JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

Hilter decapitated in Berlin.

I’m sure some of you have seen Liz Hickok’s work before. She is a San Francisco-based artist working in photography, video, sculpture, installation, and currently, Jell-O. Her expansive cityscapes made of Jell-O quickly decay, leaving photographs and video as the only remains. Current TV recently aired a short video segment on Liz Hickok and her unique works of art.

Joseph Shaeffer certainly lived up to his reputation as one of Colorado’s leading contemporary artists with his recent opening at Denver’s Artyard Sculpture Gallery.  The show was hung beautifully and the work consistenly striking.  Stop by Artyard at at 1251 South Pearl to catch a glimpse before the show comes down.

But don’t let it get you down.  We’ve come to terms with it and use it as a big motivator.   And, we think we’re pretty damn crafty.   Think about that.  Then go visit rocket-fly.com, there’s an illustration of  your new girlfriend.  Then go home and make a sculpture of a giant phallic monster.  Right?

Remember the Chinese artwork from Robischon Gallery (Denver) in February? Well here be some picts from the mix. These are sculptures from the show. Technically, these are astounding, specifically the gum sticks. We couldn’t see any brushstrokes so it looked like it was stenciled but who knows? Man, I should have asked one of the people there.  

Lifesize jacket.

This was about three feet tall.

This dude’s hair curled up because of how fresh the sculpture was in back of him. It made his hair curl super perfect like! I’m so jealous.

So fresh and so clean. I should have bought this. It was going for about $10k. 

This made me hungry for boobies. This was about 8 feet tall.

I felt bad for this two feet long sculpture. It was just chillin’ on the table as people were putting their complimentary brewskies right next to it. It was a fun party with more older people. One server hooked us up real nice.

I still got more picts from the show. Maybe I’ll post them up later. Word?

My words can’t really do it justice…. Showichi Kaneda. Super fresh perspective on things. These are like 2 feet long! Check the link (the gallery that represents him)for some of his paintings as well… This is what he has to say…

Showichi Kaneda: I made “Human’s Own” series which look like a formula car because the shape of a shark and a Formula car is similar and I think a car racer is the symbol of human. What I would like to tell you through this work is that we, human beings, have to go ahead, even though the way is ambiguous and sometime we are scared and anxious. Of course I want people to make their own story and enjoy their own imagination through my sculptures, too. I am very happy if my sculptures are racing in many people’s hearts. The speed is 300km/hour.

Shannon and I recently traveled to Paris and London, and were blown away (as expected) by all things visual. I’d like to share some random tidbits from this truly inspirational trip with you all (everything from ads to classical sculpture). The pics start out with a French metro ad featuring illustrator extraordinaire, Jamie Hewlett, and ends with a massive photo mosaic outside the National Gallery in London. Enjoy!!!

Joseph Shaeffer, our good friend and long time collaborator is the newest addition to the JoyEngine Contributors panel. Joe is a contemporary artist who frequents a wide variety of mediums and technologies. Joe brings a very forward and unique design perspective to his friends and we love him for it. He’ll now be bringing that same perspective to the site. We’re super psyched to have Joe involved. We can’t wait to be inspired by both the imagery he chooses to display and the commentary that is certain to accompany it.

All Alex Henry related joking aside, because around here we regard our friend and collaborator Joseph Shaeffer’s work with the utmost respect. We’ve been working with Joe for a good bit now designing and developing his new website. We’re close and can’t wait to get it out there to both help Joe share his work and create some new opportunities. You’ll have to wait for the site to go live to view it and the rest of Joe’s work in it’s etirety, but until then… here’s a sneak peek at the site and one of Joe’s recent kinetic sculptures, entitled “Erratic Synchronization - 3 Elements @ 23 Degrees - White” (scale model)… when the site goes up you can see the biggee!

studiojosephshaeffer.com

We’ve know Joseph Shaeffer for a long time. He’s a good friend of everyone over here at the Engine. We’ve admired Joe’s sculptural work for some time and began actually working with him back in 2003 at DogtailDesign (our prior design firm). Joe approached us in the midst of designing his entry for the World Trade Center Memorial Competition. Joe had nearly completed his rendering. He’d been working closely with another mutual friend, Martin Newton, on the 3d side of things. Joe was nearing the WTC Memorial Compeition entry date and needed some print layout and web work. Joe and I hammered away at some pretty classic layout and met his submission date. I was super psyched to have the opportunity to work so closely with Joe on a project so personal to him and of such grand significance. Since the completion of the WTC Memorial Competition we’ve watched Joe’s work progress and followed his career as it’s transitioned across many forms of media.

We’re taking this opportunity to introduce Joe on the site because we love his work, he’s a close personal friend, and he finally felt it was time to begin sharing some of it. Joe’s created a prolific body of work over the last decade and he’s more focused on producing than ever.

Below you can find a piece of Joe’s rendering as submitted for the World Trade Center Memorial Competition.

While Joe’s Erratic Synchroniation phase of work utilizes the repellant properties of magnetism to create movement, his Sustension works utilize magnetism to create structural tension. Joe transitioned from his sustension body of work into something much more narrative. This “narrative” phase of Joe’s work took on the title “Manifest as Tension”. In Joe’s tension-based works he follows the psychological tension inherent to the human condition as it transitions from the subconscious to the conscious mind. This psychological tension can then be translated into the language of sculpture through the use of space, material, and form.

Joe finds his tension-based works to be some of the most rewarding and meaningful in his decade long career in the arts.

Examples from both “Magnetic Sustension” and “Manifest as Tension” can be seen below.