Looking At...

Amy Wilson proposed a simple challenge to the artists who read her blog: As an artist, say who you're "looking at" right now. You can read the original post and the comments by CLICKING HERE.

Responding to the post, I wrote firstly that I was looking at the work of Danica Phelps who shows at Zach Feuer (LFL) Gallery.

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to work with Danica twice through the Summer Residency program in Painting and Mixed Media at SVA. I had already been acquainted with her art when we began working together. I had seen one of the shows she was in where she transformed the gallery into her living space and lived there in the gallery space. She lived there for a month with her partner, Debi and even her dog. Danica is an incredibly sensitive, intelligent, and aware artist who creates delicate autobiographical drawings and financially diaristic charts and graphs. As a mentor, she really focuses her energy on listening and letting you develop the answers. She never told me what to do, but instead allowed me to come to realize what I needed to do, and supported my decisions with constructive and helpful feedback.

Today, her book, Every Day Life, came in the mail! I was very excited to get it and have been looking through it non-stop as much as I can spare. (Mostly on the train because that's one of the only times that I have a bit of free time that's not already scheduled to death.) The title explains it all. The book chronicles the life of the artist through meticulous record-keeping, illustrated with drawings, collage charts, and essays from people familiar with Danica's work.

I ordered her other book as well, A Book of D's, but Amazon messed the order up and ended up sending me a book by Jules de Balincourt, who oddly enough also shows at Zach Feuer (LFL) Gallery.

Her work is definitely worthy of consideration.