Scottish artist Lucy McKenzie is very much influenced by the work of Belgian artist Herge, creator of Tintin, the young detective with the short trousers and never-changing hairstyle. This is quite clear in some of her newer pieces, especially the cartoon drawings and the ‘real life’ sketches of Tintin. Her latest exhibition also includes a series of erotic pencil drawings and some large-scale chalk and charcoal abstracts a la Mondrian. Keith and Kerry are works from a previous exhibition entitled Global Views.

Artist: Lucy McKenzie
+ metropicturesgallery.com
+ lucymckenzie.com

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s most recent project , The Gates of Central Park, may have wrapped up months ago, but the artists have not been idle. They are busy preparing for the next big thing, Over the River, an installation that will be comprised of translucent fabric panels suspended across the Arkansas River in Colorado for two weeks. The couple started research for Over the River in 1992; the earliest possible completion date would be the summer of 2008. Stay tuned.

Artist: Christo and Jeanne-Claude
+ christojeanneclaude.net

London-based Karen D’Amico presents a variety of work in the form of digital, silver gelatin and c-prints covering a range of styles and leanings. Her c-prints and silver gelatins have an ephemeral quality to them, delicate webs of artistry, but other works, such as Burnt Offerings or Champagne Army, are more concrete connections between ideas and images. Travellers' Secret Box is also worth investigating: a project that takes oneback through memories, hopes and dreams.

Artist: Karen D'Amico
+ karendamico.com

Fire Fly by interactive technologies artist and lighting whiz James Clar is a kinetic sculpture best seen in the dark. Underneath a black plexi base is a vibrating motor which causes the white led semi-circles mounted on thin plexi rod stems to shake gently in place. The movement causes the semi-circles to appear as rings hovering in the air. Clar blends a background in art theory with a hands-on approach to design, blurring at times the distinction between art installation and ambient lighting.

For more James Clar, see MoCo Loco .

Artist: James Clar
+ jamesclar.com

Dutch designer Isabelle Leijn has taken tubes destined for cosmetics packaging and formed them into a variety of sculptural pieces of furniture. Leijn manipulated the substance normally used for the packaging while it was still warm and viscous, poking and prodding it into molds, creating all sorts of interesting textures and surfaces. The result is a series of pieces that look as though they were derived from a very long and sticky length of chewed peppermint gum. What it must be like to touch these pieces, to sit on these chairs!

Artist: Isabelle Leijn
+ il-studio.nl

James Patten and Mariliana Arvelo bring us Tactile Photography, a series of photographic prints laser etched onto maple, an effect which produces a photographic relief. Viewers are encouraged to touch the art, and as time goes on, the surface of the wood becomes worn. This is truly interactive art as the public’s touch becomes incorporated into the works. The series was part of a project involving the deaf-blind community and the artists observe with fascination the different ways the pieces are experienced by sighted, blind and deaf-blind participants. Finally – art that begs to be touched!

Artist: James Patten + Mariliana Arvelo
+ jamespatten.com

Thirty years ago, artist Robert Smithson developed the concept of Floating Island, a barge landscaped as an island, complete with earth, rocks and trees, destined to travel around Manhattan Island. Finally the project has been realized and this is the last weekend to see the barge in action, towed by a tugboat. For those not in the know, Floating Island is sure to tickle their peripheral vision as it floats by. Floating Island is the artist’s homage to Central Park, and it is a shame Smithson is no longer around to enjoy the fruition of his efforts.

Artist: Robert Smithson
+ whitney.org

Tie Dye in the Wilderness is a painting by Lisa Sanditz that has hit the streets of New York in a big way. Commissioned by Untied Technologies Corporation as part of their arts support initiative, Tie Dye in the Wilderness is a billboard located at 343 Greene St. at Canal. Sanditz’s work often reveals a juxtaposition of commercialism and the landscape, highlighting a sense of isolation that surrounds symbols of consumer culture such as shopping malls and industrial parks. Sanditz presents an American landscape that is “created from a collision of artificial and natural forms.” Tie Dye in the Wilderness, on view until November 1, is certainly a collision of art and the urban landscape.

Artist: Lisa Sanditz
+ crggallery.com

Apartment is a recent video project by Eric Deis, an interdisciplinary artist from Vancouver, currently showing at the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. The 1 min 48sec video loop is of a still apartment where water suddenly starts to flow unimpeded, as if triggered by the steaming of the kettle. Deis focuses on the regularity of the dousing and the steady flow of water which soaks walls, carpet, countertop – creating "normalcy" out of an ordinarily unusual occurrence. Some say normal,some say eerie - thought-provoking either way.
The video loop can be viewed at the following link.

Artist: Eric Deis
+ ericdeis.com

Alison Lapper Pregnant, a twelve-foot high marble statue by Marc Quinn, was unveiled last week upon the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. The statue of a disabled artist who posed for the piece while eight months pregnant is causing a stir among critics and the public. Quinn carved the statue from a single piece of Carrera marble to provide the public with a new type of hero: an unwed mother with no arms who paints with her mouth. The statue is to occupy the plinth for the next eighteen months. (Quinn is also known for casting his own head out of blood and freezing it into a bust.)

Artist: Marc Quinn
+ bbc.co.uk

Naomie Kremer is known for her abstract paintings, but like every artist was loathe to tire of any one medium, so turned to making videos out of previous works. The effect is literally a kaleidoscope of brush strokes. Various elements start to shimmer and shake all over the background, almost dancing away to leave a blank, then coming back to eventually take up their places once again. The accompanying audio component to the video paintings (wind chimes, the sound of breaking glass, arrows cutting through the air) adds even more depth to the layering already in place. Kremer has observed that once viewers arrive at a video piece of hers in a gallery, they cannot help but go back to take another closer look at the canvases. This work is a must-see.

(Quicktime needed to view Moving Paintings at the following two links.)

Artist: Naomie Kremer
+ naomiekremer.com
+ apple.com