New Art Show Features The Striking Sculptures of Artist Kevin Titzer

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Sculptor Kevin Titzer (previously featured here and here) was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, but moved to Quebec, Canada a few years ago. Though his works have been exhibited numerous times in the United States and Canada, ‘Hinterland’ – his ongoing show at the Galerie d’Art la Corniche – is his Quebec debut.

The theme of the show is about his experiences and adjustments moving from one country and it’s culture to another. Titzer says that there is a puppetry aesthetic that runs throughout the exhibit, and visitors were encouraged to play and interact with two functional ventriloquist dummies during the opening. Like most of his other sculptures, Titzer used carved wood, found objects and recycled materials to create them.

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Mud Monkey’s Awesome Sculptures

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Simon Boses’ (aka Mud Monkey) wondrously-imaginative clay sculptures are the result of a childhood fired by exposure to art from many different cultures, and a staple diet of watching cartoons.

Sometimes the most simply drawn cartoon characters can evoke deep feelings of empathy in us, and Boses has been able to harness the same phenomena in his works with great effect. His works have a whimsical and delightful quality to them, and yet, they are rich with hidden and subtle symbolism, that reveals itself upon repeat viewings.

I found the stylized lines and forms of cartoons echoed in the art of many cultures. African masks, Egyptian tablet figures, Coptic portraiture and Australian aboriginal bark paintings were among those that captured my imagination and inspired me to weave a thread of symbolism into my work. This is where my own mythology comes in.

A piece is successful when it reveals a familiar moment in what it is to be human. It can be something as small as the affection one feels toward their favorite toy or as complicated as an unrecognized injustice our society unintentionally supports. When the audience recognizes that moment as something from their own lives, possibly something they never took time to think about I consider it to be a success.

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Boses is an alumnus of the Maryland Institute College of Art for ceramic, and lives and works in Seminole, Florida. He undertakes commissions, and you can buy his (very affordable) sculptures at his Etsy store.

Link to Mud Monkey.

(Thanks, Kevin Titzer!)

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‘Dig For Fire’ – Art Inspired by The PIXIES

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“Monkey Gone to Heaven,” by Kevin Titzer

Dig For Fire” is an art show inspired by the music of the PIXIES. The show will be curated by Kevin Titzer, the Canada-based sculptor whose work has been featured on JazJaz.

Kevin states,

I actually believe the Pixies are a much under rated band for their influence on visual art. This is kind of my small gesture to acknowledge that. You always hear that old Velvet Underground analogy with them, but I don’t think you could’ve walked into any university art department in the 90’s and not heard the Pixies music playing somewhere. They still inform the work I make today and I don’t think I’m alone”.

“For me the seed of the series goes back to the early 90’s music magazine “Raygun”. At the back of most issues were a couple of pages of artwork by musicians interpreting a song from another band. I always looked forward to those pages and always found them interesting. I enjoyed seeing how people could visualize the same song in numerous different ways.”

“I wanted to recreate that feeling I had as a kid reading “Raygun” with these shows. The Pixies are one of my favorite bands and fit very nicely into what I was looking for in a theme. The band has very visual lyrics and use lot’s of characters in their songs. They are generally very narrative and also a bit open ended and nonlinear. This gives the artists lot’s of room to stretch out with their interpretations and has made for a wonderfully diverse exhibition.”

The show will have its opening reception on September 9th, 6-10PM at C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, California.

Click here for a sneak preview of the work in progress.

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Ghost of a Chance – The Art of Kevin Titzer

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I’ve fallen in love with the wonderfully-surreal art of Kevin Titzer, an artist from Evansville, Indiana, now based in Quebec, Canada. He says that most of his works are carved from found wood, and recycled materials. Titzer also curates themed art shows, which derive inspiration from songs of music artists like They Might Be Giants and The Pixies.

Titzer has an ongoing exhibition “Ghost of a Chance,” at the Thinkspace Art Gallery in Culver City, CA. This fantastic show, which began on May 21st, will be soon be ending on June 4th.

Check out more images, and a promo video for the exhibition, after the jump.

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