I friend just introduced me to the work of Edith Maybin who is an artist working photographically. I am fascinated and disturbed at the same time by her work. The images are really quite beautiful and unsettling. She photographs herself then places her daughters eight year old head on her body. They are startling images. One of my favorite images is actually not any of the ones with a face in it, but the last image I have posted of hers. I find this image quite powerful as it is more subtle then the others. Edith’s work made me think of one image that I love of Hannah Starkey’s of a mother wearing a bunny mask in a kitchen while the baby looks up at her. I find a parallel between the imagery that these women are making, perhaps a feeling of longing or isolation. Both women have used children in their work, which for me is very interesting.

Edith Maybin

Hannah Starkey

I have fallen in love with these stools for two reasons. One they are technically amazing in their construction (Sheet metal that is inflated) and two they make me think of the Jeff Koons balloon dog which I have always liked. The stools are designed by the architect Oskar Zieta who basically invented the process and produces them in Poland which is where he is from. They can carry the weight of a human amazingly!

I cannot stop thinking about Ai Wei Wei at the moment as it seems I keep seeing his art everywhere. Most importantly I have been thinking about his will power which is super human in it’s effort to overcome silence. With human rights a hot issue right now the world over, his work speaks volumes about TRUTH. He is fighting in such a defiant way to express himself and on behalf of his people (The Chinese) notions of TRUTH and transparency. I am just truly in awe of his IRON WILL and find it very inspiring. Never mind the art work behind it all. Not many people would be willing to take the risks he takes to make his art.

A documentary just came out about him called “Never Sorry”. Here is the director talking about him and the making of the documentary and then the actual trailer.

I am participating in the Toronto Contact Photo Festival next week. I have been working on a project which involves traditional portraits of children taken in the their homes. The concept is about influence and where that begins with young children. Where does innocence end and familial/cultural influence begin? It has been interesting and I can see that the more images I have the more interesting it becomes for viewers. I have photographed eight so far but hope to shoot about 40 or 50 in the end. Here is the invite to the group show. I am only showing four at the show as the images are very large (35×44 inches). You can see a few of the images on the tumblr site I created for this work. I will eventually post some on Eyeteaze. www.zoebridgman.tumblr.com

Heather Cassils is an old friend of mine who has been doing a lot of performance art that uses her body as sculpture. I think art that uses the body to make statements is relevent no matter where you are with your sexuality and gender.  Of course the execution makes all the difference in terms of relevance and I think her execution is on point.  I am so happy for her as her work is being recognized in the art world and she was recently written up in Artforum. She also had a great cameo in one of Lady Gaga’s videos, I am sure many boys and girls are jealous! This a a great video showing her work and the work of Zachary Drucker.

I have been doing a little research on some of Andy Warhol’s films and came across this. It was an advert for Burger King. Imagine if advertising could be as intelligent as this now.

I have blogged about Yayoi Kusama and how much I absolutely adore her work and have since I went to art school.You may have seen this already as it is not completely new. She just completed a project called “Obliteration Room”.She painted a whole room white including all the furniture and gave every visitor dot stickers to stick anywhere in the room. Here is the result.

Here are some thoughts on colour by Ellsworth Kelly and Mark Rothko.

I went to see the 3D film by Wim Wenders on Pina Bausch this weekend called “Pina”. It was so incredibly inspiring and amazing. I knew nothing about Pina Bausch before seeing the film and you won’t learn much about her actual life watching the film, but you will learn how she coached her dancers and the legacy of modern dance she has left behind. I have never seen dancers move their bodies in such a beautifully sensual, conceptual, romantic and emotional way.  What I also loved about this film is it made me think of Bill Viola’s video work. I think there is some artistic cross-over with their work however faint it may be. Here is the trailer for Pina and two Bill Viola pieces.

Warning! These vids are off youtube and not from the artist.

I was reading the Vanity Fair article on the painter Lucien Freud yesterday and was thinking about his process as the article talked a lot about how he worked by having people sit for him for hours and his schedule etc. The article made me think of Jenny Saville’s work. Here are some of her 2010 drawings and paintings. I really like how loose in gesture her new work is and how she is showing some of her sketches which I think are really quite beautiful.

Here are three of Lucien Freud’s paintings. Also portraiture and figurative but quite different as well. He passed away last year and will be having a large retrospective in London which is where he lived at the National Portrait Gallery.