Fat Man Eating Series (Group 2)

Canada: Brendan Tang

Not a very good shot at all. I went to Brendan Tang's talk at Camosun on Tues. Evening. He speaks so well - He works in ceramics and he takes inspiration from his very varied background (Parents are Chinese and Indian who were raised in Trinidad. He was born in Dublin and is a Naturalized Canadian - spending what seems to be part of his childhood in Nanaimo - 1.5 hr. north of Victoria on Vancouver Island. He pieces seem to reflect and almost fuse his background with contemporary issues such as consumerism, electrical gadgets, sexual references found in video gaming images,etc. Everything is drawn and then made by himself, although parts of the work actually look like they were used from actual found plastic ware. Very interesting indeed. http://www.brendantang.com/

Canada: Jackson 2Bears

Kaie:ri Nikawera:ke (four directions) Jackson 2bears
My friend Tanya Doody's partner, Jackson 2Bears, had his opening at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I went to the opening and his piece was amazing. A drum in the middle of the room invites the viewer to interact with it. As one taps the drum the hollow sound beckons and fills the room with sounds and images of Jackson walking in 4 directions from the Gallery. The images are projected onto the drum and the faster you tap, the louder the sounds become and similiarly die down as the viewer stops interacting with the piece.

"Jackson 2bears creates an interactive and performable project that reflects on traditional Indigenous spirituality and its deep connection to the land and the natural environment. Drawing on Gregory Cajete’s Theory of Interconnectedness, in which the land is considered to be an extension of the body, 2bears explores the intertwining of consciousness and nature. Kaie:ri Nikawera:ke (four directions) takes orientation as its central theme, reflecting on the struggles of Indigenous communities to maintain their spiritual connection to Mother Earth in contemporary life." source: http://www.aggv.bc.ca/exhibitions+archive.aspx?year=-1&id=2117&decade=2000

Tanya, Anne Marie and I at Bean Around the World coffee shop in China Town. What fun!

Belgium: Philippe Vandenberg: Etching

"Philippe Vandenberg was born in Ghent in 1952. It is in the Museum of Fine Arts of his native city that his encounter with work by Bosch and Gustave Van de Woestijne sparks off his fascination with painting." http://www.philippevandenberg.be/english/biography.htm

My Fat Man Etchings

So this is the beginning of my "Fat Man" etching/drawing/engraving with "history" series. I left work a little earlier yesterday to meet my friend Mariesa who is doing an independent animation course at Camosun. She showed me her wonderful story board about the interaction of a little boy and a girls shadow. The story evolves around the shadow which I thought was such an interesting concept. We took photos of my etchings and played them on the computer at 30 frames per second, then at 15f/s. It was so cool, my first animation, but it went a little fast, and then too slow, so then tried it at 6 frames per drawing (.6 of a sec.) instead of 2 (1/4 of a sec) and it worked much better. I still have lots and lots of etching to do - It is exciting. On the 25th October Camosun showcases some exciting animation and Gregory Ball, the etching lecturer from Nanaimo will be there too. Last year there was representation from Mexico and South America as well. Then Mariesa and I went for a cup of coffee in celebration of her birthday -Happy Birthday for today Mariesa and thanks so much for your time in the animation studio!

Kiki Smith: Photogravure and Etching

"Life is this ferocious force that keeps propelling us. At the same time, ... you can just pierce it and it dies. I'm always playing between these two extremes." Kiki Smith, 1991

"I found this anthropomorphizing of animals interesting. the human attributes we give to animals, and the animal attributes we take on as humans to construct our identity" Kiki Smith, 1998

"I decided I wanted to make images that would be useful and positive in daily life. I thought of female images that I liked, female superheroes." Kiki Smith, 1998 Source:

A wonderful website: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2003/kikismith/

David Krutt Publishing http://davidkrutpublishing.com/artbase/abf-artwork.php?artist=63&artwork=439

South Africa: Colbert Mashile: Drypoint

Colbert Mashile was born in 1972 in Bushbuckridge in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Mashile says, 'I come from a place that is shrouded by powerful cultural norms and customs.' These customs, such as the ritual of circumcision (which both he and his wife have undergone), informed his earliest work, and he sought refuge and healing through art. "This artist has an uncanny ability to "tune into" universal psychological archetypes in his work. These images are completely based in his African identity and yet they link up with the universal. His horned figures that loom over men, coffin-like vehicles and vast landscapes fill his prints." Source: http://www.artprintsa.com/colbert-mashile.html
http://davidkrutpublishing.com/artbase/abf-artwork.php?artist=28&artwork=901

South Africa: Nandipha Mntambo: attraction & repulsion

The Fighters
Nandipha Mntambo: Born in Swaziland in 1982
"She purchases the hide as raw as possible in order to engage fully with the material - its smell and textures causing revulsion but also provoking a consciousness of the corporeal. The hairy skin, cast in female form, is used, Mntambo says, to "challenge and subvert preconceptions regarding representation of the female body", and to "disrupt perceptions of attraction and repulsion". Source: http://www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/mntambo/index2007.htm

London: Jamie Shovlin

"Shovlin weaves fictional stories that upset the natural order of things"
Source: http://www.riflemaker.org/s-Jamie%20Shovlin

London: Kirk Palmer

Kirk Palmer. Born in Northhampton, 1971. Lives and works in London.

"The skillful manipulation of still photography and the moving image operated alongside an intuitive understanding of the nuances, character and richness of black and white photography. At times the surface of the image was extremely flat and two-dimensional, at other times it became highly sculptural and three-dimensional which heightened the visual complexity of the work." Brett Rogers, 2006 Source: http://www.paradiserow.com/aolpublic/paradiserow/docs/cvs/7/kirk_palmer_axis_graduate_artist_nominated_by_brett_rogers_06.pdf

Gabriel Klasmer

Born in 1950, Jerusalem. Lives and works in London. Source:http://www.alexiagoethegallery.com/x/artists.html?atid=59