Zin Lim paints sculpted bodies and faces with twinkling eyes before wiping them away with textured paint strokes. While the San Francisco-based artist began his career painting classical nude figures, his work has grown increasingly abstract over the years. Lim leaves just enough figurative details in each piece to give viewers a relatable entry point into the image. The human characters' presence guides us through the expressionistic markings the dominate the rest of the canvas.
Zin Lim paints sculpted bodies and faces with twinkling eyes before wiping them away with textured paint strokes. While the San Francisco-based artist began his career painting classical nude figures, his work has grown increasingly abstract over the years. Lim leaves just enough figurative details in each piece to give viewers a relatable entry point into the image. The human characters’ presence guides us through the expressionistic markings the dominate the rest of the canvas.
An initial encounter with the work of Ben Sanders might leave the viewer perplexed. Are they retro digitally painted screen savers? Are they just stickers on a sheet of paper? Through expert color choices and impressively crisp lines, Sanders creates paintings that trick the eye. His acrylic and oil works sometimes even look photographic. There is definitely something decidedly vintage and even cartoon-like about the works, most of which revolve around food.
New York is often described as concrete jungle, a notion Matthew Grabelsky explores in his paintings of fantasy creatures invading its subway. In his work, unsuspecting bystanders sit on the train looking at their phones as bear-headed men read the newspaper and lions hold the handrails wearing dapper suits. The artist, who is a native New Yorker himself, says that his style is influenced by the 19th-century French Academic painters. "My work is not intended to be viewed as fantasy or as allegory, but rather as a blend of every-day experiences and the subconscious," he says. "My paintings are enigmatic, and they create dream-like worlds that invite viewers to form their own interpretations of the imagery presented."
Shozy's illusionary murals use subtle techniques that enhance the life of a work. For instance, with the pieces above, packing bikes into a “hole” in the structure, uses reflective chrome paint that will change hues with the sky of the day.
In the paintings of Enric Sant, rivers of humans swarm across the canvas or empty into crowded masses. In the past, his fascination with flesh saw an output of grotesque figures. In recent work, he creatures gigantic, living objects from hundreds of bodies.
