In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

The lost art of the mix tape: a simple piece of plastic slid into a pocket or delivered in an envelope, each song on it deeply personal – a promise of heartbreak or love, anger or joy. When fit together like the pieces of a puzzle, the music creates a stream of consciousness, a Rorschach experience with each individual’s reaction completely unique. It’s this experience that Dark Dark Science recreates with MIXTAPE, an interactive journey through the minds of twenty-four acclaimed fine artists. LA MiXTAPE documents the effect of music on the process of creation, asking each participating artist to create a piece titled after a song, artist, or band that has inspired or influenced his/her creative process. Curators Jessicka Addams and Brian Wakil have arranged the selections into a single dialogue between 24 fine artists and their musical muses, and in turn a conversation has been created between the artists themselves about the relationship between their art and music.Tara McPherson is an American contemporary artist exploring concepts surrounding the human condition. With a focus on powerful female archetypes, her otherworldly characters hold a compelling tension in their gaze. Inspired by astrophysics, nature, mythology, comics, music, love, loss, and good old life experience. Her portraits delve into the realms of our psychological states, giving us a peek into the complexities of the human psyche. She has exhibited her paintings and serigraphs internationally in galleries and museums. Named the crown princess of poster art by ELLE Magazine, she has created numerous music posters for bands such as Beck, The Pixies, and Metallica. She has worked with Sony Pictures Animation doing character designs & creative development for an animated feature production. Her array of art also includes a variety of designer toys with KidRobot, painted comic covers for DC Vertigo, advertising illustrations for Wyden+Kennedy, Barton F Graf, Publicis, and Bernstein Andrulli. She taught in the Illustration department at Parsons in NYC, and has done many painting workshops in museums and universities worldwide. In 2011 Tara co-founded The Cotton Candy Machine gallery and art boutique with her partner Sean Leonard. The gallery ran from 2011 to 2016 in a former fire department in theAcrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, media, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting, or have its own unique characteristics not attainable with other media.