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Friday, March 20, 2009

Visual Art If You Made A Work of Art to Represent Your Mother, What Would It Be?

Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 10:06 AM

I ask because of this, Nicholas Nyland's Mother.

f77f/1237567616-mother_2008_1.jpg

Nyland is a Seattle artist who's popped up here and there but never really been given much space or time. Until now. What looks like an onslaught of his works—ceramic sculptures, papier-mache sculptures, paintings, works on paper—will inaugurate Ohge Ltd, a new gallery housed in the same building as Lawrimore Project (and run by former LP manager Alex Ohge). The gallery's great web site, absolutely full of images, is here. The opening is Saturday. (Details; and of course there is this other great opening in the building that night.)

Nyland is a color man. A look at his Mother and this SAM treasure pops to mind:

4744/1237568109-how-my-mothers-embroidered-apron-unfolds-in-my-life.jpg

That's Arshile Gorky's 1944 How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life. The colors in that version look a little dim; a brighter version is here. (Sorry, SAM won't let me use images from its site.)

And another thing comes to mind, too. Cris Bruch's Mutterhulse, created with his mother (Mutter) in mind. This closed-up, muted form is a portrait of a her compromised, suffering, late in life, from Alzheimer's.

cf2b/1237568680-cris_bruch_mutterhulse-web.jpg

Comments (9) RSS

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Nyland's mom looks a lot like my mom.

Posted by Jocelyn on March 20, 2009 at 10:10 AM

Or my mom in the 1960s.

Posted by Jim Demetre on March 20, 2009 at 10:15 AM

May I suggest Louise Bourgeois' huge and terrifying 8-legged "Maman?"

Posted by Gurldoggie on March 20, 2009 at 10:29 AM

Somehow or other, I'd have to incorporate a slot machine, a cup of "coffee" made from decaffeinated Folgers instant crystals and a pack of cigarettes. Also a bathrobe.

Posted by mr. herriman on March 20, 2009 at 10:46 AM

I've got my Mom sacred heart tattoo on my chest that says it all.

Posted by Jeremy from Seattle on March 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM

May I suggest one of Magritte's paintings that referenced his drowned Mother.

Posted by Sad Comment on March 20, 2009 at 12:17 PM

Mommy!

Posted by NapoleonXIV on March 20, 2009 at 12:57 PM

this post is making me sad.

Posted by Max Solomon on March 20, 2009 at 2:20 PM