Out for the Weekend

Back on Monday.

I'm taking the ferry over for a long weekend on Saba, an island near St. Maarten that supposedly had A-mazing scuba diving. Fingers crossed!






P.S. I am currently a fan of rust.

Ravels in Review: It's Summer!

I'm thrilled to be writing this when it's actually hot and sunny outside. Summer had to come eventually, I suppose, and it's basically August. So let's see:

• The BBC updated Byron's image with a music video, to odd effect, but I appreciate the effort.

• Then I read the collected poems of E.E. Cummings in one sitting, but figured I'd spare you and hunt up the one I really liked.

• I saw In & Out of Amsterdam at MoMA. More intellectually apppealing than visually, and I might just be more visual.

• I found out a bit about rust used in art, specifically rust paints. (Thanks all!)

• For something absolutely delightful and cheering on your Friday, check out this artist dress code.

• Artists do not own Mickey Mouse, and more illegal art due to copyright.

Also, I'm trying out the twitter thing. If you're on there, come find me at linnea_west. Have a great weekend!

k

Rust on the Brain

A friend told me about photographer and painter Charlotta Janssen, image above left, and I was most intrigued by her working methods. She paints from old photographs in in a color palette limited to black, white, aqua and grey iron. Once the piece is finished, she rusts it and the colors change and bleed into each other. Her next show is August 8 at Boltox Gallery on Shelter Island, if you happen to be in those parts.




Then I came across close up shots (image detail top, above Janssen's Jones' Family Car) from Richard Serra's 2007 retrospective at MoMA that really captured the patina of the steel slabs he works with. To encourage oxidation, or rust, sprinklers are sometimes directed at the large slabs of steel he uses in his sculpture. Natural weathering of his outdoor installations creates the same effect, but it is one I've failed to notice when wandering amid his gigantic creations concerned with the space and form.

Rust is such an odd thing to work with, rather than protect works from, and it creates a really rich palette. I'm so intrigued by the idea of paint that rusts--anybody know anything about that? Or how else rust is used?