Alise Spinella at SVA open studios

installation view

detail

Hydrangea, 2007
found objects, oil on canvas, acrylic and gold leaf on wall
50 × 58 inches

Love Machine Prototype, Airborne, 2006
acrylic and paper on canvas
24 × 24 inches

Here is more work I spotted and liked last week at the SVA open studios for the Summer Art Residency program.

The artist's website tells us a bit more about the work.

My artwork depicts organic machinery and hand-crafted nature: tree machines, emotion machines, and sea kites, or byproducts such as factory-generated insects and sunlight circuitry. I think about the meaning of hand-made, machine-made, and nature-made, and I create a world in which all three categories can define a single object. In each case, the mechanism almost works properly. I'm interested in the poignancy of this pure, unattainable goal being earnestly (and naively) sought. I paint about fragility and hope.

The most recent painting series is entitled Love Machine Prototypes. Each is a single scenario from an otherworldly marketing experiment in which the Love Machine Prototype is tested. It is mostly learning how to walk.