Tuesday 9 September 2008

Trying to get back into the swing of things!

It's taken a few weeks to get back into the flow of things here in Taiwan. Coming back from a cool English climate to the constant drip drip of sweaty Taipei has been hard to adjust to, not only for my art but also for my 'real' work. Nevertheless there are a few art projects on the go at the moment and as they come to fruition I'll write more about them. In the meantime let me introduce you to a few of the many artists out there who I find quite inspiring.



Check out the excellent blog Tlacoland (I've got no idea what it means either!) Written by Jazmin Velasco (thxs for awarding me the prestigious Brillante Weblog by the way!). I adore her Mexican Wrestlers especially the awesome Machete in his fearsome mask. Her blog is a cionstant source of fab musings on life 'n' art.



There was an international art fair here in Taipei last week. There were galleries from all over Asia representing the latest trends. They came from Japan, Korea and of course Taiwan. Found the work of a young Taiwanese artist, Wu Geng Zhen, very interesting especially his paper cuts. A nice fusion of old and new with hints of manga. Can't find a website for him.



Another recent discovery are the paper cuts of Elsa Mora. Originally from Cuba she now resides in LA. Her cuttings are amazingly delicate and beautifully cut. They have echoes of traditional European fairy tales which give them an innocent yet distinctly edgy feel.



Over in Japan the ever productive Patrick Gannon continues to amaze me with his commitment to his Japanese influenced paper cutting art. With two shows in the US and one in Japan running simultaneously I hope this is his big break. Check out his comprehensive blog.

3 comments:

ZenCrafter said...

Thanks, Tim, for the great inspiration! Can't wait to see what you're working on!

RE: a musing on what Jazmin Velasco's Tlacoland means: That "tl" sound is an Aztec prefix very common in Mexican place names, gods, etc. For example, Tlaloc is the Aztec god of rain. Tlacoland seems like a fun play on and combination of Tlaloc and taco. And I think you know what a taco is. ;)

emily said...

wow these are all amazing, so nice to see what other artists are doing with paper cutting all over the world!

Jazmin velasco said...

Well done that zencrafter. Tlaloc is my favourite god and I live in London when it rains all day all year long so this is Tlaloc's kingdom.
Nothing to do with taco though. But I eat them a lot.