Furniture & Home Goods for Colussus (and other Giants)

Did you know local Los Angeles giants (as in ogres and their kin) actually have someone making furniture for them? Well sort of. I'm sure Robert Therrien would be surprised if Jack's nemesis appeared at the workshop and ordered a set of replacement plates but at least he could fulfill the order and keep a troublesome customer happy!
The Los Angeles based artist creates over-sized (REALLY over-sized) plates, tables, chairs, pots and pans and more (which make for awesome photos ops!). You can see more images HERE.

The image above gives me instant Jack and the Beanstalk recall.

From an older exhibit reviewed by Absoluetartsnews.com:

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art – LACMA – presents the exhibition Robert Therrien from February 20 through May 7, 2000. Robert Therrien features six major sculptures, most done within the last five years. Among the newer motifs included in the exhibition are a spiral of fifteen beds, a stack of giant plates and bowls, and three 15-foot fake beards that hang on their stands from armatures that would encircle a monumental pair of ears. A further selection of two- and three-dimensional pieces in a variety of media illuminates the artist’s unique method of developing and recycling imagery.

Did you see the note about the 15 FOOT BEARDS?! This is a guy homo-gigantor-sapiens must love (sorry - not sure of the actual Latin classification of giants). It probably comes as no surprise to learn Mr. Therrien's first exposure to art was comic books. There's an awesome article on him and his wonderful art HERE.
On a related note, looks like some messy teenage giants have been roaming Venice and leaving their chewing gum behind them... (See HERE for some more great - as in both giant and cool - pictures like the one below).
Anyone noticed how we sometimes find evidence of giants (footprints, chewed gum etc) but not the actual giants themselves? Methinks giants must be super-stealthy!

The Neverending Story: Fairy Tale Art Exhibition Opening TONIGHT in LA

*STOP THE PRESSES * STOP THE PRESSES * STOP THE PRESSES*


The Neverending Story: Fairytale, Fantasy, Obsession Exhibition TONIGHT

Thursday, 2-4-10
Royal-T: Culver City, CA (U.S.A.)

I just read about this exhibition opening and thought I'd add a quick post in case any of you can get there or want to follow up on it.

From Hustler of Culture:

Inspired by the collection of Susan Hancock, this exhibition reflects the interests of an international group of artists over the past ten years, taking as its theme, fairy tales, and it's contemporary expression, fantasy.

The Never Ending Story: Fairytale, Fantasy, Obsession focuses on the singular trait that can be identified in a vast majority of contemporary art produced in the U.S., Europe, and Asia over the past decade, which is a renewed interest in narrative and the depiction of recognizable objects to tell a story. The exhibit draws on the Surrealist tradition, but also equally important, on popular cultural traditions, including book illustrations and comics, showcasing contemporary artists who create works that are accessible and familiar, yet at the same time, gothic and out-of-the-ordinary.

The Never Ending Story's curator, Laura Hoptman, is Senior Curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY.

YOU'RE INVITED!

The Never Ending Story: Fairytale, Fantasy, Obsession
Opening Reception at Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA, 90232
Thursday, February 4th, 6-11 pm

"Fall down the rabbit hole" and emerge in an Alice in Wonderland-themed opening event!

**Complimentary Absinthe cocktail!**Alice and Rabbit characters, oh my!**Full cash bar**Themed tray-passed hors d'oeuvres**Renowned Artist and DJ Dave Mueller!**

The exhibition continues till August 4th 2010, so there's a little time to plan a visit if you can't get to the fairy tale themed opening. I'll be keeping an eye out for reviews (and please feel free to link me to any if you see them).

Royal-T sounds like a very different and interesting gallery. Here's a description of the space & set-up:

Royal/T is a playful blending of café, concept shop and art exhibition space. The space reflects the interior realm of fantasy that strongly influences the artists included in owner Susan Hancock's collection. Royal/T Cafe is inspired by the meido kissa (maid café) phenomena of Akihabara--Tokyo's electronic district. Recontextualizing the underground culture of Japan that celebrates cosplay (costume play) waitresses dress in maid uniforms, with a Lolita-esque touch and the café serves a fusion of French and Japanese cuisine with local and organic California style.

You can find more information and learn more about the fairy tale extras in the Alice-themed opening HERE.

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Fun fairy tale finds

• Crankbunny's Paper Puppets, Pop Up Cards and Other Paper Novelties (Etsy find: Including flying Monkey Lady, A very weird Humpty Dumpty, Key To One's Heart, Girl Pops Out of a Fish, Lady Fish Paper Puppet [mermaid] and much more)

• ADOPTABOT - The World's first robot orphanage! (Very cute characters created from found objects and looking for new homes... Just like a modern fairy tale, complete with Gepetto-type character, a,k,a, Brian Marshall, who makes unique creations, each with their own distinct personality. Also see more characters at Mr. Marshall's Flickr account HERE.)

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BACK TO: CONTENTS

12 Days: Bronze Billy Goats Gruff Sculpture

OK - I'm kidding about this being included in the "12 Days" posts, but as I started with a pricey - but gorgeous - piece (a fairy tale weathervane), I thought I'd finish with something even more extravagant:

A $10, 000 (that's not a typo) bronze sculpture of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and their lurking nemesis, the Troll under the bridge.

It's 2'6'' x 2'2" x 2'2" so you'll need either a large (and very sturdy) table in a large house, or the perfect spot in your fairly large garden. Personally, I think this should be somewhere public where we can all enjoy it!

You can find more details about it HERE. Merry shopping!

Red Riding Hood's Shadow Sculpture

I found this sculpture on deviantART by French student artist Noemie (faelle on deviantART) and thought I'd share. Although I've seen the concept tackled in illustration from time to time I haven't seen a lot of sculptures that suggest a dual nature in our girl.I feel I have to acknowledge the design difficulties of working on a shadow as well as a recognizable figure - shall we just say Red is working on her judo skills?

You can find more of Noemie's work HERE.

Release Day: "Ice" (A Retelling of 'East Of the Sun, West Of the Moon') by Sarah Beth Durst

It's release day for "Ice" by Sarah Beth Durst (Happy release day Sarah!) and I can sincerely say I've been looking forward to this ever since I heard about it.

"Ice" is a retelling of the "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon" fairy tale from Norway and if you're not familiar with it, many of the elements still will be, as some parts are very similar to Beauty and the Beast. (You can click on the tale title to be taken to SurLaLune for the text, annotations, illustrations and more.) Sarah's book, though, is set in the modern Arctic and promises to be a really unique and wonderful retelling that will stand out among the many other novels and novelettes out there. The two chapters available to read HERE only whet my appetite more.Here's a brief blurb from Amazon:

When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back -- if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie's own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her -- until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

As is fitting for a great romance, Sarah has called this book "a love letter to my husband. Beyond the ice and the bears and the everything, ICE is about true love, the kind of love where you face the world as a team... the kind where you'd go east of the sun and west of the moon for each other." (from today's post and her reflections about how the creating the book began and why this project is personal and special.)Sarah's fun and lively personality is evident in her books, her BLOG, when she's interviewed and in the fabulous commentary of what she calls "Obscure Fairy Tales". They're one of my favorite things I've ever read in a blog, anywhere. For these she posts the traditional text of a fairy tale she's come across in her wide ranging research and, almost line by line, writes her reaction and thoughts to the events happening in the story. (Genius! I wish I'd thought to do something like this but I doubt my commentary would be half so entertaining!) While waiting for the book release date to arrive Sarah kindly put up another obscure fairy tale on her blog to keep us entertained last week. Here's a short excerpt so you can see what I mean:

The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body (from Asbjornsen and Moe)

Catchy title. I would have gone with "The Heartless Giant." Reminds me of the original title for "War and Peace": "War and the Time That Was Less Full of Death and Destruction."

Once upon a time... six princes leave home to find brides, but they forget to bring home a bride for the seventh brother.

"My brothers went a-wooing and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

On their way home, the brothers and their brides encounter a giant who turns them all to stone.

Bummer. So much for that road trip.

And so it goes on. If you love fairy tales and you've never heard of Sarah before, it should be clear by now you need to be reading her books and blog!

Her two previous books - "Into the Wild" and "Out of the Wild", both based on fairy tales with Rapunzel's daughter as the protagonist - are shown below:Regarding the "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon" fairy tale, the subject of a girl traveling the snowy wilds on the back of a polar bear is a favorite among fairy tale illustrators (Sarah says P.J. Lynch's artwork had a helping hand in inspiring her to write the novel) but instead of showing you more illustrations I thought I'd just stick with Cliff Nielsen's gorgeous cover for today (Don't you think the girl looks very much like her?) and instead found this lovely snow sculpture you're seeing throughout this post, photographed in Wyoming.
NOTE: Unfortunately I can't find any information on the snow sculptor, just that it was created for the International Snow Sculpting Championships in 2005. If anyone has more information, please let me know. I'd love to give credit to the talented sculptor.

"States of Dress" by Robin Barcus-Slonina

The dress 'sculptures' this artist makes are quite often the stuff of fairy tale. Rather than try to describe what it is she does, here's a description from her blog:

(Regarding) the art project "States of Dress" by Robin Barcus Slonina. Barcus-Slonina is an installation and performance artist creating a site-specific, interactive "dress" sculpture in each of the fifty states in the USA.

From what I understand, Ms. Barcus-Slonina took/takes 'found objects' and created a dress-form that was 'worn' (I use the term loosely, for these are not the sorts of outfits you can easily put on and take off), photographed then displayed in an exhibition she had. You can see some examples in this post.For me, these photos remind me not only of Ophelia with her flowers and her tragic drowning but also of many Russian myths and tales. I can't find anywhere that Ms. Barcus-Slonina feels her work is influenced by there's no doubt there's a fairy tale feel about many of these creations.

Here's a lovely film of her process (please note, it begins with her road trip to the state - Wyoming - in which this dress was made and the actual creation begins a few minutes in).

You can find out more about her work in her blog HERE and see more of the 'ongoing traveling sculpture project' on her website HERE.

Creatures From El

Creatures from myth, legend, fantasy (including some mecha-animals) and fairy tales; they all take shape under the talented hands and fingers of Ellen June a.k.a. "El".From her website:

‘Creatures from El’, the artwork of sculptor Ellen June, was conceived of as a means of rapid sculptural exploration that incorporated an understanding of animal physiology with a love of the fantastic, grotesque and absurd. The consequence has been a prolific sculptural output of original creatures all handmade and painted. Each creature is unique, produced in a fluid, intuitive manner, and never replicated. The first creatures from El, fashioned and sold in late 2005, were constructed exclusively of fired ceramic. Now, this sculptural repertoire has expanded to include polymer clay, epoxie and other mediums all worked by hand in their raw state. In creating each creature Ellen is working towards a level of high craftsmanship and detail, seeking to create narratives which can be extracted by the viewer continually over time.

'Seeking to create narratives"...yes! I find these sculptures are very 'tale-friendly'!
She's both very talented and incredibly prolific! I love that she approaches each creature by starting with a realistic form then going to town on the fantastic aspects. She clearly knows her animal physiology - for a LOT of species! Her galleries are so extensive I'm not certain I've seen everything yet.
No matter your taste in fantastic animals, you're bound to find some piece you like. I've tried to show a range here but it's been so hard to choose and I get lost looking all over again. I suggest you have a look for yourself at her WEBSITE, deviantART site & especially her Live Journal BLOG. You'll see what I mean.

The Magical Sculptures of David Goode

I recently discovered this amazing bronze sculpture artist, David Goode.

From his site bio:

The inspiration for David’s work stretches back to a childhood fascination with myths and folklore, and a love of the writings of Tolkein.

All the pieces are cast in bronze, using the ‘lost wax’ process, a method developed by the ancient Egyptians, whereby a new ceramic shell mould is both made and destroyed for each individual piece cast. This is one of the most costly methods of casting but its worth is that the nuance and detail of the original work is preserved in every successive casting.

As you can see from the small selection posted here, there is a magical whimsical quality to his work in addition to an awesome technical expertise. I recommend visiting his website to see many more.