Karen Kamenetzky Fiber Art

I love when I run into something that really stretches the bounds of my somewhat narrow definition of what “art” is and that happened this week when I watched the movie “Wasteland” on Netflix.

Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist who makes large images from very unlikely materials; dirt, trash,chocolate syrup, sugar among them. Wasteland documents his three year project in the largest landfill in the world located in Rio. Each day hundreds of local people work there hand picking recyclables from mountains of trash to earn a living. It’s a true moving story of creativity, humanity, resiliance and the environment.

Wasteland

The images Muniz created in collaboration with these people and the connections that were created through this art making are amazing to watch unfold.
“The moment when one thing turns into another is the most beautiful moment”– Vik Muniz
Highly recommended.

I’m so glad a friend shared an  article yesterday about the artwork of Jodi Colella.  She is an innovative fiber artist who constructs sculptural organic forms out of felted wool, screen, crocheted wire, hand spun plastic bags (she calls “plarn”!) and various other found objects.

Undercurrent; Aluminum screen, steel wire 6 ft x 8 ft 6 in x 7 in

I am particularly impressed with her ability to create these 3D objects using fiber. Recently I’ve been exploring ways to introduce more three dimensionality into  my wall hangings through added textural elements.

Jodi’s work goes straight to sculpture- forms you can often walk around or hold. It seems she didn’t start from the “artquilt” universe and need to break out of those constraints (which I feel is my constant struggle). Brava!

Insatiable; Mixed Fiber, Floral wire, paint, 12"x24"

A Chinese artist, Liu Bolin,  meticulously paints himself to blend into a particular background. According to the artist, his art is  “designed to show how we all can just disappear in today’s mass production world.” The results are thought provoking, a bit disturbing and technically amazing.
Look closely.

Liu Bolin 1

Here’s another one:

The best for last:

Liu Bolin 3

Google his name and look at lots more images.

This weekend I went to see an inspiring exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings at the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown, MA. They were shown in conjunction with work of a contemporary artist, Arthur Dove, exploring how they influenced each others art over the decades.

I love any opportunity to see an O’Keeffe painting in person. I especially like studying the brilliant (and revolutionary in her time) way she uses curving sensuous line to divide up the space of the canvas simultaneously creating a magnificent focal image as well as strong and lovely negative shapes.

Corn No. 2

And of course her amazing ability to use paint to evoke light and shadow…

Slightly Open Clam Shell

I realize what an influence her work has had on my attempts to use that “zoom in” method to highlight organic lines and shapes and play with positive and negative space in composition.

Blue and Green Music

My head has been filled with her rich sumptuous images. This exhibit left me wanting to know more about her life so I’m going to look for a good biography. Anyone know of one they recommend?