Art Attacks! Online

The latest installment of The Cult Corner featuring Netherlands Artist Mink Couteaux and his explosively colorful cult art creations. 

(via The Cult Corner – Mink Couteaux | Art Attacks)

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Check out our first CULT CORNER Post and make sure to check out more work from Artist Justin Reed on the site link below:

Esao Andrews for The Gilded Age @ Thinkspace Gallery

Hyperrealistic Paintings by Joel Rea

Paintings by Heather Theurer

Illustration by Autumn Whitehurst

Paintings by Keita Morimoto

"Diffused" by Dan Quintana

The Hyperrealistic Paintings of Oda & King

New paintings by Orlando artist Scott Scheidly.

by Douglas Miller

Kevin Titzer is a sculptor of fantastically intricate wood and metal figures that inhabit a cobbled together world of Dodo chariots, macabre dentistry, and archaic flight machines. Most of his sculptures have darkly comic undertones with either madly smiling or apathetic faces. His incredibly highly individualized work seems as if it could be from any century. Using found objects, often antique, and his own hand-crafted elements gives his work a unique presence. This anachronism drives the viewer to imagine enigmatic and engaging narratives. He has exhibited his sculptures across the US and internationally. Recently, I had a correspondence with Kevin as he prepared for his September exhibition at Stranger Factory titled “Peccadilloes”.

You've been doing a lot of traveling lately. I know that you saw some artwork on your travels, what was something that you saw that astounded you?

I recently got to see my first Hieronymus Bosch painting in person. That was pretty exciting. I geeked out a bit and had my girlfriend take about eight photos of me with it. I also visited some mind blowing architecture. It was at a amazing place called the Convento de Cristo. Additions continually added to the building from the 1400's to the early 1600's. So it's this wild blend of all these different architectural styles and techniques all smashed together. It was like a medieval version of the Winchester House and Willy Wonka's factory carved out of stone. I think it's become one of my favourite places I've ever been.

Let's talk about your own work. Tell me what you're working on at the moment.

Ventriloquist dummies and prosthetic limbs are two things I've been experimenting with lately. Some of them are in my current solo show titled Sous Une Mer Detoiles. It’s in conjunction with the Festival International Des Arts De La Marionnette here in Quebec.

Actual usable ventriloquist dummies? That seems to lead into a different direction with your work. One that involves a direct and physical interaction with the viewer. Yes? What are some of the ideas your thinking about with this new work?

There’s two functional ventriloquist dummies in the show. The heads turn and the mouths can open and shut. With these first couple I didn’t even try to build the mechanics to make the eyes blink. It’s all pretty simple engineering, but it’s been a challenge. I usually only need to make things look like they move or might have at one time. So yes, some of  the work in this show is a bit of a new direction for me in a technical way as well as thematically. In the past, I’ve often tried to imply a moment right before of after something happens. By making something that people interact with, I guess this is the first time I’ve made something that is taking place in the present.  The show wasn’t planned that way, but I guess it makes sense to me now. As this batch of work has come together, I’ve slowly realized that many of these pieces are about my relocation to Quebec.

It's a really interesting concept to hand craft a prosthetic limb when an actual prosthetic, I assume, is made mechanically with medical precision.

Yeah, I really like that contrast. Although, I’ve been more interested in prosthetics from the past. When they were a little rough around the edges and people were still figuring out what worked best. That was the jumping off point, but I didn’t want to just reproduce antique prosthetics. Nothing I’m making could feasibly be used by anyone. I didn’t want to take too much artistic licence where they begin to look overly fantastical. It’s been a fine line to make them seem realistic enough, but also integrate unorthodox design elements that might suggest something about the person who theoretically used it. It’s been an interesting problem to play with and a ongoing process to do it better.

Photo by Paul Cimon

Your work is meticulous and extremely well crafted. How much planning or design goes into what you do? Is it possible to explain your process?

I usually have a general idea of where I'm going. I don’t know if I can explain my process very well. It’s probably messier than you’d expect. Things end up veering off to places I don't anticipate and I’m often readjusting and improvising a lot .

Those seem like the best places to be. I would suggest that your work gravitates towards those unknown places. This is what attracts me to your work.

Thank you very much, Doug.

Your skill seems effortless and looks as if they were made by strategic purposeful design-yet, when looked at even closer, there are bits of keys, old nails, scissors, etc. all things that you've re-purposed. You use a lot of found materials in your sculptures. I'm curious if you find a tiny scrap of metal and build around that or vice versa?

It’s very kind of you to say, but effortless is not a word I’d ever choose to describe my studio skills. I think what I do is like sausage. If you’re into that sort of thing, just enjoy it. You’re better off not knowing how it’s made.

That said. For the most part I don’t start with the materials. The pieces never seem to flow very well and to me usually looked forced. Most of them never make it out of the studio.

Can you tell me about a time when you were younger (maybe even a child) and you knew you were going to be an artist?

It never occurred to me when I was younger. “Artist” as something you became wasn't at all in the spectrum. I might as well as had said, "I'm going to grow up and become a unicorn!"  Just kind of backed into it I suppose. I come from a family who all work with their hands and are good with tools. So that aspect of it always felt familiar. Actually, I think it’s only been in the last four or five years that I’ve been almost comfortable referring to myself as an artist at all. Does Subway still refer to their employees as "Sandwich Artists"?

Ha! I would argue that a Subway "Sandwich Artist" does a very specific type of performance art.

To me, your work seems to consist of scenes from short stories/vignettes involving characters that have found themselves in a dilemma or a circumstance that although darkly comic, can be imagined as having disastrous results. Do you think of yourself as a storyteller?

I don't think so anymore. Although I've described myself or been described in that way in the past. At the end of the day, I’m just setting up little fragments that have been rattling around in my head. It's the viewer who constructs the stories with them. I'm just an instigator.

Indeed, humans are inquisitive and need to find reason when faced with something unknown. What inspires the "fragments" in your head?

Yes that’s it. We’re always looking for connections and patterns.   

I enjoy trying to figure out why seemingly unrelated elements have been put together. Things I have to puzzle out and that I’ll never know the full story. Although, lot’s of people aren’t comfortable with open ended things.  It’s not very satisfying for them when I say I don’t exactly know where the fragments come from.  I think most of it is subconscious and the things that aren’t are things I’m worried about at the time. Or any number of other things. It’s a jumble. For me, I guess physically building it is a way of making sense of it all.

Douglas Miller is an artist based in Louisville KY.

You can check out his amazing artwork here:

http://douglasmillerart.com

https://www.facebook.com/douglasmillerart

You can catch more of Kevin’s work here.

www.kevintitzer.com

by Kevin Titzer

Pablo Aravena is a Montreal based artist. In addition being a street art curator, he is also interested in exploring the multiple dimensions of urban culture through fiction and documentary filmmaking.

In 1997, he graduated from Concordia University's Film Production Program. He has held various positions as a freelancer in the film and television industry in Canada. He has directed feature length and short format documentaries, short fiction films, music videos and music-related video reports. He is currently in development with two fiction feature-film projects and a feature-length documentary. In 2005 he released the feature length documentary film entitled “NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting” about graffiti as a world culture shot in over 10 countries. This film was co-produced with French fashion designer agnès b and features the cream of the crop of contemporary graffiti writers and street artists. The film toured the world festival circuit for 5 years becoming a genuine cult hit. Through making NEXT he has become interested in art and curating art shows and art related film programs. He has curated exhibitions in Canada, USA and Europe and film programs in London at the Tate Modern and in Rio de Janeiro. He continues exploring this new direction internationally.

1. Person (living)

Sixe Paredes

I met Sixe more than 11 years ago in Madrid and I have seen his work and career progress ever since. We have worked together on a series of shows over that time. To me he is the future of Catalan art taking influences from the graffiti and also local heroes like Miro and Tapies to create his own contemporary art. His latest work is anchored in Peru and its Pre-Colombian art and ceramics created using syncretic adaptations that blend his personal language with his distinctive personal artistic language.

2. Person (dead)

Miles Davis

Miles Davis inspires me because he was a maverick innovator and all round baddass that changed the course of music like 5 times and didn't take shit from anybody. He had a unique vision and followed it without worrying what other people thought. The way he made music motivated me want to try things and take risks with what I do. Only by pushing the limits do you get to create your own voice as an artist.

3. Place

Latin America inspires me as a place. I originally come from Chile but have lived in Canada for 3/4's of my life. Even though I grew up in the north I still have a connection to Latin America, which I have deepened by many trips not only to Chile but also to other countries in the region like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba. It feels like home when I go there. I feel that right now there is a very strong cultural movement coming out of Latin America with a quest of identity being a strong feature. In this exploration there is a mixing or metissage of traditional and modern, analog and digital, rural and urban and most importantly of indigenous, Asian, European and African cultures present in the region in the work that is coming out recently. Artists there are "digging in the crates" of their own past and local cultures to create a new modern and global culture which is starting to invade the world. The continent is growing up and so are its artists, creating a new identity and culture, which is strong and reflects not only the struggles and challenges but also the beauty and unique reality that exists in Latin America. As an immigrant, who struggled to define my own identity I can relate to this process. In my work I aim to explore these themes but perhaps more anchored in my own reality here in North America.

4. Book / movie

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

Cause it portrays writers and poets like outlaws.

Mean Streets by Martin Scorscese is the film that still blows me away when I see it. This film made me realize that you can make personal films that have mad style, which depict unique realities. The film feels like a young guy full of energy and ideas made it. The scene when Johnny Boy played by Robert DeNiro walks into the bar with the song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones as accompanying soundtrack to me is one of the most cinematic moments ever made. I still get goose bumps when I see that scene.

5. Music / podcast

Music is my lifeblood. Although I work in film and art, its music with its language of feelings and sounds that inspire my visual side. My taste in music is eclectic going from Latin, Hip Hop, Brazilian, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Afro, Broken beat, Boogie to electronic.

I listen to a lot of mixcloud and soundcloud mixes by DJ's that I dig.

Here are some people I follow on mixcloud

https://www.mixcloud.com/SoulCoolRecords

https://www.mixcloud.com/NTSRadio/

https://www.mixcloud.com/maxvibes/

Check out some of Pablo’s short films at the following links:

https://vimeo.com/106339204

https://vimeo.com/73265784

Be sure to follow Pablo on:

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