Eric Barclay

It's been a while since I posted about an artist whose work I enjoy. I have a number of art and artist blogs that I follow so I'm always finding new and inventive work. Some more inventive than others.

Eric Barclay is a Texas based artist with a fun retro feel and some great use of bright colors. His print work is sweet and whimsical with a focus on animals and children. You can't help but smile when looking at it. I started following Eric's blog a while ago and am completely in love with most of his print work.

But it's his sculpture that I adore. Barclay takes cans, bottles, old light bulbs, and containers of all sorts and paints them to creates characters. The adorable little skunk above was once a Coke can. The two below, recurring characters for Barclay, are made from creamer containers. And to make me love them even more the penguin is Mr. Shackleton (based on Ernest Shackleton the Antarctic explorer I'm fascinated with) and the walrus is Mr. Hudson (based on Henry Hudson the fabled New York explorer).

Eric has done work for a number of different publications and companies. His blog and his website are filled with tons of examples of his great work. I love art that uses unique media and empty bottles, wood, gears, and lightbulbs are certainly unique. This last image, the lion below, was made from an old French's mustard container. I can only post a couple of his examples but check out the rest of his stuff on his website. It is guaranteed to make you smile.  

Lion Around

I've always wanted a lion. Like Patience and Fortitude (the New York Public Library Lions) I love the idea of having a lion guard the front door of my house. So for the last couple of years I've been looking at lawn ornaments to find just the right lion.

A couple months ago I went out to Created in Johnston, a local place where each statue is hand cast and custom painted. And I bought my own lion. He's beautiful. He was cast just for me and painted with my specified color. He's Victorian Rust, a purple-ish tinge that makes me incredibly happy although it doesn't quite match the red brick. They did a beautiful job. He's heavy and durable and will last a long time. I feel like he's now an enduring part of the house.

The cat is terrified of him. Every time she goes out she has to spend a huge amount of time smelling him to make sure he's not real. But I adore him. I love the idea of him guarding the house. And doesn't he look regal among the leaves? Next year I'm excited to see what plantings will look best surrounding him. I'm hoping for a jungle look. Perhaps he'll get me into gardening.

Right now I'm ready to name him. And I want your help. Any ideas? I kept thinking of something regal but I'm open to any suggestion.

Recycled Art

I love finding new artists, particularly ones who's work is a bit on the unusual side. When I was recently on Drawn.ca I came across an article on Ptolemy Eldrington, who's work I would definately say is unusual. It is also good for the planet and incredibly beautiful.

Ptolemy is a UK based sculptor who's primary medium is recycled material. And not just cans. One of his favorite media is used and discarded hubcaps. He bends them and cuts them to create some of the most beautiful and interesting animals I have seen. Below is a frilled lizard made entirely out of hubcaps.


Or an armadillo.

Ptolemy does not restrict himself to hubcaps though. He has created artwork out of old recycled shopping carts, kitchen appliances, and other large objects. His material is often installed in museums but some of them escape into the wild like this adorable penguin. Notice the Ford logo as an eye.

The ability to take something as solid and uninteresting as a hubcap and create beautiful creatures out of it is incredibly appealing to me. I'm fascinated by his figures and even more interested in his process. I will have to find out more about how he bends them. I'll see about finding a good interview with him and linking it. Fascinating work...and environmentally friendly.

Public Art at its best

I'm sorry about the lack of posting this week. So far this week, work has been unbearably busy. I've been taking work home each evening and then have had dinner or coffee with someone every night. I've had almost no time at home where I wasn't visiting with someone or working on homework. So there has been no time for posting. Which is sad because lately I have a ton of things to talk about.

I'll start with my new favorite find. I've been reading Cute Overload for about a year now. I love that I get to see something adorable every single day. It makes me smile. And this past week I had even more to smile about since they profiled the work of Florentijn Hofman, a dutch artist who specializes in large public art displays. And one of his recent projects is a subject near and dear to my heart. Rubber Duckies.


For those of you who haven't followed me from the beginning I wrote a blog post a while ago about my two rubber collections, rubber duckies and condoms. Yeah I know, kind of a bit odd. But I love rubber duckies. How can you not? And how can you not love a rubber ducky that towers over buildings and boats. Hofman has set up his floating scuplture in several different cities includes ones in Brazil, The Netherlands, Germany, and France. The ducky then spends several months in the city before moving on to its next location. I love Hofman's words about the installment. "The friendly floating rubber duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!" I can only imagine how passing by this bright floating icon of cheerfulness would make me smile every morning.
But Hofman has not restricted himself to ducks and his other works have been equally as amusing and beautiful. This rabbit (The Giant of Vlaardingen) was made out of scrap wood and was moved to three locations within the city. Hofman states that the wood was of poor quality but I'm just stunned at how beautiful this rabbit is. And of course scale makes it so much more impressive.

Hofman plays with scale at this exhibit which appeared at Gallery West in The Hague, Netherlands. For the exhibit, Hofman created a large number of stuffed animals many times the size of a regular stuffed animal. They were then placed into the building, crammed into corners and stairwells, and then photographed. The images play tricks on the mind and looking at the photographs I began to think that the building was simply smaller. The photos cleverly do not allow any actual measure of scale. I was impressed by how sad and at times menacing these stuffed toys could looked when I remembered that they were much taller than I was. This huge monkey had to be my favorite.

Over the years I've become a huge fan of public art, particularly cheerful public art. And Hofman is just a master. I'm in love with his ducky series but all of his scupltures have been inventive and beautiful. Hopefully, his duck will make the swim across the pond and set up an installment somewhere in the US. Landlocked as I am, I would make a trek out to see it. With my love of rubber duckies, I could simply consider it a pilgrimage.

Blessed Blocks

I've always thought that religious art was solemn and somber. At least it was in the Catholic church I grew up in. Marble statutes that stood on pillars, never touching the floor. It was very dignified and somewhat intimidating. So I'm not sure what to make of the Lego Jesus that was unveiled in Sweden yesterday. This life-size, 30,000 white block Lego statute will live in the Oenstra Gryta Church in Sweden. I'm not sure who all will be offended but I think it's great. I wonder if they blessed each individual block or the sculpture as a whole. Inventive sculpture. Who would have known that I'd actually like some religious art?

Photo by American Free Press

Specimens

My mother collects insects. I'm not sure where she picked up the hobby, but we have always had some sort of specimen lying around the house. We kids have started bringing home interesting ones that we find, like a beautiful intact praying mantis. She had bought a number of different ones including some incredibly creepy ones. The first time you see a hairy Goliath Bird-Eating Spider, you realize why so many people are afraid of arachnids.
But she doesn't just collect the creepy ones. She has some beautiful butterflies that she has collected throughout the years. Moths and butterflies of every shape and color imaginable. They always remind me of the sheer beauty of nature. Many of them are framed and hung on the walls. Nature as art. So when I found this artist on Roadside Scholar, I thought of my mother.

I'll have to check prices and see about purchasing one of these incredible and incredibly large butterflies for her. The artist is Michelle Stitzlein and she creates her beautiful bugs using objects that she finds. Those wings are mostly made with piano keys. (that should give you some idea of the scale of these pieces)

I love found art (art made from found materials) and these just speak to me. I'll have to look into them for my mother. Just gorgeous. Michelle has a number of other found art sculptures on her website. The teapot is a little more up my alley.

Cleansing post

I spent a good deal of yesterday researching the egg industry in the United States. Part of my job includes putting aside my personal feelings about something and learning as much as I can about a specific topic. Most of the time I can be slightly impartial. This was not the case with this topic. I could only do any serious research in 45 minute increments. Then I would be so sick that I would have to find something else to look at. As a semi-vegetarian, yesterday was enough to almost push me straight into vegan. Or at least make sure every egg I eat is from a free-range humanely treated chicken.

Actually I will make a plea to support California egg growers. California passed Proposition 2 in this last election that requires that all animals raised for food must be held in spaces that allow them the freedom to lie down, stand up, and stretch their legs. For many cows, pigs, and especially chickens, this has not been an option in the past. The egg growers are saying that this will bankrupt the California egg industry. If we can prove to them that humanely raised animals can still be profitable, there is a chance to move that legislation nation-wide.

But I didn't start this post to talk about the terrible things I saw and read yesterday. Instead I wanted to talk about one of the fun artists I found while looking for something to cleanse my head. With eggs on the brain, I happened to stumble upon Jeff Koons and this sculpture.


I love the glass and the delicate nature of this sculpture. Koons is a very interesting artist, using mostly pop culture references. I remember when the Des Moines Art Center purchased one of his pieces. There was a huge uproar. The art center had paid several million dollars for three shop vaccuums stacked on top of each other in lighted boxes. Similar to this.

But I love Koons' sense of fun. This has to be one of my favorite sculptures.

I love how he uses unusual materials to create his art. The glass instead of the balloon. The use of shop vacs as art. Modern art for me has always been about finding new materials and using them in a way not used before. Koons definately does that. Plus how can you not smile when you see these.

Art?

I went out walking this afternoon in a little park down by the Des Moines Art Center. A friend and I wandered through the deer trails in the woods and then I sat up in the rose garden and watched the birds. And I saw a lot of art. Now the Art Center wasn't open but that doesn't mean the art is just in the building. 

Like this interesting wood sculpture that someone left deep in the woods. 

Or this more organic mud and paper sculpture. (really a hornet's nest) 

When I got to the Rose Garden I found some beautiful roses. 

And an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture. This one is what most people would consider art. This is actually a very interesting piece. There are two others just like it. One in Scotland, one in California, and this one. There are actually three hollowed out areas surrounding the cairn. But there were a ton of little children playing on them so I snuck what pictures I could. 

Then I found these more modern sculptures on the way out. Really just graffiti but at least intelligent graffiti.