This arrived in my feedreader after the show was over, but what a great review. That the first image in the article is of Iggy Pop is an icing on the cake.

Robert Mapplethorpe – Iggy Pop, 1981 Gelatin-silver print 14″ x 17 5/8″

The show itself was wonderful.

ARTSHIFT San Jose » Blog Archive » Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits

San Jose Museum of Art still have two short videos on their web site about Robert Mapplethorne and his portraits in case you missed the show.

It was meant as a source of inspiration for designers, but the collection can do good to any person.

Mix Collection of 99 Brilliant Photographs to Refresh Your Mind

I am a big fan of Linda’s art and have to say that her every series of photos have a meaning to me, but this one is very special. These images have an eery (in a good way) feeling to them, with details disappearing as if in the dusk, sky looking like it is going to snow heavily any time, and silhouettes that leave a lot to imagination.

Linda Plaisted – Dark Horse

Linda Plaisted – Winter 2011

A nice list of links to collections of minimalist photography: Minimalist Art Photography.

Pacific Art League has a photography only exhibition this month – Photography Today.

What caught my eye was all black and white photographs: Remnant by Bill Moy, Parched Earth 1 and Parched Earth 2 by Meggi Raeder, and Brothers Play Go by Hiroshi Suzuki. Couldn’t find the last photo anywhere online.

On a photography-related note, Modernbook Gallery left Palo Alto for San Francisco. When I saw their place closed and disarranged I thought they were gone for good. Apparently all is not lost, but it’s sad to see that the Palo Alto Art Walk got shorter.

I am partial to black and white photography in general, and can drop everything to go see more of it when it’s really good. Ragnar Axelsson’s photographs easily fit into the “really good” category. So many wonderful photos!

Someone mentioned Ragnar’s work to me and shared a link to his gallery. It turned out to be a whole world of images like no others. Just look at these stunning photographs!

Sadly, the web site had almost no information on the photographer himself, and it took some googling to learn about the man behind the camera:

PhotoBards.com – interview with Ragnar Axelsson
Showcase: Black and Very White

We went to the Stone Griffin Gallery in Campbell to see what Julie Kitzenberger had there. I really like her photography. Apparently, the gallery moved across the street since last time we were there and is now a much smaller place. It’s a bit crowded too, with a stack (or stacks?) of paintings by the right wall. Julie’s photos on canvases were placed nicely and prominently on a separate panel in the middle of the room. Good for her! My favorites from the gallery:

Another artist whose work caught my attention was Don Dahlke – a series of open windows with fretted tropical tree shadows. His paintings have a convincing three-dimensional quality, to the point that I wanted to look inside the windows and see what’s hiding there. And then there were shadows that looked like they were about to move in a gentle breeze. Very nice effect:

In the front window, there were several really tiny canvases on miniature black wooden easels. They were maybe 3″ x 5″; I don’t remember the name of the artist. Those canvases got me thinking: would it be possible to draw on a primed canvas with colored pencils? If the canvas is small, it probably would not sag under the pressure… Need to try that.

This weekend was the first time that Slava and me participated in SVOS as artists. Slava was at the Great American Framing Co & Gallery in Palo Alto (why or why don’t they have a website?), and I was at the courtyard of the Community School of Music and Arts along with Kathy Sartain, Marsha Sims, Cathy Zander, Kushlani Hall, and others. Apparently, Kushlani is in KALEID too – need to find her display there next time I go change my artworks.

When we were getting familiar with the place a couple of weeks ago, Kathy Zander said that Mother Nature always knows when there is going to be an art show and turns the wind on. It was very windy then, but this weekend Mother Nature decided to be creative and added rain to it. We were setting up under the drizzle and occasional big drops, with a wind gust here and there. Nothing too bad, but not exactly a weather that makes people want to go outside to see some art.

Still, we had quite a few guests, some with kids who were going to or from CSMA classes. Many of those kids love horses (yes, they are girls mostly, but there were two boys too). Kushlani’s daughter is a horse person herself, and she and her brother draw. Lucky Kushlani. My kids don’t touch art stuff at all.

Kids are hilarious. Watching them and just enjoying it was one of the best parts of the show. One boy was shouting today after all wondering around the courtyard, “What? Are we leaving already?!!” Another one discussed drawing horses with me – I think he was about 8 or 9. Very serious, no smiles.

I finally got to see what Kathy Sartain does – it’s glass mosaics, very beautiful. Marsha Sims’ photographs are great, especially the double rainbow and the rock sliding in your face (well, it gives that feeling that it keeps sliding towards you because of the tracks behind and the angle of the shot – absolutely awesome).

Kushlani painted her daughter from a photo today – a light figure walking into the darkness. She didn’t have time to finish it of course, but I really liked how it was turning out. And she had some kid for a company half of the time. She is doing oil, oil pastel, encaustic art, pretty jewelry, and she’s pretty good at all of it.

All I mastered when there were no visitors in the booth or around was 1.5 sketches. I can’t draw and converse at the same time.

Smashing Magazine presents a “mixed bag” of some truly outstanding photos and images, created by talented photographers and designers across the globe:

35 (Really) Stunning Photos and Pictures