Femke Hiemstra’s work always tickles the senses with its sumptuous textures and whimsical details and her upcoming solo show, “Warten am Waldrand,” at Roq La Rue in Seattle is no exception. The artist (recently featured in a special sketchbook section in Hi-Fructose Vol. 29) is known for the storybook quality of her drawings and paintings. But beyond the naive exterior, her animal vignettes sometimes take on a darker tone. Hiemstra does not strive for a cartoonish “creepy-cute” aesthetic, but rather invokes notes of somber emotions to give her characters full dimensionality. Her playful works tap into her viewers’ nostalgia for childhood, but the allegorical paintings offer plenty of opportunity for viewers to see reflections of themselves and the world around them.
“Warten am Waldrand” is on view August 7 though September 27 at Roq La Rue.
The acrylic and mixed-media paintings of Hernan Bas carry a coming-of-age quality, pulling from varying periods. His influences, among several other mediums, have a particular consideration of “the Aesthetic and Decadent writers of the 19th century, in particular Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire and Joris-Karl Huysman,” a statement says. Film, poetry, and art history itself also have an impact on his contemplative works.
The surreal paintings of 
Iran-born painter 