New Artist Crush: Shane McAdams

After only recently discovering artist Shane McAdams, I have fallen head over heels in love with his colourful Ball Point Pen paintings. McAdams states that his inspiration is from the abstract-looking Southwest desert he grew up in, which I completely understand as the beautiful images do to me resemble land formations and other natural landscapes. The best thing for me about these paintings is his process of achieving the bold colours that make the images so vibrant, the paintings have to be taken to a tanning salon as the UV light is what makes the colours pop! Personally I have never liked or agreed with tanning salons but in the name of art, UV me up baby!!
Here are a few of my favourite images of the bright burst of ball point coloured paintings. But to find out more about this artist visit www.shanemcadams.com

Jemima Stehli

For my dissertation entitled 'Who has control, Artist or Model?' one of the main artists I am discussing is Jemima Stehli as I find her work fascinating as it deliberates around theories of the gaze and the objectification of the female body. Often using herself as the subject, she questions the notion that the female nude can only be viewed passively. As I research more into her work she has become a bigger and bigger influence to me and I love her confidence of putting herself and her body out there. Something I wish I could do more and want to do more. I recently purchased these two books to use as research for my essay and have been totally absorbed in them, especially Contemporary British Women Artists in their own words which interviews 20 of what I believe are some of the most important women in art today, it is extremely interesting to read as a female artist myself.

The main work by Stehli that I am looking at is her Strip series, where she slowly reveals her naked body to a series of male curators, art dealers, writers and critics, asking them to release her camera's shutter through a cable from time to time. The set is her studio, a place that is often considered a site of narcissistic production, and her body is one that fits the idealized version of a female body promoted by the media. By using the power of a body stripped bare to agitate and fluster, Stehli denies her subject control of their own image, while still relinquishing her own control by asking him to decide on the moment of representation. I absolutely love the complexities of this series as we see the personalities of the men as they either deliberately look away from her naked presence or stare straight at her with masculine bravado. It is a fascinating series to research and here are some of the images for you to decide upon but I strongly recommend her book pictured above as it has a lot more of her wonderful work all dealing with the idea of the voyeuristic gaze.

This Year I'm Loving...

...photographs by Nigel Shafran. My friend introduced me to his website and ever since I have been seeing his work all over the place (including on the front cover of Theatres of the Real a book I am using for my dissertation) and I just can't get enough of him. As a huge fan of William Eggleston it is really interesting to see a photographer take on this snapshot, everyday documentary style but give it his own edge. I am absolutely loving his work and I hope you will too. Here are a few of my favourite images but of course, do not hesitate to visit his website for a look at his full work.

New Year Reading

Well Bloggers firstly a Happy New Year to all (I know it's a bit late but I have been in Morzine skiing (pictures to come soon)).

So, for Christmas Santa bought me many lovely presents as I am sure he did to you all. One such present was a book about one of my favourite artists entitled, 'A Bigger Message Conversations With David Hockney' by Martin Gayford. I recommend this book to all you Hockney fans out there as it was absolutely fascinating especially since it talks a lot about Hockney's work on the iPhone and iPad. I am going to see his exhibition at the Royal Academy on the 20th Jan and this book has made me even more excited about going to see it as well as making me want to pick up an easel and paint! So all you art lovers out there use the grandparents Christmas cheque to go buy it immediately... I insist!