Visiting Artists from Berlin: AnnaKatrin Kraus and Hans Aescht

Annakatrin and Hans took time to come to the Sac State studios and present a powerpoint of current work they had been involved in. These artists specialize in collaborative work, their latest work in Sacramento was featured in the Art Hotel in Sacramento. They live and work in Berlin, Germany. AnnaKatrin is originally from California and Hans is from Romania.

I have this photo in my previous blog post, and I was excited to have met the minds behind this project. Annakatrin and Hans are interested in a fusion of architecture and sculpture. 

I was happy to hear the background story of this work, because it was definitely one of the ones in the Art Hotel that stayed with me. This photo was also the one I chose to post on social media, because ti was one of my favorites. When I had entered the room with this installation, I was immediately drawn into the space, with an urge to run in and out of the frames, as if they were doorways. The artists discussed their interest in "absence and presence" and how those ideas were inspiration for this installation. They explained that the light in that room was also very purposeful for these ideas in that it felt like it was taking me to a world where I felt like I was alone in it, whilst feeling a little uneasy. Along the sides of the walls, they placed hung up sheets in which reminded me of a classic "ghost". Although I had initially felt alone, once my eyes and wondered over to those sheets hanging on the wall, the uneasiness came about me. I enjoyed the installation very much, and once the artists described there interest in absence and presence, it started to click to me that I had felt those things walking into it. 

They carried  on in their lecture, and discussed another current project that took place in the Ice Hotel.

 

They told us of their unique experience and how working with the ice was a completely new material for them. I found it interesting that in the application process, you didn't need any type of experience working with ice! I was impressed by how quickly they learned to work with the material, and how they pulled of this beautiful piece. They even told us that they stayed in it one evening, and that they were given zero degree space bags to sleep in. Now, the artists told us that the work keeps changing with the nature of material and weather. Anna described the look of it as a "weird Dali-esque room" now. 

These artists' interest in sculpture fused with architecture was a really interesting topic to hear. I was really interested in the ideas of collaborating with fellow artists, and hopefully that can happen sometime in the future with my own work. 

To see more about the ice hotel with this work, you can go to:

 http://www.icehotel.com/art-and-design/icehotel-2016/

To see more of Anna's work you can visit: 

http://www.annakatrinkraus.com

This website is not in English, but you can see more about Hans here:

http://www.kunstgut.com/hans-aescht.html

And if you did not get to view the Art Hotel, here is an article by the Sacramento Bee!:

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article57405383.html

Art Hotel 916

I had no idea that there would so many people in the city of Sacramento interested in this time sensitive art experience. Every time I had gone, I was told that there would be a long wait. Yesterday, I was able to get a time slot, even though I had to wait two hours! It was completely worth it, even though we only had 25 minutes to view the work. To see how popular it was really made me happy, because to see a diverse group of people that are  interested in local art is rare!
My goal to race against the clock was to start at the top floor and work my way to the bottom. I saw everything from giant wooden figures to reptilian shrines. I saw teeny tiny paintings the size of a cracker to television screens showing miscelanious footage. I saw projections of my face on walls, and projections of others on walls. Sticky notes strewed some surfaces, various materials jutted out of the floors. If I had the choice, I would have stayed their for hours.
Although I didn't have enough time to see which artist did what, I was able to see a fellow peer of mine, Franceska Gamez, and she was one of the masterminds behind the scenes. It was very cool to see her work involved in such a popular and valuable art experience in Sacramento. I had taken drawing and painting classes with Frankie, and she has really taken the ideas that I had seen a year ago into a more mature direction. I was happy to see her still making so much work and caring so dearly about the Art Hotel.
The Art Hotel only runs until February 13th, then the building go under construction. Please go and try to see this place while it still exists! It is located at the Hotel Marshall on 7th and L street downtown.

Follow Frankie's instagram to see the work:
https://www.instagram.com/ewfrank/

Artist Lecture: Mustafa Shaheen on "And Bring to Bloom the Flowers"

My fellow peer and friend Mustafa Shaheen took a breath of relief today as we walked out of Capastrano hall, where he gave his artist lecture on his current exhibition in the Union gallery titled And Bring to Bloom the Flowers. My friend Mustafa has been working exhaustingly hard this past year to get this show up and running for us this Winter of 2016. The paintings in the show are well composed, striking in detail, and energetic in color. I highly recommend anyone to see this show.

From watching my friend work closely on this body of work, to hear him speak about it interested me. I have become so attuned, and perhaps immune, to the portraits because I am so familiar with them- being his studio mate. Being at his lecture was insightful because I gained some more detailed information on how he arrived at his current series. I enjoyed how he laid out his lecture like a narrative, telling a story of how he has grown throughout his undergraduate career. Mustafa discussed how he was interested in portraiture and how as he progressed through his undergrad, he could apply deeper content to such a traditional concept of painting the human face. He discussed with the audience how his interest in empathy through daily mundane actions connect us all as fellow humans. He then lead to his deeper interest, depicted in his current exhibition, of revealing our connections with the world around us through physical objects. For instance, in the portrait (of myself) And Then She Cut Her Hair, I decided to wear my Father's jade ring around my neck. My Father had grown ill over the past year, and I wanted to show my connection to him when Mustafa painted my portrait. I was also wanting to show the connection to my heritage, because I am Chinese and jade has a deep history in Chinese culture. Having decided to wear these when Mustafa took photo references of me, I knew that he could accomplish the overall purpose of producing work depicting that connection. He is a very capable and hard working individual who cares deeply about his work and about the art world.
The reception for And Bring to Bloom the Flowers was also very successful and had a large turn out of people. I immensely enjoyed the conversation and community among the guests that arrived to support Mustafa.

You can view the exhibition in the Union Gallery located of the second floor of the university union until February 18.

You can visit Mustafa's website at www.mshaheen.com.
His instagram username mustafashaheen.