Artists "Review" Artists: Aaron McMasters on Michelle Hunter

The Artists "Review" Artists Project was launched on June 30, 2008.  Below is a "review" of Michelle Hunter's work, In One Ear and..., written by Aaron McMasters.  Michelle provided the second jpeg, an image of When I'm Bored at Work I..., as well as a brief response to Aaron's "review."

Michelle currently resides in New York, NY, and Aaron lives in Brooklyn, NY.

If you would like to participate in this project, please email me at jtkirkland [at] gmail [dot] com.

              
In One Ear and ...
Acrylic
20'' x 20''
2008

The "Review"

Elinore was on the couch ruffling through an Ikea catalogue. She looked like Audrey Hepburn. Benny, who looked a little like Brad Pitt after a fight, was on his macbook pro designing an Urban Outfitter's catalogue. They weren't speaking to eachother/ had not spoken for over an hour.

That morning Benny had forgotten Elinore was lactose intolerant, or at least absent mindedly used milk instead of soy. "You don't listen," she had said, dipping her biscotti anyways. "whatevevs," he had replied, his mind on the advance money he had allready spent on an lime green Ikea sofa, the sofa that was now parked in the middle of the room with Elinore, who was shopping for shelving solutions for her extensive collection of fashion magazines. As Elinore sulked, her poster of Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," began to whisper to her.

"I find its easy to create if you have a general but non specific theme in mind," it said, apropos of nothing.

The poster continued, Audrie's sock puppeted lips coming to eerie but sensual life.

"...relationships, for example. A good theme can cross pollinate and contaminate other themes, like masters come to resemble their dogs, bees, or furniture. Brand people call this glamour "synergy."   I often find synchronicity - two often unrelated elements coinciding, to be compelling, if only on a personal level - my own cosmic joke."

Elinore dropped her catalogue.  The words meant nothing to her. "Shut UP!" she said. Benny looked up, his eyes lost in a a bauhaus grid somewhere off the shores of Orion. "Throw the poster out allready Elly, its not worth the agrivation."

Benny was a good boyfriend sometimes. Elinore struggled to tune out the poster - refusing to acknowledge the batshit craziness of a talking poster was one of the unspoken rules of the relationship. It was the fourth talking poster Elinore had bought, each one with its own voice: Fight Club, Blade Runner, Running Man. She had bought them for Benny.

"How many people out there are gazing into the future with paint chip divinations? Certainly many modern artists are credited with finding personal and universal truths, if not Jungian ontologies, within the square confines of a canvas. Do we situate an artwork in autobiography? How do the things we own represent who we are?

If I find the theme and tone somewhat whimsical, infected with charm, or affecting the carefree nature of what is now, often fashionably used to break the monotony of columns of text, am I to be called a curmudgeon? Or am I pointing out a sophisticated stylistic and thematic affectation - one I see increasingly in fashion?  Some art is dismissed as mere one liner. These same critics seem to think the only cure is to make the work more ambiguous, eliminate the immediate recognition of the figure and instead focus, as other painters often do, on the subtle relationships between blue and orange, green and red, analogous and wholly incompatible."

And with that, Benny threw the poster out the window.

By Aaron McMasters

      
When I'm Bored at Work I...
Acrylic on Stretched Round Canvas
20'' x 20''

The Response

Our bodies are a canvas, an example of natural beauty we can choose to embellish with jewels or tattoos. With that in mind, this painting, "In One Ear and..." turned out to be a really fun piece to create. The inspiration for this painting came from flipping through an anatomy book. An image of an ear struck my fancy and I was looking at what I could do creatively with the curves of the ear. Moments later, the idea of a roller coaster came to mind. The simple background allows the viewer to enjoy the ride along the curves of the ear. Can you hear the screams?

By Michelle Hunter

Previous "Reviews":
Pam Farrell on Ken Weathersby
Paula McCullough on Aric Calfee
Lee Gainer on Leigh Waldron-Taylor
Aric Calfee on Paula McCullough
Matthew Ballou on Heather Levy
Giovanni Garcia-Fenech on TJ Norris
TJ Norris on Giovanni Garcia-Fenech
Susan Tolbert on Mary Klein
Heather Levy on Gail Vollrath
Sharon Butler on Matthew Ballou
Mark L. Power on Steven Alexander
Steven Alexander on Mark L. Power
Molly Norris on M. Trigos
Ken Weathersby on Joseph Barbaccia
Sondra Arkin on Susan Tolbert
John M. Adams on Sharon Butler
Michael Paul Oman-Reagan on Brent Hallard
Daniel Mafe on Pam Farrell
Joanna Knox on John M. Adams
John Lucien Grillo on Joanna Knox
Brent Hallard on Lisa Klow
Joseph Barbaccia on John Lucien Grillo
M. Trigos on Michael Paul Oman-Reagan
Mary Klein on Imants Ozers
Richard Schemmerer on Michael Konrad
Michael Konrad on Richard Schemmerer
Jennifer Mawby on Lee Gainer
Lisa Klow on Molly Norris
Bob Barbera on Jenn Figg
Tom Wagner on Kimberley L. Lindsley
Michelle Hunter on Aaron McMasters
Gail Vollrath on Daniel Mafe

Comments

[Aaron McMasters]

I can hear the rattle and the screams. I have memories of a walk-through heart at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Was it inspired by the Caves of Lascaux? Carlsbad caverns? I like to think so.

[busby seo test]

Nice art works

[Michelle]

Thanks Aaron and 'busby' for your thoughts!