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Aaron Johnson’s Grotesquely Humorous Paintings and Sock Art

Manic characters grin wildly in Aaron Johnson's over-the-top, explosive paintings. The Brooklyn-based artist's work overflows with gross-out humor and in-your-face sexuality, which he renders in a color palette of hyperactive, neon acrylics. While paintings on fabric comprise the majority of his work, Johnson has an ongoing series of sculptural sock paintings (made from used, donated socks from his social media followers, mind you) that evoke both assemblages and D.I.Y. puppetry. Darkly funny, Johnson's gag-filled work nods to the over-saturation of violent and sexual imagery in our media culture with its blatant absurdity.

Manic characters grin wildly in Aaron Johnson’s over-the-top, explosive paintings. The Brooklyn-based artist’s work overflows with gross-out humor and in-your-face sexuality, which he renders in a color palette of hyperactive, neon acrylics. While paintings on fabric comprise the majority of his work, Johnson has an ongoing series of sculptural sock paintings (made from used, donated socks from his social media followers, mind you) that evoke both assemblages and D.I.Y. puppetry. Darkly funny, Johnson’s gag-filled work nods to the over-saturation of violent and sexual imagery in our media culture with its blatant absurdity.

Topics

Aaron Johnson, painting, Sock Paintings

Jeff P., painting

February 12, 2015

Portland, Oregon-based painter Jeff P. (who goes only by his first name and last initial) remixes traditional scientific illustration techniques to create psychedelic images inspired by nature. Home to Native American peyote ceremonies and multitudinous wildlife species, the southwestern desert has always been a site of escape and self-discovery in the American psyche. Jeff P.'s colorful, surreal paintings of snakes call to mind these connotations. While his early work resembled flash tattoo designs, his latest paintings utilize the ornate patterns of various snake species to create colorful, dreamlike designs.

Julio Reyes’s Oil Paintings of People in Moments of Solitude

Julio Reyes, painting

February 13, 2015

Raised in Los Angeles in a family of immigrants, Julio Reyes says that one of his biggest inspirations is the human ability to overcome adversity. His family's journey to the US and their tumultuous quest for citizenship has always been a guiding light in his work. "I have always been moved by the human capacity to love, dream, and persevere, with great courage and sincerity, in spite of what can often be, a vast and unsympathetic Nature," wrote Reyes in an email to Hi-Fructose. Because of the struggles he has personally faced, Reyes says he has cultivated a keen sense of empathy that he seeks to convey in his oil paintings, which often feature solitary figures in moments of contemplation.

Frank Kortan’s Surreal Paintings Probe the Subconscious

Frank Kortan, painting

February 16, 2015

Originally from Prague, Frank Kortan began his career as a musician before moving to Germany and making the switch to painting in the 1990s. His work is surrealist in the traditional sense of the word. He mixes symbolism to brew strange concoctions of imagery that represents the chaotic milieu of the subconscious. A student of philosophy and psychology, Kortan frequently references thinkers like Freud and Breton in his paintings. His realist painting skills make it possible for viewers to suspend disbelief and enter the bizarre world of his imagination.

Toru Kamei’s Mythological Paintings and Haunted Still Lifes

painting, still life, Toru Kamei

February 16, 2015

Japanese artist Toru Kamei creates sensual, dreamlike paintings that reference nature and mythology. While some of his pieces delve into the enchanted worlds of serpentine gods and mermen, other works offer a surrealist take on vanitas painting. Like the Northern Renaissance still lifes, Kamei's work meditates on the fragility of life and the imminence of mortality. But his work takes on a bizarre dimension when one notices the eyeballs popping out of the flowers he paints, making them look haunted and eerily alive.

Aaron Johnson’s Grotesquely Humorous Paintings and Sock Art

Jeff P.’s Serpentine Work Reimagines Naturalist Painting Tradition

Julio Reyes’s Oil Paintings of People in Moments of Solitude

Frank Kortan’s Surreal Paintings Probe the Subconscious

Toru Kamei’s Mythological Paintings and Haunted Still Lifes

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