My Header: Donovan, Rodin, and Scheifele

I feel the need to address my header in order to avoid any possible issues (accusations of plagiarism, etc).

Unfortunately for me, those photos are not of my own art. I wish they were. They are by three artists whom I love and want to be inspired by.

The photo on the left of my header is a detail of a sculpture made out of Styrofoam cups and hot glue by Tara Donovan. This is the full sculpture:  (click on any of these images to make them larger).

Untitled, 2003. Styrofoam cups, hot glue.

She chooses a medium - almost always an everyday object (paper plates, Elmer's glue, toothpicks, etc) - and repeats it over and over again until it forms a huge mass that looks as though it was lifted straight from nature. In fact she's been quoted as saying that in her art she is mimicking nature and the way things grow.
I really like art that repeats a medium over and over, and the time and monotony of creating it really makes me admire the artist. Tara Donovan in particular amazes me in this sense. She has a piece made entirely of scotch tape that looks something like fog rolling close to the ground. The tape touches each other just enough to hold the formation together... I think if I tried to make a piece like this I'd end up screaming in frustration as it stuck to me and everything else and was totally ruined.

Survey, 2005. Pencils.

Transplanted, 2003. Ripped and stacked tar paper.

Many more photos of her work as well as a bio and a couple videos can be found here: Ace Gallery - Tara Donovan. I really encourage anyone who likes these sculptures to check out the site, her other pieces are amazing as well. I just can't post all the photos I want to.


The center photo in my header is a lovely sculpture by Auguste Rodin called The Cathedral. I have always loved hands, with their grace, lines, and quality of being both delicate and powerful. It seems Rodin loved hands as well, as he made several sculptures of isolated hands besides his more famous works. I remember finding a book of Rodin's works on my parent's bookshelves, flipping through it, and catching my breath when I saw this piece. It still awes me with it's beauty whenever I see it.

I want to apologize to the person who's image I used... I just did a google image search and grabbed the one that looked the loveliest. It came from tumblr, but now that I'm trying to credit it I cannot find it anywhere.

Check out more about Rodin and his work here: The Rodin Museum


The image on the right of my header is a piece called Desaturated Fade by Kris Scheifele, who in my book is a genius.
She coats boards with layers and layers of acrylic paint, then peels the paint off, so that it's a thick skin. Then she takes a box cutter and carves chunks out, which makes the layers of color underneath visible; the carving can look like decay, fire damage, or even fireworks! Finally, to display the "contortions" or "fades" as she calls them, she simply nails them to the wall, where the weight of the paint pulling against the nails makes the pieces change and become new.
If you could hear my voice telling you this instead of typing it, I would sound something like an excited little puppy, bouncing around, etc. Or a small child. I guess that's more accurate since I'm not barking.

Anyway, look at her website right now. It's amazing. You can read her full artist statement there too. Kris Scheifele

Here's way too many pictures because I couldn't make up my mind! Again, click to enlarge.
                                                                                                                                                        

Hate Fade

Faded Rainbow Fade

Peripheral Contortion

Firework Fade

7¾" Paint Chips³