2014 Runway Fashions Depicted In Embroidery by Jenifer Corker

Artist, jewelry designer and embroiderer Jenifer Corker depicted some of the latest fashions to walk the runway in embroidery for SHOW Studio.


above: Jenifer Corker, Embroidery, Hussein Chayalan FW 2014 (detail)

Her recreation of pieces from the 2014 Fall Winter collections of fashion designers Hussein Chayalan, Chanel, Givenchy, Giambattista Valli, Haider Ackerman, Celine, Yojhi Yamamoto, Miu Miu, Rick Owens, Valentino, Gareth Pugh, Iris Van Herpen, Balenciaga and Dries Van Noten are an unusual, compelling and charming take on fashion illustration.

Celine:



Chanel:


Hussein Chayalan:



Dries Van Noten:



Gareth Pugh:



Giambattista Valli:



Givenchy:


Haider Ackerman:


Iris Van Herpen:


Miu Miu:


Rick Owens:



Valentino:


Yojhi Yamamoto:


And shown cropped at the top of this post, Balenciaga:


SHOWStudio
Jenifer Corker

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Arek chanel, contemporary art, designer dresses, embroidery, fashion, gareth pugh, handsewn, illustration, iris van herpen, runway fashions

You May Know Her as Jessa on GIRLS, But Jemima Kirke Is Also A Talented Artist.

above: Jemima stands in front of two of her works (image cropped, courtesy of Warholian)

above left: Jemima on GIRLS and above right: a 2010 self-portrait in oil (SOLD)

London-born actress Jemima Kirke, who you may know as the selfish, self-destructive but likeable Jessa on the HBO series GIRLS, also happens to be a fine artist. The 27 year old, who was born hip with a drummer as a father and a mother who owns a vintage boutique, received a BFA in painting from the reputable RISD in 2008 and considers being a fine artist as her real work.


above: Domino by Jemima Kirke, 2013 oil on canvas 36"x25" (SOLD)

Now living and painting in New York, Jemima's oil paintings and watercolors are a series of portraits (some friends, some of herself and mostly of women) which, not unlike her own character in GIRLS, embody a certain vulnerability combined with a sense of aloofness.


above: Jemima as Jessa on GIRLS in 2014 (image courtesy of HBO)

above: Jemima in her studio (image courtesy of artfrombehind)

The portraits, which are all unapologetically brave, are not flattering per se, but instead imperfect and provocative. With a style reminiscent of the wonderful portraiture of Alice Neel and David Tomb, Jemima introduces us to both the sitter's external appearance while simultaneously evoking their inner individuality.


above left: Liz Pregnant; above right: Anabelle


above left: Noah; above right: Katy


above: Eleonore, 2011 oil on canvas 29"x24"


above left: Elaine; above right: Gideon


above left: Francesca; above right: Elissa


above: Sea, 2011 oil on canvas 42"x36"


above: two untitled Self-portraits, both done in 2006

Jemima has an upcoming solo show at San Francisco's Fouladi Projects, featuring her portraits of women, beginning March 21st through May 10, 2014

About (from her website):
Jemima Kirke was born in London in 1985. She received her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. She currently resides and works in Brooklyn, NY.


above: Jemima at work (source unknown)

Skylight Projects is pleased to present A Brief History, an exhibition of new oil paintings and multimedia drawing and collage by Jemima Kirke (b. 1985, London, UK). Kirke was raised in New York City and received her BFA in Painting from RISD in 2008. Inverting the tradition of oil portraiture, Kirke explores the multi-faceted layers of character within each of the models and friends who sit for. As viewers we are made distinctly aware of the painter’s hand and controlling gaze—we are left to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves as voyeurs as well as about the masks and performances we engage in daily.

Drawing on influences as varied as Edouard Manet and Lucian Freud, Kirke stays firmly grounded in a painterly tradition aiming to dissect her own gaze and her models own representations of themselves while underlining the staged relationship that is created with her subject within the studio. Kirke works quickly, and without preliminary sketches, allowing the painting to unfold in real time—her canvas yields an image of this live experience between artist and subject.

These people become both familiar and unclear—women are both beautiful and highly disturbing, strangers and close acquaintances are treated with equal care and intimacy as the artist manipulates and distorts them. By turns both heart-breakingly intimate and ultimately entirely distant, Kirke flees from obvious representations of her subject matter to focus on an underlying darkness and the interplay of pathology that exists between artist and the person studied. Her practice highlights the uncanny moment of fusion between the sitter’s projected identity and the internal character that the artist imposes upon her subject. The strange tension between what we reveal and what we hide flits across the faces of women turning them into ghoulish figures one minute, and provocative sirens the next; young children are in the same instant, frighteningly old, terrifyingly grotesque and tantalizingly naïve.

A Brief History presents us with the short version of a long story that spans various contexts and generations. We are left wondering not so much about who these people are, but rather how and why Kirke has brought them together as a beautiful and twisted family overrun with ghosts and memories. This collection of paintings and collages grasps for insight into a moment of time shared between artist and subject—a ripe moment, a rich palimpsest of imagery and stories that speaks to the depth and length of our personal histories and the stranger than fiction characters we each embody.

See more of her work here

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Arek art, celebrity, contemporary art, contemporary paintings, fine art, oil paintings, painting, portraiture, television, watercolors

Whimsical Entrance Gates Designed For An Amsterdam School Garden by Tjep.

Two stunning entrance gates serve as portals to nature in the historical Amstel Area. Frank Tjepkema (aka Tjep), along with Leonie Janssen, crafted two colored galvanized steel gates coated with epoxy and on a concrete foundation for the Aemstel Schooltuin (school garden).






The new working-garden, where over 500 school children aged 9 to 11 will learn about nature and grow their own plants, is situated on Kalfjeslaan, Amstel – a picturesque place steeped in rich cultural history.




Tjep. had the honour of being asked to create two new sets of entrance gates to the garden, a project commissioned by Stadsdeel Zuid, the Amsterdam South City Council.



Two sets of monumental gates will guard both approaches to Aemstel Schooltuin and add a contemporary element to this historic area. Settled next to the Riekermolen, built in 1636, the area has a long history of natural beauty appreciated by none other than Rembrandt himself. His statue sits next to the new school garden, frozen in the act of painting the famous windmill. One set of gates will mark the entrance from Kalfjeslaan, and the other will sit on the route from Amsteldijk.




“This amazing area deserved a design that paid homage to the unique context, but also brought a new influence to the place.” Says Tjep. founder and lead designer, Frank Tjepkema. The design integrates references to the lush flora and fauna of the surrounding environment, classical era elements with a contemporary urban graffiti construction.

Frank Tjepkema states that “a strict functional requirement was that the gates would stop those notorious plant criminals, rabbits – which we do through tightly woven patterns at the bottom. When constructed, these gates will stand at eight meters wide and four meters tall and become a portal, ushering people from the urban Amstel to the historic landscape beyond. I hope children and others will feel some anticipation, some excitement, as they pass through the gates to discover the verdant wonders of nature.”



Tjep
Production of the gates by Smederij van Rijn 

all photos and information courtesy of Frank Tjepkema

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Arek architecture, building design, contemporary art, frank Tjepkema, garden sculpture, gardening, lace fence, metal art, sculpture, tjep

My Valentine To You: The Evolution Of The Kiss In Art.

Ah, the kiss. The most romantic expression of love and tenderness. You may think that kissing as a subject in fine art is trite or cliche, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been depicted beautifully by many of the world's most well-known and respected artists. As my Valentine to you, I have rounded up some of the most interesting and iconic expressions of "The Kiss"  (Le Baiser, Der Kuss) by established artists over the past 150 years.

THE KISS:
The Kiss has long been a favorite subject for painters but no one has captured it quite like the pieces shown below, many of which have been reproduced over and over again. Here are some very famous - and not so famous - versions in chronological order starting with one of the most well-known examples that inspired many of the others, Francesco Hayez' The Kiss.

Francesco Hayez, The Kiss, 1859:


Auguste Rodin, The Kiss, marble sculpture. The piece was initially commissioned by the French State in 1888 and carved between 1888 and 1898. It was cast in bronze by Rodin as well:


William-Adolphe Bouguereau's most famous painting, Cupid and Psyche as Infants, is often incorrectly labeled as Le Premier Baiser (The First Kiss, 1873), 1890:


One of the earliest known paintings of a same sex kiss is that by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He actually painted two works of the female couple in a lip lock in the same year and the two are often confused.

The Kiss, 1892:

In Bed, The Kiss (1892):


Edvard Munch also created multiple versions of his own interpretation of The Kiss in oil paint, lithography and woodcut as shown below.

The Kiss painting, 1897:

The Kiss lithograph, 1897:

The Kiss woodcut, 1897:


Easily the most well-known of Austrian painter Gustave Klimt's work is his The Kiss, painted between 1908 and 1909:


Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi's modern interpretation in stone as well as plaster. He created many versions of The Kiss, further simplifying geometric forms and sparse objects in each version, tending each time further toward abstraction.

The Kiss, stone, 1907-1910:

The Kiss, plaster, 1907-1910:


Rene Magritte's surrealist Interpretation of The Kiss, 1951:


Pablo Picasso actually created many pieces (at least 10) named The Kiss (or Le Baiser) during the years of his life.

First, his figurative version of The Kiss (also known as The Embrace), approx 1905:

His abstracted version of The Kiss in 1925:

His surrealist version of The Kiss  (also known as Figures By The Seaside) in 1931:

In 1969, Picasso painted a series of three pictures on the theme of 'The Kiss' (artist Jeff Koons owns one the momochromatic version on the left of the second photo) a day before his 88th birthday at his home at Mougins along the Côte d'Azur, where he lived the last fifteen years of his life:


And yet another painting of The Kiss by Picasso in 1969:


Joël Peter Witkin, an American photographer whose work often involves corpses, created this grotesque version of The Kiss in 1982:


South African artist Tracey Rose, who works with photography, video installations and performance art, created this live installation of The Kiss in 2001 of which 6 editions of Lamba prints were made:


William Cobbing further contemporized The Kiss by adding yet another medium, video, in 2004:


Inspired by a journalist's photo of then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker sharing a kiss, Russian artist Dmitry Vrubel, painted his version of it on a surviving portion of the Berlin Wall in 2009:


And lastly, The Kiss, 2013 as seen by contemporary artist Erwin Wurm:


Interested in an even greater art selection of kisses? Check out The Kiss: A Celebration of Love in Art

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my selections and I wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day with lots of kisses.

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Arek art, classic paintings, contemporary art, fine art, kisses, love, modern art, paintings, photography, sculpture, valentine's