I have been noticing a lot of crystals, skulls and mirrors in art and design in the last few years.  It appears to be a “thing.”  I readily embrace this “thing” and have even busted out a skull or three in my recent work.  There’s a very The Dark Crystal / The Never Ending Story aesthetic to a lot of this work which can probably be explained by the fact that many of the artists embracing it are of the generation that likely grew up with those movies and other like films, books, programs (media in general)  ingrained into our consciousness.

While some incidents of crystalskullmirror I’m seeing are mediocre (one can apparently make abominably cliché work with mirrors, for example) I find myself gravitating toward a lot of this work.  If this post makes it seem like I am lumping artists using these motifs into the same aesthetic category, then please take a look at some of my favorite folks in this realm and judge for yourself.

I am a huge fan of the work of Will Yackulic.  He shows with two galleries I really like: Jeff Bailey in New York and Gregory Lind in San Francisco.  He uses ink and gouache (two media I like to work with) and, somehow, a typewriter to make these stunning two-dimensional otherworlds.

Bearings & Ballast, 2009, ink, gouache and typewriter on paper, 30" x 22.25"

Aspects & Allowances, 2008 ink, gouache, watercolor and typewriter on paper, 22 x 17.75 inches

Invocation 5th, 2008, gouache, watercolor and typewriter on paper, 10.625" x 8.5"

Then there’s the work of David Altmejd, whose work Mark and I first came across in the 2007 Venice Biennale, where he put together a fantastic, nay, phenomenal exhibition for the Canadian pavilion.  He uses mirrors A  LOT, but SO much better than anyone else out there using mirrors to do similar things.  They are just one aspect of the insane worlds he creates, which also include:  taxidermied birds,*  giants, genitals, both flora and fauna, fur, body parts, and YOU because there are so many mirrors in his work, that you inevitably become part of the work.  I could barely photograph it without getting myself in a shot.  Like this:

The Index, exhibition at the Canadian pavilion

Note please that I am not a professional photographer and that there are way sweeter images of his work online.  See? But I thought it would be neat to post some photos I took while experiencing the exhibition.

The Index, exhibition at the Canadian pavilion

a mirrored giant monster with Lee Press-On Nails (TM)

We like him so much, in fact, that we just ordered two monographs on him.  One is the catalog for this exhibition, and the other is this lovely book:

For example of this crystal mirror phenomenon in contemporary media, someone caught indie pop lady Mirah fiddling with these mirror pyramids and put the photo in the liner notes of her latest album.

Skulls.  Lots of skulls.  When in Europe, whenever I saw a skull in contemporary art, I photographed it.  Here are the results of my self-assigned scavenger hunt:

skull in a gallery window in Venice (as a bonus, it even has a skull tree growing from it)

butterfly skull in a gallery in Venice

glass skull on glass bones by Jan Fabre at the exhibition Glasstress in Venice

ceramic vessel by Miquel Barceló, representing the Spanish pavilion at the Biennale

skull in a drawing by Jef Geys, representing the Belgian pavilion

And now, my own contribution:

still life I composed out of a postcard and an eraser from the Pinault Collection gift shop

I am so enamored of people’s fascination with skulls (just go on The Selby and see how many skulls you can count in people’s homes alone), that I was making portraits of skulls in Budapest, remember? I’ll get back to those soon I think.

That reminds me, I need to get amakin’, as I am yet again a contributing artist to my friend Krista Peel‘s Calendar Project.  This time the theme is Art Museum, for which I have to create a mini model of a museum.  It can be ANYTHING I want it to be, can be made of any material, and, (blessedly) does not have to be in the least functional.  So, which will it be: Crystals, Skulls, or Mirrors?  I suppose we’ll see…

* Taxidermy is another “thing” in art right now altogether.  Perhaps I’ll tackle that stuffed, lifeless beast in a future post.

I’m skipping Florence because we were only there for an afternoon and the museums wouldn’t allow photos, so I don’t have many.  But Venice is another story because we were there for the opening weekend of the Pinault Collection and the 53rd Venice Biennale.  Ok, art first, my photos next.

Here are three experiences with amazing art (it was hard to choose only three!) Mark and I especially enjoyed.  These choices are probably a little bit mediated, by the extent to which they were photographable.  Behold:

Lydia Pape at the Arsenale

Lydia Pape uses gold thread and light in a darkened space to create these ethereal prism-like shafts of majesty.

Grazia Toderi at Arsenale

Grazia Toderi has made a video project like no other.  Combining imagery of stadia, space, lights at night and god knows what else, she gives the viewer a reverse-symmetrical kaleidoscopic experience of another world.  For an idea of the way these videos move and shift, visit my flickr page, starting here and flip through the next few images.

Denmark and Nordic Countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden) The Collectors

The Nordic countries outdid themselves with their two pavilions invaded and transformed by the group The Collectors.  Creating a David Lynch meets mid-century homoerotic swingers’ loft, it is up to the participant to put the pieces together to form a sort of ramshackle pseudo-narrative.

And for my “artful” photos, which are, incidentally, of art:

Russian Pavilion- Anatoly Shuravlev

Korean Pavilion- Haegue Yang

Russian Pavilion- Andrei Molodkin

There’s so much more to include, but these are the images I settled on.  Here are more photos from our stay in Venice.

Next stop: Vienna!

I have been making these strange map-like drawings.

Michael and I have been talking about the nature of this seeming pseudo scientific “study” I am undertaking.  It’s somehow anthropological and, of course, contrived.  I really am sort of finding out what I am doing as I go and am enjoying the process of exploration.  They remind me a bit of a Russian artist who was very well-represented at the Venice Biennale this year, Pavel Pepperstein:

an image I took of one of his pieces in the Russian Pavilion

and also the drawings of  Nedko Solakov, to whom Mark and I were introduced (his work, not him unfortunately) at documenta 11 in 2007:

I admire the work of both artists very much, and though I am not consciously trying to emulate their invented documentary-like drawings, I do see the connection.  This is my favorite one so far though my little point-and-shoot camera doesn’t capture it very well:

I think I tend to do this at home too, but especially when traveling, I like to surround myself with what are essentially souvenirs in the very literal sense of the word.  I love the word souvenir (from the French for “memory”).  I think many people do this, Todd Selby, does a great job capturing this, as I have mentioned before.  Here is my little still life, a sort of shrine to travel and adventure: some stones and glass from sites visited on this trip, a skull eraser procured at the giftshop at the Pinault collection, some lavendar I purchased from a street vendor here, a little Victorian-inspired brass clip in the shape of a hand I got at a shop in Vienna, a ceramic amulet given to me at the Iran pavillion at the Venice Biennale, and the prettiest bottle of mineral water I have ever had on a train (ok, so I drank the water).

…to me and Mark!  We’ve been married three years today.  There is a crazy beautiful rainstorm here right now and somehow it seems fitting that it’s pouring since I can’t be with him.  It’s okay, because this trip has been like one giant anniversary celebration/honeymoon.