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.