Blueprint Constructions: Jose Betancourt with Susan Weil

Since the glory days of the Polaroid and the advent of the digital age, photography in many ways has become a bit of an “everyman’s medium”.  We all pick up our pocket digital cameras and iPhones when a scene inspires us.  Artist photographers like Jose Betancourt seek to bridge the gap between historical processes and modern sensibility.

Danky’s Blue

Sassafras

In this latest series, a collaboration with artist ( and ex-wife of Robert Rauschenberg ) Susan Weil, the two artists come together using historic and experimental photo processes such as cyanotypes, photograms, and Van Dyke Brown prints to create constructions consisting of photographic images.

Secrets, Weil’s Reflections

Sometimes, the constructions are configured to take on the form or another aspect of the photographed subject.  In this way, the photographs aren’t just two-dimensional images but come to life in a multi-demensional way.

Spring Sprung

Catenary

To see more of this series, please visit the websites of Jose Betancourt and Susan Weil.  The exhibition of this series, Blueprints, can be seen at the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, Alabama until November 15th.

All images are via Jose Betancourt’s website.

Artsy on Escape Into Life: Jen Gotch

I recently saw a clip of Jim Gaffigan in which he does a riff on our modern propensity to take photos of everything and then post them on all of our various social media outlets.  I’ll admit, I’m guilty of taking a photo of my dinner and posting it on Facebook for all of my friends to see.  The Defaced series by Los Angeles photographer Jen Gotch, ( which I’m featuring in my Artist Watch over on Escape Into Life today– see it here! ) reminds us that even before Instagram, we were still a society obsessed with capturing memories and sharing them.  Check out her work on EIL today AND if you love her style, Jen has teamed up with HGTV host and stylist extraordinaire Emily Henderson on a lovely little round-up of Jen’s work on Open Sky.  Check that out here!

Someone Threw This Out by Jen Gotch

Jen Gotch on Escape Into Life

Chiarosuroed Life: Sarah Ann Loreth

While Mr. Forager & I are on the road, making our way to California, we’re rerunning Artsy Forager’s most popular posts.  This post originally published on February 9, 2012.  Enjoy!

When I paint, I tend to turn the lights off at certain points of progress, in order to view my work in the dark.  The darkness reveals the light.   The work of New Hampshire artist Sarah Ann Loreth explores this same notion in a conceptual way, through imagery that is at once eerie and haunting, yet strangely peaceful.

The Standpoint of Daily Life

Loreth seems to be feeling her way through the reality of humanity– her work is emotional, bringing to the forefront our own fears and anxieties, but somehow quieting them.  In each work there seems to be a small voice whispering, It’s okay, this life and your troubles are only temporary..

The Ground is Too Cold to Bury Our Dead, self-portrait with milk in a bath with cow skull

We’ve all had those moments when life just seems unbearable.  When we question why we are here and why it is just so plain hard sometimes.  Loreth isn’t afraid to recreate those moments in her self-portraits, letting us know, we are not alone in our suffering.

The Irreparable Nature of Humans, self-portrait

Just as light cannot be seen without the darkness, so also does joy need sorrow in order for it to be truly felt.  Hope is always with us, we are forever watching for its return.

The Dreamer’s Dream of Morning, self-portrait

The Watcher, self-portrait

To see more of Sarah Ann Loreth’s beautiful photography, please visit her website.  This artist was found via Escape Into Life.

Featured image is Where My Heart Still Is, self-portrait.  All images are via the artist’s website.

The Age of Innocence: Jessica Maria Manley

While Mr. Forager & I are on the road, making our way to California, we’re rerunning Artsy Forager’s most popular posts.  This post originally published on January 23, 2012.  Enjoy!

The other night, we caught a bit of a Travel Channel show in which Andrew Zimmern visited a tribe in Madagascar, whose ritual tradition dictates that a boy becomes a man at the age of five years old.  Jewish boys celebrate coming into manhood with a Bah Mitzvah at age thirteen.  The work of photographer Jessica Maria Manley explores the idea of whether societies can truly define what is appropriate based solely on an individual’s age.  Is a boy really a man at five? Thirteen? Twenty-one? Forty-five?

At the Lake

Manley’s haunting images of her young subject, Melissa, show the young girl engaging in those activities so many little girls enjoy– playing dress up, playing with make-up, pretending to be grown-ups.  How many of us did the same?

Melissa and Her Toys

Some of the imagery may be a bit off-putting, even disturbing as we see a little girl exploring an adult’s world.  But how often are children thrust into situations beyond their years?  Or they feel pressured to be tiny adults?

Make-up In the Living Room II

Untitled

Manley’s images may be a visual representation of the societal pressures kids feel every day, in every nation.  They could also be interpreted as imaginings of a woman who is chronologically an adult, but still feels the vulnerability and smallness of a child.. A woman whose childhood was robbed of her.

To see more of Jessica Maria Manley’s intriguing work, please visit her website.  Her provocative photos touched me, hope you find them as thought provoking as I did.

Featured image is On the Dock, 2011.  All images are via the artist’s website.

Guest Foraging for UGallery: Curated Persona: Your Favorite Hipster

Hiya Artsies!  Today I’m doing a little guest foraging over on the UGallery blog for my Curated Persona series.  I’ve put together a collection of UGallery artwork perfect for Your Favorite Hipster.  You know you have one.  Check it out here!

Diver by Daniel Lachman

Art to Inspiration: Lani Trock

Last month, I was an Art to Inspiration delinquent.  The monthly post just had to fall off my huge to-do list before we went on our big camping trip.  But this month, I’m back with a vengeance!  Our inspiration artwork for September, Blue Moon by photographer Lani Trock, is the perfect inspiration for the transition into the autumnal months.

Hello Moon by Lani Trock

As is my usual motis operandi, I’ve put together a little  gallery inspired by this month’s work.  Trock’s photo brings to mind camping and playing under the stars during an Indian summer, so I’m calling this little collection Night Moves.  Check it out below!

Dance Floor by Jeremy Mangan, acrylic on panel, 18×24

Gypsum by Lia Halloran

Waiting by Barbara Kacicek, oil on linen, 8×8

They Sacrificed Everything to the Stars by Amanda Blake

Jeremy Mangan | Lia Halloran | Barbara Kacicek | Amanda Blake 

To see more from each artist, check out their websites, linked above.

You can find more information on Art to Inspiration here and if you would like to participate in the next Art to Inspiration, just fill out this form! Follow me and all the other Art to Inspiration bloggers on Twitter by subscribing here.  Let the inspiring begin! 

Artsy on Escape Into Life: Karen Knorr

I find there is such a mystical, magical quality to the culture of India.  Such a juxtaposition of riches and poverty, exuberance and isolation.  The India Song series of photographer Karen Knorr explores the roles of power in Indian society and I find them both visually stunning and intellectually striking.  See more of Karen’s work on my Artist Watch over on Escape Into Life today!

The Sound of Rain, Junagarh Fort, Bikaner

Karen Knorr on Escape Into Life

Saturated Skies: Eric Cahan

While living on a lake in Northern Idaho this summer, I swear I have never seen skies soooo blue.  Every day around lunch time, I take a break from blogging work and walk outside to text my hubby ( danger of living in the boonies, spotty cell reception ) and almost every day as I look up above the canopy of trees and into the sky, it is the most impossible shade of blue.  A blue so deep and saturated and perfect that it would be impossible to capture, at least for this amateur photographer.  New York artist Eric Cahan seems to have a similar obsession with sky, but where my own limitations keep my from even trying, his skill and talent beautifully capture the simple magnificence of the expanse above us.

Bridgehampton, NY Sunset 7:48pm

His work focuses on the pure joy of color that the sky and landscape affords, breaking the vast space and complexity of the natural world into simple gradients of color.

Tri-Color Diptych Gradient Window Wedge, cast polyester resin, 30x8x4

Pink Gradient A-Frame, cast polyester resin, 20x80x20

In his sculptures and photographs alike, we are left to revel in the pure liquidity of color and environs.  We forget the chaos on the earth below and are transported to the space above.

Gardiners Bay NY Sunrise 6:28am

To see more of Eric Cahan’s work, please visit his website.  Eric represents just one of the many talented artists and photographers I’ve found via Pinterest.  It’s not just shoes and recipes!  Check out the Artsy Forager Pinterest board, Artsy in Living Color, for more found photographic talent.

Artsy on Escape Into Life: Linus Lohoff

I have a feeling there is a contingency out there who think Pinterest is filled with nothing but images of shoes, decadent cuisine, house porn and Ryan Gosling memes.  OK, perhaps they have a point.  But when you follow smart, intelligent, artsy folks like I do, Pinterest can be a treasure trove of artistic goodies, like the work of German photographer Linus Lohoff, whose work I’m featuring in my Artist Watch over on Escape Info Life today.  Hope you’ll head over to EIL to check it out and while you’re at it, take a peek at the Artsy Forager boards on Pinterest!

Linus Lohoff on Escape Into Life

Guest Foraging: Artsy Forager on curate 1k!

Like most art lovers, I’m a collector on a budget.  Not quite a “ramen noodles every night” budget, but I would gladly eat peanut butter sandwiches all the time if it meant owning work by my favorite artists.   So when Norah Guignon of curate 1k asked me to guest curate for her this week, I jumped at the chance!  Each week on her blog, Norah or her guest curator rounds up a collection of artwork that together totals less than $1,000.  Seriously affordable, accessible and beautiful work!  For my week, I curated a little “Sand & Sea” collection, as hubby and I have been landlocked here in Idaho for almost 9 months and are seriously missing being on the Coast.

Here’s a little taste, but be sure to head over to curate 1k to see it all!  Each day a new piece debuts, so make sure you check back for the rest of the week!

Sea0014a by Thomas Hager