Artist Focus: Carlos Ramirez

I have been curious about fellow grad at CCA, Carlos  Ramirez's, ceramic work for some time.  Within our large program, Carlos and I have never been in a critique class together so I have never had much of a chance to investigate his work, but I have seen it peeking out of his studio since the beginning of school.  The other day his ceramic video game-shaped sculptures were hung in a project space out in a main lobby and I was able to check out some of the details of his pieces.  I asked if he could send me a few pictures and then I went into his studio to take snap more photos.  

What I love about the work is that it is so unusual- you don't see much ceramic work that looks this contemporary.  Often, ceramics are banished into a "craft ghetto", where artists sell pots and vases at craft fairs, or make seemingly identical, badly sculpted blobby figurative sculptures.  Contrary to this, using the narrative of anthropomorphic shapes most of us recall from childhood, with neon-colored plexiglass to mimic the geometric movements of the game shapes, his pieces are both beautifully colored with lovely cracks, refreshingly funny, and semi-nostalgic.  See his website here.

Looking into his studio

Inspirational source material

A piece on the wall 

Close-up

Work station with candy

Candy and toys: necessities

For this particular body of work below, Carlos says:  "In this series of work, Crushing Nickels Into Quarters, I draw from imagery of 1980s video games, Meso-American architecture, and Minimalism to make sculptural work in reference to transitional times in coming of age".

Untitled (Black stripe)

Untitled (Pink stripe)

Untitled (Yellow stripe)

See my post on Southern Exposure's juried show, Boom, for another piece by Carlos.

Studio Visit: Courtney Johnson

I stepped in to my friend, Courtney Johnson 's, studio the other day when I heard giggles down the hall from my own studio at school. Courtney, who I blogged about earlier this year, is a great painter as well as avid nail salon lady. As I pulled back the curtain I discovered Courtney and my bud, Michelle, trying out a new nail technique: swirly colors. While it is just for fun for Courtney to do nails, I think her passion for nail colors is interesting in combination with her colorful and funny paintings of wild women who have stepped out of regular society. I took a few photos to update my previous post and to show how fun and amazing her studio is!

I like looking at people's collections of inspirations almost as much as their actual art. Look at this pile of good stuff: fashion photos based on the movie "Badlands", a National Geographic on sheep herders, a Miss America photo, and a French movie called "The Wild Child".

Paintings of wild, strange women in progress.

Courtney and a finished piece behind her inspired by beauty pageants.

Her super cool gold docking shoes.

Some of her awesome collection of nail colors!

Michelle getting her nails did.

Pretty spectacular! (The process involves cups of water and enamel swirled together with your fingers covered in vasoline and dipped in and then cleaned up). Well done, ladies!

Artist Focus: Courtney Johnson

Courtney is a lovely burst of sunshine in the way of a painter and MFA candidate at CCA from Virginia via Arizona. Her studio is down the way from mine so whenever I am feeling down I can go in there and check out whatever silly thing she's watching on her computer or get my nails done! That's right, there's a nail salon in there, too. Her paintings center around a narrative of girls in feral states amid open skies. They remind me of Egon Schiele in parts and in others 80's cartoons.

Nail Salon and stacks of pre-mixed paints.
A new one. Can't wait to see the others in this series!

Artist Focus: Rachel Foster

Rachel Foster is a super fun lady and talented letter press artist from Chicago based in printmaking though branching out as she works towards her MFA at the California College of the Arts. Her work is often concerned with a forms of puzzles or jokes, which make you work a little to receive the hidden meaning. Besides being witty there is also a sense of beauty and wonder to her prints, making them really striking to me.


You can see more images of her work and info here.

Artist Focus: Marissa Botelho

Marissa Botelho is a good friend of mine and an MFA candidate at CCA by way of Delaware via Washington, DC. We met while standing in the long line to get our ID cards on the first day of school and have been buddies ever since. Her work is focused on some really creative and fun ideas- social media, avatars, and video gaming, along with issues of painting and replication and distortion. Right now she is working on a project where people online choose an adventure for her to act out in diorama form, displayed on a digital frame below. She showed me part of the outfit that is a combination of all her suggestions of adventure wear, to be worn in the new project. She's a true funster.

Artist Focus: George Pfau

George Pfau painting, image from his website (see below).

George Pfau is an MFA candidate almost ready to graduate from the California College of the Arts. He makes really interesting paintings and sculptures that reference things like skin and zombies. He is a super nice guy who let me take impromptu pictures in his beautifully-lit studio one day. For more info and pictures of his work visit here.

Artist Focus: Mark Benson

One of my favorite new friends at school is Mark Benson, an MFA candidate in Painting originally from Colorado by way of Chicago, who happens to be hilarious but also a talented and refreshingly original artist. Mark is not afraid to take risks, or tell me that it looks like someone snuck into my studio and crapped up my otherwise good painting with "that blue stuff". A true friend indeed. For his blog and more pics of his paintings, look here

Mark in his studio

His palette is a juicy mess- I love it!
For whatever reason, he and his fiancee, Michelle, have a talent for making these faces in photos taken of them.

They are good peeps.