In the history of art, marble has always signified something we call “High Art.” Famous artists such as Michelangelo, Bernini, and Brâncusi masterfully used marble to create works of art that have literally made me cry in person (it was Michelangelo’s David (1501-4), if you must know). I was entranced by the beauty and smoothness of how the artist tried to replicate the human skin, very much like the ancient Greeks and Romans did. But nowadays, marble has acquired new degrading purposes, being used as kitchen counter-tops for the rich and famous, and as decorations for tacky Las Vegas hotel lobbies (looking at you, Caesars Palace).

Below I’d like to present three of my favorite artists that are smashing the expectations of what marble can be, whether it be with traditional techniques or CNC carving machines.

Milena Naef

Based in Mexico City, Milena is the latest of four generations to sculpt in stone, but her most recent practices in her art has taken this medium in new and “unorthodox” directions. As you can tell by the images, Milena carves out shapes into slabs of marble and inserts her body parts through the openings. She calls this series “Fleeting Parts,” and the effect is incredible – from the marble emerges soft, human skin reminiscent of the mythic stories of transformation, such as Pygmalion and Galatea. “The hardness of stone in general is an interesting characteristic to work with,” Naef said. “It demands time and patience, which stands in contrast to my fast-paced life. It’s a hard material that, at the same time, is very fragile.” Instead of mimicking flesh like past artists wanted to achieve, Milena’s work is blurring the line between what an artist can do between their material and their body, a subject and an object. But these artworks also serve as a marker for us humans, as a sort of memento mori – remember you will die, but stone will live forever.

Matthew Simmonds

Even though most of his sculptures stand at less than 2 feet tall, each are carved from a single block of marble and look as if they are remnants of ancient structures. In addition to appearing like existing structures, many of the designs are entirely invented by Simmonds! “I tend to work things out in measured plan, creating elevation drawings first, considering how [the carving] will interact with the natural shape of the stone. Usually, I don’t know exactly what a sculpture should look like when I begin, and during the working process, there are often several points where I can decide on a change in the design before a piece is finished.” As we can note, Simmonds has always been fascinated by ancient architecture, particularly those that served a sacred or religious purpose.

Nevine Mahmoud

Juicy and squishy aren’t the usual adjectives you’d use to describe what marble looks or feels like. Yet these sculptures by Nevine Mahmoud express all of the descriptions surrounding these delightful words. At first glance, her artworks seem to be pliable and soft, like Blue Doughnut (2017) for example, which looks like a puffy, delicious pastry. What we see Mahmoud doing is contradicting a long standing history of an ancient material by carving them into desirable shapes with an almost “Pop Art” sensibility. This is what drives her to create something delicate out of something so strong. “On the one hand, there is a relative force required to move the stone, break it, hollow it, shape it into the sculpture” Mahmoud says. “At the same time, one needs a minute-by-minute sensitivity in order to understand the limits of the rock in front of you—its unique fractures, curves, and hidden layers.”

 

Remember those Pee-Chee folders you’d stuff your math notes in? And how they usually depicted young high school students playing sports or doing other school related activities? I vaguely remember them, but I bet it brings back memories for many Americans who grew up in public school systems.

Original cover of a Pee-Chee portfolio.

These Pee-Chee folders were first produced in 1943 and immediately became a common American stationary item up until the early 2000’s. The illustrations were done by artist Francis Golden, who was best known for his watercolors of fishing and hunting. It is no secret that defacing these illustrations became popular among young adult students. It’s what they do best! But one artist is taking these classic illustrations and giving them a new socio-political context.

Patrick Martinez posing with his re-imagined Pee-Chee paintings. Photo by Liz Ohanesian.

Meet Patrick Martinez, a Los Angeles-based artist born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley with a diverse cultural background (Filipino, Mexican, and Native American). Through his artworks that span a wide variety of media (painting, neon, ceramic, and sculpture), Martinez colorfully examines otherwise everyday realities of suburban and urban life in L.A. with humor, sensitivity, and wit. Take for example his piece titled, The Most Violent Week in America (2016), an 8’x5′ piece that at a glance looks like the covers of the classic Pee-Chee folders, but when closely examined, you start to notice that the figures are involved in acts of violence.

The Most Violent Week in America, 2016

The Most Violent Week in America witnesses the most horrific events that took place in just one week in July of 2016. Starting on July 3rd, 19-year-old Pedro Villanueva was shot and killed by undercover CHP officers in Fullerton, who had followed the unarmed teenager from a street racing event to a dead-end street. Two days later, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 37-year-old CD vendor Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police officers. The following day in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, Philando Castile, just shy of his 33rd birthday, was shot and killed by police officers during a traffic stop. The next day, Micah Xavier Johnson opened fire on police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas.

In the top left corner of the painting, you can see the portrait of Castile, who Martinez felt the need to commemorate above all else. In the top right corner, Villaneuva sits on the bed of a pick-up truck holding a guitar, as he did in a photo that accompanied news reporting of his death. Underneath that, Martinez recreated the image of Sterling shot by an officer. Along the bottom, he painted police scenes from Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Martinez, 2005.

Martinez has been documenting these instances of social violence in the U.S. since 2015, mostly depicting police brutality and death at the hands of police officers in Pee-Chee style paintings. But his first Pee-Chee piece was in the form of a screen print back in 2005, where he depicted cops chasing a person, pushing someone, and running with an armed gun. He showed this work from 2005-2007, then put the idea aside.

All American Class of 2016, courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles.

Pan to ten years after his first screen print, and we start to see how technology drastically changes the way news is reported and distributed. For the first time in history, people could use their cell phones to document any acts of police brutality, and upload photos and videos to sites like Youtube and other social networks. This allowed the general population to witness firsthand the violent and sometimes lethal force that has been used in cities across the country.

Po-lice Misconduct Misprint – Lost Colors Series (pink), 2016.

After the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Martinez says he felt compelled to revive the Pee-Chee concept. “I had reference now,” he explains. And as the news cycle continued to turn out stories of one tragic death after the next, Martinez continued to paint. “There was always content,” he says.

Rodney, 2016.

But Martinez also looked to the past for inspiration. In “Nine Deuce,” he recalls the beating of Rodney King and subsequent uprising in Los Angeles, using Lakers shades of purple and gold. In “Vintage Throwback Po-Lice,” he pays tribute to Ruben Salazar, the Mexican-American journalist who was killed inside an East Los Angeles bar when he was hit by a tear gas canister on the day of the Chicano Moratorium march in 1970.

Ruben Salazar, 2016.

Martinez plans to continue making more of these “time stamps,” as he describes them, “It’s just something to record history and present it in a creative way.” And in addition to recording history, Martinez adds that it is also a way to preserve the memory of those whose lives were cut short. “I want to represent everybody and have their story at least be acknowledged,” he says. “That’s why I’m doing a lot of them.”

Photo courtesy of Patrick Martinez.

Po-lice Misconduct Misprint – Lost Colors Series (natural blue), 2016.

Po-lice Misconduct Misprint – Lost Colors Series (natural yellow), 2016.

Po-lice Misconduct Misprint – Lost Colors Series (turquoise), 2016.

The “valley girl,” like the Valley itself, cannot be contained in a stereotype. However, it can be argued that any Valley Girl’s sense of self has been informed by the cinematic ideal imposed on them. In fact, with little effort one can see that the “valley girl” has left an indelible mark on the global identity of womanhood while only representing a small minority. This exhibition endeavors to look past the myopic lens of popular culture that created the “valley girl” and delve into the true identities and diversity of Women in the Valley through the contemporary artwork they produce.

Monica Sandoval

A new exhibit at the Brand Library and Art Center has been causing quite a buzz in the L.A. Art scene. This exhibit includes artists such as the famous Judy Baca, Rachel Apthorp, and Christina Ramos.

Ever since the 1983 film, the stereotype of a valley girl has been pretty distinguishable. For example, saying “like” after every other word and being noticeably white while doing so. But in this exhibit, you learn that it is not all about that. It gives you a glimpse at the many diverse stories that these contemporary artists have to tell, from growing up in the barrios of the valley, to making a place your new home.

Triptych: Las Tres Marias by Judy Baca

One of the special highlighted pieces in the exhibit is the 1975 portraits of Judy Baca by filmmaker Donna Deitch. In these, Judy projects the Pachuca character that she so feared from her childhood growing up in Pacoima. “Walking with their arms linked in full makeup, ‘ratted hair’ and ‘raccoon eyes’, the girls commanded the streets and the school yard of Pacoima Junior High School where I went to school.” She mentions whenever people saw them, they would step aside because they represented the image of powerful, dangerous women, which she so much aspired to be. The reason she chose these pieces was because the “Pachuca” is a woman of color from Pacoima, who is the counter narrative to the “Valley Girl”.

Christina Ramos

Another series of paintings that you’ll find within the exhibit are the paintings by our very own Acrylics instructor, Christina Ramos. In her artist statement, she talks about her experience growing up in Sunland. “I was surrounded by horses and other livestock,” she mentions, “I think people always associate the Valley with the city of suburbs, when in fact there is a lot more rural areas on the outskirts of the town.” In the painting above, her daughter and her chicken, Frida, can be seen painted in profile, mirroring the master painting Whistler’s Mother (1871) by James Whistler, which hangs on the wall in the background.

Rachel Apthorp

You can catch this exhibition running from January 26 – March 22, 2019 at the Brand Library & Art Center, 1601 W Mountain St, Glendale, CA 91201. There is also a Pop Up ZINE Newsstand curated by San Fernando Valley Zine Fest, featuring over 30 zines with Valley-centric, female-centric, and intersectional content.

 

 

Judging by the title, you might begin to wonder what kind of pigments could possibly be defined as rare? Let me introduce you to the Forbes Pigment Collection that is housed under the greater umbrella of the Harvard Art Museum.

 

The collection began in the early 20th century, started by Edward Waldo Forbes, director of the Fogg Art Museum from 1909 to 1944. Forbes’ fascination with painting’s colors and their binding medium fueled his desire to use science to understand and study great works of art. He is often cited as the father of the field of art conservation in the U.S.

By the 1920s, Forbes had amassed many containers of deep blues, rich purples, vibrant yellows, and myriad other colors from his travels to Europe and the Far East. Through the years, word of mouth helped the collection to grow as other art lovers and experts donated their own pigments. The museum’s collection, which is still continually being added to, now contains more than 2,500 samples. For years, the pigments have helped art experts to research and authenticate paintings. Samples from the collection have been sent to the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Library of Congress, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of New Delhi, India, etc.

So what are some of the rarest pigments? Conservation scientist Narayan Khandekar says his personal favorite is a big lump of Indian Yellow from as early as the 16th century, which was made from the urine of cows fed only on mango leaves. It was banned by the British government in the early 20th century on the grounds that its production constituted animal cruelty.

Among others is the rarest of them all — Mummy Brown. What is it made out of? It’s in the title! It’s a pigment produced by grinding up the flesh of Egyptian mummies, a practice that also appeared as early as the 16th century. The production continued until the 1960s when the supply of embalmed bodies finally petered out. While historical records confirm that artists purchased this paint, Khandekar says researchers have yet to find an artwork with the pigment present; however a life-size portrait of King Philip III of Spain by 17th-century court artist Pantoja de la Cruz lists Mummy Brown among his supplies. If accurate, this portrait will be the first to confirm the use of pigment.

Tyrian purple is another rare one. It was an ancient Phoenician dye that required 10,000 mollusks to produce a single gram of pigment and is said to have been discovered by Hercules’s dog as he snuffed along the beach.

The collection is still growing to this day as conservation students research newly manufactured pigments. Forbes’ pigments are a window to the past, shedding light on the working methods and preferred materials of renowned artists. But it still makes me wonder if there are even rarer pigments than what Khandekar is highlighting. Any guesses?