#ken solomon

[mikyapixie]

𝟐𝟏 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐠𝐨 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐊𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤!!

[mikyapixie]

𝟐𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐊𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤!

[writerchickmarie]

President's Council on the Arts and the Humanities members John Lloyd Young and Ken Solomon attend the Seasons of Cuba with Joshua Bell and the Chamber Orchestra of Havana after party - NYC, November 1, 2016.  Photo by Johnny Nunez. 

[heureiztic]

Ken Solomon, un artiste américain, peint des aquarelles géantes de captures d’écran. Apaisement garanti.

[artlog]

Watercolor Paintings of iPhone Screens

We look at these screens every day—Google Maps, iTunes, Pandora, the purgatorial “loading” spiral. Ken Solomon takes these screens and, by painting them in finely detailed watercolors, lends them renewed meaning, as well as a narrative beyond the mere poking of buttons.

This is Running To Stand Still, Solomon’s exhibition at Josée Bienvenu Gallery, which takes its name from the 1987 song by U2. Music features prominently in the Running installation, where iPhone-sized images of digital songs form a chain of sonic history. The last word of each depicted song title is the first word of the next: “Start Me Up” leads to “Up To No Good,” followed by “Good Day Sunshine.” Running is meant to follow “the universally moving and self-deprecating journey of a middle-aged white American man transitioning from vibrant, curious youth to midlife”; in other words, what does it look like when one’s taste in music freezes in time?

Elsewhere there are other poignant moments. The Google Earth images of Newark container fields in Looking Down From Above shows Solomon’s computer with the time at 12:22 and the battery at 44%, and these numbers form the birthday of Solomon’s mother, who passed away twelve years ago. By inserting these little details into his already detailed paintings, Solomon turns mundane web-browsing into biography, memoir, and even eulogy.

Running To Stand Still is on view at Josée Bienvenu Gallery in NYC from April 18 to May 25.

-Molly O'Brien

[wethecompass]

Let's Waste Some Time

Since my last week posting on the Compass, I've really tried to get back into art. I've been sketching and stuff, but nothing really substantial. And while the Compass has been motivating me with the monthly deadlines, I still needed to lock down a little more so I FINALLY got my own Tumblr up and running HERE!! 

I only have a few posts, but once I get more comfortable with it, I hope to have it rolling pretty steady. This will keep me going when I'm not posting on here and hopefully make my Compass posts more worthwhile.

But perhaps even more importantly than not making art, I was even slipping in LOOKING at art (interesting discussion on what is actually more important). So I tried to find some Tumblr's to follow that were more art-driven. Here's what I found so far:

eatsleepdraw -- They post a drawing every hour, you can even submit your own! I've seen a ton of cool things on here already and it's only been about a week or so. Lots of variety even though you may think it's only drawings.

Visual-Poetry -- A lot of typography stuff on here and a lot of art that I never really seek out on my own so it mixes things up nicely.

stencils -- A Tumblr devoted to street art. Everyone loves graffiti. Because it's awesome.

Geek Art -- More fantasy and comic themed blog. They like to posts links to artist's blogs which I like. Especially the one they posted today, Bobby Rubio. 

art, not art, not. -- The title is probably sarcastic. Even if they don't think the stuff they post is art, it's still really cool. And they quote de Kooning.

If you have any more, LET ME KNOW. I only looked for a little. I see the new Explore thing on Tumblr and haven't really checked it out yet so hopefully that will bring up more. 

Here are some links to artists that I'm really digging. 

REZATRON -- Actually got this from that Geek Art tumblr, but this guy turns everything into zombies. So yes, you already like this. 

Ken Solomon -- Couldn't find his actual site (he may not have one). I met this guy twice in NYC on my trips and his stuff is some of my favorite memories of the trip. 

Davide Cantoni -- Another artist I met in NYC. He does drawings by using the sun to burn the paper and paintings with paint that only shows up in certain lights. 

Jonathan Levine Gallery -- This is a pretty huge gallery in New York and they try to show work that you may not expect to see in a formal gallery setting. They always have awesome stuff.

If you don't live near a large city that has several galleries, then blogs are the way to go. You'll find more art and more art that is meant to be seen on the computer, but if you live near galleries, just go. Even if you don't think you'll like it, just check it out. 

And of course, three songs!!

The New Pornographers - Letter From an Occupant -- I've been listening to this song A LOT lately. Can't explain why.

Tyler the Creator - Yonkers -- He's from OFWGKTA, who seem to be pretty awesome and who also seem to be exploding after their Fallon performance. Hopefully his solo album coming out soon delivers. 

Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man -- Because sometimes you just need to stomp like no one came to your show. 

Keep checking back this week for more stuff!!

--Tim