Ah, Autumn, my favourite season! The trees have changed their green foliage for a more suitable orange one, and Halloween is around the corner. To put you in the mood, here’s a list of 6 artists that, to me, embody the autumn spirit.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out these articles:
Faye Wei Wei is, to me, one of the most inspiring artist of her generation. Her work has a naive, oneiric style that I find both magical and refreshing. Her brushstroke is soft, her colours muted and her motifs lyrical. Each detail have been thought through and create an otherworldly atmosphere so typical for Faye’s work.
I really try to make every mark mean it. Even if it’s big, I think every element is so important to how it looks in the end. I feel like when I’m there in front of a canvas, I have to be really genuine, otherwise, the marks look sloppy and it doesn’t hold the love and emotion and the magic that I want it to.
she tells G-irls in an interview about her work, where she also explains how her work is deeply rooted in the realm of dreams as opposed to reality.
These numerous images can also be found in her London studio, where she keeps various trinkets, art books and souvenirs that inspire her.
I’m surrounded by objects that are charged with emotional intensity.
she tells House & Garden UK, in an article dedicated to her studio. This creative space of hers is just as inspiring as her art, and I am in love with both.
Faye Wei Wei is represented by Cob Gallery.
via House & Garden UK and G-irls.
(image source)In these troubled times, it is easy to slip into the fold of our sofa in a mindless slumber. And while I have nothing against a good ol’ binge-watch, I find that it usually leaves me drained of all energy and creativity. That’s when Grayson Perry’s magnificent art club comes into the game.
The 6-episode program brings you Grayson and wife Philippa in their workshop as they work on some creative endeavours. Each episode is devoted to a theme and explores not only Perry’s work but also the public’s, which had been invited to participate and send in their works. Fun, entertaining and inspiring, Grayson’s art club makes me wish there were more similar TV programs out there.
Grayson’s Art Club is available on reply on Channel 4’s website.
I may have missed the very promising exhibition The Pre-raphaelite Sisters at the National Portrait Gallery in London, what I did not miss though, is that:
a) its curator Jan Marsh has a blog where you can read about history of art, the making of an exhibition and other art-related subjects; and
b) I fell in love with artist Marina Elphick‘s work, discovered through Marsh’s blog.
Elphick was showcased at the Preraphaelite Sisters conference at York, where she brought her own depictions of the famous Preraphaelite models made with fabric and thread. Her “muses” as she calls them, are skillfully crafted (look at the hair! look at the dresses!) and perfectly beautiful. But that’s not everything. Not only did she create these amazing figures, but she also collaged them into illustrations, photographs and paintings of their contemporaries, thus creating new artworks for us all to enjoy.
Posing in picturesque landscapes and Victorian interiors, the muses are depicted as Elphick imagined their lives were. But she didn’t stop there either! On her website, she also shares the biographies of each of her muses, filled with details, portraits and anecdotes.
The creative process Elphick went through to create this multifacted project resulted in a very aesthetically pleasing, dream-like world where her enigmatic figures evolve surrounded by art and history. *le sigh!*
You may remember the Sretsis sisters being previously mentionned here in this post about their fabulous house. Well, my fascination for the Thai brand has no lessen one bit, if anything it has incresed! This time though, it’s not their talent as house designers that I want to tell you about, but their latest, lavish collection.
Aren’t these lush? I love love the play with colours, details, textures and influences. Marie-Antoinette meets barocco meets bourgeois, and added to this, the extravagant touch that the Sretsis sisters always seem to add to their clothes. Now, my preference goes more towards the pretty pastelly gowns but I must admit I would feel positively grand in one of their brocade coats! In fact, this one reminds me of a quirky version of Margot Tenenbaum’s famous fur coat, don’t you think?
The Haveit Collective is a team of four badass gals from Kosovo who have decided to speak against the inequalities and patriarchal society of their country. Their prime target? The Kanun, a bronze-age set of rules, still in place in nowadays Kosovo, that considers women as only fit for childbearing, and altogether, as second-class citizens.
Their live performances are usually held in the streets of Pristina, the capital, where they challenge the local community with visually striking actions in order to make people think and reflect on the established ways. For instance, on International Women’s Day, they took a copy of the Kanun and covered it with flour, beat it with a rolling pin and then deep-fried it.
Their performances are usually filmed or photographed and then published online, resulting in them receiving regular death threats from less open-minded folks. These threats, unfortunately treated lightly by the local police, only reinforced the Haveit collective’s desire to make things change.
(photography : Dardan Zhegrova, Agim Balaj)
Good news to all French speaking egyptology fans out there: Amandine Marshall, egyptologist and author of numerous books on the subject, has decided to start her own Youtube channel called “Toutankatube“! If you want to know more about the lost civilisation of the pharaohs – but without all the conspiracy theories you inevitably end up seeing online, I would strongly recommend checking her channel out. The first video, published two weeks ago, tells you the scientific facts on how and why mummies can explode. Now if that isn’t enough to make you wish for more, then I don’t know what is.
Have you seen the movie Maudie? It tells the life of Canadian artist Maude Lewis, her conflictious relationship with her husband Everett and her struggles with rheumatoid arthritis – an illness that affects joints and made it painful for her to hold a paintbrush. Despite all that, the film doesn’t fall into the trap of neither misery nor romanticism and stays fairly close to what we know of Lewis’s life (check out this article for more info on the accuracy of the movie).
Personnaly, I really enjoyed watching it. The story was poetic and the characters depicted without judgement. I felt touched by the life and romance of the protagonists and pleased by the aesthetic of the film. If you want to know more about Maude Lewis’s life, or if you’re simply looking for a good film to watch, I would definitely recommend Maudie.
The Art Gazette 