MetaChat - Photo Friday 14 April: "Owned Art" . .

Damn, I forgot to take photos. I have prints hanging around my place, including one given to me by Stelios Mavromatis (from taz's town of Thessaloniki) when he had a show at Kent State. But I really should take photos of the "found art" I pick up obsessively, pieces of wood or I-beam or old rusted iron or such. Yeah, I'll do that later. I'm sure you're all holding your breath ;-)

posted by shane 14 April | 08:31

I have a good friend who paints in his spare time. He gave me this piece. It's huge. It's also a little weird because the model very closely resembles his ex-wife, who also happens to be my former boss.
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A signed Boris Vallejo print that my ex bought and framed for me. Higher res version of the painting here. This photo is horrible, but the only way I could shoot this without glare/reflections was to shoot it in the dark bathroom, at an angle, with a flash. Annoying.
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Finally, not "art" really, but it's one of my favorite things. My sister gave this to me. On the hour, the little people dance around and a cuckoo bird comes out of the door and cuckoos.
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Click thumbs for larger images, if desired.

posted by mike9322 14 April | 08:32

I was fotunate enough to teach the children of this amazing artist. When I left the position, she gifted me with a beautiful bird picture similar to the one here, though it's a multicolored bird on a pinkish background. It's probably the nicest piece in my house.

posted by Miko 14 April | 08:47

Also, when you have a 5 year old, art is ubiquitous.

posted by mike9322 14 April | 08:52

mike9322, you're the sweetest bunny. *hugs*

posted by flopsy 14 April | 09:07

AwwwwwWWW! Thanks, flopsy! *blushes furiously*

posted by mike9322 14 April | 09:09

me being liberal
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posted by ethylene 14 April | 09:10

i like it, miko.
i should try and take some pics of pieces tomorrow, if they've survived

posted by ethylene 14 April | 09:12

This is my most recent acquisition; I got it a month or so ago. It's a depiction by local artist Salvatore Mazzola of one of the Guardians of Transportation on the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland. Each of the four enormous stone pylons has two art deco Guardians holding a different vehicle available in the early 1930s (when the bridge was constructed), symbolizing progress in transportation. This is one of my favorite places in Cleveland and I wanted to take something with me to remember it by when I move. (Hmm, I could have used these pics for last week's theme.)
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posted by amro 14 April | 09:14

Very cool, amro! I love those pylons. It's really cool to have a photo of yourself by one.

posted by shane 14 April | 09:25

This is a tough one for me, since I'm an artist, most of my friends are artists, and thus every wall in my house looks more or less like this:
≡ Click to see image ≡ The three in the middle are my own pieces. So there's just too much to photograph, not to mention the unsightly cobwebs that were revealed by a digital photo of a piece in the living room, gasp. Here is a painting I love that my friend Noelle did of me & my son Miles in about 1994, this is a Cheap Art print from Bread & Puppet in Vermont that I particularly love. There's a bunch of artsy crap here. Or, if you want to see my art, here are at least the bits & pieces of it that are up on Flickr, which isn't really very much.

And here is some found art, some things I found in the woods in Maryland near this old house foundation. I love them. ≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by mygothlaundry 14 April | 09:25

A few years ago I let a girl stay in my apartment for a while. This is what I got in return:

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(chalk on cardboard)

posted by cmonkey 14 April | 09:28

oooooh! This is fun! I'll add some soon, but first, mg, do what I say right now: please go straighten the middle piece in this photo:

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Just do it now, before I have a seizure.

/monk :) :) :) *whimper*

posted by taz 14 April | 09:33

I ♥ that, cmonkey!

posted by mike9322 14 April | 09:42

I have a lot, so I'll do a few of them bit by bit. Here's one piece by a friend that's in my office. I have an orange silk floor-stting lamp under it, which makes it even cooler:

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too lazy to also shoot the back, but it's excellent as well.

posted by taz 14 April | 09:59

This
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sits in the courtyard of my building.

posted by tommasz 14 April | 09:59

I can't take pictures now, but in my office i have a Norman Ives collage that's almost exactly like this (but not exactly).

posted by Hellbient 14 April | 10:17

Here's a piece of marble sculpture that I adore:

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posted by taz 14 April | 10:19

The only art I own is my own body. I'm not old enough to have "art" or "a job" or "responsibilities".

posted by Eideteker 14 April | 10:32

That's awesome, amro. Are prints available?

Two pieces of printed fabric that hang on my bedroom wall (cameraphone, dimly-lit room, what can you do?):

The first is about 30 years old, and Finnish, and that's about all I know about it. The second is a Dayak tree of life batik print (and, in the foreground, is a mobile that a dear friend made for me).

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posted by box 14 April | 10:40

This is the cast we made of my torso around 2 weeks before Millie, Jr. hatched.

posted by go dog go 14 April | 10:46

ooh, box, those are gorgeous!

posted by taz 14 April | 10:54

About 20 years ago, this photographer wanted to take a panoramic photo of the view of Pioneer Peak from my family's property in Alaska. My father bought one of his photos and had it in his office for most of that 20 years.

He recently sent it to me for Christmas. It's hanging in my dining room.
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Here's a closer look. This was my playground as a child.
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Here's my own photo from the same location:
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posted by agropyron 14 April | 10:59

box, it's actually sort of sticky plastic that he cuts out and puts on a metal background. I'm explaining it badly. But it's more like a plaque than a print, and he continues to make them. You can get them from Sam directly by contacting his email address on www.salvatoremazzola.com, and sometimes they're available at the MOCA giftshop.

posted by amro 14 April | 11:02

agro, that's very cool! (btw, I lived in Cordova when I was a child.)

posted by taz 14 April | 11:06

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This thirteen foot wall hanging was made by my friend Andrew McCargar, and was originaly displayed on the wall at the Basement Pub. It now hangs on my bedroom wall. Andrew said it's supposed to represent the moment when you walk into a party and someone recognizes you.

posted by pieisexactlythree 14 April | 11:06

That's great!

By the way, for those viewing in FF, the images are reduced to 500px wide; to see pie's image and agro's panoramic full size, right click and "view image".

posted by taz 14 April | 11:13

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A painting by a guy called Conrad Walter, the title of which I’ve forgotten.

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'Cow' by John Marshall.

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A collage by Eva Lake.

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'Jealous Zebras' by Eira Fogelberg.

posted by misteraitch 14 April | 11:46

i'd like to thank this thread for being so inspirational

posted by ethylene 14 April | 11:47

I've got rather a lot of art in my house, so I thought to show only some of the art made by me. In order (I think), these are a forest done in oil pastels, a painting of me and my fiance done in oils, and a collage I made quite some time ago. Preview isn't helping me out a lot here, so I hope this comes out.

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P.S. pieisexactlythree, is Andrew related to George, maybe?

posted by rebirtha 14 April | 12:06

They show up in 'images off' mode, is all I can say in my defense.

posted by rebirtha 14 April | 12:13

Rebirtha, Yup, Andrew is the big brother, George is the older brother.

posted by pieisexactlythree 14 April | 12:28

Just wondering 'cause I hung out a good bit with George. Small world, but we had already remarked upon it. ;)

posted by rebirtha 14 April | 12:38

Small world indeed. I was drinking with George on wednesday (to celebrate Yuri Day), at a tiny little bar in the industrial district when we met fractalid from Monkeyfilter (lol)

posted by pieisexactlythree 14 April | 12:42

Amazing stuff!

posted by jrossi4r 14 April | 12:55

pie, we should go out and get a beer some time. It doesn't qualify as a meetup if there's no camera!

posted by rebirtha 14 April | 12:58

I love this thread.

posted by amro 14 April | 13:06

Ditto.

posted by box 14 April | 13:56

An early Wegman photo -- "ManRay - Chair Piece."

posted by ericb 14 April | 15:38

Also, when you have a 5 year old, art is ubiquitous.

I couldn't help it, but this Internet classic -- More crappy children's art work -- came to mind.

Not at all applicable to mike9322's child's artwork.

posted by ericb 14 April | 15:57

I'm loving this thread, too.

Since most of my stuff is in storage all I can do is share a repeat.

posted by deborah 14 April | 18:46

OMG ericb, that is some funny shit.

posted by mike9322 14 April | 18:55

i'm late and the pics suck, but:

a portrait of me

closeup of part of it--it says "Evan has his day"

a treasured xerox blowup of a page from a zine a friend made

and 2 prints from a class i took, by different random people (i always ask for people's rejects, and we used to swap them) : >

posted by amberglow 15 April | 00:41

(i have tons more but i'm too lazy to take pics and color correct)

lots of wonderful stuff in this thread : >

posted by amberglow 15 April | 00:42

here's a better one of the portrait of me (color's still off and stuff--i'm too lazy to correct)

posted by amberglow 15 April | 11:04

I'm a day late and a dollar short, as usual, but here goes:

Sculpture by my grandfather

A carving by my grandfather

One of a set of prints by Edward Tufte

A cat mask

A painting of an Italian sculpture

posted by Triode 16 April | 01:43

some of my "raw art":

woman.

old tree has twisted branches.

posted by shane 16 April | 19:18

14 April 2006