Tag Archives: illustration

Day 322- Ruzena (Anne Billon)- Teeming Overcrowded Worlds

It’s Day 322 and I’m starting to feel more normal (health-wise)…knock on wood!  I worked on today’s piece last night and today because of the amount of pen & ink detailing I had to do.  I forgot how much I miss working with pen & ink (which is one of my favorite mediums)!

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

I also had the pleasure of corresponding personally with today’s artist who lives in France.  She is a little elusive and I’ve read that she doesn’t like to talk too much about her art.  It was hard to find her biography and current pieces online so she emailed photos and a bio to me.

Her artwork has rapidly become one of my new favorites and I am so exhilarated and honored to do a tribute to Anne Billon A.K.A. Ruzena today!  I hope my tribute does her justice…It was hard to figure out what exact materials she uses and when I zoomed into her pieces…they just intimidated me with all their detail!  Such haunting and beautiful artwork!  I translated her biography and CV from French so please excuse any awkwardness. 🙂  I included tons of her artwork because I love it so much.

Anne Billon (Ruzena)

Born in 1971, Anne studied Social and Economic Administration and History of Art, which led her to work in the field of culture for fifteen years. She is now works

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

at an administrative job.

She has always drawn and is self-taught.

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Anne’s maternal Czech grandfather wanted to call her Ruzena. It seemed more appropriate to her parents to choose a name for her to live a less detonating journey for a young French girl. But the reasonable choice was not enough to obscure innate predispositions for refractory behavior.

With exacting detail drawing, Ruzena expresses a world with teeming, overcrowded arabesques organized around angular shapes and mysteriously balanced chaotic compositions that express the ambiguity of being torn between legal requirements and thirst for total freedom.

But humor watches over this tragic universe to bring it a generous subtle tone; a secret humor, tender and painful, like a fragile bow playing on the sharp teeth of the suffering she wants to tame.

With a constant ironic wink, another way to ask the eternal questions that agitate humanity since its origins,

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena built a profoundly original work that takes its strength in doubt, holder of any authentic creation.

Text is from:

Gerard Sendrey Catalog Extract and dissenting Visions Publishing 2001

Expositions:

  • 2009   . “The world of design and creativity,” group exhibition, Rives (France).
    • “Private Collection” collective, Alter-Art exhibition in Grenoble (France)
    • . Gallery Ex nihilo in Grenoble, France (exhibition organized by the Association Œil’Art)
  • 2010   . “Phantasmagoria”, group exhibition, Gallery Myiawaki, Kyoto (Japan).
    • “Young contemporary painting” sale at Drouot, Paris (France)
  • 2011   . Outsider Art Fair in New York, represented by the Henry Boxer Gallery.
    • “Young contemporary painting” sale at Drouot, Paris (France)
  • 2012   . Collective exhibition in honor of Postman Cheval Gallery Yutaka Miyawaki, Kyoto, Japan
    • . 4th Biennial art shared Rives (France)
    • Ruzena (Anne Billon)

      Ruzena (Anne Billon)

      . “Because what I write can be read in the dark,” solo exhibition, Dettinger Mayer Gallery in Lyon (France)

    • . Outsider Art Fair in New York, represented by the Henry Boxer Gallery
  • 2013. Outsider Art Fair in New York, represented by the Henry Boxer Gallery.
    • Shared collective exhibition in Saint-Trojan les Bains (France) art
  • 2008   . “Black Drawings”, group exhibition, Galerie Beatrice Soulie, Paris.
    • “Shared Art” group exhibition, Rives (France)
    • . Solo exhibition, Galerie Dettinger Mayer, Lyon (France)
    • . Group exhibition, Gallery Dettinger Mayer, Lyon (France)
  • 2007   . “Contemporary Cabinet of Curiosities” group show, Beatrice Soulie Gallery in the exhibition “The Art Elysées” in Paris (France)
    • . “I Margini dello Sguardo – Arte nella Collezione Irregolare Menozzi” group exhibition in Reggio Emilia (Italy)
  • 2006   . “Confinement,” group exhibition, Aubagne Art Festival Singular (France)
    • . “Shared Art” group exhibition, Rives (France)
    • . Personal exhibition, Museum of Creation Franche, Begles (France)
  • 2005   . Solo exhibition, Galerie Dettinger Mayer, Lyon (France)
    • . “Art Brut and Affiliated Works,” group exhibition, Institute for the Humanities, University of @19.04.13-30x20Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)
  • 2004   . “Interlacing”, group exhibition, Staffelfelden (France)
  • 2003   . Group exhibition, Gallery A Sardine stuck to the wall, Geneva (Switzerland)
  • 2001   . “Visions and Creations dissident” group exhibition, Museum of Creation Franche, Begles (France)
    • . “Interlacing”, group exhibition, Staffelfelden (France)

 

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Ruzena (Anne Billon)

Permanent:

. Henry Boxer Gallery in Richmond Hill (England)

. Dettinger Mayer Gallery in Lyon (France)

. Jeff Ross Collection in Seattle (USA)

. Collection Dino Menozzi, prints Reggio Emilia (Italy) Cabinet

Biography, CV and photos are courtesy of the artist.

I hope you enjoy my tribute for today.  I had so much fun creating it and it inspired me to do more pen and ink work.  I’ve been painting so much that sometimes I forget the other mediums I love so much.  My arm does feel a little like a zombie’s though.  I also forgot how taxing it is on my tennis elbow to draw so much…but it’s so worth it.  The biggest challenge was mixing the different mediums.  Ruzena’s style with that is seamless.  I wasn’t sure if she used colored pencils and it was hard to do that part.  I enjoyed the pen and pencil part, but I think I wasn’t successful with the color part!  Oh well!  I will see you tomorrow on Day 323!

Best,

Linda

My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon) Linda Cleary 2014 Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon)
Linda Cleary 2014
Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Side-View My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon) Linda Cleary 2014 Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Side-View
My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon)
Linda Cleary 2014
Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 1 My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon) Linda Cleary 2014 Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 1
My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon)
Linda Cleary 2014
Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 2 My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon) Linda Cleary 2014 Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 2
My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon)
Linda Cleary 2014
Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 3 My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon) Linda Cleary 2014 Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Close-Up 3
My Little World- Tribute to Ruzena (Anne Billon)
Linda Cleary 2014
Mixed Media on Paper mounted on Wood Panel

Day 300- Gary Baseman- Bittersweetness of Life

It’s Day 300!  I cannot believe this is my 300th painting.  I originally wanted to do Da Vinci today, but I ran out of time so I am pushing it back to another day.  I did have a blast painting today’s painting and he’s one of my faves.  Join me in honoring Gary Baseman today!

Gary Baseman

Gary Baseman

Gary Baseman-Open Wounds

Gary Baseman-Open Wounds

Gary Baseman (born September 27, 1960) is a contemporary artist who works in illustration, fine art, toy design, and animation. He is the creator of the ABC/Disney cartoon series, Teacher’s Pet, and the artistic designer of Cranium, a popular board game. Baseman’s aesthetic combines pop art images, pre- and post-war vintage motifs, cross-cultural mythology and literary and psychological archetypes.

Baseman’s art is frequently associated with the lowbrow pop movement, also known as pop

"For the Love of Toby"- Gary Baseman

“For the Love of Toby”- Gary Baseman

surrealism.

Baseman was born and raised in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. He is the fourth child of Holocaust survivors from Ukraine. Baseman’s mother worked at the famous Canter’s Deli and his father was an electrician.  Baseman cites Warner Bros. cartoons, MAD Magazine, and Disneyland as early sources of inspiration. In junior high school, Baseman met Barry Smolin, who is now a radio host and musician, and Seth Kurland, a writer and TV producer. They remain close friends.

Baseman studied communications at UCLA. He graduated magna cum laude as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

A Moment Ago Everything Was Beautiful Paintings- Gary Baseman

A Moment Ago Everything Was Beautiful Paintings- Gary Baseman

Baseman cites Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, and the illustrator William Joyce as contemporaries.

Baseman coined the term ‘pervasive art’ as an alternative to the lowbrow art label. He has stated that his goal is to “blur the lines between fine art and commercial art.”  According to Baseman, pervasive art can take any medium, and need not be “limited to one world, whether [that] is the gallery world, editorial world, or art toy world.”

Baseman exemplifies pervasive art in that he works commercially and also remains an independent artist.  He creates products that are sold to a mass market, and also shows in museums and galleries, selling original artworks to collectors. Baseman employs traditional art practices such as painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawing, and collage.

From 1986 to 1996, Baseman worked as an illustrator in New York City. He earned several awards from American Illustration, Art

GARY BASEMAN “THE EXPLOSION OF DREAM REALITY”

GARY BASEMAN “THE EXPLOSION OF DREAM REALITY”

Directors Club, and Communication Arts. Baseman refers to his illustration work, and to his general process, as message-making.

Baseman’s drawings have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Clutter Magazine, Time, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has had major independent and corporate clients such as AT&T Corporation, Gatorade, Nike, Inc., and Mercedes-Benz. Baseman illustrated the best-selling board game Cranium. After ten years in New York, Baseman returned to Los Angeles to explore opportunities in art and entertainment.

Gary Baseman

Gary Baseman

In 1999, Baseman exhibited “Dumb Luck and Other Paintings About Lack of Control” at the Mendenhall Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition established Baseman’s transition from illustration to fine art, during a time when many of his artist-friends, like Mark Ryden, the Clayton Brothers, and Eric White made similar moves. Since then, Baseman has shown in close to twenty independent exhibitions, notably, “Happy Idiot and Other Paintings About Vulnerability” at the Earl McGrath Gallery in New York City; “For the Love of Toby” at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles; “I Melt in Your Presence” at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco; and “Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou,” also at Billy Shire.

Baseman has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the US and in Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan. Baseman’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Rome.

n 2009, Baseman added performance art to his oeuvre with “La Noche de la Fusión,” a mythical holiday festival. Over two thousand

The Contemplation of the Uga- Gary Baseman

The Contemplation of the Uga- Gary Baseman

attendees celebrated a melding of cultural practices and ideas. Along with games, live music, and dancers, the event featured live models in costume playing Baseman’s female characters Skeleton Girl, Hickey Bat Girl, Bubble Girl, and Butterfly Girl. Displayed at the exhibition was the Enlightened Chou, a new character inspired by Baseman’s international travels.

In June 2010, Baseman presented “Giggle and Pop!” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Live action costumed ChouChous played in the La Brea Tar Pits along with models dressed as Baseman’s Wild Girls, who were renamed “Tar Pit Girls” for the occasion. The characters performed a dance choreographed by Sarah Elgart, and the audience joined in with singer-songwriter Carina Round, who performed a song she composed for the event.

Partial biography is from wikipedia.

I hope you enjoy my piece for today!  I really enjoyed creating it.  He’s such a fun artist.  I love staring at his art and I wish I had more time to work on it.  I didn’t start painting until late this afternoon.  I will see you tomorrow on Day 301!

Best,

Linda

Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View
Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1 Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1
Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2 Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2
Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3 Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3
Let Me Show You My Dreams- Tribute to Gary Baseman
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas