Elena Sisto @ Lori Bookstein Fine Arts

Buffalo Check, 2012

Elena Sisto’s paintings are portraits of young women artists. Figures appear in the picture frame fragment-like, as if they are being observed through a wandering camera lens, which stops when a telling gesture or a significant juncture of planes, objects, and patterns comes into view. While this results, occasionally, in traditional head-and-shoulders portraiture, most of the figures are cropped, often to the point of abstraction. These selective glimpses and well-chosen clues are what Sisto offers to skillfully both protect and reveal what she will about her subjects.

You still have a few more days to see “Between Silver Light and Orange Shadow” at Lori Bookstein Fine Arts, 138 Tenth Ave. in Chelsea. Sisto’s idiosyncratic and unconventional portraits are on view through May 25.

See the artist’s Guggenheim Fellow profile here.

Tear, 2012

Red Sweater, 2013                     Blue Shirt, 2013

Snafu, 2011

Hat, 2013                                    Ear, 2013

At Midnight, 2010

Tattersall, 2013

My Week With Marilyn: AAF, AIPAD, SVA

The photo hanging at AAF is Dream in Color by Richard Heeps.

It will probably be a while (like a few hundred years) before she outdoes the Virgin Mary for ‘most-depicted woman in art,’ but you can be sure that wherever there is an abundance of contemporary art and photography, you will find images of Marilyn Monroe. While the ratio of Marilyn-per-hundred-images might vary by venue, I think you’d be hard pressed to visit an art fair and not see her.

The 'Marilyns' here were sighted during last week’s alphabet-soup of visual events—AAF, AIPAS, SVA.

AAF Affordable Art Fair

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the artistic interpretation of a cultural icon. The sphere, is a recurring motif in the work of Belgian artist Tigi Van Gil. The collage portrait below is by Marius.

AIPAD Association of International Photography Art Dealers

The gorgeous Bert Stern portraits of Marilyn were at Staley-Wise Gallery

David Winter , whose inventory is absolutely astonishing, had a wonderful photo of Marilyn and Clark Gable (must have been Misfits). The above photo of her swimming was on his website.

SVA D-Crit School of Visual Arts, Design Criticism

Ms. Monroe even made a surprise appearance at the SVA D-Crit lecture by British critic and photographer Rick Poynor. She graced one of three covers he showed of J.G. Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition.

The Antiques Garage  TAG?

No shortage of Marilyn here.

Faces on the Train

I saw these portraits last week in Stockholm.

I loved their quick brushiness.

And their enormous size was wonderful too.

They are actually quite large …

and run between ads along the subway wall.

Here are a few more shots from the Stockholm metro.

Dogs are allowed!

Class Photos: University of Iowa College of Dentistry

The University of Iowa has a vast and varied digital archive to explore. Included are over 80 years (1883-1967) of graduating-class photo boards from the College of Dentistry.

The early years, of course, have the most interesting boards, and not only for visual variety. I couldn’t help noticing a perplexing change in the number of women graduates over the years. During the first 40 years, 34 women earned degrees, with the classes of 1888 and 1902 graduating five women each. From 1925 through 1967, however, there were a total of seven female graduates--over the entire 42 years! I'm not quite sure which of those stats I find more surprising. Today, 40% of students at the College of Dentistry are women. Drill, baby, drill.

Reflections: Paintings by Susan Tammany

Paintings by Susan Tammany are on exhibit this month at Druids,
736 Tenth Avenue (between 50th and 51st Streets), in New York.

The recent works, which are oil on canvas and pastel on paper, are mostly portraits of women. Each sitter happens to be an artist of some kind (dancer, photographer, etc.), and each is situated in her own stage-set of an environment--complete with dramatic lighting, lush fabrics, and glowing jewel-tone color. These portraits are not as much about likeness as they are about the sitter as the star of her own personal drama. Which makes perfect sense since Tammany is both a painter and a playwright. Her plays, not coincidentally, are about the drama of creative women, most notably, a trio of plays, each one about a different female poet in history.

There is a reception tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7:00. If you are in town, please stop by and meet the artist.






REFLECTIONS: An Exhibition of Paintings by Susan Tammany

DRUID'S RESTAURANT
736 Tenth Avenue (between 50 & 51Streets)
New York City

June 29 - July 31, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION: WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 7p.m.

Elvis Is In The Classroom

Act-a-like, look-a-like and sound-a-like, are the three basic aspects of impersonation at the core of the workshop, ‘Elvis Was Here.’ What’s unusual about this training is that takes place in primary schools throughout the UK. The hope is that under the tutelage of Elvis Tribute Artist Paul Richie, enough children will qualify for the minimum Elvis standard to break the world record for the ‘Most Elvis Impersonators in One Location.’

The project was orchestrated by Onkar Kular, a conceptual designer who uses various media to address social and cultural issues—in this case, questions concerning the legal definition of impersonation and authenticity.

Elvis portraits, acrylic on paper



The ‘Elvis Was Here’ day took place in 2008 at St Saviour's Church of England primary school in Herne Hill, London ...

9:00 am Elvis Assembly, lecture, and performance

10:00 am Elvis life drawing class

11:30 am Elvis fashion class

2:30 pm Final Elvis ‘Hound Dog’ performance

Group snarl & point

Photographs by Thierry Bal