Diana Kohne Art Blog

Tracing Lines at Ohio State University Urban Arts Space (Infrastructure Exhibition)

2012-01-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

The next show is in Ohio. The show has united a group of artists with an interest in (or obsession about) infrastructure. Click the image for a better look at the beautiful images on the card, or stop by the OSU Urban Arts Space before March 24th.

The gallery reception is January 28th from 6-9pm. Before the reception, I will be teaching 2 workshops on printmaking without a press. I will be teaching students how my etchings in the exhibit are made.

If you can't make it to Ohio, take a virtual tour of the exhibition here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104348319445840075376/albums/5695520146029023809

New Monoprint Process for Anaheim Show

2011-11-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

For the upcoming show at the Promenade Gallery in Downtown Anaheim, I've been working non-stop developing a new approach to printmaking. I've finally settled on mono-printing over ink drawing onto wood. I paint the image in reverse onto clear plastic and press it onto the wood using my palm press.

I am using this process to create a series about the streetlighting yard in East Hollywood. This piece was printed on wood that has a tire track on it. I like it because it references the street and printmaking.

detail:

Streetlamp Yard 1. Same technique on paper:

Non Traditional el Dia de los Muertos show in Dallas

2011-10-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

My most recent painting, Motor de la Ciudad Muerta is on display at Mountain View College in Dallas. Stop by. This is going to be a great show. Leticia Gomez and Serg Saenz are a couple of my favorite Texas artists.

This is a non-traditional Dia de los Muertos show. Artists were encouraged to maintain their personal styles and themes. I stayed with my machine theme, and painted my first dead machine. This is my first machine painting to depict a machine that is no longer in use. It is called Motor de la Ciudad Muerta, which means engine of the ghost town. The painting depicts a portable engine from the mid to late 1800s.

Dead Machine

2011-09-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

I am preparing for a Dia de los Muertos show in Dallas. The curators have encouraged artists to maintain their aesthetic approach and create something non traditional.

I've decided to portray a dead machine. I began to seek out machines no longer in use; machines used only by people who are now dead. It's difficult to find them.

The nice thing about loving machinery is that people send me pictures when they find a machine they like. On facebook, I am tagged in a photo of a backflow prevention device. A few months ago, Gabriela Knutson sent me a portable engine in a ghost town she was passing through.

This is what it looked like while still in use:

Frog Town Art Walk is my favorite

2011-09-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

Frogtown Art Walk doesn't look like much from the outside, but that's not what counts. Now in its 6th year, this Elysian Valley walk manages to keep it's focus on the art, and attract a crowd that cares about it, too.

This art walk is great because visitors really get to see artist studios, and experience more (good) art per block than most L.A. Art walks provide. So far, it hasn't become a giant red cup party. Hopefully, the good art continues to grow, and remain the backbone of the experience. Next year? The music needs to be a little softer, and signage a little brighter.

I like industrial means I like Lewis Mauk's past 5 toothbrushes.

Alisa Yang and her coloring book collage about Batman on a night off at Tracy A. Stone Architect.

Mary-Austin Klein's hip studio space and great landscape paintings that anyone from the area will love. Photorealistic, yet painterly. Excellent price points and lots of red dots.

Bill Lagattuta's impressive arrows

NOMAD's musical animal screen prints. A Rhinoccordian?

other works.

Paper lamps above the children's hula hoop contest.

Processes

2011-07-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

Compositions and shapes that I like.

Color combinations.

Painting.

Frame making.

Practice.

Sunday in Pasadena: Norton Simon & Lucky Baldwin's

2011-07-11T00:57:00.000-07:00

Today, we visited the Norton Simon Museum. The selection of Degas paintings and pastels mixed with a few Lautrecs were my favorites. I had not thought of Degas as an exciting painter. His use of color was at least as interesting as Lautrec's. Both artists had a similar technique of combining rough and fast brush/pastel intermingled with well placed smooth and blended sections. The color and the brushstrokes cannot be experienced as well in the pictures below, but they're still nice.

Edgar Degas Woman at her Toilette 1876

At the Circus Fernando, Rider on a White Horse 1888 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Dancers in the Wings 1880 Edgar Degas

After the Norton Simon, we went to Lucky Baldwin's bar and I drew some people with my blue glitter gel pen.

Visit to the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation

2011-07-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

Last month, I learned that the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation purchased my largest machine painting. I'm embarrassed to say that I did not know about Frederick R. Weisman or the collection until the foundation contacted me. The tour taught me that I have been in contact with the collection before.

Outside

Fernando Botero Cat

No photos allowed inside. I found the photos below because the sculpture garden cannot represent the whole collection inside the spanish villa. The Weisman tour isn't an ordinary art tour. The house makes the viewer feel comfortable, and somehow, cozy. Art is not a distant and cold artifact in the Weisman house. Even in the modern Annex.

A few of my favorite pieces in a collection that includes work by Cezanne, Kandinsky, de Kooning, Giacometti, Picasso, (a yellow) Rothko, Lichtenstein, Magritte, Frankenthaler, Pollock, Hockney, Rauschenberg and more:

Oldenburg's Typewriter Eraser. I remember seeing this piece when it was on loan to the National Gallery. I still have cards that I purchased from the Oldenburg Retrospective when I was a kid.

Miro's Object-Painting.

Rosenquist Time Flowers

The tour guide explained that the majority of the work in the collection is on tour. The Weisman Foundation loans work to museums and public art venues. They also use the collection to provide artwork for cities and towns that can't support their own art collection. I wonder where Casitas will go.

CreativeLA at the James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station

2011-06-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

ThinkLA teamed up with the Advertising Relief Fund and 24 Seven Inc. to put on CreativeLA, a unique benefit that was not at the expense of the artist. CreativeLA's sensible approach to the art charity event should be the new model. They operate as an art gallery. The first event was held on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the James Gray Gallery in Bergamot Station.

Participants were advertising groups showcasing work by staff members, organizations that have teamed up with ThinkLA, like the Light Bringer Project, and supportive free-lance individuals, like me.

First Impressions

My first impression was this visually pleasing group of art work. Sasha Karlova's Floatation (right).

The Gary Group Room

I was drawn to Tim Wojtowicz's Sketchy 2.

These gags by Kevin Butler were fun..

Interesting sculpture.

Other Rooms

Light Bringer Project artist Julie Klima's colorful photo The Garden of Lolitas. See more of Klima's colorful photography here: julieklima.com

My L.A. River Tower 1b etching on found wood & painting Machine 4-2 (right).

My only complaint concerns the number of pieces that were stretched with part of the image wrapped around the side of the stretcher bars. You owe it to your work to build what it needs. Many artworks were digitally created and printed out. Buyers seemed to find more appeal in work that had evidence of the artist's hand, but, that might not be the way of the future.

The 21st Century Digital Boys.

note: I lost images containing information about several pieces. If you know artist names, please contact me.

Quick Stop at the Street Art Store

2011-06-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

I went exploring last week and happened upon the Street Art Store. It was open, so I parked and went in. The Street Art Store operates as a store that sells graff supplies, and as a gallery that shows street art. It's a difficult thing to do- to show work as street art in a gallery setting. MOCA's exhibit was compared to Disneyland in Sharon Mizota's L.A. Times review, an idea Artillery Magazine illustrated in their most recent issue. The Street Art Store is pretty unassuming. It also helps that the store is not too preoccupied with how it hangs work. The photocopied, hand written price sheets are a nice touch.

Vampires One Day is the featured artist at the Street Art Store. I liked the collages, but left wondering how they represent Vampires One Day's work on the the street. Does he collage on the street and produce some pieces for the store? Or, perhaps these street art because he uses material found on the street?

SEX HAT FAKE FACE (right)

Street artist Homo Riot cluster. Perhaps the best use of the repetition element of street art. Printing and pasting bunnies all over town is cute, but constantly exposing people to gay imagery so that they become accustomed to it is utilizing the medium to its full advantage.

A major function of the Street Art Store is the sticker exchange program. Artists from around the world mail in their stickers. Sam grades the stickers based on amount and quality. An A grade receives more stickers in return than a C. This way, street art from around the world can exist everywhere: a global street art experience on every telephone pole. Stickers can also be purchased by the gram.

Cat Cult Cluster is street art at its most fun. A mix of styles- and cats.

Cat Cult smushed faced, half shaved tortie Detail

Among his collages, Vampires One Day is displaying a small machine in a box. The title is My First. His website offers no explanation, but, I think it's a homemade tattoo gun that the artist uses to create pages in handmade art books.

I very much prefer the unpainted version from the artist's website, which reveals that the gun is made using a Bic pen held together with bent wire and some zip ties:

The Venice Art Walk Silent Art Auction

2011-05-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

A wide and unusually good range of artists were asked to donate work to the Venice Silent Art Auction to benefit the Rose Family Clinic. I've included a few images here, but it doesn't justify the scope of the work. It's unique to experience so many recent works by living artists in one space.

Rebecca Marder

Blue McRight

The 2 portrayals of power lines received bids:

Claudia Parducci 's watercolor (left) and my etching on found board (right).

Marc Trujillo's contemporary still life.

Mark Todd

B.J. Dockweller

Casitas was purchased. I took some details of favorite parts. I'm going to miss it.

I found this behind the auction site:

Skate Boards at Track 16

2011-05-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Track 16 Gallery's auction of artist decorated skate decks and surf boards was packed. I squeezed through the crowd to find artist boards that bring the skate deck back to the street.

I like that these boards use sculptural elements to convey skate culture:

Boards that portray a skateboarder's landscape:

(left by EyeOne)

Fun Decks:

On the way out I found the Space Invader bathroom...

and Bergamot Station's shiny, new transformers.

Printmaking at the Anaheim Art Crawl

2011-05-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

I was one of many artists invited to demonstrate my process live to add color to the Anaheim Art Crawl. Artists spent the evening painting in the cool Anaheim breeze, instead of in the studio. I paint very slowly, so I decided to demonstrate printmaking without a printing press, instead. People were very interested in printmaking, and enjoyed watching me use my own strength to press the ink from the plate onto the paper. Several people took home the prints that they saw pressed.

The paper was soaked in a tray on the ground, dried using the towel in the picture, and hand pressed on the table.

Prints were pinned to the palm tree to dry.

This sprinker caught my eye on my way to see what some of the other artists were up to.

Live painters were stationed every few yards at the art crawl experience. Angie Jones' large oil paintings of crow people received a lot of attention.

Phil Santos has been painting images that haven't been pointed out yet, like old video store signs. In this photo, he is working on a painting of a truck. The graffiti that covers the truck was painted in after the photo was taken.

People passing by Scott Holmes' painting caught a rare glimpse of the loose, painterly underpainting mingling with the thick brushstrokes that make up his final works.

Some of my prints are for sale here. Contact me if you're looking for a print made the night of the art crawl.

Machines and Art on the Downtown L.A. Art Walk

2011-05-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Most people don't realize that the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk begins early in the afternoon. To truly experience Downtown L.A., with it's boarded up Deco buildings and fascinating mix of people from every walk of life, you've got to get there before night falls.

I began the afternoon by visiting my machine paintings at The Hive Gallery.

Next, I visited the Cb1 Gallery, where Susan Silas sang a song I hadn't heard before. Something she remembered from watching TV in the 60s.

En route to the next gallery, I found a machine that speaks Spanish.

At the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, John F. Walte's "Flower" is the first work to resemble video game imagery to make me look twice. (top left)

But, for me, the fire hose stole the show:

On the way out, the stark shadow of the street lamp caught my eye.

I left the Downtown Art Walk in style before 7pm.

Forgot to post

2011-05-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

I never posted painting 3-3. 6.5" x 6.5"

L.A. River Machine video

2011-04-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

A short video with a great tune that shows what I'm doing on the L.A. River.
http://www.dianakohne.com/lariver.html

Machine as Art from Gabriela GK on Vimeo.

Chernobyl Show

2011-04-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

My L.A. River Tower etchings are part of a show to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for http://voicesfromchornobyl.com/home.html at Kaldi in Atwater.

The etchings are hand-pressed and wheat pasted to found board.

Machine Photo Story

2011-04-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

The machine.

Photo of the 28 x 29 inch painting.

Scanned version of painting. Added Qr code in place of Obey sticker. Qr code takes people to a place to post photos and comments about their experience.

first pasting.

off the L.A. River Machine Tour route- on Casitas Ave.

Some CiLAvia bikes chained to the machine at Atwater Crossing.

Street Art Misstep

2011-04-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

I pasted a print out of my recent L.A. River Machine painting on a piece of scrap along the L.A. River. I made the mistake of pasting over part of someone's tag. It looks like someone spent some time trying to peel off the portion of my pasting that covered their tag. I will be more careful.

L.A. River Machine prints aging nicely

2011-04-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

apparently, wheat paste is stronger than paint

bristol board is too thick

old fashioned printer paper is too thin

more to come.

L.A. River Machine Painting 1

2011-03-26T03:22:00.000-07:00

20" x 14"

LARMT and the Rain

2011-03-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

I visited my etchings along the Los Angeles River to see how they held up in the rain.

This one fared the worst. Not enough paste.

Before it rained, someone tried to remove this one.

Etching 2 had the least damage because it is not pasted on the ground.

The paper is too thick, and bows when it gets wet. If the paper did not bow, the wheat paste would re-glue the image to the pavement when it dried.

The images have stayed intact even though I am using a water based ink.

I added more paste and secured the paper with some stones.

Still 6 more days of rain ahead.

More photos here: http://www.dianakohne.com/lamachinetour.html

Mini Mogul on the Machine Tour: http://tumblr.com/xni1tdg9db

Street Art Approved

2011-03-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

The people who paint over graffiti came to the L.A. River last week.

Here is a picture from March 11 (left) next to a photo from today, March 19 (right).

My pastings are not considered vandalism.

The L.A. River Machine Tour Begins

2011-03-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

street art indoors

2011-03-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

1st wheat pasting

2011-03-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

5-4

2011-03-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

25 prints

2011-02-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

These are all the prints that will be made using this plate. Also, a photo of the printing press.

LA River Tower 1 -etching

2011-02-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

Machine 5-3

2011-02-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

5-2

2011-02-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

first painting of 2011

2011-02-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Paintings and prints at Cactus in Eagle Rock

2011-01-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

Machine paintings and prints on the middle row.

Telephone Tower

2011-01-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

Wood burned plate. Hand pressed Print. New.

SOLD

2011-01-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Transformer print sold last night at First Friday on Abbot Kinney at the new Abbot Kinney Artist Co-op!

This was the first print made using this wood block, and the only one so far.

Cactus Gallery on Eagle Rock Blvd.

2011-01-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

Showing 6 paintings and 3 prints at Cactus.
Reception in conjunction with the annual Bird Show on NELA's Art Walk night.

Saturday, January 8th, 7-10pm.

Framed Prints

2010-12-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

to be shown at Cactus Gallery (NELA) in the New Year:

machine sketches

2010-12-22T23:06:00.000-08:00

Fan Page/Christmas Promotion

2010-11-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Identify this painting:
here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diana-Kohne/172980166053300
to received a hand-pressed print:

Machine 4-2

2010-11-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Machine 4-1

2010-11-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight! 11/11 @

2010-11-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

55 Degree Wine (3111 Glendale Blvd) from 7:30 till 11pm.

landscape print

2010-10-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

machine print 4z

2010-09-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

Machine print 4a

2010-09-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

etching- female on underground with ipod, book

2010-09-11T00:52:00.000-07:00

Machine Woodcut

2010-09-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Machine prints on paper w/ different treatments

2010-09-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

1a ink & wash

1b ink

1c ink & acrylic

1d ink & neocolor

1g ink & gouache

Circa Show

2010-08-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Curator and participating artist for...

new machine painting

2010-06-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Diana Kohne Open Studio at SFAC Art Walk

2010-05-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Drawing Machines displayed as sculptures.
Machine Paintings are situated where they are found in life.

Mandoll

Figure paintings on display

2010-05-14T20:43:00.001-07:00

As background for the all female comedy night and thru May at the Daydream Republic.

Next show: Machines and Grown Up Toys at the Santa Fe Art Colony Art Walk (just south of Downtown) this Sunday (May 16), noon till 6pm. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117620514920588&ref=ts or http://www.santafeartcolony.com/

2/22 Drawing Club

2010-02-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

Drawing Club 10pm-1am

2010-02-25T14:37:00.001-08:00

at 1 am:

machine sketch

2009-12-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Metro moms

2009-12-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

Drawing Club

2009-12-10T21:18:00.001-08:00

Amsterdam coaster drawings

2009-09-23T11:54:00.001-07:00

machine 2-4

2009-08-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

machine 2-3

2009-07-16T11:12:00.001-07:00

Preparing for Pub Show

2009-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

machines 2-1 and 2-2

BFA Show Photos

2009-06-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

Posting will resume after move to England.

Photos thanks to Augie Cordero.

about art

2009-05-05T23:18:00.000-07:00

figure painting portrait

2009-04-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

machine 8

2009-04-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Another Machine

2009-04-24T23:02:00.001-07:00

another figure painting

2009-04-06T19:08:00.001-07:00

machine6

2009-03-31T23:35:00.001-07:00

painting in the dark

2009-03-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

"SAVE OUR COUNTRY YA'LL"

Man Doll is at the Hybrid Forms show in the Light Well Gallery.

Toy Ball for Grown Ups, etc.

2009-03-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

(very heavy- exciting alternative to weight lifting.)

2009-03-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

machine and bar girl

2009-03-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

cat girl

2009-03-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

scrawling

2009-02-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

next machine

2009-02-21T21:46:00.001-08:00

drawing machines

2009-02-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Drawing Club January

2009-02-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

as seen on the drawing club blog.. http://www.thedrawingclub.com/blog/?m=200901

more old gags

2009-01-23T16:08:00.001-08:00

sorting and finding

2009-01-21T20:39:00.000-08:00

from 2003

Beginning the last Semester

2009-01-19T21:28:00.000-08:00

joe

from fall 08 sketchbook.

figure paining

2008-12-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

68" x 54"

bad dog jokes

2008-12-03T18:38:00.001-08:00

micro painting

2008-12-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

detail

14" x 8.5" on wood

ehn

Corel Phantom

2008-11-25T19:08:00.001-08:00

contemporary kid

2008-11-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

end of semester

2008-11-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

I got nothin.

old comic. For Liz.

2008-10-31T14:24:00.001-07:00

cat cut out

2008-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Oct 21

2008-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

cute ness monster

2008-10-16T14:00:00.001-07:00

fig paint 2

2008-10-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Chihuahua part 1

2008-10-04T17:41:00.001-07:00

68" x 5?" figure painting

2008-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

rag on table obstructs view

how to be an artist lecture

2008-09-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Diana Kohne on laying an egg

2008-09-17T13:56:00.002-07:00

DianaKohne.com has been linked on the 99 Cent Chef Blog.

Greenhouse with Li

2008-09-05T23:57:00.001-07:00

DKSF

2008-09-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

plane

Oakland

amor

2008-08-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

figure painting exercise

2008-08-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

jazz night w/ Li Fan

2008-08-26T11:19:00.001-07:00

portrait of the artist by Mr. Li Fan

Li Fan