NEWS and UPDATES

I am organizing and planning to have a solo exhibit in February 2012.  Everything is still up in the air, I am organizing and planning everything as I speak; including location, date, time, new art pieces, website update, PR that goes with putting on a show, and oh my gosh, I ask myself what have I gotten myself into!  But this is how things go~  One thing at a time, I will make progress.  Through all of this I will be creating 5 new pieces, maybe 6 depending on time constraints.  A few will be installation pieces.  


I have been in touch with a fashion designer in the Netherlands who will be designing a one of a kind outfit for my opening night.  I will disclose details closer to the time.


Putting this info out there makes things official and there is still much work that needs to be done.  I've never done this before so I am in new territory but I believe it is a healthy challenge which is achievable.  There will always be glitches but please bare with me as this is my first time putting on a solo show.  


Right now I need to get back to sculpting, power sawing, soldering, and painting, not to mention having to find a venue, date, ads, and the 'not so fun' aspect of making this happen, so I will keep you closely updated and in the know:)  


Thank you so much for supporting and wish me luck!

Art piece from hell.

This is just my luck, omg, I am working on a piece from hell at the moment which needs much improvisation.  Improv is no problem for me, I even formally took class after class for improv for classical ballet, but this is a bit different... frustrating piece of ____ (insert preferred word here).  


Here is my predicament; first I used masking tape and I was a bit too thorough with the GAC 500 to get clean edges and took forever lifting the masking.  Oh my fingertips... uggh.  That's fine these things happen, and I got very clean edges so I am happy with that.  


Then for reasons foreign to my brain I choose to use mosaic glass tiles which need splitting with hammer, into squares, little squares... do I decide to use this sparingly, NO, I end up having to do some MATH, and from my calculation I need 16 more BOXES of these little glass suckers!  There are approx. 180 in each box, I need 2976 tiny squares!!!

  
To complicate matters I decide to place them onto my canvas in a cross hatch patterns, one at a time (paint picture in head of me sitting on an old tub of gesso, well sometimes leaning or laying on my stomach on the tub so I am a few inches off the surface of my canvas).  NOT COMFORTABLE!  NECK PROBLEMS?  YES!  

I also bought these tiles a while back and needing more of the same tiles I find out they are no longer in stock... where do these tiles originate?  Some place called Monheim, GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????  Just grrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaatttttttttttt......................


Excuse my bitching but why didn't I choose to use little stick on tiles or macaronis or I don't know, anything but these freakin glass tiles!?  


This is going to take a while.

  

Nuit Blanche Toronto

For Nuit Blanche Toronto my work will be displayed at the Red Head Gallery for their INSOMNIA exhibit from Sept. 28- Oct. 2.


The piece is called RAGE: Rape, Antagonism, Gnawing, Eviscerate.  2005 June.  Mixed media: acrylic paint, paper, ink, pen, marker.  Razor blades, pins, nail, leather, velcro, and found objects.  

I think it accurately mirrors the way I felt at the time I created the piece; beyond pissed or angry, I was enraged.  I believe it was after a huge fight I had with one of my ex's, but it drew out more than just the rage of the moment, kept me awake throughout the night, and for a few nights, therefore 'insomnia'.  The first piece that came to mind when I heard of the exhibit.

Have you ever experienced emotions so strong that it kept you awake throughout the night and/or completely preoccupied (even during the day) until it was resolved?

Osaka Puzzle Project photos

Pictures from the Osaka Puzzle Project exhibit at Tachibana Gallery.

I thought the project was such a great concept and I am glad I was able to be a part of it.  I shall keep you posted on further on goings and I may do a post about my recent experiences galleries.  

Have a wonderful week!!!

NEW YORK, OSAKA PUZZLE PROJECT EXHIBITS

Here are some recent pictures from the NY PUZZLE PROJECT exhibit at Ouchi Gallery:

And my piece will be flying back to Osaka, Japan for the exhibit taking place at Tachibana Gallery:

Just a reminder, this is the puzzle piece I created for the show:

          

I shall keep you in the loop:)  Right now I am waiting for large canvases and wood panels to be delivered to me; lets see if I can sit still and wait for them to arrive before I end up dashing to the store near by, carrying a large (bigger than my body) canvas on my own by foot, that would be a site, huh?  I have to say I do get cranky and antsy when I run out of supports and/or supplies.  Well, I haven't created an art piece out of the walls of the studio yet, but there is always the risk... other walls from the past have not been so lucky, it wasn't even in my own house, I was just staying at a friends.  And in the morning 'there was art'!!!

That was in the past, these days I don't act on impulse unless it is a good positive impulse:)  

Autumn is here!!!

I took this picture the last time I was in Japan; can you believe this beautiful installation was next to the bathroom stalls!?  I got strange stares from others using the bathroom, but I always get strange stares!!!

The story behind new work; SUBJECT TO SUGGESTION

Let me first paint you a picture of the setting while I came up with my most recent piece SUBJECT TO SUGGESTION.  


-In the living room sitting lazily on couch
-TV on some channel I am not really paying attention to
-I'm flipping through one of those weekly magazines that has been bundled with the cable provider package, that comes in the mail, which usually ends up as the lining that protects my floors while I do some top coat spraying or painting
-Herbal tea on coffee table, dog snoozing on the rug


I usually don't concentrate while doing this, its one of those passing routines that take less than a few minutes, but for some reason on that day, words, especially sexual in nature, were annoying my attention.  Then as I'm flipping through, I hear the TV ranting about Pippa Middleton's tight sexy butt that captured people's interest more than her sister's actual wedding, blah blah blah... 


So I'm trying to finish the pages of this extremely boring mag (since I paid for it, in the bundle, I feel I need to make sure I get some glance of each page before I bin it) and all I can think of and hear going through my head is Pippa's sexy tight ass, and being completely perplexed about why I'm somehow bothered, the fact that it is perplexing, the whole 'huh?' feeling, made me interested and curious, intrigued!  


Here I go rummaging through the psycho babble in me, questioning and trying to be super aware (as I am usually a bit too much, making me even more loopy than I already am), I see clearly the sexual innuendos we are subject to these days, in everything, everywhere, every who what where when why how...etc.  


Next few days were a blur of scissors, piles and piles of magazines, news papers, publications, slivers of paper scraps that ended up on the bottom of my feet to in my dogs fur, and who knows where else.  I amassed a box load of sexually charged/related/suggestive messages, words, images, phrases from the most unexpected of places, sorted them out so only the ones that really popped out at me would be worthy of being included in the art piece.  Once I got those together I placed each cut out, some teeny tiny, onto one of four non-stick palettes which I use for my acrylic painting (some glass, others HDPE).  Coated them with acrylic medium, waited for the layer to dry so I can put another two layers of medium to make a strong enough image transfered film.  Then when I got my image transfered I cut the images to the specs I wanted and placed them into the collage of suggestive sexual messages on my canvas.  


Oh did I tell you that I also had a stubborn bug as I was going through this process; the last cold I had was about 2 years before and all of a sudden I came down with this annoying bug.  So you can imagine me a complete mess and shit faced as I'm doing these transfers religiously throughout the day into the night 7 days a week and so on.  Uggh thank god that is done with.  


Here is the piece after thousands of transfers, and layers of medium, colors, and a few inclusions here and there, ta-daaaah~...  never mind, already onto the next few pieces I've got visions for in mind(*^_^*)!

SUBJECT TO SUGGESTION 

for info click link below:

http://marietomeoki.com/wordpressgallery/index.php/2011/09/subject-to-suggestion/  

I hope that was somewhat entertaining.  Some of the crazy aspects of being an artist.  So do you ever find yourself aware of the veil of sexual innuendos evident in society today?  Or do you enjoy it?  What does this mean for the younger generations?  Is it a good thing or bad, or are you not really fussed?  Just something to think about:)

More posts coming up, please subscribe if you are interested in getting updates.  Thank you!

-M 

   

PASSWORD; Exhibit in Italy

Two of my pieces will be featured in the exhibit mentioned above in Lecce Italy.  As per website description:  http://www.primopianogallery.com/eventieng.asp?ID=213

The exhibition aims to investigate the synergies and the associations between words and images. Art is a form of cartography, spatial representation that illustrates the relationships between the different components. Through the interpretation of some words that represent our society, the artists are invited to works site-specificto make a fantastic dictionary of the human condition of the twenty-first century.

These are the pieces which I created and the description for the pieces are as follows:

SPIRITUAL CONSERVATION 

Ojizo-sama are Japanese divinities or symbols of guardian and protection, in particular 

children and travelers.  Although they are usually made of stone they seem to have a life 

and soul of their own.  Each one is totally unique and has different expressions, gestures, 

or postures.  People usually make hats, scarves, bibs, etc to keep them warm and show 

their respect, also leaving flowers, and food.  The ojizo’s spiritual protection can also be 

personal and encompass a number of aspects; such as watching over critically 

endangered species and the plight of the natural world which connects the art piece 

ENDANGERED PLANET.     

Spiritual Conservation

Acrylic paint, paper, ink, woven beads.

Endangered Planet

Acrylic paint, collage transfers, paper.

I shall keep you updated on my recent endeavors:)  Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day!!!