Tara Donavan

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Last weekend we managed to catch the last showing of Tara Donavan's exhibition at the Pace Gallery. The gallery space was completely dedicated to her large-scale installation called 'Untitled', 2011.

The Brooklyn artist is known for transforming everyday objects such as Styrofoam cups, scotch tape, pins and drinking straws into huge bio-organic sculptures, and this one was no exception.

'Untitled' consisted of varying sizes of stacked metallic balls, created by folded sheets of mylar and hot glue, to form organic almost molecular structures. Some areas of the sculpture reach 11 feet high. Donovan says of her work, "It is not like I'm trying to simulate nature. It's more of a mimicking of the way of nature, the way things actually grow."

The enormous glimmering balls, that encompassed the whole room, reminded me of Christmas baubles or even one of my cat's toys but on a grander scale of course! The reflective quality of the mylar is important to the visual balance it maintains within the white space, made more apparent when you walk around the piece. Stepping back from it, it was just stunning and so graphic. I have to say I had to resist all temptation to scrunch the balls.

Scott Campbell - at the OhWow NYC

If You Don't Belong, Don't Be Long at the Oh Wow Gallery is Scott Campbell's first solo exhibition in New York.

I last posted about Mr Campbell on 24th February 2010, and I was delighted to hear he finally had an exhibit in town.

While at the exhibition I got chatting to the curator about the way he works, in particular I wanted to know if he uses real dollar bills as I had seen a photograph of him with a sheet if dollar bills in the New York Times. It turns out they they are real dollars, Campbell contacted the treasury and requests full uncut and unwatermarked sheets of dollars, they cost a little more than face value. These uncut dollars allow him to work in a larger scale and more refined due to the crispness of the sheets, making a nice contrast to his beaten up used dollar stacks.

The exhibition had only been open 2 weeks by the time I went to check it out and all but 5 pieces had sold!



Since the exhibition I've had the pleasure to meet 2 lovely people who have had tattoos done by the talented Mr Campbell and they are faultless and beautiful.

The exhibition runs from 29th April - 30th May 2010.

Scott Campbell - tattooist

When I was searching for images for Scott C. when I re-stumbled across this Scott Campbell, the tattoo artist who creates astonishing laser-cut etchings in stacked $1 dollar bills. He's been on my list to blog for a few months now but keep getting side tracked! It seems fitting to blog about him now, being that he is another talented guy with the same name as the previous post!

Scott is a Louisianan born, New York-based tattoo artist (sculptor, painter, illustrator and photographer...phew!). He creates these immense pieces of art by drawing onto each dollar bill layer, he then cuts them up and glues them together in stacks of 100 one dollar bills - an expensive hobby! He exhibited these dollar sculptures in 2008 at London Lazaride's gallery, called Always Almost There.

"Campbell has the taken the blue collar grit and lore of tattoo culture and extracted a visual language and wit that are supremely refined and deliberate. He has an uncanny ability to tell a story with any medium, flesh or otherwise." - OHWOW Gallery

Close up images via Ian Cox

Through the Looking Glass - Bergdorf Goodman window displays

Every Christmas it's traditional for the 5th Ave stores to compete against each other via their window displays, and the Bergdorf Goodman A Compendium of Curiosities holiday window displays are a spectacle to be seen.

The theme is based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass. Of course it's no coincidence that Bergdorf have chosen this theme as the hugely anticipated Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland is due out early next year.

This years window display was created by Bergdorf’s Senior Director of Visual Presentation, David Hoey, and his team of artists. The windows are spectacular; complete decadence, nods to Carroll's characters and not and inch of empty space. The team at BG have perfectly captured fantasy through their looking glass displays and they submerge you into imaginary worlds of dreams, luxury fashion and products. Curiouser and Curiouser...

My personal favourite is the paper/stationery window.

Bill Turnbull

British fine artist, Ben Turnbull (not to be mistaken for the BBC journalist and presenter of the same name), recently had an exhibition at Eleven gallery in London, I Don't Like Mondays. He also had a feature in Wallpaper magazine and on It's Nice That.

It is his wood carvings that attracted me to see more of his work. I've always had a fondness towards school desks, I even own the 1950s twin lidded school desk with ink wells that I sat at during primary school. In the late 80s, our school decided to get rid of the "old fashioned" furniture and replace it with horrible plastic stuff, and so my parents bought it for me. I love the feeling of being sat at it and freely graffiting!

Anyway, back to Ben...his most recent work is a reflection of America's fascination with gun culture: it's a beautiful juxtaposition of school children innocence (and their boredom doodles) against the sad reality that guns and harmful weapons have infiltrated our societies. They are all aptly named Lesson 1, Lesson 2 etc.

I also like the fact that he has used salvaged school desks, as their pen-marked scribbles and markings make for great backgrounds and canvases. There are seven desk tops in total including weapons such as western styled guns, grenades and futuristic/space-age guns. The weapons are intricately part-carved out of the desk lid and they gently surface out of the woodwork. I don't know what technique he has used to create these works of art, but it's impressive. I even like his signature that is carved on the bottom left of the canvas.

He is definitely out to shock, turning the innocence of boys toys and school life to the dangers and corruption of firearms. He explains why toys are central to his work: ‘Force fed on violence, abused by a controlling superpower and blackmailed through patriotism, the public are ultimately as disposable as the toys they once played with’.

Stephane Halleux

I recently got sent a link to Stephane Halleux's website, and I'm very pleased to have had the pleasure! The Belgium sculptor has developed a fascination with robotics, be it characters; animals; cars; flying objects or chairs. His style has a strong Steampunk feel to it - kind of Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events mixed with Tim Burton's quirky creativity.







These cyborganic sculptures are created with with mixed medias such as leather, metal, wood pulp and salvaged materials. They look so fragile, especially the thin legged models and would work beautifully in a stop motion animation film. Although I'm not sure if the sculptures are malleable or can be easily turned into animatronics. See his website for more images and close ups of his spectacular mechanical curiosities.

Tom Otterness

These humorous installations, entitled Life Underground from 1998, were commissioned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Arts for Transit for the 14th Street and 8th Avenue subway station in New York. They are the creations of Tom Otterness. I thought his rotund characters were really cute and it's fun to try and spot them. His bronze sculptures emerge from the floors and ceilings throughout and above the station. There are a total of 100 cast-bronze sculptures placed throughout the platforms and stairways of the A, C, E, and L lines of the station.

His style is very whimsical and cartoon-like whilst containing a political punch. He has also created pieces for Times Square, children's playgrounds and other parks around the world.

"These sculptures depict, among other things, huge pennies, pudgy characters in business suits with moneybag heads, helmeted workers holding giant tools, and crocodiles crawling out from under sewer covers. The main theme of his work seems to be the struggle of the little man against the Capitalist machine in a difficult and strange city."- Vince Carducci, cultural critic and social researcher.