The work of Los Angeles based artist Robert S. Connett, featured here on our blog, portrays a dark and bizarre world teaming with microscopic life. In his own words, “a collection of things that I find extremely appealing and engaging. I paint things that enchant me, and I paint because I enjoy seeing my imagination come to life.” His images present rare and overlooked creatures, from aquatic organisms like ciliates, shrimps, and crabs, to a myriad of butterflies and rainbow-colored grasshoppers, that he best describes as miracles of life. Each organism is rendered with excruciating detail, based on studies from his own collection of specimens and books of scientific illustrations, brought back into a vibrant living environment. For the upcoming LA Art Show, coming to Los Angeles on January 27th, Connett has created a new series of acrylic paintings that will be on display at the Copro Gallery booth. Some of the pieces, such as “MICROVERSE II”, are among his largest to date measuring at around 40 by 60 inches, a followup to a piece created for his 2014 solo exhibition “The MICRO WORLDS of R.S. Connett”. Though overwhelmingly lush and densely populated with decorative life forms, this is not a world that escapes death, as suggested in his images of a human skull or plant-like creature taking root in a mummified corpse. Images like these represent Connett’s belief that everything is destined to regenerate and evolve, and that plants, animals and even inanimate objects can possess an energy which is a form of life.
North Carolina artist Mitchell Lonas uses a unique medium of incised metal to convey the dynamic and awe-inspiring forces of nature. His ethereal images of bird nests and trees are the results of a carefully developed process, which requires equal parts artistic vision and technical precision. Lonas starts by sketching objects in the natural world that he comes across during his travels or that have been gifted to him by family and friends. He then uses customized cutting tools to carve their images into large, painted aluminum panels.
As hermit crabs grow, they require larger shells. Since suitable intact shells are sometimes a limited resource, vigorous competition often occurs among hermit crabs for shells. Japanese artist 
Since 2009,