Art, Not For The Feint Of Heart

So, in October I took off time from work due to my sons and my own medical conditions, it seemed like it could be a great time of productivity and yet, the stress of the situation catapulted me into a rut.  Life continues to throw curve balls and I'm running all over the place trying to figure out where they landed when I can't catch them.
I've done some interesting work lately which I consider Art, not for the feint of heart as it's very emotionally charged and explores themes such as mental imprisonment, isolation, mental health challenges and the tightrope walk between strength and defeat.  Examples to follow...  Hopefully I will be able to continue to work with the shadow self to create art that heals and allows me to recognize my emotions in a safe place, emotions that are universal.  I hope that you can find some comfort, solace, interest or at least relate to some of the works.  As always feedback is appreciated.  Some of this work will be featured in the three person art show that I will be participating in at Venti's Cafe & Basement Bar beginning next month.  Check out www.boxedin.weebly.com for dates and details.


Poetry In Pictures

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When I was younger, my sons age, I had a voracious appetite for poetry, I read it, I wrote it - everywhere - from toilet paper rolls to bathroom walls to the desks in study hall... Tinging the world with this darkness that welled up inside of me.  I would fall asleep with a pen in my clutches and leave ink stains on everything.  Life revolved around words.  I also took pictures, my friends and I in the cemetery or posing dramatically on a bus seat on the back deck, standing amidst the trees on the top of the big hill on the right side of the tracks, It would be many years before I realized that poetry and photographs could be one, or incorporate both elements to tell a story.  The above was pulled from my ransom note brush set that I created for PS.  I chose instinctively the various lines.  The textures darkening the image are the bottom of an old worn shoe that was pulled from the bins at the Goodwill Outlet as a wardrobe element for the perfect pair of feet when the right shoot arose, but when it tipped on it's side I saw something more than pretty black velvet with delicate blushing scallops and a kitten heel, I saw that these shoes had taken someone somewhere in their life and then been cast aside.  Perhaps that was part of the story, the inspiration in this piece, although written from a male perspective.  The photos in the series below are a sometimes less obvious manifestation of my love of poetry.  They are not all my stories, or even true stories, they are an emotion, a moment pulled in time, metaphors and a diatribe on loneliness, isolation, our societal woes, but sometimes tinged with hope, and always the shadow presents itself, but without light it wouldn't exist at all. 

11/19/2010: Exercising my creativity through imagery.

Had a fun shoot yesterday, gorgeous subject with a fun attitude made for some amazing shots, this is my favorite...

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K.B. Novemer 14, 2010

November 13, 2010
Getting inspired by my own past... present... future...

November 10, 2010
Slowly amassing a series of handmade art photography card & envelope sets

November 4, 2010
Cooking dinner improv style and getting ready to start cutting handmade envelopes for photo greeting cards!!!

Dissociation Series, now accepting local applicants to model for this ongoing exploration of self, out of context and distorted.

Select photographs will soon be available for purchase on Etsy, please contact me if you are interested in a particular piece not currently listed.
Shelby Koning * 503-883-3214 * Contact Koning Arts by E-Mail * Facebook