#vanessagerman

#Artist: vanessa german @vanessalgerman

#Artwork: lover, lover, lover boi, 2025

On view through May 10, 2025 at Kasmin Gallery

📍509 W 27th Street, #NYC 10001

🖼Images and ✍️🏾caption reposted from @kasmingallery A new series of nine monumental heads by vanessa german (@vanessalgerman) ​are on view in 𝘎𝘜𝘔𝘉𝘈𝘓𝘓—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭​.

german’s intuitive gathering of colors, symbols, words, and numbers resemble painted marks that offer prayer and wellness to viewers, magnified by the​ works’ colossal presence​.​ The anatomical diagram of a heart and appearance of words such as “LOVER​,” ​as seen above, reflect​ german’s engagement with the human form and its capacity ​t​o love.

#vanessagerman #sculpture

#exhibit #BlackGirlArtGeeks

#BlackWomenArtists

I had the awesome opportunity to interview Vanessa German for her exhibits at AIR Gallery and August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh in 2016 (which is posted here on LFF).

I continue to follow and admire her poignant artwork, writing and community and social justice work from afar via social media and in galleries when I can.

Concept Art Gallery is hosting an exhibit of her work, "Vanessa German: The Incredibly True, Sometimes Humorous, Often Horrific Adventures of a Wacky Black Girl. Or, A Visual Ritual into the Power of The Black Imagination," with a celebration from 6-8pm on Thursday, January 25th.

Here is some of my favorite work by Vanessa German, more of which can be found at https://www.conceptgallery.com/artists/german-vanessa/. Text below also from conceptgallery.com.

Vanessa German: Black Madonna Boogie Board. Mixed Media Sculptural Wall Hanging, 41 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 3 inches 

Poet, performer, photographer, and sculptor Vanessa German creates works that explore the power of transformation and healing. 

Vanessa German: Black Madonna with Beer Bottle Cap Dress. Mixed Media on Matboard, 20 x 23 1/4 inches 

She scours her Pittsburgh neighborhood searching for objects to incorporate into her art. “I surrender myself to the objects that call up to me,” she has said.

Vanessa German: The Shipment, 2013 

Her intricate mixed-media sculptures combine doll parts, antique tins, cowrie shells, household objects, and African beads. 

Vanessa German: The Derivative Negress Once Again Makes a Mockable, Public Spectacle of Her Grief, 2013 

With these three-dimensional collages German reclaims objects and words that symbolize the oppression of African Americans for generations, creating serene, if surreal, figures that call to mind religious icons, Congolese minkisi sculpture, folk art traditions, and the work of Betye Saar and Fred Wilson.

~

Send ideas and releases to [email protected]. Les Femmes Folles is a volunteer organization founded in 2011 with the mission to support and promote women in all forms, styles and levels of art from around the world with the online journal, print annuals, exhibitions and events; originally inspired by artist Wanda Ewing and her curated exhibit by the name Les Femmes Folles (Wild Women). LFF was created and is curated by Sally Deskins.  LFF Books is a micro-feminist press that publishes 1-2 books per year by the creators of Les Femmes Folles including the award-winning Intimates & Fools (Laura Madeline Wiseman, 2014) , The Hunger of the Cheeky Sisters: Ten Tales (Laura Madeline Wiseman/Lauren Rinaldi, 2015 and Mes Predices (catalog of art/writing by Marie Peter Toltz, 2017).Other titles include Les Femmes Folles: The Women 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 available on blurb.com, including art, poetry and interview excerpts from women artists. A portion of the proceeds from LFF books and products benefit the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Wanda Ewing Scholarship Fund.

a large mixed-media sculpture of a figure coated in various found materials and beads, with large, bulging red details on its pants and the word "YES" inscribed on the base

“sweet love, or THE HUNGER OF IT ALL IS EATING ME UP, or, ACIM lesson #28 and #31, respectively: Above all else, I want to see things differently. I am not a victim of the world I see.” (2025), a wondrous muse of light, wood, doll parts, cloth, twine, how it feels to be swallowed whole and then to come out the other end wet and brand new, the spice of life, wire, beads, beaded glass trim, spray paint, strange pot metal black figure with a mouth open wide in a wail or an attempt to swallow the universe, porcelain figurine being swallowed whole, the tension of the having or not having or being had, the way that n it even greed can thwart death, pyrite phallus, chain, rhinestone, the blackness, 37 1/2 x 24 x 14 1/8 inches

#Artist: vanessa german @vanessalgerman

#Artwork: lover, lover, lover boi, 2025

On view through May 10, 2025 at Kasmin Gallery

📍509 W 27th Street, #NYC 10001

🖼Images and ✍️🏾caption reposted from @kasmingallery A new series of nine monumental heads by vanessa german (@vanessalgerman) ​are on view in 𝘎𝘜𝘔𝘉𝘈𝘓𝘓—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭​.

german’s intuitive gathering of colors, symbols, words, and numbers resemble painted marks that offer prayer and wellness to viewers, magnified by the​ works’ colossal presence​.​ The anatomical diagram of a heart and appearance of words such as “LOVER​,” ​as seen above, reflect​ german’s engagement with the human form and its capacity ​t​o love.

#vanessagerman #sculpture

#exhibit #BlackGirlArtGeeks

#BlackWomenArtists

Miracles and Glory Abound, 2018 

Vanessa German

Κατά τη διάρκεια μιας ιδιαίτερα δύσκολης περιόδου στην ενήλικη ζωή της, η German άρχισε να συλλέγει αντικείμενα που βρήκε στους δρόμους του Πίτσμπουργκ, καθώς περπατούσε με το σκύλο της. Πήρε αντικείμενα όπως γυαλί, κουτιά, κουμπιά, υφάσματα, μπουκάλια και θραύσματα χαρτιού στο υπόγειό της και άρχισε να τα συναρμολογεί και να φτιάχνει έργα τέχνης. Μιλώντας στο περιοδικό Harold C. Ford του East Village Magazine, αναφέρει:

“Μια θραύση από γυαλί φαίνεται άχρηστη. Αλλά όταν βάζετε αυτά τα θραύσματα μαζί μπορείτε να δημιουργήσετε μια εντελώς νέα εικόνα."

μια ρακοσυλλεκτική γλυπτική κολάζ 

πηγή: https://magazine.artland.com/5-contemporary-collage-artists/

Ο Ντάμιεν Χίρστ είναι ένας αμφιλεγόμενος καλλιτέχνης και από τους πλουσιότερους που υπάρχουν. Στις αρχές της καριέρας του, τη δεκαετία του ‘80 ζούσε σε μια κατάληψη και το στούντιό του ήταν μέσα σε αυτήν. Κάποια στιγμή ανησύχησε για έναν ηλικιωμένο άντρα που ζούσε δίπλα, αφού για κάποιες μέρες δεν τον άκουγε. Έσπασε τις πόρτες νομίζοντας ότι ίσως είχε πάθει κάτι και μπήκε στο σπίτι του. Ανακάλυψε ότι ο άντρας ήταν ρακοσυλλέκτης και στο τραπέζι υπήρχαν σε στοίβες όλα του τα υπάρχοντα. Ήταν σαν ένα γλυπτό από όλα του τα πράγματα. Πέρασε τις επόμενες δύο εβδομάδες να δημιουργεί μέσα σε αυτό το σπίτι σε μια περίοδο που είχε κολλήσει η καλλιτεχνική του παραγωγή. Χρησιμοποίησε εργαλεία όπως σφυριά, δρεπάνια, κατσαβίδια και πριόνια και τα ενσωμάτωσε στα κολάζ που δημιούργησε, αφού ανακάλυψε ότι λόγω του σχεδιασμού τους ήταν πολύ ενδιαφέροντα σαν στοιχεία.