For the past six months I’ve been working on a series of models depicting the war in Ukraine for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which commissioned the works to help raise awareness about this terrible conflict. Based on photographs taken by Howard Buffett on his many trips to the country, the models I’ve created seek to document the reality of the war. Depicted here is an apartment building in Borodyanka, a town 60 km west of Kyiv, that was destroyed by the Russian army three years ago next week. The last image in the series was taken by Howard Buffett.
With an emphasis on combatting food insecurity and conflict mitigation, the Foundation scaled up its support for the people of Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 through food assistance and resources for internally displaced persons; donations of farm equipment and agricultural assistance for small-scale producers; purchases of Ukrainian grain for developing nations where food insecurity has been exacerbated by the conflict; support for investigation and documentation of war crimes and crimes against humanity; and multiple other forms of support.
I stand with the people of Ukraine and continue to support their heroic resistance in the face of Russian aggression.
#ukraine #borodyanka #war #howardgbuffettfoundation #miniature
Over 10 years ago I illustrated an essay about Vladimir and Vera Nabokov written by my wife @laurenacampora . Vladimir was a famous butterfly-collecting obsessive, and along with being his amanuensis, Vera would hold a pistol to ward off snakes on their collection walks.
Published in "The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History," it was among a delightful series of illustrated pieces about the unsung collaborators in art, science, etc. @juliarothman , @fromcover.tocover , and @mattlamothedraws gathered a great group of writers and artists, all kicked off with an introduction by the fantastic @kurtbandersen .
A shout out to @suusgroenleer , an undergrad student from the Netherlands, who interned in my studio that summer and helped me make miniature butterflies.
“Opt in,” from my series “Clear History.” Illustrating the myths and cautionary tales your children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children will tell *their* children.
Art classes meant everything to me as a child. I was so happy to get to talk to students at the @hackley.school about the works in my exhibition “Clear history,” on view now in the gallery in the school’s Allen Center for the Creative Arts and Technology. An artist’s life in the studio can be a solitary endeavor, and having the chance to see young people sketch, react, and respond to your ideas is such a rare and special thing.
#hackleyschool #gallery #artseducation
Another piece I created for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which commissioned the works to help raise awareness about the conflict in Ukraine. Based on photographs taken by Howard Buffett on his many trips to the country, this model features a series of homes and farm buildings that were damaged or destroyed by Russian forces in the village of Kamianka, in eastern Ukraine. Howard Buffett encountered many residents repairing their homes with discarded Russia ammunition crates, and these buildings were no exception.
This village has been fought over before; a New York Times piece from September 2023 detailed how tractors still churn up WWII-era German and Soviet shell casings.
#ukraine #kamianka #war #howardgbuffettfoundation #miniature
Flashback to 2014, when my parents opened Time Magazine and found this little promo for "Big Art/Small Art", a great survey of scale in artwork by @tristan_manco . Sometimes you put work into the world and it pops up in unexpected places.
