Antony Gormley Enigmatic Beauty

At first, when I saw these pieces I thought of Giacometti and the singular isolation of his pieces. There is some of that in these pieces, but there is the complete transformation of the space they inhabit, and for me this became the haunting and memorable element.

Even when I was a painter I loved sculpture, and my "paintings" were more like on-the-wall sculptures. Though no longer a practicing artist I continue to adore and promote art and artifacts, and I particularly respond to sculpture. I think it is because it inhabits actual three dimensional space and is visceral, you have to walk around it, you can touch it and feel it. What struck me about Antony Gormely’s pieces is that as installations they occupy an even larger space, and I am entering into their space, rather than they being placed in mine. The bodies at different angles in relationship to walls, floors and ceilings own the space and alter it in an intimate and profound way.

I also reflected on the earth art pieces of the 70s, and how artists used the earth itself as the art piece and where the viewer was an addendum to the experience. Gromley’s work approaches this perspective.

Takasi Iwasaki

Embroidery is a slow and meticulous process. I have worked with embroiderers in numerous countries, from Jordan  to Cameroon and though I have appreciated their works, few have impressed me like the delightful and whimsical works of Takashi Iwasaki. A Japanese born artist living in Winnepeg, Canada, his works are reminiscent of Klee and Folon, where delicacy is muscular in that reflects an inner power and conviction to intimacy and sensitivity. 

"I use various media to create my work, for instance; hand embroidering is one of the most time-consuming and painstaking method of art-making which in turn engages my thinking process differently from the other methods I use, such as collage making, drawing, painting, and printmaking".

Takashi Iwasaki

Takashi Iwasaki is also a painter, and his paintings and drawings are similar in visual statements, but the embroidery pieces are the most striking in that the process itself adds to the whimsy and delicacy that paints do not fully achieve.   

Stillness in Motion Olga Ziemska

I posted an entry on Olga Ziemska and missed putting up her most amazing piece! Her work is inspiring and reaches far beyond the space it inhabits. For me it awoke something in my spirit, so it inhabits the inward space, and it inhabits a huge outer space with its expanding sense of movement and idenity.

Check out her website to see more of her incredible work and thoughts. http://www.olgaziemska.com/

Nouveau Crochet

My Italian grandmother taught me to crochet before I could write and I have always associated crochet with grandmothers and antimacassars. Aissata Namoko changed all that. In a small workshop in the middle of Bamako, Mali, I discovered sublime and dignified crochet that has caught the attention of buyers across the globe.

  

Aissata heads Cooperative Djiguiyaso that has a core group of about 30 women and is comprised of a total of 200 women in Bamako, Aissata seen at the far left.  

Djiguiyaso uses indigenous indigo in many of their creations. The pompoms are crocheted and all the edges of the scarves are hand finished. They use exclusively certified organic locally grown cotton.

The natural greys of her palate are particularly beautiful, the greys are from earth dyes, earth from the local river banks.

 

Recently, Harper Poe of Proud Mary ran with this work in an entirely new and refreshing direction!

Aris Moore

The work of Aris Moore,  from Art Found Out, a stunning blog from Scott Rothstein.  It is one of my favorites.

Aris Moore’s drawings emerge from the page.

It is as if her figures could appear and then disappear, existing in an intimate environment overtaken by fog.

This sense is enhanced when Moore works in her sketchbooks where she draws on both sides of the page. The paper is thin and parts of the drawings on the reverse side can be seen, creating impression rather than clarity.

Moore’s drawing style is full of contradictions. Clearly an accomplished draftsperson, she chooses to render images that are intentionally distorted. Parts of her drawings are dense and detailed while other areas are only suggested.

Her narrative imagery is reminiscent of Outsider artists such as Henry Darger or Martin Ramirez. All the drawings seem connected and suggest clues to a story larger than any of its parts.

With Permission from Scott Rothstein, Art Found Out

Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, is on the rise after years of political turmoil and war. It was great to visit galleries, artisan workshops, showrooms and restaurants and see the revival of creative and commercial activity.

A view of Amani Gallery through a stunning geometric mirror

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I drove to Amani Gallery in Zone Quatre, Abidjan's trendy upscale neighborhood. The gallery was closed for the traditional long lunch, a tenaciously held French tradition. Not one to buck tradition I took a table at the Grand Large, one of Abidjan's top restaurants, and leisurely savored every bite of the melt-in-your-mouth lobster, crab, and prawns generously piled on a bed of young bib lettuce, sipping a crisp white wine, finishing with a tiramisou topped with a full half centimeter of pure dark chocolate dust, the best tiramisou I've had in years.

Amani has a partially enclosed veranda fronting the gallery, it has an airy ambiance where  the outdoor patio melds seamlessly into the interior,  a reflection of African village life to this day. The sublime yet muscular aesthetic of owner Léon N'Guetta permeates the gallery, particularly his stunning collection of statement mirrors. 

Each mirror is handmade in N'Guetta's workshop, and no two pieces are exactly the same. This is true of the rest of his collections that include stools, lamps, boxes and sculpture.

 

N'Guetta and his team

Design in Ouagadougou (pronounced Wa-Ga-Do-Goo)

Ouagadougou is the arid capital of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), a land-locked West African country that meanders far up into the Sahara Desert.  On my recent visit to Ouaga I was able to spend time with two wonderful designers, Hamed Outarra and Inoussa Dao.  It has been great to see how their works have developed over the years.

Inoussa Dao is a designer and manager of Centre Lukare www.lukare.org,  a group of talented young artisans. Their creations are mainly of recycled metal and depressed wood. 

                                    

This huge and very creative "couchon" is a bit outside their normal creations, but it is so delightful I had to include it. It is made from recycled flip-flop plastic sandles, so very common in West Africa - cheap and great for the heat.

Hamed Outarra is another young and talented designer in Ouaga. He reworks old oildrums to create a wide range of home décor items, from furniture to trays. www.coroflot.com/hamedouattara