since 2003, the Frimousses de Créateurs action has been symbolizing the extraordinary alliance between fashion, art and humanitarian involvement. Every year, fashion houses, jewelers, artists and designers exert their talent for the benefit of children from Darfur. Organized by UNICEF the sweet Frimousses will celebrate their 10th anniversary with the theme "Yes Futur".

This event offers to great figures such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior an opportunity to consolidate their loyalty, and for new creators such as Roure, the French jeweler or the painter Carlos Cruz-Diez an opportunity to get involved into this solidarity action.

This year, from November 27 to December 2, the "artwork" dolls will be on display at the Petit Palais. The auction will take place in this exceptional location, a unique place for the first time in 10 years. Viewers will be able to admire the exquisite creations and may succumb to one of these Frimousses.

Here are some of my favorite Frimousses.

" YES FUTUR "

Jean Paul Gaultier

Missoni

Issey Miyake

Prada

Gucci

Dolce Gabbana

Maison Lesage by Hubert Barrère

Giorgio Armani

Yulia Yanina

Chacok

See post on Frimousses de Créateurs 2011
This post is featured on the HuffPost

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

CHAN-HYO BAE: Punishment Project

Since graduating from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2007, Chan-Hyo Bae (born 1975, Busan, South Korea) has expressed in his work the feelings of cultural and emotional estrangement he experienced when his first came to study in England. His 'Existing in Costume' series saw him posing in a variety of female historical western costumes. Researched in meticulous detail, he created elaborate scenes of himself as a noblewoman from Elizabethan to Regency periods.

The main project of Punishment Project is 'power' and 'will to power'. At the outset, it was 'punishment' that I focused on in the process of approaching these topics. However, my interest reached the matter of power, in that punishment is ultimately related to exercising power.

In other words, I intend to express that desire for power in the human nature can be shown as a strong prejudice against the difference from other culture. Furthermore, through this work, I want to explore the process that I can deliberate on my existence.

This will be progressed in three steps. Firstly, I choose some power holders in English history. Secondly, as the background of my works, I highlight how these historical power holders made the political conflicts with their rivals and how they prosecuted punishments in order to show their political power and authority. Finally, I describe the opposite emotions between the political power holder and his or her rivals, and maximizing reflecting my point of view in this conflict background. By doing this, I intend to visualize my feeling and sense of isolation and prejudice in the process expressing five political power holders in English history.
~~~ Chan-Hyo Bae

Chan-Hyo Bae lives and works in London, UK.

Chan-Hyo Bae

Punishment Project

Anne Boleyn, 2012

Charles I, 2012

Guy Fawkes, 2012

Henry VIII, 2012

Mary Stuart, 2012

Robert Devereux, 2012

Courtesy of the artist

Punishment Project was on exhibit at Trunk Gallery, Korea

October 25th, 2012

Upcoming solo exhibition at Purdy Hicks Gallery, London

February 26th, 2013

This post is also featured on the Huffington Post

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

REED + RADER; 'Cretaceous Returns', a land before time...

Cretaceous Returns is a peek into the prehistoric underbelly of dino-daddies Pamela Reed and Matthew Rader, the digital art pioneers best known for their spellbinding fashion stories. The wonders of modern digital technology have made possible the chance to enter prehistoric environments to adventure with dinosaurs.

Reed + Rader are launching Cretaceous Returns, their first UK solo show at 18 Hewett Street, London on November 8th, 2012. The Brooklyn-based duo is now set to transform the gallery's clean white space into a land before time. Paper glass foliage with hidden, small colorful dinosaurs amongst the green will line the walls, with large scale projections setting the scene for Reed + Rader's free standing dinosaur.

" We want you to take an adventure back to the dinosaur times and enter a tropical jungle filled with tall grass and foliage - GIF animations showing different characters, a video of colorful dinosaurs dancing to dubstep, a side-scrolling video game-like adventure to explore and meet new friends...."
~~Pamela Reed + Matthew Rader

Reed + Rader

Cretaceous Returns