Ed Welch

The world of folk art is buzzing about its latest gem: Ed Welch. He has gained attention for his visual biographical portrayals of influential African American figures. Most likely deriving from his early career as a sign maker, Welch’s works are poster-like collages painted on cardboard or wood and decorated with enamel and shiny contact paper.

An exhibition of his work is currently on display at the Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York City. For more information, check out this article and pictures from Flavorwire.

Affordable Art

Flavorwire had an interesting post yesterday about a new(ish) project, Edition One Hundred, designed to promote affordable art to the public. Artists create works on a theme for a virtual exhibition that are then produced in editions of, you guessed it, 100 and sold for $100 each, with 10% of the money going to a charity selected by the artist. It's a win-win-win situation that reminds us of the print-subscription services popular in the 1930s. Browse the stuff on display at their website.

Ikeart

Considering that the Atlanta location of the Swedish superstore is offering free breakfast this weekend to entice shoppers, Ikea has been on ours minds lately, and we've meant to link to this great Flavorpill post about art inspired by its products for some time now. The fact that its pieces generally require assembly makes them well suited to create all kinds of art, from the more practical Ikea Hacks to Joe Scanlon's coffin assembled from Ikea bookshelves. We've also always found their instructions, while occasionally tear-your-hair-out frustrating, nicely designed to work sans text, and at least the standard ones that precede every piece (get a friend to help; call if you're confused; etc.) to be both clear and cute. What other company could provoke so many different kinds of artistic reactions?

New Media

Yes, sometimes it seems like we're obsessed with making art out of nontraditional materials, but don't they tend to get your neurons firing with a little more excitement? In that vein, check out this slideshow of five artists who use drinking straws to create art (via Flavorpill).

And then there's Garth Johnson's blog post about Bryan Dettmer's memento morii made from cassette tapes.

And if you enjoyed Paul's photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian of Brian Jungen's astonishing work, check out the museum's page devoted to the exhibition.

Hello Wall

The Hello Wall from wasted spaces on Vimeo.

Flavorpill linked yesterday to this very cool art project that shows good use to be made of social media. Not that determining whether circles are larger or smaller or faster or slower moving is a huge decision, but it at least shows the potential for public interaction with art, which is something we're always trying to promote. It also, tangentially, makes us think about this early Willie Nelson song that made use of advanced technology in its own way.

Eco-friendly art?

After seeing an article in the Athens Banner-Herald this morning about how Georgia's drought may be returning, it's a nice coincidence that Flavorwire plugged Scott Wade's dirty car art today. Drawn in the dust on car windows, Wade's works inspire us not only with their surprising beauty (they go way beyond "Wash Me"), but with the way they can make not washing your car an aesthetic as well as an environmental act.

Public Art and the Media

We were checking out Flavorpill today, and it prompted some thoughts about public art. One of the daily links was to "Play Me I'm Yours," a project by Luke Jerram that involves the set up of numerous pianos around a city, in various states of repair, for the public to play. As the statement on the website says, "Who plays them and how long they remain is up to each community. The pianos act as sculptural, musical, blank canvases that become a reflection of the communities they are embedded into. Many pianos are personalised and decorated." It's a neat work of art and the kind of thing everyone wants in his or her own town, right?

Flavorpill also linked to Heather Tweed's page, actually to show off her fuzzy Anubis sculptures, but poking around there, we found her "Lost not Found: Abscission," which doesn't give a lot of details but appears to be a similar use of public space for an interactive art project: "The artist will be secreting small artworks at various locations across Edinburgh City centre, finders are requested to follow the attached instructions to participate in the project and keep the artwork. Please visit again over the course of the project for updates, participants and final outcome."

So why do our buttons get so happily pushed by this kind of interactive, public art? If you're a member of the media, including bloggers, pieces of this sort are certainly easier to write about. There's more to do than just stand there and contemplate. And there's no entrance fee. But should they take precedence over more traditional gallery installations? Should we stop pointing to the efforts of artists to shake up everyday life and create consciousness about art as a living, evolving thing?