This imaginative self-portrait, titled "Iris," by Moria Peters reminded me of all the different elements we had to focus on when we were creating our own portraits. It has a huge array of colors but they all blend and move together throughout the picture and create a sense of unity that can definitely be hard to achieve with such a numerous amount of different colors. There's soft, flowing movement and a myraid of different shapes that follow the flow of the painting. And while the subject of the piece is centered, I think the real focus-- the cascade of colors ascending upward-- raises away from the center, creating an interesting composition.

the end

For my last blog post I decided to acknowledge the work of the street artist know as Bansky. The notoriously secretive artist from the UK has continued to shock, amaze and even offend many people with his simple and approachable yet profound images and messages.
Street art is a new generation of art using stencils, stickers, paint and sculptures to make a mark or even just liven up a big, blank, ugly wall, but the only problem is that it’s illegal. It is known as vandalism and the brave people who take the risk of committing a crime for the sake of art, must do so in late hours with the law on their back.

Using 3D buildings and walls of all sorts as his canvas, Banksy creates 2D images with messages that he allows his audience respect and accept or pass by like any old billboard we see daily.

Brian Dettmer

This is one of many "book autopsies" by Brian Dettmer. He carves through the books to create extremely intricate 3D art so detailed and fragile it's almost like clockwork, making great usage of space and shape to create a sense of depth. Many of these art pieces are actually several books put together and cut through as one body to create larger, sculpture-like works. Others are modified so extensively they hardly end up looking like books, like this one:

Olafur Eliasson

Moving away slightly from the subject of repurposed art, Olafur Eliasson made her own hand-bound book by laser-cutting each page to make these highly realistic book "submerged" book sculptures.  It is really fascinating how realistic it can look when each page is cut with that degree of accuracy.  The plain white paper also makes the book look more like a canvas, and less like the art is covering up something that was already there.  It fills the canvas with negative space and draws your attention to the shadows inside the sculpture.

Missoula "First Friday" Alterations

Apart of Missoula, Montana's "First Friday" Art Series, here is an untitled piece done by one of their local librarians (Who goes nameless). It is a really simple but moving piece and concept done by the artist which includes many outside materials instead of just the book itself. The artist uses a funnel with pieces of other books and large blue letters to create a "grinder" in the the bind of the book. This gives the illusion that these are the materials used to create a great read. Also the bright red of the funnel and sky blue of the letters brings the audience's attention to, what I view as, the centerpiece of the artwork. Dope!