Kris Lewis’s portraits are hauntingly beautiful depictions of emotional depth, fragility, and just the right amount anatomical distortion to lend a mysterious, surreal air.
I can’t help but feel slightly heartbroken when I look at the painting above.
Visit his site for more.
I’ve been marveling at this painting by Maureen Holden.
Cuteness Mania:
I love this multi-limbed, medusa-like amazon, spawning cuteness from the twisited tree limbs on her head, terrorizing onlookers (is she offering them a seat on that Victorian sofa beneath her?). I enjoy the fact that just as my brain tries to assemble a cohesive meaning in the painting, I fixate on another series of details and it all collapses.
You really have to see this way to (allegedly) “add stunning originality to your art collection”
Artist Chen Changwei breaks with tradition, reinventing the Chinese zodiac in a series of surrealist busts in the time-honored tradition of pâte de cristal.
“People Belong to Dog,” $12,250.00 (yes, you read that right)
And check out this Special Edition:
“People Belong to Elephant,” $76,500.00 (oh yes, you read THAT right too)
Are there actually people walking this earth who can throw down 76 and half thousand dollars for an elephant bust? Shouldn’t there be professionals to counsel these folks on better spending choices?
Andrew Huang is an artist, animator and director who makes rather impressive short films and music videos.
I just revisited “Doll Face;” a surrealist piece of anthropomorphic tragedy in which a robot struggles to attain a human physical ideal found on TV. Perhaps all young girls should view this short film as a cautionary tale.
The clips in Huang’s Art and Experimental section use film projection to lend life to inanimate sculpture (very cool visual illusions). Simple paper mache and yarn take on life.
I love the creeping branches that give way to…well, something you should see…in the end of All Remote & No Control. This video wonderfully defies time, space, nature and gravity, all with a perfectly apocalyptic color scheme.
Thanks so much for the reminder of Huang’s work, Matt!
I’d like to be a fly on the wall in Jiri Barta’s brain (albeit very briefly, for fear of losing my already tenuous grip on reality).
Okay, okay…so I’m actually a very grounded individual. But life hasn’t yet pummeled the imaginative dreamer out of me either.
Hence my love of Barta’s Labyrinth of Darkness; a collection of short stop-motion animation ranging from six to 55 minutes and encompassing many types of mixed media. Amazing diversity of material and style.
I particularly love “The Club of the Laid Off;” a portrayal of a decaying warehouse used as a dumping ground for unwanted dolls and mannequins…who come to life and engage in awkward acts of typical human debauchery. The chipped rotting faces, frozen in painted joy create a clumsy desperate scene.
Honestly, I speak only for myself when praising Barta, knowing full well that creepy surrealist stop-motion does not possess universal appeal. A high tolerance for the strange and unusual is necessary to love his films.
Martin Wittfooth’s surrealist paintings are nothing short of stunning. He has a penchant for plant and animal chimeras, and a tendency to juxtapose nature with the not-so-subtle influence of human destruction and decay.
He also has a few sculptures that are incredibly well done.
I look forward to seeing more of his artwork. I’m very impressed. Have a look!
Nothing like a slice of good pop surrealism to get the morning started. Yosuke Ueno paints lovely, vaguely Ryden-esque (though his style is unique in its own right) surreal visions of creatures, colors and cultures.
Very worth a look.
I watched Blood Tea and Red String last night, and was quite impressed.
Thirteen years in the making, Christiane Cegavske’s dialog free film tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart’s desire. The Mice commission the Oak Dwellers to create a beautiful doll for them. When she is complete, the Creatures fall in love with her and refuse to give her up. Resorting to thievery the Mice abscond with her in the middle of the night.
This stop motion fairly tale cloaks some rather dark messages of obsession and socio-political commentary. It’s probably not for everyone…but I loved it and I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel: Seed in the Sand due out in 2012. Anyone intrigued by the style of the more mainstream Jigsaw puppet in the Saw film series should definitely pay homage to Cegavske’s craftsmanship by watching her film.
In addition to the painstaking (though certainly worthwhile) effort of these films, Christiane Cegavske also has galleries of other mixed media arts on her website.
Although there is some phenomenal digital art out there, I’ll always have a soft spot for tangible creations that get an artist’s hands dirty.
SheWalksSoftly 
