Hasta La Ideas

A conceptual artist’s first solo show explores the duality of human nature using hairnets, fish hooks and more

Rubber dairy hoses, human hair, fish hooks and other oddities serve as standard materials for Manchester-based artist Susie MacMurray, who explores the human condition with a beautifully eerie approach. Curious about life’s delicate balance, MacMurray explains she is fascinated by “how amazing and successful we are” and yet how “fragile and weak” we can be, and her unsettling compositions and shapes poetically express this duality.

MacMurray often experiments with concepts in her studio, but much of her work is site-specific, making her current London exhibition at Agnew’s Gallery the first to encompass a range of her talents in one location. “The Eyes of the Skin” showcases various drawings, sculptures and large-scale installations which give physical form and emotional context to her questions about seduction and repulsion.

The symmetry in her work seemingly serves as a metaphorical seesaw, representing the ability we have as humans to easily shift from one point to another, from calm to chaos. It’s this type of tension that captivates MacMurray, and from her thoughtful nature comes meaningful, striking work. Household gloves turned inside out, hairnets and Saran wrap are transformed to make ethereal statements about what it means to celebrate life when death is an inevitable outcome.

Her painstaking production methods and theatrical executions mark the upshot of her former career as a professional bassoonist, during which she gleaned insight on the importance of creating a piece that reaches people viscerally, not just as an intellectual narrative. In an effort to explore her own concepts instead of following the lead of a conductor, MacMurray retrained as an artist and struck out on her own in 2001.

Ten years later, MacMurray’s oeuvre contains an impressive array of works that turn banal objects into elegant displays of thought. “The Eyes of the Skin” is on view at Agnew’s Gallery from 09 November through 04 December 2011. Those in London can also check out her piece entitled “Widow”—an evening gown made of black leather and nearly 100 pounds of dressmakers pins—at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the group exhibition “Power of Making” through 02 January 2012.

A British X-ray photographer turns to whisky for his latest subject

Shooting with an X-ray machine rather than with a traditional camera, British photographer Nick Veasey produces surprising, visually enchanting work that begs the observer to think about what’s under the surface. With more than twenty years of experimental experience, the TED speaker‘s fascinating body of work spans subjects from insects and flowers to cars and even airplanes, each broken down to expose its raw inner components. Veasey’s next project finds him putting his graphic images on whisky boxes as part of a collaboration with The Macallan.

Adorned with images inspired by the Macallan’s six pillars—spiritual home, curiously small stills, finest cut, exceptional oak casks, natural color and peerless spirit—Veasey’s special box set dresses up their signature Sherry Oak 12 Year Old bottles for the 2011 holiday season.

In anticipation of the soon-to-be-released holiday editions, we talked to Veasey about his unique craft and his recent work with the whisky maker.

The idea of X-ray photography is so unique, how did it come about and how long have you been experimenting with it?

I’m not the first to use X-rays when creating art, but I do like to think my X-rays are the most impactful. I’ve been doing this and nothing else for 20 years. I’ve always been a keen experimenter and never one to obey rules. I saw some X-rays of objects a long time ago and they made a big impression on me. From my first X-ray exposure I’ve known there is nothing else I want to do. I love X-ray, it’s that simple.

Could you briefly explain the process of X-ray photography?

Indeed, special equipment is required, but not a camera. I use X-ray machines similar to those in hospitals, but more powerful. Basically electrons are charged in a vacuum. These electrons become radiographic photons, another spectrum of light. This spectrum of light is invisible and radioactive. That is why it is so dangerous. I have a specially built bunker to control the radiation. The radiographic passes through the subject being X-rayed and leaves an impression on film or a digital capture device.

What inspired your work with the Macallan? Are you a whisky drinker?

The Macallan is a big supporter of photography. They have previously worked with Rankin and Albert Watson on their Masters of Photography Series. When we X-rayed the bottle for Macallan we did it full and empty, meaning there was some on hand for me to drink! I find The Macallan to be a very nice Scotch—I get an earthy mellow taste and thoroughly enjoy a dram every now and again after a long day in the studio.

What was unique about shooting the “six pillars” of the Macallan?

Well, on one level the results are unique as these subjects had never been X-rayed before. The house and the water droplet were particularly challenging to shoot. X-raying a house is not simple, nor is X-raying a moving drop of water. My x-ray equipment is not portable so we had to create these images in my X-ray lab. That took some doing, believe me.

It’s time to fire-up your favorite image editor, grab a cup of coffee and crank out that awesome app idea you’ve been dreaming about for the Fast Track to the Mobile App design challenge. There’s less than two weeks remaining to enter with a shot at winning one of five revenue-sharing development deals to help bring your app idea to Windows Marketplace, along with other great prizes.

In recent weeks we’ve been seeing lots of great app entries coming in that tackle all sorts of daily business tasks like trend analyzing, intuitive tools for note taking and every other area of work life that could benefit from some sort of push-button ease-of-use. The real beauty of this design challenge is there’s no coding or programming experience required. Right now, more than ever, designers from all practices with little or no IX design experience can participate in this exciting and expansive area of product design that is increasingly effecting the world’s population in a positive way. We’ve even got some great Photoshop templates that take some of the work out of prototyping your apps screen designs.

If you haven’t signed up, there’s still time to register and submit your great idea. Login to enter and submit your entry by midnight on Friday, November 18th!

(more…)

Fashion and costume designer Chris March learned a lot from Project Runway. Reaching the final round of the beloved reality competition show during its fourth season was not only a major personal and professional accomplishment but also a crash course in the power of television. “The second the show started, I started getting all of these e-mails, and then I would get a million hits a month on my website,” he tells us in this second installment of our three-part Media Beat interview. “I had no idea what television could do.” Click below to hear more about his experience on Project Runway, why he considers the show a “pop culture phenomenon,” and what it all means for the future of fashion design.

You can also view this video on YouTube.

Part 1: Inside Chris March’s Madly Fashionable World

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Brooklyn-based painter curates an exhibition in Santa Monica

Curator of the upcoming exhibition “Dark Water,” Brooklyn-based painter Martin Wittfooth drops his brush in favor of hand-selecting contemporaries who inspire him, compiling 29 representational painters’ whose visions reflect the exhibition’s namesake. Wittfooth admits, “As an artist in the curator’s seat, I’ve been very biased in who I invited due to my own tastes, but I think this approach has made it a rather focused project.”

The exhibition’s haunting works shock and entrance with challenging variations on the mythic visual theme. Standout pieces include Christian Rex Van Minnen‘s grotesquely surreal creature, the mythology of Caitlin Hackett, a pregnant Venus by Steven Assael, and a continuation of Jason Yarmosky‘s Elder Kinder portraits.

Wittfooth recognizes dark water as an allusion to the inner self, but chooses paintings that tie in relevant global issues such as environmental imbalance and dependence on industry. Presenting new takes on antiquity is nothing new for Wittfooth—his solo show “The Passions,” currently running at NYC’s Lyons Wier Gallery, is a contemporary exploration of martyrdom, depicting enormous animals as the subjects of antiquated devotional paintings.

Wittfooth explains, “The image of dark water shows up in a lot of my own work and I felt that it would be an interesting symbol for other artists to work with—the title, Dark Water, is the theme itself.” With this, Wittfooth presents a collaborative resurrection of the symbol’s timeless intrigue.

“Dark Water” runs from 12 November through 3 December 2011 at the Copro Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.