Jamie Salmon

http://illusion.scene360.com/sculptures/7070/jamie-salmon/

Showtel

http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/showtel-at-hote.php

For the past eight years ArtSite Projects curator Kara Walker-Tome has been transforming a section of West Palm Beach, FL's Hotel Biba into an annual art event. Aptly named, Showtel turns hotel rooms into conceptual installations by challenging artists fill the spaces with everything from sculpture and performance art, without using the use of nails or adhesives. We recently had the chance to speak with Walker-Tome, who shed light on this clever exhibition.

How did you originally come up with the idea for this kind of site-specific show?

When I moved to Florida after having lived in Los Angeles and New York, I was involved in the local art scenes of these metropolitan cities and I could not find an alternative art scene to speak of in Palm Beach County. I had been impressed and inspired many times in the past by installation shows in unique settings in LA and NY and I recognized that my new area was wide open for making a mark with an alternative art happening. So, I decided to put together a one-night show for local emerging cutting-edge artists in a hotel. Lucky for me the first one I approached said yes. That was eight years ago. So Showtel started as a small happening with a handful of artists and maybe a couple hundred people attended. Last year's seventh annual show featured twenty-five artists and attracted 2,000 people in one night.

Why a hotel? How does that environment influence the artists?

I think the strict rules in place for installing Showtel installations in a working hotel accounts for incredible ingenuity. Essentially they have to put up and then take down their work as if they had never been in the room in the first place. The amazing thing is that they manage to come up with clever solutions and create visually intense environments whereby the whole room is engaged.

How do you know that the idea will work in the show?

Curating from ideas is an acquired skill. I am choosing work that has not been created yet so I have to be able to visualize their concept and plan. I believe that ability comes from my initial training as an artist myself. I received an MA in fine arts from CalArts and then also have spent years reading hundreds of proposals, working closely with artists in the development and creation of their work, and finally—a bit of intuition!

Who are some of the artists participating this year? What will they be creating?

I am quite excited this year to be working with artists from all over the state of Florida and even one coming from out of state. Showtel has traditionally attracted artists living close to Palm Beach County, but now artists from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Gainesville are applying and getting accepted into the show. I hope it continues to expand nationally.

I can give you a handful of teasers about the pieces planned for this year. There will be a mythical forest, a wormhole grow room, a lunar/meteor space, a scene from a world populated only by sloths and unicorns and five of the installations will involve performance. It is going to be a very intense and dynamic show!

*This is kind of like the show that the Modern Hotel does every year! This show seems bigger then the one that we have here but i think that the idea is awesome and it looks great!

Installation by Halie Ezratty, Showtel 2008

The overtly handmade quality of these soft sculpture monsters, existing in this faux natural world made for a great aesthetic that had humor in it too. One of the monsters actually was a costume for a person who was walking around the room interacting with people. The concept was about corporations turning into huge monsters that are taking over the environment, so it made a statement to think about as well.

Lauren Jacobson and Cristina Sierra, Showtel 2006

This installation was like stepping into a surreal dream and it smelled like bubble gum too! The graphics on the walls and floor reference the packaging of "Hubba Bubba" gum and the artists found a brand of gum that the pieces looked like tiny colorful square sculptures. There was a huge pile of gum on the bed that dwindled throughout the night as people were allowed to take and chew one! The installation truly engaged all of one's senses.

Installation by Bradley Lezo and Denise Moody-Tackley, Showtel 2008

This is an actual bedroom sunken in the pool, complete with a tray of food on the bed, an area rug, lights that worked and even a TV that appeared to be on. It was an amazing feat and one of the most memorable pieces in the history of Showtel.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

These utterly extraordinary sculptures are the work of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783). Messerschmidt was German-Austrian, and sculpted the heads in 1770-72. At this time he suffered from delusions and hallucinations, or a “confusion in the head” as his employer, the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, described it. In 1774, Messerschmidt was expelled from the academy.

In 1781, Messerschmidt stated that the heads had been created as a record of his facial expressions on pnching himself to alleviate the pain of an illness he suffered, known now to be Crohn’s Disease. He intended to sculpt the 64 “canonical grimaces” of the human face using his own as a template.

Messerschmidt also claimed that he was physically tortured by “the Spirit of Proportion”, an ancient being who guarded the knowledge of harmony and who was angered by Messerschmidt’s disharmonius work.

Kseniya Simonova

Kseniya Simonova (Ксения Симонова) (born 1985) is a sand animator from Ukraine. She started drawing with sand after her business collapsed due to the 2008 financial crisis, and had less than a year's experience when she entered Ukraine's Got Talent. She became the 2009 winner of that show, constructing an animation that portrayed life during the USSR's Great Patriotic War against the Third Reich in World War II.

Petr Spatina

What the hell is wrong with the Garfield guy?

You can see all of their videos at http://www.lasagnacat.com/ all that i can find about the people who made these videos is that they are made by two guys whos names are Zach and Jeffery and they live in Los Angeles and make videos for the internet.

Maskwoman

I love magic eye!

Oh man I love magic eye images almost as much as I love to watch people trying to see magic eye images! It is amazing to me that the images can still be seen even though they are on the computer! When i was a kid i would always get these books for Christmas or Birthdays! How fun! I think that I may buy one again because they are so cool! i want to figure out how to make these. Wouldn't it be cool to create a magic eye!

Julian Beever

this is all from the website - http://www.danielleblogspot.files.wordpress.com

Julian Beever is a well known street art artist. His work was ephemeral because he did all of this drawings in chalk. Beever’s artwork is preserved through photographs. His creations, when viewed from the right angle, create an illusion of depth. Since the 1990s, Beever has created many astounding images on sidewalks and streets as a freelance artist. His genious has been employed by many corporations for promotional purposes.

Make Poverty History (July 2005, Edinburgh) I like not only how this creation looks, but also the meaning behind it. This piece is ephemeral because it can be easily removed or worn away.

Politicians Meeting Their End (England, 1997) This piece is humorous but also has a serious meaning behind it. It looks so realistic, like there is really a hole in the sidewalk. Because this piece is not in a permanent state, it is ephemeral.

Meeting Madame Butterfly (Mexico City) This is one of my favorites of Beever’s. The first time that I looked at this piece, I really thought that it was some kind of butterfly suspended in the air. It took me a second to realize that it is completely flat. Gorgeous and very believable. It is almost unfortunate that this ephemeral piece cannot stay.

Queen Elizabeth I (London, 1999)

Queen Elizabeth I is one of several portraits done by Beever. I like the detail and in this piece. It looks like it was painted and not done with chalk. This image does not create the depth of some other works by Beevers, but there is a slightly elevated look to it.

Chinese New Year Celebration (2006, Birmingham, Arcadia Centre)

This piece took three days to complete. I like the light heartedness of it, and the fact that Beevers just happened to do it without really planning to. This work was only meant to be there for the Chinese New Year which makes an ephemeral approach very appropriate.

Another artist who specializes in ephemeral art is Kurt Wenner. Wenner began his street painting career in 1982 in Rome. Like Beever, Wenner is influenced by a techqnique called anamorphism. Anamorphism is the technique used to create the illusion of height.

The Giant. I was unable to find the time or place this work was created. It is unbelievable. The size and detail are breath taking. This piece follows the technique of anamorphism as well as being ephemeral.

Demonbaby's Election-Day Hideous Patriotic T-Shirt Extravaganza!

http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2006/11/demonbabys-election-day-hideous.html

This guy's writing and ideas are incredibly clever and satirical. This particular blog post is about American pride t-shirts and how stupid they are, in the end he made his own that are very offensive and distasteful. I wouldn't doubt it if people bought these and wore them not realizing that they were made as a joke! sometimes Americana's can be so funny because some of them are such babies and full of rage. i am a believer that hyper nationalism is what causes war and hatred, i mean what is so special about being born somewhere? everyone is born somewhere, i mean great you were born somewhere but that's not a good reason to dislike every other country. the people who wear this kind of stuff are hicks and i like to make fun of them!I had a friend show this to me and i could not stop laughing i recommend reading the entire thing and then moving to some of his other stuff. It can be offensive so i am not going to post any of the images so that people don't get the wrong idea.

sketch book #2