Cassandra Jones: Found Photographs Reborn

Good Cheer Wallpaper #1 (Click image for larger view)
2005 Archival digital prints on 24” wide rolls
Site specific installations from found snapshot images

Good Cheer Wallpaper #1 (pattern)
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Good Cheer Wallpaper #1
(Site Installation at Nathan Larramendy Gallery)

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Good Cheer Wallpaper #1
(Installation at San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art)



Rare Avis Wallpaper (Click any image for larger view)
2007 Archival digital prints on 24” wide rolls
Site specific installations from found snapshot images

Cassandra Jones says of this series: “Rara Avis is a series of works composed of found snapshot photographs of real pink flamingos that are discernibly reminiscent of their retro plastic counter-part, the lawn ornament. I have found that one of the most common snapshots taken of a wading flamingo, indeed, to be the profile of the bird’s long, soft, curved neck and down-bent bill. This particular collection of photographs led me to wonder, is it possible that an item of now historical kitsch might influence the picture taking of the real, live thing? After all, Americans are much more familiar with the nature of the stylized, florescent version, than the actual bird itself.”

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Rare Avis Series
Composition #4, 2007
Archival C-print made from found snapshot photographs
Ed. 2
Size 24” x 36”

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Rare Avis Series
Composition #4, 2007 (detail)
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Rare Avis Series
Composition #2, 2007
Archival C-print made from found snapshot photographs
Ed. 2
Size 24” x 36”



Rare Avis Series (detail)
Composition #2, 2007



INTERVIEW WITH CASSANDRA C. JONES BY XENI JARDIN FOR BoingBoing.




CASSANDRA JONES MAY BECOME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTISTS OF THE DECADE. Her artwork is intelligent and right for the times. Quite frankly, I have been waiting for an artist to come along who could find the right key to help define the massive proliferation of digital images there are floating amongst the internet. Cassandra Jones may be the one.

Take a sunset, for example. Jones asks: “does there really need to be another photograph taken of a sunset?” She’s exactly right. Don’t we have enough already? Jones quotes writer Susan Sontag who said, in effect, that “photographs of sunsets are cheesy because they have been photographed so many times.” How true. Cassandra Jones has taken the very subject of sunsets (please watch video) and extrapolated that to create a new interpretation of what it means to see “a sunset.”

Her Rare Avis series are equally compelling. These “invented” botanical specimens are created by using manipulated “found” images of pink flamingos, another kitsch symbol as trite as the sunsets she has used in the past.

You’ll see what I mean by all of this if you watch Cassandra’s video, which was done for the incredible web site BoingBoing.

Learn more about Cassandra C. Jones on her Web site here.

Chinese Artists and Their Studios

(Above) “Great Criticism, Coca-Cola, 1993” (top) and “Materialist,” 2003 - 2005, by Wang Guangyi; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.


(Above) “One Upon a Time in Broadway,” 2005, by Liu Ye; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.


(Above) “How to Become Marco Polo 2,” 2009, by Zhang Xiaogang; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.


(Above) “Ak-47 (H9) 300 degrees,” 2008, by Zhang Dali; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.


(Above) “Helsinki, Finland,” 2001, by Rong Rong & Inri; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.

(Above) “Inside and Outside the Stage,” 2009, by Yue Minjun; and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.

(Above) “Matador,” 2006, artist Chen Ke, artwork and studio. Images © Wallpaper. Click on image for larger view.


IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW, CHINESE ART IS HOT RIGHT NOW. There are some extraordinary contemporary artists emerging to the the world after years of obscurity. These artists are dealing with issues such as social and political freedoms, materialistic society, migrant workers, pop culture and many other things. It is rare to peer inside an artists studio—so when I discovered that photographer Gautier DeBlonde was sent by the on-line magazine Wallpaper to shoot their creative habitats—I thought it would be a great idea to share with you. One thing is for sure, there is no lack of spacious accommodations there—not by the looks of these photos. See more Chinese artists studios at Wallpaper.

Be sure and click on the studio images for a larger view.