Spooky

How about a little more levity with the dark, mysterious and creepy art for this Hallowe'en?
You need go no further than Marci's partner in crime.
Can't go wrong with Oakland-based artist Deth P. Sun!







You can enjoy more of Deth's work on his site, in his flickr stream or at his etsy shop.

haunted

Never fear, we here at Magpie & Whiskeyjack have not gone into hibernation quite yet, but do apologize for the sparsity of October posts. Before month's end, however, we must recognize Hallowe'en! So we thought we would celebrate with some creepy, otherworldly fare from California artist Marci Washington. Fist the undead:




Then some disenbodied heads:





Some limbs:





paticularly creepy because there are three...

and perhaps a ghost:

Thanksgiving Canadiana

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks! In honour (with a 'u') of (Canadian) Thanksgiving, I bring you some awesome Canadiana from Alberta artist Lisa Brawn. She makes woodcuts, usually on salvaged hundred year old Douglas fir. She uses the block (the carved wood) itself as the art rather than making prints. When I learned how to make woodblock prints, my teacher pointed out that I should take care with borders even if viewers of prints would never see them and I should treat the block itself as art. Brawn's blocks are art. They are also full of colour and pattern and life and humour. Check out her website and flickr stream for much, much more*.

We start with the Mounties, of course.

Sergeant Brooke Royal NW Mounted Police, Alberta, ca. 1900-1903
woodcut on salvaged 100 year old Douglas-fir
2009

Then, what could be more Canadian than,

Stompin' Tom
woodcut
2009

The author:

Margaret Atwood
woodcut
2009

The rock-star-environmentalist:

David Suzuki
woodcut
2008

The hockey player:

"Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe showing off his fresh stitches. Two minutes for slashing!"

Lisa Brawn
woodcut

The poet:

Leonard Cohen
woodcut
2009

The comedian:

Andrea Martin
woodcut
2009

The singer-songwriter:

Joni Mitchell
woodcut
2009

The musician:

Oscar Peterson
woodcut
2009

and The Rocket:

Maurice Richard
woodcut
2009

*including circus acts, cult leaders, our PMs, musicians, actors, cowboys, pin-ups, macho men and macha women, and birds (she counts magpies rather than crows)

Sculpting about the Economy

This photo of Chinese sculptor Chen Wenling's “What You see Might Not Be Real," comes via the Wall Street Journal of all places. This is because the bull represents Wall St and the man is Bernie Madoff. The sculpture is a critique of the financial crisis. It helps to know that fang pi in Chinese is both "to fart" and slang for "to lie".


“What You see Might Not Be Real"

A lot of satire, some surrealism, and many pigs can be found in his work.


Chen Wenling, The God of Material, 2008 Sculpture, Fiberglass, 200 x 365 x252cm presented by Xin Dong Cheng Gallery


Uninvited Guest, 2008.


“Valiant Struggle No. 10″, 2006


"Happy Life No. 8"


Sunny Boy


Happy Life No. 3

Dinosaurs, Typography and Aliens

GOODNESS!
Graphite

Check out the portfolio of American illustrator Micah Lidberg, even if the navigation is annoying. It's worth it. (via Crafty magazine)


The Few
Graphite/digital


The Visit
Graphite/ink/digital


4 Matters
Ink/digital


Angry Cloud
Ink/digital