Skip to main content

Remembering Amber

"We never truly get over a loss, but we can move forward and evolve from it."—Elizabeth Berrien

My good friend Amber was into visual arts. She died twenty years ago. If she was alive, she would be a huge fan of Kara Walker, Vanessa Teodoro and Allison Torneros. Men still dominate today's art scene, but a lot of female artists are forcing a change in the way the world sees women in art. In honor of Amber, I made a list of six works by six female contemporary artists (6 was Amber's favorite number) that we would buy if we had a lot of money, or steal if we intended a reenactment of The Thomas Crown Affair.


This trippy self portrait by Erina Matsui. Does she take psychedelics? I mean, look at her work. Born in Okayama, Erina often exaggerates and distorts her features. She sometimes becomes an enigmatic figure among planets and stars or a mythical being emerging from a cloud of shrooms.


This piece by Eugenia Alcaide. Ginny is an artist from the Philippines known for her layered silkscreens. Though created with thread, the lines look like intricate drawings with three-dimensional feel. Delicate but captivating.


The Discovery by Helena Hauss. The Parisian illustrator uses ballpoint pens to create large drawings with incredible detail. I really like the vivid and contrasted colors of her compositions, which depict teenage lust and other mischief.



Wedding by Zoey Frank. Artfully arranged and crafted, I could stare at this for hours. Born in Boulder, Colorado, Zoey completed four years of classical atelier training under Juliette Aristides at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, and obtained an MFA in painting from Laguna College of Art and Design. She has received numerous awards and has exhibited in galleries across the United States and Europe.


This Darth Vader sculpture by Freya Jobbins. The Australian artist specializes in making dismembered toys into treasures, and this beautiful piece is constructed from hundreds of Barbie hands, ears and other doll trimmings.


Crowded by Lui Gonzales. Sometimes I like to see illustrations that interweave and overlap all over each other. But this is something different. Lui creates fascinating art pieces by drawing, layering and eventually tearing them. The result is a riotous, visual feast.

I miss you, Amber. You may be gone, but you'll never be forgotten.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Joy of Logarithms

Toby 'Tibees' Hendy is an Australia-based educator who uses social media to spark young people's interest in science and math. This year, her YouTube subscribers surpassed 250,000, and her videos have been viewed almost 25 million times. In this clip, Toby gives a lesson about logarithms in the style of legendary artist and TV host Bob Ross.

On knockoff toys, bootleg action figures, and nostalgia

LEGO and Transformers action figures are some of the toys I really wanted as a kid, but never got. Boy or girl, every child wanted a LEGO. My older cousin had a couple of LEGO sets, but didn't really let me play with them. So, I desperately asked my rich Japayuki ninang for one. Instead, she gave me a knockoff—like the ones sold at sari-sari stores near public elementary schools. Every year, I looked forward to birthdays and holidays with great anticipation, but I never got the real thing. During the height of their popularity in the 80s, many people were convinced that their Autobots and Decepticons were actually smart investments, and that the shape-shifting alien robots would one day be worth thousands. More than 30 years after the original Transformers TV series first aired, its toy franchise remains one of the most popular in history. My mother gave me one when I was 7. Unfortunately, what I got was a funny counterfeit Starscream from Divisoria that looked like a malnouris...

Katy Ann Gilmore is my new favorite on Instagram

Katy Ann Gilmore is a Los Angeles-based visual artist who specializes in making extraordinary illustrations on paper and large scale murals using micron and gel pens. Her elaborate line work is painstakingly methodical, layering strokes of the pen in varying directions to create amazing shapes and topography that look like they are covered with intricate mesh netting. I was wondering how many pen strokes does it take to complete just one of these drawings, so I did some research and found out that her small 5 in. by 7 in. illustrations typically take a few hours, while an 11 in. by 14 in. picture can take anywhere from 10-25 hours. "My hand does hurt a bit after marathon sessions, but never anything too crazy," she told Lisa Congdon. "I try to rest my eyes/hands/brain every once in awhile by looking away from the drawing, dropping the pen, and taking a breather." Katy received a BA in Mathematics, Art, and Spanish from Greenville College in Il...