2017
“We have art in order not to die of the truth.”
categories: art
Like many of my dear friends, I have been consoling myself with art lately, nearly drowning myself in it. Well, maybe just the opposite, really. Between the terror of our current administration and my own personal traumas and tragedies, art has been the life vessel that’s saved me from going under. I can always breathe easier and hope for better things when I look at something beautiful. It keeps me safe. And sane. Or at least the illusion of these things. And I’ll take that. Sometimes it’s the best we’ve got.
I don’t know precisely when it was that art became such a crucial part of my life; I’m certainly not an artist…although it does run in the family, somewhat. My grandmother on my father’s side was a concert violinist, my father is an artist, and one of my uncles is an architect. But all of that talent passed me by, I’m afraid. Except, perhaps, the enthusiasm for and appreciation of such things–I’ll confess to an overabundance of that! I wish, though, that I had at least gone to school for art history or criticism or theory or something like that, so that I could make intelligent appreciative comments and engage in discussions without looking like an idiot, but ah, well. Maybe in another life.
For right now, though, I’d love to share with you some of the illustrations and paintings and photography which has lately been relieving, reviving and rescuing me–and the incredible humans who have brought these visions to life. I am so grateful every day that there are dreamers and stargazers and worldmakers who create these marvelous things that make my existence just a tiny bit more bearable.
Tell me, what’s keeping you afloat right now, and propelling you forward?
Three of Swords, Caitlin McCarthy
Night Jar Illustration (Adam Burke)
Munich Art Studio (Becky Munich)
the moon and her women, Sarah Goodreau
Untamed series, Jaime Erin Johnson
Fox Familar Mask, Camille Chew
Keevan and Kieran, Goblinfruit Studio
Calling In the Four Quarters, Karyn Crisis
I am no bird II, Helena Aguilar Mayans
Aley says
Oh, I love the work of Abigail Larson and Caitlin McCarthy. Those paper pieces are pretty magnificent too, and that photo by Helen Mayans looks like it was taken from inside a little diorama or a doll garden. Art is so beautifully thereaputic and somehow gets it right when words and other forms of comfort and healing fail.
Re: art critique, I generally base it on elements like line, shape, form, space, and color (and you can expand your vocabulary in those areas further) as well as intentions and impact. I don't know if that's the "right" way to do it, but it's how I always did it in every art class I ever took and how I still view artwork.
CM says
I love the work of Jaime Erin Johnson, it's interesting how she investigates the relationship between life and death!
CM | XIII.
Taylor says
Jaime Johnson and I took photography courses together in college – including the one where she learned the technique she uses in her work. Every time I happen upon her work in the wild, I am once again amazed.
Happy to see her included here! Not only as a reminder of my brush with genius or as a fellow Mississippian, but to see through her eyes the romantic, gothic, and wild fantasy life of my dreams.
S. Elizabeth says
That is so incredible! And no doubt you learned a thing or two from that class, yourself :)
Taylor says
:) I did! It must have been a magical class because, like Jaime (I assume), it's the only medium that I'm still creating with on the regular. Though her dedication to the *technical* craft of photography has always been unmatched.
Thank you so much for this post! I'm in love with the (haunting!) work of Erin Rogers now.