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 Jung Eun Park's work is a combination of drawing and sewing on Korean paper that is often dyed with coffee or tea. While sitting or laying on the paper, Park creates symbolic images, mesmerizing in both their detail and overall simplicity. This physical connection to the work during production is important to the artist who states "I can feel the touch and the smell of paper with all of my body and senses." Jung Eun Park works in projects, with their titles lending clues to their meaning. Recent works include The Womb, Cell Story, Red Thread, The Room of Obsession, and Silence is Waiting. The artist shares definite formal and psychological similarities with acclaimed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Park's interest in repetition, accumulation, and exhausting detail recall Kusama's "infinity nets." The artist received a B.F.A. from Kookmin University in Seoul in 2003 and a M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 2007 and was included in Lana Santorelli Gallery's Young Emerging Artists show in New York earlier this year. | |||
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Posted by Rebekah Drysdale at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 Artist Andrea Zittel held a holiday smock sale in Los Angeles last weekend. Her handmade, double wrap-around garments were available at Regen Projects on December 15th and at Young Art on December 16th. The smocks, meant to be attractive, utilitarian, and economical, are designed by Zittel but hand-sewn by collaborating artists. Zittel, who enterprises the A-Z Institute for Daily Living, has spent the last decade blurring the boundaries between daily life and artmaking. Most of her sculptures and works with fabric have both utilitarian and conceptual purposes. The A-Z Institute produces furniture and clothing, like the 8x5x7 ft living units meant to provide for a person's every physical need and the seasonal uniforms that can be worn every day for months at a time. These functional works ideally make life more manageable and aesthetically pleasing for individuals while also ensuring that people have adequate personal space. Zittel, who is primarily represented by Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York and Regen Projects in LA, plans to open a smockshop in LA's Chinatown sometime next year. | |||
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Posted by Catherine Wagley at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 Breaking all the rules in fashion and design, Bernhard Willhelm, a German native residing in Belgium, uses colors, volumes and themes that challenge labeling. In 1999, Willhelm started with womenswear, an assemblage that premiered at fashion shows in Paris. The designer fashioned his first collection of menswear in 2000, which he didn't allow the public to view until 2003's Menswear Fashion Week. Other accomplishments include a showing of his work organized in 2003 by the Ursula Blickle Art Foundation in Germany, coupled with the publishing of his book in 2004 by Lukas & Sternberg. In 2005, the orphans' aid association Misericordia asked him to design the school's uniforms. In addition, he has launched his first shoe line and created the "White Wild Bunch," a clothing line only available online at YOOX. Willhelm attended Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium and worked alongside Walter Van Beirendonck, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Dirk Bikkembergs. | |||
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Posted by DS at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 Japanese artist and fashion designer Mihara Yasuhiro challenges the boundaries of fashion and sports in both design and execution. Yasuhiro, who is also known as Miharayasuhiro, recently released a collector's book in conjunction with PUMA that showcases four Japanese artists who have all been influenced by the PUMA Mihara footwear collection. PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro began in 2000 with the launch of a sneaker collection, bringing together a wealth of culture and original design from Japanese influences. This new and promising partnership has resulted in a fresh and vibrant collection of sneakers. PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro was one of the first PUMA designer collaborations and became an integral part in establishing PUMA's sport and fashion revolution. In 1998, Yasuhiro opened his first store, SOSU ("prime number") in Aoyama, Japan, followed by his second store in Fukuoka, Japan in 2000, and his third store in Osaka, Japan in 2002. After becoming successful in the footwear industry, Yasuhiro expanded his creativity in design apparel for men and women and made his worldwide debut with Pitti Uomo in Florence, Italy. He has also worked with Aprica, was featured in Sneaker Freaker Magazine. Yasuhiro graduated from Tama Art University in 1997. | |||
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 The inventive sculptures of German artist Birgit Dieker are centered on the body. Thematic considerations are equally placed on the inside and outside of the body and often rely on material to offer extended content. The artist regularly uses materials that commonly interact or make reference to the body, such as textiles, leather, rubber, human hair, life belts, bandages and body suits. Together, the concepts and materials create a playful dialogue that engage the viewer and symbolize the symmetry between the inside and outside of the body. Dieker attended Technischen Universitat and Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin, where she currently lives and works. In 2006, Gallery AMT in Como, Italy, presented "Headhunting," an exhibition featuring several busts made out of layered textiles, and, in 2005, Dieker exhibited "Gluck Auf" with Galerie Volker Diehl in Berlin. Diecker exhibited at the 69th Regiment Armory Feb. 22-25 in the Pulse New York art fair. | |||
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Posted by Seth Curcio at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 One of Brazil's most famous artists, Ernesto Neto creates room-sized environments for the viewer to navigate through and interact with. By using light, stretchable fabrics and organic shapes, filled occasionally with scented spices, Neto's work allows the viewer to experience the work through all senses, creating a spatial labyrinth for the journey through the passages in the room. Currently, Neto is collaborating with Merce Cunnigham on an exhibition called "Dancing on the Cutting Edge," where his sculptures become sets and costumes for the choreographer at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. He exhibited with the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia (2004) and worked with Carnegie International (1999). Neto was the Brazilian artist for both the Biennale of Sydney (1998) and the Venice Biennale (2001). ArtForum has reviewed his work several times, including his exhibition with Galerie Max Hetzler in 2004. | |||
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Posted by Seth Curcio at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 Egyptian born artists Ghada Amer creates hand-embroidered painting that use repetitive patterns which contain images of women taken from pornographic references. Amer challenges the male dominated language of Modernism by employing "craft-based" techniques like embroidery over abstract painting, further underscoring this idea by using imagery that attracts the male gaze. Ghada Amer was selected for exhibition in Whitney Biennale 2000, and has had international solo exhibitions at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Johannesburg Biennale (1997), and the Kwangju Biennial, South Korea (2000). Most recently Amer exhibited with the Gagosian Gallery in L.A. | |||
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Posted by Seth Curcio at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This
 Kent Henricksen alters patterned fabrics by embroidering them with hooded figures that seem to reference images of terrorists or the KKK. The figures in his work engage in deviant acts of behavior as they occupy the pre-existing patterns surrounding them. Henricksen is currently represented by John Connelly Presents in NYC, and you can read more about his work in the recent issue of Beautiful Decay. | |||
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Posted by Seth Curcio at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Discussion (0) | E-mail This |
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