Nakayama has achieved a level of success that others might be jealous of if everybody didn’t simply adore him. Through the Woodward Gallery, where his Manhattan show is coming up, he recently hung a six-panel stencil piece at the Bank of America building in SoHo. Then there’s the April sequel at Lot F to last year’s hugely successful show with Woulfe. There, among other things, he’ll premiere a series of signs that he designed for homeless acquaintances to panhandle with. Experimenting with guys who hang out in the alleyway behind Lot F, Nakayama has been taking messages from their cardboard jobs and transforming them with multi-colored crafted lettering so as to hopefully increase their take. Through it all, Nakayama also works a full-time day job as a sneaker designer for Converse in North Andover. Since he’s implementing other peoples’ ideas there, he doesn’t consider the gig to be part of his artistic repertoire, though in 2008 he did customize a pair of All-Stars for the company’s centennial 1HUND(RED) series. That’s his character: though finally comfortable with making art for art’s sake, his work ethic still keeps Nakayama grinding out work for hire as he pursues his next paycheck. “All I could do when I got here was work hard in order to make things work for me,” he says. “I guess I’m still trying to do that"
Who Do Benefit Auctions Really Benefit?
Original artwork by Jason Andrew for Hyperallergic
Do artists really benefit from annual mega-auctions? Emerging artists may not be gaining the kind of exposure they hope to at benefit auctions where the main objective is to sell work and raise money for the institution rather than exhibit the unique talent of each artist.
Lexington artist plays with perception in abstract paintings
Working out of the living room of her Lexington home, artist Lynda Schlosberg delves into her abstract paintings for two to three weeks at a time. She describes the creative process for her brightly colored canvases — blanketed in minuscule dots, circles and lines — as “labor intensive.”
“The work is really, for me, an investigation of this idea that there kind of is no space between physical reality and our consciousness of our thoughts,” said Schlosberg, who teaches at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. “I’m constantly working on ways to collapse information down into a single plane but the paintings have a lot of depth because they’re so layered. But I’m more thinking of how they’re all weaving together.”
Schlosberg, 50, who has a background in graphic design as well as photography, noted the larger concept of her work has taken several years to develop, following the completion of her thesis at the Art Institute of Boston.
Kenji Nakayama & Dana Woulfe - Friends, Collaborators, Brothers
Currently featured in 13FOREST’s exhibition Space/Light/City, Kenji's and Dana's solo and collaborative paintings and murals have been well received in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Toronto and many other cities. In a show of their paintings at Boston’s Lot F Gallery last spring, a PR piece referred to their work is a melding of order and chaos. It was correct, but stillness and motion would have been as apt a phrase. While much of Kenji’s work, particularly his stenciled paintings, have solid form, Dana’s nonrepresentational “splash” style exudes kinetic energy.
The interesting question is not just how the two men’s aesthetics work when combined into single works of art, but also how two such different artists can work together successfully – seamlessly, as they put it.
Earlier this month I sat down with Kenji and Dana in their South Boston studio, and talked with them about everything from Kenji’s arrival in the US from Japan, to Dana’s youthful involvement with graffiti artists. It was a balmy night. The studio floor was incidentally beautiful from years of splattered paint. Soon the two men would have to leave to repair Dana’s motorcycle.
As Seen in The Boston Globe
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INTENT and the Artist Behind It
For nearly two years the work's 333 incan- descent light bulbs will at first spell the wordINTENT but then slowly lose their message as they randomly burn out one by one. Right now, however, all Wade wants is a burrito, so we set out into a flawlessly sunny day with my husband Marc and Allison Carswell, who keep 13FOREST on course. Finding Mexican in a college area? It's the easiest thing Wade will do for the next few weeks.
Make it better
In two of the stark black-and-white prints in Daniel Embree’s exhibition at an Arlington gallery, a man kneels, praying, searching. Shoulders are bent, body folded.
In the two remaining pieces in the display, Embree depicts a man in a suit, but this time he’s standing straight, adjusting his bow tie, celebrating with a glass of champagne.
The monotypes tell the story of a life not lived long, yet full of transformation. Six years ago, Embree was a student at Brigham Young University in Utah, a lifelong Mormon desperate to rid himself of his attraction to other men. Now he is living in West Newton with his husband, who also graduated from BYU. And his work, which explores his transformation, is attracting attention.
Artist's work explores transformation
Daniel Embree's monotypes tell a story of transformation. Six years ago, he was a student at Brigham Young University in Utah, a lifelong Mormon desperate to rid himself of his attraction to other men. Now the artist is living in West Newton with his husband, Michael Barber, who also graduated from BYU.
As Seen in Improper Bostonian
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Image: Solaris Bell, Maryalice Johnston, silkscreen, gouache on paper, 25" x 20"
As Seen in Improper Bostonian
Image: Red Bird 2, Taleen Batalian, oil, encaustic on panel, 10" x 10"