guess who?

what do these two images have in common?

photo by tudor mitroi

give up?

photo by Tudor Mitroi

all of the images in this post are works by Damien Hirst

Tudor Mitroi, an art school friend was in Houston last week.  He told me about a Damien Hirst show he had seen in Los Angeles a couple of years ago.  We were talking about the decorative in contemporary art.  He used the word "beautiful" to describe the show.  I have never heard that word used in connection with Damien Hirst.  I am ambivalent about posting Hirst's animal corpses on my blog.  I think they are obscene. 

The work from the recent Gagosian show is composed of butterflies.

photo by tudor mitroi

photo by tudor mitroi

photo by tudor mitroi

once you know who made these gorgeous works, i think you re-evaluate your response.  knowing who made them, they become sinister, morbid.  whats the difference between dead mammals and dead insects?

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS.  CLICK ON "COMMENT" BELOW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

the studio

artist work spaces are fascinatig.  i love seeing where and how people work.  i am thinking about finishing out my garage and turning it into work space.  the space i am in now has amazing 14ft ceilings, sublime light.  i have mixed feelings about giving up the space itself and giving up a certain physical and psychological distance between home and work,

i think of all these, this is my favorite space

I like the dog on the floor under the table.  i wish my dog would come to work with me.  she hates my studio.  the building is very close to train tracks and the noise and vibration of trains going by terrifies her

the black and white photo makes in even more serene

who could work in this space with the amazing view?  is it a studio or a boat?

this happens to be ross bleckner's studio, pretty serene

Philip Taaffe, paintings

firend and colleague Ellen Hart re-introduced me to Philip Taaffe.  she thought of me in connection with his work for obvious reasons.  several years ago i took a pretty close look at his work and for the life of me I can't figure out why i was not much interested.

these are images i found on the web.  there are paintings i like better but these are representative.  he uses silk screens to repeat his repeated motifs.  naturally i love the layers.  and the complexity and the delicacy. 

it seems to me that his motifs work as signifiers.  he has been connected with neo-geo, based on his use, in some of his work, of non-western-european motifs such as arabic caligraphy and hispano-moorish designs.

taaffe has a great website:

philip taaffe