San Francisco based artist Travis Collinson creates noteworthy chalk portraits that echo the famously distorted perspectives and large eyed subjects seen in Lucian Freud’s paintings made around the 1950s. The way that the artist purposefully distorts the figures and warps their detailed yet muted surroundings makes the viewer feel an ineffable sense of unease. Collinson’s use of black and white chalk on paper create a subtle tension within the each piece. He tends to work with personal family photos, reworking the familiar images multiple times, while using different mediums on different backgrounds. His otherworldly subjects seem to be portraying moments of extreme emotional impasse. See more after the jump!
Known for her hyperrealist sculptures of fleshy, humanoid creatures, Patricia Piccinini recently created an enormous fantastical character in the form of a hot air balloon titled The Sky Whale. Commissioned by the Centenary of Canberra, the majestic Sky Whale recently took flight over the Australian countryside for the first time. Driven by the desire to spark a sense of wonder in her viewers, Piccinini designed the otherworldly creature as a disruption of the mundane. Take a look at videos by Blueboat of the Sky Whale’s first flight and Piccinini’s studio, as well as some photos of the Sky Whale below courtesy of Tolarno Galleries. See more after the jump!
On June 13, Korean painter Kwon Kyungyup (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 24) and Japanese painter Kazuki Takamatsu (Hi-Fructose Vol. 16) will debut two solo shows at Rome’s Dorothy Circus Gallery: Kwon’s “White Elegy” and Takamatsu’s “Because I’m a Doll.” Both working with a frosty, white color palette, the two artists cultivate placid worlds populated by characters that deceptively seem untouched by human flaws. Read more and see more artwork from both artists after the jump!
This past Saturday, “LAX/PHL” brought Los Angeles-based Thinkspace Gallery’s roster of artists to Philadelphia, including Adam Caldwell, Jeremy Hush, Sarah Joncas, Jonathan Wayshak, Curiot, Yosuke Ueno and many more. The spectacular exhibit, hosted at Gallery 309, highlighted a diverse array of aesthetics in new contemporary art, including street art, illustration and pop surrealist-influenced work. A packed house of eager fans gathered at the reception for the opportunity to view this sampling of over 40 artists, many of whom have never previously shown in The City of Brotherly Love. If you missed the reception, a second one will take place on Friday, June 7. In the meantime, enjoy some of our exclusive event photos from S. Jenx as well as some artwork images after the jump.
David Slone uses oil on panel to create works that are painterly impressions of people with floating heads. The head shot images on drab backgrounds are reminiscent of creepy yearbook photos and similarly capture the awkwardness of the various phases of adolescence. These portraits are loose and interpretive but also contain areas such as the eyes and lips of the subjects that are rendered very realistically. This marriage of impressionism and realism makes for an interesting combination. See more after the jump!
Known for his rich, detailed paintings inspired by the Renaissance and contemporary culture alike, Nicola Verlato (featured in Hi-Fructose Collected Edition Vol. 3) creates artworks that visualize dramatic catastrophes. Time comes to a stand-still and characters are frozen as they hurl through space like atomic particles. Director George Langworhty recently created a time lapse film of Verlato at work on a massive canvas in his studio. Take a look at the video on the Hi-Fructose YouTube channel and check out a few of Verlato’s other recent paintings after the jump!