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Every once in a while, I read articles about artists who don’t make their own work. The most recent one was published last month on BBC website: ‘Hockney takes a swipe at Hirst technique’. Hockney, 74, has a poster advertising his new exhibition (David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, opened at the Royal Academy in January) which reads: “All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally“. Asked in a Radio Times interview if he was having a dig at Hirst, Hockney said: “It’s a little insulting to craftsmen, skilful craftsmen.” According to this article, Hirst has previously defended using assistants to complete his paintings. He employs up to 100 people in a “factory” that works as a production line for his spot paintings and completes the painstaking work on installations like his diamond-studded skulls. Speaking to Time Out in 2006, Hirst likened himself to an architect running a practice, rather…⇒ READ MORE

You know how much I like working with kids: Kids coloring the World of Sama in 2010 and Kids coloring da-eYe! in 2011. Watching kids drawing is a magical thing and it sometimes (often) reveals unexpected creativity when they give free rein to their imagination. Only problem: what they draw is most of the time very far from what they actually want to depict. Hopefully, Garrett Miller provides an awesome solution. Miller is a designer, developer and photographer living in Washington D.C. and he created Imaginawesomed. ‘Kids have the ability to come up with some pretty amazing things, but not always the ability to draw exactly what they were imagining. I’m here to help make those drawings come a little bit closer to reality.’ And the result is simply… Awesome!  “Bad Rabbit” – A Chinese man is angry because a rabbit ate his carrot, by Naomi, age 7. Check Miller’s website…⇒ READ MORE

Last month I read a very interesting article about American artist Jackson Pollock on MSNBC website: according to physicists and mathematicians who conducted a careful analysis of the artwork, Jackson Pollock was an intuitive master of the flow of fluids, relying on the laws of physics to turn his splashes, drips and drizzles into the iconic abstract creations they came to be. Claude Cernuschi, a professor of art history at Boston College, said in a statement: ‘When Pollock is creating his pieces, he is enlisting gravity as a participant — as a co-conspirator [...] He has to understand how pigment is going to behave under the laws of gravity. He has to anticipate what is going to happen and work accordingly. There is both spontaneity and control, just as there is in the improvisation of a jazz musician‘. Interesting, isn’t it? If you like the work of Pollock just like…⇒ READ MORE

Leon Botha was a great artist. He died from complications of progeria on 5 June 2011. Almost the exact same day last year, I posted about the South African painter and musical performer to express my admiration for his work and for his incredible personality and strength : Leon Botha: when Art is beyond what you see. Here is what I wrote about him: A few days ago, as I was starting to write my new blog post about the 1980s, I visited the website of South African group Die Antwoord and I really like their music, a mix of conceptual rap-rave mutant hip-hop style. I especially appreciated “Enter Ninja” and then I watched the video on Youtube. An image immediately caught my attention: it was Leon Botha. I recognized him right away. Two or three years ago, my friend from South Africa told me about the first exhibition of…⇒ READ MORE

This woman is more than that. Miss.tic is a modern legend. I managed to see one of her show in Paris, eventually. For years I admired her stencil work in the streets and enjoyed her clever aphorisms mixing puns, wordplay and double meanings. I mentioned her in my previous post titled Grandmaster Flash, Seen, Jordans… Remembering the good old days! and each time I see one of her stencils (more and more in galleries, less and less in the streets because of the laws against graffiti), it brings me back to the 80s… At this time, there were not so many women in the graffiti world but #Miss.tic was there, her female characters were sexy with sometimes suggestive poses. But most of all, they had something to say, about women (and human) condition, insolently questioning our society. So yes, I am a big fan of Miss.tic’s work and personality. She…⇒ READ MORE