Jessica Hess considers herself a landscape painter, but rather than capturing vistas of waterfalls or forests, her paintings document the ephemeral graffiti she observes in Oakland, San Francisco, and in her travels (see some of her paintings here). Adding another layer to the images-within-images she has going on in her work, Hess teamed with sculptor Christa Assad to create a collaborative series of hand-painted ceramic sculptures. Assad created wheel-thrown, constructed stoneware pieces that take inspiration from Hess’s subject matter — spray cans, paint buckets, fire hydrants, pigeons, and other markers of urban detritus. Hess then hand-painted them with acrylic, filling them with images of tagged-up cityscapes. Hess has an exhibition coming up at Art Works Downtown in San Rafael, CA on March 6 and some of these collaborative ceramic pieces will be in the show.
Chen Fei’s sharp acrylic paintings carry dark humor and allusions to art history. The China native’s crisp linework borrows from pop art and comic book sensibilities, yet much of these references harken back to centuries-old work. And much of the work carries the artist’s own figure, rendered in both graceful and shameful situations.
The mysterious portraits of Belgian painter Eddy Stevens are filled with stirring symbols that invite the viewer to unpack their meanings. Though his work has a certain timeless quality that recalls 16th- and 17th-century painters, his work is also filled with contemporary flourishes and progressive approaches to the craft.
Taiwan-born artist