Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks is a realist painter from New Jersey. She has studied art in Florence, Italy and New York City, USA, as well as also teaching in New York. Monks uses natural filters such as glass, water and steam to distort the shapes of the body in her paintings. Her most recent artworks involve painting the figure behind a shower screen, the steam distorting the body. Her works are extremely detailed and exact, heres a statement from Monks:

"When I began painting the human body, I was obsessed with it and needed to create as much realism as possible. I chased realism until it began to unravel and deconstruct itself,” Alyssa states, “I am exploring the possibility and potential where representational painting and abstraction meet - if both can coexist in the same moment."

Check Alyssa's website for more!

Art and About 4 - Trip to the Saatchi gallery!

Yesterday I met up with my Art History friends who live around London and we went to the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea. The gallery was opened in 1985 by Charles Saatchi and has occupied many locations in London before opening in its current location in Sloane Square. The art in the gallery is contemporary and often chosen for display because it provokes strong reactions from visitors. The artists who have artwork displayed are relatively unknown, Saatchi scouts new artists and displays their work to help them succeed in the art world. Artists who have had work shown there before they were famous include Jenny Saville and Damien Hirst.

Damien Hirst - 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' - 1991

Jenny Saville - 'Reverse' - 2002

The Saatchi gallery is set up to make the prime focus the artwork, unlike more traditional galleries with extensive decorative features, the Saatchi Gallery has big rooms and plain white walls with wooden flooring, forcing your attention to the displays. 

The first room in the gallery is filled with photographs taken by Sergei Vasiliev, an artist from Russia. Vasiliev worked as a prison ward and photographed the criminals who had tattooed themselves. These homemade tattoos, inked on the skin with melted book heels, urine and blood, contain coded messages against the Soviet regime. The photographs were taken between 1989 and 1993.

One artist who's work is perhaps the most controversial is Boris Mikhailov. Mikhailov, from the Ukraine, photographed post-Communist poverty in ex-Soviet countries in 1997-8, displaying the harsh conditions of society, called 'Case History'. The photographs are certainly striking, when first entering the room you are confronted with crude images of nude men and women, either with strange deformities or exhibiting their naked bodies, unbothered by their nudity but enjoying it instead. Mikhailov said of his photographs:

“I am not trying to take pictures of sensational things, but rather of those things which are in excess. I am trying to find the unique in that manifold reality itself. Maybe that is exactly what people like, first of all.”

Take a look at what else is on at Saatchi

Romero Britto

After I finished working at camp last summer, a few others and myself flew down to Miami for some well deserved sunshine and rest. Miami is beautiful and I would love to go back after I turn 21, it's so vibrant and busy, everyone is young and beautiful and there's so much to see and do.

One night after we finished our meal, a couple of us were walking down Lincoln Road looking for a frozen yoghurt shop and we stumbled across a colourful and bright shopfront, Romero Britto's gallery, nicknamed 'Britto Central'. We went inside and stayed in there for a good hour. His work is so rich and lively, a mix of cubism and pop, as he says on his website. We walked out of the gallery feeling really good about ourselves and 10x happier than we had done walking in. I fully understand now the point of art therapy and how art can lighten someone's mood since spending an hour in Britto Central.

Romero Britto is originally from Brazil, a self taught artist whose major influences are Matisse and Picasso after being introduced to their work on a trip to Paris. He moved to Miami age 25 and shortly after became an internationally reputable artist, believing the main aim of artists should be to enforce 'positive change'. 

www.britto.com 

My personal favourite and my phone case - Mona Cat

Britto

REVIEW: Nature through the Lens

Crop Up Gallery are a student run group from the University of Nottingham who exhibit art shows throughout the year, their first show last year, ‘Illuminate’, was a big success and no doubt their second exhibition, which opened on Friday 15^th March, will be any less so. The show, called ‘Nature through the Lens’, showcases the photography of students from Nottingham, in particular the scientific aspect of nature, but not strictly. 

The exhibition is currently being held at the P Spowage gallery in Nottingham, a central location in a trendy area, next to Coco Tang and Dogma to name a few of the hot spots surrounding it. To reach the display you make your way up two flights of stairs, passing by fairy lights, fashionable merchandise and a selection of colourful artwork for sale. Walking in on the opening night you would have been greeted with a bar serving wine and refreshments whilst soft, smooth music set the tone for the evening. One thing which particularly impressed me was how the exhibition was buzzing from the opening at 7.30 and continued to draw more attention throughout the night, not just from university students but a wide range of ages and sorts.

The art itself is undoubtedly impressive for such young photographers. Each artist conveys their own sense of nature through their camera, some combining science with the environment, others capturing exceptional moments from nature with their lens. The majority of the artists are from the University of Nottingham, each doing different degrees but with the same enthusiasm for photography. One artist who really stood out from the exhibition was Tom Reed, his photos of birds flying across a lake and an endearing sea lion stroking its face in particular drew a lot of attention from the bustling crowd because of the high definition in the photos, his curious choice of editing his work to high contrast black and white, as well as his appealing subjects. 

  

One of the big hits of the show!

The great thing about this exhibition is its central location and therefore definitely worth a visit if you are in town. Crop Up will be planning their next exhibition for some time in the next academic year so watch this space, I sense big things from the group. 

Me at the gallery

‘Nature through the Lens’ is open till the 23^rd March at P Spowage Gallery Nottingham.

Crop Up: Nature through the Lens PRE REVIEW

As I said in my last post, tonight I am going to the opening night of an exhibition

It's an exhibition curated by Rachel Tait with Crop Up Gallery group (a group of students at the University of Nottingham - some of whom are my good friends!) called 'Nature through the Lens'

It will be showcasing the photography of a number of students from the University, focusing on the scientific aspect of nature.

To anyone in Nottingham with an interest in art, or anyone who wants a choice of refreshments and a DJ, it's free entry so worth coming down.

P Spowage Gallery
2 Byard Way
Nottingham

Here's the poster: