Rather than think of this post as being embarrassingly late, I'd like to think it's ingenious to take a walk down memory lane during the July heat when I was sweating my balls off, cuz baby it's cold outside now.
This isn't a complete list of everything I fell in love with at the big art fair this summer, just the stuff that appealed to my darker side. There is a special place in my heart for happy little trees, but that twisted part of me loves when people bring out beauty in things that aren't normally thought of as beautiful, or when they let us peek into the dark worlds between worlds that exist in the recesses of their minds.
But first lets take a look at a few creepy elementary school projects from our in-house artist. For the record at home she paints pictures of horses, not skull horses, not mutant spider horses, just regular ol' ordinary horse pictures and sometimes I draw pictures of kittens. I'm just saying we're well rounded that's all.
I've love the art program at her elementary school and I've been a big fan of this hand project from seeing hallway displays long before my daughter got a chance to do it. The kids are able to get so creative and take it in so many different directions. Even if they incorporate all rainbows and kittens, it still looks a little creepy because its a hand. The haunted house was an October project, I love how the shape of the paper literally takes it to new heights.
So on to the art fair, there were a lot of ravens there. Not real ones, like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie, but creepy or not it seemed like a high percentage of artists had at least one piece with some sort of black bird present. There were also a lot, but not as many rabbits. To be fair I think we just noticed those more because one friend mentioned how rabbits in artwork always seemed creepy and another friend was talking about the huge mutant rabbits that had taken to congregating in large numbers on her lawn in a silently menacing sort of way.
Ryan Myers Ceramics - I loved the wonderful skull painted busts.
Andrew Mosedale - Very trippy pictures, my favorite is the one of Chicago with what looks like the Weasley's car flying through the air.
David Burton - I wish there was a picture on his site, but my favorite was this huge framed collage of pirate themed objects. In his bio mentions Louise Nevelson, who is also a favorite of mine, as an inspiration and it definitely shows in his work.
Tiffany Ownbey - Her paper mache doll creations totally freaked me out. Some of them had the most beautiful adornments, but one look into their blank faces and I just knew they were biding time until the witching hour when they would come alive once more....
Mikel Robinson - His photographs are haunting, I loved the mixed media framework.
Jef Raasch - His sculptures always bring to mind Clive Barker's 'In the Hills, the Cities' even though the two are really very different, but that's how my mind works. The "Battle" animals are my favorite.
Mary Lou Hager - I have a soft spot for bugs, frogs and lizards and these are so brightly colored and beautiful.
Frank Strunk III - I just love all the hard edges, the kinetic heart was really something to see in action.
Dakota Pratt - Who wouldn't want to bounce up and down on a big banana? But of course it's the bottlecap skull that speaks to me.
Julie Adams - I look forward to seeing her work every year, her paintings are so delightfully off-kilter and beautifully done.
Joachim Knill - His painting are fabulous, but I love the rattlesnake the most.
Tai Taeoalii - He appeals to both the geek and the freak in me. I totally geeked out on his Sandman inspired print this year.
Green Chicks Studio - They do a lot of just plain cute, I love the cartoonish style animals, but this Alien is totally creepy cute.
JB Farmer - Such cool bugs, I especially love the camera insects.
Sarah Kaufman Not so much creepy, but I don't know what the word is for that unbalanced feeling you get when you come back down after being drawn into the story of a painting.
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