"Their world was soft like melancholy. The conversation was silent. Their faces were small and round, incapable of invoking fear. Once the door was open, nothing could be unseen." This is how 
“Safe from Tomorrow” by Kathie Olivas
“Their world was soft like melancholy. The conversation was silent. Their faces were small and round, incapable of invoking fear. Once the door was open, nothing could be unseen.” This is how Kathie Olivas describes the childlike subjects of her latest exhibition at AFA gallery, “Safe from Tomorrow”. The show boasts a series of 20 new paintings and 16 sculptures inspired by early Americana portraiture. The nostalgia felt by her palette and inspiration is constrasted with a concept set in the future. Olivas’ earlier works tell a more apolcalyptic story, as melancholy little girls looked on in fear. Here, their eyes are filled with curiousity and newfound strength. Donned in armor borrowed from their animal friends, their “protectors of tomorrow”, they are safe from what is to come.
“Safe from Tomorrow” by Kathie Olivas exhibits at AFA Gallery through January 31st, 2015.
Collage artist
Annemarie Busschers (featured on our blog 
Canadian artist 
In the recent, enormous portraits painted by Mike Dargas, the artist pays homage to major figures in art history and tucks surprises into their contours. With “The Unbreakable," which honors Frida Kahlo, the artist says she was "physically broken but her spirit was unbreakable and her powerful essence eternal.” See more of his recent portraits below.