Nemo Soda draws us into a fairy tale world where the inhabitants are twisted, sickly and strange…
The fine-lined detail is out of this world, nearly dizzying, inviting us to look closer…and closer still.
These drawings contain worlds within worlds. I let my eyes wander over them slowly, delighting in the tiny surprises that eluded me at first glance.
I’m going to let a quote from Kelly Denato’s artist bio speak for her work, since I love the way the writer phrases the elusive emotions in these pieces.
What inspires Denato is the beauty of optimism, and its inherent tragedy, just before disappointment. Her paintings, which are marked by darkness as well as gleeful exuberance, are emotional expressions of this elusive pursuit for meaning and the simultaneity of ill-fated happiness.
Denato’s painting technique is characterized by meticulous and tiny strokes layered on a textured background. Her colors are glistening and candy-like, often lifting her characters out of darkness as if they have been carved by lacerating colors.
Her genius is her ability richly layer paint while still employing economy in the use of her line, maintaining an empathetic sense of gesture. Her characters are often floating and tangled, drawn with a masterfully delicate illustrator’s hand and an eye for the whimsically sardonic.
Peter Ferguson has been a successful commercial artist with many high profile companies on his resume. But his online portfolio shows a darker side of his work (literally and figuratively).
This animal’s pose…too wonderful…I can’t.
These surreal vignettes remind me of Northern Renaissance art…with a postmodern twist.
One almost has to strain the eyes to fully make out the complex images within Ferguson’s warm, muted tones. And then there are the sea creatures…droves of random sea creatures.
Today I bring you Amalia K’s big-eyed girls.
They are often sweet…
And sometimes they reflect a subtle sadness.
Others appear empowered through strength and gentleness.
From astronomy to architecture, Nick Swan’s paintings create senses of fear, wonder, unease, loneliness, isolation, stability and beauty.
Many of them look like watercolor, but are actually acrylic and oil.
I love this one so much…staring into the light from darkness.
Unfortunately, I’m running out of image space in my blog storage so I can’t post these full size. They’re very much worth looking at in full resolution because Brian Demers is a cross hatching virtuoso.
It’s hard to tell at this size, but these pieces are made pretty much entirely of tiny delicate line strokes.
Regarding his work, Demers states: “I work in ink because there is no going back; once the stroke has been laid, it is permanent…much like decisions in life. My work is very personal, and explores themes of alienation and absurdity. I’m a very solitary person, and utilize art to attempt to understand the strangeness of the world that I see around me.”
Huh…it never occurred to me to think of pencil as particularly non-committal in art, but he does have a point about pens.
See more, and the full size images here.
Another great show opens at Haven Gallery tonight!
From the show description:
The art of music has spanned centuries and served a number of purposes throughout time. The power of music can be both a unifying force as well as one of individual solace. In other cases, it can also be one of discord or even anguish.
The ability for expression through sound has proven to serve a variety of purposes; inspiration, comfort, pain and bringing people together. In “Music Box”, artists look to a lyric, song title, band name, etc., to influence them for the creation of their artwork.
The intertwining of music with the artist’s medium will be contemplated and embraced. The creative expression of music and how it relates to the artist’s technique, medium, mentality and/or subject on an emotional and physical level will also be considered.
Stop by in person from 6-8pm, or see the show online HERE.
Pangea Seed and 1xRun teamed up to create Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans.
The goal of the project is to gather the world’s greatest street artists to help raise money and further awareness of environmental issues through art.
The talent in this series is staggering. There are some truly captivating murals.
See many more at the Source
I purposely made mention of these works being photorealistic rather than actual photographs in the title of this post, because there’s absolutely no way I would have been able to tell the difference.
Dirk Dzimirsky is one of the most phenomenal photorealism/hyperrealism artists I’ve ever seen. Those featured here are charcoal/graphite, but he paints just as well.
SheWalksSoftly 