Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fun with bunnies and Debbie Carlos

Debbie Carlos was born in LA, before moving to Manila. She then moved to Massachusetts and is now living in Chicago. Although she first went to school for Psychology at Clark University, a few years after graduating she decided to go back to study Photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This is where she also learned things like embroidery and architectural history, both of which are things she never thought she'd be interested in, but ended up loving.


Debbie is currently selling her photography on Etsy and it's an area that I have seen growing... the over-sized poster / print market. I love the large-scale prints she’s offering in her Etsy shop . One of my favorites is the large-scale bunny and flower posters.  Artwork is a great way to make a statement in a room, no matter how large or small the room is. Adding an over-sized piece is a great way to add drama and she has some great pieces to do just that!




In addition to her Etsy shop, for her BFA show at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Debbie created a poster of some of her recent work that people could take with them - acting as a calling card but also as a piece they could bring home. The poster was designed so that the viewer could fold it and staple it into a book (Instructions were included) though it was designed to function as both poster or book.  What a great idea!




A series that Debbie also did and one of my favorites is called Human Nature. She explains that "the first time I took pictures of the animal displays at Chicago’s Field Museum, I did so purely out of interest in animals. Framing my photos so as to imitate nature photography seemed natural in an environment where the animals, long dead, are themselves placed and positioned in scenes that recreate their habitats. Once I developed my negatives, the significance of the human world, science, and ownership seemed all of a sudden very apparent in the life-like death of the creatures on display". The murky quality of the lighting and the dark desaturated tones of the exhibits, convey a sensuality and romanticism at odds with the sense of stagnant death that lingers in the cracked skin of 100-year-old taxidermied animals and birds strung up as though in flight with fishing line. Inside the museum, nature is labeled, classified, and static, turned into an object of knowledge. These photos attempt to capture the mystery and romance of this very pursuit—the sincerity of the scientific endeavor, the pathos of its visible failure, and the beauty of the attempt.

To find out more about Debbie Carlos or purchase her work, please visit

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