Showing posts with label art from recycled materials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art from recycled materials. Show all posts

Sunday, September 18, 2011


ARTISTS' TALK AND FINAL CHANCE TO SEE THE SHOW WITH THE ARTISTS ON HAND
  
Once Upon An Other Time
Tanya Wilkinson and Kristine Mays 


FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 6pm to 8:30, talk at 7pm



Location:
ARC Project Gallery,
1246 Folsom Street
between 8th and 9th
San Francisco, California


Exhibition dates:  Weds, Aug 31 - Sat, Sept 10th
Gallery Hours:  Weds, Thurs & Sat 12-5pm.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Fairytales & Mythic Moments

Old Wives
Once Upon An Other Time
A visual exploration of Fairytales, Myths & legends by Tanya Wilkinson and Kristine Mays

"Such stories... open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe." — J.R.R. Tolkien (On Fairy-Stories)

Exhibition dates:  Weds, Aug 31 - Sat, Sept 10th
Reception: Saturday, September 10th from 4-7pm
Gallery Hours:  Weds, Thurs & Sat 12-5pm.

Location:                                                           Contact: tanya.wilkindaughter@gmail.com
ARC Project Gallery, between 8th and 9th
1246 Folsom Street
San Francisco, California

WORK IN PROGRESS FOR "ONCE UPON AN OTHER TIME"
 When a story is foolish and fit only for the gullible we call it, misogynistically enough, an "Old Wives Tale".  In my opinion, the "Father of History", Herodotus, was the first Old Wife to publish. The many strange stories and the folk-tales he tells also earned him the title of 'The Father of Lies'.  If you want a good description of the Phoenix rising from it's own cremation, or of the strange Scythian ability to fly, you can't beat him.

detail, Old Wives












There is a collection of tales from the Middle East that is, in a way, a paradigm for story-telling. 
1001, detail
The One Thousand and One Nights of Scheherazade is a compilation of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Mesopotamian folktales and legends.  It presents the human compulsion to narrate as, literally, a lifesaver.  The collection is framed by the story of Scheherazade's nightly effort to avoid execution by telling a good tale.  Framing devices are incorporated throughout the tales themselves. Some proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Layers of archetypal reality overlap and intersect as the nights unfold. These are detail sections of a 7 foot long scroll named "1001".

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Bluebeard and other tales

Ondine
old lessons, still unlearned
I'm working on a new series inspired by old Fairytales.  Here are the first two pieces.  Ondine is a response to Irish and German stories about water creatures that become women.  These tales are a bit like "The Little Mermaid" in that the water-women fall in love with men and try to live on dry land.  Disney, of course, gave it a happy ending, something the old stories never have.  Old Lessons is a rumination about the many versions of "Bluebeard".  Most European cultures, and a few Asian ones, have Folk stories about a serial wife killer.  My favorites are the ones in which a "wily" potential victim turns the tables.


This series will be part of a pop-up show I am going to do with Kristine Mays at ARC in September.  Kristine's work is wonderful, check it out at http://kmaysart.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 21, 2011

2011 Spring Open Studios, April 1-3

mixed messages
joy of cooking
Please Join Me for Spring Open Studios 























ARC Studios 1246 Folsom, SF, between 8th & 9th Civic Center Bart

April 1st, 6-10PM - Friday Night Reception---Eat, Drink and be Foolish
April 2nd & 3rd, 12-5PM - Open Studios

Some new work, some old work, some troublesome work. My theme for this year, or perhaps for this decade is:
PRETTY OBJECTS MADE FROM SINISTER MATERIALS
dites-moi



I have also put together a photo book of my visual ruminations on this topic from the last 3 years and you can find it posted on both my blog (March 11) and my Facebook Wall. Or just come to Open Studios and see the originals.
lingering ache
Fortuna













Monday, September 20, 2010

New work

Here is a new piece called Fortuna, the third painting in the "Seen and Unseen" series.  I think it's finished but I am also considering mounting it on a dark, reddish-black background.  I notice that I go through a cycle with new pieces that is sort of like cycles in dating---I'm in love, no I'm not, this is perfect, no it's not, this is the best, oh no, don't get to happy, something will go wrong........Anyway, I'm happy with Fortuna at the moment.

REMEMBER: Open Studios, October 15,16,17 at Arc Studios, 1246 Folsom St., San Francisco

Monday, March 8, 2010

SPRING OPEN STUDIOS


Friday, April 16, 7pm-10pm 
Reception for Spring Open Studios at ARC Studios and Gallery

1246 Folsom St., between 8th and 9th.  I am in studio #205. Please click http://www.arcsf.net/index.html for a map. The Reception will feature live music and refreshments.  

Saturday and Sunday, April 17th and 18th 
Open Studios continuess at ARC over the weekend. Artist's studios, including my own, will be open to the public from 11am to 6pm both days.  Please go to  http://www.somaopenstudios.org/ for details and directions

In my studio you will see my new series “Illusion of Choice”, which is finished (at least for now), and some new Artists Books.  
 


The five pieces in "Illusion of Choice" have been both exhilarating and troubling to produce.  I have constructed figures resembling paper dolls, marionettes and death masks which are then collaged over 5 or 6  distressed layers of fashion magazine layouts and beauty advertisements.  These underlying layers are inspired, in part, by the semi-destroyed temporary walls that you often see surrounding construction sites.  The walls are plastered with tattered posters making vague promises, partially peeled away; revealing fragments of older posters with more vague promises. Such walls document relentless cycles of unfulfilled desire. Unfulfilled desire is also at the heart of beauty magazines--desire for love, for self-regard, for power--all to be gained through appearance.


The process of building up and stripping down images (choosing—tearing—shellacking—texturing—painting) was great fun.

However, working with the source material was oppressive.  Paging through magazines full of beauty advice brings me to the place where identity and capitalism meet. It is the wellspring of an unending quest for perfection.


I will also be showing the remaining three unsold pieces in my "Female Personae" series, as well as a couple of new, smaller mixed media sculptures in a similar vein.



 






 
That entire series may be viewed at http://www.tanya-wilkinson.com/

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Tanya Wilkinson

Tanya Wilkinson