julien kedryna.

here.

ahndraya parlato.

Which person has most influenced your career thus far?
Probably my mum. I was an only child, and she was a single mum, so we had a pretty intense relationship. She was mentally ill, and at her best, was always finding humour and magic in everyday life, which are elements I definitely think about in my art-making.

website.
interview.
another interview.

uninvited collaborations.

The Mended Spiderweb series

The Mended Spiderweb series came about during a six-week period in June and July in 1998 which I spent on Pörtö. In the forest and around the house where I was living, I searched for broken spiderwebs which I repaired using red sewing thread. All of the patches were made by inserting segments one at a time directly into the web. Sometimes the thread was starched, which made it stiffer and easier to work with. The short threads were held in place by the stickiness of the spider web itself; longer threads were reinforced by dipping the tips into white glue. I fixed the holes in the web until it was fully repaired, or until it could no longer bear the weight of the thread. In the process, I often caused further damage when the tweezers got tangled in the web or when my hands brushed up against it by accident.

The morning after the first patch job, I discovered a pile of red threads lying on the ground below the web. At first I assumed the wind had blown them out; on closer inspection it became clear that the spider had repaired the web to perfect condition using its own methods, throwing the threads out in the process. My repairs were always rejected by the spider and discarded, usually during the course of the night, even in webs which looked abandoned. The larger, more complicated patches where the threads were held together with glue often retained their form after being thrown out, although in a somewhat "wilted" condition without the rest of the web to suspend and stretch them. Each "Rejected Patch" is shown next to the photograph showing the web with the patch as it looked on site.

nina katchadourian.
here.

parasol.

olivia jeczmyk.

lynda benglis.

Arriving on the New York art scene in the late sixties with her poured latex and foam works, Benglis created a perfectly timed retort to the male dominated fusion of painting and sculpture that had taken place a few years earlier with the advent of Process Art and Minimalism. Known for her exploration of metaphorical, sexual and biomorphic shapes, she is deeply concerned with the physicality of form and how it affects the viewer, using a wide range of materials to render dynamic impressions of mass and surface: soft becomes hard, hard becomes soft and gestures are frozen.
In Benglis' work, the act of artistic creation is embedded in presentation of process and the movement of materials. While this can be seen as a more formalistic pursuit, within Benglis' work it becomes an act of transformation, a sort of alchemical presentation in which material presence, with a life of its own, combines with artistic manipulation as an extension of the body.
Throughout her career, Benglis has managed to balance controversy with critical interest, abstraction with content, and gesture with mass, creating a diverse body of work known for its formal and innovative qualities. The artist’s influence can be seen in the work of many younger artists working today; examples include the plastic “blobs” of Roxy Paine, the sexually suggestive props of Matthew Barney, the floor pieces of Polly Apfelbaum and the ambiguous shapes created by sculptor Franz West.

here.
and here.

childhood day trips.

We would visit these cave gardens every summer.......

This cave house was built by Baldassare Forestiere, a Sicilian immigrant. He bought 28 h/a land and planned to make an orchard. Unfortunately the land was not suitable for his plan and the soil went hard in the hot San Joaquin Valley sun. And the temperatures of up to 50°C in summer were too hot to live above ground.
So he used the knowledge he had as an ex-worker of the New York City subway, and started to build a house underground. During 40 years he lived in his cave house, worked on neighbouring farms and expanded his home by adding room after room. He built more than 50 rooms, every one with an opening in the ceiling for light and fresh air. Then he planted a fruit tree under many openings, where it would be watered by the rain. The others could be closed by windows during the rare rainfalls.
At last his house extended over four hectares and contained a library, a chapel, and a glass-bottomed aquarium with a viewing room underneath. The unique cave house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is operated as a public museum by Andre Lorraine and Ricardo Forestiere.

official site.

will yackulic.

How would you begin your ideal day?

If I get up at a reasonable time, have energy to work, and my back doesn't bother me, then I've begun an ideal day. This day happens frequently enough that I feel lucky. I had one today, in fact.

interview here.

julia randall.

colored pencil.
here.

paradors.

I recently found a book at the thriftstore titled, The Paradors of Spain. Thier history, cooking & wines. by Jan Read & Maite Manjon. 1977.

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Origins of the parador spain go back to 1910 when the Spanish Government assigned the Marquis de la Vega Inclán the task of creating a hotel infrastructure.
In 1926, he started a hotel in the Gredos Mountains - making its wonderful landscape accessible to tourism.
King Alfonso XIII of Spain was very enthusiastic - he, personally, chose the location.
Efforts were then channelled into perfecting the original idea, making use of selected historical/artistic monuments and beautiful landscapes for the establishment of further paradores of spain.
From the beginning, they were meant to provide more-than-adequate accommodations set at appropriate distance intervals around the country. They have evolved today into a chain of 93 Paradores. It is rarely more than a few hours, or at most half-a-day's drive between one Parador and the next. This now makes traveling by car in Spain a real pleasure. The traveler can explore out-of-the-way areas and really get to know the country - always confident that a delightful place to rest, one of the fine Paradores of Spain, is awaiting just a little ways down the road.
Another thing that separates the Spain Paradores from other hotel chains is their commitment to environmental protection as they undertake their many restoration projects. They are thereby helping maintain both the natural and cultural heritage of Spain.
Dining in Parador restaurants is always an enjoyable experience. Each Spanish Parador offers a menu that centers around the traditional dishes of the local region, yet prepared in a style that sets them apart. Many of Spain's finest chefs oversee the restaurants in the various Paradores. There is always offered a "set-menu" at a very affordable price - then also an array of specialty dishes for the more adventuresome and discerning diner. The Parador wine lists invariably feature some of Spain's best.

paradors of spain website.
and another.
find the book.