Jerzy Goliszewski + Ofra Lapid

I first came across Jerzy Goliszewski on Society6 (his society is here and his blog is here).

Jerzy is a Polish artist, based in Warsaw, who focuses on site-specific projects - something I've always inexplicably admired - I find it brave somehow. Quoting from his website, Jerzy "is most interested in complicated and complex structures. He strives to use simple and natural materials."

The end results are poignantly mystifying.
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His blog showed me the beautiful work of Ofra Lapid who also has a blog, here.

Ofra builds models of these derelict buildings from photographs taken by an amateur photographer from North Dakota who obsessively documents the decaying process of these houses.

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So graceful yet melancholic.

-sb

Swing Lamp

Swing Lamp by BCXSY -
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"Never again feel alone in the dark! The Swing Lamp creates a comforting ambiance through lighting and movement."
Part of PLAY!, the first collection of designs by Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto, aka BCXSY.

Is this not just beautiful? I'd love to have my own swing - they're so soothing and meditative.

-sb - [via pipeline]

CHRIS

So, back to exhibitions. Next up - CHRIS, as seen in Le Moulin de Maintenay in northern France -

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These are both sides of the advert for Les Empreintes du Temps - this side is a photograph of one of his visually and also texturally stunning paintings.



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Photography was banned inside the exhibition, but I did manage to sneak one photo, above. The exhibition was mainly large (all between 600mm and 1500mm square, at a guess) paintings of walls and doors of traditionally built derelict houses from the region. They all use a particular kind of wattle and daub style technique to make their walls, with wooden beams inside. Nearly all of the paintings showed this in some way.

What was stunning about the paintings was the texture - each one had been built up before the paint was applied, but in a planned way. Where CHRIS was going to paint wood, he would make the texture underneath the thin layer of paint as wood. Where it was rough and matted, there would be rough and matted material applied and then painted over. I thought it was pretty unusal to build up texture in this way - using other material and one or two thinned layers of paint rather than huge thick clumps - as many other artists do.

Seeing as I couldn't take hundreds of photos of the exhibition, I took a few of the Moulin de Maintenay and the lush countryside setting -

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This and the previous photograph are of the building which housed CHRIS' exhibition.

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Artisanal Creperie just across the road ... mmmm!

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Eating crepes outside with a glass of cidre, absolute bliss!



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Especially with such a beautiful view...

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Or two!

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Everybody needs propping up in their old age!

-sb 

New Apron + Vanillekipferl

Finished off a neat little apron this morning - how twee am I?
To quote my father - "such domestication in one so young"

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What must you do with a new apron?

Test it of course!

Cue one batch of vanillekipferl - I'll include the recipe - they're just too yummy not to share -

(Adapted from a recipe by Rachel Allen)

1. Ingredients:

350g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

100g caster sugar

60g ground hazelnuts

Pinch of salt

250g softened butter

2.5 tsp vanilla extract

(make sure it's a good quality strong one)

1 egg, beaten

5-6 tablespoons icing sugar

2. Add all the dry ingredients, except the icing sugar,

together in a bowl and whisk them. Whisking helps

to keep everything nice and light without having to 

sift it all.  

3. Mix in the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon to

form a nice soft, slightly squidgy dough.

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4. Flatten it into a disk about 2cm thick, wrap in cling

film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat your oven to 180'C at this point.

Roll walnut-sized balls of dough and now you have

a decision - which shape? I chose heart shaped

this time, to match my apron. Traditionally, kipferl

are crescent shaped, from the word kipfel in

German. Shape your biscuits and lay them out on

a lined baking tray. They don't need much spacing

as they don't tend to spread too much.

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6. Bake your biscuits in the oven for about 10-15

minutes until pale golden. They'll also feel

pretty firm now. Allow to stand on a cooling

rack for a few minutes.

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 7. Whisk the icing sugar in a wide, shallow bowl.

Once the biscuits have almost cooled, but

not completely, toss them in the sugar to

coat completely in sweet, white powderiness.

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This recipe makes between 40 and 60 biscuits and they keep well for around 3 days. Keep the leftover icing sugar in the tin or bag with them and then shake before serving to keep them well coated.
Enjoy!
-sb



Hiroshi Sugimoto + Society6

I have two things for today - Society6 and Hiroshi Sugimoto -
First of all, Society6 -
Society6 is a site where you can post artwork in digital form - such as photography or graphic design.
You can then make you art available for people to buy as a print, or canvas or a multitude of other forms.
To me, this seems like just the opening new artists need - a space to watch.
So go forth, check out sb-a on society6!

Now, on to Hiroshi Sugimoto.
What a man. What. A. Man.
The renowned Japanese photographer has a major exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art featuring works from his most recent series - "Lightning Fields" and "Photogenic Drawings" - but it started the day I left! So here's the confession - I haven't actually seen this exhibition!
But HS is just too good to not talk about - here's why - a selection from his "Lightning Fields"
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To create these beauties, HS exposed photographic dry plates to violent electrical discharges. HS's approach to photography is very scientific, exploring the very nature of it's being and pushing the limits that no one else thought of. Here is a self portrait of the man at work -

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Now I feel just like The Jealous Curator...

-sb

Tony Cragg

Went to see Tony Cragg at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art -
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Looking inside the larger sculptures was like finding a hollowed out tree - I could have sat inside it all day, watching snippets of life go past from the numerous tiny openings where space overlapped space.

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As you walk around each sculpture faces appear and disappear. Some warp into recognisable yet unplaceable lines while others are very clearly human profiles.

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The surfaces were one my favourite parts - such unbelievable smoothness! The most beautiful of all the materials had to be the wood - each line echoing the last layer, highlighting every curve and every turn.

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-sb

Trine Pedersen + Tiro Kontinen

These next few posts will be about exhibitions I went to on my holidays -

First - Trine Pedersen + Tiro Kontinen

3 islands - a series of three international artists workshops 2007-8 on Scottish islands
2 artists -  Danish artist Trine Pedersen and Tero Kontinen from Finland met at the North Uist workshop
1 exhibition - since meeting, they have worked together, collaborating on the same drawings

Some of my favourites from their first exhibition together -
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(detail of first image)

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(detail of first image)

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"We have been doing drawings together actively since 2008. Working this way is a visual playground for us and an artistic conversation as well. The pictures are created over a period of time by layering elements, colours and overlapping images. We both have a great interest with collage-like working, to add different and contrasting elements to the same picture to create various states of visual tension.

Normally when we are beginning with a drawing there is no particular leading theme in mind. The beginning can be a small fragment of a form or an accidental splash of ink and the picture starts growing instinctively almost like an organic process. Small fragments start to create a bigger picture, images flow inside images. The work is considered to be ready when we are both satisfied and we accept it. During the time of the drawing we are creating parallel realities, something that resembles science-fiction stories.

Working together opens a whole new world of possibilities for creating living pictures. It is always a great thrill and you never know what you will have in the end, most probably it's something you wouldn't create just by working alone and there is a huge amount of challenge to keep the visual tension and intensity in the picture - not to let it fall into a dead end. One needs a great deal of curiosity and interest to willingly take the risks of an exploration.

The leading theme in our drawings has been the drawing itself. Drawings have their own inner logic and vocabulary and one cannot see immediate difference if the picture has been made in a quiet island or in a noisy urban environment. We have made drawings during our travels and the drawings have been travelling between us. The experience of travelling is one source for imagination and the drawings will have a life of their own. In the end the drawings are about islands just because we say that they are."  - TP + TK



The most beautiful shapes and colours.

-sb