These pieces by Jil Weinstock made an immediate impression on me, very few art pieces achieve that. What I find so brilliant about them is how she has taken a banal everyday object, like balloons and turned it into something elegant and sophisticated. To back up the previous declarative sentence I really must say pictures do not do them justice, they are much more powerful in person- not to belittle her talent in anyway.
I always think artists are more interesting when I find out they have a Bachelor in a completely unrelated field and end up as career artists. She majored in physics at UC Berkeley, I really see the connection in her work. The art dealer Walter Maciel mentioned a few times that they're molded in plastic. Side note- Walter must be the most handsome, friendly, down to earth art dealer in LA, his husband is a very lucky man. And for all the Latinos who visit his gallery- he's Portuguese not Mexican, so he won't understand you if you speak to him in spanish.
What also comes to mind when looking at these pieces, as a fabricator myself, is the boldness of what objects she is using. High art does have a mold of what it should look like aesthetically speaking. Developing as an artist from a young age I remember experiencing an anxiety over what was appropriate subject matter to put in an art piece and still have it look like it could be in a gallery. I remember steering away from cats or dogs because I thought it wouldn't fit the mold of what high art should look like. I've heard other established artists struggle with this also. And I always have a lot of respect for artists when I see boldness in the art. I really want my art to look bold and have a pungent beauty. I would love to be an acquired taste. Somedays I think I am already if you know what I mean. Sometimes I do something bold in the hopes that it will somehow come across in my art work- like a simple drawing of a chair or hands. I've had this weird conviction/theory for a while now. I liken it to the odd way people can have mannerisms or facial expressions that give away who they really are, i.e. every creepy looking guy always looks creepy for a very valid reason. Okaaaaay.
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