At the suggestion of a friend who’s also an artist, I’ve decided to start an email newsletter. I’ll be sending out news and updates about my work, as well as announcements of upcoming events and exhibits.
If you’re interested in receiving these emails, you can find the subscription form on the contact page.
CRUSH, a Toronto-based VFX studio, created a wonderful interactive exhibit currently showing as part of the Happiness Project. Based on the song Mrs. Morris (Reprise), the exhibit takes a picture of the participant’s face, and then imposes that on an 3D animated head, which is then projected onto a picture frame alongside other people’s faces. When the vocals of the song come on, all the heads begin singing in synch to the music. The effect is at once bizarre and hilarious, and the exhibit was a big hit during Nuit Blanche.
Below is a video which documents the exhibit and contains interviews with Charles Spearin himself, as well as with Agi Gutkowska and Aaron Kopff, the producers of the Happiness Project.
My first introduction to Jan von Holleben‘s work was through his phenomenal series Dreams of Flying, shown above. It was the first time for me that a work of photography managed to capture the essence of childhood, and evoke long-forgotten memories of play and innocence.
I have since looked through his entire portfolio and have been following his work on a regular basis. Amazingly, all his work contain the same sense of playfulness and visual transparency evident in the Dreams of Flying series.
One of my favorites is You Count 10, I Run, in which he sets his camera’s timer to 10 seconds, and then tries to run away as possible before the image is snapped.
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So simple, and yet so much fun.
Jan von Holleben has also explored more mature topics in his work. The following two images, titled The Teenager and The Hotel, respectively, are from the series Where We Laughed, which sexuality in society – the role it plays, and how we perceive it.
I am currently an artist-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha. I’ve been here for about 2 weeks now, and it has been a very productive (and also very fun) time for me – just finished a new piece and started brainstorming for a number of new sculptures and animations. Pictures will be posted soon.
There will be an open studio tour on Friday, April 23 from 6 – 8 pm at the Bemis Center. There are currently 5 other resident artists here, and they’re all doing really awesome work. This will be great chance to check out their work and see how they use their work space.
Also, I will be giving a talk as part of the Art Talk series on Thursday, May 6th at 7 pm. It will take place on the first floor of the Bemis Center. Also presenting that night is fellow artist-in-residence Michael Caines. I’m sure it’s going to be a very interesting evening, so stop by and say hi!
Just finished a stop-motion animation short a few days ago. Enjoy:
Chris & Ian – Prehistoric Academics from Willy Chyr on Vimeo.
Got some good news – in December, I’m going to be a visiting artist at the Chicago Children’s Museum in Navy Pier. I’ll be setting up an installation and holding a couple of workshops at the Artabounds Studio. More info to come!
Also, I’ve been chosen as one of seven artists who will be participating in the Midwestern Voices and Visions project in 2010. I’m going be an artist-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. This is going to be a great opportunity to focus my energy on a couple of projects I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I’m really looking forward to being a part of an artist community.
Finally, two great friends of mine are getting married next Saturday. I’ll be flying to Richmond, Virginia to attend the wedding and create a couple of sculptures for the reception.
Things are starting to get busy again!
