Framed Paintings

I noticed this simple idea at my dad's house. He has quite a collection of smaller thrift store paintings up around the house. Recently he put some of them in simple Ikea Ribba frames, floating without a matte.

I think it gives them a lot more presence without any of the fuss of 'framing' your artwork.

Beautiful Peonies

Somehow, I missed this gorgeous print by Gregory Krum on 20x200 last year. I'm a sucker for half dead peonies and this photograph is just so delicate and amazing. Plus, it's only $20 for an 8x11.

Happy Labor Day and Leave the Mess

The mess can wait, go and relax.



(These are my favorite messes.)

Silhouette Bowls From May Luk Ceramics

Silhouettes have been a big deal in the design world for sometime now. It may have all been started by Karl Johnson the self proclaimed master silhouette cut out artist, but now it's taken on a life of its own. Just look at all that has been blogged: how to make your own custom silhouette, silhouette madness, we will become silhouettes, etc. It's clear. We love silhouettes. Maybe it reminds us (or me for that matter) of early trips to Disneyland, or maybe it's a harkening back to things made by hand, things that took skill, and things that are utterly personal.

Well I'm certainly not immune and am racking my brain for who (besides myself) I can have one of these bowls made for. It's a silhouette hand cut from your photo and applied to a handbuilt stoneware bowl. Your choice of turquoise or pink. We think they're too nice to just eat on and would rather form a collection and put them up on the wall. Would a pet silhouette be extra?

Photo LA 2008

Oh boy, here comes the latest photo extravaganza: The 17th Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition, aka Photo LA, will be taking place from Thursday, January 10 - Sunday, January 13, 2008 at Barker Hanger, Santa Monica.

Normally this is a great one stop shop for what's going on in the fine art world of photography (or at least an idea of what's selling, so...). i love to spend an afternoon just wandering the aisles and this year should be even more exciting since it'll be at Barker Hanger. Some of the artists I'm interested in checking out are:

Alex Prager




Erwin Olaf and his 'Grief' series





It would seem that plenty of people have been very influenced by Cindy Sherman. It's not a bad thing, just an observation.

I'm also loving the photographs Michael Muller (also represented by LA gallery M+B) is doing of LA:




And although these aren't photographs, Jo Ann Callis used to only do photographs and now she paints from them (a la Gerhard Richter but with more mundane subject matter--which in my mind is a plus):



So all in all I can't wait. Plus I always see something that inspires me to pick up my camera and make some of my own art.

A moment for Marie

Marie Elfman is a painter. You might recognize a painting of hers from my house tour on AT. She;s done a bunch of jungle paintings but right now she's really into american westerns:





She also has a gift for animal portraits. This one is her sister's dog on 3x5" canvas. I want it. She'll do commissioned paintings of any size of people or pets. She doesn't have a website, but if you're interested you can email me and I can get you the info.



Here is a smattering of her other work. She's been painting for probably 25 years starting in France (where she's from) and splits her time between Venice and Paris.









My pictures really don't do these justice. They're all really luminous, her colors are amazing. Also, the scale makes a huge difference. Some of these are psotcard size and some of them are as big as a wall.

Lumas For Photographs

Wow, go searching on Lumas for some semi-affordable 'real' photographs like the Julia Christie one pictured above ($220 for a 20" print).

Or this one for a bit more ($500) but SO beautiful:


Love Made Visible has a nice pick too!

West Elm: Simple Frames

It's not easy to beat the Ikea Ribba frame for affordability and simplicity but these new West Elm Frames give them a run for their money. Plus West Elm is WAY closer than driving all the way out to Ikea, and these have nicer mattes.

At the moment I am loving:

This poster from reform school here in LA (or now online!).

Gocco Huh?

So everyone is going crazy for Gocco these days. I had to dig around to even figure out what it means.

I won't go into the details I just wanted to feature these beautful prints from etsy seller things are better with a parrott. I'm pretty sure I've featured her before but am too lazy to check. For the moment enjoy these (so simple, so beautiful):

Art of Travel: Art Show at the Ace Hotel

Hey, I just got this in my inbox. God knows if I didn't live at home I'd live at the Ace Hotel in Portland. This show looks amazing but it's on my bday so I already have some other plans! Also, I don't live in Portland. Too Bad.

"Ace Hotel Portland is hosting a VIP Party for the kick off of the 'Art of Travel' gallery show in our hotel event space on the corner of 10th and Stark in downtown Portland.

Clear your calendars for Friday September 28th, 9:30pm, and come check out original pieces for sale by Amy Ruppel, Justin "Scrappers" Morrison, Evan B Harris, Shawn Wolfe, David Kaul, Brent Wick, Jeremy Pelley, Philip Iosca, Sarah Gottesdiener, Liza Rietz and Storm Tharp. And music by Kanda, Chromatics, and DJ Beyonda."

I heart simple/complex art

Rebecca Niederlander might be a genius. She's got a show of large scale mobiles going up tonight in Beverly Hills that's brilliant. But in researching her work I saw this piece and it made me stop in my tracks. It's lovely and simple and complex and excruciatingly interesting. Also it looks like plants: