Ana Serrano

    Ana Serrano creates buildings, both miniature and life-size, out of paper, cartons, cardboard,  and other various materials/objects.  I think her work exudes undeniable charm and personality. The buildings are whimsical yet believable, which makes me want to discover them in real life.  

Album Covers

       I love music just as much as art, and I've always been inspired by "the art of the album cover" due to it's ability to somewhat combine the two.  I've always found that combination to be very powerful.  Album covers can be extremely successful in describing a time period, mood, purpose, etc.  I've posted just a few examples that I really like, but I hope to keep adding to this post the more I add to this blog.

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... and the back of this one too! (I think I like the back cover better than the front cover)

Nouvelle Vague, "3"

Audubon's "The Birds of America"

    "The Birds of America" was created by John James Audubon in the mid-1800's.  The book showcases various bird species found in North America at that time through gorgeous, one-of-a-kind illustrations.  These watercolor drawings could be reason alone to find sincere interest in the work, however I am also enthralled by the mystery behind it.  The work is widely considered to be a very important historical document, however there is one flaw - one of the species is actually not native to North America.  The link below provides a fascinating explanation:

 http://www.travelchannel.com/video/audubons-mysterious-bird

Kate Middleton viewing a page from "Birds of America"

Sandy Skoglund

     I really enjoy the work of Sandy Skoglund, photographer and installation artist.  Her vision is quirky and colorful, with a side of bizarre.  Her photographs don't seek to explain a moment.  Instead, they make you feel completely in the dark about what the context of the image is.  I especially like how her work is often separated into series, which are extremely variant from one another - the evolution of her career is very evident this way.  One of my favorite series is "True Fiction Two." (See below)

http://www.sandyskoglund.com/pages/imagelist_fl/2004fl/index.html

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt

       I admire Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt for having undying faith in his very unconventional work.  Known as one of the first artists to introduce the ideas of 'kitsch' in art and installation art, he was not taken seriously as a creator of fine art for a large part of his career.  Today, he is celebrated in the contemporary art world for opening the door to many themes we see in important artwork today; irony, humor, the use of junk materials, the idea of installation art, site-specific work, kitsch.. the list goes on.  His courage to create what he deems important work, regardless of public opinion, is what makes him such a crucial figure today.

"Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, can travel through, only with the eye."
-Clement Greenberg, art critic and essayist