Alessia Ianetti
There are many great artists whose primary medium include pencil and paper, but the artist’s sketch is not always intended as a finished work. A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image. For those who refer to drawing to work out their ideas, a sketch becomes a rare piece seldom shared with their audience. As such, there is a special air of mystery that is associated with drawings. We’ve featured artists’ drawings in our Sketchbook Series on our blog, and in our print issues, where we’ve shone a light on scarcely shown sketch work by artists like Marco Mazzoni, and Femke Hiemstra, and Mark Ryden, to name a few. A new group exhibition “Lápiz, Papel o Tijera” (Pencil, Paper, Scissors) at Plastic Murs gallery in Spain aims to do the same for 30 artists, including Alessia Iannetti, Amandine Urruty, Crajes, Craww, Dan May, Linnea Strid, Mab Graves, Nicomi Nix Turner, Paolo Pedroni, Vanessa Foley, Vero Navarro, and Victor Castillo. Many of these artists, such as Nicomi Nix Turner and Amandine Urruty, exhibit pencil or pen drawings as their completed works, while others like Mab Graves, Dan May, and Vanessa Foley, use elements of drawing in their illustrations or sketch their concepts before starting a painted piece. Their works on display are not preparatory, but rather offer a softer, tonal perspective of their visions and characters. Get an early preview of the exhibit below, which opens on January 29th and will be on view through March 4th, 2016.
Victor Castillo
Vero Navarro
Vanessa Foley
Sicoldr
Paolo Pedroni
Oliver Flores
Nicomi Nix Turner
Mab Graves
Dan May
Craww
Chamo San
Amandine Urruty
With “A Volta,” Allouche Gallery looks at the evolution of the legendary b-boy and street artist Doze Green through paintings and drawings. In the show, viewers find an artist who influenced a generation and a transformative moment in his practice upon moving to Brazil. Green was most recently featured in Hi-Fructose's print magazine with 
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Houston-based artist Ana Marietta paints and draws animals with exaggerated human features to create sympathy for her subjects. Looking at a raven with wide eyes glassy with tears, or a frowning pelican dimpled with warts, one feels the animal's deep sorrow. The creatures appear to look outward however, suggesting their sadness comes from the environment, as opposed to any personal ailments directly. Their anthropomorphic deformities hint at something unnatural, an effect explained only by human behavior and intervention.
Whimsical worlds are neatly constructed in the works of French illustration and graphics duo Violaine Orsoni and Jeremy Schneider, better known as