Mary Ellen Croteau Creates a Self Portrait with Thousands of Plastic Bottle Caps.

above: detail from CLOSE, a self-portrait of Mary Ellen Croteau made with plastic bottle caps

There seem to be an endless number of talented artists creating portraits using assemblages of unexpected items; licorice, junk, toys, pills, pencils, diamonds, pushpins and more. I have already featured nine different artists who create portraits from such items unusual work on this blog and now I'm introducing you to a tenth, Mary Ellen Croteau.

(click on each image below to see posts on each of these nine artists):



above: Top row. l to r: Bernard Pras' portrait of Bruce Lee, Zac Freeman's portrait of Garrett, Scott Blake's self portrait. Middle row, l to r: Jason Mercer's portrait of Kim Kardashian made with licorice vines, Christian Faur's portrait made of crayons, a diamond and sapphire gemstone portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Bottom row, l to r: Federico Uribe's portrait of a tiger made with pencils, Charles Manson made of rubik's cubes, and Eric Daigh's pushpin portrait.

Mary Ellen Croteau had been working with plastic bottle caps to create columnar sculptures, but while crafting these, she became compelled to create a large self-portrait with them.



She describes this inspiration below:
"Plastic bottle caps - like bags, a plastic product that can’t be/ isn’t recycled. I conceived of an “endless column” of these caps, after Constantin Brancussi’s (sic) iconic modernist sculpture. One became two, and two became many...:



...While making these columns, I noticed the smaller caps tended to nest inside one another, and the color combinations reminded me of Chuck Close’s painted portraits. So I got sidetracked and started on a large self-portrait made entirely of bottle caps. The piece measures 8 feet by 7 feet. No paint is used, except to delineate a few shadows where white board was showing through. In a few cases, the caps are trimmed in order to fit a tight space." - Mary Ellen Croteau



close-up of the nose:

close up of eye in progress:


The final assembled piece displayed for Art on Armitage:


Mary Ellen Croteau is an artist whose work directly addresses the absurdities of social norms, and lays bare the underlying bias and sexist assumptions on which our culture is constructed.
She lives and works in Chicago, IL.

See more of her unusual art here.

a shout out to This Is Colossal for bringing Mary's work to my attention

RÖKK Out With The Lonely Island. Andy Samberg & Friends Promote Swedish Vodka.

The Lonely Island is that hilarious musical trio consisting of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. The emmy-winning songwriters and performers have been making videos together since 2000 and have appeared on The Emmys and in many SNL digital shorts.



Known to bring slap-stick comedy and pizzazz to any performance, the guys have embarked on their first role as Creative Directors behind the new Swedish vodka – RÖKK. The trio is responsible for the brand’s consumer engagement, which includes creating digital material to market the brand and help introduce RÖKK, the premium priced, freeze filtered vodka.



Below are the videos they've created for the RÖKK Vodka brand.

THE DREAM:


THE DIRECTOR'S CUT:


BEHIND THE SCENES OF "EVERYBODY LIKES ME":


About RÖKK Vodka:


THE RÖKK RUNESTONE
(Swedish: Rökstenen) is the most famous runestone in Sweden, featuring the longest known runic inscription. It is considered the first piece of written Swedish Literature and therefore marks the beginning of recorded history in Sweden.

PURE SWEDISH SPRING WATER
RÖKK is made with clean water from glacial sources in Kalby, Sweden - the picturesque countryside five hours west of Stockholm. The spring is adjacent to the distillery and is renowned for its ultra-crisp, clean water.

FREEZE FILTRATION
After distillation, RÖKK Vodka is brought to sub-zero temperatures and then filtered through frozen charcoal to remove impurities that cannot be removed using traditional filtration processes.

Freeze Filtration raises the PH levels, reducing acidity, and giving RÖKK its unmistakable smoothness. (RÖKK is the only premium Nordic vodka that is freeze-filtered for exceptional smoothness.)

Burlesque, Brooklyn, Roller Derby and Realism. The Paintings of Curt Hoppe.

above: Dottie's Birthday, oil on linen,64" x 56"

With a keen eye for composition, a deft hand for realism, and an inherent knack for finding interesting subject matter, painter Curt Hoppe immortalizes his surroundings, people and objects in an impressive and aesthetically captivating style with acrylic and oil paints on canvas and linen.

Hot Copy:

The Hustler, Money Shot:

Sunbather:


Born and raised in Minnesota, the 61 year old New York based painter is also a talented photographer and sculptor. Citing pop culture, Madison Avenue and politics and some of his influences, he is moved by his obsession at the moment and his environment.*


above left: the artist sits under a painting of his in Sam's Restaurant, East Hampton and above right; striking a pose (on the far left) under the John Jovino Gun store in 1975

Roller Derby Queens, the Hamptons, Burlesque, the Punk music scene, New York restaurants and portraits are amongst his intriguing repertoire. Here are just a few of my favorite paintings of his.

John Gotti on Mulberry Street:

Luna Restuarant, Mulberry Street, New York

Yonak Shimmel Knish Bakery, New York:

Sip n' Soda, South Hampton:

John Jovino, Firearms on Baxter Street:

Grotta Azzura, Little Italy:

Dottie:

Coney Island Fire Eater:

Baby Ruthless:

Lux Alptram (aka Joey Hardcore XXX) Gotham Girl Queens of Pain:

Sugar Smack Gotham Girls:

Suzy Hot Rod Changes Wheels:

Suzy Hotrod:

Italian American:

Eye Opener:

You Wish:

Lou's Game:

High Heels:

High Heels (in Curt's studio):

Gal Friday in Curt's studio:


Recent work of Curt's shows the subjects standing in front of their portraits:

above: Clayton Patterson, acrylic on canvas 96" x 70", 2010-11 / Arturo Vega, acrylic on canvas 96" x 70", 2010 / Kurt Thometz, acrylic on Canvas 96" x 70", 2011




* 2007 interview with Curt Hoppe

A recent interview with Curt Hoppe:


all paintings and images were used with the express permission of the artist, please do not reproduce - but feel free to share the link!

Curt Hoppe
98 Bowery 4th Fl.
New York, NY 10013