Lyn Bishop : Sharing Secrets

My art explorations in New Mexico are at an end, but before I fly out I’m able to visit the Tamarind Institute at the University of New Mexico. Tucked into an unassuming stucco building on Cornell Drive SE in Albuquerque, Tamarind has focused on restoring the art of lithography in the United States. It was established as a result of June Wayne’s visionary proposal submitted to the Ford Foundation in 1959.

Tamarind is dedicated to traditional lithography, a planographic process that depends upon the mutual repulsion of grease and water on a heavy slab of limestone. Once the artist has finished drawing with the greasy black pigments upon the limestone slab, an artisan printer takes over and chemically treats the stones to stabilize the image for printing. (more…)

I try to take at least a day a month to get out of the studio and see other art. It’s inspiring, and I often return to the studio with new ideas or solutions for work that I am in process with. For months now, I have been trying to plan a weekday gallery walk in San Francisco’s SOMA district. Finally, I made it happen, and had a very enjoyable art date with myself in the process.

Taking the train to San Francisco is easy, and with increasing gas prices and parking fees, it makes a lot of sense. There are many galleries within a walking distance of the Caltrains station, so I set off on foot to explore.
(more…)

The Los Angeles Times reports a lawsuit filed against the temporary Louis Vuitton boutique created to sell Takashi Murakami products in the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art. According to the Times, the Vuitton luxury shop failed to provide the collector with the proper documentation in the form of a Certificate of Authenticity for the the Murakami prints he purchased there.

Do you know what a Certificate of Authenticity is? Did you know that it is required by law to be provided upon collector request when purchasing a multiple in the State of California? Why should you care?

A Certificate of Authenticity, as defined by California Civil Code Section 1740-1745 is a written or printed description of the multiple sold, exchanged, or consigned by an art dealer.

A Multiple, as defined by this same California Civil Code is any fine print, photograph (positive or negative), sculpture cast, collage, or similar art object produced in more than one copy.

(more…)

This is the question I find myself asking recently as more and more curators and gallery directors are choosing to exhibit controversial and shocking art that involves the death of living beings at the hands of the artists they represent.

Let me be clear, I do believe that the artist has a role to play in holding up a mirror for society to study their own, often hypocritical and cynical, behavior in relationship to the darker sides of humanity. I also acknowledge that artists have a long history of using dead animals in their work. However, I draw the line when artists and curators exploit the killing and torture of animals for the publics’ entertainment and for their own profit and fame. (more…)

This month I delivered a special commission to new patrons. The work, Tides of Life, is a collaboration between collector and artist, with the collector providing basic materials and initial inspiration for the direction of the work. Together with original photographs from both the collector and my own collection, I created an image that speaks to the meaning of the Meoto-iwa, or Wedded Rocks of Futamigaura, and celebrates long-lasting love.

The two rocks of Meoto-iwa are considered male and female, and are named Izanagi and Izanami and represent the primal couple in Japanese traditional history. According to legend, it is from this couple that all the Japanese islands were formed.

The rocks are also deemed husband and wife, and are joined in matrimony by sacred ropes called shimenawa, made from braided rice stalks. The ropes weigh almost a tonne alone, and are replaced yearly in a special ceremony.

Below are photographs documenting the creative process. The work is 23”x43” and printed on hand prepared luminescent paper. This was my first large print using the new Golden Digital Grounds (Clear Gloss).
(more…)