One can imagine the inhabitants of Dean Monogenis’ ultra-modern houses nestled on top of lush, green hills to be solitary geniuses who have intentionally removed themselves from society. Monogenis plays with architecture and design in his acrylic paintings on panel, rendering believable landscapes but reminding us that they belong to a fictional world by superimposing flat patterns on top of the realistic scenes. Monogenis became interested in architecture as a harbinger of change when he observed new buildings popping up “overnight like mushrooms” in Brooklyn over 10 years ago. He connects architecture with the human need to expand and colonize our environment.
Keya Tama is a South African artist who says he aims to "reunite old and new through contrasting yet unified iconography." Tama's talent for crafting interlocking creatures, either in the backgrounds of his paintings or in the form of murals, also recalls the work of M.C. Escher. Recently, the Los Angeles-based artist has also been collaborating with others in his pieces, such as the work with Caratoes at the jump.
Lee Jinju's riveting scenes, with cascading planes and perspectives, offer both intimate symbology and an invitation to draw your own associations. In some works, solitary figures inhabit these geometric confinements; elsewhere, the artist renders just enough objects to draw a viewer into its orbit.
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