Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

“Morpheus” Features Fantasy-Surreal Works by Jota Leal and Dariusz Zawadzki

Venezuelan artist Jota Leal and Polish artist Dariusz Zawadzki each mix elements of the fantastic and the surreal in their artworks. The two artists headline Copro Gallery's current group exhibition "Morpheus", so named after its co-curators James Cowan and Morpheus Gallery in Las Vegas. Zawadzki's series exhibits the artist's skill in different media, mixing up oil painting, watercolor, and hand-embellished giclee pieces. His portraits of what look like post-apocalytpic villians out of Mad Max are treated with the rendering of old master painters.

Venezuelan artist Jota Leal and Polish artist Dariusz Zawadzki each mix elements of the fantastic and the surreal in their artworks. The two artists headline Copro Gallery‘s current group exhibition “Morpheus”, so named after its co-curators James Cowan and Morpheus Gallery in Las Vegas. Zawadzki’s series exhibits the artist’s skill in different media, mixing up oil painting, watercolor, and hand-embellished giclee pieces. His portraits of what look like post-apocalytpic villians out of Mad Max are treated with the rendering of old master painters. This combination of scifi with the surreal takes on a more whimsical personality in his watercolor of a long-legged cello that plays itself. She leads a long funeral procession of alienesque blue nudes across a featureless and foreboding landscape. Whimsy meets humor in Leal’s lighter themed paintings, a few of which feature Star Wars characters. Familiar images of Han Solo and Chewie reappear as warped caricatures that recall the elongated figures found in Salvador Dalí’s works. The revered artist, who wore a king’s ermine cape and a crown as a child, is portrayed sitting on his throne in Jota’s acrylic painting, “Metamorphisis of Dalí.” It’s not the first time that Jota has painted Dalí, but it does stand out as one of his more detailed pieces and a progression in visual exploration.

Dariusz Zawadzki:

Jota Leal:

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Naoto Hattori's creatures are both vivid and dreamlike, rendered in vibrant acrylics. The Japan-born artist creates absorbing work teeming with innocence. Each bends expectation and reality into beings alternate between disconcerting and ambrosial. Hattori was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
Explaining an image could break the illusive spell on a viewer with preconceived notions, or at the very least be a distraction to a genuine experience. Nevertheless, it’s a job of a publication like ours to try to probe a bit further, to unearth subtle intentions or points of discussion. So let’s ask Shane Pearce about his ten new paintings, entitled “Eerie Musings”, which goes on view at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica this Saturday. Click above to read the hifructose.com exclusive interview.
In a mid-career retrospective exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Esao Andrews offers paintings that span his career. "Petrichor," curated by Thinkspace Projects, looks at the riveting, pop surrealist output from the artist, over the past several years. The exhibition kicks off next month on May 10 and runs through Aug. 4. Andrews is featured in the Hi-Fructose Collected Volume 2 Hardcover.
Italian artist Agostino Arrivabene paints an iconographic universe that exists somewhere at the division between the real world from the spiritual realm. Previously featured here on our blog, his works include landscapes, portraits, and large paintings allegorical and apocalyptic in nature. Subjects of his paintings often appear as if from another time and place, celestial bodies and nudes emerging from the earth that recall the figures of those who influence him, particularly Gustave Moreau and Odd Nerdrum. Arrivabene describes his personal world as one that is eclectic and occult, where his artistic lanuage changes depending on his life experience. His upcoming solo exhibition at Cara Gallery in New York, "Hierogamy", delves into mythological themes and ideas about personal intimacy, change, and time.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List