Contemporary Art

Out of the many artists alive today many people can only name a few: Banksy, maybe Lucien Freud and of course Damien Hirst.He became the most expensive living artist with the sale of a medicine chest, Lullaby Spring, for £9.65 million at Sotheby's in London in June 2007. Death is a central theme in his work. He is best known for his Butcher shop series, in which dead animals (such as a shark, a sheep or a cow) are preserved, sometimes cut-up, in formaldehyde. With Hirst being such a worldwide art phenomena its no surprise that he'd end up some where in CT. The Bruce Museum in Greenwich is having a show on contemporary art that are part of Greenwich native's private art collections. This is your chance to see a piece by Damien Hirst in Connecticut.

Indakin Art (Bryan Mortin)

I owe a lot of gratitude to this man. He is one of the reasons I changed over to art from music. We were both sitting in a music theory class and I noticed him drawing comic book characters, star wars battle scenes and muscle men. All his drawings were practically flawless. I followed him into graphic design and I regret nothing. Bryan just finished up working on prop design for the movie National Treasure 2 and is currently drawing trading card designs for the new Indiana Jones movie. Check out his Art on myspace, where he has both his past projects and current ventures posted.

Mark Williams

Mark Williams makes a very bold and colorful statement in his work. Since the start of the Iraqi invasion Mark says he has been making artwork based on inexpensive toy soldiers (the small plastic ones in various unmovable poses). His paintings are brightly colored portraits of toy soldiers with play-doh molds on their heads. Mark says "The fact that there are toys of men holding guns, toys about war, about death, and murder for children at an early age interests me immensely. Plastic toy figures of men with guns and other weapons are depictions of a danger of the external world. To give a child of three years old these toy soldiers is to introduce them to a concept that is very unfortunate and gruesome."

You can check Mark's Holiday light sculptures at Hello My Name is Gallery up until the New Year.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

The arts are definitely home for the holidays in Westville. Tonight in the artsy, young and hip neighborhood in New Haven, Hello My Name Is Gallery along with Music @Arlow features a holiday themed exhibition of work that plays with the idea of holiday decorations with photography by Meg Bent and lawn light sculptures by Mark Williams. Bring drinks and a suggested donation there will also be music by Juju happening downstairs. The show goes from 6-10pm at 838 Whalley Ave, Apt # 4 in New Haven.

Graffiti Lives in New Haven!

Legendary street artist COPE 2 and friends will be hanging out at New Haven's Channel 1 on State Street tomorrow night. Check out pieces on canvas done by some of the best graffiti artists of all time and some of todays hottest rising stars. The opening festivities start at 6pm and goes on till 10pm. The show runs through January 27th.

Women in Art?

I was just looking through lots of old journals and art history books and one thing that strikes me is the lack of female artists that have been published and studied throughout art history. When I thought about why that was the case it seemed that the common answer is that women throughout history have been in the home. They were under the guidance, first of her father and then of her husband. A women's job was to be a wife, a mother. Both of these are full time jobs but on top of that she had to run a household as well. Therefore until the 20th century there was very little opportunities for women. Today I see some of the best work done by women, however i still feel there is a division in the art world between male and female. What do you think is the current role that gender plays in the art world? Why is it that all the famous artists in history are male for the most part? (exeptions being Frida O'keefe, Sherman) I would love it if people had some opinions on this subject. I open the floor to you all.

Jemmanimals

Jemma Williams is one of the most exciting and innovative young artists in the greater New Haven area. Her textile designs are both innovate and fashionable, such as handbags and dresses made completely out of zippers, tea bags and recycled objects. Jemmanimals is her plush line of colorful imaginative plushies with tons of personality. Jemma also is the co-founder of Hello My Name Is Gallery. Stop by and say hello and pick up a wonderful plush animal.

C.W.O.S 2007

Artspace
Opening Exhibition: Friday, October, 12th 5-8pm
Erector Square Studios: October 13-14, Saturday and Sunday, 12-5pm
West Side Individual Studios: Saturday October 20, 12-5pm
East Side Individual Studios: Sunday October 21
Alternative Space: Saturday October 27 and Sunday 28, 11-6pm

"Over three weekends, visitors can observe painters at work in Erector Square, hop on a bike tour around Individual Studios, and see site specific installations created for the Alternative Space. A month-long central exhibition at Artspace features one work by every participant. Through the Alternative Space project, CWOS connects artists and the public with different neighborhoods of New Haven every year. This year's site is the former Hamden Middle School, located at 550 Newhall Street in Hamden, right over the border from New Haven.

For more info check out C.W.O.S

Kevin Van Aelst

The subjects in Kevin Van Aelst's color photographs are every day foods and objects. The simple materials are arranged into complex scientific and technological influenced shapes and patterns. Truly amazing conceptual work. Kevin will be showing his work at Art Space's Open Studios coming up in October

Fakes and Forgeries

Fakes and Forgeries: The Art of Deception is currently going on at the Bruce Museum in Greenwhich. The show features Western painting and sculpture forged and faked from all periods of art history. Forgery techniques are explored and revealed as are the techniques and steps used to detect these forgeries.

The image shown above is Han van Meegeren’s legendary forgery, Christ and His Disciples at Emmaus, in the style of Johannes Vermeer, is possibly the most famous forgery in the world.

We Love Munny

In addition to great tattooing, the Hope Gallery (mentioned in the previous post) has wall space where the artists exhibit their fine art. Most of the work on the walls is usually for sale. On June 29th, the Hope Gallery will be hosting the "We Luv Munny" show. "We Luv Munny", is a show featuring art work about, and done on the Beloved Munny. If you don't know what a Munny is, check out kid robot for more on that!


*Munny featuring the art of Julio Rodriguez.

Hope Gallery Tattoos

Body art has always been an interest of mine, however I am always way to indecisive to decide on what I'd like to be inked on my skin permanently. When I do get my first tattoo I know its going to be at the Hope Gallery in Downtown New Haven. The above image was some work that my friends (twins) got done by artist Tim Harris at the Hope Gallery last week. Tim is one of four artists (Tim Harris, Joe Capobianco, Julio Rodriguez, and Eric Merrill) at the gallery. Make sure to call and make an appointment because they get booked really really quickly.

Helvetica The Film

Helvetica is a documentary film about one of the most widely used typefaces of our generation. Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day; with interviews from some of the most important desiners in the field. The film will be making it's way to Connecticut this month. The movie will screen at UConn in Storrs on April 18th and at Yale in New Haven on the 19th. This is a must see for all designers and anyone who likes good design in everday life.

Joe Smolinski

New Haven artist Joe Smolinski draws cell phone trees with very unique personalities. The details are really amazing that it's hard to believe you can get such great results from a graphite pencil. You can check out some of his drawings exhibited from April 10th - 28th at Artspace New Haven and even bid on an original at the Annual Gala Benefit Art Auction on Arpil 28th.

Bizarregoylz™

Bristol CT sculpter Jared Gagne came across the idea for his Bizarregoylz™ series while playing with clay on his kitchen table one day. The bizzaregoylz are all fully customized by Jared. It must be real sweet having an army of bizzaregoylz around the house.

Jeff Slomba

The Seton Gallery at the University of New Haven will be showing the mind altering surrealist sculpture's of Jeff Slomba. The opening reception is tommarow Wednesday March 28th from 4:30 - 6:30pm. The exhibition will go on until April 20th. Also there will be a lecture from the artist on April 18th from 3:00 - 4:00pm.

Welcome.

Well this is the inaugural post. First of all, thank you for taking the time to check out this blog. Im going to do my very best to update this daily and provide some really really fascinating links and information. This blog is all about the art scene in Connecticut. While many people might think of Connecticut and totally dismiss the idea of a large and thriving art scene existing, the constitution state has some really amazing contemporary artists, illustrators, and graphic designers in the world. So that being said, keep checking back for lots and lots of posts to satisfy your art needs. If you live in Connecticut and want to contribute or even post on the blog just drop me a line: . Thanks for checking us out and we hope to see ya soon!