From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens

Come by this Saturday to celebrate my friend Shash's Book launch of From OFG:

Here are some photos from the inside from talented folks:

I have a drawing and some photos in it too that I'll post sometime soonish :)

Hope you can stop by if you're local!!

xxx

m

ps- I'm taking a sick day today if you're tryin to get ahold i'm laying low...

artist spotlight: paperbling + nosideup= same artist

ohhh. i just joined papernstich and came across this great artist from barcelona... first i was admiring her paper bling and then the intricate hair drawings and realized it was the same chica.

aren't these both great? and they kind of go together too.




i love new discoveries.

xo
mati

georgia o

last night i had a dream i met georgia o and she was quasi homeless and no one else recognized her. i had the most fascinating conversation with her about art and life and staying true to self. my friend donna pointed me to this footage of 92 year old o'keeffe. i think, perhaps, regardless of your feeling towards her art it is interesting to listen to her talk. i greatly admire georgia for paving the way for future female artists. i read her bio a couple years ago and was struck by what a drastically different time and how her strong willed persistence pioneered the way for us.

i also am a big fan of new mexico, so that piles on the love! last year my friend jessie and i took a road trip to one of georgia's beloved homes and walked mesas and her paintings resonated anew.

i like in this video if you get far enough she says something like "i tried to paint what i saw. i thought someone could tell me how to paint the landscape, but i found nobody could". i love this sentiment of sitting down and trying and doing it your own way.

thanks georgia o,
mati

artist spotlight: laurel roth

My studio mate Laurel is having a show opening this thursday at the Frey Norris gallery here in SF. Her new work is stunning. I am very proud to share it with you here:

Birds of Paradise
Made from mixed media including fake fingernails, barrettes, false eyelashes, nail polish, jewelry, walnut, swarovski crystal and standing 48 x 50 x 50 inches high.

Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons: Carolina Parakeet
crocheted yarn, hand carved pigeon mannequin, walnut stand
8 x 9 x 13 in.


Food #5, Pig
walnut, gold leaf, swarovski crystal
11 x 6 x 7 1/2 in.

I really admire Laurel as a person, her art, her work ethic, her modesty at her brilliance, her dog Fargo, her help building things, and her unexpected use of materials like fake nails painstakingly painted with a range of glittery blue polish. Forever there was a box of 1,000 hair clips in our courtyard and I would walk by and think how incredible that she has turned something so mundane and packaged into such overwhelming jaw dropping beauty like her fighting Birds of Paradise.

Here is an artist essay to get a broader scope of her work. If you're local stop by Laurel's opening this Thursday, September 3rd to see all her work in person!

Congratulations Laurel for your show!

Thanks,
Mati

artist spotlight: squeak carnwath

a few weeks ago... maybe a month even... i was walking post-brunch around lake merrit and noticed signs overhead for squeak carnwath's show at the oakland museum. it felt like a sign meant for me! i dropped all other saturday plans and walked over what seemed like a maze of overpasses and underpasses to find the museum. 

i have admired squeak's work for years, but haven't seen much of it in person. there was a funny older docent whom i initially listened to, but had to give her a rest and just experience the paintings on my own. they were large and all encompassing of the space. it felt a little bit like what i imagine the holiness of church feels to some to see the lush paint up close and mark making.

i love so much about her work. one element was her "scientific" explorations of color and fake graphs that don't really make sense, but play with that idea of science. i also love her willingness to simply play and experiment with the unknown and how through looking at her painting you can follow her messes and how she changed her mind in one corner and painted over or spilled her paint or put her hand print in. her paintings capture moments in time. paintings capture the essence of time and if they were made at any different point in time would  be completely different! like life itself. exactly.

this painting above and concept of a "guilt free zone" in particular rocks! somewhere in the context of the show it was described how squeak had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and how she wanted to give her friend a "guilt free zone" during that time. i love this.  we should all give ourselves a little guilt free zone, right?

squeak makes me want to paint. big with color and my personal symbols incorporated and writing too.

thank you squeak for inspiring me and for your adorable name.