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Sean Newport’s Mesmerizing Wood Sculptures Come Alive Through GIFs

Sean Newport is a San Francisco-based artist and woodworker who creates geometric, wall-mounted sculptures. Newport’s work is meant to trick the mind into seeing flat, graphic imagery before comprehending its true, three-dimensional shape. Influenced by op-art and bold, abstract forms, his sculptures attempt to test our perceived notions of reality.

Often mistaken for digital art when photographed and put online, Newport’s process is completely analog. Starting with a bulk amount of wood, he strategically cuts hundreds of shapes that he later paints and arranges into mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic patterns. Viewers are encouraged to swivel and move around the epicenter of each piece to observe its peaks and valleys. The result is a transformation of light and color. The use of directional and UV-sensitive lights exaggerate this effect, creating a psychedelic aesthetic. A controlled experiment in illusion, Newport’s works are meant to test the psychological boundaries of reality.

GIFs by Graham Holoch, created exclusively for Hi-Fructose. All other images courtesy of the artist unless otherwise noted.

Photo by Graham Holoch.

Topics

Op Art, painting, Sean Newport, wood relief

painting, Shih Yung-Chun

February 12, 2015

Shih Yung-Chun paints surreal re-imaginings of everyday scenes, where adults occupy themselves with strange activities like bored kids creating their own games during summer vacation. Puppets, dolls, animals, and figurines are recurring motifs in Shih's world, which seems believable yet slightly off balance. The Taipei-based artist inserts autobiographical snippets in many of the paintings: Some of his scenes are set in his own house and he and his white French bulldog make occasional appearances. Shih has referred to his works as "soap operas," hinting at their highly fictionalized nature. Take a look at some of his work below.

Hiroomi Ito Paints Past, Present of Japan

Hiroomi Ito, Japanese art, painting

March 4, 2017

Painter Hiroomi Ito uses traditional means to produce contemporary scenes and ideas. And he takes this process further than just creating his own color pigments; he actually creates the rice paper on which his works are crafted. In these works, Ito explores modern social issues as they relate to customs of the past.

The Paintings of Madeleine Pfull

figurative, Madeleine Pfull, painting

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Atef Maatallah’s Personality-Driven Portraits of Tunisian Society

Atef Maatallah, Figurative Painting, painting, Tunisia

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Sean Newport’s Mesmerizing Wood Sculptures Come Alive Through GIFs

Shih Yung-Chun’s Surreal Paintings of Not-So-Everyday Scenes

Hiroomi Ito Paints Past, Present of Japan

The Paintings of Madeleine Pfull

Atef Maatallah’s Personality-Driven Portraits of Tunisian Society

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