Welcome to the very first edition of Tangmonkey's brand new art column. It is to include art of all kinds, from paintings to music to poetry to short stories to websites to digital art. Most importanly, it's made possible by you, the delighfully clever tangmonkey readers. If you want to submit a piece of art, whatever it may be, send an email to ink@tangmonkey.com. I'm open to pretty much anything so go ahead and try to surprise me, and please provide a description.


By Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet
This is the large version of the column logo, done in Photoshop by myself.


By Emily Cook
More of Emily's work can be viewed at www.citrusartcollective.com.


By Nathan McDavitt-Van Fleet
See more of Nathan's art at www.pbllt.com/nathan.


By Steph Avery

Mirror dress: skeleton of a regular dress. Covered with pieces of broken mirror.

In the words of the artist:
This piece is about the extent people will go to to be beautiful. In our world of fast food, bad sitcoms, over-consumption, and mass superficiality, the media and pop-culture promote the idea that it is more important to be beautiful on the outside than on the inside - especially for women. Thanks to that idea, many women seem to have come to believe that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty. Now many women will do just about anything to maintain their outer beauty. From push-up bras and high heels to plastic surgeory and liposuction, some women will do anything if it's fashionable and will make them seem more beautiful.

This dress and its accessories, though wearable, are slightly less than safe and convenient. Yet if similar pieces were displayed in Cosmo magazine or GAP window displays, women would be lining up to set aside the physical dangers for the illusion of being trendy and beautiful. It happens regularly with many other beauty products, though their dangers are more often long term than short term. For example, high heels, if worn regularly, can lead to serious spinal problems. Aluminum, found in most deodorants, are cancer causing. Hopefully the immediate dangers seen in the dress will make people consider the long term dangers of the beauty products they use regularly.

The idea is for people to see their reflections in the dress and associate their shattered images with the world I am criticizing. It is a world that we are all a part of, no matter how much we claim to disagree with it. It is important the we become consciously aware of the messages that the media and pop culture are imposing on us. I'm not saying that it's wrong to be trendy, so long as we remember that there is more to life then how we look on the outside.

It took me two months to make, working approximately two hours a day on it. It's made out of shattered pieces of mirror skillfully put together to look like each piece was meant to go in it's location to form a larger mosaic. I skillfully broke the mirrors by placing them carefully in a plastic bag and smashing them with a hammer (that was my favourite part).

More of Steph's work can be viewed at www.citrusartcollective.com.