Jorge Rodriguez Gerada knows what a powerful statement the human face can make. For his ongoing “Identity” series, he travels to cities around the world to create giant charcoal portraits of local residents on walls visible from a distance, putting average individuals on pedestals in response to the impersonal, mass-marketed nature of a globalized society. The artist also paints permanent murals of a similar scale and has taken his portraiture to the sculptural realm, creating 3d works from decaying found building materials for his gallery shows. More after the jump!
Japanese animation and traditional Buddhist art inspires many popular American artists, but we don’t see much contemporary from Asia in this part of the world. Luckily the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco is ready to shake up the status quo, unveiling a huge new collection of contemporary Asian art titled “Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past” this week. Read more after the jump!
Derek Nobbs’ “Dead Men’s Tales”, on display now at Roq La Rue until June 6th, is aptly titled. Each piece offers a glimpse into the lives of an eclectic bunch of individuals, each with their own story, or tale, to tell.
NYC based sculptor Ted Lawson creates figurative works based on the female form in a variety of materials. With titles such as ‘Entropy’ to describe a pair of stunningly sensual busts carved from wood, the artist also culls inspiration from science and abstract shapes. He is currently showing at NYC’s Emmanuel Fremin Gallery through May 19th. View more images of the work after the jump.
In addition to the exciting line-up of galleries we mentioned in our preview of ArtPadSF and ArtMRKT, San Francisco gallery Varnish Fine Art will be exhibiting some of our favorite artists at ArtPadSF. JennyBird Alcantara (who appeared in the very first issue of Hi-Fructose) will be showing her Candy Land-esque paintings of wounded mythical creatures. The thugged-out woodland animals of Isabel Samaras (Vol. 20) will also make an appearance. Read more after the jump!
Hailing from the small northern German town of Großhansdorf, artist Heiko Müller weaves elements of the surrounding nature and fairy tale realms into his narrative paintings. Müller has adopted an evolving style, keeping him busy in his basement studio – an essential element in creating while finding time for such pursuits after working three jobs and tending to his family. With a new body of works debuting from May 12 through June 16, 2012 at San Francisco’s Jack Fischer Gallery, the artist continues to explore his love of nature and further his study of the visual realms. - Nathan Spoor