Inky Wings equals unparalleled art from England........

No one is better than Judith McNichol. There I said it. Her birdhouses are random and spectacular. Her found metal objects are so damn appealing. Her drawings are obsessive.......really obsessive and wonderful. Some of the larger ones.....six or seven feet long, allow you to choose a small space and get lost in the tiny detail. Back up and see that detail take on a larger voice in another form, back up again and it becomes a piece of an even larger puzzle. I am stunned by the intricacy and beauty of her work, and will someday try to photograph a huge piece which is presently rolled in a large tube in the closet. It would take up an entire wall, and deserves to do so! But I wouldn't have windows to the outside anymore.....only to the inside of a great artist.

Cynthia Rogers, a recycler of memories.......

Assemblage constructions are what Cynthia Rogers creates from "found objects, juxtaposed in surprising ways, subverting reason and bringing to the forefront subconscious associations, meanings and metaphors that express (Cynthia's) response to contemporary life."

This California artist has quite a vocabulary, made up of simple treasures and bits of flotsam and jetsam which are familiar and yet a little strange at the same time. She spent endless hours as a child, beach-combing, in hopes of finding the illusive and colorful hand blown glass globes used in the Sea of Japan in fishing nets, and on her walks she collected the sea's offerings, as many of us have done. But, instead of just existing as a collection decorating a shelf, some of these items have found their way into her assemblages. Cynthia has returned to these roots and adds to her bounty "discarded objects once loved, now abandoned. It is a kind of consumer recycling program, where psychologically, all things are considered." Click on the title link and explore her site, which is filled with wondrous surprises.

Jail and Museum do not usually end up in the same sentence....

Pedro Martin DeClet has come a very long way since his stint as head of the Latin Kings gang in the CT prison system. His works are now on display in the American Visionary Art Museum's newest show, Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness, curated by Roger Manley. Declet's Portrait de Genocide honors past martyrs in both the American Indian and Hispanic culture and is a powerful work with it's bleeding pictograph placed center stage. In another room is a hand-made book filled with paintings and paperwork which reflect his disavowal of the infamous gang, along with an altered book, a cross sculpture and a canvas carrying bag sporting a self-portrait. There is also a construction called El Philosopher which is made up of a time clock together with time cards hand painted by the artist. Pedro Martin DeClet is a man who does not look back, but rather reflects on a positive future. I thank Roger Manley for having an open mind and including these important works in his stellar show. It will run for close to a year and is worth the visit to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, where the AVAM sits like a dazzling crowning jewel.
Photos courtesy of Roger Manley, curator

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness......AVAM

Judge for yourselves, the ART of Chris Mars

I'm simply giving you a quote and posting three works......the art of Chris Mars speaks volumes for itself. Do click on the title and spend some time ruminating on his works. It might not be your style, but boy, is he talented.
"From my hands, my mission: To free the oppressed; to champion the persecuted, and the submissive; to liberate through revelation the actualized Self in those proposed by some to have no self at all. It’s in every single one of us, somewhere underneath that word on our chest.
In my hands, my version: All art is political in some sense, be it through conformity, reflection, propaganda or rebellion. My paintings are rallies and trials, photographs of a moment when Truth was made public, and Mercy known.
Question why a villain is villainized, a victim martyred. Ask why a group is demonized, and the motives for control. See for yourself what the truth looks like in your hands. Dig it up and hold it for a while. This work you see, it’s my Truth. But please don’t take my word for it."