Monday, December 31, 2012

Susan Aurinko at work.

When a sophisticate with a camera comes back from Paris or Varanasi, you know it's going to be interesting. I think Susan sees beauty everywhere and knows how to share it. We've been collaborating on a short about her, though only a little of it is actually in her Chicago studio. The rest is from the streets and train tracks of Chicago, the shop windows of Paris, the ghats and streets of India, and bedrooms (her recently vacated hotels beds around the world.) After we finish this Studio (and everywhere else) Visit Video, we're doing stills and video for her Lens Flair scarves, printed with some of her most dramatic images. I'll keep you posted.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Lynn Basa's encaustics

Lynn Basa is adding to her body of encaustic work, but this time it's black and white. If you're seen any of her earlier abstracts,
(I love shooting her process. Anything with flame is catnip to filmmakers, plus the volcanic look of colored layers of wax boiling up!) you'll be surprised at the wintry simplicity of these new ones. I'll be filming her working tomorrow, for a Studio Visit Video.
They're all oil and beeswax on paper, 30"x22".

Barbara Koenen's "The War Rug Project" video

Finishing Barbara Koenen's clip about her War Rug Project. She's reproducing the rugs Afghan women weave, the ones about the wars there. Starting with the soviet invasion and continuing through the American one, they've made art with the emblems and stories of their never-ending war. Barbara, as a matter of art and politics, recreates those rugs with spices, an historic product of Afghanistan. Right now, she has one on the floor of Tom Burtonwood's What It Is Gallery, 23 E. Madison, in Chicago, closing around January 14, 2013. If you go, smell it.
Barbara is great to work with because she has deep conceptual takes on her work AND delightful creative surprises in the same breath. Look for her video on her own site: BarbaraKoenen.com and on youtube, of course.

New Year's coming early and late

Getting the jump on the new year, 2010, that is, when I decided I needed a website devoted to this kind of art documentation and promotion that I love doing: Studio Visit Video. There's a website for Studio Visit Video, finished this morning at 2am. StudioVisitVideo.com. Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of three Studio Visit Videos.