SCOPE New York

Today marks only 2 days until the opening of SCOPE Art Show's New York fair and you can feel the energy and excitement building here in the Big Apple! As you may already know (but just in case you don't) I have been working in the exhibitor relations department at SCOPE for the past two months and couldn't have been luckier than to land a job with one of my favorite art show's in the world. What I really love so much about SCOPE is that they are all about supporting up and coming and mid level artists that come from all different walks of life whom you wouldn't always get the opportunity to see in a gallery setting. This is something that I have always felt very strongly about since my interest peaked in the fine art world as you might be aware of if you've been following this blog for a while. 

Sinead O'Donnell, 'Above the Clouds' courtesy of Golden Thread Gallery

David Spriggs 'Data' courtesy of Art Mur

Ayline Olukm 'Curtains' courtesy of Galeria Bertrand Gillig

For our New York show it is going to be a remarkably interesting mixture of artists that I think will impress not only the average joe who know's little to nothing about the upper echelons of the fine art world but also the curators, directors and collectors who spend their days looking at paintings, sculptors and mixed media work. I personally am extremely excited that we will be having pieces from some of my favorite street artists as well as ton of other amazing work by artists that I was not familiar with before. If you are in town I HIGHLY recommend that you find yourself at Skylight at Moynihan Station on 33rd street in between 8th and 9th avenue, March 7-9th; it's going to be a spectacle you do not want to miss.  
For more information about the fair you can click here. 

David Hanes 'Aware No.325' courtesy of Birch Contemporary 

Lottie Davis 'Viola as Twins' courtesy of Cynthia Corbett Gallery

Regine Schumann 'Color Mirror Rainbow' courtesy of De Buck Gallery

Speedy Graphito 'Game Over' courtesy of Fabien Castanier Gallery

Performing the Self

Performing the self - it sounds like a paradox but let me make my case first. A few weeks back I went to Bosi Contemporary to see the performance artist Marta Jovanovic discuss a book based on her art written by Kathy Battista that is now out for purchase entitled none other than Performing the Self. As I walked throughout the accompanied exhibit that included photography, video, installation and the written word all based on and staring Marta I felt an eerie connection to my own work. After listening to Marta discuss the details that have lead to where she is today it was impossible for me to not see the similar ties between her and I. 

When she was younger she was a ballet dancer just as I was and she learned to express herself through movement and appearance. The body became a medium and tool for her to express a message. After ballet turned out to not be her choice of career she was still very connected to the body as a vessel of expression; art became a form of therapy for her as a way of understanding herself more - self awareness. I have always said that much like psychology majors who often go into the field to try and diagnose themselves the same goes for artists. Like Marta I've always considered my work to be a form of therapy for me especially considering that it is inherently about me and my experiences. Whether it's going out and taking self portraits or getting dressed that morning or writing they are all a way to express what is essentially performing the self. 

So this idea of performing the self suddenly becomes very confusing but at the same time truthful i.e. the paradox. The other day I was discussing my self portrait series with a friend and mentioned that I was tired of seeing pretty pictures of myself and wanted to see the ugliness that I feel and thus the creation of my No More Pretty Pictures set. In response they asked if I am just putting on performances since I am self aware of this decision to express specific aspects of my personality. I couldn't disagree because I am making fully aware decisions to express this and not that. To show this side of something and not the other side. Working as a model and being a photographer self awareness is a vital quality to have so now the question comes to this: is it truly possible for the self - the way that you live your life every day - to be a performance? And if it is then is there a time when the performance begins and ends? If you document the self, write about the self and analyze the self then does the self become a qualified piece of performance art or is it just an overwhelmingly warped form of narcissism?  And also when does a performance turn from a conscious falsified or fantasized show into reality? Can it really be true that life is a performance and world is our stage and in that case isn't everyone a performance artist or must you be self aware for this to be true?

These are fine lines that can fluctuate depending on who is looking at the project and the answer is that both ways of looking at it are right. A urinal can be a urinal or it can be a sculpture if put in the right context as Duchamp proved over 100 years ago. The self can be a piece of art and the self can create a piece of art, it just depends on which one you want to be and it can be both as well as Cindy Sherman proved. This topic always takes me back to the philosophy of the Art Nouveau movement that everything in your life including yourself can be a work of art. It also reminds me of Andy Warhol's famous statement "Art is whatever you want it to be" yet not everything is art. Oh the enigma of the fine art world, what a troubled career path I have chosen..... 
What are your thoughts on the subject of performing the self?

Red Lips

I've always been a fan of red lips but I never really wore them unless I was going out or something of the sort. Since my move to New York however I've pretty much made the red lip my make-up go to with little to nothing else except maybe some mascara if I'm feeling especially shit giving that day. What I find so interesting about the red lip is the way putting this color on my face makes me feel. It's almost as though I completely transform from roll-out-of-bed, groggy and ready to hiss at the first person that rubs me the wrong way Ashley to pulled together, confident, graceful, posh and totally in control of her own life Ashley. Obviously I am both of these and thus making the psychology behind the red lip so very interesting to me. When I wear a purple lip or a coral lip I don't feel this transformation, it is only the fire engine red that gets my heart beating and confidence radiating. 

So what is it about the red lip? The power of masquerade has always been of extreme interest to me. The way that I approach dress and appearance has strong ties in the market of masquerading. Sometimes the masquerade is to hide behind a facade or create a false persona so people will think one thing when it is actually quite the opposite. By doing this I am also tricking myself into believing it and becoming it as I discussed a few months back here. In my research on the psychology behind the power of the red lip I came across this article on Psychologies magazine's website that I thought was very well written and since I couldn't say it better myself I am presenting it to you all here today. 

"For centuries, red lips have largely been seen as a stamp of immorality. In more god-fearing medieval times, it was believed that creating a plump sexualised mouth would earn you a fast-track ticket to hell. Several hundred years later, Parliament passed a law condemning lipstick, considering it a sign of witchcraft. To confuse further our feelings about the cosmetic, there have been large stretches in history that were pro-red lippie. The Sumerians invented the stuff (just 200 miles outside Babylon), and Egyptian women fully embraced deepening one's lip color, going as far as to make sure they were buried with pots of rouge. Perhaps most famously, Queen Elizabeth I, known for her piercing red lips, elevated the shade into something regal, instead of seedy. 

It wasn't until the Golden Age of Hollywood, with its Technicolor films and glamorous studio portraits, that red lipstick even came to be considered widely acceptable -- even aspiration. Consider Jean Harlow's pointed red pout in the 1930s, Veronica Lake's in the 1940s and Marilyn Monroe's in the 1950s. None of these actresses was known for playing the girlish ingenue. They were women with overtly feminine power. They were knowing. The lure of looking feminine but remaining powerful was such a glorious notion, it's little wonder women started to use red lipstick as a tool to communicate their own self-possession.  

'Red lipstick is a source of strength,' says Poppy King, creator of Lipstick Queen. 

'You put it on and suddenly you feel more capable than you did without it.'

Dita Von Teese for NY Magazine

Debbie Harry asserted herself in the boys' club that was the New York City punk scene with talent and red lipstick. Gwen Stefani is rarely without her signature crimson pout. And shy Heather Sweet from Michigan wouldn't have made the same cultural impact as Dita Von Teese if it weren't for her red lipstick. If some of the world's most intelligent and charismatic women are using red lipstick for all it's worth, it begs the question -- why do so many women avoid it? 

Even the act of applying red lipstick is empowering. By dressing your lips in red, it draws people's attention to you, especially your mouth, and subsequently, the words that come out of it. 'It's a symbol of prowess,' says King. Unlike other cosmetics, many of which correct or camouflage something we don't like about ourselves, red lipstick is about assertion. 'When I cajole a red-lipstick virgin into wearing it, they often say they feel like they could do anything now,' says King. 'One customer said she put it on before giving birth because it made her feel strong.' 

That's the thing about red lipstick -- its a beautiful case of chicken and egg. It may require confidence to wear, but confidence can actually be a result of wearing red lipstick -- and no one needs to know which one comes first."