Maine

Maine is a seriously spooky place. Found at the John Peters Estate amid the fog-soaked aftermath of a wedding.

Sailor's Prayer

Found in a Maine junk shop last weekend.

"The Love of God" for $14.99

Hirst knock-offs in the Hallowe'en display at Michael's Arts & Crafts, Meriden, CT.

Endless Blockades

Endless Blockades has assembled an amazing collection of pictures. See more here.

The kids are alright

Via Ideologic.

Fredrik Söderberg

Miskatonic 6, 2007

"Fredrik Söderberg´s water color paintings are filled with icons of a magical or occult meaning, for example they have a relation to Aleister Crowley, Old Norse runes, smurfs or the scary trees in a Bamse comic book. Meaning in a work of art is never found in separate elements because they are created by the audience’s attempt to bring order to the contradictions. Several of Söderberg´s compositions play with traditional dichotomies: innocent – brutal, cute – threatening etc, and by doing this, he inscribes himself in the tradition of semiotic terrorism. But while this movement regularly has exercised shallow provocations in attempts to shock and confuse the audience, Söderberg´s work instead calls for reflection." Via Rental Gallery.

One of the most remarkable things about Fredrik Söderberg's work is the way that it flattens (pop) cultural references and esoteric symbolic code into a single cohesive occult sign system--it's like seeing the Smurfs and Black Sabbath as interpreted through Lady Frieda Harris. Good stuff.

Call of Cthulu 3, 2007

Black Moth, 2006

Gryning, 2005

Arcana 7, 2007

Twisted Spurs at K Space Contemporary

I'm a little late in posting this, but I am currently in an exhibition at K Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi, Texas. The show looks at the "themes, ideas, methods and/or materials associated with the American West and cowboy art..." from a contemporary perspective (which seems to be increasingly something that I make work about). The exhibition runs through August 22nd.

Images from the opening can be seen here.

*I'm not certain, but I think that the painting on the announcement card is by Benjamin Stanley.

Dash Snow, Dead at 27

Images via Kathy Grayson

I just heard that Dash Snow was found dead of an apparent overdose last night.

I was never particularly fond of Dash's work--to me, it embodied a lot about contemporary art (and photography in particular) that I dislike.

However, I don't feel that this is the time to rant on about my feelings regarding Dash or his work specifically. I never met him personally, and others have done a better job than I would discussing the issues with his work.

Rather, the problem with Dash was the image built up around him by his friends, his dealers, and the media. It only ever seemed to be about Dash's work insofar as it authenticated the lifestyle he represented. A frequently cited profile in New York Magazine hyped him as "the mythical hero of an artistic underworld" with a knowing wink.

For the hangers on and the collectors, it was about touching that hype, engaging in this sense of dangerous living and hedonistic fun that his persona represented. At the ugliest moments, there seemed to be the impression of a deathwatch surrounding him, as if the art market was waiting in morbid expectation for the logical consequence of his lifestyle to add an air of young talent tragically lost (already the media is setting Dash up as "the Basquiat of Our Generation") while inflating the market value of his work. Now that he is dead, an icon will be made of him, many will say they were his dearest friends, and money, lots of money, will be made.

Sadly, the real tragedy in all of this is not the loss of another young artist to drugs, but rather that his daughter Secret, whom it is apparent that he deeply loved, will now grow up without her father.

Requiescat in pace.