whitespace artists Laura Bell & Matt Haffner recently unveiled a new mural as part of the 2013 Living Walls Conference. The duo were asked to paint an abandoned building in the Summerhill neighborhood of Atlanta, just blocks from Turner Field. Living Walls, the nonprofit arts group that brings street artists from around the world to the city of Atlanta, was asked to paint 10 walls in the Summerhill area. Buildings along Georgia Avenue have now been transformed into brightly colored murals thanks to Laura, Matt and the rest of the Living Walls artists.

'The Collector' by Laura Bell & Matt Haffner. Photo by Dustin Chambers

Matt and Laura explain the concept for their mural:

“The mural proposed for the buildings at the corner of Georgia Ave. and Reed St. in the Summerhill Neighborhood of Atlanta is titled The Collector. With The Collector, Haffner and Bell create a work that depicts the figure in an urban landscape, but with proliferation of flora and fauna, examines the complex relationship between the chaos of natural forms and human desire to structure and order that chaos. The mural depicts a crouching man surrounded by colorful flora and fauna, reaching into a tiny doorway in the wall, extending his hand to an elusive insect, just beyond his grasp. This piece neatly marries the styles of these two differing artist; one being figurative and narrative the other being semi-abstract and intuitive, to make a piece that visually engages the community and visitors to the Turner Field area.”

Check out the mural in person at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Reed Street, and see more of Laura & Matt’s latest mural in this article on Huffington Post.

We want to thank every one who came out for Short Shorts last night!  We so appreciate your enthusiasm, your endurance your support for whitespace and one another, and, of course, your patience with our technical difficulties!  We hope to make Short Shorts an annual series of summer screenings to offer artists a platform to showcase all types of short film and video artwork in front of an audience, and viewers a night of fun and exposure to an eclectic array of film and digital media.  And thank you to Cathead Vodka for sponsoring the event and keeping everyone hydrated with delicious hibiscus cocktails.  And now, for the winner…!

The votes have been tallied and Brett Falcon and Tommy Taylor are the winners of a small cash prize for their piece, “Baba Yaga.”  Other honorable mentions include Deborah Sosower, Karley Sullivan, Rose Baron, Steve Snell, Neil Fried, Paige Adair, Jonathan Bouknight, Martin Barshai, and Martha Whittington.  Again, we  thank every one for their submissions and we look forward to seeing your submissions next year!

Rose Barron "The Annunciation"

If the art markets are any indication, interest in Renaissance, Baroque and Old Master painting has spiked again.  With record-breaking auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, its clear that collectors and dealers alike are betting on these works as appreciative investments, despite their age and content.  In addition to this market resurgence, more and more contemporary artists are looking back several centuries for inspiration. David LaChapelle, Kehinde Wiley, and Pierre et Giles have all reinterpreted iconic religious imagery in their sometimes controversial work; and, in whitespec at whitespace Rose M Barron’s “Multitude of Madonnas” similarly examines and reinterprets classical religious art, with a focus on the Virgin Mary.  We asked Rose to tell us more about her work and the particular influences for a few of the pieces in this series: Continue reading →