happy new year!

I do lists of works to do and summits to attain on a small scraps of paper in the beginning of new years, and I loose those scraps a week later usually.

But I found my last years’ list while cleaning my studio today. And i was amazed to see that all has fulfilled with no pain, with no struggle and peacefully.

This’s been a strange strange year. lots of disclosures and ruminations.

new amazing gateways have opened a short while after a lot of old ones have closed a bit painfully.

Life is magical!

SCIENCE OF SLEEP

Some small part of my "Science of Sleep" series is exhibited in the tiny beautiful Latvian city Sigulda, in the Baltais Flīģelis. It is a soft white little winter solo, if you happen to pass by, come in and have a look!

In the photo - mixed media on canvas piece "Scientist of Sleep" 

ANIMAL ANIMATIONS

The owl and the raven


Mr Frog Went A-Courting

SUBTLETIES OF CHARACTER show preview

The opening of the "Subtleties of Character" show is tonight. In my heart I'm going to be there while my body stays snowbound in the winter of Latvia.
 
To see all the wonderful selection done by Dan Barry go to the preview page here.
If you are interested in purchasing a piece from the show, call the gallery at 310.836.4992 or email.
 
I'll post just some of the pieces which moved me most:

Mia Makila

"Little Grace With Killer Doll"

 

 

Fred Stonehouse

"Puzzles"

 

 

Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy

"Dictator Man"

Matt Dangler

"The Honey Hoarder"

Jeremiah Ketner

"Together"

Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy

"Eliminate"

  Richard J Frost

"Broken Dolls #3"

 

Tiffany Liu

"Swan Ride on Rainbow River"

 Kevin Peterson

"Sunnyside Up"

Nouar

"The Sweet Chase"

Saratoga Sake

"Victoria"

Okay, i'll stop before i have reposted all the show.

Go to the preview page to see/buy more wonders.

Here are my lovely contributions:

"The Most Delicious Bloom"

"The Magical Beast of Miss Emily"

*sold*

"Mr. Tomy's Night of Wonders"
*sold* 

"Lady Who Wanted to Hide in a Forest"

*sold*

SUBTLETIES OF CHARACTER show

I'm working and working and working at some wonderful curious projects now, more info coming in the near future. But for now - I'm going to have a few works in a new group show which is going to open in the 10th of December and run through 15th of January. It is curated by a wonderful artist and dear friend Dan Barry and features some truly amazing and inspiring artists. Go to the WWA gallery to be added to the preview list, and have fun being one of the first to see and acquire their new wonders!

And what is most exciting - the painting on the invitations etc. is my "The most delicious bloom"! It is such an honour to be in the front of this AMAZING lineup, as the show includes some of my very favorite artists as well as some friends!!

Beside this one, I'm going to have 3 more drawings on wood in the show, so you are very much welcome to drop in if you happen to spend the December in the sunny California!

More pictures coming after the show opens, this is just a teaser ;)

HORRORWOOD artworks

Here are some art that struck my heart from the Horrorwood show I'm currently in {I add just some, as there are so much much more of wonders to see}. I hope you would enjoy it as much as I did:

Ben Kehoe "Bad First Impression of Land"

Julian Callos "Blood Bond"

Charlie Immer "Blob"

Jon MacNair "The Undead"

Coup de Grace (Matt Duffin and Flannery Horan) "Sitting Duck"

David Chung "Finger-Crab and Gillman Try on Mustaches for His Big Date"

David Ball "The End"

JAW Cooper "His Father's Eyes"

And, here is my contribution:

Jana Brike "Fog in Lily's Room"

SCULPTING...

... for the first time in my life.
See the progress shots, in plasticine yet.
I'm having lots of fun and hard times too, but I'm enjoying this whole new process.

just a beginning..

after a day or so..

and after some more days of work..

..more progress to come..

PORTRAITS

My new paintings have reached Chicago!

For more info visit Curly Tale gallery!

ENDLESS INSPIRATIONS

I have been asked about what, from the field of art, are my influences, several times lately.


What can I really say?

The world is such a diverse place, the visual language of our society is so rich and overwhelming, it is impossible to draw lines sometimes, it is impossible to say YES to this and NO to that regarding my influences, as sometimes the things that I don’t really ‘like’ or ‘feel’ consciously, actually inspire my creating id more than the things I admit to myself that I like. All the life itself plus all the art ever created influences me with no doubt, and this is ALL the background of what I am. {I hope I’m making a reasonable sense}

BUT – I thought it a wonderful {yet impossible} idea to actively credit my conscious inspirations anyway, so, I have made another blog just for a stream of a wonderful art, vintage findings, historical curiosities etc. which fall in my heart determinedly – i.e. my artistic inspirations – so, welcome to my LOVELINESSCLUB

This place still stays for news about my work, a bit about my life and also for crediting art of others which is direct references or used as hypertexts in some of my art projects.

***
Meanwhile, let's listen to a sweet little song {well, I find the imaginary friends theme fascinating, as it balances peculiarly right on the borderline between total craziness, an insight into ‘another world’ which, well, might actually exist somewhere, and some fairytale loveliness}:

H O R R O R W O O D

Today I’m wiring and packing paintings to be shipped to US. One of them - for another wonderful group show, in WWA gallery, Culver City, Los Angeles. The show title is HORRORWOOD, set to open on Friday, October 15th, 2010, which will run through November 20th, 2010, looking for a homage to classic Horror film genre.

I’m having a mixed media painting titled „fog in Lily's room” for the show. Sneak peek detail below:

When proposed to participate in this show by the Industrial Squid team, I was thinking how to be honest in doing my contribution.. I mean, I haven’t exactly been raised with Hollywood horror films for lullabies. I wanted the reference to come from some deeper bins of my consciousness, not just from the potboiler slashers in cinema in my adolescence, visited with boys to hide by their bosom from the atrocity to be seen.

And so, I delved into my past, and it all went to the soviet animation hit ‘Hedgehog in the fog’ from 1975 which is the ‘horror film’ of my childhood, watched with a mix of delight and fright. It is classics over here, maybe not directly of ‘horror’ genre, but with some quite similar elements. And, as I find it, has a comprehensive tale about a travel of haunted soul - to find the peace of mind in the end.

I also like the idea that all the horror is found just in one’s mind – the best ‘horror’ films leave room for the viewer’s own imagination to fill in the developments and details, which is scarier than anything that is ever shown there.


The ‘Hedgehog in the fog’ by Yuriy Norsteyn.
In 2003 "Hedgehog in the Fog" won the "№1 Animated film of all the time" at "All time animation best 150 in Japan and Worldwide" contest in Tokyo, Japan. So, watch it!

A very big part of the cartoons made these days are a very easy digestible food, nicely packed and chewed, all you have to do is sit comfortably and swallow, swallow, swallow.. which is sometimes good of course. Reliable and restful. But sometimes you long for something that {being maybe not so perfectly packed at the first glance} makes your heart tremble, and blows away your mind.. don't you?

I found this little jewel today:


Music video for little Dragons “Twice” by Johannes Nyholm
I think shadow animations are especially magical, as they leave so much space for your own imagination..

animated magic

from Ghibli studio this summer

It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas, and upon every grain of sand in the vast deserts that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality.
{from 'the thief and the cobbler'}

first love kiss

I have two limited editions on my etsy shop today. They both are digital experiments or exploratory works - studies, but I find them pure and poetic just as they are.
It's all about the first love.. take a look!

{the blooming wounds of Rosalie}

{bride of the butterfly}

*update: the prints have all sold, thank you* 

And, one of most romantic poems ever I cite below. This is my feeling of what love is.


She drove a big ol' Lincoln with suicide doors
And a sewing machine in the back
And a light bulb that looked like an alligator egg
Was mounted up front on the hood


And she had an Easter bonnet that had been signed by Tennessee Ernie Ford
And she always had saw dust in her hair
And she cut two holes in the back of her dress
and she had these scapular wings
That were covered with feathers and electrical tape
And when she got good and drunk
She would sing about Elkheart, Indiana
Where the wind is strong and folks mind their own business


And she had at least a hundred old baseballs that she'd taken from kids
And she collected bones of all kinds
And she lived in a trailer under a bridge
And she made her own whiskey and gave cigarettes to kids
And she'd been struck by lightning seven or eight times
And she hated the mention of rain


And she made up her own language
And she wore rubber boots
And she could fix anything with string
And her lips were like cherries
And she was stronger than any man
And she smelled like gasoline and Rootbeer Fizz
And she put mud on a bee sting I got at the creek
And she gave me my very first kiss
And she gave me my very first kiss


Talking 'bout my little Kathleen
She's just a fine young thing
Someday she'll wear my ring
My little Kathleen

{lyrics of the Tom Waits song 'First Kiss'}

bidding is open!!

I'm here to announce: the bidding for the "JEST in Time: The Phylogenesis of Clowns" show pieces has started!!
Click the button to see all of the artworks and bid bid bid if you like any of them:
         
        
        
            

 
The "buy it now" prices will end on Saturday at 9pm pst. The remaining pieces will be straight auction through September 4th at 3pm pst. Bidding is very simple and can be done directly online.

Here, you have a wonderful opportunity to purchase a really truly amazing addition to your collection for a very reasonable ammount of money, or, if you don't have any such art collection of yours - why don't you start one :)

Some of my favourites below {I would like to repost almost all of them, as I like so many, but I'll limit myself to just some..}:
    
    

{Michael Brown, "Glassy Eyes"}

 

{Ana Bagayan, "The Suitors"}

    

{Daniel Lim, "Fawn Fruits Clown"}

 

{Luis Lorenzana, "untitled"}

   

{Buddy Nestor, "Every Clown Came From Hell"}

  

{Martin Wittfooth, "Nocturne"}

  

{Tiffany Liu, "I Hate Clowns Smash Them"}

   

{Ben Kehoe, "A Difficult Situation to Gauge"}

   

 

{Brian Despain, "A Simple Audience"} 

     

{Dan Barry, "Laugh and Wait"}

  

Okay, I cannot stop myself, here's another wonderful one:

 

{Christopher Umana, "Joy Of The Worm"} 

 

And here's me:

{Jana Brike, "The Consecration of a Clown"}

***

Here is how I see art collecting:

 

As for me, the form of my work is to visualize some nondescript states of human existence by producing very private, very intimate imagery. I speak about the poetry of being alive and breathing in this bizarre illogical surreal world of ours, and this poetry grasps fear, love, disgrace, death, tenderness, growing pains, afterlife, sex, eternity.. and other totally human conditions. I speak about it my way.

 

If I and you at least for one single second pulse with one frequency, you’ll understand my way, and I’ll understand yours, and my visualized image will be your image. Thus, as I see it, the art collecting is a very deeply conscious, highly creative, intimately cognitive pursuit. The right object finds the right person sooner or later, and there is some mystery in this, as if we all were connected in an invisible network, where the right connection happens in the right time..