Rapunzel
2008
acrylic on masonite
18” x 24”

out of sorts
2010
acrylic & colored pencil on masonite
10.5” x 7.5”

affordable housing
2007
acrylic on masonite
18.5” x 12”

people watching
2008
acrylic & colored pencil on masonite
12” x 11 ¾”

Sneaky Pete
2009
acrylic & colored pencil on masonite
7.5” x 6”
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ARTIST STATEMENT
The heart of my painting always starts with an animate or inanimate object that bears a spunky and alluring nature.  While my interpretations make light of situations we go through, and simply illustrate the quirks of life that we might otherwise pay little attention to, the natural expression and shape is never altered or exaggerated from how I found them to be.  More often than not I play/work with these objects until I pinpoint the perfect metaphorical setting to place them in. Capturing and translating every character role in the piece is important… such as a disposition of a creature, the morphed nature of a reflection in glass, and the overall sentiment that a marriage of two such elements create.

WEBSITE
www.springhofeldt.com

PRINTS OF MY WORK
http://www.etsy.com/shop/springhofeldt

Black and Blue 2

Owl 1

Owl 2

Artist Bio

Yuri has been expressing her life through painting, journaling and dancing since she was 3 years old. Her upbringing in Tokyo was a very unconventional one – learning Japanese traditional arts and experiencing foreign culture through traveling abroad. These two elements, so drastically different, have influenced her work throughout her entire life.

Now, living the nomadic bohemian lifestyle, she explores the planet from the heart of metropolis to the outposts of the world wherever being guided by her own intuition while hopping between her base pad Brooklyn studio, Tokyo apt and her tropical jungle hideaway in Hawaii. This life balances her creative & spiritual yin and yang’. Besides her artistic endeavor, she is drawn to the world of indigenous cultures and has led her studying universal shamanism as a Reiki master. She is also a member of the art collective Barnstormers.

Yuri Shimojo has published several books in Japan, including: “Makkana Mangetsu~Crimson Full Moon”(1995), which showcase her earlier illustration works;”Vagabonds” (2001), a picture journal from her trip in Central America and Mexico. “Chiisana Rakugaki~Tiny Scribble” (1997), an autobiography of her unique childhood, which has just republished in 2007.

Website

http://www.yurishimojo.com/

Niesha White, “Deer”

Niesha White “Eloise”

Niesha White, “Bottom In Drag”

Artist’s Statement

My name is Niesha White and I am the daughter of an ex-Mormon hippie mom and an ex-Muslim hippie dad who raised me in the sea-salt air of a fishing town south of LA. After surviving a cross-country relocation, I ended up rooted in the beautifully strange spiritland of Brooklyn.

When I was small, I trusted art to be my companion. I knew, in that bold knowing way of children, that I would be an artist. But, just as knowing develops layers and confusing corners with experience, my artist identity bumped into various obstacles. What I have learned, however, is that each time I come back to my artwork, there are trace elements of whatever I have experienced while I was away. My art, therefore, carries hints of all the stages of my life, from magic realism to political activism, from modern dance to linguistic exploration.

Most recently, I have been working on a series of wood burnings and paintings which I call masks. This series, which uses animal heads on human bodies (and vice versa at times), is an exploration of how identities can change in stages of one’s life or even due to a new situation. The following narrative was written from the perspective of one of my pieces:

Masks Narrative

She was straight up fierce once, all boots and dreams. But the spin of the clock and a few unexpected outcomes had worn down her dreams into new shapes she kept mistaking for ordinary objects. Even her boots lost their shine. But what choice did she have but to live that way, waiting between breaths for a big bang shift of perspective.

On a random day in snow covered January, the tilt that she would later refer to as the ‘new beginning’ occurred. A casual downward glance is all it took, a realization that the subtle sexy sag in the seams of her tired boots made them more beautiful than ever. Then, like the slow relief of a late night aspirin, she began to see bits of glimmer in the corners of her dreams again. Packing this new view of herself, now masterfully woven from the reeds of who she had been, she picked up the mask and took her first grown-up swagger into ‘I can be anything’.

Contact the Artist