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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Massachusetts based sculptor Tom Friedman’s work is instantly recognizable for its surprising use of materials like styrofoam, foil, paper, clay, wire, plastic, hair, and fuzz. "I don’t think about the construction of meaning. I think about the creating a catalyst for thinking. Meaning is too concrete. I want the viewer to think in different ways. I want to propose an ongoing process of investigation with no conclusions," says Friedman. The artist's great emphasis on materials makes him an analog artist in a digital world, and people looking at his work often remark on it's "zen-like" quality.
Barcelona, Spain based artist David Moreno has found a unique approach to translating his drawings into the third dimension. His series titled "Drawing in Space" features sculptures made of steel wires that emulate the fast and energetic style of drawing in a rather wild and sometimes uncontrolled way. Though they are built using a stiff material, Moreno's sculptures of surreal floating cabins, chairs, and figures exhibit a certain delicacy and tenderness. Using a similar technique to cross-hatching, he is able to create tonal or shading effects of carefully placed lines that are viewed from a specific vantage point.
When we saw San Francisco based artist Peter Combe's art at Scope Miami Beach earlier this month, we did a double take. From far away, his portraits of young men, which include icons like Mahatma Gandhi, are unassuming, looking more like photographs that have been blown up to a larger-than-life size scale. But upon close inspection, we realized that these tonal portraits were created using every day household paint swatches, carefully pinned into place, row after row, until a mesmerizing sense of realism is achieved.
Philadelphia based artist Crystal Wagner recently exhibited a colorful new installation at the National Museum of Singapore. "Wanderlust" is a site-specific piece that she created for the museum's "Masak Masak 2015" exhibition, a part of their 'season of the children' celebrations. Previously covered here on our blog, Wagner's largescale works are attention grabbing for her choice of curious and unconventional materials including paper, chicken wire, and tablecloths. Measuring a massive 70 feet long, her new piece is made out of pliable materials such as crepe paper and wire, from which she shaped tunnels for children to play in and crawl through.