Believe In Me

I made this piece for the annual ART ON 45 project. I call it "Believe in Me"

The muted colors of the rainbowish record label "UNI" suggested a unicorn theme without the kitsch but with some vintage flair. So I made a trance-like spiral background using yellowed edges from old book pages, and ink for dimension. The clippings are obviously Alice and some unicorn from another children's book. The sofa is from a 60s LIFE magazine. I like the idea of a deeply depressed or disappointed unicorn seeking psychological advice, thus the couch.

The title is a reference to "Through the Looking Glass" when the Unicorn says to Alice: "If you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you."

I added the letters "ntelligible" from a dictionary to complete the UNI because it makes sense. Or does it not? 

"Believe in Me"
Mixed media: yellowed edges of old bookpages, clippings from various books and LIFE magazine, ink, on 45rpm vinyl record.

#50@$50

"#50@$50" is the name of the annual one-day exhibit for small works organized by the local Arts Council (NCLAC) which happened yesterday and where I had two pieces for sale.  There was a lot of traffic, and I am happy to report that both my works sold right away.

Works by Amanda Roe and Maryam El-Awadi

And even better: I invested the money immediately and took home these two very cool pieces:


"I Pulled My Skin Off For You" by Amanda Roe, and "Stirring" by Maryam El-Awadi. - I love them both a lot.

My two 50@50s

So, these are the ones that I had: "Hey Peace" and "What To Believe."
 
Markus, my husband, had two photos at the show which he took when we were living in Chicago: "Flowing" and "Leaving."

Markus' photography

We spent six years there and left for Louisiana when our first baby was just born. These two images reflect quite well how our life was up there and how we left.

What I Did With My Life

Dropping off my "Life"

 "Surreal Salon 11" - I came across that call for artists last fall. Someone had posted it on facebook, and I thought, I should give it a try. "Surreal Salon" is the annual exhibit of the Baton Rouge Gallery that celebrates pop-surrealist and lowbrow art. To be honest, until then I hadn't really labeled my work as being surreal. I hadn't labeled it as anything particular. I do what I do, and to me it's all real. But okay, let's call it surreal.

Loved the piece hanging to the left of my Life:
"The Adoration of the Golden Calf (Near Double Roads) by Rick Newton

The gallery received over 400 submissions. I entered three pieces, and I am proud to say that juror Camille Rose Garcia chose my "Life" to be one of the 63 selected pieces to be part of this spectacular exhibit. Sweet.

Last weekend, my husband Markus and I went to the Baton Rouge Gallery and enjoyed the Surreal Salon Soiree, a wonderfully weird party where people show up in the most bizarre costumes to create a surreal experience of its own. We enjoyed taking in all the fantastic works on the walls and bodies and meeting several of the amazing artists. I loved it!

One of my favorite pieces at the show:
"Companions" by Dan Barry

By the way, I didn't dress up because I felt it would have been one more task on my very long to-do list.


I think I still deserve a break after those many years of making costumes and funny hairdos for my kids when the school was having their storybook character day, or halloween, or Dr. Seuss day, or silly sock day, or whatever spirit day.

"Life"

Anyways, it was a remarkable night and being part of such a significant show is very encouraging. Baton Rouge's paper, The Advocate, wrote about the event and show, and even included a picture of my "Life." Thank you!