Netherlands-based artist Pim Palsgraaf created both 2D and 3D work that tackles urbanization and the effect “development” has on the world around us. His “Multiscape” series, in particular, is informed partially by the artist living in the industrial part of Rotterdam. The series highlights the “outgrowths of urban architecture.”
“Comparable to tumours of urban growing he drapes found objects on taxidermy animals to symbolize the contrary of culture and nature,” a statement says. “The city seems to overcome the animal and to bring it to its knees. His paintings reveals us the clandestine interior of cities. Deserted rooms, damp corridors and ceilings in danger to collapse at any time show his weakness for urban decline, for the natural environment of men slowly sinking into oblivion.”
The artist has shown this work in the city in which he dwells and abroad. Though the work is informed by the backdrop behind the artist himself, each of the sculptures carries global significance in the relationship between city and nature. The weight and destruction felt by the animals shown, in addition, feels ready-made for urban discussions across the U.S. and beyond.
Painter Allison Zuckerman’s work pulls from the past and digital present of art history to craft amalgamated depictions of women. She first designs her works digitally, then prints them on the canvas before applying paint to the creation. This year has brought multiple museum exhibitions for the artist, including stints at Akron Art Museum and Herziliya Museum and the University of Florida.
Figurative and boldly colored, 
Steven Russell Black’s horror-filled paintings and drawings have a cinematic quality. Black refers to himself as a "painter with an obsessive compulsion to champion the odd, fringe, or otherwise unappreciated." In his drawings, these scenes and characters carry an even more ghostly quality.