Jezebel: Artists

Color Field Painter Helen Frankenthaler Dies At 83

Anna North — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:25:00 EST

Helen Frankenthaler, an artist who helped develop a style of painting known as Color Field, has died at the age of 83. Though she was one of the most famous female artists of her generation, she said she never thought of herself as a "lady painter." More »

Chuck Close Photographs Diane von Furstenberg After Ski Accident

Jenna Sauers — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:13:00 EDT

Diane von Furstenberg sat for a portrait with Chuck Close six weeks after a skiing accident left her with a broken nose and fractured bones in her face. "I gave up on my looks a long time ago," says the designer. In fact, she wishes Close could have taken this color Polaroid closer to her accident. "I should have come here when my face was blue. There was a time when there was a lot of blue but no swelling." Aging doesn't trouble Diane von Furstenberg. "I've always liked wrinkles. When I was a young girl, I used to make lines on my face with my nails because I loved Jeanne Moreau. I always wanted to be older; I always added years to my life. For the longest time, if people thought I was older I would take it as a compliment." More »

How To Knit A Giant Sweater For A Bull

Dodai Stewart — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:25:00 EST

Last week, right before the blizzard, the artist known as Olek covered the huge statue of a bull on Wall Street in New York with a crocheted cozy. More »

In Praise Of Louise Bourgeois

Katy Kelleher — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:20:00 EDT

As previously mentioned, Louise Bourgeois died last week. She was one of the most influential sculptors on the art scene, and, for reasons I will explain, my favorite (once) living artist. More »

R.I.P. Louise Bourgeois

Katy Kelleher — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:40:00 EDT

French-born artist Louise Bourgeois died on Monday at the age of 98. Bourgeois was best known for her anatomically-themed sculptures, which depicted dismembered parts of the human body in nightmarishly gorgeous distortions. The cause of death was heart failure. [NYT] More »

Man Caught Selling Fake Tracey Emins

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:20:00 EDT

A man has been charged with selling forgeries of artwork by the British artist Tracey Emin. Jonathan Rayfern faces five counts of fraud. No word yet on which pieces he copied - we're hoping it wasn't "My Bed." [Telegraph] More »

Dancers Float Through New York In Photography Collection

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:40:00 EDT

In 2009, photographer Jordan Matter began a series of shots capturing dancers in motion throughout New York. The result, titled Dancers Among Us is, in the words of our tipster, exactly what Vogue spreads should look like. [Jordan Matter Photography] More »

New Yorkers Protest Mural Showing "Strong Women"

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EDT

Sofia Maldonado was commissioned by the Times Square Alliance to create a mural in one of the most famous intersections in the world. But some people - including Fox reporters -aren't too happy about Maldonado's choice of subjects. More »

Separate While Unequal: Tricky Women Festival Seeks To Fix Art World Imbalance

Katy Kelleher — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:40:00 EST

"Mei Ling, an idle young Chinese woman, lives alone in her flat, waiting for her lover. One day, she finds a little octopus in the kitchen sink. She decides to adopt it to avoid boredom. The octopus grows up..." More »

Art Installation Tests The Limits Of New York's Tolerance

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:40:00 EST

Is public nudity acceptable so long as it's art? Legally, yes. Or no, depending on which lawyer you talk to. More »

Exhibitionists

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:40:00 EST

Two galleries in New York are hosting a show titled the "Visible Vagina," which aims to remove the forced modesty surrounding our ladyparts by featuring works by Kiki Smith, Cindy Sherman, Hans Bellmer and others. Preview (NSFW) here: [AnimalNewYork] More »

You Can't Forget Your Past

Anna Holmes — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST

[London, January 25. Image via Getty]

Artistic Endevors: Jenny Holzer On Writing, Law & Order And Pizza

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:40:00 EST

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The New York Times was lucky enough to go inside the house of artist Jenny Holzer. While her rooms are relatively unrevealing, her sound-bite heavy, 31-point interview is another story. More »

Tracey Emin Reports Mail Harassment

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:40:00 EST

Someone has been sending forged satirical letters to artist Tracey Emin's neighbors. Although they imitated her handwriting, and mentioned a recent local feud, one resident said he knew the letters were fakes; "There were no spelling mistakes." [Telegraph] More »

Rock Of Ages

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:45:00 EDT

A 91-year-old Australian woman won the top prize in the Sculpture By The Sea awards. May Barrie completed Time and Tide Granite Monolith II over a decade ago and has been sculpting for over 60 years. [Reuters, Mercury] More »

"Wild Woman" Tracey Emin On Art, Kids, & Statutory Rape

Katy Kelleher — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:40:00 EDT

In an interview with the Mirror, former enfant terrible Tracey Emin reveals that her ex-boyfriend, who she dated when she was just 14 and he was 22, is auctioning off her old love letters. Emin is pissed. More »

Charity Case

Anna Holmes — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:10:00 EDT

[London, September 16. Image via Getty]

R.I.P. Richard Merkin

Sadie Stein — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Richard Merkin, artist, illustrator and "professional dandy," has died at 70. Eulogized Tom Wolfe, "He was the greatest of that breed, the Artist Dandy...Like Dali, he had one of the few remaining Great Mustaches in the art world." [NYT] More »

Figures Of Speech

Anna Holmes — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:10:00 EDT

[Berlin, September 2. Image via Getty]

My Papa Diego and Me

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:40:00 EDT

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Guadalupe Rivera on her new children's book: "I was so young at the time and didn't realize what it meant to pose for him. I never knew my father was such a great painter. He was just my father." [PublishersWeekly] More »

Su Blackwell Destroys Books, Creates Wonders

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:20:00 EDT

These amazing sculptures are the work of British artist Su Blackwell, who carefully dismembers books in order to create a visual interpretation of their contents. More »

Nan Goldin Talks About Photography, Family, And Upcoming Exhibit

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:40:00 EDT

"A real artist doesn't do themselves. I don't do Nan Goldin," says photographer Nan Goldin, in an interview with the Telegraph. More »

A Strong Clear Vision

Anna Holmes — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:40:00 EDT

Maya Lin: "I had a hard time in grad school...my professors were always trying to guide me - I had just gotten the coup of the century with the Memorial, so why wasn't I behaving more like an architect?" [Time] More »

Van Gogh Vindicated! (Maybe!)

Sadie Stein — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Some scholars are posthumously vindicating Vincent Van Gogh for, um, chopping off his own ear. More »

(Art Deco) Antiques Roadshow

Anna Holmes — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:10:00 EDT

[New York, May 1. Image via Getty]

Portrait Of The Artist As A Middle-Aged Woman

Sadie Stein — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:00:00 EDT

In her new conceptual portrait series - and the film in which she's an unwilling star - artist Cindy Sherman shows that women of a certain age? Have it rough. More »

Fine Lines

Sadie Stein — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:45:00 EDT

Although she died at just 17 in 1969, artist Nadya Rusheva is famous in her native Russia for her body of over 10,000 delicate drawings, which "penetrated into the depths of human spirit." [MentalFloss] More »

What Is "Women's Art"?

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:20:00 EDT

A review from the Financial Times of two female artists with exhibitions in London asks the question that has been floating around since women first started producing art: is art gendered? More »

Make A 'Stevie Smith' And We're Sold!

Sadie Stein — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:40:00 EST

These HeadHoods, made by Brooklyn artist Clinton van Gemert, are so creepy...and yet such a good idea! In addition to the prez, you can go under cover as Elvis, Marilyn and an angry baby. [Inventorspot] More »

Genius Is Like "Mystical Fairy Juice," Says Eat, Pray, Love Author

Anna North — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:40:00 EST

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Do society's expectations destroy geniuses? So says the ubiquitous Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (which we promise not to bash at all in this post). More »

R.I.P. Blair Lent

Sadie Stein — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:20:00 EST

Blair Lent, a children's book illustrator best known for his distinctive portrayal of international folk tales like Tikki Tikki Tembo and The Funny Little Woman, has died at 80. [NYT] More »

Princess Hijab

Sadie Stein — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:20:00 EST

Since 2006, the guerrilla street artist "Princess Hijab" has been "hijab-izing" Parisian ads, covering pictured women's faces and bodies with spray paint and marker and pasting original "hijab ads" around the city. More »

Saint Joan

Sadie Stein — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST

You think that wax Joan Rivers stays so perfect without surgical intervention? She gets her tuneups at the Madame Tussaud's repair room, "a gruesome human body shop of sorts, a grisly place where unmouthed teeth and disembodied heads are strewn across the tables and the floor." The wax museum's team of artists and costumers is privy to the "confidential files" of all their subjects — necessary, presumably, for accurate replication — as well as repairing those breaches of ego caused by unflattering representations. But as they see it, their job is a lot bigger than that: one wax artist likens their work to that of the 16th century churchwomen responsible for dressing the figures of saints. “It says something dreadful about our culture, but celebrities are the saints of today.” [New York Times] More »

Study Says: Artists Are Easy, Scientists Are Virgins

Sadie Stein — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:30:00 EST

"Try asking out a female arts student for a date. You won't be disappointed as a new study shows that young woman studying arts are most likely to be sexually active," begins an article in today's Times of India. By the same token, apparently anyone asking "male science students" for a "date" is looking for "disaster," since these guys tend to skew inexperienced. Smarmy shorthand aside, we have a few questions about this study's somewhat disturbing results...anecdotal ones, of course! More »

Artist Nina Westerberg has made a "Teen...

Sadie Stein — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Artist Nina Westerberg has made a "Teen Pregnancy Barbie," a "multimedia art project" that surely is intended to address ideas of objectification, societal exploitation and maybe growing up too fast. Thing is, Barbie art just doesn't feel very transgressive or provocative anymore. It's like, it's been so long since we've actually seen a Barbie in a non-ironic context that it's kind of lost its punch. The fact that this could totally be a real doll probably says a lot about our society — or at least our ability to be shocked by Barbie art. [Feministing] More »

Breakup Letters For The Artistically-Inclined

Anna Holmes — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:46:32 EDT

French women don't get fat... they get even. Today's obsession is Gallic artist Sophie Calle (right), whose latest art installation involves taking a breakup email sent to her by an ex-boyfriend and having 107 other women — including a copy editor, etiquette consultant, forensic psychiatrist, journalist, clown, and famous actress (Vanessa Redgrave) — analyze and/or interpret the missive. According to the Washington Post, Calle's work — titled "Take Care Of Yourself" and currently on view at the Venice Biennale — also includes translations of the email into Latin, Braille, Morse code, bar code and shorthand (emphasis ours); versions of the letter set to music and sung by an opera singer and a pop star (Peaches); and videos that portray, among other things, Calle "undergoing couples counseling, with her ex-boyfriend represented by his email, sitting on an empty chair." More »